Puerto Rico • ¡En Michigan, caminan por el agua! 12

Who brought it down? Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 57, No. 29 July 23, 2015 $1 WW COMMENTARY 7 Bree Newsome removes Confederate flag in Columbia, S.C. Stop bankers’ rule in Greece Mass resistance must say NO!

By Fred Goldstein

July 14 — With a gun to their heads, the SOLIDARITY WITH IMMIGRANTS, COAST TO COAST leaders of Syriza, headed by Alexis Tsipras, have capitulated to the financial powers of Europe, headed by the German bankers. The terms of the agreement spell even graver hardship for the Greek masses and outright international bankers’ rule over Greece. This agreement overrides the resounding “No” vote to austerity by the Greek masses in the referendum of July 5. The 61 percent vote against giving in to the bankers showed there is widespread basis for mass resis- tance. The latest deal has not yet been accepted by the Greek Parliament. But before the Brussels capitulation, Tsipras had arranged to ram a blanket ac- ceptance of whatever agreement was signed through Parliament. He did this in collabo- ration with the other Greek bourgeois and social democratic parties — the very ones who campaigned for a “Yes” vote in the refer- endum. He did this knowing that part of his own party would rebel. The terms of the agreement signed by the 19 countries in the eurozone require Greece PHOTO: ALABAMA COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE Immigrant rights protesters in New Orleans: ‘Without papers, without fear.’ See page 3. to sign on to tax increases, pension reduc- tions and other onerous conditions by July 18. German imperialism has gotten the en- dorsement of a strong bloc of countries and the collaboration of the French capitalist government to crush Greece under its heel and make an example out of the Syriza lead- ership. The European Central Bank forced the Greek banks to close by cutting off the flow of funds, threatening financial chaos and economic strangulation. The masses in Greece had initiated an electoral rebellion against austerity, under the leadership of Syriza and the Tsipras grouping. This rebellion interfered with the European Union’s project of holding LGBTQ LIBERATION the weaker countries of Europe in the iron Gains and backlash 4 grip of the financial powers in Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and others. This proj- ect has been underway since the collapse of the USSR and Eastern Europe. DISABILITY PRIDE The Tsipras social democratic leadership March in NYC 5 was not up to the task of carrying through on the rebellion. Now the goal of the finan- cial powers is to humiliate and bring down Continued on page 9 DETROIT Starved of light and water 8 Subscribe to Workers World CARAVAN TO CUBA n 4 weeks trial $4 n 1 year subscription $30 Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program 26 years of friendship 11 workers.org/articles/donate/supporters_/ Name ______MORE ON GREECE Email ______ EDITORIALS: Solidarity needed! Phone ______ Migrants face hardship 10 Street______

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Page 2 July 23, 2015 workers.org

