workers.org Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! FEB. 16, 2006 VOL. 48, NO. 6 50¢ Worldwide protests

Las mujeres y la Revolución Islam bashing part of Bolivariana 12 racist war for empire BUSH’S By Leslie Feinberg Rasmussen—who Bush has referred to as a “steadfast ally”— refused to meet with ambassadors from 11 countries with large BUDGET Feb. 8—Islam bashing has ignited a firestorm of Muslim Muslim populations on Oct. 21. War vs. people’s needs 7 protest. The vicious mockery of Mohammad in a Danish news- In December, a delegation from 21 Muslim organizations in paper last September first lit the fuse. The conflagration now Denmark traveled to Cairo for support. They prepared a 43-page circles the planet. dossier to back their assertion: “There is currently a climate [in “We are now facing a growing global crisis,” Danish Prime Denmark] that is contributing to an increase in racism.” The Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a Feb. 7 media confer- group met with Muslim leaders, including Egypt’s foreign min- PRISON ence. Rather than apologize, which Muslims around the world ister and the general secretary of the Arab League. demand, Rasmussen urged “dialogue.” He said President The Danish government and Jyllands-Postens still refused to VIOLENCE George W. Bush had called him that day and agreed that was back down. In January, the Danish High Court rejected the case Rampant overcrowding 5 the way to go. brought to its bench by 21 Muslim organizations. Too little, too late. Yet until protests turned up the heat, And in a Jan. 23 telephone interview, Jyllands-Postens’s cul- Rasmussen had refused to talk with Muslim leaders. tural editor, Fleming Rose, made clear, “An apology would imply Last September, after the center-right publication Jyllands- we regret what we’ve done, which we don’t.” Posen—a major Danish daily newspaper—published the “car- toons,” Muslims protested to the editor. But they were ignored. Oppressor vs. oppressed On Oct. 12, the ambassadors of Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Indo- According to the big-business media, “free speech” is the core nesia, Libya, Morocco, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen, issue. In reality, this is a battle between oppressor and oppressed the Palestinian Authority—and even Bosnia and Herzegovina, nations. EMMETT an imperialist puppet after the destruction of socialist With the exception of Bosnia, in the Balkans, all the nations Yugoslavia—wrote Rasmussen, characterizing the depictions as where the predominant religion is Muslim are in Africa and Asia TILL & part of a smear campaign against Muslims. KATRINA Continued on page 8 ‘Ugly face people will march against the war all over the world. of racism’ 3 ON SAT•MARCH 18 Let's join them and make the 3rd anniversary of this criminal war & occupation the last one.

FROM NEW ORLEANS TO BAGHDAD . STOP the War Abroad & HERE at HOME! Money for jobs, healthcare, housing & schools – NOT WAR! BUILD LEVEES, NOT BOMBS Support the struggle THE of Katrina evacuees BLUES Stop the illegal surveillance Overturn the ‘Patriot Act’ MUSIC & LIBERATION 3 B E S S I E S M I T H NO WAR FOR OIL & EMPIRE Hands off Iran LAVENDER Keep the Heat in the Street! Let's unite & shut down & RED 2 the recruiters from Impact of Black movement coast to coast Find out what you can do to help build March 18: www.TroopsOutNow.org SUBSCRIBE TO WORKERS MARCH 18 & 19 • GLOBAL SOLIDARITY AGAINST THE WAR WORLD NYC • BOSTON • WASH. DC • DENVER • SAN FRANCISCO • LOS ANGELES Trial subscription: $2 for 8 weeks • DETROIT • ATLANTA • BALTIMORE • and dozens of cities across the country One year subscription: $25

NAME EMAIL ADDRESS PHONE PENTAGON COVER-UP VENEZUELA’S NGOs IN CITY/STATE/ZIP Women soldiers fear SOCIAL GAINS RUSSIA WORKERS WORLD NEWSPAPER 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 assault Chavez repels U.S. threats U.S.-backed puppets www.workers.org 9 11 6 Page 2 Feb. 16, 2006 www.workers.org

1955 :

Black movement raised In the U.S. Lavender & red, part 53...... 2 Emmett Till’s murder & Katrina ...... 3 hopes of all downtrodden Powerful music for Black liberation ...... 3 Health care system is crumbling for many ...... 4 By Leslie Feinberg who longed for social and economic justice. On the picket line ...... 4 Lesbians and gay men of many nationalities were Katrina survivors, supporters target FEMA ...... 4 Although the 1955 founding of the Daughters of Bilitis inspired by the struggle and played an important role in National caravan for migrants sets out ...... 4 in San Francisco-a group of predominantly white profes- the movement against Jim Crow segregation and other Prison fatality exposes inhumane conditions ...... 5 sional and middle-class women—was the first time les- forms of national oppression. California ‘time-out’ on executions is stalled...... 5 bians organized on a national level to win some political The late Coretta Scott King widow of Dr. Martin Luther rights, it was not the first time same-sex loving, bisexual King, Jr., later recalled, “Gays and lesbians stood up for Bush’s budget plan ...... 7 and/or cross-dressing women had raised their voices civil rights in Montgomery, Selma; in Albany, Ga.; and Free Leonard Peltier ...... 9 loud enough to be heard in the United States. St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Baltimore’s deplorable housing ...... 10 No voices could have been sweeter or clearer than Civil Rights Movement. Many of these courageous men Help free the Cuban 5 ...... 10 those of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Gladys Bentley, and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when FIST organizes anti-imperialist youth workshop . . . . 11 Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter and many other powerful they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their Black women performers and authors. Their prominence contributions.” (Chicago Tribune, April 1, 1998) Around the world did not offer them sanctuary. Cops busted into Ma Rainey’s home while she was ‘Thank you sister Rosa Parks’ Islam bashing part of racist war for empire ...... 1 holding a women’s party. Bessie Smith had to bail her out 1955—the year that Daughters of Bilitis formed the 450,000 NGOs in Russia...... 6 of jail the next morning. Later ads for Rainey’s recording first national network for lesbian rights—the African- Hamas statement ...... 8 of “Prove It on Me Blues” showed a Black woman in a American civil rights movement shook up the whole U.S. in Iraq: brutal and corrupt...... 9 “man’s” hat, tie and suit coat, chatting with two feminine country. Black working women, visible in the leadership, Pentagon covers up widespread sexual abuse...... 9 women. Behind them, watching them, is a cop. showed that oppression could be fought. Chávez presses ahead with social gains...... 11 It was the Harlem Renaissance that lifted That was the summer that 14-year-old up these voices, along with the strong and Emmett Till was dragged from his bed and African & Indian workers in struggle ...... 11 poetic articulation of Black gay and bisexual lynched by white supremacists while he was men like Richard Bruce Nugent, Alaine visiting in Mississippi. His mutilated body Editorials Locke, Claude McKay and Wallace was found in the Tallahatchie River. His Letting Alito in ...... 10 Thurman. murder was the third lynching of an African- The rent parties, buffet flats and other American male that year. Noticias En Español forms of community social and economic Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, with Las mujeres y la Revolución Bolivariana ...... 12 organization, from Chicago to Baltimore, courageous resolve, demanded an open cas- Detroit to D.C. and throughout the South ket with full publicity at his funeral in WW CALENDAR helped create a political network for those Chicago. “I think everybody needed to know Part 53 LOS ANGELES. Manhattan. For info phone who were “in the life.” what had happened to Emmett Till,” she (212) 627-2994. Harlem’s drag balls, which dated back to said. More than 50,000 people lined up to Sat., Feb. 11 Lavender & Red Black History Month Forum. Sat., Feb. 11 the late 19th century and continued during view his body, left unrecognizable by torture Studying Marxism for today’s focuses on the relation- Katrina: The Struggle for Justice the early Harlem Renaissance, drew many and mutilation. Newspapers across the Five Months Later. Featuring: struggles. “What is Materialist ship over more than a Larry Holmes, co-founder, Katrina Dialectics. Part 2.” Taught by Hillel thousands, rivaling those held at Madison country carried photos. Cohen.3-5 p.m. At 55 W. 17 St., century between the Solidarity Network, and secretariat Square Garden. Ebony magazine later wrote that the deci- member, Workers World Party. 4-6 5th Fl., Manhattan. For info phone liberation of oppressed (212) 627-2994. African-American scholar and historian sion by Mamie Till Mobley to open the cas- p.m. At 5274 W. Pico Blvd #203. sexualities, genders and For info (323) 936-7266. Henry Louis Gates concludes that the ket “helped mobilize a fighting spirit in Black Fri., Feb. 10 sexes, and the commu- Workers World Party Forum: The Harlem Renaissance “was surely as gay as it people nationally that helped spark and fuel Sat., Feb. 18 nist movement. You can Eyewitness report and video from State of Black Youth in the United was black.” the Civil Rights Movement.” the World Social Forum held in States. Speaker: LeiLani Dowell, read the entire, ongoing FIST/Fight Imperialism, Stand In 1949, James Baldwin tried to spark a One hundred days after Till was lynched, Caracas, Venezuela by John Workers World news- Parker, West Coast coordinator of Together youth group. 7 p.m. public dialogue across the country about the seamstress/activist Rosa Parks refused to (Dinner at 6:30) paper series by Leslie International Action Center. 4-6 struggle against racism and anti-gay bigotry surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., p.m. At 5274 W. Pico Blvd #203. At 55 W. 17 St., 5th Fl., Feinberg online at For info (323) 936-7266. Manhattan. For info phone in his essay “Preservation of Innocence.” municipal bus to a white man. Parks said she (212) 627-2994. www.workers.org. Baldwin wrote, “We are forced to consider was thinking of the lynching of young Till. Thu., Feb. 23 Stop and get a subscrip- IAC filmshowing: Paul Robeson: Thu., Feb. 23 tension between God and nature and are She later told a reporter, “I just could not get Workers World Party Forum: tion while you're there! Here I Stand. 7 p.m. At 5274 W. thus confronted with the nature of God the pictures of Emmett Till out of my mind.” Pico Blvd #203. For info (323) Katrina: The struggle for justice 5 936-7266.NEW YORK. month later. Also, A tribute to because He is man’s most intense creation and it is not Parks’ defiance of Jim Crow segregation, the law of the Malcolm X. Speakers: Brenda in the sight of nature that the homosexual is condemned, land, lit the tinder of civil rights organizing and anti- NEW YORK. Stokely, Million Worker March Movement, NY Solidarity Katrina- but in the sight of God. This argues a profound and dan- lynching efforts already going on in the Deep South. Her Fri., Feb. 10 Rita Coalition; Larry Holmes, gerous failure of concept, since an incalculable number arrest launched a 381-day Montgomery bus boycott in Workers World Party Forum: WWP, Troops Out Now Coalition; Venezuela: Report from the World Imani Henry, playwright/per- of the world’s humans are thereby condemned to some- which 40,000 Black people, mostly all working people, Social Forum. Speakers: Nellie former, WWP; Gloria Verdieu, thing less than life; and we may not, of course, do this fought the segregationist bosses. Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council, International Action Center. 6:30 without limiting ourselves. … Experience, nevertheless, Their hard-fought-for, hard-won victory brought Troops Out Now Coalition; Vannia p.m. (Dinner at 6 p.m.) Lara, Dominican community At 55 W. 17 St., 5th Fl., to say nothing of history, seems clearly to indicate that it momentum to the mass civil rights movement through- activist. 7 p.m. (Dinner at 6:30) Manhattan. For info phone is not possible to banish or to falsify any human need out the South during the 1950s and 1960s to break the At 55 W. 17 St., 5th Fl., (212) 627-2994. without ourselves undergoing falsification and loss.” shackles of Jim Crow apartheid. Workers World Baldwin published fiction in 1951, 1953 and 1956 that But wherever the civil rights struggle made gains, the 55 West 17 Street also dealt with homosexuality. FBI and other repressive police agencies used gay-bait- New York, N.Y. 10011 The civil rights movement qualitatively accelerated in ing, as well as red-baiting, to try to break up the move- Phone: (212) 627-2994 1955. This dynamic stage of the ongoing struggle for long- ment against racism. Fax: (212) 675-7869 denied democratic rights and national liberation helped Next: FBI brandishes weapons: red-baiting and E-mail: [email protected] inspire and buoy many in the U.S. and around the world gay-baiting. Web: www.workers.org Vol. 48, No. 4 • Feb. 2, 2006 Closing date: Jan. 25, 2006 Editor: Deirdre Griswold JOIN US. Workers World Atlanta Chicago Los Angeles San Diego, Calif. Technical Editor: Lal Roohk Party (WWP) fights on all P.O. Box 424, 27 N. Wacker Dr. #138 5274 West Pico Blvd., 3930 Oregon St., Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Leslie Feinberg, Monica issues that face the Atlanta, GA 30301 Chicago, IL 60606 Suite 203 Suite 230 Moorehead, Gary Wilson working class and (404) 627-0815 (773) 381-5839 Los Angeles, CA 90019 San Diego, CA 92104 West Coast Editor: John Parker oppressed peoples—Black [email protected] Fax (773) 761-9330 (323) 936-1416 (619) 692-4496 Contributing Editors: Greg Butterfield, and white, Latino, Asian, [email protected] [email protected] Fred Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Milt Neidenberg Arab and Native peoples, Baltimore San Francisco Technical Staff: Shelley Ettinger, Cleveland Maggie Vascassenno women and men, young 426 E. 31 St., P.O. Box 5963 Philadelphia 2940 16th St., #207 and old, lesbian, gay, bi, San Francisco, Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Teresa Gutierrez, Baltimore, MD 21218 Cleveland, OH 44101 P.O. Box 9202, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Carlos Vargas straight, trans, disabled, (410) 235-7040 CA 94103 phone (216) 531-4004 Philadelphia, PA 19139 Internet: Janet Mayes working, unemployed [email protected] [email protected] (610) 453-0490 (415) 561-9752 and students. [email protected] Denver [email protected] Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly except the first week of If you would like to Boston January by WW Publishers, 55 W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011. Phone: (212) 627-2994. 284 Armory St., [email protected] State College, Pa. Subscriptions: One year: $25; foreign and institutions: $35. Letters to the editor may know more about WWP, 100 Grandview Rd., be condensed and edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to Workers or to join us in these Boston, MA 02130 Detroit Richmond, Va. World, 55 W. 17 St., New York, NY 10011. Back issues and individual articles are State College, available on microfilm and/or photocopy from University Microfilms International, struggles, contact the (617) 983-3835 5920 Second Ave., P.O. Box 14602, Fax (617) 983-3836 PA16801 300 Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. A searchable archive is available on the branch nearest you. Detroit, MI 48202 Richmond, VA 23221 Web at www.workers.org. [email protected] (313) 831-0750 [email protected] (814) 237-8695 A headline digest is available via e-mail subscription. [email protected] Washington, D.C. Send an e-mail message to National Office Buffalo, N.Y. [email protected]. 55 W. 17 St., 367 Delaware Ave, Houston Rochester, N.Y. P.O. Box 57300, New York, NY 10011 Buffalo, NY 14202 P.O. Box 130322, (585) 436-6458 Washington, DC 20037, Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. 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Emmett Till’s murder & Katrina . ‘Ugly face of American racism’

