• ataque a la base de la CIa • Solidaridad con Palestina 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! jan. 21, 2010 vol. 52 no. 2 50¢ Unemployment, cutbacks deepen Fight needed for jobs, housing, services

By Fred Goldstein workers who are officially unemployed or ger hours. they have sent jobs abroad, underemployed! instituted technological speed-ups, and the latest job reports for december the racism in capitalist society shows in general found ways to keep profits up should convince workers that all the talk up dramatically in the underemployment by shedding workers and/or intensifying about economic recovery coming from statistics. one in four african-american their exploitation. the media pundits is just hot air. the only and latino/a workers is underemployed. the trend of destroying permanent jobs recovery is the bankers’ bonuses and the White underemployment is 14.6 percent, and putting temporary jobs in their place corporations’ profits. and the time to but the figure for african americans is — a trend that has been in force for sev- fight back against layoffs, foreclosures 25.1 percent and for latino/a workers eral decades — has intensified during the and cutbacks is now. 24.3 percent. crisis. a major study by Business Week HONOR MLK’S LEGACY in december 85,000 more jobs were as far as young workers are concerned, magazine (Jan. 18), a mouthpiece of the Resist racism, poverty, war 7 lost, bringing the total in the last two years they are suffering greatly from this crisis. bosses, practically gloats that 26 percent to 8 million. the total official unemploy- one in four workers between the ages of of the work force is now in the temporary ment rate remained at 10 percent, but that 16 and 24 is without any job — 25.7 per- category. the capitalists can hire workers, is only because 661,000 workers stopped cent. Students and youth have no future with no health care, no pension, no vaca- looking for jobs and were not counted. if in this latest phase of capitalist economic tion, no protection whatsoever, and then they had been counted, unemployment crisis. their only path can be one of rebel- discard them at a moment’s notice. CATALINOTTO _ would have jumped to 10.4 percent. lion and struggle for education and jobs. this trend fits in with shrinking the jOHN a number which gives a truer picture in fact, things are even worse than workforce in order to bolster profits. How _ of the dire situation for the workers is the

these numbers indicate. the work force is this possible? Corporations have down- PHOTO: so-called official “underemployment” fig- _

lost a net total of 810,000 workers be- sized and squeezed more labor out of few- WW ure. this includes the 15.3 million workers cause of dropouts in the last two years. er workers. that is the very source of their who have looked for a job in the last four But it should have increased by 2.8 million increased profits. weeks and are officially out of a job; the 2.5 since the downturn started in december For example, Ford Motor Co has laid off million workers who are “marginally at- 2007 because of population growth and 53,000 workers and shut 15 plants since tached” to the work force; and 9.2 million related factors. So there are 3.6 million 2006. Yet Ford made $1 billion in profit in workers who are forced to work part-time “missing”workers who either dropped out the third quarter of 2009. Microsoft laid even though they need a full-time job. or came of working age and never entered off 5,000 workers and made $14.6 billion together these figures add up to 27 the labor force because there were no in profit in 2009. iBM’s profits grew 18 million workers — or almost one in five prospects of getting a job. percent last year to $12.3 billion, but the company laid off 10,000 workers. aetna U.S. OUT OF MIDDLE EAST! Higher profits made $1.38 billion and laid off 1,240 with fewer workers workers. Verizon, Monsanto, Phillip Mor- • viva Palestina victory So much for the ris, Wal-Mart and other giants all had lay- talk of recovery. offs and boosted profit. (epi.org) • Blackwater strikes again during the entire crisis the bosses a deep and growing crisis • Tale of two armies have been laying Communities are suffering from this off workers and crisis as the bankers and bosses try to get making those who the people to foot the bill for the multi- remain work hard- trillion-dollar bail out of the banks and er and/or work the trillion-dollar-plus cost of the afghan- • Mumia on fewer hours or lon- Continued on page 6 imperialism 8-9 Protest on Wall St. on Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday In Italy sign reads: ‘We are people like you, don’t let them kill. 6 are dead.’ Bail Out the People In n.Y., arizona, Italy WHO’S THE Save Free Student TERRORIST? 4 Not Wall St. IMMIGRANTS FIGHT BACK Metro Cards! 10 Fri•jan 15 Editorial 3:30 p.m.– 6 p.m. Subscribe to Workers World newspaper Wall Street & Broad Eight weeks trial $4 One year $25 workers.org (NY Stock Exchange) DEATH PENALTY Name______Phone______JOBS NOT WAR! Pushing it back 2 A real jobs program Address______now at a living wage STOp evictions City/State/Zip ______& foreclosures STOp THE WAR ON THE pOOR HONDURAS Email ______& workers, immigrants & youths New phase in struggle 11 Workers World 55 W 17th St. #5C NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 EMpOWER communities not banks Page_2_jan._21,_2010_ workers.org

WORKERS WORLD Death penalty changes this week ...

 In the U.S. spur optimism Unemployment, cutbacks deepen ...... 1 Death penalty changes spur optimism...... 2 By Gloria Rubac and health care. Every cost study in the U.S. shows that Family, community defend police brutality survivors ...... 3 the death penalty is far more costly than life in prison. Jones, witness in case of Mumia Abu-Jamal ...... 3 dozens of people arrived in a long car caravan with almost all recent executions have been in just one re- an escort of police cars, red and blue lights whirling. a gion of the country — the South — and most of those have Rally and march to oppose racism, immigrant bashing ...... 4 bus had been reserved. Whole families celebrated, while been in one state — texas. the death penalty without ex- Arrests to protest Haitian community leader’s detention .... 4 cameras flashed to capture the historic moment. ecution is a very expensive form of life without parole. Defend Victor Toro ...... 4 the scene could have been photographed a century in october, the american law institute, made up of 140 arrested to demand hotel workers’ contract...... 5 ago at a lynching in the old South. But it took place on 4,000 judges, lawyers and law professors, made a de- Detroit activists challenge ‘jobless recovery’ at auto show....5 Jan. 7, as the state of texas executed Kenneth Mosley cision that New York times writer adam liptak said On the picket line ...... 5 at the Walls Unit in Huntsville. this legal lynching of a “represents a tectonic shift in legal theory.” (Jan. 4) the Black man was the first texas execution of 2010 and the ali had created the intellectual framework for the death Financial crisis hits the states hard ...... 6 state’s 448th since 1982. penalty in 1962 to make the death penalty less arbitrary. The enduring legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr...... 7 Earlier in the day, ohio also executed an african- the Supreme Court adopted their legal framework when Mumia: ‘Obama: Post imperial?’...... 9 american man, Vernon lamont Smith. then just 20 it reinstituted capital punishment in 1976. Now the in-  minutes after texas pronounced Mosley’s death, loui- stitute has abandoned the structure it created because it around the world siana State Penitentiary Warden Burl Cain announced states the capital justice system in the U.S. is irretriev- African migrants in Italy rebel against racist attacks ...... 4 that Gerald Bordelon, a man who had given up his ap- ably broken. as ali member and rutgers law professor Viva Palestina convoy breaks the siege of Gaza...... 8 peals, was dead. this was louisiana’s first execution roger S. Clark put it, “What this does is pull the whole Dennis Brutus, anti-apartheid fighter ...... 8 since 2002; no others are scheduled. intellectual underpinnings for the death penalty.” U.S. mercenaries charged with long list of crimes ...... 9 as a new year begins, it is important to know that, even A tale of two armies ...... 9 though the executions continue, there are many changes Some important anti-death penalty developments in the U.S. use of the death penalty. innocence and the use of life without parole sentences U.S. keeps Cuba in imperialism’s crosshairs ...... 10 “the annual number of death sentences in the U.S. has are two reasons that death sentences are down. Socialist Korea poised for economic growth...... 10 dropped for seven straight years and is 60 percent less according to the innocence Project, a legal clinic af- A new phase in the struggle in Honduras ...... 11 than in the 1990s,” said richard dieter, the death Penal- filiated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of law at ty information Center’s executive director, in a press re- Yeshiva University in New York, 249 people in 34 states  editorial lease. “in the last two years, three states have abolished have been exonerated by dNa evidence; 150 of them are Get a mirror ...... 10 capital punishment and a growing number of states are african americans. Seventeen of them served time on asking whether it’s worth keeping. this entire decade death row.  noticias en español has been marked by a declining use of the death penalty.” Since 1973, 139 people in 26 states have been released there were 106 death sentences in 2009, compared with from death row given evidence of innocence. the highest Ataque a la base de la CIA expone debilidad a high of 328 in 1994. (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) numbers are in Florida, illinois and texas, according to de la ocupación estadounidense ...... 12 the decline in people being sentenced to death was the dPiC. More than half are african american. ‘Alto a la hambruna del pueblo de Gaza’ ...... 12 particularly noteworthy in texas and Virginia, the two in an important development on the issue of innocence leading states in carrying out executions. during the in 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of execu- 1990s texas averaged 34 death sentences per year and tion and an extraordinary evidentiary hearing to troy Workers World Virginia averaged six. this year texas sentenced nine davis of Georgia. davis has always maintained his inno- 55 West 17 Street people to death and Virginia only one. Houston’s Harris cence, and a movement to support him, led by his sister New York, N.Y. 10011 County has executed 112 people — more than any state Martina davis-Correia, has garnered support for davis Phone: (212) 627-2994 except texas — yet no one was sentenced to death there and forced the Supreme Court to reconsider his case. Fax: (212) 675-7869 for the second straight year. in texas a prominent forensic scientist commissioned E-mail: [email protected] due to the economic crisis, as many as 11 states are con- by a state legislative panel reported that arson evidence Web: www.workers.org sidering eliminating the death penalty in order to cut costs. used to convict and sentence Cameron todd Willingham Vol. 52, No. 1 • Jan. 21, 2010 New Mexico became the 15th state to abolish the to death failed to show any crime had been committed. Closing date: Jan. 14, 2010 death penalty. Governor Bill richardson observed that Willingham was executed in 2004. dr. Craig Beyler’s re- the cost of the death penalty was “a valid reason [for re- port reached the same conclusions as leading forensic Editor: deirdre Griswold peal] in this era of austerity and tight budgets.” Eleven scientists commissioned by the Chicago tribune and the technical Editor: lal roohk states considered legislation in 2009 to eliminate capital innocence Project in New York. Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, leilani dowell, punishment; the cost of the death penalty was a large as reported by New Yorker magazine, the jury at Will- leslie Feinberg, Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead, part of the debates. ingham’s trial was misled by faulty evidence to believe he Gary Wilson one way to save hundreds of millions of dollars every had set the fire that resulted in the death of his three chil- West Coast Editor: John Parker year is to end the very expensive and wasteful death pen- dren. one day before the presentation of Beyler’s report Contributing Editors: abayomi azikiwe, alty and use those millions for job programs, education Continued on page 3 Greg Butterfield, Jaimeson Champion, G. dunkel, Fred Goldstein, teresa Gutierrez, larry Hales, david Hoskins, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Cheryl laBash, Marxism, Reparations & the Black Freedom Struggle Milt Neidenberg, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Betsey Piette, An anthology of writings from Workers World newspaper. Edited by Monica Moorehead. Includes: Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria rubac Racism, National Oppression & Self-Determination Black & Brown Unity: A Pillar of Struggle for Human technical Staff: Sue davis, Shelley Ettinger, Larry_Holmes_ Rights & Global Justice! Saladin_Muhammad Bob McCubbin, Maggie Vascassenno Black Labor from Chattel Slavery to Wage Slavery th Are Conditions Ripe Again Today? 40 Anniversary Mundo obrero: Carl Glenn, teresa Gutierrez, Sam_Marcy_ of the 1965 Watts Rebellion john_Parker Berta Joubert-Ceci, donna lazarus, Michael Martínez, Harriet Tubman, Woman Warrior Mumia_Abu-jamal_ Racism and Poverty in the Delta Larry_Hales Black Youth: Repression & Resistance Carlos Vargas LeiLani_Dowell_ Alabama’s Black Belt: Legacy of slavery, sharecropping and segregation Consuela_Lee Supporter Program: Sue davis, coordinator U.S. Capitalism puts Oppressed Nations and the Copyright © 2010 Workers World. Verbatim copying Poor behind Bars Monica_Moorehead_ Available_at_ Leftbooks.com and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium national Office Buffalo, n.Y. Durham, n.C. Rochester, n.Y. without royalty provided this notice is preserved. join us 55 W. 17 St., 367 Delaware Ave. [email protected] 585-436-6458 Workers World (iSSN-1070-4205) is published weekly New York, NY 10011 Buffalo, NY 14202 Houston [email protected] except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 212-627-2994; 716-883-2534 Workers World Party P.O. Box 595 San Diego, Calif. 55 W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011. Phone: (212) 627-2994. Fax 212-675-7869 [email protected] Houston, (WWP) fights on all [email protected] P.O. Box 33447 Subscriptions: one year: $25; institutions: $35. letters issues that face the Chicago TX 77001-0595 San Diego, atlanta to the editor may be condensed and edited. articles can working class and 27 N. Wacker Dr. #138 713-861-5965 CA 92163 P.O. 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CLEvELAND. Family, community defend police brutality survivors