Celebrate  In the U.S. THE CUBAN REVOLUTION Stop bankers’ rule in Greece ...... 1 As conditions for migrants worsen, solidarity is key . . . 3 New Orleans protest: ‘Not one more deportation!’ . . . 3 and support Workers World! ‘Libertad!’ End detention of migrant families ...... 3 Farmworkers union on the march ...... 3 On July 26, 1953, revolutionaries stormed the Mon- Peace for Cuba International Appeal, which brought thou- Rightwing backlash to marriage victory ...... 4 cada Barracks in Santiago, Cuba. Less than six years lat- sands to New York City’s Javits Center in January 1992, LGBTQ youth discuss Marxism ...... 4 er, Fidel and his guerrillas ousted the U.S.-backed Batista calling for an end to the blockade, the travel ban and all Trans victory in West Virginia ...... 4 dictatorship, marching into Havana during the first days intervention against Cuba. of January 1959. The brutal blockade has failed to overturn the Cuban People with disabilities say ‘Our struggle is not over’ . . .5 That same year, Workers World newspaper began to Revolution. Now Washington is discussing normalizing EACH Woman Act: Right of poor women to abortion . . . . . 5 publish. After years of anti-communist reaction, the Cu- diplomatic relations with Havana. Workers World sup- A visit with prisoner #294671, Rev. Edward Pinkney . . . 6 ban Revolution helped revive interest in revolutionary ports Cuba’s precondition that the U.S. close its illegal Act now for Mumia Abu-Jamal ...... 6 socialism in the U.S. It found an eager supporter in this base at Guantánamo and the torture prison there and newspaper. The more outrageous the anti-Cuba propa- return Guantánamo to the Cuban people. Oakland: WWP leader denounces police terror . . . . . 6 ganda of the big business press, the harder Workers World Assata Shakur, an African-American freedom fighter, Who gets credit for removing Confederate flag? . . . . 7 fought to tell the truth about this great victory over U.S. has lived in exile in Cuba for 31 years. Washington wants Muslim, Jewish help for torched Black churches . . . . . 7 imperialism. her sent back to the racist hellholes of mass incarceration Massive people’s march July 25 in Newark ...... 7 When, on Jan. 3, 1961, the U.S. announced to the Unit- here. We support Cuba’s insistence that its sovereignty be ed Nations that Washington was breaking diplomatic respected, including the right to give shelter to those flee- Detroit to Flint water march ends ...... 8 relations with Cuba, Workers World’s first editor, Vince ing repression. Detroiters demand: ‘Turn on the lights!’ ...... 8 Copeland, led a protest inside the U.N. chamber. His Our readers are familiar with Workers World’s sup- On the road with the Cuba caravan ...... 11 booming voice could be heard on WNYC radio shout- port for the IFCO/Pastors for Peace caravans that carry ing that Ambassador James Wadsworth “speaks for the medical and other essential supplies to the island and  Around the world bankers, not the people.” the yearly Venceremos Brigades. You know our role in Anti-Cuba propaganda turned into sabotage and an the campaign to free the Cuban 5 heroes. Greece: Migrants find solidarity as well as repression . . 10 outright CIA-directed invasion that April. Workers World We hope you will help us keep up this tradition of London transport workers shut down subway system . 11 closely covered the efforts of the Fair Play for Cuba Com- standing firmly with Cuba and its people. Donations mittee, the Committee to Defend Francisco Molina and from our supporters have been a big factor in getting our  Editorial other organizations in solidarity with the Cuban people. pro-Cuba writings in print, distributed and posted on- Solidarity with workers in Greece ...... 10 And when the Kennedy administration threatened a nu- line at workers.org. Debt means having the same enemy ...... 10 clear attack in 1962, Workers World’s front page demand- We invite you to donate to the Workers World Fund ed “Hands off Cuba!” Drive, our biannual fundraising campaign. Send checks  Noticias en Español Cuban troops helped liberate Angola from racist colo- to Workers World, 147 W. 24th St., 2nd floor, New York, Recetas neoliberales para Puerto Rico ...... 12 nial rule. Tens of thousands of Cuban medical workers NY 10011, with your name and address. Indicate for have gone to Africa, Latin America and Haiti to fight dis- “Fund Drive.” Comienza ‘Caminata de Justicia’ por el agua ...... 12 ease. Cuba even offered to send doctors to U.S. regions Also, please join the 38-year-old WW Supporter Pro- shattered by Hurricane Katrina. But Washington said gram and make a regular donation, no matter how mod- “no.” est. Go to workers.org/donate/ or send checks to the Workers World In the early 1990s, Cuba endured great economic hard- above address; write “For WWSP.” 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. ship after the USSR fell and the U.S. tightened its block- We appreciate your help in growing the revolutionary New York, N.Y. 10011 ade of the socialist island. Workers World helped build the media in the U.S. Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.workers.org Vol. 57, No. 28 • July 23, 2015 Closing date: July 14, 2015 Editor: Deirdre Griswold Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Who we are & what we’re fighting for Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead; Web Editor Gary Wilson

Hate capitalism? Workers World Party fights for a ­degrading people because of their nationality, sexual or Production & Design Editors: Coordinator Lal Roohk; ­socialist society — where the wealth is socially owned gender identity or disabilities — all are tools the ruling Andy Katz, Cheryl LaBash and production is planned to satisfy human need. This class uses to keep us apart. They ruthlessly super-ex- Copyediting and Proofreading: Sue Davis, Keith Fine, outmoded capitalist system is dragging down workers’ ploit some in order to better exploit us all. WWP builds Bob McCubbin living standards while throwing millions out of their unity among all workers while supporting the right Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, jobs. If you’re young, you know they’re stealing your of self-determination. Fighting oppression is a work- Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel, K. Durkin, Fred Goldstein, future. And capitalism is threatening the entire planet ing-class issue, which is confirmed by the many labor Martha Grevatt, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, with its unplanned, profit-driven stranglehold over the struggles led today by people of color, immigrants and Berta Joubert-Ceci, Terri Kay, Cheryl LaBash, means of production. women. Milt Neidenberg, John Parker, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Workers built it all — it belongs to society, not to a WWP has a long history of militant opposition to im- Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac handful of billionaires! But we need a revolution to perialist wars. The billionaire rulers are bent on turning Mundo Obero: Redactora Berta Joubert-Ceci; make that change. That’s why for 56 years WWP has back the clock to the bad old days before socialist revolu- Ramiro Fúnez, Teresa Gutierrez, Donna Lazarus, been building a revolutionary party of the working tions and national liberation struggles liberated territory Carlos Vargas from their grip. We’ve been in the streets to oppose every class inside the belly of the beast. Supporter Program: Coordinator Sue Davis We fight every kind of oppression. Racism, sexism, one of imperialism’s wars and aggressions. Copyright © 2014 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium Contact a Workers World Party branch near you: workers.org/wwp without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly National Office Bay Area Cleveland Houston Pittsburgh except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl. 1305 Franklin St. #411 P.O. Box 5963 P.O. Box 3454 [email protected] 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10011. Phone: New York, NY 10011 Oakland, CA 94612 Cleveland, OH 44101 Houston, TX 77253-3454 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $30; institu- 510.600.5800 Rochester, N.Y. 212.627.2994 216.738.0320 713.503.2633 tions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and [email protected] [email protected] 585.436.6458 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to Boston Huntington, W. Va. Workers World, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY Atlanta 284 Amory St. Denver [email protected] Rockford, IL Boston, MA 02130 10011. Back issues and individual articles are available PO Box 18123 [email protected] Los Angeles [email protected] 617.286.6574 on microfilm and/or photocopy from NA Publishing, Atlanta, GA 30316 5278 W Pico Blvd. [email protected] Detroit San Diego Inc, P.O. Box 998, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0998. A 404.627.0185 Los Angeles, CA 90019 Buffalo, N.Y. 5920 Second Ave. P.O. Box 33447 searchable archive is ­available on the Web at www. [email protected] [email protected] San Diego, CA 92163 712 Main St #113B Detroit, MI 48202 workers.org. Buffalo, NY 14202 313.459.0777 323.306.6240 [email protected] Baltimore 716.883.2534 [email protected] Milwaukee A headline digest is available via e-mail subscription. c/o Solidarity Center [email protected] [email protected] Tucson, Ariz. Subscription information is at workers.org/email.php. [email protected] 2011 N. Charles St. Chicago Durham, N.C. Philadelphia Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. Baltimore, MD 21218 27 N. Wacker Dr. #138 804 Old Fayetteville St. P.O. Box 34249 Washington, D.C. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 443.221.3775 Chicago, IL 60606 Durham, NC 27701 Philadelphia, PA 19101 P.O. Box 57300 [email protected] 312.229.0161 919.322.9970 610.931.2615 Washington, D.C. 20037 Workers World, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] New York, N.Y. 10011. workers.org July 23, 2015 Page 3 As conditions for migrants worsen, solidarity is key