Africana Studies Professor Tony Van communities. And to have the money to war and how those resources are Der Meer is co-chair of the Rosa Parks pay decent wages to people so that they redistributed or put in areas to Human Rights Day Committee in won’t be fighting over these type of keep war going or take it from Boston and a co-editor with Jemadari things. those who need it the most. So we Tony Van Der Meer, Kamara of “State of the Race,” an Considering the type of violence that’s have to make that connection left, speaks at Nov. anthology on the Afro-Cuba diaspora. happening in Black, Latin@ and the around the question of race and 26 day of outreach rally to build for The following are excerpts from part Cape Verdean communities as youth are class in this society. Rosa Parks Day. two of an interview conducted by Bryan shooting each other, Dr. King said it is Would you like to expand on WW PHOTO: LIZ GREEN Pfeifer of the Boston WW bureau over very difficult for us to chastise our chil- your connections you’ve made GRAPHIC, ABOVE: SAHU BARRON the course of December 2005 and dren with what George Bush is doing in previously at RPHRDC organiz- January 2006. Go to workers.org to terms of his war in Iraq and his refusal ing meetings regarding the connec- read part one. More of this interview to end the war. tions between Dec. 1 and Hurricane will appear in upcoming issues. Chuck Turner [African-American Katrina? WW: What does Rosa Parks have to do Boston City Councilor and member of When Katrina went into a pitch, it was with the war in Iraq and the other wars the RPHRDC] has confronted some in the twenty-eighth of August, which is that the United States is waging? the anti-war movement that claim the day Emmett Till was murdered in racism is not an anti-war issue. He Van Der Meer: The connection is a Mississippi {in 1955}. It was Emmett demands they must be connected. moral question, a resource question. Till’s death and his mother insisting that Martin Luther King said that a country Absolutely. Who is the one who fights his body be exposed and open so people Emmett Till & his mother Mamie Till Mobley that spends billions on war and under- the war? Not just the working class but could see what they did to her child that mines social programs is approaching they need to have a lot of people of color spurred Rosa Parks into action. help us out. People felt very much on spiritual suicide. We have a $600 billion who, while white workers are oppressed And there was anger throughout this their own and people were very angry military budget, have billions more spent as well, but in terms of skin color, Black country especially in the Black commu- and very frustrated. on the war [in Iraq]. We have public workers are at the bottom of that. And so nity that really had people like Rosa So there’s a big importance on the schools that are transporting children they’re exposed to a lot more and a lot Parks and others ready to do something question of the dignity of Rosa Parks and that don’t have monitors and don’t have less in terms of what resources they about it. Emmett Till was the real spark dignity as well as justice for Katrina sur- the resources children need to get a should have. and Rosa Parks did her job by saying vivors and what they’re going through. quality education. The state can’t give So racism is definitely an anti-war we’re not going to take this anymore. We have to insist that they have justice money because it’s being cut by the fed- platform because if you’re not trying to So when Katrina hits—that ugly face and that they’re also involved in their eral government because it’s spending deal with what we should be doing for of American racism Emmett Till’s mur- reconstruction and not have some money on war. So it has everything to do people who don’t have anything here and der represented—what it did, not just to bureaucrats do that and have some of with the war in terms of the level of knowing who they look like, like those Black people but to the world, was really their rich friends get contracts. The peo- resources we have to have decent health who were choked out in Katrina, we can destroy any type of belief that the gov- ple themselves need to be involved in that care, housing, and have safety in our begin to understand this relationship to ernment was going to come and really process and we can never forget that. T H E B L U E S . POWERFUL MUSIC FOR BLACK LIBERATIONy By Larry Hales ditions in the South, not out of moral com- ery began for Blacks. During Recon- passion for those once enslaved, but out of struction it seemed that a genuine In the classic book, Souls of Black Folk, need for cheap Black labor, for arable revolutionary process was under- W.E.B. Dubois relates a story about the land, and for international trade. World way. But the Northern Republicans origin of the song “Nobody Knows the commerce had earlier dealt in the buying joined with the old Confederates, Trouble I’ve Seen.” The story goes that, and selling of human beings, resulting in much as the Allied capitalists joined when a certain brigadier general was robbing the African continent, decimat- with former Nazis after World War assigned to the Sea Islands on the Atlantic ing whole tribes, raping and pillaging, II in a bloc against the Soviet Union. coast, upon telling the Black inhabitants making African peoples the world’s Northern troops were pulled from PHOTO:TYPEPAD.COM The great Billie Holiday that they were going to be denied the land largest diaspora. the South and the promise of they and their ancestors had long culti- Reconstruction was overthrown, and the The song starts, “I ain’t got long, I ain’t got vated while suffering under the lash of Racism, exploitation = the blues rise of the KKK began, with peonage laws long in the murderous home… Lord, I got brutal slave masters, the Black women Karl Marx called the commerce that laid and sharecropping that were both a part a long holdover and I can’t go free.” began to sing this song that has been a sta- the foundation for the Western European of de-facto slavery. Also, Jim Crow, a most It was in a prison where Leadbelly, a ple in Black musical culture since then. and North American capitalists the prim- despicable child, was born of this era. blues great, emerged and later went on to Blues music was born with the field itive accumulation of capital. It was prim- Hence, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve lament “Bourgeois Blues.” Another hollers and work songs. However, shortly itive because of the cruel, inhumane, bar- Seen,” and the blues music from Black famous blues song is Billie Holiday’s after slavery was abolished, there was a baric lengths gone to for the foundation of people, of which Alan Lomax wrote, “…But “Strange Fruit,” which tells of seeing a sense that justice long delayed would bust the countries’ profit systems. it was the Black African, highly rhythmic, lynching when she was touring down U.S. society at its seams. There were 4 mil- The importation of slaves to North collective and improvisatory approach to South, where the terror of the KKK was an lion Black people in the country and that America was made illegal in 1808. The music-making that clearly sparked most everyday occurrence. The realities of power could not be denied, nor held under slave masters were becoming so rich and new developments.” He was talking about Black life in the racist South led to Willie foot any longer. were thirsty for slave labor, that if allowed, musical developments, but culture is a King and the Liberators to pen and pro- To understand what led to the Civil War they would have extended reflection of human move- duce the song “Terrorized” in 2003. In and shortly afterwards would take a great slavery and hastened their ments and what is happen- “Terrorized,” King, an older Black man deal more investigation than what is own demise and a Black ing at that particular time from Mississippi, shows the hypocrisy of taught and upheld as fact. The truth is the revolution on the soil that in history. the current so-called “war on terror.” He abolishment of slavery was the beginning was stolen from Native Lomax collected many laments, “You talk about terror/I say you of a revolutionary process that was carried peoples. It should not be blues traditions—from the talk about terror/I’ve been terrorized all out by Northern capitalists and their lost to history that the hellish conditions in pris- my days/you know they hung me from a Republican Party, and a small faction of Haitian Revolution was ons like Parchman Farm in tall oak tree/they castrated me/did any- Northern Democrats that split from the victorious four years ear- Mississippi, and Angola in thing they wanted to do/I say you talk Democratic Party. Yes, the Democratic lier, beating the Napol- Louisiana, and in the Delta about terror/people I’ve been terrorized Party was then the party of slavery. eonic army that was the region. Prisoners on chain all my days.” Slavery was a boon for the landed aris- scourge of Europe and gangs—the brutal work Sources: High Tech, Low Pay—Sam Marcy; tocracy in the South. The cruel Southern establishing the Western crews of prisoners that pro- Market Elections—Vince Copeland; The “aristocrat” slave owners were not only hemisphere’s first Black duced huge financial gain Souls of Black Folks—W.E.B. Dubois; The despised by those enslaved and the aboli- republic. And, in addi- and are being seen again Debt—Randall Robinson; Peoples History of the United States—Howard Zinn; signifying, tionists, but as well by white farmers in the tion, the Haiti rebellions PHOTO: RADIO NETHERLANDS today with the booming Arizona youth chain gang sancifyin, & slam dunking—edited by Gena north that had to compete with the large threatened to spill over prison industrial com- Dagel Caponi; The Klan and the Govern- plantations in the south worked by unpaid and inspire poor whites and Native peo- plex—many of whom, criminalized for ment: Allies or Foes—Sam Marcy; Wage, labor. ples on the U.S. mainland. being poor, sang work songs. One of the Labor and Capitol—Karl Marx; Value, Price Also, the Northern finance capitalists After the Civil War, when the evils of songs Lomax recorded in 1947 was “The and Profit—Karl Marx; A Musical Journey from the Georgia Sea Islands to the wanted to break up the semi-feudal con- chattel slavery ended, a new form of slav- Murderous Home” at Parchman Farm. Mississippi Delta—Alan Lomax. Page 4 Feb. 16, 2006 www.workers.org Health care system ON THE

is crumbling for many Machinists picket By Kathy Durkin The Bush administration has continued grams altogether because they incur more massive tax cuts for the rich. And the war- costs—a cruel fact of how insurance works NWA at Super Bowl Nearly 46 million people in the U.S. are makers are demanding another $120 bil- under capitalism. This phony idea that The 4,300 members of the Aircraft without medical insurance. Millions of lion for the war chest for the next two “free market” health care is a good thing Mechanics (AMFA) have taken every seniors and disabled people are in crisis years. Congressional Republicans and has been shown to be a lie to the millions opportunity since they went on strike due to the Bush administration’s Medi- Democrats alike voted for the drug plan, who are being held hostage by these com- Aug. 20 to get their message across. care Drug Plan swindle. And millions more budget cuts, war funding and tax cuts for panies and who have no recourse for their They won’t quit until Northwest Airlines face great harm from Medicaid cutbacks. the billionaires. myriad of problems. offers them a decent contract. President George W. Bush’s State of the The White House, with help from Con- Seniors who appealed to Congress for Their latest action was an in-your-face Union speech didn’t even address the drug gress, is coming up with more and more relief on the drug plan were turned down demonstration against Doug Steenland, plan because it has been such an unmiti- schemes that put the burden for health flat. Two days after Bush’s speech, the NWA’s CEO. A member of the Super gated disaster. Nor did he raise any pro- care costs on consumers, letting govern- Senate rejected an attempt to postpone Bowl XL Host Committee, Steenland posals that would help the uninsured. ment and employers off the hook. They drug plan enrollment from May 15 to Dec. was scheduled to attend a gala at the Fox Instead, he pitched health care savings are viciously dismantling hard-fought-for 31, without penalties, and they denied dis- Theater on Jan. 30. Despite the fact that accounts, high-deductible medical insur- federal medical programs that were set up satisfied beneficiaries the right to change the union formally requested to picket ance plans and tax breaks—all that would to help working-class and poor families, drug plans. there and the city okayed it, members of only benefit the rich, discourage seniors and the disabled, and are putting But what will turn things around? What the FBI, Secret Service, ATF— which employer-based insurance, and do noth- the financial burden on them. This will is needed is more Medicare and Medicaid, regulates tobacco and firearms—and ing for working and poor people. lead to enormous hardships and drive not less! Health care should be guaranteed Detroit police all tried to keep them The very next day the House of Repre- many more into the ranks of the unin- to all who need it, with full benefits, away. But while progressive lawyers sentatives passed the “Budget Recon- sured, and thus, without medical care. including for medications, dental care, argued persuasively, the machinists ciliation Bill,” which slashes nearly $40 The health of many, including children, mental health treatment—paid for and muscled into position to hand out 300 billion from essential programs over five will deteriorate. administered by the government directly, flyers to those walking the red carpet. years and nearly $100 billion over 10 Big business is getting even richer in the without unnecessary middlemen insur- As a message posted on the AMFA years—one-half from Medicaid and process. The federal government’s top ance companies, and certainly with no say website on Feb. 1 read, “Mr. Steenland, Medicare. This will be disastrous for the officials are working hand-in-glove with by the drug industry. we are not going away. Not ever. We are poorest families. the big insurance and drug companies to Only a mass movement for a national looking forward to negotiating a contract Hidden in that bill is a discriminatory maximize their super-profits. Other big health program—which puts people’s with you in the near future—or we can provision barely mentioned in the media corporations are gloating too, as they pay needs first and not the profits of insur- just keep on striking. You decide.” which can affect millions: Medicaid will less for retirees’ health benefits. ance and drug companies or the war require proof of citizenship. This will keep Seniors and disabled people in every budget—can help solve the growing out not only undocumented workers, but state have been angrily voicing complaints health care crisis. Boeing machinists many other oppressed people, seniors and to their representatives about the hurdles It will take organizing and building ratify new contract children who may lack birth certificates or they’ve faced, as they struggle to get drugs grassroots opposition and a real fighting The 1,500 machinists at Boeing plants passports. or supplies covered. Many are going with- movement to win this—just like the in Alabama, California and Florida— And then Bush dropped another bomb- out. The poorest and sickest, those who women’s, civil rights and workers’ move- represented by the International Asso- shell: his 2007 budget proposal. It calls for were on Medicaid and Medicare, are fac- ments have done over decades to win ciation of Machinists and Aerospace a $36 billion cut in Medicare over five ing daily nightmares. everything from the 8-hour day to repro- Workers (IAM)—voted to ratify a new years. It would cut cancer research and The government and insurance compa- ductive rights to affirmative action. That’s contract on Feb. 1. Negotiations on Jan. preventative disease programs, even oxy- nies no doubt are hoping that the poorest what won Medicare and Medicaid in the 27, according to IAM spokesperson Bob gen equipment for the elderly. and most disabled drop out of these pro- first place. Wood, were the first productive talks since the strike began on Nov. 2. Though Boeing did not increase the total financial amount in its pre-strike Katrina