By Sharon Danann form of photos of the injuries that Whitby the younger Whitby’s father and Pat- tect her when the cops were ferociously Cleveland sustained at the hands of the police in terson’s brother, timothy Walker, stated beating her. She is developing a legal april, with time stamps proving that the after the proceedings, “the judge will strategy to fight for truth and justice in the Nearly 20 supporters in a packed injuries could not have come from an al- not split my family.” Patterson added, pretrial on Feb. 16 and the trial on Feb. 24. courtroom on Jan. 4 were in high spir- leged fight with other inmates in the jail. “Clearly the judge does not want people Walker asserts, “the judge will not its at the granting of a continuance in Patterson also has copies of reports filed watching these cases.” intimidate us into silence. they tried to the cases of 23-year-old rebecca Whitby by the police that contradict their cur- Whitby’s mother is facing charges for beat us down and we will not be beaten and her mother, who is also named re- rent allegations of having been injured by throwing herself over her daughter to pro- down.” becca Whitby. they will now be better Whitby. in addition, the cops’ guns, which able to prepare a strong defense against Whitby allegedly tried to take from them, false charges following a brutal attack by have none of her fingerprints on them. Cleveland police on april 23. Patterson’s “personal agenda” is for after the police attack, Whitby had the truth to come out in evidence and for Veronica Jones been released without arraignment by the justice to be served. She raised questions grand jury. it was not until the day after about why Whitby’s attorney had not filed Witness in case of Mumia Abu-Jamal the family filed a complaint with the Po- a motion for dismissal based on lack of lice department’s office of Professional evidence. Standards on May 5 that a warrant was the judge also attempted to intimi- issued for Whitby’s arrest. East Cleveland date Patterson and the assembled crowd police rearrested Whitby in June, after by calling her “a community activist, but running her license plates, on charges not in the way that President Barack that contain many inconsistencies. obama was a community activist.” the Judge Stuart Friedman railed against many community activists in the court- the younger Whitby’s aunt, Marva Pat- room were duly amused. it was a brazen terson, calling her “a demagogue and a attempt to quiet a growing movement of rabble-rouser.” twice the judge accused support for Whitby and revealed the ex- Patterson of having “a personal agenda.” tent to which the judge is already biased Patterson has documentation in the on the case. Death penalty changes spur optimism Continued from page 2 one in four (26.3 percent) is serving a sen- to the texas Forensic Science Commis- tence of life without parole; this increased veronica. sion, Gov. rick Perry replaced the chair from one in six (17.8 percent) in 1992. jones . and two other members of the commis- in six states — illinois, iowa, louisiana, sion, and the investigation into the pos- Maine, Pennsylvania and South dakota — sible wrongful execution of Willingham all life sentences are imposed without the By Betsey Piette continued through abu-Jamal’s PCra was put on hold. possibility of parole. Seven states — ala- hearing in october 1996, when she again this commission has finally sched- bama, California, Florida, illinois, louisi- eronica Jones, a witness during the took the stand, this time openly on abu- uled a meeting for the end of January in ana, Michigan and Pennsylvania — have V1982 trial and 1996 Post-Conviction Jamal’s behalf. as Jones stood to testify, the small town of Harlingen in the rio more than 1,000 prisoners each serving relief act hearing for Mumia abu-Jamal, Sabo immediately threatened her with Grande Valley, far from Houston, dallas sentences of life without parole. died dec. 8. Jones will be remembered five- to 10-years’ imprisonment if she ad- and austin where it had formerly held its activist Marta Glass, a commentator as a heroic sister who stood up to Judge mitted to having perjured herself in 1982. meetings. But texas activists are already with the Prison Show on Pacifica radio in albert Sabo in october 1996 and testified Jones refused to back down and testified making plans to be there and demand a Houston, says, “these lWoP sentences that she had been coerced by the Philadel- about the police pressure to change her full hearing on Willingham’s case and the are another form of a death sentence. You phia police to lie about what she had seen. version of events. subsequent cover-up by the governor. just cannot morally sentence an 18-year- abu-Jamal, a progressive journalist during cross-examination, the district Each of the 35 states that has capital old kid to prison and deny him the hope and former member of the Black Pan- attorney announced that there was an punishment on its books also has a sen- of ever getting out. this is cruel and in- ther Party, was framed in the fatal shoot- outstanding arrest warrant for Jones on tence of life without parole. While many humane.” ing of Philadelphia police officer daniel charges of writing a bad check, and that legal experts state that lWoP sentences in the case of political prisoner Mumia Faulkner on dec. 9, 1981. Jones, a young she would be arrested after concluding are one reason that death sentences are abu-Jamal, 2009 was not a good year. sex worker who was in the area when her testimony. With tears pouring down down, others disagree. the Supreme Court refused to hear his Faulkner was shot, told police that she her face, Jones defiantly stated, “this is Njeri Shakur, an activist with the texas appeal and didn’t even give a reason. the had witnessed two men “jogging” away not going to change my testimony!” death Penalty abolition Movement, says, appeal was based on the Supreme Court’s from the crime scene. in a letter to MSNBC’s today Show in “too many innocent people are being re- own 1986 ruling in the Batson decision, Between that time and abu-Jamal’s November 2007 — at the time the show’s leased from general population as well as which says that the district attorneys can’t 1982 trial, Jones was arrested and impris- hosts were set to interview attorney Mi- off death row. this publicity makes juries strike potential jurors based on their race. oned, facing charges of robbery and as- chael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner, think twice because they don’t want to be at abu-Jamal’s trial, the district attorney sault. there in her cell she was visited by spouse of officer daniel Faulkner, about labeled as sending an innocent person to used 11 of his 15 strikes to exclude Black two detectives. Stressing that she faced 10 their book “Murdered by Mumia” — execution. With all the news about todd people. in response to the court’s ruling, years in prison and the loss of her children Jones wrote: “if there were no merit or Willingham, those on his jury are now abu-Jamal said, “it shows you that prec- if convicted, the police pressured Jones to questions looming regarding Mr. Jamal’s responsible for his wrongful death. and edent means nothing, that law is politics finger Mumia. afraid of losing her chil- innocence, then can someone please ex- Gov. rick Perry should now be held ac- by other means.” dren, Jones didn’t actually finger Mumia, plain to me why so much effort was ex- countable. Because of innocence, the end abu-Jamal’s supporters have under- but did not report that she had seen two erted to publicly try to discredit and hu- of the death penalty is nearing.” taken a campaign to have the U.S. Justice men running from the scene of the killing. miliate me? Having me handcuffed and Even in Houston, former district at- department review his case. in November Subsequently, Jones only received pro- arrested while on the witness stand when torney Vic Weisner said that jury mem- they delivered 25,000 letters from around bation and was never imprisoned on the i tried to come forward with the truth is bers are reluctant to wrongfully sentence the world calling on U.S. attorney Gen- 1982 charges. one such example of the intimidation, a defendant to death because they don’t eral Eric Holder to conduct a civil rights However, when asked by the defense at threats and bullying i’ve endured since want their names or photos in the news investigation into abu-Jamal’s case. the 1982 trial if she had talked with police december 1981.” for causing an innocent person to die. “[the year] 2009 was a good year for since making her first statement, Jones Until her death, Jones continued to life without parole has been advocated the anti-death penalty movement in gen- testified that police had visited her in jail support efforts to win a new trial for abu- by some in the anti-death penalty move- eral. We had big ups and some big downs and offered to let her and key prosecution Jamal and was a frequent speaker at ral- ment as an acceptable alternative to exe- also, but we are seeing a trend that the witness Cynthia White, another sex work- lies on his behalf. longtime Black Power cutions. others adamantly oppose anyone death penalty is going out of favor. We are er, “work the area” in return for testimony activist Herman Ferguson once described being sentenced to this cruel punishment. seeing that light at the end of the tunnel that abu-Jamal shot Faulkner. Jones as a real working-class heroine. the Sentencing Project, a research and getting brighter and are redoubling our When the district attorney denounced Suzanne ross of the New York Free Mu- advocacy organization for prison reform, efforts to bring about an end to this racist her testimony as “absolutely irrelevant” mia abu-Jamal Coalition said of Jones: released a new study which documents tool of the ruling class,” reported Shakur. and asked Judge Sabo to block that line of “She was a reminder of what people can the continued increase in the number of “We will see abolition, and through questioning and strike Jones’ statement, rise to when provided with any support or people in prisons serving these sentences. struggle we hope we can make it sooner Sabo happily complied. encouragement. We loved Veronica, and they found that of the lifers in prison, rather than later.” the state’s efforts to silence Jones will never forget her.” Page_4_jan._21,_2010_ workers.org national mobilization in Phoenix Rally and march to oppose racism, immigrant bashing By Paul Teitelbaum borhood sweeps in latino/a communities, to successfully fend off, for the second of Maricopa County Sheriff arpaio. the Tucson, ariz. terrorizing and arresting people and de- time, a racist attempt to eliminate ethnic so-called National Socialist Movement, a claring that these sweeps would continue. studies programs in K-12 and university neo-Nazi group, held an open march on in response to the immigrant bashing in addition to arpaio’s crimes, which classrooms. the state has already cut $135 the streets of Phoenix on Nov. 7. While and fear mongering tactics of the infa- have been written about many times in million from university budgets over the these racists can walk free and carry swas- mous racist sheriff, Joe arpaio, and his the pages of Workers World, the arizona last two years and is preparing another tikas in Maricopa County, brown-skinned colleagues in the arizona state legislature, legislature has been introducing legisla- round of across-the-board education cuts people who are indigenous to this area Phoenix activists have called for a national tion nonstop aimed at criminalizing un- for the coming year. it will likely choose the — which was stolen from Mexico in 1848 day of action in Phoenix on Jan. 16. the documented workers. a law passed in ethnic studies programs as its first target. — must live in fear of both the racists and event has been endorsed by dozens of or- 2008 makes an undocumented worker the Southern Poverty law Center doc- the cops. ganizations throughout the country, and from another country guilty of “conspir- uments 19 “hate groups” located in arizo- the Jan. 16 action will show that will put the right wing on notice that they acy to commit human smuggling” for na, almost all of them setting up shop in things are going to change in arizona. are no longer welcome in arizona. smuggling themselves into the country! Phoenix, which is under the jurisdiction ¡Basta arpaio! the people have had enough of arpaio, (associated Press, July 17) his racist arrogance and the funding he another, recently passed law requires continues to get from the state legisla- that department of Economic Security ITALY . ture. We need money for jobs, not for ar- employees report any applicant who can- paio’s tent city jails! not show their “lawful presence” to the arpaio’s racial profiling earned him a department of Homeland Security. Fail- african migrants rebel Congressional investigation, which re- ure to report makes the dES employee sulted in the revocation of his 287(g) guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. (www. agreement. this agreement allowed ar- azgovernor.gov) dES employees, who are against racist attacks paio to have his police and deputies carry already fearful of losing their jobs under out immigration enforcement. arpaio’s draconian state budget cuts, are now be- By Monica Moorehead helped to instigate the attacks. response to the termination of his 287(g) ing forced to be cops. the immigrants used rocks to fight agreement was to launch massive neigh- in June, community activists organized the worldwide capitalist economic crisis back and torched cars against the vigilan- is hitting tens of millions workers hard to tes and the police. Some migrants were one degree or another, be they in the poor- shot with pellet fire and beaten with metal er nations or the rich capitalist countries. rods, warranting surgery. Ten arrested to protest Haitian Many of these workers are forced to mi- on the weekend of Jan. 10, more than grate from their beloved homelands to look 1,000 african workers were transported for work that will provide a decent wage to to detention centers, which are nothing community leader’s detention help them and their families survive. more than jails, for an indefinite amount immigrants are amongst the most ex- of time with no charges. By G. Dunkel on dec. 30, Montrevil was once again ploited and oppressed workers. they thousands of african workers pick fruit new York detained by U.S. immigration authorities. make tremendous profits for the capital- during the harvest season for many hours about 100 people came out in Manhat- ists. Not only do the bosses pay them star- a day for less than $200 a week. this is Jean Murat Montrevil got caught selling tan for a Jan. 5 protest of his detention. vation wages with no benefits, but many work that many native-born italians feel cocaine when he was 19, a few years after ten were arrested for blocking traffic. the face political and social injustice, espe- would be degrading for them to do. he emigrated to the U.S. legally from Haiti. rev. donna Schaper of Judson Memorial cially racism. the recent developments the rebellion reflects the deepening He did 11 years in prison and, instead Church, one of those arrested, said, “i am in rosarno, italy, are a prime example of economic crisis in italy and Europe in gen- of being deported when he finished his being arrested because it is a moral out- this outright bigotry and repression. eral: in the absence of a strong anti-racist, sentence in 2000, he was released on su- rage that our government would do this on Jan. 7, african migrants, including pro-working class movement against the pervised parole. on the last day of his pa- to such a great man and father.” some from Nigeria and togo, rebelled bosses, migrants are being scapegoated role in 2005, immigration and Customs a statement from Michael W. Gilhooly, against racist attacks by white italians for the loss of jobs. Public statements and Enforcement picked him up and held him iCE’s Northeast communications direc- and the police in this working-class town policies of the xenophobic, right-wing for six months. Haiti wasn’t taking de- tor, was unfeelingly clear. “Jean Murat near the western coast of Calabria. Many government of Silvio Berlusconi have giv- portees then, so iCE released him under Montrevil is an aggravated felon with a of these workers, who are both document- en the green light for these racist attacks strict supervision. significant criminal record who has a fi- ed and undocumented, work in the citrus to intensify. Montrevil is now a longtime commu- nal order of removal from an immigra- groves in the poorly developed southern treated as social outcasts, these african nity leader in New York City and active tion judge. Montrevil has exhausted all part of the italian peninsula. migrants are forced to live in makeshift in a number of immigrant rights groups, of his appeals and iCE will enforce the Characterized as “rioting” by bour- shanty towns with much of the housing including Families for Freedom, the New immigration judge’s order. one of iCE’s geois news sources in order to demon- being subhuman. on behalf of the tour- Sanctuary Movement of New York City primary missions is to remove foreign na- ize the justifiable