By Teresa Gutierrez Obama administration had also planned Court of Appeals, based in New Orle- included many undocumented workers. to expand the Deferred Action for Child- ans, migrant workers are no more than Despite right-wing bluster against the Immigrants and their advocates have hood Arrivals policy of 2012 (DACA) that pawns. Oral arguments were heard on November executive action, Washington’s waited for years for Washington to create offers relief and work permits to undocu- the case on July 10 by the court that is war on migrants continues in every way. a humane pro-worker policy that would mented youth who came here as children. seen as one of the most conservative in Obama has deported more workers than provide some relief for the more than 12 However, these measures have hit a the country. any other U.S. president. The current ex- million undocumented workers in this legal stalemate because 26 states, led by The online magazine Politico report- ecutive action is way too little and way too country. But instead of relief, conditions Texas, are suing the Obama administra- ed on July 10: “President Barack Obama late. It amounts to posturing more than for migrants continue to deteriorate — tion, seeking to stop executive actions appears likely to lose — again — in the anything else as the Democrats gear up not only on the U.S. side of the border, signed by the president in November that protracted legal fight over his executive for the 2016 presidential election. but as workers make their way into this could grant some relief for a sector of un- actions on immigration. The chilly re- The fact that the conditions for forced country as well. documented workers. This lawsuit, filed ception from the three-judge panel in migration continue means that no mat- No talk on Capitol Hill about immigra- last December, contends that President the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on ter what difficulties workers face once in tion reform has dealt with the root caus- Obama overstepped his constitutional whether Obama had legal authority to the U.S., they have no other option but es of migration, which is decisive for real authority by issuing executive actions take such action seems to indicate that to leave their homelands. What undocu- change. None of the thousands of pieces that amount to a form of amnesty and a lower court decision blocking the new mented workers need above all is a unit- of paper on immigration policy address- that the Department of Homeland Secu- programs would stay in place.” ed movement of workers in this country es unfair trade policies, such as NAFTA rity does not have the authority to grant that is fighting for the interests of work- (North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement), work permits. Build a united movement ers and oppressed people. or the U.S.-created violence that sweeps The 26 states behind the lawsuit are To the movement’s credit, hundreds of A united movement with the Black Mexico and Central America. claiming a violation of states’ rights — a migrants and their supporters converged Lives Matter movement front and center President Barack Obama announced right-wing, racist tactic rooted in the his- in Louisiana for a spirited demonstration — which raises all the issues vital to the in November the creation of a program tory of slavery in the U.S. South. The 26 outside the court. Additionally, the New working class — can help to resolve the that would allow undocumented parents include 13 states in the Deep South and Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice grave humanitarian crisis that has be- of children born in the U.S. to obtain Southwest. blocked roads outside the U.S. Immigra- come a reality for migrant workers. The temporary work permits so they could In the legal battle between the Obama tion and Customs Enforcement offices in solidarity of U.S.-born workers with those stay here with their citizen children. The administration and the Fifth Circuit a massive civil disobedience action that born outside the U.S. is the first step. New Orleans protest: ‘Not one more deportation!’