survivors, offer, it did change the medical plan, which was a major issue triggering the strike. Boeing agreed to lower deduc- supporters tibles and monthly premiums and to cap the maximum amount of premiums. target FEMA “For three months, we have fought Boeing to a standstill. We have taken on National actions were held on Feb. 7 outside of a giant like Boeing and persevered,” said local FEMA offices and temporary housing sites by Wood in a Jan. 28 IAM press release. Katrina survivors and their supporters to protest the “We are fighting a battle most people in latest deadline put forth by FEMA headquarters in this country have been unwilling or Washington D.C. to displace Katrina survivors from unable to take on. We are on strike not temporary housing, in hotels or trailers. Actions were scheduled for New Orleans; Jackson, Miss.; Atlanta; Oakland; Raleigh and Washington, D.C. New York press conference, In New York, a press conference took place on Feb. 7. Feb. 7 on the steps of City Hall denouncing FEMA’s WW PHOTO: ANNE PRUDEN actions (above). Katrina survivors, labor and com- munity activists and Black elected officials participated. This delegation connected the “These actions are part of a growing number of survivors and support organizations issues at home and abroad with demands such as “Money for Katrina survivors, not war that are working toward a just and equitable recovery and reconstruction of New in Iraq.” Orleans and the Gulf South and to demand the right of return and ultimate control The People’s Hurricane Relief Fund put out a statement regarding why the Feb. 7 over the federal resources necessary to reconstruct their lives and communities.” protest took place. It reads in part: — Monica Moorehead National caravan for migrants sets out By Ruth Vela & Justino Jiménez The caravan will encourage communi- honor. According to one of the caravan ico, Calif., in the Imperial Valley where San Diego ties across the U.S. to denounce the assas- organizers, Enrique Morones of Border members of the United Farm Workers sination of Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez Angels and Gente Unida remarked, “It’s and Braceros Pro-A gathered on both Members of the San Diego Interna- by the San Diego border patrol in time our community march on Washing- sides of the Mexicali border fence. tional Action Center and the Fight December and HR 4437, a bill that seeks ton and across the country to let the world Over the next two weeks, the caravan Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST) to increase the already deadly militariza- know we demand to be treated with will travel to Los Angeles, Fresno, San youth group along with other human tion of the border and attempts to con- respect and dignity; we ask for nothing Francisco and Sacramento, then move rights organizations and thousands of tinue the criminalization of migrants, more and will settle for nothing less.” into Arizona, Texas, Atlanta, Raleigh, individuals have supported Gente Unida, their employers and supporters. This historic march for migrants began Cleveland and Chicago, with plans to an immigrant rights group formed last The caravan will also pay homage to the on the anniversary of the signing of the arrive at the final destination of D.C. summer to oppose the Minutemen, in ini- 4,000 migrants who have died since the 1848 treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at the on Feb. 18. Information on the tiating a national march for migrants that inception of the racist, INS-sponsored “wall of shame & the wall of death” caravan schedule can be found at began in San Diego Feb. 2 and will end in “Operation Gatekeeper” in 1994. Crosses located at the border crossing in San www.borderangels.org. Washington, D.C. will be planted across the U.S. in their Ysidro, Calif., before moving on to Calex- www.workers.org Feb. 16, 2006 Page 5 PICKET LINE Prison fatality exposes By Sue Davis inhumane conditions only for our families and communities, but for everyone who works for a living.” By John Parker tional, which provides training kits for and wait in line for the few showers.” Los Angeles prison management: “Crowding prisoners Believing that “race” is the determining into confined spaces meant for far fewer cause for the violence, Sheriff Baca Verizon workers vote A 45-year-old Black inmate was killed people is inhumane, violates international ordered Latino and Black inmates to be and over 100 others injured during a fight standards, and contributes to a wide vari- segregated. However, the U.S. Supreme on contract on Feb. 4 at the North County Correctional ety of social ills that plague communities Court in February, 2005, ruled that the On strike for 13 weeks, four Com- Facility that involved 2,000 inmates, as a whole.” California Department of Corrections munications Workers (CWA) locals in according to the sheriff’s department. The In a March 13, 2005 Los Angeles Times must stop segregating inmates by race New York state voted on a new contract department said this latest incident may article, correctional officials in Sacra- unless it was the only way to maintain with Verizon Information Services on have been in retaliation for the stabbing of mento said they could find no statistical security since that would violate the U.S. Feb. 2. According to the tentative agree- a Latino inmate by a Black inmate earlier correlation between crowding and vio- Constitution’s ban on racial segregation by ment, the 300 Yellow Page workers will in the week at the Men’s Central Jail, a lence. Yet the same story points out, “In the government. receive raises of about 3 percent per year major downtown Los Angeles facility. February, the state’s nonpartisan legisla- Baca, as if speaking about lab rats, said beginning in April and their health plan Violence at the North County facility is tive analyst’s office reported that the rate that racial violence in the jails “is impos- contributions will be capped. commonplace. More than 150 “racially of inmate “incidents,” including assaults, sible to prevent.” “They will divide on racial CWA members “should be proud for motivated” fights have occurred since had risen 18 percent from 1997 to 2003— lines,” he said. “There is a code of race. standing up for themselves and their 1990, police said. In 2000, 81 inmates a period of significant population growth.” [You] are required to defend your race.” brothers and sisters in a way that man- were injured at the prison. Sheriff Lee Overcrowding and stress is further Unity amongst inmates is undoubtedly agement never thought we were capable Baca ordered a system-wide lockdown encouraged when recreation–-which can a bigger threat to officials. Many inmates of,” said CWA District 1 Vice President affecting over 20,000 prisoners in Los alleviate stress–-is eliminated. In many have spoken of correctional staff inciting Chris Shelton in a Jan. 27 CWA media Angeles County. California prisons, recreational facilities violence and divisions between inmates of release. None of the law enforcement officials have been turned into housing units to different ethnicities. Some California pris- has cited the much criticized overcrowded deal with the increased population. The ons have even been caught promoting prisons or lack of recreation or learning Times article described one such prison: “gladiator” bouts between Black and NPR charged with facilities for inmates as contributing fac- “In a gymnasium now called “G Dorm,” Latino inmates. unfair labor practice tors for the ongoing violence. the basketball hoops are folded back to The Feb. 4 incident shines a big spot- Yet California, the largest state prison make room for row upon row of triple- light on horrendous prison conditions that Nearly 100 skilled technicians, mem- system in the U.S., is known to be plagued deck bunk beds. The noise—from televi- must lead to increased community bers of Communication Workers (CWA) with problems that include overcrowding sions, radios, yelling and laughter—is involvement in fighting the prison indus- Local 52031, filed an unfair labor prac- and the denial of inmates’ basic health constant, and the smell is about what trial complex and help end the isolation tice charge against National Public Radio and safety. you’d expect from 225 men living cheek and repression facing both male and (NPR) after a non-technical employee According to Penal Reform Interna- by jowl who must use overworked toilets female prisoners. was assigned to film an interview with Sen. Evan Bayh on Jan. 17. The workers have been negotiating with NPR for months. They rejected a management proposal in December that California ‘time-out’ “would have jeopardized jobs and qual- ity” and “management has now acted to undermine the contract,” said Local on executions is stalled President Mike Peach, in a Jan. 20 CWA media release. By Joan Marquardt stalled the measure. Had it passed, it the likelihood of being charged with capi- “Management wants to shift greater San Francisco would have allowed time for the California tal murder or receiving the death penalty, amounts of what is highly skilled work to Commission on the Fair Administration of i.e., those who murdered whites were non-technical employees,” said Peach. A two-year moratorium—or “time- Justice, a bipartisan committee estab- more likely to be sentenced to death than “This demand not only is contrary to out”—on executions in California was lished a year ago by the California State those who murdered blacks.” NPR management’s own policies requir- delayed indefinitely on Jan. 19 when the Senate, to carry out a comprehensive Illinois Gov. George Ryan declared a ing that it meet industry standards, but Appropriations Committee of the State study of the state’s legal procedures, moratorium on executions in his state is an insult to the skilled and talented Legislature put Assembly Bill 1121 on hold. including the effectiveness, accuracy and when a student research paper revealed technicians who are responsible for a The moratorium plan, first announced fairness of capital punishment as it is car- evidence that at least 13 innocent people quality product.” last June 14, was subsequently co-authored ried out here. were on Illinois’ death row. Union members in Chicago, Los by Assembly members Paul Koretz, Sally Also there would have been time for the More than 100 convicted individuals Angeles, New York and Washington, Lieber, Mark Leno and Mervyn Dymally. state legislature to review the commis- across the country have been found to be D.C., are asking newsmakers not to give At that time Koretz stated, according to the sion’s findings and recommendations. innocent and released from death row. interviews to NPR if field production is San Francisco Chronicle, that California Koretz is quoted by the organization Cali- The mistaken or wrongful execution of not done by a CWA technician. Peach stands “at grave risk of executing an inno- fornians for a Moratorium on Executions anyone is an act of brutality that can never also asked supporters to contact NPR to cent person.” Lieber said the death penalty as saying, “For the state of California to be rectified. urge management to negotiate a fair is “quite infected with racism.” Mark Leno continue to execute prisoners while an New Jersey and Maryland have agreement that affirms the role of called it a “lethal lottery” riddled with “sig- official governmental body investigates imposed moratoria on executions. trained technicians in producing a qual- nificant racial bias.” the findings of error and injustice and Even better, Kansas and New York have ity network. At that initial announcement in June, unfairness in the criminal justice system declared capital punishment unconstitu- six people wrongfully convicted of serious just doesn’t make sense.” tional. The death penalty is a weapon of crimes in California and the parents of a Another group, Death Penalty Focus terror, used disproportionately against the IBM accused of young woman killed by a mentally dis- (DPF), says that the commission is poor and people of color. abled man all spoke in support of the empowered “to study the extent to which But in 38 states, including California, not paying overtime moratorium plan. California’s criminal justice system has the death penalty remains legal. On Jan. 25, IBM was accused of deny- Formally introduced this Jan. 9 by failed in the past, resulting in wrongful While at least 117 countries worldwide ing overtime pay to tens of thousands of Koretz and Lieber, and signed by an addi- executions or wrongful convictions of have abandoned capital punishment in workers in California and New York. tional 40 judges, prosecutors and other innocent persons” and “to examine ways law, or at least in practice, the U.S. A federal lawsuit claims that IBM vio- officials, AB 1121 was approved by the of providing safeguards and making remains in the small group of nations lated federal and state labor laws by mis- Assembly Public Safety Committee the improvements in the way the criminal jus- where over half the states are still licensed classifying full-time computer installa- next day. Koretz said, “There is no doubt tice system functions” in the largest state to kill. California Gov. Arnold “The tion and maintenance workers as exempt that there are innocent people on death in the country. Terminator” Schwarzenegger, a death from overtime. The suit also seeks an row right now in California.” Not surprisingly, race is a major deter- penalty enthusiast, is not expected to sign injunction to stop IBM from continuing The legislation would have suspended mining factor in the decision of who lives any anti-death penalty legislation that this unfair labor practice. all executions in California for two years, and who dies in California’s prisons. For reaches his desk until he is forced to. Another recent IBM move to steal from from January 2007 until January 2009. example, on Dec. 13, Stanley Tookie But the growing number of death its employees was ending its contribution But partisan politics and lack of moral Williams, an African American, was exe- penalty opponents are heartened that to pensions. backbone, at least until after elections, cuted amid local, statewide and national more than 170,000 Californians, some protests. Clarence Ray Allen, a Native 425 organizations, all the big newspapers, American, was executed on Jan. 17. And 11 city councils and four counties in MUMIA SPEAKS on Feb. 21, Michael Morales, a Latino, is California have all supported the suspen- An interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row also scheduled to die in California’s death sion of executions. chamber at San Quentin Prison. The struggle to end the very real “crime Columns by the Black journalist on prisons, capitalism, politics, revolution and solidarity. Additional essays on the prison-industrial The racism is so obvious that a 1990 fed- against humanity” executions of the more complex by Monica Moorehead, Larry Holmes and Teresa Gutierrez. eral General Accounting Office report said than 640 men and women now on Cali- fornia’s death row will continue. Those of Order from International Action Center that “in 82 percent of studies [reviewed], 39 West 14 St. #206, New York, NY 10011 $3 race of the victim was found to influence us on the “outside” can do no less. Page 6 Feb. 16, 2006 www.workers.org

