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A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 67/NO. 6 FEBRUARY 17, 2003 Solidarity is Washington and London theme of N.Y. event to ready brutal war on Iraq halt Calero U.S. military beefs up air forces to threaten north Korea BY SAM MANUEL With Britain’s prime minister Anthony deportation Blair at his side, U.S. president George UK firefighters oppose gov’t intervention Bush said January 31 that he will give the BY CANDACE WAGNER other governments on the United Nations NEW YORK—“I am facing a similar Security Council a deadline of no more case” to that confronting Róger Calero, than a few weeks to back an invasion of said Maximo Espinal at a public meeting Iraq. “Saddam Hussein is not disarming,” of 120 people here February 1. Held at St. claimed Bush. “This issue will come to a Mary’s Church in Harlem, the gathering head in a matter of weeks, not months.” was called to oppose moves by the Immi- As Washington steps up what White gration and Naturalization Service (INS) House spokesman Ari Fleischer called the to deport Calero, who is an editor of “final phase” of this political preparation, Perspectiva Mundial and a Militant staff the war planners have released more de- writer. tails of the coming air assault. Some 3,000 The New York meeting was the latest bombs and missiles—touted as being “pre- such event in the 12-city national speak- cision-guided”—will be hurled within the ing tour undertaken by Calero following first 48 hours, reported the New York Times. his release from an INS jail in Houston on The barrage will include the launch of hun- December 13. Organized by the Róger dreds of cruise missiles and strikes by 500 Calero Defense Committee, the tour has U.S. and British planes. Many pilots have taken him to the Midwest, California, already put in hours of training in the un- Florida, Texas, New York, and New Jer- relenting bombing attacks on the “no-fly sey. Calero is scheduled to travel to Wash- zones” of northern and southern Iraq. ington State and Colorado for further meet- The U.S. command has acknowledged ings in late February. that Special Operations forces are already During the discussion that followed the operating in northern Iraq. Joint Chiefs of speakers’ presentations, Espinal said that Staff chairman Richard Myers told a Janu- he faces deportation by the INS after be- ary 29 press briefing that the troops will ing detained by agents when returning from work with CIA teams to train volunteers his native Dominican Republic. The cops from Kurdish groups opposed to the Iraqi held him in connection with a 14-year old regime. conviction for which he had already served A key objective of U.S. forces in the area Militant/Anne Howie time. “It’s not fair to make someone pay is to secure the abundant oil fields in the Firefighters rally in Glasgow, Scotland, February 1 during latest in series of again,” he said. “It’s not fair to separate northern region. The Washington Post re- strikes. The Labour government has announced that it will ask parliament to me from my family.” port of the press briefing added that Wash- impose a settlement on the union in the long-running dispute, and has said the Espinal’s account paralleled Calero’s ington warned the Kurdish leaders “not to strikes are an obstacle to mobilization for war in Iraq. See report page 15. Continued on Page 6 Continued on Page 2 Point Blank Tens of thousands visit international strikers win book fair in Havana in opening days BY JONATHAN SILBERMAN chair of the book fair’s organizing com- people. “Our immediate goal is for every rehiring of AND SCOTT DUNLAP mittee, reported that this year the event is household to have one of these sets, and HAVANA—Tens of thousands of people again being extended geographically. Last then to move on to produce similar sets of have attended the initial days of the 12th year, for the first time, the Havana-based Cuban literature,” Prieto said. pro-union Havana International Book Fair, which fair was put on the road to 19 other cities “At a time when the international book opened here January 30. This large, 11-day around the island. This year it will be more market has been contracting,” he said, cultural festival, taking place at San Carlos truly countrywide, traveling to 30 cities in “when the prices of books have been sky- de La Cabaña, an 18th-century Spanish co- coming weeks and winding up March 2 in rocketing so that only a minority have ac- workers lonial fort overlooking Havana Bay, has Guantánamo, near the eastern tip of the cess to them, where the economy has been BY MARK HAMM drawn students, workers, writers, soldiers, island. This expansion, he said, is a re- worsening—in this world context, Cuba, a OAKLAND PARK, Florida—“This is a and many others. Last year some 300,000 sponse to the growing and seemingly in- country still blockaded [by Washington], major victory that we earned,” said people attended. satiable demand of the Cuban reader. has made advances. Last year 2.5 million Umberto de la Cruz. The garment worker At the opening ceremony, Iroel Sánchez, Abel Prieto, the minister of culture, said Continued on Page 7 was speaking about the ruling by a federal president of the Cuban Book Institute and the book fair is part of an ongoing “revo- judge that Point Blank Body Armor must lution in education and rehire Isma Sadius, Carlos Briceño, and culture” today, one of Midho Cadet. the real achievements Point Blank, which makes bulletproof of the Cuban Revolu- Also Inside: vests for the U.S. military and police agen- tion. He pointed to ini- U.S. officials discuss strike tiatives in recent years on Korean power plant 3 such as expanded use More coverage of of television—includ- Government attacks ing the popular Uni- labor struggles inside versity for All pro- on school desegregation gram—as an educa- erode civil rights gains 4 tional tool; the in- cies, fired the three workers in an attempt creased training of art Locked-out unionists in to intimidate workers pushing for repre- instructors; and “fam- Wales win court ruling 4 sentation by the Union of Needletrades, ily libraries.” Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). The family library is Israeli elections are In addition, the judge ordered the cloth- a government-spon- overshadowed by economic ing manufacturer to rehire the 175 work- sored program to pub- crisis, Palestinian resistance 5 ers who have been on strike for almost six lish boxed sets of 25 months in protest at the firings. The work- Militant/Martín Koppel classics of world litera- Pennsylvania nurses strike Book fair in Havana has attracted many Cuban publishers ture, printed on news- ers have picketed the plant since August 9 over jobs and hours 11 demanding union representation and im- and 52 from outside Cuba. The event has drawn tens of thou- print to make them af- Continued on Page 14 sands of visitors in first days. Above, Pathfinder booth. fordable to working

U.S. officials discuss strike on Korean plant BY PETER THIERJUNG planes since 1984. Air force officials would Washington has turned up the pressure not reveal the plane’s mission. The north on the north Korean workers state. In ad- has frequently protested U-2 spy flights dition to their actions taken since the clos- over its territory. ing months of 2002, which include the Sin Yong Song, the vice-minister of cutoff of promised food and fuel supplies Power and Coal Industries for the Demo- and a step-up in hostile propaganda, U.S. cratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), officials are publicly discussing the option explained the north Korean government’s of sending fighter planes to bomb the decision to restart the reactor in an inter- Yongbyon nuclear power reactor. view with People’s Korea published Janu- The government in the north explains ary 27. that far from being part of a weapons de- velopment program, the plant is needed for Recover loss of electricity power generation. In particular, the reac- Sin said that the startup will take sev- tor could make up some of the electricity eral weeks. “We are speeding up our prepa- shortfall caused by the cutoff in fuel oil rations,” he said, explaining that “we have supplies from both the United States and to immediately recover the loss of electric- its allies in Japan and south Korea. ity caused by the stop of the supply of Pentagon spokesmen said January 31 heavy oil” from the United States. The that the commander of U.S. forces in the cutoff resulted in an “annual shortage of Pacific has asked for reinforcements. The electricity at hundreds of thousands of kilo- forces could be backup, reported the New watts,” he said. York Times, “in the event that President The claim that the facility is for nuclear Bush ordered any kind of pre-emptive weapons production is “nonsense,” Sin said. strike against the North’s nuclear complex North Korean representatives have re- at Yongbyon.” The paper reported that jected Washington’s claims that their gov- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “ap- ernment admitted undertaking a uranium peared inclined to grant Adm. [Thomas] enrichment program as part of nuclear Fargo’s request to send the aircraft carrier weapons development. State Department U.S. soldiers at the wreckage of a U-2 spy plane that crashed in south Korea on Carl Vinson to the area.” officials made the accusations last fall af- January 26. Washington has increased military threats against north Korea. “Pentagon officials say the North Ko- ter a visit to the northern capital of rean program could be set back for years Pyongyang. in his January 28 State of the Union address. the clear and present danger of terrorism with a precision strike on the reprocessing Shortly after it leveled these charges, the “On the Korean Peninsula, an oppressive and the crisis with North Korea.” plant,” reported the Times the previous day. Bush administration cut off heavy oil and regime rules a people living in fear and star- The air attack now under open discus- “But such a strike would be enormously food shipments guaranteed by the Clinton vation,” he said. The north Korean govern- sion picks up where the administration of risky,” continued the article, citing the administration in 1994. ment “is using its nuclear program to incite President William Clinton left off in 1994. north’s capacity to defend itself militarily. A U.S. official “arrogantly demanded we fear and seek concessions. America and the The BBC reported in December that Spy satellite pictures of the movement admit to a uranium enrichment program, world will not be blackmailed.” Clinton told a business dinner in the Neth- of trucks around Yongbyon—not surpris- without presenting any evidence at all,” a erlands, “We actually drew up plans to at- ing given the plans to restart it—were given January 28 DPRK Foreign Ministry state- Democrats back Bush tack north Korea and to destroy their reac- sensational treatment by administration ment said. “We had no reason to admit it Democratic Party representatives backed tors and we told them we would attack officials. The pictures had prompted “fears as he demanded and saw no reason to re- Bush’s stand. In his official response Gov- unless they ended their nuclear program.” within the Bush administration that North fute his claim.” ernor Gary Locke of Washington declared The 1994 agreement followed shortly Korea is preparing to produce roughly a Editorials in the north Korean press have support for the president “in working with after the threats were issued. In it the north half dozen nuclear weapons,” reported the called on the U.S. to withdraw nuclear our allies and the United Nations to elimi- agreed to shut down the Yongbyon reactor Times. The report also noted that “the sat- weapons stationed in the south of Korea. nate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and two others under construction. In re- ellites could not see exactly what was be- While Washington says that it withdrew its and [north Korean president] Kim Jong Il.” turn, Washington agreed to lead a consor- ing put into the trucks.” nuclear arms from the peninsula in the One week earlier Massachusetts sena- tium of countries and companies to build Amidst the dire speculation one official 1970s, it maintains its official “neither con- tor Edward Kennedy, a well-known Demo- two light-water reactors for electrical admitted that the north Koreans “made no firm nor deny” stance toward such demands. cratic Party liberal, told the National Press power, with a completion date of this year. real effort to hide this from us.” U.S. Navy ships and submarines of the Club that the White House should slow U.S. officials argued that these reactors Another U.S. spying mission came to a Seventh Fleet carry nuclear arms, how- down its drive to war on Iraq and allow produced a smaller quantity of weapons- sudden end on January 26 when a U-2 re- ever—part of a military presence that in- more time for weapons inspections. “The suitable by-products that those at the connaissance aircraft crashed 35 miles cludes 37,000 troops in south Korea. threat from Iraq is not imminent,” he said, Yongbyon complex. south of Seoul in south Korea—the third U.S. president George Bush set the tone “and it will distract American from the two Annual shipments of 500,000 tons of crash involving these high-altitude spy for the step-up in threats toward the north more immediate threats to our security— heavy oil were guaranteed to enable north Korea to offset lost power generation ca- pacity. Food shipments to help it respond to Socialist joins Tampa mayoral debate natural disasters were also promised. In an article reviewing the lack of BY HENRY HILLENBRAND until the working class takes political power An angry participant in the crowd yelled progress in constructing the reactors, the TAMPA, Florida—“Congratulations, I in this country and establishes a government out, “No it won’t! Some of us were in Wash- January 30 Wall Street Journal noted that wish you well,” was the first message left at of the producers—workers and farmers.” ington last weekend. Where were you?” Pyongyang also understood that the World the campaign office of Rachele Fruit, So- The protest supporting Al-Arian coin- Fruit replied that she had participated in Bank and Asian Development Bank would cialist Workers candidate for mayor of cided with a January 24 grievance hearing the demonstration against the war outside help finance the modification and upgrade Tampa, after a 20-minute interview was between the university administration and MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and that of its nationwide electrical grids to make aired on WMNF 88.5 FM radio January 30. the United Faculty of Florida, the union it is important to protest. “But we must also them compatible with the new reactors. The interview capped a week of cam- that has supported Al-Arian. Fourteen understand why the rulers are driven to war,” However, stated the Journal, “U.S. offi- paigning that included a TV debate among months ago the USF president banned Al- she said—“that it is not a war on terrorism, cials last week gave their most explicit sig- the mayoral candidates and a protest at the Arian from campus and began the attempt and it is not about weapons of mass destruc- nal that the agreement underpinning the University of South Florida demanding tion, as they claim; but that they need $4.6 billion nuclear-power project has been the reinstatement of Sami Al-Arian. A to redivide the resources of the world.” irreparably damaged.” So far, it continued, Militant Labor Forum featuring the can- One Arab-American man partici- the project “mostly has consisted of tak- didate launched the fundraising effort for pating in the protest bought a subscrip- ing down a mountain and digging the huge the five-week campaign. tion to the Militant, the pamphlet Pal- hole where the nuclear plant will reside.” The debate will be broadcast on pub- estine and the Arab Fight for Libera- lic television Channel 16 and on City tion, and donated $25 to the campaign. North-south talks of Tampa cable TV throughout Febru- The next evening Fruit spoke at the Meanwhile, talks between the govern- ary. Campaign supporters are planning weekly Militant Labor Forum in ments of north and south Korea were held to go out street campaigning on Febru- Tampa. She was introduced by Young at the end of January. The two sides agreed ary 2—the first day it airs. Socialists member Sonja Swanson, to complete rail links between north and The debate was taped on January 24. who said, “The goals of Fruit’s cam- south, and to open roads on the west side Upon being introduced to Fruit at the paign reach far beyond the opportunist of the peninsula. TV studio, Pam Iorio, Supervisor of politicians opposing her. Fruit, along A south Korean government official said Elections for the past 10 years and her- with the Socialist Workers Party, seeks the south would not object to referring the self a candidate for mayor, acknowl- to build a movement in the interests of crisis to the UN Security Council—a pro- edged, “You made history with this working people, youth and farmers ev- posal put forward by the Bush administra- campaign.” Iorio was referring to the erywhere.” Around $400 was raised at tion—but “will not support the idea of successful effort the socialist made to the meeting. sanctions on North Korea and will continue force Tampa city officials to open the Fruit said that she would take her to ask the United States, Japan, and other electoral process to include write-in Militant/Sonja Swanson campaign to labor struggles, social pro- countries to extend their efforts through candidates, thereby making it possible Candidate Rachele Fruit talks to participants in tests, and into the arena of the antiwar dialogue.” for a working-class voice to be heard. January 24 rally in solidarity with Sami Al-Arian. demonstrations. Among the factors behind Seoul taking In the 30 seconds Fruit had to intro- “We have seen some victories in the some distance from Washington’s actions duce herself, she said, “I am a meat packer to fire him from his teaching position. struggle against the death penalty, which and threats has been the large-scale and and a member of the United Food and Com- A number of speakers referred to the war is nothing more than one form of legal widespread protests in south Korea at the mercial Workers union. I have been active and protested the attacks on civil liberties. lynching in the U.S.,” the candidate said. end of last year. Sparked by the acquittal in working-class politics for more than 30 Addressing the protest, Fruit said that “what She pointed to the fight against the death of two soldiers who were court-martialed years defending workers’ rights, which are is happening to Sami, an outspoken de- penalty in Illinois that prompted