By Minnie Bruce Pratt People came from organizations na- by NOWCRJ blocked traffic in front of ter Hurricane Katrina.” He added: “Peo- tionwide, especially from the South, the Immigration and Customs Enforce- ple in our community aren’t waking up Chanting “Sin papeles, sin miedo/ including busloads from Alabama, ment Regional Center. Fourteen people thinking about court decisions — they’re Without papers, without fear,” 800 peo- Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Also par- were arrested, some with chained hands waking up wondering if they’ll make it ple rallied behind calls to “End deten- ticipating were worker contingents from and wearing blue T-shirts with the slogan through the day without an abusive ICE tion” and “Ni una más deportación/Not other states, including California, Illinois “We are reconstruction workers.” raid.” (nowcrj.org) one more deportation” in New Orleans and Washington state. Fernando Lopez, an organizer with The protest continued in front of the on July 10. The militant immigration One rally theme was “Stop tearing NOWCRJ’s Congreso de Jornaleros/ U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, rights protest was sparked by continuing families apart.” The crowd, reflecting Congress of Day Laborers, said: “ICE has where hearings were underway on an an- exploitation and deportation of undocu- that, was markedly multigenerational, used New Orleans as a testing ground for ti-immigrant lawsuit that had been filed mented workers in the U.S. It was called with very young children, many family some of its most brutal and unconstitu- to block deportation relief measures or- by the New Orleans Workers’ Center for groupings and older workers. tional immigration enforcement tactics, dered by the Obama administration. The Racial Justice. A multinational contingent organized and continues to target reconstruction lawsuit, upheld by a Texas judge, is now workers who helped rebuild the city af- Continued on page 8 ‘Libertad!’ End detention of Farmworkers union on the march migrant families By Jim McMahan Burlington, Wash. Bern Township, Pa. — On one side of the road were 300 migrant workers, fam- unfairly held. “It’s unjust that they’re in Hundreds of farmworkers from Fa- ily members, and supporters from Phila- there,” she said. “They’re not murderers, milias Unidas por la Justicia marched delphia and as far away as Washington, they’re not delinquents.” (ReadingEagle. along with supporters here on July 11. D.C., Chicago and New York. Holding com, July 12) The 3rd Annual March for a Union Con- signs and banners while chanting slo- Organized by the Migrant Power tract marked the third anniversary of PHOTO: WASHINGTON STATE LABOR COUNCIL gans in Spanish and English, the bois- Movement and at least six groups in the the union’s founding. This union of In- Farmworkers and labor supporters picket ­Sakuma. terous crowd heard speakers criticize the Philadelphia area, the gathering ended digenous Mexican workers, founded in human rights crime of holding refugee with what was billed as the “Shut down struggle, has held numerous strikes since Workers and also Pineros y Campesi- men, women, children, toddlers and even Berks” Liberation Concert. then. nos Unidos del Noroeste from Oregon. infants in detention camps. Almost 5,000 individuals escaping The protesters marched a mile and Community to Community and religious Across the street from the July 11 rally violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and a half to Sakuma Brothers berry farm, groups also marched. in Bern Township were refugee children Honduras and who were caught at the where many of the workers have been The rally was held in front of Sakuma’s and women, kept on the other side of a U.S./Mexico border are being held at the employed for years. Only 10 days be- farm and nearby giant processor house, long row of orange plastic cones lined up Berks County Residential Center — Im- fore the march, 200 workers walked out across from farmworkers’ housing. on a green lawn, between the Berks De- migration Family Center outside Phila- when Sakuma tried to separate them Speaking at the rally were Familias tention Center buildings on the left and delphia, as well as at two facilities in Tex- into groups of 10 and have them pick in Unidas President Ramon Torres and Vice guards and cops on the right. When a as, in Karnes City and Dilley. 15-minute intervals. The union said this President Filemon Pineda. Jeff Johnson, toddler ran toward the cones, one of the The Department of Homeland Securi- was an attempt to divide the workers and of the Washington State Labor Coun- women rushed to stop the child from es- ty either refuses to release, or sets high a reprisal against the union. cil, representing 400,000 workers, also caping their open-air prison. bonds on many families, even though The marchers chanted, “Wage theft is spoke, as did President Ramon Rodri- As the crowd chanted “¡Sí, se puede!” U.S. officials admit that 88 percent of the not OK, Sakuma has to pay!” The union guez of PCUN, representing 6,500 most- some of the imprisoned youth replied mothers and children have been found to has exposed Sakuma for wage theft, pov- ly Indigenous farmworkers in Oregon. with their own chant: “¡Libertad!” be asylum seekers, even by overly strin- erty wages, racist and sexist harassment, A PCUN woman worker addressed the The rally’s highpoint was the appear- gent federal rules. among other abuses. Familias Unidas up- crowd in Mixteco. ance of Ana, 33, and her 12-year-old “Seeking asylum is not an illegal act, holds the demand for a $15-an-hour wage Familias Unidas and supporters in the daughter Yubitza, who had finally been and these families should be met with and wears it on their shirts. Some of the labor movement are carrying out an ac- released from the facility the day before, protection, not punishment,” asserts the unions on the march were the Interna- tive boycott of Driscoll’s, a global distrib- after a year in detention. Ana expressed National Immigrant Justice Center. tional Longshore and Warehouse Union, utor and the main distributor of Sakuma her solidarity with friends still being — Report and photo by Joe Piette the Steelworkers, Food and Commercial berries. Page 4 July 23, 2015 workers.org Right-wing backlash to marriage equality victory