450,000 NGOSINRUSSIA U.S. finances opposition forces By Sara Flounders Nikolai Patrushev, recently blamed for- affected millions of people, leaving them U.S.-funded NGOs trying eign-funded NGOs for fomenting coups in intensely angry with the leaders who A struggle is developing in Russia over to impose “regime change” the post-Soviet states of Georgia, Ukraine betrayed them. legislation regulating non-governmental in Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, and Kyrgyzstan. organizations (NGOs) that is due to go into The active and open role that foreign- Funding youth movements effect in April. Nicaragua and Haiti are funded NGOS played in the overturn of A significant part of the U.S. corporate The new law was passed by both houses understood. These same these three governments is what is setting funding is to create youth movements. The of the Russian legislature, called the Duma, subversive organizations off alarm bells in Moscow. The imperial- Soros Foundation, USAID and the NED and signed by President Vladimir Putin on ist media fondly call these coups “velvet together funded the Serbian youth group Jan. 10. Resistance to it has opened a win- in Eastern Europe and revolutions” and sometimes “color revolu- Otpor. Young people were provided spe- dow on the level of Western and especially former Soviet republics tions” for the colors chosen by the opposi- cialized training and seminars in Buda- U.S. intervention in Russia today. are less understood tion forces. pest, Hungary, along with t-shirts, stickers, Under the new law, foreign organiza- Ironically, the political leaders who were posters, office rent and a newspaper, as tions and groups receiving funding from overthrown—especially Eduard Shevar- part of the successful campaign to overturn outside Russia have to register with the among the local elite who would become dnadze in Georgia and Leonid Kuchma in the Milosevic government in Serbia. government. Russian officials say the leg- collaborators. Religious conversion Ukraine—had in the past been the U.S.- In Georgia, the Soros Foundation islation is necessary to combat the hun- helped to pacify a whole section of the pop- chosen candidates. Both had carried out budgeted $4.6 million for the youth group dreds of millions of dollars flowing from ulation, and paved the way for some to policies that brought their governments Kmara, which became a primary weapon foreign governments to organizations in become loyal and fervent servants of the into the U.S. orbit. They had pushed for against the government. In Ukraine, Soros the country. new power structure. joining NATO’s “Partnership for Peace.” budgeted $7 million for the youth group An original version of the law was toned Today in Russia, not just religious org- Both had agreed to send troops to Iraq. Pora. down under an intense campaign of pres- anizations have been flooding into the Yet both politicians were unceremoni- The opendemocracy.net web site is sure from the NGOs themselves and from region. The primary role of proselytizing ously thrown out when they were not funded by the Ford and Rockefeller foun- the U.S. government. Secretary of State capitalist values is played by “human totally compliant with U.S. corporate dations. An article there by Sreeram Condoleezza Rice pressured Putin, rights” NGOs. demands. Both of their replacements— Chaulia analyzes the role of U.S.-funded expressing concern for “democracy.” The In response to these new restrictions, Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia and Viktor NGOs from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan and legislation was on the agenda at the recent the volume of political pressure and pro- Yuschchenko in Ukraine—had served in Ukraine. The blurb for it is provocative, G-8 meeting. tests from Washington has been turned the governments of their predecessors. saying that “new forms of youthful, tech- The law imposes restrictions on the up. But it is sheer hypocrisy. Regulations Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin savvy mass mobilization are impelling financing, registration and activities of that are far more restrictive and intrusive Powell said after attending Yuschchenko’s regime change from below. But is the phe- NGOs. This term originally meant any monitor organizations in the U.S. inauguration as president of Ukraine on nomenon as benign as it appears? Are the non-profit, voluntary, civic, humanitar- Any individual or organization here that Jan 23, 2005, that he was “proud to have movements who inspire the ‘color revolu- ian, health, human rights, service or envi- accepts money from a foreign country been associated with both events”—in tions’ catalysts or saboteurs?” ronmental organization. Now a huge must register with the U.S. government Georgia and Ukraine. The author is not criticizing these NGOs; number of organizations that claim to be under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Much insight into U.S. plans for the he is evaluating their effectiveness in non-governmental, but rely on the U.S. Charitable donations are a matter of pub- future and evaluations of past interven- implementing “regime change.” A few of and other major imperialist countries and lic record. Imagine Russia, China, Cuba, tions can actually be found on the web his observations give insight into how on big corporations for their funds, oper- North Korea or Iran pumping millions of sites of the foundations behind these these political organizations operate as just ate in Russia and in many countries dollars into political organizations in the regime changes. another weapon in the U.S. arsenal. around the world. They dispense aid, set U.S. Even U.S. allies such as Britain, France, “Sabotage can suffice in some countries policy and intervene in political life based Germany or Japan cannot secretly fund 40,000 NGOs in Ukraine while full-scale military offensives may be on the political agenda and economic political organizations within the U.S. In an article on the World Bank’s web- needed in others,” Chaulia says. interests of the funders. Alexei Pankin, writing in the Jan. 25 site entitled: “Civil Society Development “These three revolutions—the ‘rose rev- The sheer number of organizations issue of the magazine Russia Profile, in Ukraine and the Orange Revolution,” olution’ in Georgia (November 2003-Jan- described as NGOs and the number described his relation with two NGOs. “I Vira Nanivska, director of the Interna- uary 2004), the ‘orange revolution’ in receiving foreign funding is staggering. ran a USAID-funded three-year program tional Center for Policy Studies in Ukraine (January 2005) and the ‘tulip rev- Since 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet supporting Russian media, with a total Ukraine, brags: “Today some 40,000 olution’ in Kyrgyzstan (April 2005)—each Union, hundreds of thousands of NGOs budget of $10.5 million, and a Soros NGOs in Ukraine involve 12 percent of the followed a near-identical trajectory; all have sprung up in Russia. Members of the Foundation program supporting Russian population—and these organizations have were spearheaded by the American demo- Russian Duma say over 450,000 NGOs media with an annual budget of $1.8 mil- been a key active force in the Orange cratization Ingos [international NGOs] operate in Russia today. The Yale Center lion. The number of supervisors, bosses, Revolution.” (www.worldbank.org) working at the behest of the U.S. foreign for the Study of Globalization puts the inspectors and advisers who I had to deal She describes how international consul- policy establishment. … Rarely has the U.S. number even higher, saying that “There with (or had to deal with me) defies belief. tants, policy experts and technical assistants promoted human rights and democracy in are at least 600,000 registered non-gov- I am sure there were intelligence officers work in coordination to change legislation, a region when they did not suit its grander ernmental, non-commercial organiza- among them.” develop interest groups, set up media cen- foreign-policy objectives. … Ingos heavily tions operating in Russia. At least as many Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), ters and develop protest movements. dependent on U.S. finances have been may be working in the country without successor of the KGB, on Jan. 23 accused NGOs affect legislation, train civil servants, found to be consciously or subconsciously official registration.” four British diplomats of spying. It said it establish community councils and busi- extending U.S. governmental interests. … Duma deputy Alexei Ostrovsky, a co- had caught one of them “red-handed” ness associations, and push to revise the “NED’s first president, Allen Weinstein, author of the new law, estimates up to a channeling funds to several Russian non- state budget in their own interests. admitted openly that ‘a lot of what we do quarter of Russian NGOs receive money governmental organizations. London Young people and student organiza- today was done covertly 25 years ago by the from abroad. These include environmen- denied misconduct, saying it openly tions are drawn in through campaigns CIA. … NED was conceived as a quasi-gov- tal groups, human rights monitors and funded NGOs in Russia. around HIV/AIDS, protection of minority ernmental foundation that funneled U.S. consumer advocates. Significant foreign funding comes rights and fighting child abandonment. government funding through Ingos like President Putin, in supporting the leg- directly from U.S. sources, such as the The whole aim of this web of projects, she the National Democratic Institute for islation, said: “Whether these organiza- quasi-governmental National Endow- explains, is to prevent any “backsliding International Affairs (NDI), the Inter- tions want it or not, they become an ment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. towards the old regime” and to push for national Republican Institute (IRI), instrument in the hands of foreign states Agency for International Development “Euro-integration,” meaning integrating International Foundation for Electoral that use them to achieve their own politi- (USAID), and from the European Union’s into international and European organiza- Systems (IFES), International Research cal objectives. This situation is unaccept- Tacis Program. Millions of dollars in fund- tions like NATO and the World Bank. and Exchanges Board (IREX), and able. This law is designed to prevent inter- ing originates with foundations that rep- The overturn of socialist ownership and Freedom House. ... ference in Russia’s internal political life by resent the interests of the wealthy elite, the breakup of the Soviet Union is a pro- “The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyz- foreign countries and create transparent such as the Ford, MacArthur, Carnegie, cess that did not end in 1991. Shaping the stan, worked closely with NGOs like Free- conditions for the financing of nongovern- Rockefeller and Soros organizations. laws on property, the rights of foreign cap- dom House and the Soros Foundation— mental organizations.” ital, justifying the expropriation and pri- supplying generators, printing presses and Regime change in Georgia, vatizing of the socially owned resources, money to keep the protests boiling until The cross followed the gun Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan industry and services for individual profit, President Akayev fled. Information about When the European capitalist nations The role of U.S.-funded NGOs in trying dismembering social programs, shaping where protesters should gather and what first established colonies around the world, to impose “regime change” in Cuba, the media, education and culture, and they should bring was spread through State the cross followed the gun. Thousands of Venezuela, Chile, Nicaragua and Haiti is undermining any assertions of sover- Department-funded radio and TV stations.” missionaries were an integral part of the increasingly understood. The role of these eignty are a much longer process. Today’s new and developing anti-war machinery of conquest and subjugation. same subversive organizations in Eastern These funds have an even greater movement needs an understanding of the Establishing a colonial administration Europe and the countries that made up the impact in a region where the centralized many forms of U.S. intervention, along meant reorganizing society and the own- former Soviet Union is less well known, socialist planning that once guaranteed with the chaos and instability that it ership of property in a way that benefited even though they operate on an even pensions, full employment, free health breeds. This will build anti-imperialist the colonizers. It involved schools, train- larger scale there. care, free education and subsidized hous- awareness and strengthen the growing ing and political orientation for those Russia’s FSB security service chief, ing is gone. Its brutal dismembering has global demand of “U.S. out now!” www.workers.org Feb. 16, 2006 Page 7

BUSH’S BUDGET PLAN More war at home and abroad By Fred Goldstein sigence of the Iranian people and its gov- designed to empty the pockets of the ernment. Iran will not surrender its hard- This budget cannot bring poor. The Center on Budget and Policy There is nothing more political than the won national sovereignty by giving up its victory over the people of Priorities, a major liberal think tank, did budget of a capitalist government. And the right to nuclear energy at the dictate of a preliminary overview of the budget. budget that the Bush administration has U.S. imperialism and its European junior the world and it is bound (www.cbpp.org/2-6-06bud.htm) submitted to Congress truly embodies the partners. to increase social and A sample of their findings should ring reactionary politics of the White House. class tensions in the U.S. alarm bells in the labor movement, among Hundreds of billions of dollars for present Iran defends its sovereignty community organizations and in the anti- and future wars. Hundreds of billions in Washington has threatened the Iranian While it will fill the vaults war movement. tax cuts for the super rich. Cutbacks and government with sanctions and military of the merchants of death, The budget would cut $27 billion from hardship for the workers and the poor. action for two-and-a-half years. It has it is designed to empty the social programs in 2007 and a total of The proposed $2.7 trillion budget gives been maneuvering to bring Iran before the $165 billion by 2011. This would amount $439 billion to the Pentagon, an increase United Nations Security Council and has pockets of the poor. to a 13 percent cut. “Cuts would be made of 6.9 percent. In addition, there is $120 finally succeeded. in hundreds of domestic discretionary billion more in “emergency” funds for the But just as the Bush group totally mis- its “smart bombs,” killer gunships, 15,000- programs across the budget including wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The total calculated the anti-colonial spirit of the lb. “daisy cutter” bombs and Predator education programs, environmental pro- military spending will be $560 billion this Iraqi people and the Palestinian people, drones against a defenseless population tection programs, numerous programs to year alone. they have totally underestimated the with no army. It threatened Iraq with the assist low-income families, children, and There is $84 billion for weapons and spirit of anti-U.S. resistance of the Iranian terror visited on Afghanistan. elderly and disabled people, and research $73 billion for weapons development. people. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and com- related to cancer, heart disease, and other This does not count the estimated $5 bil- Washington counted it as a great victory pany promised that “shock and awe” medical conditions,” states the report. lion for nuclear weapons development that it twisted the arms of China and Russia would bring Iraq to its knees and the next Among the programs with deep cuts: that goes to the Energy Department. to join the so-called Euro 3—France, stop on the road to conquest would be • Section 2 housing for low-income The stocks of the corporations of the Germany and Great Britain—in backing Iran—part of Bush’s “axis of evil” which elderly –a 26 percent cut. military-industrial complex are going to the referral of Iran to the Security Council. was on the list for “regime change” along rise based on the upcoming lush hand- The U.S. imperialists thought that this with Syria and North Korea. • Section 811 housing for low-income outs. No weapons system was cut and new would bring unbearable diplomatic and Since then, the Bush administration has people with disabilities– weapons systems were funded. Boeing will political pressure on the Iranian govern- been stalemated on every front. It is beset a 50 percent cut. get $3.5 billion to make 42 advanced F/A ment to reverse course. Instead, the with crises of its own making that have • The Community Development Block -18 Navy fighter jets. General Dynamics Iranian government has stood up to the forced a shift in the Pentagon. In its Grant program–a 30 percent cut. and Northrop Grumman will get $2.5 bil- so-called “great powers” and announced recently released Quadrennial Defense • The Child Care and Development lion for joint development of two new its intention to resume experimentation Review—a forward strategy report to Block Grant program would face cuts high-tech DDX Navy destroyers. The two with uranium enrichment. Congress—the reference to “regime of $1.03 billion in the next five corporations will also get $2.4 billion for The government of Mahmoud change” that was in the 2001 strategy years. This means that the number of a Virginia-class attack submarine. Ahmadinejad, with virtual universal sup- report was conspicuously missing. The children receiving child care assistance Textron subsidiary Bell Helicopter will port among the population, has declared strategy report accompanies the military would drop by 400,000 by 2011 replace the CH-46 transport helicopters that Iran will never give up its right to budget. compared to 2005. damaged in Iraq with new V-22 tilt-rotor peaceful nuclear technology. The develop- While there is money in the budget for aircraft for the Marines. Lockheed will get ment of nuclear technology has been on special forces and special operations and • The Social Services Block Grant, which contracts for more C-130 cargo planes. hold in Iran since the 1979 revolution that “irregular warfare”—i.e., counterinsur- provides funding to states for social Appropriations for missile systems will overthrew the U.S. puppet Shah and gency—the Pentagon brass has no inten- services for low-income and vulnerable rise from $8 billion to $10 billion. nationalized U.S. oil holdings. tion of being tied to the neo-con doc- populations, would be cut by The active-duty military forces are Commander in Chief George W. Bush, trines. It is not that the generals are 30 percent or $500 million. scheduled for a slight reduction but the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and opposed in principle to the doctrine. But • Medicaid, which provides health Special Forces such as Army Green Berets Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld they do not want to experience anything insurance to low-income children, and Navy Seals are going to be strength- have been issuing warnings that “the like the disastrous adventure in Iraq parents, seniors and people with ened. The Marines are going to get their world” will not allow Iran to have a again any time soon. disabilities, would lose $13.8 billion own special operations unit. These forces nuclear weapon. The Los Angeles Times carried a dis- in five years through combined fund- are going to be trained for interventions In the first place, Iran has declared its patch dated Jan. 24 that quoted a Penta- ing cuts and regulatory changes. in the oppressed countries and for train- intention to use nuclear energy for peace- gon official working on the Quadrennial ing counter-revolutionary forces of client ful purposes. It is allowed to use and Defense Review who characterized Iraq as Other programs would be terminated states of the U.S. government. This is part encouraged to use peaceful nuclear energy “clearly a one-off.” The official added, altogether. For example: of the Rumsfeld “transformation” of under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation “There is certainly no intention to do it • The Commodity Supplemental lighter, more mobile and lethal units to Treaty, of which it is a member. again. The human and financial costs of Food Program, which provides respond to threats to U.S. imperialist But if the Iranian government—seeing the war have made many senior generals nutritional food packages for less than interests any place on the globe. the Israeli Zionist state armed to the teeth eager to turn the page on Iraq.” $20 a month to more than 400,000 But this spending on military “shock with nuclear weapons, and what hap- Bush’s budget is meant to tell the world low-income elderly people, one-third and awe” will not stop the struggle. The pened to Iraq after it allowed itself to be that in spite of the disaster in Iraq, Wash- of whom are over 75. budget is meant to add new terror wea- disarmed by the U.N. operating under the ington still has the determination to rule • The Preventative Care Block pons and bolster “special operations.” instructions of the U.S.—should decide to the world and is making full-scale military Grant, which is operated by the However, the combination of military acquire a nuclear weapon as a matter of preparations. In fact, many of these large Centers for Disease Control and might and Special Forces has not been self-defense, it has the right as a formerly weapons systems are meant for combat Prevention and provide grants to able to subdue the Iraqi resistance and oppressed nation in the struggle against with large militaries. And one clear target states for preventative health services deliver the country into the hands of the imperialism and Zionism. It is Washing- of this large-scale military development is for poor populations. U.S. oil giants, transnational corporations ton, with its 10,000 nuclear warheads and the Peoples Republic of China. Secretary of and the Pentagon. its current program to develop new Defense Donald Rumsfeld has described • The TRIO Talent Search program, Furthermore, despite the threats to use nuclear weapons, that is the prime candi- China as a “threat” and the Quadrennial under which colleges and universi- the U.S. military arsenal, the peoples of date for being brought before the Inter- Defense Review also mentions China. ties—in many cases historically Black the Middle East have not been intimi- national Atomic Energy Agency. But this new budget cannot bring vic- colleges and universities—assist disad- dated. On the contrary, Washington has tory over the people of the world and it is vantaged secondary school students to experienced one setback after another ‘Regime change’ dropped bound to increase social and class tensions prepare for college. since its post-Sept. 11 offensive to recolo- from Pentagon report in the U.S. • The Community Services Block nize the region under U.S. rule. Fighting This latest crisis is the culmination of a Grant, which provides funding for a is now raging at unprecedented levels campaign that was begun by the Bush Budget a full-scale attack variety of social services and other against the U.S.-NATO occupation forces administration after 9/11. The White on the poor types of assistance to low-income in southern and western Afghanistan. The House was riding high after the invasion of While the proposed budget will fill the families and elderly and attempt to destabilize the Syrian govern- Afghanistan and the demonstration of all vaults of the merchants of death, it is disabled people. ment has failed so far. Washington If the budget is enacted, it would give an branded Hezbollah in Lebanon as a “ter- average of $136,000 in tax relief for peo- rorist” organization and demanded that it ple who make over $1 million a year. By Osborne P.Anderson, a Black be disarmed. But its popularity as a Making the cuts permanent would hand national liberation organization is as revolutionary who was there. With an AVOICE from essay on ‘The Unfinished Revolution’ these millionaires $900 billion in the next strong as ever. And the overwhelming vic- by Vince Copeland and prefaces by HARPER’S ten years. More than $600 billion of this tory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections Mumia Abu-Jamal and Monica Moorehead. would go to the .2 percent of the super-rich was a vote against U.S.-backed Israeli 128 pp, photographs. World View Forum. FERRY families making over a million dollars a colonialism and occupation. $18 online at www.leftbooks.com Now Washington is facing the intran- 1859 Continued on page 10 Page 8 Feb. 16, 2006 www.workers.org

Worldwide protests Islam bashing part of racist war for empire Continued from page 1 Zealand. Thousands of students marched and are formerly colonized by oppressor HAMAS VOWS: through the streets of Cairo. Rebellions nations. These oppressed countries are all continued in Pakistan on Feb. 7. Thousands still under the economic domination of ‘We will not sell our people or principles for foreign aid’ marched in the Turkish cities of Diyarbakir, imperialist finance capital, or, like Iran, Following are excerpts from a Jan. 31 terrorist because such a democratically Konya and Istanbul. In Jakarta, hundreds are threatened with war. Iraq and Afghan- statement by Khalid Mish’al, head of the exercised right would cost them the finan- forced their way into the high-rise that istan are occupied by U.S.-led forces. political bureau of Hamas, that appeared cial aid provided by foreign donors. houses the Danish embassy. In Delhi, sev- Comparisons with other religions are in Britain’s Guardian newspaper. The day Hamas won the Palestinian dem- eral thousand students battled with police rife now after the struggle unleashed by ocratic elections, the world’s leading who used water cannons to stop the march the insults to Islam. t is widely recognized that the Palestinians democracies failed the test of democracy. to the Danish Embassy. For example, drawing an equal sign Iare among the most politicized and edu- Rather than recognize the legitimacy of In Somalia, a 14-year-old was shot to between Islam-bashing and anti-Judaism cated peoples in the world. When they went Hamas as a freely elected representative of death during a demonstration. Protests leaves out the role of Israel as an imperial- to the polls last Wednesday they were well the Palestinian people, seize the opportu- also took place in Kano, northern Nigeria aware of what was on offer and those who nity created by the result to support the ist cat’s paw. Former President Bill Clin- and in Bamako—Mali’s capital. The High voted for Hamas knew what it stood for. development of good governance in ton, among many others, tried to make this They chose Hamas because of its pledge Palestine and search for a means of ending Court in Johannesburg barred two of the equation. Clinton told those gathered at never to give up the legitimate rights of the the bloodshed, the U.S. and EU threatened largest newspaper groups from publishing the economic conference in Doha, Qatar, Palestinian people and its promise to embark the Palestinian people with collective pun- the caricatures. on Jan. 30, “In Europe, most of the strug- on a program of reform. ishment for exercising their right to choose Hundreds protested in the heart of gles we’ve had in the past 50 years have There were voices warning them, locally their parliamentary representatives. London, outside the Danish embassy, and been to fight prejudices against Jews, to and internationally, not to vote for an To read more of the statement, go to a smaller demonstration targeted the fight against anti-Semitism. Now what are organization branded by the U.S. and EU as www.workers.org/2006/world/hamas-0216 Philadelphia Inquirer. we going to do? Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice?” population of 16 million. taken their rage to the streets in the first Boycott! Arab people, of course, are also Semites. Right-wing and center-right parties have week of February as more capitalist news- Aided by the grassroots power of the But what has fanned the flames of anger run viciously anti-Muslim campaigns. papers reprinted the anti-Islamic images. Internet, a widening boycott of Danish, at Jews for the last half century? The set- Among its acts of scapegoating, Denmark Even the occupation couldn’t stop Iraqis Scandinavian and other European prod- tler state of Israel—established, bankroll- shut down its national borders, slashed from protesting. And insurgent groups re- ucts has sent sales into a nosedive, sound- ed and armed to the teeth by the U.S. and immigrant welfare payments by 30 per- newed their vow to target Danish troops, all ing the tocsin in boardrooms. British imperialism. The oppressor Zion- cent or more and barred marriage of Danes occupying armies and their collaborators. Muslims in Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, ist state, acting as a boot heel on historic to “foreigners” before the age of 24. In Afghanistan, protests took place in Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Palestine, flies the star of David and claims Other governments and parties in Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and the capital Emirates and Yemen had joined the boycott to rule on behalf of all Jewish people. Western Europe have also targeted the of Kabul—where youths stoned the of Danish goods as of Jan. 29. In Bahrain, Michael Muhammad Pfaff, of the some 15 million Muslims on the continent, Danish, British and French embassies and Danish dairy goods were set on fire Feb. 3. German Muslim League, pointed out that who face some of the highest rates of United Nations headquarters. On Feb. 6, On Feb. 4, Iran’s President Mahmoud anti-Islamic depictions were like anti- unemployment and face marginalization, as many as five demonstrators were killed Ahmadinejad called on the commerce Jewish caricatures by imperialist German racism and national oppression. as thousands tried to march on the main ministry to review all economic contracts fascists before and during World War II. France, which has the largest Muslim Pentagon base in Bagram, north of the with European countries, beginning with Jyllands-Posen had refused to print car- community—an estimated 5 million peo- capital. Puppet Afghan police forces killed Denmark. The re-publishing of the images toons about Jesus three years ago that the ple—banned the hajib, head scarves for another demonstrator and injured more by two newspapers may cost New Zealand publication found “offensive.” But today, Islamic women. as protesters marched on the local police its $NZ100 million sheep trade with Iran. Christianity is not an oppressed religion. The German state of Baden-Wurttem- station in the city of Mihtariam, in the Hundreds of Kuwaitis massed outside The publication France Soir tried to par- berg employs a “Muslim test” which grills eastern province of Laghman. the Danish consulate in the capital on Feb. allel what it termed Muslim “fanaticism” citizenship applicants about their views on At least three Afghans were killed and 4 demanding a boycott of Danish goods. with centuries of iron-fisted rule by the 9/11 and same-sex relationships. Some 3 some 20 wounded on Feb. 7 when demon- Demonstrators in Abu Dhabi called for a Catholic Church in Europe. But the Catholic million Muslims live in Germany. strators laid siege to a base used by the boycott of all trade with the EU. Even Church was the political party of feudalism, Belgian councils outlawed Islamic garb NATO-led “International Security Assis- Iraq’s puppet transport ministry officials which brutally exploited the peasantry. for women. Italy shut down mosques. tance Force” (ISAF) in Maimana in the were forced to cancel all contractual agree- Today it is the capitalists there who are the So it was particularly ominous that on north. Protesters reportedly used petrol ments signed with the Danish govern- oppressors. Arab, South Asian and African Jan. 10, the Norwegian evangelical news- bombs, set fire to a guard box, and ment, particularly in maritime transport. immigrants are among the oppressed. paper Magazinet reprinted the anti-Islam breached the wall protecting the installa- The Libyan Foreign Ministry announ- The unprecedented scope of this inter- depictions from Jyllands-Posen. And tion. NATO sent reinforcements. ced Feb. 5 that it will take economic meas- national firestorm is an expression of out- since then, newspapers have followed suit Some 20,000 Palestinians marched in ures against Denmark. The Qatar Cham- rage against attacks on Islam. But what in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Nablus, including Muslim, Christian and ber of Commerce cut all trade missions gives it such force and scope are the explo- Germany, Holland, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Samaritan religious leaders. Thousands from Denmark and Norway. sive underlying social, economic and polit- Poland, Spain, New Zealand, Norway, demonstrated in Ramallah. Militant Danish exports to the Middle East and ical conditions of life of the hundreds of Switzerland and Ukraine. The British BBC Palestinian demonstrations took place Northern Africa are big business for a millions who practice that religion. And and Channel 4 did likewise. And so has the between Feb. 4 and 6. In Jerusalem, thou- small country. According to Demark’s those conditions are super-exploitation Philadelphia Inquirer, ABC and other sands chanted inside the Al-Aqsa mosque Statistik data bank, exports topped $1.25 and national