Governor after their mine-clearing vehicle ran over under severe attack today as part of the war fender of Palestinian rights, is one impor- Ryan’s decision to empty death row in that and killed two south Korean girls, the dem- drive both at home and abroad by the U.S. tant example of the attacks on workers’ state, and to the January 24 release, for lack onstrations revealed the widespread oppo- rulers and their government in Washington. rights that are part of the drive toward war.” of evidence, of Rudolph Holton from sition to the presence of U.S. troops. Pro- “There will be no economic recovery for She went on to say, “Much as we do not prison and death row. He is the 25th pris- testers have explained that they consider the working class,” she continued, “and want to see this war happen, we must be oner to be released from Florida’s death the U.S. government a greater threat of war there will be no end to the horrors of war prepared for the fact that it will happen.” row since 1972. than the workers state in the north. February 17 , 2003 The Militant 3 Attacks on school Strikers at Libro Shirt in Pennsylvania desegregation erode picket in defense of health benefits civil rights gains BY MAURICE WILLIAMS the southwestern states. Advances in overcoming racist discrimi- The termination of desegregation plans nation in education have eroded over the that began in the 1990s has been the major past decade, according to a report from factor in these reversals. The 1991 Board Harvard University. The study, released of Education Oklahoma v. Dowell ruling, January 16, notes the dismantling of de- for example, said that school districts could segregation programs that grew out of the be released from court-ordered busing if a mass struggle for civil rights in the 1950s federal district court deemed that they had and 60s. sufficiently implemented government man- The study found that Black students are dates. increasingly concentrated in the same schools—schools that receive a lower pro- Busing programs terminated portion of funds and resources. Latino stu- Busing programs—a gain of struggles dents face a similar situation. The blows against racism—enforced desegregation of to desegregation reflect the growing class schools by instructing authorities to bus divide and inequality, and the persistent students into schools they would otherwise racial discrimination, built into the educa- have avoided or been excluded from. tion system. The 1991 ruling opened the way for of- Militant/Janet Post The researchers at the Harvard Univer- ficials to be released from this obligation. Striking workers at Libro Shirt in Lykens, Pennsylvania, picket the plant in late sity Civil Rights Project state that these stu- Without the busing programs, the class- January. The strike began January 7, as workers rejected company demands dents today face more segregation than and race-determined patterns of housing that they pay half their health insurance costs. The 89 strikers, members of Lo- their forebears did 30 years ago when the put their stamp on the composition of stu- cal 317-C of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees first court-ordered desegregation plans dent bodies. (UNITE), have maintained their fight in face of company threats to close the were announced. Desegregation programs still exist in plant. “We can’t give up any more,” said Brenda Dauberman, a sewer for 23 The average Black student sits in a class- many cities. However, court decisions have years. “We are putting our blood and guts into this and we are doing it together.” room in which the proportion of Blacks is ended such plans in at least 36 school dis- many times higher than their percentage tricts over the past decade. This growing in the population, which stands at 12 per- list includes Little Rock, Arkansas; San ing-class areas the hardest. State govern- cation of Topeka, Kansas, that supposedly cent. The study indicates that this is a con- Diego, California; Miami; and Denver. ments have begun laying off teachers, bus “separate but equal” schools were uncon- tinuing trend. During the 1990s the enroll- The study reports that in Charlotte, drivers, and janitors, while schools are stitutional. ment of Black students in majority-white North Carolina, the site of the country’s shortening the calendar year. Through these battles the South became schools declined by 13 percent, to a lower first court-ordered busing plan, schools The attacks on school desegregation are the “most integrated region of the coun- level than in any year since 1968. have become more segregated. This trend part of the bipartisan drive to chip away at try,” in the words of the Harvard study. The report documents this reversal by was reinforced by a federal appeals court affirmative action programs. The Bush The Civil Rights Project noted two years listing the percentage of white students in decision in 2001, which ended 30 years of administration has lent its support to the ago that “the period of growing desegre- schools in cities such as Chicago, where federal oversight. legal challenge to the University of Michi- gation coincided with the period of the the figure is 10 percent, Birmingham (7 Dozens of Charlotte schools became gan admissions policies, backing two law- most dramatic narrowing of the test score percent), and Atlanta (3 percent), and their nearly all Black virtually overnight. New suits against the university’s law school and gap ever recorded” for Black and white enrollment in public schools, which schools with modern equipment have been its undergraduate college. students. Access to better facilities, includ- dropped from 35 million in 1968 to 29 built in the outer edges of the Mecklenburg The programs that enforced progress in ing new textbooks and usable desks, and million in 2000. County suburbs, while schools in the more overcoming inequality and segregation well-constructed buildings help account for The number in public schools has de- working-class areas of central Charlotte— were a product of mass struggles. Under these improvements. clined from 80 percent to 62 percent in the home to many Black residents—are fall- the pressure of the protests and battles that “School systems are actually being or- same period. ing apart. unfolded in the 1950s and earlier against dered to end successful desegregation In most large urban school districts, says The impact of these developments has the Jim Crow system of legal segregation plans,” the Harvard researchers concluded, the study, white students make up less than been magnified by cuts in spending on across the South, the U.S. Supreme Court “just as more and more convincing evi- 25 percent of the school population. education, which have hit schools in work- ruled in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Edu- dence of those gains is accumulating.” In the nation’s five largest districts the figure ranges from 10 percent to 15 per- cent. The same trends affect Latino students Locked-out unionists in Wales win court ruling who, along with Blacks and Asians, make up the majority of the student population BY ROSE KNIGHT a truckload of turkeys, fresh fruit, and vege- Sheffield also joined the march and rally. in California and Texas, the country’s two CAERNARFON, North Wales— tables a few days before Christmas for the “We took strike action for one day to op- largest states. Immigration has resulted in Locked-out workers at Friction Dynamics, strikers and their families. pose a pay cut, and when we got back, we steadily growing Latino school enrollment, an auto parts plant in Caernarfon, led a The battle with Friction Dynamics were locked out,” said Eddie Grimes. now 7.5 million and rapidly approaching January 25 march and rally of 500 people bosses burst into the open when workers Workers at Friction Dynamics collected Black public school attendance of about 8 here to celebrate winning an unfair dis- held a one-week strike in April 2001. They £1000 ($1,650) worth of food last Decem- million students. missal ruling from an industrial tribunal. protested the company’s drive to impose a ber for the Sheffield workers. Latinos were not included in most de- Craig Smith, the boss at Friction Dynam- 15 percent wage cut, end shift pay, and in- Car workers from IBC, Luton, and the segregation court orders in southern dis- ics, “underestimated us, the local commu- troduce a longer working day without over- Rover plant at Solihull joined the rally, as tricts. Today the average Latino student nity, and our union,” said Gerald Parry, time pay. did workers from Goodyear Tires, goes to a school where less than 30 per- chair of Transport and General Workers The company also sought to restrict Wolverhampton, where the company is cent of their classmates are white. The only Union (TGWU) branch 4/550, in his re- union meetings and reduce the number of closing the plant and is pulling out of the state where substantial measures were marks to the rally. “There has been a union shop stewards on the premises. UK. The tire workers union branch has taken to counter this was Colorado. There, on our site since the 1960s and we have a At the end of the strike, the company made regular contributions of about £100 a 1973 court ruling paralleling the 1960s proud history going back to the unions in effectively locked out the workers by im- ($165) a month to the workers at Friction desegregation orders was a result of pres- the slate quarries in North Wales.” posing an unscheduled holiday. When Dynamics. sure exerted by the mass protests against Parry, who spoke in Welsh and English, picket lines were set up, the bosses sacked Unison, Amicus, the Communication discrimination by the Chicano people in reported that vendors from London brought 87 workers and laid off 24 others. Workers Union, and the General Munici- “He offered our jobs back after eight pal and Boilermakers Union also partici- weeks, but with a 15 percent pay cut and a pated. ‘no strike’ clause,” said Emlyn Jones, a Members and leaders of Plaid Cymru, and the Coming American grinder at the plant for 38 years. “He the Welsh Nationalist Party, came with their thought after an eight-week lockout we banner. The local branch of Plaid Cymru CUBACUBA Revolution by Jack Barnes would go back.” held a January 19 benefit in a local chapel, With the company appealing the tribu- which raised £1,500 ($2,475) for the There will be a victorious revolution in the United States before a nal ruling, workers have decided to con- locked-out workers. The Welsh national victorious counterrevolution in Cuba tinue picketing. “I’ll be picketing every anthem was sung in Welsh at the end of other day until we decide to stop,” said Pat the rally. — Fidel Castro, March 1961 Jones, an examiner for 33 years, who has athfinderathfinder athfinderathfinder athfinder been on the picket line for 21 months. Cuba and the Coming American “We’ve been able to stay on the picket Revolution is about the struggles of line for 21 months because of the support SUBSCRIBE TO working people in the imperialist from local people and unions around the om Pom P P om Pom om Pom om P heartland, the youth who are attracted UK,” said Gwilym Williams, the union PERSPECTIVA FrFr FrFr Fr branch secretary. Bill Morris, General MUNDIAL to them, and the example set by the Secretary TGWU, also spoke and pledged people of Cuba that revolution is not A Spanish- the national union’s continued support. language only necessary—it can be made. Preface Six of 18 firefighters at the Caernarfon socialist magazine by Mary-Alice Waters. In English, Spanish, fire station joined the march with their ban- and French. $13$13$13 ner. “On the first day of our first strike, Special offer locked-out workers from Friction Dynam- for new ics were on our picket line,” said firefighter readers: $6 for 4 months Order now from www.pathfinderpress.com. Please in- Rob Pool. Firefighters across the United clude $3 for shipping and handling. Also available from bookstores, Kingdom have held several strikes in their Send your order to Perspectiva Mundial, including those listed on page 12. battle to defend jobs and fire services. 410 West St., New York, NY 10014 Workers locked out at William Cooks in 4 The Militant February 17, 2003 Israeli troops clamp down as elections held BY MICHAEL ITALIE benefits for university students and single- The January 28 elections in Israel were parent families—a growing proportion of overshadowed by the country’s long-run- the population. Ben-Eliezer proposed a Workers in Venezuela oppose boss ‘strike’ ning and deep recession and the continu- series of alternative spending cuts aimed ing Palestinian resistance to Israeli occu- at the subsidies provided to Israeli settle- pation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ments in the occupied territories. The final tally saw the Likud Party of Prime The average life span of an Israeli gov- Minister Ariel Sharon win twice the seats ernment in the past decade has been less of its Labour Party rival, putting it in a than two years, although the official elec- position to form another coalition govern- toral term is four years. ment. The Palestinian resistance and the eco- In the runup to the vote, Sharon ordered nomic crisis were both weighty factors in the military closure of the occupied terri- the breakup of Sharon’s previous govern- tories, deploying 30,000 police and sol- ment and still confront the one he is now diers. Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians forming. in Gaza City in fighting on January 26. Israeli unemployment stands at 10.5 In the days after the voting, Tel Aviv re- percent, a figure that has steadily risen for inforced the offensive as Israeli forces more than four years. The government blocked major roads, destroyed markets projects the number to reach 12 percent by and machine shops, and closed Palestin- the end of the year. The gross domestic ian television stations. product declined by 1 percent in 2002, the Likud’s 38 seats—less than one-third of second year of decline in a row—a first the 120-member Knesset, or parliament— for Israel—and a similar performance is was nearly double its previous holding. forecast for 2003. Under new leader Amram Mitzna the Likud’s campaign platform included the Labour Party captured 19 seats, its lowest promise to obtain a $4 billion grant and share in the half-century existence of the $10 billion in loan guarantees from the colonial-settler state. The Labour leader United States to keep the economy afloat. had advocated a combination of harsh mili- tary measures against Palestinians and ne- Israeli assaults, Palestinian resistance gotiations with their leaders. In the period leading up to the election, Mitzna refused Sharon’s immediate of- Israeli tanks, troops, and helicopters struck fer of a share in a new coalition govern- deeper into Gaza City than at any time in ment. the past two years of fighting, the New York The Shinui party, a secular opponent of Times reported January 26. the ultra-orthodox parties that had joined The Israeli assault on the city of 300,000 the previous government, more than met with fierce resistance. Defenders fired doubled its tally, ending up with 15 seats. antitank missiles and rifles at Israeli forces. Party leader Yosef Lapid pitched his ap- The heaviest fighting occurred in the cen- Hundreds of thousands march in Caracas, Venezuela, January 23 to denounce peal to Jews from Western Europe as dis- tral market. two-month-old boss “strike,” centered on export oil industry, aimed at top- tinct from those from the Middle East, Two days before the elections the Israeli pling government of Hugo Chávez. A land law and other measures that im- Eastern Europe, and Russia. He welded his rulers halted all Palestinian travel between pede prerogatives of big business are behind capitalist opposition to govern- call for a “secular unity government” to an Palestinian cities and across the boundaries ment. In recent weeks the anti-Chávez mobilization has shown signs of flag- appeal to “westernism,” saying that “if we of the West Bank and Gaza. In Gaza City ging. Oil production has increased to 50 percent of pre-strike levels, and on let the east European ghetto and the north Israeli soldiers dynamited more than a February 3 most other factories, businesses, and schools reopened. African ghetto take over, we will...be lost dozen metal shops, destroying some 100 within a terrible Levantine dunghill.” metalworking lathes, claiming that they The coalition government of Likud- were used to produce rockets and mortar Labour and smaller parties broke apart last bombs. Israeli forces killed at least a dozen one neighborhood on January 27, wit- other Palestinian was shot as he approached October when the then-Labour leader and Palestinians in the raid. nesses told the Associated Press. In the Arabi’s body. The army called it a “rou- defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, In the West Bank city of Jenin, Palestin- exchange Israeli troops killed Rashad tine operation.” refused to endorse a budget by Sharon that ian fighters went into action in response to Arabi, a member of a militia associated Israel’s January 30 raids on the West included substantial cuts in pensions and an assault by 20 Israeli tanks and jeeps in with Yasir Arafat’s Fatah movement. An- Bank cities of Hebron and Tulkarm in- cluded a search for “incitement material” at television stations, according to the army. Soldiers confiscated videotapes, audio- New Zealand rulers press war drive tapes, and literature that Israeli officials labeled as “terrorist.” Ahmad Taradeh, a 20- Continued from Page 16 East then Middle Eastern countries will Washington’s stepped-up propaganda and year-old Hebron University student, said agricultural commodities that are a main- reduce spending on butter and increase actions against north Korea. “Our voice the army assault on the occupied territo- stay of the New Zealand capitalist spending on guns—and we don’t sell guns will be part of the pressure” against ries was “the real result of the election.” economy. “It’s hard to envisage any sig- and we do sell butter,” he said. Pyongyang’s alleged development of Among the Palestinian people, he said, “re- nificant further progress in trade liberal- Sheepmeat sales from New Zealand to nuclear weapons, said Foreign Minister sistance will increase.” ization occurring without an accommoda- the Middle East are substantial, bringing Goff. Israeli human rights group B’tselem an- tion occurring between the European in around $NZ100 million a year ($NZ1 = The New Zealand government sent nounced in early January that the govern- Union and the U.S.,” he told the Sunday US$.54). The 120,000 tons of milk prod- funds to north Korea after the signing of ment is holding more than 1,000 Palestin- Star Times. ucts sent there total 5 percent to 6 percent the 1994 Agreed Framework, the accord ians in “indefinite detention,” without Referring to factors that helped to speed of the dairy industry’s total production for under which Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul charges or trial, the most since the period up the global spread of the 1930s depres- export. agreed to provide fuel, food, and assistance prior to the 1993 Oslo Accords. The po- sion, Sutton said, “U.S. protectionism Sutton accused Washington of “arm- in the construction of nuclear power plants, lice routinely renew the six-month deten- spread the economic catastrophe pretty twisting” other nations into backing its war in exchange for a freeze on the north’s de- tion orders, and the Israeli Supreme Court effectively around the world then and I on Iraq. The next day he backed off this, velopment of nuclear weapons. has rejected most petitions to release pris- think war in Iraq would be in a way a mani- saying that he had merely meant to note oners. festation of a similar response.” that “an energetic diplomatic campaign Intervention in the South Pacific The majority are held in southern Israel’s Sutton also pointed to the impact of a was under way.” While they participate in the prepara- Negev Desert at the Ketziot tent camp. war in Iraq on New Zealand’s markets in Government ministers have been less tions for war in the Middle East, the impe- Notorious for its overcrowded tents, ex- the region. “If there’s war in the Middle circumspect about identifying with rialist governments of Australia and New treme heat in summer, and freezing cold Zealand have stepped up their interference in winter, the prison closed in 1996 but was and intervention in the nations of the South reopened last April. Pacific on the pretext that after September Pittsburgh inquest says cop killing of 11 they face an increased danger of desta- U.S. troops stationed in Israel bilization by terrorist groups. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has stationed 12-year-old youth was ‘justifiable’ Referring to the alleged need to prevent 600 troops in Israel in preparation for the the Solomon Islands from becoming a assault on Iraq. The soldiers will help set BY MARTY RESSLER he chased the unarmed youth, thinking he “failed state,” Goff said, “The problem with up the Patriot missile systems supplied to UNIONTOWN, Pennsylvania— was older, as he ran away from an alleg- Afghanistan was you had a failed state in the settler state as a shield against Iraqi edly stolen vehicle, and shot him after he a vacuum and that vacuum was filled by al Scud missiles. saw Curry fall as if shot. Qaeda.” The missiles have been supplied as Curry denied that he had fired, although This follows the occupation of East Washington repeats its Gulf War demand his gun had been discharged. His attorney Timor in September 1999 by a predomi- that the Israeli air force stay out of the com- State troopers Juan Curry and Samuel suggested that the trigger had caught on nantly Australian and New Zealand force ing war. Israeli officials delivered a Nassan had “acted in a reasonable manner fence wire during the chase. acting under the auspices of the United thumbs-down verdict on the missile bat- based on their training and Pennsylvania Tracy Calloway, who helped to lead the Nations. This was the biggest operation by teries supplied a decade ago. The new Pa- state law” in shooting the youth on Decem- protesters outside the courtroom, said she the New Zealand armed forces since the triots have undergone further development, ber 24, said the six-person, all-white jury was “shocked” by the verdict. “Everyone Korean War, with some 5,000 personnel and are supplemented by the Israeli-devel- in a unanimous decision that serves as an is angry. We are not going to let it stand,” being deployed over three years, many oped Arrow missile. advisory opinion for the district attorney. she said. “There are too many complaints soldiers sent twice or more, and territorial Ellerbe died after being shot through the about the police officers in Uniontown. I reservists called up. heart from the back. He was one of three don’t feel it was right.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Clark has Black individuals killed by cops in Pitts- used the preparations for war as justifica- THE burgh in November and December. Some tion for holding down government spend- MILITANT 170 people joined a rally and march in Mt. ing on social entitlements. Her first major Oliver on January 20 to protest the kill- . interview of the year, published in the Janu- online at ings and other incidents of police brutal- Fayette County district attorney Nancy ary 18 New Zealand Herald, was head- www.themilitant.com ity. Vernon will now decide whether or not to lined, “War clouds keep spending on In his courtroom testimony Nassan said file charges against the two cops. leash.” February 17, 2003 The Militant 5 Solidarity is theme at New York event Continued from front page We must take up the fight of Mr. Calero.” story. On December 3 the journalist was Kathy Chang of the Committee to De- detained and jailed by INS agents at fend Farouk Abdel-Muhti read a statement Houston’s Intercontinental Airport as he from the Palestinian activist, who is threat- entered the United States. Calero had just ened with deportation and is currently in completed a reporting assignment at an in- the Passaic County Jail in New Jersey. “All ternational conference of trade unionists people in my situation are on your side, in Cuba, and a student conference and book and I appeal to you to go on struggling on fair in Mexico. the outside to defend those of us inside,” The INS jailed Calero on the grounds Abdel-Muhti wrote to Calero. of a 1988 high school conviction on a The meeting also heard a letter of soli- charge of selling an ounce of marijuana to darity from Lynne Stewart, a New York at- an undercover cop. Calero had included torney who has been accused of deliver- this information when he had successfully ing messages to a so-called “terrorist” applied for permanent residency in 1989. group. The charges follow her defense of He received his green card the fol- Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian Sheik lowing year, after the INS waived who was railroaded to prison on frame-up the conviction, which was con- charges of conspiring to blow up New York firmed when he renewed it in 2000. landmarks. Ten days after Calero’s jailing, “Calero and I are current targets of re- INS officials in Houston released pression. We stand and defend our cases,” him as protest letters poured into said Stewart. “I am proud to support him their office. They have set up a de- and respect his outreach to the people, to portation hearing for March 25. guarantee his victory.” The February 1 meeting drew Ray La Forrest and Jane Guskin both people from New Jersey and Phila- emphasized the importance of waging a delphia as well as New York. Par- Militant/Angel Lariscy public defense effort. “Unless we fight in- ticipants in a number of campaigns Above, Luis Miranda, director of Casa telligently, unless we use all of our re- against deportations, fighters de las Américas, speaks at February 1 sources, we lose,” said La Forrest. against police brutality, students at New York meeting opposing INS at- local schools, and workers from tempts to deport Róger Calero. Inset, Thousands in similar situations factories in New York were among Calero talks with other participants. “There are many thousands of people in those attending. similar situations,” said Guskin. She urged “I’m honored to have Mr. Calero here,” back.” Margarita Rosario and Juanita Young, who participants to keep sending protest letters said the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, the pastor The speakers panel included Kathy have become leaders in the fight against to the INS. The authorities are “susceptible at St. Mary’s, in opening the event. Calero, Chang of the Committee to Defend Farouk police brutality following the killings of to pressure,” she said. “It is with the public he said, “is a man who has stood up to tell Abdel-Muhti; Margarita Rosario of Parents their sons by New York cops. campaign, not with the legal strategy, that the truth.” against Police Brutality; Ray La Forrest, Rosario, the founder of Parents Against these cases are won.” an organizer in Local DC1707 of the Police Brutality, described the execution- Luis Miranda from Casa de las Nonpartisan defense campaign American Federation of State, County and style murder of her son and nephew in Américas, which defends the Cuban Revo- Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Jane 1995. “They put 14 shots into my son’s Pamela Vossenas, a co-chair of the Róger lution, described how Washington’s immi- Guskin of the Coalition for the Human back as he lay down on the floor and 8 shots Calero Defense Committee, chaired the gration policies are applied unequally to Rights of Immigrants; Luis Miranda, di- into my nephew’s back,” she said. program. “Our mission is to build a non- immigrants from Haiti and Cuba. He ad- rector of Casa de las Américas; Bobby When an independent autopsy on the partisan committee,” she said. “First, to vocated support for the five Cuban patri- Khan of the Coney Island Avenue Project; bodies contradicted the police account, “I make the INS pay the highest price pos- ots serving long sentences in U.S. jails on Kathy Andrade of the Salvadoran Social decided to fight,” Rosario said. sible for their acts against Róger Calero. frame-up charges of “conspiracy” to com- and Cultural Circle; John Studer of the “The U.S. government has tried to si- Second, to stop the deportation, to defend mit espionage. Róger Calero Defense Committee; and lence people of color,” she said, “like Mar- his right to live and work in this country “Today Róger Calero, tomorrow anyone without fear of arrest. We are also here to Calero himself. tin Luther King and [Puerto Rican inde- The meeting gave a warm welcome to pendence fighter Pedro] Albisu Campos. else,” he said, urging support for the anti- set an example that it is possible to fight deportation fight. Bobby Khan also emphasized the wide- spread abuses by the INS, which rounded Spanish-language daily interviews Calero up hundreds of immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East following the The following article appeared in the the INS stop its deportation campaign grant workers,” Calero said. September 11 attacks. The organization in January 30 issue of Hoy, a Spanish-lan- against thousands of Latinos,” said Nica- The campaign against his deportation which he is active, the Coney Island Av- guage daily published in New York City. raguan journalist Róger Calero on Wednes- includes numerous organizations and in- enue Project, is named after a neighbor- It was headlined “A fight against depor- day during a visit to Hempstead. dividual defenders of freedom of the press, hood in Brooklyn—home to many Paki- tation; Nicaraguan Róger Calero gets Calero, who has lived in the United immigrant rights activists, and hundreds of stanis and other immigrants—that is “un- aid from various organizations in order States for 15 years, says that his deporta- unionists, who compelled the INS to pa- der attack,” he said. “More than 1,000 have to confront the immigration service.” tion would be a big blow, since his whole role him. been arrested, many deported.” The author, Rudolfo Castillo, inter- family lives in this country. “My mother, On the first Saturday in February, be- Khan saluted Calero and others who viewed Calero in Hempstead, New York. my aunt, and my wife are all U.S. citizens ginning at 7:00 p.m., a public meeting will have said “no” to such treatment. “The Translation is by the Militant. and I have been a permanent resident for be held. Organized by Calero’s defense more they oppress us, the more energy we 12 years.” committee it will take place at St. Mary’s feel to fight back,” he said. “Justice is not BY RUDOLFO CASTILLO Besides his work as associate editor of Episcopal Church, 521 W. 126th St. in going to be given. We’ll have to earn it.” “Although this case is not unique, it does Perspectiva Mundial magazine, Calero is Manhattan. The organizers invite “support- Kathy Andrade of the Salvadoran So- present a good opportunity to demand that a writer for the Militant, an English-lan- ers of this cause to join the fight to support cial and Cultural Circle also brought her guage weekly in New York—a job that has his right to live and work in the United support and encouraged participants to join allowed him to travel to different places in States.” Continued on Page 7 the United States and Latin America, writ- ing about politics and issues in the labor movement. Last year he traveled to Havana to cover a conference on the Free Trade Act of the Americas in which unionists and other delegates from Latin America, the United States, and Support the Róger Calero Canada participated. On December 3 Calero was Defense Committee held at the Houston airport • Send messages to INS district director when he returned to the coun- Hipolito Acosta demanding the exclusion moves try from carrying out a writing against Calero be dropped. Messages can be assignment in Guadalajara, Mexico, reporting on the Inter- faxed to (281) 774-5989 or mailed to the Im- national Book Fair and an in- migration and Naturalization Service, 126 ternational student conference. Northpoint Drive, Houston, TX 77060. Copies “After holding me for three should be sent to the Róger Calero Defense hours, they told me they were Committee, c/o PRDF, Box 761, Church St. Sta- beginning deportation proceed- tion, New York, NY 10007; fax (212) 563-0585. ings,” said Calero, who says that • Sign and distribute petitions demanding the he was arrested for selling mari- INS drop the exclusion of Calero. A brochure juana to an undercover cop in and petition are available from the defense 1988, when he was a high committee (e-mail: [email protected]). school student in Los Angeles. “At that time, facing the danger • Funds are urgently needed to meet rapidly of going to jail, I decided to mounting legal and other expenses. Defense plead guilty because they told campaign backers in every city need to raise me it would not affect me in the thousands of dollars for these needs. Organize future. phone calling for donations, seek honoraria for “The immigration service is speaking engagements, and take collections at trying to deport me now on the public meetings. The goal is to raise over grounds of a 14-year-old con- Hoy/Rudolfo Castillo $50,000 by the end of January. Contributions viction, basing this on a law en- Róger Calero with, left, Pamela Vossenas, a co-chair of defense committee, and right, are tax-deductible. acted in 1996, just as they are Sarah Katz, a volunteer for the defense campaign and Calero’s wife. Photo appeared doing to thousands of immi- in Hoy with article that announced February 1 public meeting in New York. 6 The Militant February 17, 2003 Tens of thousands visit international book fair in Havana Continued from front page vilion, snapping up a wide array of titles. books were sold at the book fair nation- Every evening the fair hosts concerts by wide; this year we expect between 3 and 4 Cuban musicians. Throughout Havana, art million copies to be sold.” and photo exhibitions, film showings, and Through these educational efforts, Prieto theatrical productions are being held to co- said, we are placing Cuba in the “vanguard incide with the fair. of cultural resistance” in the world. This year fair organizers have also sched- Also speaking were Cuban poet and es- uled a series of forums on various themes. sayist Pablo Armando Fernández, the fair’s One is on the work of Cuban national hero honored author this year, and Francisco José Martí, the anti-imperialist leader and Pareja, representing the Andean coun- outstanding writer, the 150th anniversary of Militant/Jonathan Silberman tries—Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, whose birth is being marked this year. Other Volunteers from Iceland and Australia discuss titles with visitor to Pathfinder booth and Venezuela—to whom the 12th inter- topics include the world economy, educa- at book fair. Festival will travel to 30 cities after 11-day stay in Havana. national book fair is dedicated. Cuban tion, and the expansion of access to culture president Fidel Castro and other govern- in Cuba. The first forum, “The World After ment leaders were present at the opening. September 11,” featured U.S. academic of 18 short stories and poems by promi- titles are firsthand accounts by combatants The first weekend the fair was jammed James Petras. A lively discussion from the nent Cuban writers and illustrations by 18 in Cuba’s revolutionary war in the 1950s to with visitors of all ages interested in books. floor followed the panel presentation. well-known artists. The contents have as overthrow the Batista dictatorship. They browsed the stands, attended book Among the first books to be launched at their common theme the Cuban people’s A popular title this year is a collection launchings, went to poetry readings, and the fair is Cicatrices en la memoria struggle to defend their revolution from of cartoons by Gerardo Hernández lined up at stalls selling affordable titles in (Scarred Memories), just released by the U.S.-backed counterrevolutionary organi- Nordelo, one of five Cuban revolutionar- Cuban pesos. Thousands of children with Capitán San Luis publishing house of the zations, which for more than four decades ies imprisoned in the United States on parents in tow thronged the children’s pa- Ministry of the Interior. It is a collection have carried out acts of terror against the frame-up charges because of their work revolution. The featured speakers were infiltrating and gathering information on Roberto Fernández Retamar, president of U.S.-based counterrevolutionary groups Cuba’s Casa de las Américas cultural cen- organizing attacks on Cuba. Hernández is ter and author of the book’s foreword, and serving two life terms. Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly, who wrote the epilogue. Interest in Pathfinder titles Other books being presented here range Pathfinder Press, one of 52 non-Cuban from collections of poetry by contempo- publishers at this year’s Havana book fair, rary Ecuadoran writer Jorge Enrique is organizing presentations of three new Adoum to works by German novelist titles. One is Marianas in Combat: Teté Heinrich Böll to classics such as Great Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women’s Expectations by Charles Dickens. Platoon in Cuba’s Revolutionary War, 1956- One featured launching is for the Span- 58, in both English and Spanish editions. ish-language edition of Conflicting Missions The book is an interview with Puebla, who by Piero Gleijeses. The book, published in was second in command of the women’s English in the United States last year, docu- platoon in the Rebel Army, which was led ments revolutionary Cuba’s international- by Fidel Castro. She is currently a general ist support for and participation in national in Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces. liberation struggles from Algeria to Angola, A second title is Malcolm X Talks to and Washington’s efforts to crush these free- Young People, also both in English and dom struggles. Other books on political top- Spanish. The launching is being organized ics range from El Partido de los jointly with Casa Editora Abril, publish- Independientes de Color (The Party of In- ing house of the Union of Young Commu- dependents of Color) by Sivio Castro, the nists, which has just released a Cuban edi- history of an independent Black political tion of Malcolm X habla a la juventud. party in Cuba in the early 20th century; to Pathfinder is also presenting October Militant/Martín Koppel Ten Days That Shook The World by John 1962: The ‘Missile’ Crisis as Seen from Students at military medicine school in Havana look over display on Róger Calero Reed, an eyewitness narrative of the Octo- Cuba by Tomás Diez Acosta. The Spanish defense campaign—a feature of the Pathfinder booth at book fair. ber 1917 Russian Revolution. Several new edition is published by Editora Política of Havana. Pathfinder’s booth has been a hive of ac- tivity each day from the moment the fair’s Solidarity is theme at meeting in New York doors open at 10:00 a.m. to when they close Continued from Page 6 sidered grounds for deportation and directs Nyssa Chow, a student at Sarah Lawrence at 8:00 p.m. Many who visit to look at Pathfinder’s range of titles also take the op- a February 14 protest for immigrant rights the INS to expel immigrants convicted of College, introduced Calero. “I am from portunity to discuss politics with the volun- outside the Federal Building in downtown crimes, even if they are legal residents of Trinidad,” she said, “but I have not joined teers staffing the stand, who include com- Manhattan. the United States. this fight because I am an immigrant. I have munist workers and youth from Australia, The defense committee organized a col- Calero has an advantage over many oth- not joined because of my race, my gender, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, and the UK. lection to cover costs and contribute to the ers caught in the net, said Studer. “He has my political or religious affiliation. And not national fund-raising goal of $50,000 by political comrades and has won respect in because I could be next. I am a part of this Many Cubans stopping at the booth go the time of the INS hearing on March 25. the labor movement, including as a meat struggle because my conscience will not straight for the new Malcolm X habla a la Committee coordinator John Studer gave packer in Des Moines, Iowa, and St. Paul, allow otherwise.” juventud. Dennis Rodríguez, who works for the fund pitch. Minnesota, where he was involved in a suc- Calero reviewed the facts of his case and the electrical company in East Havana, said “Like many others,” Studer said, “Róger cessful union-organizing drive at the Da- then encouraged those present to get in- he’d previously read The Autobiography of was snared for a past offense, as the INS kota Premium plant. volved in this and other struggles. “As such Malcolm X, published in Cuba in 1974 and has poured the names and records of mil- “A lot of people see themselves in this abuses get exposed,” he said, “more and long out of print, and had seen the Holly- lions of immigrants, residents, and citizens fight,” Studer said. more people will step forward as we see wood film by Spike Lee. He was eager to into its database.” It has done this, he ex- Through donations at the door, the col- it’s possible to push the government and read what Malcolm had to say in speeches plained, under retroactive powers granted lection, and further contributions at the their cops back.” and interviews during the last year of his it under the 1996 Illegal Immigration Re- lively social that followed the meeting, The INS use of a prior conviction rings life. Browsing through the book, he com- form and Immigrant Responsibility Act. more than $2,800 was raised. “alarm bells among many who have had mented on a February 1965 interview in The law expanded the list of offenses con- Another volunteer with the committee, contact with the ‘justice’ system,” Calero which Malcolm argued that capitalism is said. “Many object to the idea that you can getting weaker, and enjoyed the U.S.-born be made to pay twice for the same convic- revolutionary’s metaphor of U.S. imperial- tion.” ism evolving from an eagle to a scavenging In the discussion, Maximo Espinal was vulture that can be defeated in struggle. Róger Calero defense campaign tour not the only participant who saw the meet- Adriana Bernales, a student at the Uni- versity of Havana, was one of many who The Róger Calero Defense Committee has launched a speaking tour for Calero ing as an opportunity to speak out about their treatment at the hands of the INS. came seeking an explanation of the im- in cities around the country to broaden the fight to stop his deportation by the Omar Arango, who lives in Elizabeth, pending U.S.-led war in the Mideast. “Do INS. Below is the schedule for the next stops New Jersey, told the meeting that he faces you think it’s because of Bush’s oil inter- in the tour. Requests for additional tour dates a final deportation hearing in June. A truck ests?” she asked. She was interested in get- can be made to the committee. driver and U.S. resident for 22 years, ting the issue of the magazine Nueva Arango is threatened under the same 1996 Internacional featuring “The Opening law. He attended the meeting with his wife Guns of World War III: Washington’s As- New Jersey Feb. 9 and three children. “We knew that there are sault on Iraq” by Jack Barnes, an analysis organizations working on cases like ours of the 1991 Gulf War and its outcome. Seattle Feb. 20–22 but didn’t know how to contact them,” said A number of people who had visited the Sandra Roldan-Arango. Pathfinder booth in previous years returned Colorado Feb. 23–25 Both Arango and Espinal found out to pick up on unfinished discussions and For more information or to send a contri- about the meeting through reading an in- to address new questions uppermost in their minds, from the employer-led efforts bution, contact the Róger Calero Defense terview with Calero run in Hoy, a Spanish- language daily published in New York (see to overthrow the government of Venezu- Committee. See details in box on page 6. article on page 6.) The article included de- ela to new developments in the class Continued on Page 14 struggle in the United States. February 17, 2003 The Militant 7 Socialists defend right to campa SWP files for six-year extension of exemption from federal requirement to pro BY PAUL PEDERSON parties “the threat to the exercise of First The Socialist Workers National Cam- Amendment rights is so serious...that the paign Committee has filed a request with Act’s requirements cannot be constitution- the Federal Election Commission for a six- ally applied.” year extension of the party’s exemption In 1979, after a five-year public cam- from requirements to report the names of paign, the SWP won a federal court rul- financial contributors. The letter was filed ing that it was covered by the Buckley cri- on the party’s behalf by attorney Michael teria and was exempt from federal report- Krinsky, a senior partner at the New York ing requirements. The FEC signed a con- firm of Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, sent decree requiring the Socialist Work- Krinsky & Lieberman. The FEC is ex- ers campaign committees to keep records pected to decide on the request in the first of contributors and file reports with the few months of this year. election commission but without identi- The party’s fight for the exemption is fying contributors. part of its decades-long support for the Then, in 1982 the U.S. Supreme Court, right of workers, farmers, and their orga- in Brown v. Socialist Workers ’74 Cam- nizations to engage in political activity, paign Committee, granted the SWP an including elections, free from government exemption from state disclosure require- and right-wing harassment. The commu- ments in Ohio. That same year the court nist movement has consistently opposed also exempted candidates of the Commu- every measure by the capitalist rulers and nist Party from federal reporting guide- their hired thugs to assert a monopoly over lines. the right to organize, the ability to carry Since 1979 the party has fought for and out political action, and the possibility to won extensions of the federal ruling, as be heard by the working population. well as parallel exemptions from state dis- The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) has closure laws. In 1996, however, the FEC run candidates for office since 1938 and imposed a restriction on the exemption, fielded candidates for president and vice ruling that the SWP campaign committee president in every election since 1948. must assign a code number for each con- These socialist campaigns serve as a plat- Militant/Sarah Katz (above) tributor and report those numbers. form to reach out with revolutionary ideas Above, Martín Koppel, Socialist Work- In the recent letter to the FEC on be- to a broad working-class audience, as well ers 2002 candidate for governor of New half of the SWP, attorney Michael Krinsky as to defend the party’s ability to function York campaigns in Brooklyn. The party cited three further court rulings just from on the same footing as any other political has a long record of support for work- the past few years underlining the justice organization in the United States. ing people’s right to engage in political of the party’s request to extend its exemp- activity. Left, cop photographs protest- tion. A 1995 ruling by the U.S. Supreme First Amendment rights ers against U.S. bombing of Iraq in Bir- Court upheld the principles of both the Under a 1979 Federal Elections Com- mingham in 1998—a protest that in- Buckley and Brown decisions, as did an- mission (FEC) ruling, which has been ex- cluded Socialist Workers campaign sup- other of its decisions four year later. tended several times since then, the So- porters. The incident is included in the Krinsky also called special attention to a cialist Workers Party has won an exemp- list of examples showing case for exemp- 1998 Texas Supreme Court decision hold- tion from a federal requirement to report tion from filing contributors’ names. ing that associations should be exempt the names of contributors to its election even if the potential consequences of dis- campaigns, as well as the names of ven- closure are much less serious than those dors with whom campaign committees do uted. These reports are open to the pub- closure of campaign contributors’ names. documented by the Socialist Workers business. lic, making them a convenient “enemies The party’s recent request for extension Party. The 1971 Federal Election Campaign list” for government agencies, employers, of this protection cites 74 examples of In the Brown v. Socialist Workers case, Act required candidates and campaign private spy agencies, and right-wing harassment and threats—all since the pre- for example, the Texas court ruled, “the committees to file detailed reports listing groups and individuals. vious extension was granted in 1996—di- campaign committee introduced evidence all those who contribute more than $200 The SWP won the exemption on the rected at supporters of the Socialist Work- of harassment including threatening phone to its campaigns—names, addresses, and basis of the threat to First Amendment ers Party by right-wing individuals and calls, hate mail, destruction of property, occupations, as well as amounts contrib- rights to free association posed by the dis- groups, employers, and city, state, and and physical violence.... However, such a federal police. It includes corroborat- factual record of violent past harassment ing newspaper clippings, police re- is not the only situation in which courts ports, citations, and individual decla- have recognized a political infringement Recommended reading from Pathfinder rations. of an association’s First Amendment The examples of harassment include rights.” 28 cases of police interference with • FBI on Trial: The Victory in the Socialist Workers Party FBI disruption campaign Suit Against Government Spying election campaign activities, such as stopping campaign supporters from Another of the central arguments pre- Edited By Margaret Jayko distributing literature, threatening to sented by Krinsky in the recent letter to Record of SWP’s landmark 1987 court victory against arrest campaign workers, photograph- the FEC is the findings from a landmark government spying. 18.95 ing participants in an antiwar demon- 15-year legal battle, won by the SWP in • Cointelpro: The FBI’s Secret War on Political Freedom stration, issuing citations, and in many 1986, that revealed a decades-long cam- paign of harassment, spying, and disrup- By Nelson Blackstock $15.95 cases expressing hostility to the views of the socialists and their right to tion by the FBI and other political police • Teamster Bureaucracy present them publicly. agencies. The ruling in that lawsuit, So- By Farrell Dobbs Dozens of other examples are cited cialist Workers Party v. Attorney General, How the rank and file Teamsters leadership organized to of threats and disruption, such as of- placed an injunction on the FBI against oppose World War II , racism, and government efforts to gag fice break-ins and vandalism, threats using the files it collected through bur- glary, infiltration, surveillance, and other class-struggle-minded workers. $18.95 by bosses, death threats, and physical assaults such as the overturning of cam- such methods used against the SWP. • Socialism on Trial paign tables by right-wing or racist in- This systematic harassment and victim- By James P. Cannon dividuals. ization by the federal government goes Testimony at trial of 18 leaders of the Minneapolis Teamsters In each case supporters of the party back to the late 1930s, as the U.S. gov- Union and the Socialist Workers Party framed up and impris- were carrying out constitutionally pro- ernment was preparing for its entry into World War II. At that time, the Democratic oned during World War II. $15.95 tected activities such as distributing campaign materials and political litera- Party administration of Franklin D. • Revelations Concerning the Communist trial in Cologne ture on street corners, plant gates, or Roosevelt strengthened the FBI as a na- By Karl Marx mine portals; organizing meetings on tional political police force to crack down Classic 1853 booklet exposing the Prussian police spying and campuses; or engaging in protest ac- on labor militancy and opposition to U.S. frame-up campaign against the communist movement. Marx tivity. war moves among the working-class van- and Engels Collected Works Vol. 11. $25.00 Since the 1971 FEC Act was passed, guard that had emerged from the class the Socialist Workers campaign com- battles of the 1930s. In 1941, 18 leaders • Lenin as Election Campaign Manager mittees have refused to turn over the of the Teamsters union and Socialist Work- By Doug Jenness names of campaign contributors on the ers Party were prosecuted and convicted Lessons from election campaigns organized by the Bolsheviks grounds that this would open these in- on frame-up conspiracy charges for their in Russia under the tsar. $3.50 dividuals up to victimization by gov- opposition to the imperialist war cam- ernment and private sources. paign; they were imprisoned in 1944-45. • “Washington’s 50-year Domestic Contra Operation” in In 1974 a lawsuit was filed in fed- By 1942, the FBI had nearly 24,000 FBI issue no. 6 of New International eral court on behalf of the Socialist informers reporting on union and politi- By Larry Seigle $15.00 Workers National Campaign Commit- cal activities in almost 4,000 factories, tee challenging the law as unconstitu- mines, and mills. The disruption campaign tional. Two years later, in a 1976 rul- was also aimed at the rising movement Order nonoOrder w from www.pathf.pathf.pathfinderinderinderpress.com.press.com.press.com. ing on a case filed by another plaintiff for Black rights, with agents infiltrating Please include $3 for shipping and handling. (Buckley v. Valeo), the U. S. Supreme the NAACP and other civil rights organi- Also aaAlso vailabvailabvailable from bookstores, including those listed on page 12. Court recognized that for particular zations. These activities of the secret po-