By Martha Grevatt Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback issued deemed “sinners.” nation and is therefore illegal. Even from an executive order allowing religious The religious right has made it a pri- a narrow legal standpoint this is a false As poll after poll demonstrates, pub- groups, including those receiving state ority to pass similar RFRA laws in every argument. While there are some reli- lic opinion is on the side of marriage funds, to deny services to same-sex cou- state. “Absolutely, we will be talking to gious-based exceptions to the law — such equality. That seismic shift in political ples. In Arizona, the Maricopa County lawmakers about providing religious lib- as granting “conscientious objector” sta- consciousness was a factor in the June Attorney is refusing to provide adoption erties protections,” said Don Hinkle, pub- tus to military service objectors — nor- 26 Supreme Court ruling striking down services to LGBTQ potential parents. lic policy director for the 600,000-mem- mally people cannot break laws simply state marriage bans. Now, however, pow- Michigan legislators passed a bill allow- ber Missouri Baptist Convention. because their religion dictates. A person erful and well-funded political forces ing state-supported “faith-based” agen- (lgbtqnation.com) Anyone who claims cannot commit murder because their have launched a coordinated campaign cies to deny couples adoption services on that treating all people equally “violates god told them to, or rob a bank to fill the to limit the impact of that historic rul- religious grounds. their conscience” and suffers conse- collection plate. “Sincerely held religious ing. Hiding behind the mask of “religious So-called “Religious Freedom Resto- quences for that will be made a martyr views” do not even allow for leaving un- freedom,” right-wing bigots are throwing ration Act” bills in Indiana and Arkan- by racist, misogynist, anti-LGBTQ bigots wanted religious tracts in a neighbor’s up obstacles to obtaining a marriage li- sas, even in their toned-down revised seeking to build their base. mailbox. cense and advancing bills to encourage versions, give businesses the right to vio- With the 2016 presidential elections on Where are the legal protections for discrimination against the lesbian, gay, late local anti-discrimination ordinances the horizon, most of the GOP’s contend- the priests and nuns who have served bisexual, transgender and queer commu- on religious grounds. An Indiana pizza ers for the nomination are throwing fits six months in jail just for following their nities. parlor temporarily closed after publicly over the Supreme Court decision — ap- conscience and “crossing the line” to The backlash began even before June proclaiming it would not serve members pealing to the most backward sentiments shut down the School of the Americas — 26, when in all but 13 states lower court of the LGBTQ community. This discrim- to build their campaigns. where our taxes are used to train Latin judges overturned archaic laws defin- ination is normally illegal where civil Some “religious objectors” are going to American militaries in torture and inter- ing marriage as between “one man and rights laws cover sexual orientation, gen- bizarre extremes. Stories of heterosexu- rogation? one woman.” Utah and North Carolina der identity and gender expression. al couples divorcing to protest the high Why then should there be new reli- passed bills allowing county officials to In Oregon, where legal protections court ruling and of pastors threatening gious exceptions that allow people to deny a couple a marriage license on the exist, a lesbian couple was awarded self-immolation have received wide me- break civil rights laws — which came basis of “sincerely held religious objec- $135,000 because a bakery refused to dia coverage. Nevertheless, the right- about through hard struggle — and en- tions.” bake their wedding cake. If Oregon had wing mobilization to roll back the gains gage in hateful, hurtful discrimination? Given that the high court found a con- passed one of these bogus religious free- of the LGBTQ movement must be taken The forces raising the false flag of reli- stitutional basis for marriage equality, dom bills, this bakery would be free to seriously. gious liberty are the same ones who have these officials have been granted legal discriminate. A restaurant could refuse to upheld the Confederate flag as a symbol cover to violate their oath of office to seat customers. A gym could deny mem- Religious arguments twist facts of “Southern heritage.” The bigots and uphold the Constitution. In other states, bership. A transgender woman could be Marriage equality opponents, in pro- the capitalists who back them can be county clerks are openly defying gover- forced to use the “men’s” room or be pub- moting RFRA laws, maintain that “forc- pushed back by a united movement of nors’ orders to obey federal law. A judge licly humiliated. All of this would be le- ing” businesses, public officials and ser- workers and oppressed, built in the spir- in Toledo, Ohio, is refusing to perform gal if the business owner claims it would vice providers to treat all couples equally it of the Stonewall, Ferguson and Balti- same-sex marriages. “violate my conscience” to serve those somehow constitutes religious discrimi- more rebellions. LGBTQ youth discuss Marxism