nature of the rebellion, ist industry, a majority of these makeshift and the detention Watch Network. He tional criminals from the United States.” some african immigrants were provoked houses have been bulldozed at the same married a U.S. citizen in 2000, is the fa- Both rep. Nydia Velazquez and state to rebel when an immigrant was shot by time these workers are being detained. ther of four U.S. citizens, and has kept a Sen. tom duane are urging iCE to let a vigilante in a nearby city. it has been a spokesperson for the international steady job and supported his family. Montrevil stay. reported that organized crime figures organization for Migration in italy, Fla- vio di Giacomo, commented, “this event pulled the lid off something that we who work in the sector know well but no one talks about: that many italian economic DeFenD realities are based on the exploitation of low-cost foreign labor, living in subhu- man conditions, without human rights.” vICTOR (New York times, Jan. 11) He went on to describe the conditions of the african mi- grants as “semi-slavery.” TORO the italian section of the anti-imperial- More than 50 activists gathered in ist Camp, commenting on the rebellion of front of 26 Federal Plaza in New York the african workers in rosarno, while rec- City to protest the U.S. government’s ognizing the extreme poverty of the region, attempt to deport Victor toro. dozens made it clear that “We must be on the side crammed into the courtroom where the of the Black laborers, no ifs or buts. … it is U.S. prosecutor alleged that toro was a a good thing that they have risen in rebel- “dangerous terrorist.” toro, four decades lion, demonstrating that if they are human ago a founding member of the Move- beings, the others are no more than pigs.” ment of the revolutionary left in Chile, (campoantimperialista.it) is currently an organizer with the Peña this is not the first time that african del Bronx community center. toro’s case migrants have been targeted in southern represents the struggle of undocumented italy. in 2008, six Ghanians were killed, immigrants everywhere. execution-style, resulting in a rebellion near Naples. — Heather Cottin WW_PHOTO:_jOHN_CATALINOTTO workers.org_jan. 21, 2010 Page 5 On the picket line SAN FRANCISCO. by Sue Davis 140 arrested to demand United flight attendants protest no contract hotel workers’ contract thousands of United airlines flight attendants and their supporters in 17 cities in the U.S., Europe By joan Marquardt and asia held picket lines on Jan. 7 to protest San Francisco United’s failure to negotiate a new contract, which has been on the table since last april. at least 1,000 San Francisco hotel workers and support- due to expire on Jan. 7 were draconian cuts in ers rallied, marched and picketed during downtown evening pay and horrendous working conditions forced rush hour on Jan. 5, kicking off a boycott of the upscale Hil- on the attendants during United’s bankruptcy in ton San Francisco hotel. Working without a contract since 2002. attendants are currently paid at 1994 wage aug. 19, the 9,000 union workers at more than 30 of the levels and work 48 percent more compared to fanciest San Francisco hotels continued their fight for a new 2002 schedules and staffing levels. in contrast, contract during the last months of 2009 right into 2010. when United exited bankruptcy, CEo Glenn tilton Sitting down in front of the main lobby doors, workers in got a bonus that could have provided a 10 percent UNitE HErE local 2, members of the S.F. labor Council, raise for the airline’s 15,000 flight attendants. aFl-Cio President richard trumka and many other union “United has shown no interest in discussing workers and community supporters — 140 people in all — improvements or reaching a new contract unless were arrested and cited for “trespassing.” we agree to concessionary demands,” said Greg da- Community organizations like California Universal vidowitch, president of the executive council of the Healthcare/Single Payer Now, the Filipino Community american Flight attendants division of the Com- Center and Jobs With Justice organized their members to munication Workers union. “Flight attendants are participate. the day labor Program of San Francisco had angry because management seems only interested two banners, including one written in Spanish carried by in delaying a new contract, refusing to discuss any a Women day laborers contingent. Unions came out in improvements.” numbers showing spirited solidarity with the hotel workers. Protest and sit-down/civil Unions represented included the transit Workers Union, disobedience in front of Rite Aid forced to rehire workers Service Employees international Union local 87 janitors, the Hilton San Francisco. fighting for union United transportation Union local 1741 school bus driv- WW_PHOTO:_jOAN_MArquArDT Ever since 600 workers at rite aid’s Southwest ers, the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific, the Marine Firemen’s distribution center in lancaster, Calif., voted to Union, the California Nurses association and the United that would make health care unaffordable, or would make join the international longshore and Warehouse Educators of San Francisco. us slash our coverage.” Union in 2006, they have been subjected to an a leaflet distributed to passersby and hotel guests read: the San Francisco hotel workers will continue to fight anti-worker campaign that includes illegal threats, “the Hilton Corporation … has made $2.15 billion in profits alongside the more than 40,000 other union hotel workers intimidation, harassment and firing of union sup- since 2006 to 3Q 2009, thanks to the hard work of people across the U.S. Hotel workers in los angeles and Chicago porters. the National labor relations Board issued like us. … Yet Hilton wants to pretend none of this matters. are currently working without contracts; and in Minneapo- complaints in September charging rite aid with this company is trying to churn out even more profits by lis; Monterey, Calif.; Washington, d.C.; and Honolulu; as violating federal labor laws by illegally laying off squeezing workers like us. in wage and benefit agreements well as Vancouver and toronto, Canada; the hotel workers workers, reducing hours, reassigning work and fail- over the last several decades, we have forgone larger wage will see their current contracts expire soon. they are united ing to provide the union with information needed increases to keep our medical benefits affordable for our- and they will fight! for negotiations. as a result rite aid has been selves and our families. Now Hilton is pushing proposals For more information, see: www.unitehere2.org. forced to rehire dozens of employees with back pay and faces a pending court date with an NlrB judge. Detroit activists challenge to help the workers, a coast-to-coast campaign has been exposing the anti-union activities of the third-largest retail drug chain, with more than ‘jobless recovery’ at auto show 5,000 stores in 31 states and sales of $24.3 bil- lion in 2008. the workers’ negotiating committee, Members of the Moratorium NoW! Coalition to Stop which has held 60 sessions since 2006, made some Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs joined activists progress in late 2009. Management agreed on the with the autoworkers Caravan and advocates for single- workers’ right to refuse dangerous work, a process payer health care at a demonstration against the “jobless to address ergonomic problems, protection from recovery” outside the North american international auto dangerous indoor heat, and discipline and dis- Show in detroit on Jan. 11. Workers, including many retired charge policies. and unemployed, chanted, “a job is a right! We’re gonna fight, fight, fight!” Media from around the world came out Boston unionists, activists show to videotape the protest and interview participants. solidarity with Mexican workers after the rally, the Moratorium NoW! Coalition spon- a delegation of labor unionists and community sored a “corporate devastation tour” of the city. a coalition activists delivered a letter to the Mexican deputy press release stated: “detroit has the highest unemploy- consul general in Boston on Jan. 5 rebuking Mexi- ment rate in the nation at 44.8 percent, stemming from two Korean newspaper journalists attended the tour, can President Felipe Calderón for his government’s decades of layoffs in the auto industry, predatory lending as well as a reporter from Voice of america. they viewed seizure of Central light and Power plants, decerti- by the financial institutions and redlining by the insurance closed auto plants, a closed and vandalized public housing fication of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union, companies and bond-rating agencies. While the sponsors project, foreclosed homes and shuttered businesses. Coali- and firing between 44,000 and 45,000 union of the auto show will present one side of the city, our or- tion organizers continue to press for a moratorium on plant workers. ganization is providing an opportunity for the national closings, foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs and for the letter, signed by representatives of the inter- and world communities to witness firsthand the degree of a declaration of a state of economic emergency in Michi- national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local downsizing, deindustrialization and the consequent un- gan. activists are demanding a national, federally-funded 103, the american Friends Service Committee and employment and poverty which have been the result of public works program to put workers back to work and pro- Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, urged President decades of corporate policies that have devastated working vide the services desperately needed in our communities. Calderón to revoke the decree liquidating Cen- people and the poor.” — Report and photo by Kris Hamel tral light and Power, reinstate the fired workers, respect their collective agreement and recognize the elected union leadership. the consul general Subscribe to left Hook agreed to meet with the delegation later in Janu- ary. (www.openmediaboston.org) Help youth and students give the ruling class a Left Hook by purchasing a subscription to the new quarterly publication Federal job site bans by Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST). FIST launched Left Hook in the Fall of 2008 to provide analyses of political gender identity bias events, social movements and revolutionary struggles that the federal job Web site (www.usajobs.gov) now impact our world. Commentary, theory, culture and news carries language that explicitly bans employment reporting intersect in the pages of Left Hook to provide discrimination based on gender identity. though readers with radical analysis from a Marxist perspective. the Jan. 5 New York times claims that this “merely Young workers, students, educators and supportive com- formalizes what had been increasingly unchal- munity activists of all ages are encouraged to subscribe to lenged government practice over several years,” Left Hook and support FIST in its mission to educate, agitate Subscribe today! Two years, eight issues for $10 this change was hailed by progressive organiza- and organize youth and students. Stand with FIST as we Enclose check and send with name, address, phone number and email tions like the american Civil liberties Union. throw a Left Hook against the capitalist system. to FIST 55 W. 17th St, Room 5C, New York, NY 10011 212-633-6646 Page_6_jan._21,_2010_ workers.org Financial crisis hits the states hard By G. Dunkel New gaps totaling $28.2 billion have California, the state with the largest pop- governor’s tenure, prison spending has since opened up in 36 states in the cur- ulation in the country, and Gov. david increased 32 percent and higher educa- Winter came early this year to the U.S. rent fiscal year, and more cuts will be Paterson of New York, the state with the tion has declined 9 percent.” (www.time. Many states and cities have run out of imposed because most states are consti- third-largest population, gave state-of- com, Jan. 9) money to keep the roads plowed the way tutionally prohibited from running at a the-state addresses on Jan. 6. Paterson’s basic message was: “We they should be to keep goods and people deficit. Principal revenue sources — per- Given that one is a republican and the need fiscal reform. We need ethics re- moving and to provide ambulance and sonal income, general sales and corpo- other is a democrat, and that they come form. and we need an economic plan other emergency services. in some hard- rate income taxes — continue to erode, from states with vastly different political that will put New Yorkers back to work.” hit areas, all that the road crews can do is according to the National Conference of styles, their speeches were remarkably Earlier in october, when he announced plow hills and curves. State legislatures. similar. his 2010 budget, Paterson proposed a if the financial crisis hadn’t squeezed one long-term pressure on the states Schwarzenegger’s California faces a cut of $3.0 billion in 2009-10 and $2.0 the state budgets past the breaking point, comes from the policy, begun under $19.9 billion deficit — $6.6 billion for billion in 2010-11. (www.state.ny.us, money would just be reallocated, and President ronald reagan, of replacing the rest of this budget year and $13.3 bil- oct. 15) He wants to cut administrative plowing to bare asphalt with salt or sand direct federal funding of services like lion for the next budget year. His budget spending by 10 percent, for a saving of on the roads would be the norm. But the Medicaid and welfare with block grants calls for deep reductions to health care, $500 million, and a $1.3 billion cut in as- states had a collective budget deficit of to the states. the states gain flexibility social services and public transit, while sistance to the cities, towns and counties nearly $146 billion heading into fiscal but when the federal government wants maintaining the state’s current level of in New York. Since he is an “education” 2010, which for most began on July 1. to downsize, federal money is cut. support for public higher education. He governor, he would only cut aid to educa- (www.ncsl.org) For example, by combining aid to proposed a tax increase that would sig- tion by 4.5 percent, instead of the 10 per- Many states are attempting to cure Families with dependent Children, food nificantly impact the middle class and cent he intends to impose on every other these budget deficits with cuts in ser- stamps, child care and child nutrition cuts, particularly to 11 percent of Califor- expense. vices like health care, education, mass into a single $222 billion grant, the fed- nia’s prison budget. the absence of snow removal has his- transit, welfare and snowplowing, along eral government was able to cut welfare State Senate democratic leader dar- torically caused mass anger in the U.S. with mass layoffs and furloughs of tens of funds by 30 percent, or $89.5 billion, rell Steinberg said of Schwarzenegger’s as hunger grows, and the filthy rich grow thousands of state workers, tax hikes and from 1996 to 2002. (www.govtech.com) speech, “it would have been even a better more conspicuous, anger over other cuts additional fees. Both Gov. arnold Schwarzenegger of speech six years ago because during the is also going to grow. Unemployment, cutbacks deepen Fight needed for jobs, housing, services Continued from page 1 istan war, the campaign against Pakistan, the continued occupation of iraq, and the Set of graphs illustrate general expansion of U.S. military aggres- the lead article on the sion into Yemen and Somalia. ‘Disposable Worker’ in While Washington has trillions to bail the Jan. 7 issue of Busi- out the banks and the auto and insurance ness Week. It illustrates giants and $700 billion for the 2009 mili- the historic development tary budget, there is hardly any money of the jobless recovery for the state governments that are cutting and the difficulty of back services for the workers and the poor starting employment with a meat axe. up again over time.