8 The Militant February 17, 2003 ign in elections ovide names of campaign contributors lice continued after the war and expanded Pathfinder Press: FBI on Trial: The Vic- with the rising civil rights battles and tory in the Socialist Workers Party Suit movement against the Vietnam War in the against Government Spying; Cointelpro: 1960s and ‘70s. The FBI labeled these The FBI’s Secret War on Political Free- operations the Counterintelligence Pro- dom; Workers’ Rights vs. the Secret Po- gram, or Cointelpro. lice; and “Washington’s 50-year Domes- Krinsky points out that the FBI amassed tic Contra Operation” in issue no. 6 of New 8 million documents on the SWP. Over International, a magazine of Marxist poli- the period 1960-76, it employed a total of tics and theory. about 1,300 informers—including 300 The victory in the lawsuit against the who entered the party—and paid them government was made possible by the $1.6 million for their spying and disrup- political space opened up through the tion work. The federal cops conducted battles for civil rights, women’s rights, and Militant/Eric Simpson more than 200 burglaries of the party’s against the U.S. war in Vietnam that took Michael Italie, Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Miami in 2001, speaking at offices. place from the 1950s to 1970s. Nov. 2, 2001, event to oppose his firing. Italie was dismissed from sewing plant for In 1948, the Socialist Workers Party was One case Krinsky points to is a historic political views he expressed as candidate. His case is cited in request filed with FEC. put on the Attorney General’s list of “sub- victory won in the 1950s by the National versive” organizations, a blacklist used to Association for the Advancement of Col- donned their Ku Klux Klan robes or re- and to associate freely with others in so bar from federal employment any mem- ored People (NAACP) against the govern- ported for duty as night riders for the doing as to come within the protection of bers or supporters of targeted organiza- ment of Alabama, which had demanded White Citizens Council. The Alabama the Fourteenth Amendment.” tions. The list was officially ended in 1974, it turn over a list of its members. At the NAACP refused to turn over the names of as public outrage against such practices time the local and state authorities in Ala- its members and won a victory in the Su- 74 incidents of harassment increased in the wake of the Watergate bama were part of the forces using police preme Court in 1958. After describing the “long history of scandal during the administration of presi- repression and lynch-mob terror to attack The Court ruling stated, “We hold that governmental harassment” against the dent Richard Nixon. the rising movement against Jim Crow the immunity from state scrutiny of mem- Socialist Workers Party, Krinsky points A record of this political battle and segregation that the NAACP was helping bership lists which the [NAACP] claims out that “the federal animus against the court victory against government disrup- to lead. on behalf of its members is here so re- SWP continues.” The 74 incidents cited tion and harassment can be found in sev- As cops and sheriffs doffed their uni- lated to the right of the members to pur- for the years 1996-2002 make a strong eral books and pamphlets published by forms at the end of the workday, many sue their lawful private interests privately Continued on Page 11 No ‘equal time’ in coverage of working-class campaigns BY MARTÍN KOPPEL In 1959, however, Congress amended bents refused to debate and because of the Fairness Doctrine as a pretext for limiting In presenting a working-class perspec- Section 315 to exempt TV and radio sta- possibility of third candidates demanding equal access. For example, they would tive through election campaigns, socialist tions from giving “equal time” to other equal time. refuse to cover “minor” candidates by ar- candidates not only must stand up to gov- candidates on “bona fide news events.” It In 1975 the 1960 exemption was for- guing that if they did so, they would then ernment harassment. They also face sys- did so after an opponent of Democratic malized and broadened when the FCC be required by the Fairness Doctrine to tematic efforts by the twin parties of big mayor Richard Daley of Chicago requested defined candidate debates as “bona fide give equal time to others. business to limit their ability to have their free airtime from a TV station after Daley news events.” To pull it off, they got the The major TV networks campaigned to program and their candidates become was covered on the evening news. The FCC willing agreement of the League of abolish the Fairness Doctrine altogether, known to the majority of workers and farm- has systematically expanded the category Women Voters to sponsor the debates, al- insisting that, if newspapers were not cov- ers. The capitalist two-party system is struc- of programs exempted from political ac- lowing the networks to cover them as a ered by such a provision, TV programs tured to keep independent working-class cess requirements. “news event.” In 1988 the job of sponsor- shouldn’t be either. The FCC dropped the candidates off the ballot by imposing what In particular, the Democrats and Repub- ing debates was taken over by the Com- Fairness Doctrine from its statutes in 1987. are often onerous petitioning requirements, licans have worked hard to restrict access mission on Presidential Debates. Although there have not been similar and sometimes nonrefundable financial to televised presidential debates. When the federal regulations covering newspapers “deposits” or “filing fees” as well. first televised presidential debates were ‘Fairness Doctrine’ limits access and magazines, the owners of the big-busi- Even when working-class candidates held in 1960, Congress suspended the rules A separate provision was the Fairness ness dailies, weeklies, and monthlies have succeed in gaining a spot on the ballot, the to allow the Kennedy-Nixon debate to pro- Doctrine, which the FCC instituted in generally followed in the footsteps of the U.S. billionaire class has used its courts, ceed without the networks having to grant 1949. It required that broadcasters “oper- major radio and TV networks and stations. laws, and regulatory agencies to maintain airtime to the “minor” candidates. These ate in the public interest and afford rea- Over the past quarter century, the editors the Democratic-Republican monopoly on were Farrell Dobbs of the SWP, Eric Hass sonable opportunity for the discussion of of these publications have given less and access to radio, television, and mass-cir- of the Socialist Labor Party, Orval Faubus conflicting views on issues of public in- less coverage—often none at all—to can- culation newspapers and magazines. of the segregationist States’ Rights Party, terest.” This made it possible for candi- didates other than those running on the Through the 1940s and even 1950s, can- and the Constitution and Prohibition can- dates and others to be granted airtime to Democratic or Republican party lines or didates of working-class parties often re- didates. offer opposing views to those broadcast various bourgeois “third party” candidates ceived coverage on national radio news No more presidential debates were or- by the networks. of left or right, such as Patrick Buchanan, broadcasts. Over the past decades, however, ganized until 1976 because the incum- The networks, however, often used the Ross Perot, or Ralph Nader. provisions such as the so-called Equal Time Rule and the Fairness Doctrine, supposedly guaranteeing airtime to “minor” candi- dates, have been stripped of content or SWP presidential ticket of Dobbs-Carlson used—often cynically, in the name of “fair- ness”—to impose a virtual media blackout on all but the bosses’ candidates. broadcast nationwide in 1948 campaign In 1934 Congress adopted the Commu- nications Act, establishing the Federal BY PAUL PEDERSON dio time granted under the Equal Time ward incumbent Harry Truman, the even- Communications Commission (FCC), to In the Socialist Workers Party’s 1948 Rule of the 1934 Communications Act. tual winner. Strom Thurmond of the seg- regulate the broadcast industry. One pro- election campaign—the first presidential They presented a revolutionary work- regationist States’ Rights Democratic vision of the law, Section 315, known as campaign run by the party—candidate ing-class alternative to the campaigns of Party and Henry Wallace of the Progres- the “Equal Time Rule,” deals with access Farrell Dobbs and his running mate Grace the Republican Party, which ran Thomas sive Party were among the other candi- to the broadcast media. It states, “If any Carlson made full use of the access to ra- Dewey, and the Democrats, who put for- dates. licensee shall permit any person who is a Dobbs delivered at least five nationwide legally qualified candidate for any public speeches over NBC, ABC, CBS, and the office to use a broadcasting station, he Mutual Broadcasting System. The first shall afford equal opportunities to all other was broadcast on May 15 under the title, such candidates for that office in the use “End Capitalism to Stop War.” The can- of such broadcasting station.” didate declared, “There can be no effec- The Equal Time Rule applies to paid tive struggle against war unless it is di- airtime for candidates on radio and TV rected towards the elimination of the war- and to some free spots for candidates. It breeding capitalist system.” initially applied to news coverage. Two weeks later Dobbs spoke over ABC In 1948, at the Socialist Workers Party radio on “Capital and Labor in 1948.” He (SWP) convention where Farrell Dobbs described the ruling-class offensive and Grace Carlson were nominated as the against the labor movement, exemplified SWP candidates for president and vice by the growing use of the Taft-Hartley president, respectively, their acceptance “Slave Labor” Act. Taft-Hartley, still in speeches were broadcast nationwide by use today, authorized the federal govern- ABC and other radio networks. Over the ment to end strikes through court orders. course of the election campaign Dobbs (Truman had vetoed the bill as a dema- gave at least five nationally broadcast gogic sop to ensure backing by the labor speeches on the four main networks: NBC, officialdom in the 1948 election. Then, ABC, CBS, and the Mutual Broadcasting after the act was passed over his veto, System. He also took part in 15 nightly 1948 SWP presidential candidate Farrell Dobbs giving acceptance speech at party Truman invoked it repeatedly against radio forums on a New York station. convention broadcast nationwide over several radio networks. Continued on Page 11

February 17, 2003 The Militant 9 Celebrate Black History Month WITH PATHFINDER

M alcolm X Malcolm X TTTalks to YYYoung PPoung eople/ Malcolm X habla a la juventud by Malcolm X New, expanded edition includes, for the first time in print, the entire December 1964 debate presentation by Malcolm X at the Oxford Union and February 1965 speech at the London School of Economics. The 2002 edition contains other new material complementing four talks by Malcolm X given to young people in Ghana, the United Kingdom, and the United States in the last months of Malcolm’s life. The collection concludes with two memorial tributes by a young socialist leader to this great revolutionary, whose example and words continue to speak the truth to generation after generation of youth. Expanded 17-page photo display. Also available in Spanish. $15.00

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10 The Militant February 17, 2003 Pennsylvania nurses strike over jobs, hours BY JACK WARD patients deserve it, and I will fight for it.” WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania— Since 2000 some 400 nurses have been Hundreds of registered nurses and their laid off. Nurses told Militant reporters that supporters rallied and marched here Feb- on some floors one worker will have to care ruary 1 to demand that Wilkes-Barre Gen- for as many as 10 patients. Because of eral Hospital hire more staff and eliminate short-staffing, said Rose Papi, “some pa- most mandatory overtime. tients don’t see a nurse for hours.” The action followed on the heels of a Papi added, “We knew when we went January 30-31 strike that had involved into the profession that we would work more than 400 nurses. Ninety-seven per- holidays and weekends, but we were not cent of members of the union voted for the told we would be understaffed and over- stoppage. The nurses are organized by the worked.” Wyoming Valley Nurses Association, the Overtime is a key issue in the dispute. local affiliate of the Pennsylvania Associa- Nurses can end up working up to 16 hours tion of Staff Nurses and Allied Profession- straight. Host claims that only 1 percent of als. this overtime is mandatory. Papi and oth- The administration kept the hospital run- ers pointed out, however, that nurses often ning by enlisting a Denver firm that spe- volunteer to work extra hours to cover for cializes in strike-breaking operations. It has a coworker who is pressed to work over now locked the nurses out. The 200 replace- but has other obligations. ment nurses will work for at least another Nurses have also demanded a wage in- eight days, said William Host, president of crease to bring them up to parity with work- Wyoming Valley Health Care System, the ers at Mercy Hospital, also in Wilkes-Barre, Militant/Jack Ward company that owns the hospital. improved pensions, and a closed union Nurses at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital picket on February 1. After striking for two The workers have established a picket shop. Sick leave is also an issue, since they days, 400 unionists were locked out in dispute over working hours and staffing levels. line. About 25 registered nurses have are not paid for the final six of their 12 crossed it. sick days a year. Several nurses spoke at the rally. “We cal workers, and other hospital staff also presidents from three area hospitals, the demand they hire more nurses and other Support from other hospital staff joined in. Most cars that passed blared their firefighters union president, and several staff to care for the patients,” said Brenda Following their rally, the nurses marched horns in support. Pennsylvania state representatives. Philips, an emergency room nurse who has to the hospital. Many brought their fami- Members of nearly 30 other unions were Bob Smith, a local branch president of worked at the hospital since 1971. “The lies along. Some doctors, emergency medi- present. Speakers included nurses union the National Postal Mailhandlers Union, came with others from his local. “I sup- port the nurses’ demand for adequate staff- ing and an end to forced overtime 100 per- cent,” he said. “There’s no way they can Socialists defend right to campaign take care of patients properly if they’re forced to work so many hours.” Continued from Page 9 nounced new rules allowing FBI agents to individuals and organizations. Hospital officials are using private se- case for this argument. snoop on public meetings, churches and These and other moves today are probes curity firms as well as relying on the po- One example that received significant mosques, and political and civic organiza- by the U.S. rulers to see how far they can lice to try to intimidate nurses and cut publicity is the case of Michael Italie, the tions. roll back earlier gains. The outcome will across the widespread support for their Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of In New York and other cities, local po- be determined in struggle. fight. Two days before the strike, three Miami in 2001, who was fired from his job lice and government officials are seeking In that context, the current request by union members were removed from the as a sewing machine operator at Goodwill to rehabilitate political police units known the Socialist Workers National Campaign lobby by cops and security as they handed Industries, a U.S. government contractor, as “red squads,” which had been officially Committee for exemption from the federal out union literature. for views he expressed during his cam- curtailed during the 1970s and ’80s. In disclosure requirement is part of the fight “They told us to leave now or be termi- paign. Chicago, for example, a court last year re- today to defend the political rights of work- nated,” said Sandra Solovey, local union Italie spoke in a televised mayoral de- versed a consent decree limiting the spy- ers, farmers, and others exercising their president. The administration has since bate against the U.S. assault on Afghani- ing powers of the local cops. The 1974 law- constitutional rights. posted police and security officers inside stan, in support of the Cuban Revolution, suit resulting in that decree revealed that Messages urging the FEC to extend the the lobby and has hired a security agency and in favor of unions. His employer fired the red squad had routinely engaged in exemption can be sent to the Federal Elec- that films workers on the picket line. him telling him his “views on the U.S. burglaries, blackmail, warrantless wiretaps, tion Commission in Washington, D.C. Summing up the nurses’ stance, Solovey government are contrary to those of this illegal arrests, and provocations. In New Contributions earmarked for this fight can told the rally, “We are not going back in agency.” Italie waged a nationwide fight York the police department is seeking to be sent to the Socialist Workers National there without safe staffing, language on against this political firing and gained con- reverse a 1985 consent decree curbing the Campaign Committee, P.O. Box 2652, limited mandatory overtime, and a closed siderable support and media coverage. legal ability of the cops to gather files on New York, NY 10009. shop.” In Des Moines, Iowa, the Socialist Work- ers campaign headquarters was defaced in September 2000. Pigs feet were shoved through the mail slot, chicken livers were 1948 candidates broadcast nationwide thrown at the front and side walls, and the front windows were pelted with eggs. An Continued from Page 9 article on the attack in the Des Moines union struggles). Register quoted SWP spokesperson Joe Despite the employers’ attacks, Dobbs Swanson, who pointed out that the city explained, the working class has shown it police were not doing a serious investiga- has the capacity to fight. He pointed to the tion of the incident. example of the “Bring the Troops Home” In February 2002, a break-in occurred at movement organized by U.S. troops at the the Socialist Workers campaign office in end of World War II, which helped force Houston. A window was smashed, a com- the U.S. government to retreat from its puter table broken, and a scanner destroyed. plans to invade China and crush the Chi- A flyer in the window announcing a Mili- nese revolution. tant Labor Forum on the Palestinian struggle The networks also covered the July So- was defaced, with a knife slit across the pic- cialist Workers Party (SWP) national ture of a Palestinian child. The next day, convention, broadcasting speeches by Socialist Workers congressional candidate Dobbs, Carlson, and SWP National Secre- Anthony Dutrow denounced the attack in tary James P. Cannon in six 15-minute slots. an interview on KPFT radio. “We stand for full social, political and Cartoon: Laura Gray; Photo: Militant The 74 reports also show that Socialist economic equality for the Negro people Left, cartoon in Militant, May 1948, after nationally broadcast speech by Farrell Dobbs. Workers campaign supporters have contin- and all other minority groups,” said Grace Right, banner announcing SWP presidential ticket hangs outside the national cam- ued to exercise their right to engage in po- Carlson in her speech accepting the vice- paign headquarters at 116 University Place in New York City. litical activity despite such harassment. presidential nomination. “We are fighting They give a picture of the breadth of this to put an end to the whole shameful sys- nizations and denounced the arrest and in- ers at every stop of their campaign tours. activity, as socialist workers and youth have tem of Jim Crow—to abolish the poll tax; dictment of 12 leaders of the Communist Carlson spoke to more than 200 members spoken out against Washington’s war drive to end discrimination in employment and Party under the Smith “Gag” Act. of the United Auto Workers at a union in the Mideast, participated in protests and housing; to put a stop to police brutality On another occasion Dobbs debated meeting of Ford workers in Detroit. Dobbs public meetings, run in election campaigns, and outlaw lynching. Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas, returned to Minneapolis to speak to lead- and distributed political literature at fac- “We are enlisted in the war against Jim opposing his stance of support for the U.S. ers of Teamsters Local 544—Dobbs had tory plant gates, door-to-door, on street Crow for the duration,” she said. The ruling class’s aggression in World War II— been a central leader of hard-fought battles corners, and on campuses in cities across speech was aired nationally over ABC. one of 15 radio forums in which he de- and organizing drives led by that Teamsters the United States. “Working people need to build their own bated candidates from the Socialist Party local in the 1930s. political party, armed with a program to and the Socialist Labor Party. When workers at a Westinghouse plant The fight for workers rights today serve the class interests of the men and The campaign had a big impact at a time in Philadelphia staged a sit-down strike over The socialists’ fight to maintain the pro- women who toil,” Dobbs said in a conven- when the U.S. government was pressing the firing of two union militants—deemed tection against disclosure of contributors tion speech entitled, “For a Workers and hard to weaken the unions and undercut “poor security risks” by the Navy—Carlson to their election campaigns takes place at Farmers Government.” workers’ rights, and preparing to step up and Dobbs both visited them. a time of stepped-up attacks on workers its military aggression abroad. During that The presidential candidate addressed the rights by the employers and government. Washington steps up witch-hunt year, the United Mine Workers refused to striking workers at the factory gates. Cam- The 2001 USA Patriot Act, for example, Through the months of the 1948 cam- bow to a government order to end a strike. paign manager George Clarke described gives wider latitude to the FBI and other paign the government stepped up its anti- Following Dobbs’s May 15 speech an- the scene in an October issue of the Mili- political police agencies to conduct wire- communist witch-hunt. The SWP was in- nouncing his campaign, letters from listen- tant. Like Carlson’s visit, he wrote, “It was tapping and carry out arbitrary searches cluded on a list of “subversive” organiza- ers across the country poured into the Mili- another rip-roaring meeting.... More than and seizures in private homes and busi- tions. In a speech aired over a Philadel- tant requesting copies of the speech and a thousand were listening in the street, sit- nesses. phia radio station, Dobbs demanded the information about the campaign. ting on the steps leading up to the plant, Attorney General John Ashcroft has an- government end the blacklisting of orga- The socialist candidates addressed work- and leaning out of the window.” February 17, 2003 The Militant 11 Malcolm X: this system can’t produce freedom Printed below are excerpts of a speech back. The first thing they had to realize was given by Malcolm X at the Militant La- that all of them were brothers; oppression bor Forum in New York on March 29, made them brothers; exploitation made 1964, upon his return from his first trip them brothers; degradation made them to Africa and the Middle East. It is pub- brothers; discrimination made them broth- lished in the pamphlet Two Speeches by ers; segregation made them brothers; hu- Malcolm X, one of Pathfinder’s Books of miliation made them brothers. the Month for February. Malcolm spoke And once all of them realized that they as part of a symposium on the then-cur- were blood brothers, they also realized rent effort by the New York cops and what they had to do, to get that man off press to promote a racist scare-cam- their back. They lived in a police state, paign about an alleged gang of young Algeria was a police state. Any occupied Black “Blood Brothers” sworn to kill territory is a police state, and this is what whites. Copyright 1965, 1990 by Betty Harlem is. Harlem is a police state. The Shabazz and Pathfinder Press, reprinted police in Harlem—their presence is like by permission. Subheadings by the Mili- occupation forces, like an occupying army. tant. They’re not in Harlem to protect us; they’re v not in Harlem to look out for our welfare; they’re in Harlem to protect the interests BY MALCOLM X of the businessmen who don’t even live I visited the Casbah in Casablanca and I there. The same conditions that prevailed in Algeria that forced the people, the noble Robert Parent people of Algeria, to resort eventually to Malcolm X at Kennedy Airport Nov. 24, 1964, returning from Mideast and Africa. BOOKS OF the terrorist-type tactics that were neces- sary to get the monkey off their backs, good of the Black people in this country at because he knew that the one thing he had those same conditions prevail today in heart, my suggestion is that you have to on his side was truth and time. Time is on THE MONTH America in every Negro community. realize now that the day of nonviolent re- the side of the oppressed today. It’s against And I would be other than a man to sistance is over; that the day of passive re- the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the stand up and tell you that the Afro-Ameri- sistance is over.... oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. visited the one in Algiers, with some of the can, the Black people who live in these The next thing you’ll see here in You don’t need anything else. brothers—blood brothers. They took me communities and in these conditions are America—and please don’t blame it on me I would just like to say this in my con- all down into it and showed me the suffer- ready and willing to continue to sit around when you see it—you will see the same clusion. You’ll see terrorism that will ter- ing, showed me the conditions that they nonviolently and patiently and peacefully things that have taken place among other rify you, and if you don’t think you’ll see had to live under while they were being looking for some good will to change the people on this earth whose position was it, you’re trying to blind yourself to the his- occupied by the French... They showed me conditions that exist. No!... parallel to the 22 million Afro-Americans toric development of everything that’s tak- the conditions that they lived under while in this country. ing place on this earth today. You’ll see they were colonized by these people from Conditions creating resistance The people of China grew tired of their other things. Europe. And they also showed me what You will find that there is a growing oppressors and the people rose up against Why will you see them? Because as they had to do to get those people off their tendency among our people, among us, to their oppressors. They didn’t rise up non- soon as people realize that it’s impossible do whatever is necessary to bring this to a violently. It was easy to say that the odds for a chicken to produce a duck egg even halt. You have a man like Police Commis- were against them but eleven of them though they both belong to the same fam- BOBOBOOKOKOKSSS sioner Murphy—and I’m not against the started out and today those eleven control ily of fowl—a chicken just doesn’t have February law; I’m not against law enforcement. You 800 million. They would have been told within its system to produce a duck egg. It OFOFOF TTTHEHEHE MONTHMONTHMONTH need laws to survive and you need law en- back then that the odds were against them. can’t do it. It can only produce according forcement to have an intelligent, peaceful As the oppressor always points out to the to what that particular system was con- society; but we have to live in these places oppressed, “the odds are against you.” structed to produce. The system in this Pathfinder and suffer the type of conditions that exist When Castro was up in the mountains country cannot produce freedom for an from officers who lack understanding, who of Cuba they told him the odds were against Afro-American. It is impossible for this Readers Club 25% DISCOUNT lack any human feeling, and lack any feel- him. Today he’s sitting in Havana and all system, this economic system, this politi- SPECIALS ing for their fellow human being.... the power this country has can’t remove cal system, this social system, this system, I’m not here to apologize for the exist- him. period. It’s impossible for this system as it ence of any blood brothers. I’m not here They told the Algerians the same stands to produce freedom right now for The Revolution Betrayed to minimize the factors that hint toward thing—what do you have to fight with? the Black man in this country. What is the Soviet Union and their existence. I’m here to say that if they Today they have to bow down to Ben Bella. And if ever a chicken did produce a Where is it going? don’t exist it’s a miracle.... He came out of the jail that they put him in duck egg, I’m certain you would say it was If those of you who are white have the and today they have to negotiate with him certainly a revolutionary chicken! LEON TROTSKY This classic study of the Soviet workers state and its IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP degeneration Where to find Pathfinder books and Zip: 48244-0739. Tel: (313) 554-0504. Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing address: P.O. illuminates the distributors of the Militant, Perspectiva E-mail: [email protected] Box K879, Haymarket, NSW 1240. Tel: (02) roots of the social 9718 9698. E-mail: cl_australia@ Mundial, New International, Nouvelle MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 113 Bernard St., and political crisis bigpond.com Internationale, Nueva Internacional and West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: (651) 644- shaking the Ny International. countries of the 6325. E-mail: [email protected] BRITAIN Soviet Union today. UNITED STATES NEBRASKA: Omaha: P.O. Box 7005. London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: SE1 $19.95. Special Zip: 68107. E-mail: [email protected] 8LL. Tel: 020-7928-7993. E-mail:cllondon@ ALABAMA: Birmingham: 3029A onetel.net.uk price: $14.95 Bessemer Road. Zip: 35208. Tel: (205) 780- NEW JERSEY: Newark: 168 0021. E-mail: [email protected] Bloomfield Avenue, 2nd Floor. Zip: 07104. CANADA Two Speeches by Malcolm X CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 S. Tel: (973) 481-0077. E-mail: swpnewark@ Montreal: 1237 Jean Talon E. Montréal, “It’s impossible for a chicken to produce a Central Ave. Zip: 90011. Tel: (323) 233-9372. yahoo.com QC. Postal code: H2R 1W1. Tel: (514) 284- duck egg....The system in this country E-mail: [email protected] NEW YORK: Manhattan, 545 8th Ave., 7369. E-mail: [email protected] cannot produce freedom for an Afro- San Francisco: 3926 Mission St. Zip: 94112. 14th Floor. Mailing address: American.” Speeches and interviews from Toronto: 2761 Dundas St. West, Postal Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail:sfswp P.O. Box 30. Zip:10018. Tel: (212) code: M6P 1Y4. Tel: (416) 767-3705. the last year of Malcolm’s life. $5. Special @hotmail.com 695-7358. E-mail: [email protected]. price: $3.75. E-mail: [email protected] COLORADO: Craig: 6 West Victory NORTH CAROLINA: Charlotte Area: Vancouver: 2645 E. Hastings, Room 203. Way. Zip: 81625. Mailing address: P.O. Box The Socialist 2001A N. Cannon Blvd. Kannapolis. Zip: Postal code: V5V 1Z5. Tel: (604) 872-8343. 1539. Zip: 81626. Tel: (970) 826-0289.E- 28083. Tel: (704) 932-0821. E-mail: E-mail: [email protected] Workers mail: [email protected] [email protected] FRANCE Party in FLORIDA: Miami: 8365 NE 2nd Ave. OHIO: Cleveland: 11018 Lorain Ave. World War II #206 Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 751-7076. E- Zip: 44111. 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WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier discounts all year long Tel: (617) 569-9169. E-mail: 103426.3430 Avenue South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) SWEDEN @compuserve.com 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] Stockholm: Domargränd 16, S-129 47, ORDER ONLINE AT MICHIGAN: Detroit: 4208 W. Vernor St. AUSTRALIA Hägersten. Tel: (08) 31 69 33.E-mail: WWW.PATHFINDERPRESS.COM Mailing address: P.O. Box 44739. [email protected] Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish St., 12 The Militant February 17, 2003 GREAT SOCIETY Watch this—Public Company She rammed a bill through the to shed thousands more jobs.”— ‘Attention!’—“A 10:00 p.m.- science, support something that Accounting Oversight Board. senate a measure declaring that no The Times, London.. 6:00 a.m. curfew was to be imposed picks on our people because That’s the name of the recently cre- federal employee will receive more on people under 18 by Perlis State they’re more affluent.” than the prez—$400,000. In the Tough on crime—Since 1972 government in Malaysia. The chief House, the fate of the bill is uncer- at least 200,000 workers in the minister said it was to prevent them Anything but subsidies—“Ver- tain, but it really doesn’t matter United States have been killed on from visiting karaoke bars, video mont—In response to a drop in much. After the first year, the wages the job. That figure doesn’t include arcades...and to discourage loiter- milk prices that’s threatening the of the board members will be paid deaths from job-induced ill- ing.”—January 11 news item. farming industry, state legislators Harry by the bosses they’ll be watching. nesses—miners’ black lung, etc. are considering a plan to send ex- For these 200,000 killings, eight Just because they can afford perts to help struggling dairy farm- Ring ‘Weak’, ‘sluggish’?—“Five of people have gone to jail. The maxi- it—According to the East Valley ers manage their businesses. The the biggest bankruptcies in [U.S.] mum sentence? Six months. Tribune, Arizona’s governor has program would include University history occurred last year”—The crafted a plan to bolster the public of Vermont extension specialists, ated body appointed by the feds to Economist, January 4. Consistent—“Executive sen- school budget by, in effect, laying veterinarians and other experts to keep tabs on overstuffed corporate tenced in ’94 blast—A former a greater tax increase on wealthier guide farmers.”—News item. execs. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Cali- ...meanwhile—“The financial Rocketdyne official gets probation towns like Scottsdale. The folks fornia) was outraged to learn that industry endured its worst drops in for violations linked to two scien- there seem quite p.o.’d. State Sen. ‘If you’d like to make a call...’— the board members are each re- business volumes in a decade in the tists’ deaths”—Los Angeles Times, Carolyn Allen from Scottsdale de- “AT&T Credit Outlook Reduced to ceiving a salary of $452,000. final quarter of 2002 and is poised January 28 clared, “I cannot, with a clear con- Negative”—News headline. Canada: striking Machinists fight union-busting BY ALEXANDRE GEOFFROY formula proposed by the union to begin to keep some production going, and get six weeks following the resumption of op- AND JOHN STEELE closing the gap between workers has been shipments out of the plant. Work is also erations, which will be a date specified by TORONTO AND FORT ERIE, rejected out of hand by the bosses. being contracted out. the Company following ratification, the Ontario—More than 600 members of the The unionists rejected the company’s “They tried to decertify the union a short Company has the right to recall employees Machinists union in Toronto and Fort Erie latest offer on January 19. The proposal time ago, but we won,” said striker S. out of seniority based on the company’s are standing firm against union-busting included a base wage rate already received Dookie, who has worked in the plant for need, as determined by the Company.” drives by their bosses. by 90 percent of the members. It also took 18 years as a sheet metal worker. “They On January 22 and 23, the scabs escorted “They treat us like animals. They are vio- away 5 cents out of the four-year offer, as dragged their feet on the negotiations and by the cops arrived in school buses with lating our fundamental rights,” said Afe well as 10 cents from the pension offer. now they don’t want to talk.” He said that blacked-out windows. When about 100 Busuyi, one of the 360 members of Machin- “This offer is the latest and worst one to the company would be under pressure in strikers held their ground the cops decided ists Union (IAM) Local Lodge 26, on strike date,” said Jaglall Rabindrana, Local 26 February when big orders were due. it was too risky to try to break the line and against Slotex in Toronto since December vice-president. sent the buses away. The workers appealed 13. The company, a manufacturer of store Pickets are up 24 hours a day, seven days Picket line against scabs for help on the line the following morn- shelving and related products, is a division a week, in subfreezing temperatures. The Meanwhile in Fort Erie, a two-hours ing. Faced with this union solidarity the of the giant multinational Leggat and Platt. strikers have constructed sturdy picket drive from Toronto, 335 Fleet workers have bosses didn’t attempt to bring the scabs in. “They are playing with us because we shacks at a number of entrances, equipped been walking the picket line since Octo- “We had to set an example for the other are immigrants,” said welder Kiran Patel. with gas heaters. The company is using ber 1 after a nearly unanimous strike vote unions,” said shipper Louis Overholt, One of the central issues in the strike is supervisors as scab labor. About 15 Local rejecting company demands to gut senior- whose has worked for Fleet for 39 years. the demand for equal pay. Local 26 was 26 members have crossed the line. ity rights and replace the plant-wide senior- In Ontario it is legal for the bosses to certified in 1999. Previously the plant had Because the pickets can only hold up ity system with seniority by job classifica- bring in replacement workers during a never been organized. The wage rates show cars and trucks leaving the factory for a tion. The production workers are members strike. On January 24, a Superior Court the favoritism practiced by the employers. predetermined amount of time under a pro- of IAM Local 171. Office workers, also judge granted a temporary injunction stat- Patel earns $12 an hour. Other welders tocol with the cops and security guards on strike, are members of IAM Local 939. ing that strikers can only delay scabs and doing the same job earn $17 an hour. A hired by the company, the bosses are able Fleet, the largest employer in the Fort supervisors from entering the plant by 10 Erie area, is owned by Magellan Aerospace minutes. The company wanted the judge based in Toronto. It produces components to limit pickets to 20. It will go back to the for fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. court February 4 to make this demand for Sitdown protesters condemn cuts On January 19, in a secret ballot, the the duration of the strike. workers rejected by a vote of 255 to 1 the latest offer from the Fleet bosses. Accept- Alexandre Geoffroy is a member of the in health services in Icelandic town ing the offer would have meant an imme- Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Tex- diate layoff of all employees and a recall tile Employees in Toronto. John Steele is a based on favoritism and not seniority. member of the United Food and Commer- The rejected proposal stated, “For the first cial Workers in Toronto. 25 AND 50 YEARS AGO