Rockford, Ill. — The youth/student organiza- struggles, such as marriage equality, the spe- tion Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) cific challenges facing working-class and op- sponsored a multinational forum on “LGBTQ pressed LGBTQ people, and the Black Lives Oppression and Liberation” at the Rockford Matter movement. Public Library on July 11. LGBTQ FIST mem- The forum was part of an ongoing series of bers led the discussion with a historical mate- events from a Marxist-Leninist perspective, rialist analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans- including discussion on fighting the low-wage gender and queer people up to the Stonewall police state, sponsored by Rockford FIST. For Rebellion. They focused on heroic combatants more information, go to facebook.com/RKFD- like Sylvia Rivera and others, including the- FIST, fightimperialism.org or call 424-262- oretical contributors to this question like Bob FIST (3478). McCubbin and the late Leslie Feinberg, both — Report and photo by Workers World of Workers World Party. Group discussion fol- Rockford Bureau lowing the presentations centered on current

Trans victory in West Virginia

By Jeremy Bauman cials and was told she had to remove her equality, this is one more example of how Wheeling, W.Va. makeup and jewelry in order to be photo- discriminatory practices against LGBTQ graphed for her driver’s license. Kitzmill- people, particularly trans people of color, In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme er even brought medical documentation are still commonplace in the capitalist Court ruling favoring marriage equali- with her, but none of that mattered to the U.S. In a quest for a truly just system, free ty, another triumph was won for lesbi- anti-trans bigots at the DMV. from discrimination and oppression, it is an, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Kitzmiller soon discovered she was not important to seek out more victories such people. The West Virginia Department of alone in being mistreated by the state’s as this. Motor Vehicles has been pressured to up- DMV. She met another trans woman, date its bigoted photo identification poli- Kristen Skinner, who received similar cy that permitted the state’s Department hostility when she visited the Charles of Motor Vehicles to openly deny proper Town, W.Va., DMV. Unlike Kitzmiller, driver’s licenses to transgender people. Skinner did remove her makeup in order The struggle started when five trans to be photographed, which left her with a women from the state united and threat- picture on her license that does not prop- Rainbow Solidarity in ened to sue the discriminatory DMV erly resemble her appearance. DEFENSE of CUBA through the Transgender Legal Defense As a result of the collective efforts of and Educational Fund. the five courageous trans women, the By Leslie Feinberg, The spark that ignited struggle hap- state’s DMV language now reads, “Appli- author of Stone Butch Blues pened a year ago when Trudy Kitzmiller, cants will no longer be asked to remove This book is an edited compilation of chapters 86 to 110 from the Lavender & Red series a transgender woman, went to the Mar- or modify makeup, clothing, hair style or in Workers World newspaper that began June 3, 2004. tinsburg, W.Va., DMV and was subjected hairpiece(s).” to brutal treatment. She was shamefully As people celebrate the gains of the re- It is available in paperback through online booksellers or read it at: referred to as “it” by backward DMV offi- cent Supreme Court ruling on marriage www.workers.org/lavender-red/LavenderRed_Cubabook.pdf workers.org July 23, 2015 Page 5 25 years after ADA People with disabilities say ‘Our struggle is not over’