the economic crisis has slashed state Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics revenues. So 43 states plus the district of Columbia have carried out severe budget cuts, and more are on the way. accord- ing to a report by the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, 28 states are cutting health care services; 24 states are cutting services to the elderly and disabled; 36 states are cutting aid to higher education and much more. over 132,000 state and local govern- ment workers have been laid off, and hundreds of thousands more jobs are on the chopping block. the crisis has left the states with projected total shortfalls of $350 billion for the years 2010 and 2011. one thing that is not discussed is that all the states and municipalities owe money to the banks. Most state and local budgets are heavily burdened with these payments. the banks they owe the money has, on the one hand, reduced the movement to stop the bosses from put- to are primarily the big banks that have number of raids, but, on the other, ting the crisis of their profit system on our gotten the bailouts. has increased the prosecutions and backs. But there is not one word about sus- deportations of immigrants. the Jobs March at the G-20 in Pitts- pending the payment of tens of billions of burgh last September was a beginning. Class struggle must sharpen dollars to these parasites who do nothing the marches for jobs on Wall Street in but sit around and collect money, while in every sphere, whether it’s jobs, New York City and in detroit over the the masses of people lose their homes, food, housing, health care, education, Martin luther King day holiday will be their education, their health care and the heating or just basic living, the work- another step. the March 4 day of national very means of life. the laws of capitalist ers, the communities, the youth and student protest could become a spark that “free enterprise” and the profit system students are under attack. the attack sets off wider struggles against the crisis. dictate that profits are sacred and the is by one class — the rich, the prop- and this May day is another great op- needs of the people come last. erty-owning, profit-gouging capitalist portunity for a united effort to push the the situation in this country has be- class. struggle further. come so bad for the people that 6 million to make matters worse, the foreclosure the attack is upon the working class — the rich will not stop taking until we people in the U.S. have no income at all crisis is going to deepen. in addition to employed, unemployed, documented and stop them. that is the lesson of every but live on food stamps. they get no pen- the millions who have already lost their undocumented of all races and nation- workers’ struggle, of every fight for the sions, no welfare, no unemployment in- homes, it is forecast that the bankers will alities, women, men, lesbian, gay, bi and rights of the masses of people — from the surance, no disability pay, no other source force another 7 million homeowners into trans, old and young. struggle to organize the mass unions in of income — in the richest country in the foreclosure in the next several years. the working class has no choice but to the 1930s to struggles for civil rights and world. (New York times, Jan. 3) Further- in the midst of this crisis, there is a unite and answer back. the labor move- against racism, national oppression and more, one in eight people in the U.S. is growing silent attack upon undocument- ment and the communities, the youth and sexual oppression in the 1960s. the time poor enough to get food stamps. ed workers as the obama administration students must unite into an organized is now. workers.org_jan. 21, 2010 Page 7 The enduring legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fight against racism, poverty and war continues By abayomi azikiwe the mid-1960s, created a political crisis in the increase has been the sharpest among editor, Pan-african news Wire the U.S. that remains unresolved. during nonwhites, increasing from 5.3 percent to the 1960s the ruling class stifled the mass 8.2 percent in that period.” Jan. 15 marks the 81st birthday of civil movement towards genuine equality and it is obvious that things have now wors- rights and anti-war martyr dr. Martin lu- self-determination by both channeling the ened tremendously. the actual unemploy- ther King Jr. a federal holiday in his hon- aspirations of african americans into the ment rate among african americans and or is held every year on the third Monday electoral strategy of the democratic Party the working class in general is far higher of January, when federal offices, state and and by intensifying the repressive appara- than the 10 percent the federal govern- local municipal agencies are closed. Some tus of the state and the corporations. ment acknowledges in its monthly job loss private businesses also give their workers this reaction to the gains of the civil report. rates of joblessness among youth its military might, funded by profits ac- the day off. rights struggle was illustrated in an ar- and the oppressed are much higher, with crued from the exploitation of labor, to this recognition of dr. King, an afri- ticle cited in Samuel Yette’s “the Choice: african americans and teenagers suffer- fight against every progressive and revo- can-american clergyperson who was born the issue of Black Survival in america.” ing the highest levels of unemployment. lutionary movement that has developed in atlanta on the eve of the Great depres- in the Jan. 31, 1967, issue of the New it was estimated that 85,000 people to challenge world capitalism and racism. sion, grew out of a struggle that lasted for York World Journal tribune, Marianne were thrown out of work in december. it has been the United States ruling nearly two decades. Numerous civil rights Means reported that “the practical eco- this figure is not reflective of the broader class that waged wars against the peoples organizations, artists like Stevie Wonder nomics of wage increase (to 84 cents per trends towards declining social wages for of Korea, China, Vietnam and Southeast and african-american politicians such as hour) hardly warrant the sudden eviction the class as a whole. asia, angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South detroit rep. John Conyers led the fight of huge numbers of impoverished Negro there have been three stimulus or re- africa, Cuba and other geopolitical re- for the adoption of the holiday. families … but political realities are some- covery packages enacted by Congress and gions throughout the world. the U.S. in 1986, after the King holiday bill was thing else again.” two presidential administrations over the ruling class has waged war against the passed by Congress, it was reluctantly Yette quotes a letter written by dr. King last three years. during this same time people of this country by stifling the civil signed into law by perhaps one of the to President lyndon Johnson on aug. 10, period 8 million workers were laid off, ac- rights, Black power, anti-war, women’s most ideologically right-wing presidents, 1966, where he addressed the mass re- cording to official government statistics. and working-class movements. ronald reagan. Every year the govern- moval of african americans from the land Millions of working people have lost their organizers must raise issues that ad- Unemployment, cutbacks deepen ment, transnational corporations and they had farmed for decades as a result of homes and apartments. dress the needs of the workers and the their media counterparts present a view wage and political demands put forward the federal government and the corpo- oppressed. What the majority of people in Fight needed for jobs, housing, services of dr. King that strips his legacy of the by the movement. rations have no effective plans to put the the U.S. and the world need today are jobs, broad social movements in the civil rights dr. King said: “last January, numerous estimated 34 million people back to work income, health care, quality education, and anti-war struggles between the mid- poor, homeless Mississippi delta Negroes at decent wages with benefits. housing and a life free of intimidation and 1950s and late 1960s. went to the empty Greenville air Base the principal objectives of the U.S. rul- harassment by the armed agents of the the corporate media reduce his contri- seeking shelter from the winter cold. they ing class are the widening of the so-called capitalist and imperialist states. this is the butions to the struggle to a few sound bites were forcibly driven off by Federal troops. “war on terror” and the maximization of only way that the true legacy of dr. Martin from his classic “i Have a dream” speech “Some fled to Northern ghettos. Some profits for the bankers, industrialists and luther King Jr. can be realized. — a speech that was delivered to hundreds burdened already overcrowded Missis- insurance companies. By promoting fear on March 4 students around the U.S. of thousands of people in Washington, sippi kinfolk. others are trying desper- of “terrorism” among all segments of the will protest the drastic cutbacks in educa- d.C., and millions more over national tele- ately to survive today on 400 acres of land working class, the ruling class is seeking tion funding, which has been taken away vision and radio on aug. 28, 1963. in Washington County without adequate to build public support for its aggressive from the people to fund the Pentagon and those who participated in those strug- permanent housing, jobs, education, on wars of domination in Central asia, the Wall Street bankers. Youth must militant- gles or studied that history understand the verge of starvation, and with little Middle East, the Horn of africa and latin ly ask: How can the ruling class and its that although dr. King was a tremendous hope. another group of poor, evicted Mis- america. state talk about national security, when orator and charismatic figure, his efforts sissippi Negroes at tribbett, Washington tens of millions inside the country are were a reflection of the mass conscious- County, Mississippi, struggled through Working class and oppressed without jobs, decent incomes, utility ser- ness and political commitment of millions the long winter in tents because of the must advance their own program vices, health care and quality education? within the U.S. and around the world. Federal Government’s failure to respond With the escalation of war in afghani- the peoples of the Middle East, Central this understanding of the historical to their pleas for housing. they have no stan and Pakistan, the obama adminis- asia, africa, latin america and other ar- and social context that produced dr. King jobs and almost no food.” tration, at the behest of the Pentagon, is eas of the world have not taken anything and countless other leaders, who sacri- Yette places the mid-1960s expulsion dashing the hopes that millions of work- away from the working class and op- ficed their well-being and lives to fight of african americans from Southern ag- ing people and nationally oppressed em- pressed inside the U.S. the true enemy of institutional racism, poverty and war, ricultural areas within broader trends in bodied in their mass support of the 2008 the people of the U.S. is the bourgeoisie, is fundamental to the ongoing efforts to the labor market. He quotes a June 15, obama campaign. Just as the prospects who have not only taken trillions of dollars complete the revolutionary movements 1964, press release issued by then-Secre- for improvement of african-american in wealth away from the people but have that made such a monumental impact tary of labor W. Willard Wirtz: “We are social conditions in the 1960s and 1970s also sent youth into battle to carry out the during the 1950s and 1960s. piling up a human scrap heap of between were eviscerated through the “war on bidding of the bankers and militarists. the election and inauguration of the 250,000 and 500,000 people a year, poverty” and the occupation of Vietnam, a major jobs initiative being planned first african-american president, as sig- many of whom never appear in the unem- today the rising militarism of the U.S. for april 10 must politically challenge the nificant as it was, by no means resolves ployment statistics. around the world has trumped the mate- false notion of a “jobless recovery.” in- the social contradictions that have charac- “they are often not counted among the rial needs of the masses. creasing profits for the corporations do terized the U.S. since its inception. in fact, unemployed because they have given up When obama accepted the Nobel Peace not translate into better conditions for the election of President Barack obama looking for work and thus count them- Prize in oslo in late 2009, he claimed that the workers and nationally oppressed. has created new and more complex chal- selves out of the labor market. the rate U.S. imperialism had underwritten world taxpayer bailouts of the banks and insur- lenges that activists are grappling with. of nonparticipation in the labor force by security for the last six decades. However, ance companies have resulted in depres- Why King’s legacy men in their prime years increased from what he did not say is that during the post sion-like conditions for greater numbers remains relevant today 4.7 percent in 1953 to 5.2 percent in 1962. World War ii period the U.S. has utilized of working people. after the passage of the Civil rights act of 1964 and the Voting rights act of “160 years after the publication of the Communist 1965, the Southern Christian leadership Manifesto, Fred Goldstein takes on the challenge of apply- Conference and the Student Nonviolent ing Marxist political economy to the burgeoning crisis of Coordinating Committee realized that the capitalist globalization in the 21st century. . . . ” african-american struggle would need abayomi azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire to shift focus toward addressing the fun- “ Lucid, deeply accurate and informative, as relevant and use- damental institutional racism and class ful as a book can be, Goldstein offers a compelling analysis oppression that were still prevalent in of the exploitative world of global corporate capitalism. . . . ” the U.S. With the passage of civil rights Michael Parenti, author of Contrary Notions legislation and the mass mobilizations surrounding the movement against seg- regation, a new wave of repression by the LOw-wAGE CAPITALISM HIGH TECH, LOw PAY a Marxist analysis of the Changing ruling class was launched in the South. What the new globalized high-tech imperialism Character of the Working Class the eventual failure of the Johnson ad- means for the class struggle in the U.S. By Sam Marcy, Second Edition with a ministration’s “War on Poverty,” due to Fred Goldstein’s book provides an easy-to-read analysis new introduction by Fred Goldstein lack of funding and disempowerment of of the roots of the current global economic crisis, its the poor, coupled with the escalation of implications for workers and oppressed peoples, and the Books available at Leftbooks.com military involvement in Vietnam during strategy needed for future struggle. & bookstores across the country. Page_8_jan._21,_2010_ workers.org as egypt regime assists U.S.