February 17, 1978 February 16, 1953 A massive boycott of nationwide mu- nicipal elections February 5 dramatized the NEW YORK—Victorious settlement of deepening political isolation of the regime the ten-day tugboat strike of the Marine of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. Division of the Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n The Conservative Party, the only legal AFL, was announced this morning. The Militant/Hallbjorn Thor Gudmundsson opposition, told the Associated Press that strike was highlighted by the dramatic ac- Activists wage sitdown protest at health clinic in Keflavik, Iceland, demanding 52 of its 132 candidates had withdrawn tion of the ILA rank and file, which walked adequate service for the residents in the area. voluntarily in protest of the Somoza re- off the docks in support of the strike and gime. A government spokesperson said utilized their time off to conduct mass dem- early returns show that only 143,000 of the onstrations demanding the ouster of ILA BY CLAUDIA OVERESCH tion. Their sitdown protest in early No- 700,000 eligible Nicaraguans voted. president Joseph Ryan and his cohorts. AND GYLFI PÁLL HERSIR vember prompted a local member of The elections took place on the four- The dock workers shut down most of the REYKJAVÍK, Iceland—We traveled parliament to organize a citywide meet- teenth day of a general strike that has posed port for several days in support of the le- to Keflavík in mid-January where we met ing, with no results. The protest contin- the most powerful challenge to the Nica- gitimate demands of the tugboat workers, with people who have been organizing ued later in the month. raguan government since the beginning of despite their hatred of Captain Wm. Brad- sitdown protests against the reduction of On January 10 and 11 some 12 people the Somoza family rule in 1933. ley, president of the striking local. In 1951, service at a public health clinic. took part in the sitdown protest, which The upsurge began January 11, when when the ILA membership shut down the The crisis at the clinic began when 10 ended after Valdimarsdóttir was called more than 30,000 people gathered in the port for twenty-five days in a movement to doctors walked out of the hospital No- to a meeting with the health clinic au- Nicaraguan capital of Managua to attend scrap Ryan’s sellout contract, Bradley ran vember 1, after the authorities refused thorities and promised some structural the funeral of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, full-page ads in the press denouncing them their demands for higher wages. Only improvements by the director of the who was murdered the previous day. as “communists” and attempted to run scabs two doctors are presently working at the clinic, including a pledge to hire doctors. Chamorro was the editor and publisher of through their picket lines in support of clinic, which serves 17,000 people. Valdimarsdóttir and other protesters at La Prensa, the most prestigious capitalist Ryan’s effort to smash the strike. Helga Valdimarsdóttir, one of the or- the clinic said they were not supporting daily in the country. The action of the men in extending sup- ganizers of the protest, said that people or acting against the 10 doctors who had Chamorro’s assassination was widely port to the strike and at the same time in- who live in the area now either have to worked there. She said they were demand- considered the work of the regime, anx- tensifying their struggle against the corrupt wait several hours, or drive one hour to ing adequate health care for the residents ious to slap down a potential challenger in Ryan leadership did much to affect a rapid the town of Kópavogur. There is also of the area. At the end of January there the 1981 presidential elections and a popu- settlement. The tugboat workers have been the option of driving to Reykjavík, are still only two doctors working in the lar critic of government corruption and tyr- living under a contract that provided a pay where non-government funded health health clinic and it takes up to three days anny. scale of $1.36 an hour for deck hands to a clinic doctors are available, but where to get a prescription for medicine. Chamorro’s funeral was followed by maximum of $2.35 for captains. When the people would have to pay a much higher forty-eight hours of demonstrations, burn- strike was declared the operators stood firm price for treatment in private clinics. Claudia Overesch is a member of the ing of automobiles, and sacking of vari- on their offer of an eight-cent-an-hour in- “Some people didn’t go to a doctor Young Socialists. Gylfi Páll Hersir is a ous Somoza clan businesses. crease. Within hours after the general walk- at all,” said Valdimarsdóttir, noting that member of the trade union Hlíf. By January 23, the protests had grown out and the demonstrations the operators not everyone has a car. Hallbjorn Thor Gudmundsson, a mem- to a general strike supported by unions and and union officials went into virtually un- The protesters, all women on that day, ber of the Young Socialists, also con- businesses. The strike has paralyzed 90 interrupted negotiations and emerged with said they refused to accept this situa- tributed to this article. percent of Nicaragua’s commerce and in- an agreement for a seventeen-cent-an-hour dustry. increase, plus seven new fringe benefits. February 17, 2003 The Militant 13 EDITORIALS N.Y. meeting Continued from Page 7 tails of the February 1 event. Speaking of those who gave personal testimony at the War drive stirs many to protest meeting, Calero said in his concluding remarks, “We need to bring together as much support as possible. When Washington and London are marching into the end ship workers forged in Russia in 1917 and in Cuba for these deportation hearings happen, we don’t have to go game of their prewar military preparations. Hundreds the last four decades and more—disarm the warmakers alone.” of thousands of troops and massive sea and air power and drive them from power. Among the other participants were a number of young are being accumulated in the Arab-Persian Gulf. Already Many young people and others who are repelled by people learning about the case for the first time. Nina U.S. ground operations are well under way in the north the brutality of this system are mobilizing for large anti- Siulc, a student at New York University, filmed the event. of Iraq, targeting the oil fields and preparing to help block war actions in the United States and elsewhere. The com- She is studying the experiences of the many U.S. resi- any upsurge in the fight for Kurdish national self-deter- ing national action in New York on February 15 will dents who have been deported to the Dominican Re- mination. This movement of military equipment and draw many such forces, and other cities will also see public under the 1996 law. personnel is in addition to the relentless “patrols” and large protests. bombing attacks of U.S. and British planes in the so- As in the past, Democratic party politicians and other Meeting ‘covered a lot of ground’ called “no-fly” zones. pro-capitalist forces will play a prominent part in these Brian Goulbourne said he thought the meeting “was The U.S. and British governments are in the last stages actions, fostering illusions that the war drive can be well-organized and covered a lot of ground.” Goulbourne of their political preparation, too, as they press the other stopped with a different leader at the helm, promoting works at a warehouse in the Brooklyn meat market. He members of the United Nations Security Council to give the UN “inspections” as a peaceful alternative, and— learned about the Calero case from a co-worker at a pre- their stamp of approval to this course. They were helped above all—appealing to patriotic sentiments. These fig- vious job who had introduced him to the Militant news- in this by the recent declaration of the heads of state of a ures, along with middle-class pacifist forces, will largely paper. number of European countries, from Spain to the Czech fall in behind the war effort once the shooting starts, Fanny Mera, a sewing machine operator at a Queens Republic, who joined Britain’s Anthony Blair in issuing arguing that a quick and clean war is the best way to get garment shop, said that she had been invited to the meet- a call for “unity” between Europe and the United States. “our boys” home safe and well. ing by friends at work. She was especially interested In so doing, these governments dealt a blow to the illu- By contrast, many young people and others who take because a nephew of hers had been arrested and deported sion that other imperialist powers will hold back the war. part in such actions are not dyed-in-the-wool pacifists back to Ecuador, while his wife and children remain in The way that Washington has stepped up the pressure or wedded to the capitalist system. They are looking for the United States. on north Korea over the past week helps to lay bare the a way to fight the war and oppression being dealt by the Aarti Shahani and Subash Kateel, the founders of open-ended character of the drive to war. It has nothing to capitalists, and can be won to a clear revolutionary work- “Families for Freedom,” a group that defends people do with combating terrorism; nor are “weapons of mass ing-class alternative. facing deportation, also attended. The organization seeks destruction” its principal target. The imperialist powers As people pile into buses, cars, and trains for the ac- to “bring everyone together,” said Shahani, without “dis- are pushed toward conflict and competition with each other tion, and march to express their opposition to the war, tinctions between those with or without a green card, by the weakness of their system, as they grab for a bigger many will want to take a look at revolutionary literature asylum seekers, those with criminal convictions or of share of the natural resources and cheap labor of the Third and to discuss these ideas. The February 15 actions are different nationalities.” World. The same weakness impels them to use greater big opportunities to extend that discussion and to build In the lead-up to Calero’s arrival in New York, de- brutality against working people both at home and abroad. opposition to the war course of imperialism. Socialist fense committee supporters visited the offices of the At the same time, this system sparks increasingly workers and youth in New York are organizing forums Workplace Project in Hempstead, Long Island, an orga- weighty resistance by workers and farmers. Through and classes where this discussion will be encouraged. nization that defends day laborers and other immigrant struggles, ending in victories, defeats, and stalemates, Oppose the drive to war on Iraq! workers in the area. That group endorsed the defense working people will begin to forge a movement that can U.S. and all other imperialist troops out of the Mid- campaign after hearing a presentation by Sarah Katz, a challenge capitalist rule, and—with the kind of leader- east! volunteer with the defense campaign who is Calero’s wife. They also invited Calero to speak to their membership— an invitation that he took up on January 29. On Long Is- land Calero was received by Patrick Young of the Central The fraud of ‘disarmament’ American Resource Center, who handed him a copy of a As it assembles and expands a massive nuclear and Washington’s record. protest letter the organization had written to Hipolito “conventional” arsenal, Washington is to the fore in Rice failed to explain that the apartheid regime that Acosta, the INS district director in Houston. preaching “disarmament” and “nonproliferation” to took that step had just before been decisively defeated During his trip to Long Island, Calero was interviewed countries of the Third World and the workers states. at the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by Cuban, by several local newspapers. These charges of possessing “weapons of mass de- Angolan, and Namibian forces. The popular victory had In Newark, New Jersey, where he lives, Calero was struction” are laid by the same ruling class that dropped helped to impel further struggles by the black majority interviewed by a veteran staff member of WBGO radio, the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima inside South Africa itself. The racist government saw a well-known jazz station. He will speak at a public meet- and Nagasaki, taking hundreds of thousands of lives— the writing on the wall, and took the step to prevent such ing held at Casa de Don Pedro in north Newark on Feb- the only time nuclear weapons have ever been used. weapons from falling into the hands of a majority-rule ruary 9. The same rulers have mounted assault after assault on government. peoples who organize to fight for their national sover- One straightforward answer to the U.S. imperialists’ Candace Wagner is a garment worker in Queens, New eignty or to threaten the imperialist order. And those two-faced stance was expressed by Cuban ambassador York. Romina Green, a garment worker and member of very same rulers have continued to develop their own Carlos Lechuga in a 1963 speech to the United Nations UNITE contributed to this article. arsenal to equip an imperial armed forces of more than in a debate on another “nonproliferation” pact—the 1 million troops. Treaty on Partial Prohibition of Nuclear Tests. “Cuba We should point out, however—while noting this hy- cannot be a signatory to this Treaty while one of the pocrisy—that the U.S. rulers do express a real material signatory powers is...executing a policy towards our The YYYoung Socialists and Socialist interest when they howl for Iraqi and north Korean dis- country, which...is in effect a state of undeclared war,” WWWorkorkorkererers PPs arararty in NeNety w YYYork ininork vite you armament. They want to ensure that Washington main- he said. In the early 1960s Washington organized a coun- tains its relative monopoly of such an offensive arsenal, terrevolutionary invasion against Cuba, which was de- to join in a weekend of campaigning to use it as a weapon of blackmail against rebel peoples feated at the Bay of Pigs, and carried out a naval block- against imperialism and its warararsss and countries, and also against their imperialist rivals. ade during the 1962 “missile crisis.” Presenting the destruction of its atomic bombs by Working people around the world need to reject the South Africa’s government in 1989 as a positive example arguments of the imperialists and support the right of north Saturday February 15 for Iraq to follow, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Korea or any other semicolonial country or workers state ♦Campaign with us at the demonstration Rice added new falsehoods and hypocrisy to to prepare their defenses in the way they think best. against the war in Iraq ♦Open House/chili dinner following demon- stration with discussion: “““The wwThe ar abroad and the war at home:home:ar Strikers win rehiring of workers the rrthe eeevolutionarvolutionarvolutionary struggle against imperimperimperialismialismialism””” Continued from front page one gets tired,” they chanted in Spanish. proved conditions. The court set a February 7 deadline Strikers took time out from picketing to hold a union speakers include: for the company to complete the rehiring. meeting where they voted to return to work without con- RógRógRóger CalerCalerer o Associate editor of In the course of the half-year stoppage the Point Blank ditions. The picket will be maintained up to that point. Perspectiva Mundial, staff writer for the struggle became a popular cause among workers in the “I am going to go back in with my arms held high and a Militant, currently fighting INS efforts to area. Strikers also responded to other struggles. They ‘V’ for victory,” said Carmen García, a striker who was participated in the large protests organized last year arrested at one point during the struggle. deport him. against the jailing of refugees from Haiti. Point Blank officials said they will comply with the Ma'mMa'mMa'mud ShirShirud vanivanivani Farsi-language editor The federal injunction comes at the request of the court ruling. At the same time, they announced they will of Pathfinder Press National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which found open a new plant nearby. that the company had violated federal norms for work- “This is a strategy to divide us by putting the new Romina GrGrRomina een,eeneen member of the Young ers’ rights as they tried to block the organizing efforts. replacement workers in a separate facility,” said strike Socialists executive “It’s not a victory of the NLRB, it’s a victory of the leader Virginia Salazar. “But they are wrong. Even if Sunday February 16 workers. The company could have kept firing union sup- they put us on different sides of the hemisphere they porters, but the people walked out after three. That took cannot divide us. They have no idea what we are ca- Class: "Malcolm X and the fight against real courage,” said UNITE organizer Maria Revelles. pable of.” imperialism" A festival atmosphere was evident on the picket line De la Cruz emphasized that “we are preparing to go the morning after the court ruling, de la Cruz remarked. back in with discipline and care. There are many friends Sunday February 23 “People kissed the ground when they heard the news of of the union inside, but there are also many against us.” Class: "The revolutionary road to women’s the victory,” he said. “Some workers from inside came He is looking forward to this next stage of the struggle. Liberation" out to the picket line to congratulate us.” “We will continue with a very strong campaign for the The picketing continued throughout the day, as work- union inside the plant,” he said. “If the company doesn’t TTTime and place to be announced ers celebrated, singing victory songs and chanting. “You want to sign a contract immediately, we will need to win FFFor more information call 212-695-7358 messed with Carlos/Isma/Midho but you got burned, a certification election. We will have to try to convince Point Blank,” they chanted in Creole, listing in turn the everyone when we go back to work that the union is the or email [email protected] three fired workers. “In the struggle of the people, no best for everyone.”