By Joyce Chediac Parents to Improve School Transpor- Other signs read: “Our lives mat- New York tation, which seeks to shorten routes and ter,” “Think people first, disability upgrade conditions on school buses, was second” and “My ability is much “We are proud of who we are” and joined by school bus drivers and atten- stronger than my disability.” “Our struggle is not over” were the main dants in the leadership of Amalgamated A leaflet distributed by Work- themes here on July 12 as some 5,000 to Transit Union Local 1181. They leafleted ers World Party entitled “The dis- 7,000 people with disabilities, their ad- about their mutual need for job security ability rights movement won the vocacy organizations, families and allies for experienced, trained bus workers to ADA! Let’s fight to get it enforced, took to the streets in a lively march cele- support safety for the children, many of expanded and funded” caught the brating disability pride. whom have disabilities. mood of many here. Workers World The event was called by Disability Groups active on a broad range of social called the ADA “not a guarantee,” Pride NYC, a nonprofit group working issues formed a lively contingent behind but “a tool we can use to fight for our with the Mayor’s Office for People with a banner reading “Support Disabled Lib- rights.” Let’s “celebrate our militan- Disabilities, to celebrate the 25th anni- eration.” Members of the May 1 Coalition cy. …. When we raise our demands versary of the Americans with Disabili- for Worker and Immigrant Rights carried the government cries ‘poverty.’ But it ties Act. The ADA is the most comprehen- signs saying “Solidarity with migrant has all the money to meet our social sive piece of legislation to date to protect workers disabled by forced immigration.” and economic needs. We say stop the civil rights of people with disabilities. A People’s Power Assembly sign read: subsidizing Wall Street banks, wars Similar activities have been called in Chi- “Half of all people killed by police have of conquest abroad and the bloated cago, Boston and Philadelphia, according a disability. End racist police terror.” A prison-industrial complex.” WW PHOTO: JOYCE CHEDIAC WILCOX to media reports. Workers World Party sign demanded: Marching for equality with pride. As important as the ADA has been, “$15 minimum wage for all, including signs and banners pointed out that peo- people with disabilities.” ple with disabilities are still stigmatized Many individuals came with and discriminated against. their own signs, some looking People marched or rolled in wheel- for groups to march with. Jes- chairs behind banners of advocacy and sica Delarosa, who commuted the many groups that provide services to in a wheelchair with her dog people with disability. Trade unions, par- Mayin, said it was ‘important ent support groups, student groups, ac- for people without disabilities tivist organizations and individuals also to see our pride and how like participated in the parade and staffed everyone else we are.” Another festival tables. A group brought the ban- young woman added, “Society ner of the United Nations Convention on puts us down, but this makes People with Disabilities, which the U.S. us more determined.” has yet to ratify. Other signs pointed to ineq- Many trade unions have consistently uities in hiring for deaf people, fought for the rights of their members social stigmatization of people and others with disabilities. Among them with disabilities, inadequate were Communication Workers Local housing and discrimination 1180, the Sanitation Workers and munici- in health care. Many signs pal workers District Council 37 AFSCME. pointed to the lack of access. WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN EACH Woman Act Asserting right of poor women to abortion

By Sue Davis Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, the Hyde women in federal prisons and migrants I believe is really there.” In fact, a Gal- Amendment denied coverage for abortion in detention centers, Peace Corps volun- lup poll issued May 29 showed that for A bold giant step in defense of poor services to poor women insured through teers and low-income women in the Dis- the first time since 2008, 50 percent of women’s right to abortion and for equal Medicaid. This has had a widespread, trict of Columbia. those polled said they were pro-choice, opportunity for all women took place on discriminatory impact on one in six Emboldened by their control of Con- while 44 percent said they are so-called July 8. Democratic Congresswomen Bar- women of reproductive age (15 to 44) who gress, anti-choice legislators now seek to “pro-life.” A Hart research poll in June bara Lee, Jan Schakowsky and Diana are enrolled in Medicaid, half of whom further codify and expand Hyde, apply it showed that 86 percent of those surveyed DeGette introduced the Equal Access to are women of color. In 2008 (the last year to all government spending and put pri- believe that politicians should not limit Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance for which statistics are available), Medic- vate insurance coverage of abortion out a woman’s access to full health coverage (EACH Woman) Act in the House of Rep- aid insured nearly 12.9 million women, of reach for most women through a new because she is poor. resentatives. who accounted for 61.8 percent of adult bill, H.R. 7, which passed in the House in “We have to let members of Congress The bill would ensure that every wom- Medicaid enrollees. January. Legislatures in 25 states have know,” said Lee, that the public believes an who receives health care or insurance While abortion is a routine medical already adopted restrictions that limit “there should be equity and low-income through the federal government would procedure sought by one in three wom- abortion in private insurance, with 10 women should be treated fairly. So we be covered for all pregnancy-related ser- en in the course of their lifetime, statis- states banning coverage in all private have a massive educational campaign to vices, including abortion. “Regardless tics show that, as a result of Hyde, one plans, except under very limited circum- conduct” in Congress. Not daunted by the of how someone personally feels about in four women on Medicaid have been stances. current odds, Lee noted, “We’re going to abortion,” said Lee during the press con- forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy be very assertive. ... This is a marathon. ference at the Capitol, “none of us, espe- to term. Studies also show that a woman Taking the offensive But it must start somewhere, so we’ve cially elected officials, should be interfer- who seeks an abortion but is denied one “We’ve been on the defense constant- taken the very first step.” ing with a woman’s right to make her own is more likely to fall into poverty than a ly,” Lee told Democracy Now! on July 9. Already 74 members of Congress are health care decision just because she is woman who has access to an abortion, “Now it’s about time we take the offen- co-sponsors of the bill, which is also poor.” because of the high costs of child-rearing sive, and say, ‘Look, there’s got to be some backed by 36 national and state health If passed, the bill would apply to both combined with low wages. justice and some fairness, as it relates to care, legal, women’s and reproductive federal and state laws and end “the ter- But the injustice of the Hyde Amend- all women.’” It’s important to note that justice organizations, united under a rible wrongs of the Hyde Amendment, ment also extends to millions of women Lee, an African American who has taken campaign initiated by All* Above All. which, for 37 years, have fallen hardest on who receive health care through the fed- many progressive stands over the past 17 Founded in 2013, All* Above All, led by people of color, low-income and youth,” eral government: a million female feder- years in Congress, voted “no” to the U.S. women’s, reproductive justice and youth said Yamani Hernandez, executive direc- al employees and their dependents, 1.1 war on Iraq, and is advocating for an end organizations, is a diverse national effort tor of the National Network of Abortion million women of reproductive age in the to the U.S. blockade of Cuba. devoted to lifting bans that deny abortion Funds, which for years has carried the military, nearly a million Native Amer- Lee admits that passage of the EACH coverage, “so that every woman, however banner to end Hyde. ican women covered by the so-called Woman Act is a “long-term fight.” First, much she makes, can get affordable, safe Passed in 1976, only three years after “Indian Health Services,” thousands of “we have to educate the public, which abortion care when she needs it.” Page 6 July 23, 2015 workers.org A visit with prisoner #294671, Rev. Edward Pinkney