-Israeli genocide viva Palestina convoy breaks the siege of Gaza By Bill Cecil on the journey, reported, “For the first invaded Egypt and murdered time in 30 years the turkish government thousands of Egyptians, in- For the third time in a year, Viva Pal- permitted a political demonstration in cluding schoolchildren and estina, the international relief effort led historic taksim Square, and it was to sup- prisoners of war, and execut- by British Member of Parliament George port Viva Palestina’s medical relief con- ed hundreds of Egyptian pris- Galloway, has broken the siege of Gaza. voy to blockaded Gaza. a massive, enthu- oners in cold blood — shocked on Jan. 6, 518 volunteers from many siastic crowd turned out in the pouring even veteran political activ- countries drove more than 156 vehicles winter rain to hear George Galloway and ists. it is in stark contrast to loaded with tons of medicine and other Kevin ovenden thank the turkish people the attitude of ordinary Egyp- humanitarian aid into the only part of and government for supporting Viva Pal- tians, who at every opportu- Palestine independent of israeli control. estina’s third convoy to Gaza. nity have expressed sympathy they were backed by a global outpouring “after leaving taksim the convoy pro- with the VP convoys. of solidarity, especially from the people of ceeded to adapazari [turkey] to overnight When the first 167 VP par- turkey and the arab and islamic world, in a sports stadium. although the convoy ticipants landed at al-arish, and as far away as Malaysia. arrived about 2 a.m., the citizens of ada- Egyptian authorities seized When the convoy entered Gaza after pazari were there and ready to help. locals their passports and told them its month-long, 5,000-mile journey, hun- swarmed the vehicles and buses to carry … the rest of the convoy would dreds of thousands of Gaza’s 1.5 million the 200 convoy participants’ sleeping gear not be allowed in. after a people lined the streets in welcome. “the and baggage into the stadium.” sit-in at the airport, Egyp- sight of people lining the streets virtu- in Syria, a British volunteer reported, tian authorities backed down ally the full length of the Gaza Strip, after “We were greeted by the sound of mu- temporarily, but the next day waiting for 10 hours for our last vehicles sic and cheering. at the border posts, a told the convoy leaders that to pass (thanks to further Egyptian de- huge reception was waiting for us, with 43 of the vehicles and their WW_PHOTO:_jOHN_CATALINOTTO lays) was the only vindication that this speeches, music, flowers and flag-waving contents would have to pass Jan. 6 demo in support of Viva Palestine caravan, New York. initiative ever required,” said convoy customs officers. through israeli-controlled ter- leader Kevin ovenden. “there were also many, many Pales- ritory. When Viva Palestina leaders tried ovenden: “We launched Viva Palestina the third lifeline to Gaza convoy defied tinians from the Syrian refugee camps, to negotiate that demand, pointing out the with a strategic outlook that we could an international conspiracy against the whose welcome was overwhelming. aid would be unlikely to reach Gaza, the crack open the siege by fusing aid, a sav- people of Gaza by the military/banker re- they told us we were heroes, angels, and Mubarak regime sent in police to try and vy understanding of the political context gime in Washington, d.C.; the U.S.-funded thanked us over and over again for help- seize the trucks. Plainclothes cops hurled and campaigning. We think this effort is israeli apartheid state; and the U.S.-fund- ing Gaza. We could only tell them that it rocks at the volunteers while uniformed working and can contribute to the grow- ed Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt. the day was our duty, our obligation, and an hon- police attacked with clubs, gas and water ing international movement in solidarity before they entered Gaza, the international our to do what we can to fight the occu- cannons. the activists stood up to the as- with the Palestinian people.” volunteers were assaulted and beaten by pation — what else can you say when you sault however, even capturing one of the While solidarity with the besieged Pal- 2,000 Egyptian riot police and undercover experience such hospitality from people assailants, and a standoff ensued. Viva estinians of Gaza is growing, so is their cops with clubs, stones and water cannons. who’ve been exiled from their homeland Palestina agreed to the Egyptian regime’s peril. With U.S. funds and help from Fifty-five people were injured, some seri- for more than 60 years? it was a hum- demand in return for the release of convoy the U.S. army Corps of Engineers, the ously, and seven arrested. Egyptian troops bling experience. … members arrested by Egyptian authori- Mubarak regime is building an 80-foot- opened fire across the border on people in “one 12-year-old girl said to me: ‘i’d ties. the supplies the Egyptians did not deep wall along Gaza’s southern border to Gaza itself, who were protesting the attack like to come with you to my country, to allow in will be sent to turkey and distrib- block the tunnels that are Gaza’s primary on the convoy. israeli missiles also struck see my land, but i’m not allowed. thank uted there to people in need. lifeline. and there is growing evidence is- Gaza while the convoy was there, killing you for going. it gives us the strength to the violence against Viva Palestina rael is preparing another full-scale assault three Palestinians. after returning from carry on.’” came only a week after Mubarak’s police on Gaza. Gaza, MP Galloway was seized by under- in Jordan too, the convoy was officially attacked the 1,400-strong Gaza Freedom the lengths to which the forces of op- cover cops, forced on a plane to london welcomed by the government and warmly March and prevented it from bringing pression are going to crush the people of and barred from returning to Egypt. welcomed by the people. But when they aid to Gaza. the regime took a very dif- Gaza make it incumbent on the people’s lifeline 3 left london on dec. 6 with reached the red Sea port of aqaba, Jor- ferent attitude toward israeli Prime Min- movement to redouble efforts to break the 200 volunteers and 80 trucks and am- dan, whence they had planned to take a ister Benjamin Netanyahu, who received blockade. the Viva Palestina movement bulances filled with supplies donated by ferry to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and drive a warm welcome in Cairo on the anni- appears determined to rise to the call. people across Britain and ireland. it drove to Gaza, the Mubarak regime told them versary of israel’s assault on Gaza. in the Upon his return to london, George Gal- through Europe, warmly welcomed and they could only enter Egypt through the 1970s Netanyahu was involved in terror- loway told the media: “i’ve been banned joined by people, trucks and supplies in Mediterranean port of al-arish. this ist operations in Egypt as part of the Zion- from returning to Egypt, but that doesn’t Belgium, italy and Greece. a huge popu- forced the convoy’s return to Syria, from ist special operations unit Sayeret Matkal. mean i’m not going back to Gaza. there’s lar outpouring greeted the convoy in tur- whence a turkish ship conveyed the ve- Viva Palestina’s third entry into Gaza more than one way into Gaza.” key, where 125 people, including 10 MPs, hicles to Egypt while the majority of vol- was a people’s victory in spite of the force Videos and first-hand accounts of the and 60 more vehicles joined the convoy. unteers followed by plane. arrayed against it. it not only brought in con voy may be found at vivapalestina.org. international action Center activist the Egyptian regime’s open subservi- much-needed aid, but it posed a powerful Cecil participated in the second Viva ralph loeffler, one of 62 U.S. volunteers ence to the israeli state — which has twice political challenge to the blockade. Said Palestina caravan in July. Dennis Brutus, anti-apartheid fighter The following is excerpted from Pat- he served as a fixture at their famous time the teachers league and then the Con- incarcerations of Philadelphia poet Mu- rick Bond’s obituary of his teacher and of the Writer and Poetry africa festivals. gress movement centered on Nelson mia abu-Jamal, american indian Move- colleague Dennis Brutus, a South Afri- at least one overarching impression Mandela’s african National Congress. ment leader leonard Peltier and Guantá- can poet, anti-apartheid sings out from the cacophony of in the process, Brutus received deep namo Bay prisoners; halting sweatshops; fighter and internation- warm memories: the Brutus phi- battlefield scars, suffering bannings (both imposing Boycott/divestment/Sanctions alist known and admired losophy that genuine liberation personal in 1961 and affecting most of his on israel; building Burmese solidarity; by U.S. activists. — not the half-measures won in poetry until 1990); a 1963 police kidnap- opposing Washington’s militarism by fol- 1994, when class apartheid re- ping in Maputo, Mozambique, followed lowing thoreau’s lead and refusing to pay ennis Brutus placed racial domination in South by a near-fatal shooting outside anglo a portion of his taxes; attempting to pros- died at age 85 on africa — represents a war to be american’s central Johannesburg head- ecute George Bush for war crimes; and ddec. 26, battling waged on many fronts because as quarters during an escape attempt; im- supporting the successful Vieques protest cancer, climate change one battle is won and many more prisonment and torture from 1963-66 at against U.S. Navy weapons testing on the and capitalism. usually lost, there are still others Johannesburg’s Fort Prison and on Cape Puerto rican island. trying to keep up with the octogenar- on the horizon that make an engaged life town’s robben island (he was next door Upon returning to South africa in 1998, ian after his 2005 move to durban dazed fulfilling, that keep the fires of desire for to Mandela much of the time); and alien- he and archbishop Njongonkulu Ndun- even the most Brutus-addicted staff at the social change burning long into the night. ating times in exile from 1966-1991. gane inaugurated Jubilee South africa to University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for the denial of opportunities to play those three decades in the U.S. spent demand rejection of inherited apartheid Civil Society — where he was honorary sports across Port Elizabeth’s neighbor- teaching at leading universities gave Bru- debt and to then launch the World Bank professor and our visionary guru — and hoods was Brutus’ youthful entry point tus opportunities for high-profile support Bonds Boycott. UKZN Centre for Creative arts, for which into revolutionary politics, initially with to every crucial struggle: ending the unfair other Sa-based campaigning included workers.org_jan. 21, 2010 Page 9

From Mumia abu-jamal on death row. U.S. mercenaries charged ‘Obama: post with long list of crimes imperial?’ Taken from a Dec. 24 audio essay that By john Catalinotto isfied with the settlement, but accepted it writes Vanity Fair. can be heard at www.prisonradio.org. after they were warned it might be the last “the Cia team supposedly went in To subscribe to Mumia’s podcasts, go to the murderous mercenary outfit for- chance to get anything from the courts. ‘dark,’ meaning they did not notify their mumiapodcast.libsyn.com. For informa- merly known as Blackwater and now two subcontracted Xe hirelings in af- own station — much less the German tion on Mumia’s case, go to www. called Xe has been making headlines all ghanistan were arrested there Jan. 7 and government — of their presence; they millions4mumia.org. To make a dona- January, with most stories showing how now face murder charges for gunning then followed darkazanli for weeks and tion to the grassroots work, go to www. deeply committed the Cia and Pentagon down two afghan civilians and wounding worked through the logistics of how and freemumia.com. are to outsourcing a portion of the task of a third last May in Kabul. in this case Xe where they would take him down,” con- according to a think-piece in a recent re-conquering the former colonial world. terminated the mercenaries and dissociat- tinues Vanity Fair. that report has been edition of Newsweek, President Barack a U.S. court threw out murder charges ed itself from the case as much as possible. repeatedly cited in the German media. H. obama is a “post-imperial” leader, against four Blackwater employees for the two had been training the afghan Na- Sentiment is already strong in Germany who seeks to bring “balance” to foreign a massacre of 17 unarmed civilians in tional army. against being dragged into the U.S.-led affairs, and a kind of disciplined realism Nisoor Square in Baghdad in September two of the seven Cia agents killed at occupation of afghanistan. to interactions with other nations. 