oppression by imperialism. news networks. The New York Times, the compound, “Condemnations are not billion in the first 11 months last year. Washington Post and USA Today have so enough, you have to reply with fire.” The The Danish dairy company Aria—the War for imperial empire far declined to run the images. French cultural center in Gaza was fire- largest in Europe and the second-biggest This attack on Islam can only be under- Washington and London have respond- bombed; the German consulate office there international corporation in the Middle stood within the context of the current ed with caution to the outpouring of was attacked. Armed Palestinians report- East—has already been forced to close its imperialist war for empire to secure the Muslim outrage. At a time when resistance edly took over the European Union office dairy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after report- rich resources of the Middle East and in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan has not in Gaza. The EU is threatening to withhold ing losses of more than $1.5 million a day Central Asia. been broken by military overkill, Wash- millions of dollars to the Palestinians if in sales. The Saudi market makes up two- U.S. imperialism has led invasions and ington and London clearly fear the force Hamas forms the next government there. thirds of Aria’s sales in the Middle East, occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and of mass anger sweeping from Jakarta to Furious demonstrators hurled gasoline totaling $396 million yearly. is menacing Iran and Syria. Military inter- Philadelphia. These are arsonists being bombs and stones at the Danish and Aus- Other companies are also reeling, rogators at Guantanamo reportedly flushed burned by the fire they set. trian embassies in Tehran on Feb. 6 and including those perceived to be Danish. Korans down the toilet in front of Muslim In recent days, a State Department broke the windows of the embassy of The Saudi Dairy and Foodstuff Company prisoners. Pentagon captors have used spokesperson termed the depictions Austria, which currently holds the EU and the Swiss food giant Nestlé have had sexual and gender humiliation and torture “offensive to the beliefs of Muslims.” And presidency. Iran recalled its ambassador to publicly disclaim rumors that their at Abu Ghraib. In the U.S., Muslim and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said to Denmark. Iran is currently defending products are manufactured in Denmark. South Asian people have faced mass Feb. 3 that the cartoons were “insulting ... its right to develop nuclear power, despite On Feb. 4, as a result of this powerful roundups and forced deportations. insensitive ... disrespectful ... and wrong.” U.S.-imperialist orchestrated attacks on and growing economic pressure and wid- Salvos of racist, anti-Islamic propa- On Feb. 6, White House spokesperson that sovereign right. ening protests, Rasmussen met in Copen- ganda have been used to “justify” this bla- Scott McClellan called on “all governments In Damascus, Syria, demonstrators hagen with 76 diplomats representing tant drive for global conquest. [to] take steps to lower tensions and pre- torched the Danish, Norwegian and Swe- large Muslim populations—which he had Denmark is part of this war on Muslims vent violence.” The same day, Bush put dish embassies on Feb. 4. The same day, arrogantly refused to do in the autumn. —at home and abroad. It has some 540 pressure on the Saudi royal family to try protesters burned down the Danish But he would not apologize. troops deployed in Iraq, mainly stationed to cool Muslim anger. embassy in Beirut. Syria withdrew its Three days later, Rasmussen begged under British rule in the southern port city But even leaders of client states behol- chief diplomat from Denmark. Arab countries not to boycott Danish goods. of Basra. den to U.S. imperialism have had to pay Libya closed its Danish embassy. Saudi That same day, Jyllands-Postens Editor- After 9/11, the Danish government lip service to the storm of popular anger, Arabia pulled its ambassador out of in-Chief Carsten Juste issued a statement declared war on the some 300,000 immi- or risk the wrath of their own populations. Copenhagen. that fell far short of an apology, but made grants in the country, 70 percent of whom Between Feb. 6 and 7, protesters took to mention of the protests—and the eco- are Muslims. In the Netherlands, Dutch- Fury in the streets the streets in Indonesia, Algeria, Kashmir, nomic impact of the boycotts—as part of born Muslims make up 1 million in a total Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have Yemen, India, Somalia, Thailand and New the “costs” of his newspaper’s actions. www.workers.org Feb. 16, 2006 Page 9 U.S. occupation brutal and corrupt By John Catalinotto ington Post, Dec. 24) on construction contracts that Bloom was of Iraq have not been published yet. There This gives an idea of what increased air guaranteed to win,” according to the Feb. is no reason to expect that these will show President George Bush keeps trying to strikes will bring. Many U.S. military ana- 2 New York Times. any less theft and overall corruption by the sell the occupation of Iraq as a noble lysts and even alleged war opponents like An Associated Press story Jan. 30 made U.S. occupation force. humanitarian effort, implemented effec- Rep. John Murtha are advocating pulling it clear that the corruption went far tively, worth its cost in U.S. and Iraqi lives out U.S. ground troops and increasing the beyond the connivance between Stein and Infrastructure near collapse and the enormous wealth it swallows up. air war. This may not enable U.S. imperi- Bloom. A U.S. government audit showed There are many reasons the Iraqi infra- But the truth is that the occupation is bru- alism to conquer Iraq, but is certain to kill that the CPA wasted tens of millions of structure is in such poor shape. Twelve tal, corrupt and a horrible waste of human lots of Iraqis. dollars. Lots of the money just disap- years of bombing and sanctions prevented and material resources. It is almost certain peared from the books. Some was stolen. real maintenance and repair under the to end up with a defeat for the most A cesspool of corruption The U.S. had seized cash from the Iraqi Saddam Hussein regime. But it’s also destructive military machine humanity The Bush administration had planned government or got it from Iraqi oil rev- obvious that U.S. rule not only has brought has known. to work the Iraqi oil wells effectively enues. The officials in the south-central no improvement and the infrastructure A new vicious side to the U.S. occupa- enough to pay the expenses of the occupa- region of Iraq—an area where the resist- has further deteriorated. tion these last few months has been the tion. It hasn’t been able to go beyond the ance has not been particularly strong— For the first time in winter there have Pentagon’s air war against the Iraqi pop- pre-war level of production. But it doesn’t kept large amounts of cash, millions of been severe water shortages in Baghdad’s ulation. Little is seen or reported of this mean that no one is making money from dollars, in their foot lockers. suburbs. Iraqis have running water only a war. For one thing, the Pentagon doesn’t the occupation. According to a report by the Special few hours daily. Another item in short invite even “embedded” reporters to join Robert Stein, a contractor with a 1998 Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruc- supply is cement, with 13 state-owned the flights. For another, the brass provides conviction for fraud, nevertheless worked tion, “tens of millions of dollars in cash plants running at 25 percent capacity. The only minimal information to the media. for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the had gone in and out of the South-Central U.S. economic advisers suggest that the What the Pentagon does provide is this: body headed by Paul Bremer who ran Iraq Region vault without any tracking of who cement plants be privatized. Up until last August, there were about 25 for about a year after the U.S.-led invasion. deposited and withdrew the money, and Any attempt to repair the oil infrastruc- air strikes per month. By November it had On Feb. 2, Stein pled guilty to counts of con- why it was taken out.” ture is hampered by the resistance, and risen to 120. By January it was 150. spiracy, bribery, money laundering, unlaw- Other items in the reports stated that: now by a new kind of “corruption.” The air strikes on the far western cor- ful possession of machine guns and being a Of $23 million earmarked for civilian and According to an article in The New York ner of Iraq during Operation Steel Curtain felon in possession of a firearm. military project and contracting officers to Times Feb. 5, “a sitting member of the hit the town of Husaybah hard. One week In his role as government official, Stein pay contractors, only a quarter ever Iraqi National Assembly has been indicted into this assault, Dr. Zahid Mohammed “admitted to stealing over $2 million in reached the contractors and the CPA paid in the theft of millions of dollars meant for Rawi from that region said that medical cash and taking enormous bribes from the one contractor $14,000 for the same job protecting a critical oil pipeline against workers recorded the deaths of 97 civilians businessman, Philip Bloom, in 2003 and four times. attacks and is suspected of funneling some along with 38 guerrilla fighters. (Wash- 2004 in return for accepting rigged bids The audit reports on the other regions of that money to the insurgency.” Pentagon covers up widespread sexual abuse in Iraq Fear of rape has led to deaths of women GIs By Kathy Durkin sexual assaults say that they’ve been Love of Country: Confronting Rape and If the truth were revealed about denied proper medical care and coun- Sexual Harassment in the U.S. Military.” assaults on women soldiers it would blow The Pentagon is hiding a shocking selling, criminal investigations have been The Denver Post has reported wide- the cover off the lie that the U.S. war and secret: the rampant sexual harassment and stymied, and the attackers were supported spread and increasing sexual attacks on occupation are for women’s rights in Iraq abuse of women soldiers within the ranks or the incidents were covered up. Many women in the military by male soldiers. and Afghanistan. of the U.S. military in Iraq. This sexual vio- who’ve reported attacks have said their And the Miles Foundation states that 30 And the military brass surely doesn’t lence has even led to deaths, the causes of officers refused to believe them and percent of female veterans have reported want the real stories revealed in the U.S. which have been deliberately concealed. threatened the women with punishment. rape or attempted rape while on active when enlistment is at an all-time low and Col. Janis Karpinski, former com- Other women added that they were haras- duty. the armed forces are going all-out to mander of Abu Ghraib prison, charged sed by fellow soldiers or commanders or A Department of Defense report even recruit young people, including women. recently that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, ex- met with other forms of retaliation after found that women of color, and those who But, the truth is that sexism, racism, senior U.S. military commander in Iraq, reporting incidents of sexual violence. are younger, poorer, and lower in rank are and homophobia are inculcated into the ordered cover-ups of some women soldiers’ Sexual abuse of women is rife inside the more likely to be assaulted. ranks by Pentagon officials and permeates deaths from dehydration there. These ranks of the U.S. military. Two-thirds of But the military brass and the Pentagon military culture. Attitudes of arrogance, women, Karpinski charged, were terrified women soldiers report having experi- have never taken sexual violence seriously superiority, and power over others are of being sexually assaulted by male sol- enced unwanted, uninvited sexual behav- nor done anything substantial to stop it. In reinforced while soldiers are conditioned diers. As a result, they did not drink suffi- ior, reports Terry Spahr Nelson, in “For fact, they want to hush it up. to engage in violent behavior. cient fluids in order to avoid using latrines late at night. Karpinski told an anti-war audience in Activists here & worldwide demand New York City in January that a military surgeon told of women “dying from dehy- dration in their sleep” in over 120-degree heat, without air-conditioning. Doctors Free Leonard Peltier! were told not to reveal causes of death pub- Events were held on Feb. 6 throughout Peltier supporters rally licly nor that it was women soldiers who the United States and in Canada, in New York. had died. Germany, Portugal and Italy to mark the WW PHOTO: DUSTIN LANGLEY Sanchez issued orders to hide these 30th anniversary of the unjust arrest and and Esperanza Martell of the causes of death, Karpinski revealed. She subsequent imprisonment of political ProLibertad Freedom Campaign. also stated that he callously blamed the activist Leonard Peltier. In New York, supporters rallied at women for their predicament and said that Peltier, a citizen of the Anishinabe and the site of a plaque commemorat- since they chose to be in the military, “they Dakota/Lakota Nations and a participant ing Indigenous settlements in should take what comes with the territory.” in the American Indian Movement, was Manhattan. Speakers included The sexual attacks took place at Camp convicted of the murder of two FBI agents Tiokasin Ghosthorse, host and pro- Victory, where the latrines were in isolated, at a shootout in the Pine Ridge Reser- ducer of WBAI’s First Voices unlit areas. In 2004, Karpinski said in an vation in 1975 and is serving a life sen- Indigenous Radio; Larry Holmes of the interview that “women were doubly easy tence. However, Peltier’s trial was con- Troops Out Now Coalition, Teresa ances were held by the Northwest AIM targets in the dark of the night.” She added ducted in a fraudulent manner, with key Gutierrez of the New York Committee to Drum and the Aztec dancers. An indoor that there were many such incidents in U.S. witnesses and evidence presented by the Free the Cuban Five, and Toni Zeidan of rally after the march was chaired by David military units stationed in Iraq and Kuwait defense banned and ruled inadmissable, the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. A Duenas, son of Roque Duenas who died “because female soldiers didn’t have a while the prosecution presented no wit- special solidarity message from political trying to free Peltier in 1979. Addressing voice, individually or collectively.” nesses against Peltier. Peltier maintains prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was played. the government that has jailed Peltier for Although assaults could be reported to his innocence to this day and has been rec- In Tacoma, Wash., 400 people marched 30 years, Elder Alex Jackson said, “We an 800 number, many female GIs had no ognized across the world for his human over 2 miles in driving rain from the have given you freedom in this country. access to a phone. Calls were not answer- rights achievements. Puyallup Nation to the downtown federal Now give us (Native People) freedom in ed; women were instructed to leave a On Feb. 6, 21 activists in thirteen states courthouse on Feb. 4. This year marked this our own country.” recorded message. Even after 83 attacks completed their six-day fast, begun on the 13th annual International Day in Monday’s events also served to launch were reported in Iraq and Kuwait, the 24- Feb. 1, to call for Peltier’s freedom. Parti- Solidarity with Leonard Peltier in Tacoma. a series of upcoming actions to free hour rape hot line was connected to an cipants included Rev. Lennox Yearwood of Groups such as the Chief Seattle Center, Leonard Peltier. For more information, answering machine, Karpinski said. the Hip Hop Caucus, Theresa Laino of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, and visit www.leonardpeltier.org. Women soldiers who have reported New York Leonard Peltier Support Group, MECHA were represented, and perform- —LeiLani Dowell Page 10 Feb. 16, 2006 www.workers.org

Baltimore’s deplorable housing Grandmother Letting Alito in bitten by rat