14 The Militant February 17, 2003 UK firefighters oppose gov’t intervention BY SHEILA HUGHES insists on a 4 percent ceiling, allowable LONDON—“This is a wake-up call to only if the union agrees to “modernization” all other trade unions,” said firefighter Gra- measures. ham Preston. Interviewed by the Financial In early January the LGA laid out pro- Times, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) posals which the FBU estimates would ax member was talking about Labour govern- 4,500 jobs and close 150 fire stations. ment plans to impose a settlement on the “We’ve got a lot of support,” Lee said as union in its current dispute with the em- drivers in passing vehicles tooted and ployers in the Local Government Associa- waved in support. “I think it’s because they tion (LGA). The move, Preston said, “is face the same problems and they’re fed up an erosion of trade union rights and has with the government too. We should carry major implications for all unions.” on our action.” Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott “If we give into them now they can do announced the plans on January 28, the what they want with us and it will be hard first day of a 48-hour national strike by to stand up to them,” agreed Brad Harrop. firefighters following eleven days of stop- John Bailey emphasized that “the gov- pages over November, December, and ear- ernment has been pushing these cuts since lier in January. As in previous actions, the the 1990s and now they hope to do it in government mobilized 19,000 army, navy, one fell swoop on the back of the war.” and air force strike breakers to run their The Times declared editorial support for own fleet of fire fighting trucks. A further Prescott’s measures on January 29. The 24-hour action was held February 1 by the FBU should be given one last chance, the 55,000 union members. big-business daily said, to abandon their Prescott said that the government would strikes and present proposals of their own invoke emergency powers and ask parlia- for cutbacks. “If not, the Deputy Prime ment to impose a settlement dictating terms Minister should enforce the proposed law in all the issues in dispute, including pay as soon as possible.” rates and staffing levels. The outcome, say The new powers could be used for fu- workers, would include fire station closures ture disputes and “would set a precedent and relocations, new shift patterns, en- for the outcome of similar long running forced overtime, and cuts in nighttime fire Militant/Jim Spaul disputes in the public sector,” read a news cover. Firefighters at Islington Station in North London. The unionists have waged a series article on the same day. This is the first time that the Labour of strikes to press demands for jobs, wage increase, and to defend fire services. Following Prescott’s announcement, a government has proposed legislation delegation from the Trade Union Congress against a union since its election in 1997. Abrahall at Bournbrook fire station in Bir- “People don’t like wars and oppose them (TUC), the national union federation, met Government ministers have presented mingham told the Times. “They need to but when backs are up against the wall we separately with FBU leaders and the deputy the firefighters’ actions as an obstacle to release soldiers from fire duties to train for rise to the occasion,” he said. prime minister in an effort to resume talks the drive to war on Iraq, which will involve Iraq.” at the beginning of February. tens of thousands of British troops. The “They decided to wait for war, or the Not just about wages The FBU executive has announced that January 30 Independent reported that At- brink of war, to impose this legislation,” “This isn’t just a fight for wages,” they will meet February 3 to decide their torney General Lord Peter Goldsmith is said John Bailey to Militant reporters dur- Malcolm Lee said to the Militant at the next steps. LGA representatives have said considering applying for a court injunction ing a visit to the FBU picket line at the Barking picket. “We’re fighting for jobs that they will only resume negotiations if against the strikes, arguing that a war with Barking fire station in this city. “This could and a service to the public.” no further strikes are called. FBU general Iraq constitutes a “material change in cir- be a wedge against support for the FBU,” After beginning with a wage raise de- secretary Andy Gilchrist responded, “As cumstances.” he said, “as the public and other trade mand of 40 percent, the union is prepared long as firefighters are treated with con- “The government is panicking because unionists see soldiers doing our job while to consider a 16 percent offer as long as it tempt there will be strikes and more we are starting to have an impact,” Barry our boys are at war.” is not tied to cutbacks. The government strikes.” LETTERS Draft proposal call to arms the rulers, who fight and die in imperialist son in a country that is governed by “cor- Cuts to any health care program, be it a The proposal by Reps. Charles Rangel wars, draft or no draft. Rangel and Conyers porate capitalism” is essentially expendable federal entitlement program or a private and John Conyers to reinstate the draft is a know this, and are using a deft piece of when it comes to health care needs. As a plan are wrong and the people that feel the deception and a fraud. They argue that their liberal demagogy to build support for the physically disabled person in my mid-50s, brunt of it are the working class. proposal, by placing the sons of U.S. invasion of Iraq among working people I fought for Social Security Disability with We penalize the worker in the work policymakers “in harm’s way,” would generally, and Black people in particular. the help of an attorney, was homeless briefly, place, in disability and in retirement. We dampen the rush to war against Iraq. But To borrow from Malcolm X, the U.S. have no insurance, several serious medical are the expendable Americans and cuts to this is belied by the text of the proposal it- capitalists need this war, and have placed problems that require medication and no Medicaid only make the situation worse. self. Far from opposing the war, it is a mili- both the foxes and the wolves on manda- way to pay for all of it. Senior citizens face If you put a band aide on a large abdomi- tant call to arms: “If President Bush, the tory overtime to get it. the same dilemma. The crime: a solid work nal wound, the person will bleed to death. Congress and other supporters of an inva- Peter Anestos history over 32 years in length for the cor- Aine NiComish sion are right and war is inevitable, then San Francisco, California porate capitalists. Montgomery County, Pennsylvania everyone who loves this country is bound I went through my savings and purchase by patriotic duty to defend it, or to share in Medicaid cuts medication from pharmacies in other coun- the sacrifice of those placed in harm’s way.” I read Maurice Williams’s article with tries because the same medicine in the The letters column is an open forum In other words, when we Democrats say interest in the February 3, 2003, issue of the United States carries two to four times the for all viewpoints on subjects of interest it’s time to fight, “you’ve all got to go.” Militant. Cuts to Medicaid programs hurt cost. Medicare will come along shortly but to working people. All history shows that it is workers, not the working poor. The average working per- that is only a partial solution. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.

7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.; dinner, 6 p.m. 5237 N 5th St. Dona- MILITANT Thomas Sankara and the Revolution in tion: Program $5. Dinner $5. Tel: (215) 324- Burkina Faso. Speaker: Mary Marsh, Social- 7020. From Pathfinder LABOR ist Workers Party. Fri., Feb. 21, Program: 7:30 TO SPEAK THE TRUTH p.m.; dinner: 6:30 p.m. Pittsburgh Oppose the Imperialist War Drive against Why Washington’s ‘Cold War’ Iraq. Speaker: Joe Swanson, Socialist Work- Defend Affirmative Action. Fri., Feb. 14, 7:30 FORUMS ers Party. Fri., Feb. 28, Program: 7:30 p.m.; p.m. against Cuba Doesn’t End ALABAMA dinner: 6:30 p.m. 3720 6th Ave., Donation: Stop Police Violence—Jail Killer Cops! Fri., Progam $5. Dinner $5. Tel: (515) 288-2970. Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. Fidel Castro and Birmingham Celebrate the Publication of Malcolm X Talks Che Guevara to Young People. Fri., Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m. 5907 Why Profits Come Before Workers’ Lives. In historic Speaker: Clay Dennison, Socialist Workers NEW JERSEY Penn Ave. #225. Tel: (412) 365-1090. Party, member United Mine Workers of America Newark speeches Local 2133. Fri., Feb. 14, Program, 7 p.m.; din- The AIDS Crisis in Africa: An Imperialist- before the ner, 6 p.m. 3029-A Bessemer Rd. Donation: Made Crime. Speaker: Ved Dookhun, Social- CALENDAR United Nations Program $4. Dinner $5 Tel: (205) 780-0021. ist Workers Party. Fri., Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m. 168 and UN bodies, Bloomfield Ave. 2nd flr. Donation: $5. Tel: (973) 481-0077. NEW JERSEY Guevara and CALIFORNIA Newark Castro address Los Angeles NEW YORK Stop the Deportation of Róger Calero. Sun., the workers of Feb. 9, 3:30 p.m. La Casa de Don Pedro, 23 the world, Malcolm X: Why His Ideas Will Become Garment District Broadway. Donation: $5. For more informa- More Important in the Class Battles Ahead. Why We Need to Defend Affirmative Action. tion, call (973) 589-6624. Sponsored by Róger explaining why the U.S. govern- Speaker: Wanda Lyttle, Socialist Workers Party, The Fight Today against Racial and Sexual Calero Defense Committee. ment so Fri., Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m. Discrimination. Speaker: Mike Italie, Militant hates the example set by the The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction. staff writer. Fri., Feb. 7, Program, 7:30 p.m; din- Speaker: Frank Forrestal, Socialist Workers ner, 6:30 p.m. 545 Eighth Ave. Donation: Pro- NEW YORK socialist revolution in Cuba and Party. Fri., Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m., 4229 S Central gram $5. Dinner $5, Tel: (212) 695-7358. Manhattan why Washington’s effort to destroy Ave. Donation: $5. Tel: (323) 233-9372. Fund-raising Party for Farouk Abdel-Muhti, it will fail. $16.95 PENNSYLVANIA Palestinian Activist Jailed by INS. Sat., Feb. 8, 6 p.m. Winston Unity Hall, 235 West 23rd St. Order now from www.pathfinderpress.com. IOWA Philadelphia (between 7th & 8th Avenues). Donation: $10 Please include $3 for shipping and handling. Des Moines The Legacy of Malcolm X. Speaker: Ma’mud in advance, $12 at the door. For more informa- Also available from bookstores, including Abolish the Death Penalty. Speaker: Kevin Shirvani, editor of Farsi edition of Malcolm X tion, call (212) 674-9499; Committee for the those listed on page 12. Doyle, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Feb. 14, Talks to Young People. Fri., Feb. 14, Program, Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti. February 17, 2003 The Militant 15 Australia warship carries troops for invasion of Iraq BY RON POULSEN In his speech sending off the troops SYDNEY, Australia—The warship Prime Minister John Howard said that the HMAS Kanimbla left Sydney January 23 forces could be used “in wider operations.” carrying 350 Australian army and navy Late last year, Howard said that his gov- personnel to the Arab-Persian Gulf. The ernment had the right to carry out strikes following day 150 Special Air Service on neighboring countries judged to harbor [SAS] commandos flew out of Perth. With “terrorist” threats. His comments prompted these open war moves, Australia’s rulers protests from government officials in Ma- lined up behind Britain as the third impe- laysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines, where angry street dem- rialist power to send ground forces as part Protesters march in late November in Sydney, Australia, against Canberra’s war moves. of the U.S.-led “coalition of the willing”— onstrations were also organized. Australia’s rulers have lined up to contribute troops to the U.S.-led war on Iraq. the phrase used by U.S. president George Kanimbla, a naval transport vessel, is to Bush—in the buildup to war on Iraq. also serve as the local command center of The military commitment will grow to the Australian forces. A frontline unit of forces inside Iraq with other officers sta- ployment. Three Hercules C-130 transport about 2000 personnel. This will be substan- SAS commandos will join U.S. and Brit- tioned at U.S. military bases in the region. planes and three large Chinook helicopters tially larger, and equipped to operate more ish special forces inside Iraq. Some Aus- A naval diving team and several dozen are being sent to airlift the troops. independently, than the force Canberra tralian commandos are reported to be al- “quick reaction” troops for chemical and The Royal Australian Air Force is send- contributed to the assault on Afghanistan. ready involved alongside U.S. special biological warfare are also part of the de- ing a squadron of 14 F/A-18 strike fight- ers with laser-guided bombs to join in the aerial bombardment of Iraqi targets. This is the first combat role for Australian fighter jets since the Vietnam War. New Zealand rulers press war drive Currently two Australian P3-C Orion reconnaissance planes and two navy frig- BY JANET ROTH 1991 until 1998, these units earned the this naval deployment has any connection ates are in the Gulf region, vigorously pros- AUCKLAND, New Zealand—While hatred of Iraqi working people, as the to the preparations for war on Iraq, saying ecuting the imperialist blockade on Iraq. saying it will only join an assault on Iraq leader of one New Zealand contingent, that the ships are on the hunt for “al Qaeda Labor opposition leader Simon Crean that is supported by the United Nations Major David Le Page, explained to the terrorists.” Just a look at a map of the area joined the farewell ceremony for the Security Council, the New Zealand gov- New Zealand Herald last September. involved—Iraq, the Gulf, and surrounding Kanimbla. Crean said that he supported the ernment has played an active part in the ”When you cross the road,” he said, waters—exposes this lie. troops but was against any “deployment... lead-up to war in the Middle East. Among “people would throw rocks at you, spit at The government has indicated that it is ahead of the United Nations determining other actions, New Zealand forces have you, and even try to run you down with readying medical and logistical military it.” participated in United Nations “weapons their cars.” units to dispatch when war breaks. This is The Labor leadership has not ruled out inspections” and naval patrols of Iraqi ship- The frigate HMNZS Te Kaha is one of a the same level and type of contribution supporting a unilateral U.S.-led attack ping, and have readied personnel for in- group of warships from seven countries made by the then-National Party govern- against Iraq if the UN cover for war is in- volvement in a U.S.-led assault on Iraq. policing the Straits of Hormuz, which pro- ment to the 1990-91 assault on Iraq. sufficient. The Democrats and Greens, Wellington has traditionally allied itself vide entry to the Arab-Persian Gulf from which are smaller opposition parties, have militarily with Washington and London the Gulf of Oman. In April a New Zealand Imperialist trade conflicts criticized Howard’s “warmongering” while and sent forces to be part of the 1990–1991 air force Orion surveillance aircraft is At the same time, the government’s re- calling for a UN mandate for any war. Gulf War. scheduled to be sent to join these patrols. luctance to give unequivocal vocal back- Up to 200 protesters gathered at the New Zealand foreign minister Philip The crew of Te Kaha boards up to three ing to Washington’s course registers real Kanimbla sendoff to target Canberra’s war Goff reiterated the Labour Party ships a day, reported the New Zealand concerns on the part of the ruling families moves. They chanted “Howard is a war government’s stance during the visit here Herald, inspecting cargoes, papers, and here. criminal!” and “No war for oil!” More dem- by U.S. official James Bolton, who toured sailors. Crew members are specially trained Minister of Trade Negotiations James onstrations are planned around the country Southeast Asia and the Pacific in January to board vessels by rope ladder. Sutton has expressed worries that tensions on February 16 as part of international days to garner support for the imminent inva- The force is also mandated to escort between Washington and European pow- of action against the looming war on Iraq. sion. “Doveish NZ tells US super-hawk we United States and allied warships through ers like Paris and Berlin will undermine won’t come to your war party” was the the area. steps to free up trade—particularly in the Ron Poulsen is a member of the Maritime headline in the January 12 Sunday Star- Prime Minister Helen Clark denies that Continued on Page 5 Union of Australia. Times. At present, eight New Zealand military personnel are part of the armed forces that enforce the snooping operations carried out NZ gov’t lowers legal barriers to spying by cops by the UN “inspectors.” New Zealand mili- tary staff participated in previous UN teams BY JANET ROTH under an interception warrant to be used tion of airports, details on passengers board- that destroyed Iraqi weapons. Active from Alongside their commitment of forces in court as evidence for another offense. ing overseas are now sent in advance of their to the imperialist aggression in the Middle Opposing the bill, Green Party member of plane landing to the customs service in New East, the rulers have stepped up their prepa- parliament Keith Locke said this provision Zealand. This has led to an increase in the for further reading rations for countering the resistance of would allow “fishing expeditions” by the number of “suspicious” visitors being ques- working people here. Among these new police using the specific purpose of the tioned on arrival. Computer-linked video Opening Guns moves against workers’ rights is the pas- warrant as a cover. cameras to film the faces of passengers and sage of legislation giving authorities freer The police have been granted powers to identify “wanted” people from a database of World War III legal rein to carry out surveillance on citi- force people—on pain of prosecution and are also being tested. zens. possible imprisonment—to help them ac- The Immigration Service is developing Washington’s Assault on Iraq The measures have been passed under cess data on computers. a system which would instruct airlines to The government has also introduced the prevent certain passengers boarding air- Jack Barnes the catch-cry of the “war on terror,” with government spokespeople hinting that last Telecommunications (Interception Capa- craft to New Zealand on the basis of infor- The U.S. gov- October’s bombings of nightclubs on the bility) Bill, which requires telecommuni- mation sent about them from the overseas ernment’s mur- Indonesian island of Bali, in which nearly cations companies to help the police and ground terminals. derous assault 200 were killed, might be repeated in New spy agencies snoop on e-mails and listen Passengers claiming asylum have been on Iraq heralded Zealand itself. in to mobile phone calls, and an amend- a special target of the new measures, with increasingly In October, parliament passed the Ter- ment to the Crimes Act to allow police to the majority now being detained on arrival sharp conflicts rorism Suppression Act, making it a crimi- hack into computers and intercept e-mails. in a jail or in a “resettlement center.” As part of the heightened scare-monger- among imperial- nal offense to take part in, finance, or re- cruit to an organization designated as “ter- Restrictions on travel ing about possible “terrorist” threats, one ist powers, the rorist.” The first organization declared to Following September 11, 2001, the gov- high-profile asylum-seeker from Algeria, rise of rightist be “terrorist” under this new law was ernment announced a NZ$30 million fund- Ahmed Zaoui, is being held in a high-se- and fascist Jemaah Islamiyah, the group alleged to be ing package to counter “terrorism,” spread curity prison. Zaoui is flanked by guards forces, growing instability of inter- responsible for the Bali bombings. over three years across the armed forces, during his court hearings, while would-be national capitalism, and more wars. In December, parliament undertook the police, spy agencies, customs, and immi- visitors to the courtroom sessions are gration. screened on entry. In New International no. 7. $12.00 first hearings on the Counter-terrorism Bill creating a new set of “terrorist” crimes and The impact of this on working people has Meanwhile, the Security Intelligence Order now from www.pathfinderpress.com. legalizing police use of electronic track- been felt most immediately in their ability Service (SIS) spy agency has set up a free Please include $3 for shipping and handling. ing devices. to travel across national borders. Alongside “dob in” telephone line, for anyone to call Also available from bookstores, including The proposed bill also overturns a 1999 the stepped-up screening of airline passen- to report “suspicious” individuals or activi- those listed on page 12. court ruling by allowing evidence collected gers and luggage, and increased militariza- ties.

16 The Militant February 17, 2003