2007 and wounding 20 more — but only Forward Base Chapman in Khost province Perhaps the most blatant crime U.S. of the similarities between the dreaded because of “prosecutorial misconduct,” on dec. 30 turned out to be mercenaries forces committed recently — it’s not example of Vietnam and afghanistan, the not because any evidence indicated they working for Xe, one a former Navy Seal known yet if these are U.S. troops or a analogy fails because unlike the fateful weren’t guilty. Even the iraqi puppet re- and another a former army Special Forces special paramilitary unit consisting of sol- diem brothers, afghan leader Hamid gime complained when they were set free. troop. diers of fortune — has not yet gotten the Karzai was “elected” and has significant rep. Jan Schakowsky (d-ill.), who has that’s in the countries that the U.S. is same publicity as the above cases within support. sponsored legislation that would prevent occupying. in addition, January’s Vanity the U.S. it was reported in the dec. 31 edi- the analogy is about as weak as wet the government from outsourcing security Fair reports that in 2004 the Cia appar- tion of the times of london. toilet tissue. to private military contractors, expressed ently hired Xe contractors as hit men to according to that report, U.S.-led to say Karzai was elected is to do ex- her displeasure at the court’s decision. “a carry out an assassination or assassina- troops were accused of dragging innocent treme violence to the term. question i’ve been asking for a long time tions in Germany. children from their beds on dec. 27 and a recent piece in the Washington Post is, ‘Can these private military contractors “among the team’s targets, according shooting them during a night raid that left describes the taliban as a virtual “shad- actually get away with murder?’ this indi- to a source familiar with the program, 10 people dead. Eight schoolchildren were ow government” throughout much of cates that the answer is yes.” (los angeles was Mamoun darkazanli, an al Qaeda fi- killed, according to afghan government the country, with dual governors, police times, Jan. 8) nancier living in Hamburg who had been investigators. People from the local area chiefs, tax staffs and village governments. in a civil case involving the same mas- on the agency’s radar for years because of told Jerome Starkey, the times reporter, indeed, the Post reports taliban con- sacre, families of some of the iraqis killed his ties to three of the 9/11 hijackers and that some of the children were wearing trol covers “broad swaths of the country, and some wounded iraqis agreed to accept to operatives convicted of the 1998 bomb- handcuffs when they were shot. especially afghanistan’s vast rural areas.” payments. they were not necessarily sat- ings of U.S. embassies in East africa,” E-mail: [email protected] that’s because in many of these districts, the U.S. supported Karzai regime has no presence. Back to the point: a corrupt, foreign- A tale of two armies supported government, which is widely seen as a puppet regime. Sound familiar? By john Catalinotto units of 304 people each, 912 in total, to reers of the top officers. this too became do we have another Vietnam? Perhaps. form the new corps. an obstacle. the imperial press dutifully followed despite the Pentagon’s unmatched the program’s main innovation is that in an attempt to redress this failure, Pentagon and White House reports, high-tech weapons and firepower, the instead of the customary one-year rota- Mullen criticized the top brass on the painting Vietnam in rosy colors until the U.S. military is bogged down by glaring tion in the region, officers who volun- one hand and on the other hand prom- walls came tumbling down. they almost weaknesses rooted in the capitalist sys- teer or are assigned to it would expect to ised that the careers of those in the spe- universally praised the afghanistan and tem it operates to defend. the resistance spend three to five years on duty there. cial unit would advance. Whether this iraq wars as righteous retribution. fighters, with far less firepower, have they would start with 16-week training combination of stick-and-carrot will cre- Why should they stop now? shown the ability to innovate and adapt courses in Urdu, Pashtu or dari, the three ate the desired colonial corps is yet to be as for “post-imperial,” this is a label their tactics to the needs of their war to major languages in the region, and would determined. that is about as ridiculous as post-racial! liberate afghanistan. become expert in the history and culture to invade countries that did nothing to the Pentagon’s difficulties in creating a of the peoples living there. The resistance army it, to bomb and kill tens of thousands, to special program to carry out colonial in- the order was that the army, Navy, the resistance army can tell a com- occupy and install puppets sounds pretty terventions in afghanistan and Pakistan air Force and Marine Corps appoint a pletely different story. resistance fighters imperial to me. have exposed its weakness. proportional number of their “best peo- already know the local languages and cus- and to add over 30,000 troops to this Before Gen. Stanley McChrystal took ple” to this program. these personnel toms: they are part of the people. Even process means more of the same. charge of the afghanistan occupation last would be involved as trainers, military by the Pentagon’s reports they are grow- is this “post-imperial?” Hardly. year, he had chaired a special group of the planners and advisers to afghan minis- ing in strength and influence, and the Sources: Zakaria, Fareed, “The Post- Joint Chiefs of Staff that came up with the tries. in other words, they would be the population sees them as the local fighters Imperial Presidency,” Newsweek, (Nov. “afghanistan-Pakistan Hands Program.” backbone of a colonial takeover of the while it sees the U.S.-Nato forces as the 14), pp. 36-40; Witte, Griff, “The Shadow in November the Pentagon announced countries and peoples. invaders. Government’s Clout: In Afghanistan, the program, saying it would create three in theory, such a corps might become the resistance has also been flexible Taliban Officials Offer a Concrete Al- a weapon against any resistance or lib- in adapting its tactics. Perhaps nothing ternative,” Washington Post, [national eration movement. But so far, the armed showed that more than the bombing weekly edition], Dec.14-20, p.18 leadership in protests numbering 10,000 Forces have only come up with 172 offi- strike on the Cia’s Forward operating against the U.N.’s World Conference cers ready to take on the assignment. in Base Chapman on dec. 30, which killed against racism in 2001 — for failing to addition, according to a Jan. 6 New York seven Cia operatives, including some top include Zionism and reparations for slav- times article, Joint Chiefs chair adm. officers, and a Jordanian officer along ery, colonialism and apartheid on the Mike Mullen chewed out the heads of the with the resistance agent. according to agenda — and 30,000 against the World four armed services in mid-december for the latest version of the events, the resis- Summit on Sustainable development in failing to pick the most suitable people tance forces operating in Khost province 2002 because of the U.N. turn to water among the too few they sent. decided it was necessary to strike back af- privatization, carbon trading and similar When a military force is serving the ter unpiloted airplanes — drones — killed market-environmental strategies. cause of building an empire, and the ba- some of their leaders along with a lot of Brutus was subsequently the highest- sic goal of the empire is to increase the other people. profile plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by Jubi- profits of the banks and corporations, the they took the decision to sacrifice a lee and the Khulumani Support Group for military too adapts to these pressures. skilled double agent, himself a Palestin- apartheid reparations, fighting not only What is the major goal of the officers? it’s ian with Jordanian citizenship, who was three dozen corporations which made advancing their careers. serving the resistance out of idealism and profits and interest in Sa prior to 1994, but Since advancement has always come hatred of imperialism. He didn’t hesitate. also the Mbeki regime, which sided with through a succession of one-year assign- His choice was the complete opposite of the Bush regime and capital. last october ments, the officers preferred to avoid the worrying about a career move. [after President thabo Mbeki was pushed afghanistan-Pakistan Hands Program. there is no doubt the Pentagon can out of office], Pretoria finally reversed that in turn, the top brass in each service bring much destruction to the afghan- position, to Brutus’ satisfaction. were also reluctant to send their “best istan-Pakistan region and its people. For more information and a schedule people” to this special unit. that meant there is plenty of reason to doubt it can of memorials for Brutus, see www. giving up their most capable subordi- vanquish the resistance. Mumia’s latest book, above, is available ukzn.ac.za/ccs. nates, the ones who would help the ca- E-mail: [email protected] at Leftbooks.com Page_10_jan._21,_2010_ workers.org

WORKERS WORLD editorial Phony ‘war on terror’ U.S. keeps Cuba in Get a mirror imperialism’s crosshairs his is what the State department’s world about the reason for the attack? By Cheryl LaBash government to stop the attacks from Flor- website says about what is com- it is a monumental mockery of the ida were ignored. tmonly called the “terrorist list”: truth that the very country that has done the new year began with the U.S. gov- Not only are the Cuban Five impris- “Countries determined by the Secre- all these things is the same one that ernment announcing new intensive air- oned and visits from family members tary of State to have repeatedly provided thinks it can absolve itself by creating port screening for anyone traveling from denied or obstructed, but the admitted support for acts of international terror- a “terrorism list.” on that list is Syria, or through 14 countries — the four uni- organizers of the first midair bombing of ism are designated pursuant to three which happens to have taken in many laterally designated by the U.S. as “states a civilian airliner, luis Posada Carriles laws: section 6(j) of the Export admin- of the iraqi refugees who were forced to sponsoring terrorism” and ten others al- and orlando Bosch, are walking free in istration act, section 40 of the arms Ex- leave their broken country after the dev- legedly “of interest.” one of the most obvi- Miami. Venezuela has formally requested port Control act, and section 620a of the astating U.S. “shock and awe” bombing ous indications that this arbitrary list has Posada’s extradition to stand trial, since Foreign assistance act. taken together, and subsequent military occupation. nothing to do with protecting air travel or the plot to blow up Cubana Flight 455 the four main categories of sanctions also on the State department’s list residents within the U.S. is the listing of was hatched there in 1976. the Montreal resulting from designation under these is iran, which has no nuclear weapons socialist Cuba as one of the 14. Convention (1971), which was signed by authorities include restrictions on U.S. but is the target of a huge propaganda dr. Wayne Smith, former U.S. State de- the U.S., requires that anyone suspected foreign assistance; a ban on defense blitz about whether it will ever have any partment analyst and chief of the U.S. in- of destroying a civilian aircraft in the air exports and sales; certain controls over in the future. Meanwhile, israel openly terests Section in Havana until 1982, won- be extradited or face trial in the country of exports of dual use items; and miscella- threatens iran with nuclear bombs that it dered if “the United States itself should be residence. (www.asil.org) neous financial and other restrictions.” won’t admit having, but everyone knows on the list?” (www.nowaroncuba.org) Cuba is known for teaching the world to incredibly, Cuba, iran, Sudan and are there. the arms Control associa- the hypocrisy and self-serving charac- read and sending doctors to countries in Syria are the four countries on Secretary tion says israel has up to 200 nuclear ter of declarations against other nations is need. the country provides Cubans with of State Hillary Clinton’s list. warheads. other sources, including U.S. clear. the U.S., in fact, harbors individu- a life expectancy equal to that of the U.S. israel is not on the list, despite its intelligence estimates, give even higher als who have admitted bombing civilian — their wealthy, powerful neighbor only constant repression of the Palestinian numbers. aircraft and been convicted of attempting 90 miles away — and an infant mortality people — it killed more than 1,400 Pal- Sudan, another country on the list, to bomb a university in Costa rica where rate lower than the U.S. Cuba leads the estinians in Gaza just a year ago — and was the target of U.S. cruise missiles in revolutionary Cuban leader Fidel Castro way in sustainability and environmental its long history of attacks on neighboring 1998 when Bill Clinton was president. was speaking. the U.S. government refus- preservation. countries, like lebanon. adding it to the the Pentagon said it destroyed a plant es to even comply with international law Cuba has achieved all this because its list would require ending Washington’s making chemical weapons and linked to requiring extradition or trial for aircraft socialist system is not driven by maximiz- huge subsidies and arms shipments osama bin laden, but this U.S. terror bombers. ing profits. Maximizing the educational, that have turned israel into a spearhead attack really destroyed the country’s in contrast, the Cuban Five, who were cultural and physical development of ev- against arab liberation in the heart of the main pharmaceutical plant, which made attempting to prevent violent acts against ery human being is its priority. Middle East. medicines for the whole region. U.S. of- Cuba, are imprisoned in the U.S. with Cuba’s achievements are astonishing the U.S. never called apartheid South ficials later admitted they probably made severe sentences that were only moder- considering the relentless economic, poli- africa terrorist, even though it employed a “mistake,” but have never apologized ated after global outcry from parliaments, tical and terror war waged against it by every kind of terror to totally disenfran- or compensated Sudan for the damage. unions and international support commit- U.S. imperialism. Every year the entire chise and enslave the african