nyone the least bit liberal would with the majority, the debate can con- By Sharon Black agree that the new Supreme tinue indefinitely—a filibuster. This tac- Baltimore A Court justice, Samuel Alito, is tic was used by the Republicans in 1968 thoroughly reactionary on just about when they were in the minority. Their Dorothy Steele, a soft-spoken 72-year- every issue, from affirmative action to filibuster forced then-President Lyndon old grandmother whose smile could light women’s rights to workers’ rights to civil Johnson to withdraw his nomination of up any room, was bitten by a rat recently liberties. If the Democratic Party is to Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court. as she tried to sleep on her couch in the liv- keep its image as standing for anything On Jan. 30, the Bush administration ing room of her public housing apartment. different from the right-wing Repub- was assured of the Alito nomination Steele lives in the McCulloh Homes hous- lican agenda, it has to distance itself when a resolution to close debate passed ing project in Baltimore City. from Alito. the Senate by 72-25. Only 24 of the It is painful to listen to her account of But appealing to the progressive senti- Senate’s 44 Democrats voted against it, the attack. But it is also evident that Steele ments of the masses in order to get along with one independent. Had all 44 is a person ready to fight back. She elected and actually putting up a fight Democrats, or even just 40, voted explains with pride and anger that she has WW PHOTO: RENEE WASHINGTON against the far right are two very differ- against cloture, the debate would have paid her rent every month and that this is Dorothy Steele ent things. All the pro-Democratic Party continued and the nomination would an injustice. groups that represent mass move- have been stalled. The All Peoples Congress (APC)—a downstairs ceiling had a huge gaping hole. ments—the labor movement, the Just one day later the vote on Alito’s community group that has been active in The news media could see where the fam- women’s movement, the civil rights confirmation was held. This time, 40 fighting against police brutality and the ily had desperately lined up boxes of movement, and so on—wanted the party Democrats voted against him. But it was war in Iraq—toured her home photo- clothes and personal items to barricade to try to block Bush’s nomination of only a gesture. They all knew the nomi- graphing numerous violations. These the edges of the downstairs rooms to try Alito. The Democrats didn’t have a nation was a sure thing. included exposed electrical wiring, gaping to keep the rats from getting in through majority to do so in the actual confirma- The Democrats who had earlier voted holes in the ceilings and throughout the the holes. tion vote itself. But there is a mechanism for cloture could now go to their con- apartment, rat and mice infestation and Renee Washington, an APC organizer, by which a minority party in the Senate stituents and say: “I tried to help you. I broken plumbing. was also interviewed. She stated, “This is can stop that body from taking an action: voted against Alito.” But they and the The APC and Steele’s family called a criminal. No once should be forced to live the filibuster. wealthy rulers of this country who give press conference in her home on Feb. 2 to like this. We are demanding that the It takes 60 votes in the Senate to end money to both parties know that the show the news media the conditions that Housing Administration of Baltimore City debate on an issue, called cloture. Unless party had caved in to right-wing pres- she and her three adult grandchildren immediately place this family in decent members of the minority party, in this sure when it really counted. were forced to live in. She and her family housing. We will organize the community case the Democrats, cross over and vote were sick and tired of making appeals to and march.” the Housing Authority of Baltimore City. Steele’s grandson pointed out at the For three years the family has made press conference that the city had man- requests that their grandmother be moved aged to spend money to put cameras on all BUSH’S BUDGET PLAN to housing that was decent and accessible of the buildings to spy on residents but has for the disabled. Because of a stroke, Steele done nothing to solve the problems of rats. is physically frail and must presently stay The city can help fund a war in Iraq but War at home & abroad downstairs on a couch. The family has can’t help people here. He took notes dur- records of their requests. They have also ing the meeting and offered to help organ- Continued from page 7 complained constantly about the condi- ize residents to picket and march. corporate masters that Bush and the tions of the housing and the problems If you live in Baltimore and would like year. (Urban Institute-Brookings Institu- Republicans do. with rats. to help win justice for the Steele family, tion on Tax Policy) The labor unions, community organi- After interviewing Steele, television call (410) 235-7040 or email apcbalti- The budget is inherently racist. African- zations, anti-war groups, environmental crews were given a tour of the home. There [email protected]. Americans, Latin@s and other nationali- groups, anti-racist groups and liberation was no functioning electricity or lighting ties are disproportionately poor, have organizations of all types must forge a in the upstairs. Smoke detectors were not lower wages, worse living conditions and broad, independent united front to beat working. In the bathroom a dead mouse are therefore in greater need of the social back this offensive by Bush and the ruling floated next to the broken toilet. The services being slashed by the Bush class. budget. The Iraq War is a net loss to U.S. impe- rialism, which is spending the U.S. Trea- sury to get Iraqi oil and territory. But only To build support to free Cuban 5 the military contractors are making any money out of the war. The treasury is being drained to the tune of $10 billion a ‘Mission against Terror’ month. The same can be said of the war in Afghanistan. U.S. finance capital has FILM been stymied in its drive to recolonize the documentary goes on tour Middle East. But it is carrying out a campaign of eco- By Frank Velgara being in solitary confinement. For more information about the case, nomic aggression against the population A U.S.-based coalition of Cuba solidar- the ongoing campaign to free the Cuban Following are excerpts. on the home front on behalf of the Wall ity, civic, cultural, and religious organiza- 5, and/or to purchase the DVD of Street and corporate big business. Bush’s The Martin Luther King, Jr. Labor tions active in the international campaign “Mission Against Terror”, contact: budget is a major offensive in that domes- Center of 1199/SEIU of the National to free the Cuban 5 are hosting the tour as • Leftbooks.com tic war. It is a transfer of money from the Health Care and Hospital Workers Union part of renewed efforts to obtain justice • National Committee to Free the Five mass of the people to the military-indus- was the venue for a presentation by Bernie and freedom for these imprisoned Cuban 2489 Mission St., #24, trial complex and to the millionaires and Dwyer, co-director of the documentary patriots. San Francisco, CA 94110 billionaires of the ruling class. This is “Mission Against Terror” (an Irish/Cuban Hundreds gathered at the labor cen- www.freethefive.org Bush’s real base. co-production) and Father Geoffrey ter to join filmmaker Dwyer and Father [email protected] But the Democrats are not the answer. Bottoms, executive member of the U.K. Bottoms at a screening of the documen- (415) 821-6545 The only road for the workers and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and coordina- tary. Cuban Ambassador to the United oppressed is to mount a determined tor of the U.K. National Campaign to Free Nations Rodrigo Malmierca provided • NY Committee to Free the Cuban 5 counter-offensive. The Democratic Party the Cuban 5 on Feb. 4 in New York City. an update on the case and expressed 39 West 14th St., Suite 206, has voted for every war appropriation. It This acclaimed documentary regarding appreciation for the growing solidarity New York, NY 10011 has let the Bush administration have its the case of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon movement. Information regarding the (212) 633-6646 way without much more than a whimper- Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando initiatives underway to secure the free- [email protected] ing and totally ineffective protest, put up Gonzalez, and Rene Gonzalez, five Cubans dom of these 5 Cubans was shared with • Popular Education Project for the benefit of their constituents. There unjustly imprisoned in the United States participants. to Free the Cuban 5 has been not one ounce of genuine strug- for working to prevent terrorist attacks In Boston, “Mission against Terror” 2824 University Ave., Bronx, NY 10468 gle because the Democrats serve the same against Cuba, will be shown in a number will be presented by Professor Noam www.freethecuban5.com of East Coast cities. Chomsky at the Massachusetts Institute [email protected] The Cuban 5 have been illegally held in of Technology (MIT) on Feb. 8 and other (718) 601-4751 leftbooks.com... U.S. jails since 1998 and denied family venues including Washington, D.C., The writer is a member of the New York Books to change the world–that’s the point visits and bail after nearly two years of Rhode Island and Maine. Organizing Committee for the tour. www.workers.org Feb. 16, 2006 Page 11

As U.S. steps up attacks Chávez presses ahead with social gains By David Hoskins step would be to withdraw the whole so- recently entered into agreements to six-year term. The campaign will focus on called military mission of the United States.” receive low-cost heating oil from Vene- strengthening the revolutionary and Boli- The U.S. government has intensified its The United States retaliated the follow- zuela. Despite these attempts at coopera- varian process in Venezuela. Over the past war of words against the Bolivarian gov- ing day by expelling Jeny Figueredo Frias, tion, the Bush administration and its week the government has announced new ernment of Venezuela. Recently, the Bush chief of staff to Venezuela’s ambassador. allies have continued to work to overthrow social programs aimed at improving the administration made one of its more out- State Department spokesman Sean McCor- the Chavez government. condition of Venezuela’s poor and landish attacks on President Hugo Chávez mack admitted that the expulsion of Rightwing televangelist Pat Robertson oppressed. when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Figueredo was simply “tit-for-tat.” The repeated his call to assassinate Chávez on likened Chávez to Hitler. State Department has not claimed or pro- a recent edition of Fox’s Hannity & Colmes. Life improved for poor Venezuelans According to Rumsfeld, “He’s a person vided evidence to suggest she was involved Robertson was forced to apologize for mak- Chávez recently announced a 15-per- who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler in any unlawful activities. ing similar comments in August on his cent increase in the minimum wage and was elected legally and then consolidated The day after the United States launched Christian “news” show, The 700 Club. the introduction of a $200 a month power and now is, of course, working with its most recent verbal volley, the United When asked by co-host Alan Colmes if his stipend to poor homemakers. The stipend Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others.” Nations presented Chávez with its 2005 comments canceled his earlier apology, is a huge advance for women’s rights as it Evo Morales was elected in December as International Jose Marti prize. The prize Robertson laughed and acknowledged that recognizes that household work, which Bolivia’s first Indigenous president with is awarded for promoting Latin American he was taking back his apology. Robertson women were traditionally confined to 54 percent of the vote. and Caribbean unity. Chávez, a close ally is an extreme right-wing Christian and a prior to the Bolivarian government, is an Rumsfeld’s slanderous attack on three of socialist Cuba’s Fidel Castro, has laid strong supporter of the Bush administra- economic activity that generates wealth. of this hemisphere’s most ardent anti- out a vision for a Latin America independ- tion, who recently blamed Israeli leader Chávez also announced on his weekly imperialist leaders came on the same day ent of U.S domination. Ariel Sharon’s stroke on his orders to with- television program, “Alo Presidente,” that that Venezuela announced the expulsion The prize was handed out in Cuba, draw from Gaza. $449 million will be spent revamping the of U.S. Navy Commander John Correa. where many Latin Americans are studying Chávez has asked his country’s permis- National Public Healthcare system under The Venezuelan government says it has medicine for free. Hundreds of thousands sion to procure more arms in light of the the guidance of Cuban doctors and advisors. evidence Correa passed classified infor- of participants gathered in the Plaza of the constant threats emanating from Washing- The example set by Chávez and the rev- mation from a renegade faction of the Revolution denounced Rumsfeld’s remarks ton. Speaking at a rally in Caracas, Chávez olutionary Bolivarian process is a threat to Venezuelan military to the Pentagon. as Chávez accepted the award. Chávez has warned that Venezuela needs a million the legitimacy of the United States’ corpo- Chávez offered a firm rebuke to Washing- promised to donate the award money to well-equipped men and women to protect rate neoliberal model. While this example ton’s meddling by promising “the imperial Bolivia’s social programs. the country against what he termed “the fuels the belligerence of the Bush admin- government of the United States that if The Venezuelan government has imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of istration and its allies, it is also the impe- their military attaches in Venezuela con- repeatedly offered assistance to workers the U.S. president [which] has no limits”. tus for Chávez’s reelection campaign and tinue to do what this commander has been and poor people living inside the United On Feb. 6, Chávez officially inaugurated holds great promise for the future of doing, they will be detained, and the next States. A number of U.S. cities and states his campaign for reelection to a second Venezuelans and all Latin Americans. African & Indian workers in struggle By G. Dunkel

the unions struck over political demands. number of ships waiting to unload in supports this action fully aware of the CHADn The strike issued a warning that “the Durban harbor. impact that workers’ actions will have on Government workers went on strike presidential elections be organized effec- UTATU’s Chris de Vos said the pro- major Transnet operations, which are Jan. 9. They took the action because pen- tively, with openness and security.” spects of further work stoppages in the vital to our economy.” sions had not been paid for three years, The strike immobilized the govern- Northern Cape on Feb. 5, Eastern Cape raises due at the beginning of 2005 had ment, the private sector, garbage collec- on Feb. 13, Western Cape on Feb. 15 and INDIAn been withheld and other smaller tion and the schools. in other provinces seemed more likely. A Airport workers, who handle baggage demands had not been met. national transport strike is set for March 6. and do the cleaning and trash removal, The strike was militant. According to NIGERIAn How long the strikes will last is up to went back to work Feb. 5. They had gone Gabon’s news service, strikers occupied The Nigerian government has decided Transnet. “We had hoped that our out on strike for four days, until the gov- the east entrance of the presidential to privatize its ports. According to the KwaZulu-Natal stayaways would have ernment assured them and their unions palace for 10 days until anti-riot police Vanguard, a Nigerian newspaper, the port been enough to make our point and end that their jobs will be preserved. took it back. The union involved and the workers in all the Nigerian ports have the need for further industrial action,” The government is going to privatize retirees held a number of demonstra- totally rejected the government’s pro- de Vos explained. He said instead of the management of the airports in Delhi tions in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital. posals for severance packages. They have Transnet addressing workers’ concerns, and Mumbai (Bombay), which handle Michel Barka, president of Chad’s lar- voted to shut down the ports for three management came to the bargaining about 65 percent of India’s air traffic— gest labor union, UST—United Unions of days as a warning before embarking on table with an array of “token” concessions. nearly 19 million people a year. Chad—said, “We made it clear that these an indefinite strike to drive home their The South African Communist Party Communist parties strongly backed aged people are very fragile and not to demands. They want their pensions issued a statement Feb. 2, which began: the strike. pay their pensions would be a serious guaranteed and their severance “The SACP wishes to express its full sup- After the airports became increasingly misstep on the part of the government.” packages honored. port and solidarity with the Transnet filthy and malodorous, more and more Jean-Baptiste Laokole, a retired civil Leaders of both Nigerian Port workers in challenging the manner in baggage was lost, and confrontations servant and head of a group representing Authority Senior Staff Association and which the restructuring of Transnet is between the striking workers and the cops retired government workers, widows and Maritime Works Union of Nigeria met on being handled.” were growing sharper, the government orphans, said, “What we regret is that Feb. 1 to receive feedback from chapter The statement continued, “The SACP promised that no jobs would be lost. aged people have to come out into the executive committees and to strategize streets and holler and protest in order for on how to mobilize dock workers to shut the government to pay them.” down the ports. While Chad is a very poor, landlocked FIST organizes country, with an unsettled border with SOUTH AFRICAn the Darfur region of the Sudan, it recently anti-imperialist youth The United Transport and Allied Trade has been getting substantial revenue Union (UTATU) and other unions just from its oil. But this revenue has been workshop held a three-day strike against Transnet. severely restricted by the World Bank. The company, which is wholly state- FIST activists from Raleigh, N.C., and imperialist policies On Jan. 31 the Chadian government owned and has a corporate structure, is Washington, D.C., participated in the on people in the came up with some of the pension pay- being reorganized and partially priva- annual National Conference on Org- United States. ments and raises, without specifying how. tized. It controls most of the transporta- anized Resistance (NCOR) held at The devastation caused by the govern- The UST suspended the strike until tion upon which South Africa’s economy American University in Washington, D.C. ment’s response to Hurricane Katrina and Feb. 28. If the other issues and complete relies—ports, railroads, airlines and a Yolanda Carrington, Dante Strobino the recent death of 16 coal miners in a payments haven’t been settled by then, number of related businesses. This is the and this writer led a workshop on spate of mine disasters across West workers will begin a series of three-day first strike against Transnet since it was “Marxist Perspectives: Resisting Imper- Virginia was used to illustrate how capi- strikes. founded more than 80 years ago. ialism from Iraq to Venezuela.” Work- talist policies are detrimental to the work- Five thousand workers marched in shop leaders and participants discussed ing class and oppressed living inside the BENINn Durban to mark the end of the strike. Lenin’s definition of imperialism. imperialist countries. The six major union confederations in UTATU publicly said that Transnet’s atti- A Marxist understanding of the anti- NCOR is an annual national conference Benin called a 48-hour strike Jan. 24 to tude towards its workers was “insulting.” imperialist struggles in Iraq and Vene- that attracts thousands of participants for demand that the government fully fund While Transnet claimed that the strike zuela as part of international class conflict discussion about tendencies, strategies the presidential elections set for March 5. was unsuccessful and caused no disrup- was brought to light and a lively conver- and tactics in the progressive movement. Government officials were upset that tion, journalists counted an unusual sation developed about the effects of —David Hoskins ¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los países, uníos! Las mujeres y la Revolución Bolivariana Por Minnie Bruce Pratt sus derechos, pero el progreso era muy “igualdad en la diversidad”, en vez de pero que ahora están participando en el lento. Los millones de mujeres y hombres sobre “un modelo del Primer Mundo”. La proceso transformativo de la lucha En una conmovedora e histórica noche, en las calles durante la revolución también Constitución de Venezuela otorga todos política. Ella relató que en los años ante- un distinguido panel de mujeres líderes ayudaron a crear la gloriosa posibilidad de los derechos, incluso el derecho al pueblo riores al Presidente Chávez ninguna mujer venezolanas trajeron las realidades vision- una revolución en los Estados Unidos y en indígena de volver a sus tierras, y una cam- de descendencia africana jamás había arias de su Revolución Bolivariana a la todo el mundo. paña de masas, la Misión Guaicaipuro, participado en una delegación interna- Ciudad de Nueva York el 24 de enero. El León fue presentada a la audiencia por que fue establecida para enfocar en sus cional venezolana, como ahora ella lo Círculo Bolivariano Alberto Lovera fue el Leslie Cagan, coordinadora de una coali- necesidades. hacía. anfitrión del evento que se llevó a cabo en ción de grupos contra la guerra, Unidos Las necesidades y los conocimientos de La oradora final, Doris Acevedo, secre- la Iglesia Comunitaria de Nueva York. por la Paz y la Justicia, (United for Peace los pueblos indígenas están incorporados taria general de INAMUJER, organización Las oradoras incluyeron a mujeres que and Justice,) quién habló de la urgente en otras campañas masivas. Por ejemplo, que se enfoca en investigaciones sobre la participaron en la lucha revolucionaria en necesidad de detener la guerra contra Irak la Misión Robinson, que virtualmente eli- salud y el trabajo, fue presentada por la Venezuela por más de 40 años, veteranas y hacer que las tropas regresen a casa ya. minó el analfabetismo en el año 2005, Dra. Andrea-Nicola McLaughlin, fun- de luchas armadas, luchas estudiantiles y Monica Somocurcio, representante de la incluyendo a las mujeres que constituían un dadora del Instituto de Mujeres Negras y de la lucha por la igualdad de la mujer. coalición ANSWER, otra importante 65 por ciento de los que no podían leer ni la Dra. Betty Shabazz, con Cátedra en Entre la oradoras estuvieron, María coalición de grupos contra la guerra, alabó escribir, usó materias docentes bilingües, Justicia Social en el Colegio de Medgar León, presidenta del Instituto Nacional de a las panelistas por haber llevado a cabo en español y en los idiomas indígenas. Las Evans. La Dra. McLaughlin señaló el con- la Mujer (INAMUJER); Nora Castañeda, “una heroica lucha, no sólo para las iniciativas de salud en el interior del país, traste entre el gobierno de Venezuela y el presidenta del Banco de Desarrollo de la mujeres, sino para la humanidad,” y incorporan conocimientos medicinales de Estados Unidos en cuanto a las necesi- Mujer; Ana Elisa Osorio, miembra de la prosiguió a la presentación de Nora indígenas; equipos de enfermeras son dades de sus pueblos. Dijo que la ciudad junta directiva de INAMUJER; María del Castañeda, presidenta del Banco de reclutadas quienes mezclan las prácticas de Nueva York está experimentando la Mar Álvarez Lovera, Defensora Nacional Desarrollo para la Mujer (BANMUJER). médicas modernas con las tradicionales tasa más alta de desamparo desde la Gran de los Derechos de la Mujer; Reina Castañeda, una economista, destacó desarrolladas a través de miles de años. Depresión, y habló del “racismo y cla- Arratia, miembra de la Comisión que las mujeres son las más pobres entre Hye-Jung Park de la Red Coreana para sismo” prevalente después del Huracán Presidencial para Prevenir y Eliminar la los pobres del mundo, siendo femenina la Unificación y el Congreso para la Katrina. Habló de la necesidad de termi- Discriminación Racial; y Doris Acevedo, quizás un 70 por ciento de la humanidad Unificación de Corea habló apasionada- nar la guerra estadounidense contra Irak secretaria general de INAMUJER. empobrecida. Entonces, apuntó, que para mente sobre la esperanza que ha desper- y dijo que: “Para tener paz, necesitamos la Sus presentaciones demostraron clara- poder bajar el nivel de pobreza alrededor tado la Revolución Bolivariana entre las verdadera libertad. Para tener libertad, mente los avances en derechos económi- del mundo, hay que dirigirse a las necesi- mujeres alrededor del mundo que luchan necesitamos justicia social. Y para tener cos, legales, reproductivos y educa- dades de las mujeres, incluyendo la salud en contra de la guerra, el desplazamiento, justicia, necesitamos revolución.” cionales para la mujer y las realidades que en general, la reproductiva y sexual, la pobreza, el hambre y contra el SIDA. Acevedo dijo que una de las campañas Venezuela adelanta bajo el liderazgo del además de las necesidades económicas y “Las mujeres unidas –madres, lesbianas, claves de INAMUJER es que las mujeres Presidente Hugo Chávez. Ellas fueron la alfabetización. amas de casa y trabajadoras – alimentan logren el 50 por ciento de los puestos en la presentadas por activistas del movimiento El banco administra programas esta esperanza. Luchemos juntas por la Comisión Electoral Nacional, la Asamblea progresista de los Estados Unidos. financieros y sociales bajo el principio de solidaridad, no dejemos que nuestras Nacional, gobernaciones, y otros puestos En su saludo de bienvenida al panel y a “para todo a los todos”, que significa una manos se desunan.”, dijo. elegidos por el voto popular. Actualmente la audiencia, Leonor C. Osorio Granado, la economía popular que beneficia a todo el Ella introdujo a María del Mar Álvarez solo 12 por ciento de los diputad@s en la Cónsul General de la República Bolivar- mundo. El banco conduce talleres sobre Lovera, Defensora Nacional de los Asamblea Nacional son mujeres. iana de Venezuela en Nueva York, enfatizó los derechos reproductivos y sexuales con Derechos de la Mujer, quien habló con Sin embargo, desde la ejecución de la con mucho orgullo que la actual constitu- el Ministerio de Salud y Barrio Adentro, tristeza de tantas venezolanas muertas, nueva constitución, las mujeres “han ción venezolana es la primera en América clínicas manejadas por doctores cubanos. torturadas y desaparecidas durante los 40 desempeñado papeles claves, tanto en el Latina en usar un lenguaje no sexista para El banco también otorga micro créditos a años de “la llamada democracia” apoyada gobierno como en las ONG’s, al formular, así poder reconocer las necesidades de grupos de mujeres para proyectos que por los EEUU que precedió la Revolución avanzar y reformar una amplia gama de tanto mujeres como hombres, y de niñas puedan subir su nivel de vida, el de sus actual. Ella dijo que el trabajo de INAMU- leyes en diversos campos, incluyendo pero y niños. La constitución brinda a la mujer familias, y el de la comunidad en general. JER es el de exponer esta historia secreta no limitada a la salud, educación, medio una ciudadanía completa, total igualdad La tercera panelista, Ana Alisa Osorio, a la generación más joven, como parte de ambiente, reformas agrarias, derechos de de empleo entre hombres y mujeres, y ex ministra del Ambiente y Recursos, y la lucha en contra de la violencia domés- l@s indígenas, y derechos reproductivos. condena la discriminación, el hostiga- miembra de INAMUJER, fue presentada tica. En adición, el instituto de la mujer La participación de las mujeres en la miento sexual y la violencia doméstica por Teresa Gutiérrez, codirectora del conduce clases en todas las comunidades sociedad civil ha sido decisiva para llevar contra las mujeres. Centro de Acción Internacional y miembra para educar al pueblo de que la violencia a cabo campañas públicas para aumentar El Artículo 88 de la constitución tam- de la Coalición Tropas Fuera Ya (TONC doméstica no es culpa de la mujer, y para la conciencia pública sobre las cuestiones bién “reconoce el trabajo casero como una por las siglas en inglés), otra importante prestar ayuda legal en el sistema judicial a que toca a la mujer y para crear programas actividad económicamente productiva, coalición antiguerra de los Estados las mujeres que han sido asaltadas. para ellas.” otorgándole así a las amas de casa los ben- Unidos. Nieves Ayres de La Peña del Bronx y Acevedo entonces solicitó a la audiencia, eficios de seguridad social.” El Artículo 75 Gutiérrez dio la bienvenida a las dele- Mujeres Trabajadoras por la Paz recono- “Nosotras necesitamos su ayuda, su soli- declara que “las relaciones familiares gadas y aplaudió el espectro amplio de ció a las innumerables mujeres no recono- daridad. Ésta es una lucha de las Américas están basadas en la igualdad de derechos organizaciones políticas de los EEUU y los cidas que habían sido torturadas o —del norte, del centro, del sur—de todas las y responsabilidades, en la solidaridad y la puntos de vista representados en la audi- asesinadas al resistir, desde Puerto Rico Américas—con las mujeres en la van- comprensión mutua y el respeto recí- encia y en la tarima. Expresó con entusi- hasta Palestina y Chile. Ella habló de la guardia en las calles.” Terminó diciendo, proco,” en un intento de aliviar el largo día asmo que esto puede reforzar la unidad en necesidad de una revolución que empiece “Una revolución no es una revolución de laboral de la mayoría de las mujeres. los EEUU además de incrementar la soli- en “nuestras propias casas”. discursos. Es una revolución de acción. (www.venezuelanalysis.com) daridad con el derecho de Venezuela a Ella presentó a Reina Arratia, miembra Somos trabajadoras permanentemente en La presidente de INAMUJER, María construir la sociedad que desea. Ella tam- de la Comisión Presidencial para Prevenir lucha y queremos su solidaridad. De ust- León, enfatizó que la naturaleza pacífica bién observó que, “Cuando defendemos a y Eliminar la Discriminación Racial, quien edes a nosotras, y de nosotras a ustedes!” de la Revolución Bolivariana significa que Venezuela, a la misma vez defendemos dijo con gran sentimiento que “a las Justo antes de la recepción con la las mujeres pudieron poner de frente sus nuestra querida Revolución Cubana, y a mujeres negras, a las mujeres indígenas, a música del conjunto de mujeres percu- necesidades en vez de hacerlas secundarias los Cinco Héroes Cubanos, todavía encar- todas las mujeres nos ha dado esperanza sionistas, Las Yaya, acaeció la emocio- mientras socorrían a heridos y desplazados celados en los Estados Unidos. Estamos la Revolución Bolivariana,” tanto que nante culminación de la noche. de un conflicto violento. Sin embargo, ella luchando por Venezuela, por Cuba, y por durante las horas del golpe intentado con- William Camacaro del Círculo anotó que l@s venezolan@s son un “pueblo toda Latinoamérica”. tra Chávez en 2002, dirigido por los Bolivariano Alberto Lovera, le presentó revolucionario pacífico, pero no desar- Osorio destacó que un problema central Estados Unidos, ella sintió como “si se me una placa a María del Mar Álvarez Lovera, mado,” y que las fuerzas militares en el país de Venezuela es que heredó una “deuda hubiera acabado mi vida”. Pero, al volver viuda del guerrillero martirizado cuyo estaban en unidad con las necesidades social” por los siglos de explotación de su Chávez a su puesto presidencial, la esper- nombre lleva el grupo. Ella leyó la inscrip- civiles bajo el Presidente Chávez. pueblo. Enfatizó que la meta era “una anza fue restaurada a mujeres como ella, ción en voz alta, terminando con las pal- Dijo que antes de la revolución, sociedad construida sobre una ética rev- de descendencia africana, una cantidad abras, “Alberto Lovera. ¡Con nosotr@s pequeños grupos de mujeres luchaban por olucionaria” y sobre el principio de la grande de quiénes viven en la pobreza todavía presente!”