majority. Germany’s ambassador to Sudan esti- tees. one of the Five, Gerardo Hernán- world, except the U.S., israel and one or Perhaps this is not considered “interna- mated that tens of thousands of Suda- dez, is still serving an exceptionally cruel two small nations, vote in the U.N. against tional terrorism”? But apartheid South nese probably died for lack of medicine double life term and is denied family visits the U.S. blockade of Cuba. africa was known to also have secretly because of the plant’s destruction. from his spouse. Since the U.S. trade and travel ban tested a nuclear weapon in the South Most shocking is the obama-Clinton the Five are now enduring their 12th cannot prevent U.S. residents from go- atlantic and frequently carried out terror administration’s inclusion of Cuba on year of captivity in U.S. prisons precisely ing to Cuba, the U.S. thinks that perhaps attacks on neighboring countries like this list. (See our article in this issue of because they monitored the activities of or- more harassment at airports can dissuade Namibia, angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana Workers World.) Not only are there ab- ganizations based in the U.S. — with the full them. the obama administration re- and Gambia. solutely no grounds for this, but for years knowledge of the U.S. government — that buffed Cuba’s request to be removed from if any country is to be designated an after its revolution, Cuba was victimized planned and carried out bombings of tour- the Jan. 4 list. By so doing, it restates the international terrorist, shouldn’t it be by U.S. terrorist operations. theaters ist hotels to disrupt the Cuban economy. U.S. imperialist intent to destroy social- one that has brought death and destruc- and hotels were bombed, scores of at- the Five — Hernández, antonio ism in Cuba, whether by subversion, star- tion to dozens of others around the tempts were made on the lives of Cuban Guerrero, ramón labañino, Fernando vation by blockade or military means. world? Shouldn’t it be one that has sent leaders, and a mercenary army actually González and rené González — protected Cuba provides a living example for the hundreds of thousands of killers armed invaded the country — all paid for and their homeland by observing terrorist ac- U.S. working class, which is looking for a and trained to use the most destruc- organized by the Cia. Five Cuban men tions and plans in Florida so defensive way out of the capitalist economic crisis tive modern offensive weapons against languish in U.S. prisons today because measures could be prepared and taken in stealing their jobs, homes and futures. people thousands of miles away, armed they penetrated exile groups in Miami Cuba. they undertook this mission after Cuba remains a beacon that a concocted with only the simplest weapons for self- that had a criminal history of carrying Cuban government appeals for the U.S. anti-terror hysteria cannot dim. defense? out attacks on their country. the U.S. isn’t it international terrorism to de- jailed these anti-terrorists but let go stroy another country’s cities, water sup- free those in the employ of the Cia who ply, museums, schools, hospitals, bridges bombed Cuban cities and even a civilian Socialist Korea poised for economic growth and communications, to kill hundreds of airliner. thousands of its people and create mil- looking for terrorists? Get a mirror, By Deirdre Griswold ghanistan and was threatening to invade lions of refugees, while lying to the whole Secretary of State Clinton. iraq, another country on Bush’s “axis.” this year’s economic plans in the dem- Hundreds of billions of dollars were be- ocratic People’s republic of Korea will put ing added to the budget for the Pentagon greater emphasis on the development of and other agencies of U.S. aggression and light industry and agriculture, promising a intervention around the world. For 25¢ a day you can become surge in the living standards of the people. the dPrK had to take the threat seri- an outline of these plans was contained ously. a Workers World supporter in a joint New Year’s editorial that ap- From 1950-53, hundreds of thousands peared in the dPrK’s three leading news- of U.S. troops had invaded Korea and papers: one representing the party, one fought a war there against the People’s Choose_a_Supporter_Program_option:__ the youth and one the army. liberation army of the dPrK. the Ko- Workers_World_is_able_to_publish_anti-war,_anti- _$75_Enclosed_to_become_a_WW_Supporter._ For almost a decade, at great sacri- rean soldiers were bolstered by a million racist_news_because_we_are_truly_independent._ _$100_Enclosed_to_become_a_WW_Sponsor.__ fice, the dPrK has had to allocate a large Chinese volunteers, who came across their You_can’t_get_anything_like_it_in_any_of_the_big_ amount of its resources to building up its common border to fight alongside their business_controlled_media._We_have_no_corpo- _$300_Enclosed_to_become_a_WW_Sustainer._ means of defense. this emphasis took on Korean comrades. Both the Koreans and rate_backers_or_advertisers._We_rely_completely_ _One_time_donation_of_$______. special urgency when, in January 2002, the Chinese were defending revolutions on_your_donations. ___Please_send_me_more_information_ former U.S. President George W. Bush that had begun in their countries decades A_donation_of_$100_a_year_is_just_about_25¢_ about_the_Supporter_Program. arbitrarily added the dPrK to the pro- earlier, when the masses of people suf- a_day._Become_a_member_of_the_Workers_World_ NAME______Supporter_Program_and_help_build_the_newspa- paganda invention he called the “axis of fered under Japanese troops and puppet per_year_round. PHONE______EMAIL______evil.” Such a pronouncement by the com- regimes. Sweeping to victory when World Send_a_check_or_money_order_using_the_form_ ADDrESS______mander-in-chief of the world’s largest War ii ended in Japan’s defeat, the Korean military power could only be interpreted revolutionaries soon had to fight a second at_right._To_contribute_using_a_credit_card,_use_ CITY ______STATE ______ZIP______as a threat to attack Korea. our_secure_online__Web_site_at__ Clip & return to Workers World Newspaper war for national liberation and social jus- www.workers.org 55 W. 17th St., 5th Fl., New York, NY 10011 at the time, the Bush administration tice — this time against U.S. imperialism. 212.627.2994 fax: 212.675.7869 had already embarked on a war in af- Virtually no family in Korea was left workers.org_jan. 21, 2010 Page 11 A new phase in the struggle in Honduras By Berta joubert-Ceci amnesty for all crimes committed since duras into a new social model, a “pro- structural transformations of society the coup. this was the second bill sent socialist liberalism that will give way to a and to send a message to other latin after a brief holiday interlude, the Hon- by Micheletti to Congress — a grotesque popular and democratic authority.” american nations that are building duran resistance went back to the streets circus plotted, with the help of the United in the statement he mentions the need alternative and progressive national with renewed energy and commitment. States, for the mere purpose of convinc- for the redistribution of wealth and equal projects. on Jan. 7, 15,000 people marched from ing the international community that the opportunities for all, among other popu- “3. We reject the anti-poor economic the Polytechnic University to the National fraudulent elections held on Nov. 29 were lar measures. He concludes, saying, “it reforms proposed by the oligarchy Congress in tegucigalpa. this time, be- valid. right-wing National Party’s Por- is inevitably the duty of every Honduran and denounce its deliberate inten- side demanding the return to office of firio lobo was “elected” by less than 50 to mobilize and dismantle the ideological tion to dismiss social achievements their legitimate president, Manuel Zelaya percent of the voters. dictatorship. … the bourgeois state has that have been so preciously ob- rosales, the resistance’s demands in- Most of the countries, with the excep- concluded and collapsed.” Zelaya pro- tained by popular organized sectors. cluded the continuation of the Bolivarian tion of the U.S. and those headed by right- posed instead a “state as a guide, to ori- Water and basic food prices have alliance for the americas (alBa) — since wing U.S. allies — Canada, Panama, Co- ent and to be responsible for the destiny increased, international reserves are de facto president roberto Micheletti had lombia, Peru and Costa rica — have not of the population. … the bourgeois model being emptied dramatically in the sent a bill to Congress for the withdrawal recognized the result of the elections and has exhausted itself.” past few months as well as the sav- of Honduras from the alBa — and the only recognize Zelaya as the legitimate ings of state-owned companies like a new phase in the struggle refusal of amnesty for crimes perpetrat- president of Honduras. ENEE [Empresa Nacional de Energía ed since the coup on June 28. Both were the U.S. sent State department repre- the National Front of Popular resis- Eléctrica] or Hondutel. the oligarchy items scheduled to be discussed at the sentative Craig Kelly to tegucigalpa last tance has been meeting to discuss the new amended the formula to calculate Congress’ session that day. december to convince Micheletti to step phase of the struggle, trying to strengthen fuel prices in order to benefit the big down before Jan. 27, the date of lobo’s the resistance and convert itself into a vi- aLBa, hope for the poor transnational companies; contracts inauguration, in an unsuccessful effort to able alternative political force. are constantly being written in favor Honduras joined the alBa in 2008 make lobo’s presidency palatable to the on Jan. 7 the FNrP issued its first pub- of the entrepreneurs involved in the under Zelaya, and membership in it, al- international community. Since Miche- lic statement of the year, its 44th since the coup. likewise, they are planning though short-lived, has enormously ben- letti refused to step down, Kelly simply coup on June 28. it reviews the current other measures such as a real reduc- efitted the poorest in the country. How- endorsed the amnesty proposal from both scenario in Honduras and the tasks ahead tion of the minimum wage, repeal of ever, since the beginning, transnational Micheletti and lobo. to try to put a face for the resistance: the teacher’s decree, cancellation of companies, particularly U.S.-based ones of legitimacy on the coup government, free school tuition, currency devalu- like ExxonMobil, have opposed it, fear- the FNrP states: they have again proposed a government ation, privatization of national public ing huge losses in their profits. in fact, the “1. the Honduran resistance starts the of “national reconciliation” as was pro- companies and the pension funds of purpose of alBa trade includes precisely year 2010 in the struggle against the posed, yet failed, before. public employees, among others. the kind of transactions that put people dictatorship, rejecting the maneuvers the second act of this circus happened “4. We denounce to the international first and profits at the service of the poor. that this regime carries out in order after Kelly’s visit, when the office of the community the repressive state in For example, through the alBa, Hon- to clean up its image through a false Prosecution, composed of pro-coup offi- which the Honduran society lives duras received a donation of 100 tractors power transition process from Miche- cers, charged coup leader and army Gen- which has reached its worst since the from Venezuela, in addition to financial letti to lobo, which will in turn leave eral romeo Vásquez and all the members end of last year with an increasing aid for poor peasants. in this the third- untouched the current system of state of the Joint Chiefs for their role in the number of assassinations, persecu- poorest country on the continent, the domination by a privileged minority expatriation of Zelaya on June 28 and for tion and exile of our comrades. We alBa was a promise to elevate the quality of highly corrupted entrepreneurs, “abuse of authority” during the coup. Yet call on the international human rights of life — bringing education, housing and transnational corporations and the there was not a word about their many organizations to increase their pres- health care to the poor. in less than a year, army and repressive police. crimes against the people in resistance af- sure on the de facto regime. more than 150,000 people attained lit- ter the coup — the assassinations, mutila- “2. We make it known that the regime “5. We reject the regime’s plans to eracy, out of 300,000, before the golpis- tions, injuries, harassment, arrests and all is ready to withdraw its membership approve an amnesty which would tas (coup plotters) kicked out the Cuban sorts of violent acts against women, chil- as the State of Honduras from the forgive themselves for crimes against teachers who were part of the program dren, seniors, men, youth, the Garifuna Bolivarian alliance for the Peoples of humanity committed since the carry- “Yo Sí Puedo” (Yes, i Can). people and the lesbian, gay, bi and trans the americas — People’s trade treaty ing out of the coup. We must remind one of the main objectives of the mili- communities. of course, amnesty for (alBa-tCP) that, since its signature that such crimes have no statute of tary coup was precisely to hit the alBa, these criminals is already being planned on oct. 9, 2008, has benefited the limitations and that sooner or later not only in Honduras but in the entire re- in Congress. popular sectors in our country and those responsible will have to face gion. it is a tremendous threat to the capi- has shown that it is actually possible justice. talists in Honduras and to the imperialist Zelaya’s response to establish new types of relationships “6. We keep up our demands of return- north. alBa trade is not only based on between peoples and governments in While still in the Brazilian Embassy, ing to the institutional order and solidarity, but on a different system that order to benefit the poor while pro- President Zelaya continues to be very to install a democratic and popular promotes regional integration and social- posing a true integration of the great much in touch with the people, with National Constituent assembly, in ism and therefore challenges imperialism. latin american motherland. whom he communicates through radio accordance with the sovereign right amnesty, yet the repression continues interviews. on Jan. 6 Zelaya read a state- “the imminent withdrawal from the of the people to define the society in the second main item put forth in the ment to radio Globo where he presented alBa-tCP shows that the coup d’état which they live. Honduran Congress was a proposal for a proposal for the transformation of Hon- took place in order to stop the urgent “We are in resistance and we will win!” Socialist Korea poised for economic growth untouched by that war. Millions of civil- hydroelectric dams and other important Steel Complex and in achieving “cutting- signing a peace treaty ending the Korean ians and soldiers were killed. at the end, infrastructure. edge” computer-guided machinery. War. only an armistice exists — which the U.S. continued to occupy the south add in the increased threats from the the dPrK registered growth in its econ- Washington uses as the basis for keeping militarily — and still does. this division U.S., including economic sanctions that omy last year, even as the economy of the some 30,000 U.S. troops in southern Ko- of Korea and the constant pressure on the still continue, and it is clear that this has south was contracting because of the world rea to this day. Pyongyang is also calling north have been a drag on its economy been a very difficult period for the Korean capitalist crisis. the joint New Year’s state- for Washington to join it in hammering ever since. people, but one in which their resolve to ment credits the unity of the people with out an agreement to create a nuclear- despite all this, industrialization in defend their socialist state has never wa- the Workers Party of Korea and its leader free Korean peninsula — a reminder that the dPrK began almost immediately af- vered. Kim Jong il for having turned the situation the dPrK was under the shadow of U.S. ter the armistice in 1953, and its econo- in recent years, the dPrK has an- around so dramatically. atomic weapons for more than half a cen- my soon outstripped the U.S.-occupied nounced its ability to defend itself not Now the dPrK is poised to take a leap tury before it attained a nuclear deterrent south. living conditions for the people only with a superbly trained and moti- forward in providing more and better of its own. rose quickly. Ever since, the socialist sys- vated army but with nuclear weapons. consumer goods and services. Griswold has visited both the DPRK tem of the dPrK has been able to provide it has staged underground nuclear tests at the same time, it is calling for the and south Korea a number of times. quality free, universal medical care and and launched several missiles that could U.S. to drop the sanctions and join it in E-mail: [email protected]. education to its people. send a warhead thousands of miles if Ko- However, much of this progress was rea were attacked. last year, Pyongyang cut short in the 1990s. Not long after the announced it had put a communications fall of the Soviet Union, which had been satellite in space, launched by its newly an important ally and trading partner of developed Kwangmyongsong-2 missile. the dPrK, the legendary leader of the Underlying these military achievements In Defense of CUBA Korean revolution, Kim il Sung, died. is the dPrK’s progress in rebuilding its By Leslie Feinberg, author of Stone Butch Blues the country then experienced several scientific-technological base on a higher This ground-breaking book documents revolutionary years of the worst weather of the cen- foundation. the joint statement points Cuba’s inspiring trajectory of progress towards liberation tury, when floods ruined much of its ag- to its success last year in perfecting new of sexualities, genders and sexes. ricultural land and swept away bridges, steel-making techniques at the Songjin Available at Leftbooks.com or in bookstores around the country Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los países uníos! Ataque a la base de la CIA expone debilidad de la ocupación estadounidense Por john Catalinotto años 2001 y 2002” (Wall Street Journal, aviones sin piloto como las fuerzas ter- tia en el sureste, provocando la muerte del 2 de enero) restres mataron a algunos de los líderes personal de seguridad y un guardia que la explosión de una bomba en el cam- Haqqani a lo largo del año 2009. trabajaban para la development alterna- pamento de la agencia Central de inteli- La CIa no sabrá ‘en quién confiar’ El atentado del 30 de diciembre fue por tives inc. dai es el principal proveedor de gencia (Cia) en Khost, provincia de af- Un reportaje de la agencia noticiosa alguien que los agentes de la Cia conocían, fuerzas mercenarias para la ocupación. ganistán el 30 de diciembre, resultó en la reuters del dos de enero describió la otra alguien que estaba considerado como un Según un informe de la abogada es- muerte de siete agentes de mucha expe- parte de la pérdida citando a un ex oficial actual o potencial informante afgano. Era tadounidense y escritora investigadora riencia, incluyendo al comandante de la de la Cia: “Es un gran golpe para la agen- capaz de pasar la seguridad de la base y Eva Golinger, quien ahora reside en Ven- base. El ataque ha sido un fuerte golpe cia. Este es un grupo muy cerrado. Ellos entrar en una sala en la que al menos 13 ezuela, la dai está activa en toda américa contra la ocupación estadounidense. no sabrán en quien confiar ahora”. miembros de la Cia o “contratistas”, es latina. Uno de sus empleados es el agente Esto ha cambiado las reglas para la orga- los oficiales estadounidenses y la decir, mercenarios, estaban presentes estadounidense capturado en Cuba que nización espía y ha provocado amenazas prensa corporativa a menudo distorsion- para escuchar el reporte del informante. estaba entregando materiales ilegales a del Presidente Barack obama y el jefe de an la verdad y más aún en una situación Cuando explotó la bomba, el afgano murió los grupos contrarrevolucionarios. la la Cia leon Panetta. de guerra. Sin embargo, reportes en el junto a siete agentes de la Cia. otras seis dai tiene un contrato por $40 millones a pesar de las pretensiones de los Wall Street Journal, el New York times y personas resultaron heridas. para administrar el “Programa de Plani- militares y la Cia y sus amenazas de ven- el Washington Post que incluyen entrev- las fuerzas de la resistencia en afgan- ficación de Contingencias para la democ- ganza, el exitoso ataque a una importante istas con pasados y actuales oficiales de la istán y en Pakistán, que los medios cor- racia en Cuba”. base estadounidense subraya las debili- Cia, indican que algo como lo siguiente porativos describen como los talibanes dai está gestionando un programa dades básicas del imperialismo estadoun- pudo haber ocurrido: de afganistán y de Pakistán respectiva- similar para la USaid en Venezuela. idense para llevar a cabo la más reciente El personal del Centro operativo de mente, se han responsabilizado por el la USaid también ha sido expulsada escalada de la guerra y la impopular ocu- avanzada Chapman (Forward operat- ataque. los afganos ven el atentado como de dos ciudades de Bolivia, acusada de pación de afganistán. ing Base Chapman, FoB), en la provin- un fuerte golpe contra las fuerzas es- intervenir en los asuntos domésticos. a nivel táctico, el ataque significó la cia Khost se ha estado enfocando en dos tadounidenses. las declaraciones de la Según Golinger, “un alto funcionario de pérdida de espías con décadas de ex- tareas principales: encontrar objetivos resistencia también identifican a la per- la USaid confirmó hace dos semanas que periencia en afganistán que tenían un para bombardear con aviones sin piloto sona que hizo el atentado como un “doble la Cia utiliza el nombre de la USaid para gran conocimiento de las costumbres y e investigar esa parte de la resistencia agente”. facilitar contratos y financiación a ter- los lenguajes. Estratégicamente significa afgana conocida como “la red Haqqani” la Cia no ha revelado los nombres de ceros a fin de dar cobertura a las opera- que las fuerzas de ocupación de EEUU y para que la Fuerzas Especiales de EEUU quienes murieron. algunas infiltraciones ciones clandestinas”. (Chavezcode.com) la otaN tratarán ahora más que nunca, o “contratistas” mercenarios la busquen y han proporcionado información diciendo la dependencia de Washington en a todos los afganos como enemigos. Esto asesinen a sus miembros y a sus líderes. que se incluyen, además de funcionarios los mercenarios para combatir sus guer- destruirá toda posibilidad de que Estados la FoB Chapman utilizó informantes de la Cia, un antiguo Navy Seal que era ras coloniales es otra señal de su debi- Unidos “se gane los corazones y las men- tanto en afganistán como en Pakistán. un “contratista” y a un ex comandante de lidad. No sólo el Pentágono, que tiene el tes” de una parte de la sociedad afgana tal como al-Qaida, la red Haqqani era la reserva del ejército. problema de reclutar un ejército nec- en su intento de dividir para conquistar una aliada de Estados Unidos en la batalla esario para una ocupación, sino la Cia afganistán. contra la Unión Soviética, cuando el ejér- el papel de los ‘contratistas’ y la USaid también tiene que contratar “Entre los que murieron estaban oficia- cito Soviético asistía al gobierno progre- la Cia no ha nombrado a la empresa a mercenarios. los combatientes de la les experimentados y su conocimiento y sista afgano en la década de 1979 a 1989. que proporciona los mercenarios. Sin resistencia por el contrario, están dispu- experiencia se extrañará profundamente,’ Sin embargo ahora la red Haqqani está embargo, el 15 de diciembre la resisten- estos a inmolarse con el fin de liberar a dijo Henry a. Crumpton, quien dirigió la aliada al talibán. Utilizando información cia afgana atacó una base de la USaid en su país de la ocupación y la dominación campaña de la Cia en afganistán en los provista por la FoB Chapman, tanto los Gardez, la capital de la provincia de Pak- extranjera. Protestas internacionales en solidaridad con Palestina exigen: ‘Alto a la hambruna del pueblo de Gaza’ Por Brenda Ryan Chicago; Denver; Dubuque, Iowa; banderas que desplegaron en las cuatro Minneapolis y San Francisco. esquinas de la intersección de más trá- Manifestantes por todo el mundo Casi 200 personas asistieron a una fico de la cuarta ciudad más grande de marcharon en solidaridad con el pueblo vigilia/protesta en solidaridad con los Estados Unidos. a los/as palestinos/ de Gaza en el primer aniversario de la la Marcha de Gaza por la libertad en as les acompañados/as otra gente árabe, masacre israelí y para exigir el fin del blo- Dearborn, Michigan el 29 de diciem- un grupo de turquía, afro-americanos/ queo israelí a Gaza. bre. la protesta fue organizada por la as, blancos/as, chicanos/as, mexicanos/ israel lanzó un ataque por 22 días en recientemente formada Coalición de as, y otros/as latinos/as. Gaza el 27 de diciembre de 2008 que mató Michigan para la Justicia en Palestina. Una delegación grande de estudiantes a 1.400 personas, incluyendo a cientos de después de la vigilia, los/as manifes- de la Universidad de Houston asistió y mujeres y niños/as. Miles más resultaron nUeva YORK. tantes marcharon al Club de Herencia lideró las consignas. los discursos fueron heridos/as, perdiendo brazos, piernas MO FOTO: BrENDA_rYAN libanesa para una asamblea donde or- pronunciados en árabe, español, turco e y ojos y quedando paralíticos/as. El in- Egipto para pasar a Gaza. Un miembro del ganizaron comités para iniciar actividades inglés. Se oyó un gran grito de aprobación forme de las Naciones Unidas Goldstone convoy, que está liderado por el Miembro para continuar la lucha en Michigan. cuando uno de los oradores anunció que consideró que israel cometió crímenes de del Parlamento británico George Galloway, El 28 de diciembre hubo una mani- había acabado de oír noticias de Turquía guerra. Estos crímenes incluyeron el lan- habló con la asamblea por teléfono. El go- festación frente al consulado israelí en donde más de un millón de personas esta- zamiento de fósforo blanco, que quema a bierno de Egipto rehusó permitirle al con- Atlanta planteando las mismas cuestio- ban protestando también. través de la piel y cuando se inhala hace voy pasar por el puerto Nuweiba en el Mar nes. Participaron unas 125 personas, muy otras manifestaciones tuvieron lugar que la gente se queme desde adentro cau- rojo. (Finalmente el convoy entró en Egip- multinacional, y mayormente jóvenes. en Toronto, Roma, Madrid, Dublin, sando la muerte, y de diME (explosivos to por el puerto de al-arish el 3 de enero.) Esta acción fue llamada por el Movimiento Dusseldorf y Venecia, entre muchas densos de metales inertes, por las siglas la manifestación en Nueva York fue para acabar el apartheid israelí-Georgia, otras ciudades. Más de 1.000 personas en ingles), que arranca las extremidades. organizada por al-awda Nueva York, que fue formado en la primavera pasada marcharon en Tel Aviv el 2 de enero exi- En Nueva York, 1.000 manifestantes, la Coalición Palestina por el derecho a específicamente para fomentar campañas giendo que se acabe el bloqueo de Gaza. la mayoría jóvenes, se reunieron en un mi- Volver, Musulmanes americanos/as por de “boicot, desinversión y sanciones”. El bloqueo ha impedido que alimentos, tin en times Square el 27 de diciembre y Palestina, la Fundación Árabe de Musul- la Coalición por Justicia y Paz en Pal- medicina y materiales de construcción marcharon a la Misión israelita y de allí a manes americanos/as, la Fundación de estina de Houston convocó una mani- entren a Gaza y continúa provocando des- la oNU. Se detuvieron frente a la Misión libertad MaS, el Centro de acción inter- festación muy animada en el primer ani- nutrición, hambre, miseria y muerte. Egipcia para demandar que el gobierno nacional, y otros grupos. versario del ataque israelí contra Gaza. Gloria Rubac, Dianne Mathiowetz, permita al convoy de auxilio internacio- En ciudades por los Estados Unidos hubo Unas 400 personas llegaron con banderas y Mike Shane colaboraron en este nal organizado por Viva Palestina entrar a marchas y vigilias, incluyendo a Boston; palestinas volando a lo alto, y letreros y informe.