By David Sole and Marcina Cole But Rev. Pinkney was also somber about ers World newspaper, Coldwater, Mich. his situation. “Lakeland has 1,400 pris- which the prison allows oners, and I’d say 70 percent are lifers. in. “I share the books In rural, south central Michigan sits Being here is serious business. Every day and articles you send Lakeland Correctional Facility. The ex- is a challenge. Many of these guys have me. As soon as I am tensive state prison is surrounded by been here 20, 30, 40 or more years. To- done they go hand to Rev. Pinkney and Marcina Cole at prison visitor center earlier a triple row of 12-feet-high razorwire. day ‘life imprisonment’ means just that hand,” he said. He noted in 2015. After passing through metal detectors, — they will never get out.” that he could use more pat-downs and shoe, sock and feet in- good reading material. volving the prison authorities. So I have spections, we entered the visiting room Helping those ‘who will never get out’ Pinkney’s activism and kindness have to chill my friends out.” to the warm embrace of the Rev. Edward In his short time among these men, won him the respect and admiration of Pinkney. Pinkney has done what he always does many of the prisoners, but not all. “I’d Don’t sweep this injustice ‘under the rug’ Rev. Pinkney, a leading African-Amer- — organize and assist people. “I spend say that 90 percent of the prisoners here Rev. Pinkney was looking forward to ican activist in Benton Harbor, Mich., most mornings and afternoons in the love me and 10 percent hate me. That 10 his appeal, which is being filed soon. His was tried and convicted in late 2014 by law library helping inmates with legal re- percent resent my getting so many visi- hope of getting an appeal bond and going an all-white jury for supposedly alter- search. Then a group of lifers asked me tors, when many of them never get a vis- home was strong. He has high hopes that ing five dates on a recall petition against to help them better organize their group it. They resent the many books and let- he will be released soon because there Benton Harbor’s mayor. Not one shred meetings, which I am doing. The Muslim ters I get. They resent that I will get out was no evidence to convict him of felony of evidence was presented that Pinkney prisoners invited me to speak to their Fri- of this prison sooner or later and maybe crimes. But he also knows that there is a committed these alleged acts. day prayer session when they found out they won’t.” “criminal enterprise in Berrien County” Prosecutor Michael Sepic could not about my case and history of activism.” This small group of hostile prison- that put him in prison in the first place. produce one witness to say that Pinkney Rev. Pinkney receives many books and ers poses a problem for Rev. Pinkney The court officials, Benton Harbor was the culprit. Judge Sterling R. Schrock periodicals from supporters. Part of the and could endanger his safety. “I try to Mayor James Hightower and behind allowed Sepic to tell the jury, “You don’t work we do in the Detroit-based Mor- avoid confrontations and de-escalate them the power of the Whirlpool Cor- need evidence to convict Mr. Pinkney.” atorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Fore- situations. But I don’t let them bully me. poration headquartered there will be All the prosecutor showed the jury was closures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs Several tense situations have arisen. Ev- working overtime to try to stop him from that Rev. Pinkney was a speaker at press and the Michigan Emergency Committee eryone here knows what goes on, and returning home. “I am asking all my sup- conferences and chaired meetings of his Against War & Injustice is fundraising for some of the Muslim brothers have tak- porters to get the word out in the next 30 organization, BANCO — Black Autonomy his legal appeal. We also send a monthly en to escorting me through the facility days after the appeal is filed. Get this out Network Community Organization. That donation to help pay for his daily phone when I am done at the library each day,” to the news media so that this injustice was enough for this gang of racists to con- calls to his spouse. He often calls in to said Pinkney. “Another danger is that can’t be swept under the rug and the ap- vict and sentence him to 2.5 to 10 years our weekly Monday evening meetings. my friends and supporters might take it peals court is forced to deliver justice,” in prison. Rev. Pinkney is a voracious reader, so upon themselves to physically confront Pinkney urged. Pinkney’s energy and optimism after we send him one or two books a month those who might threaten me — and that For information on how to help free this six months behind bars were amazing. and gave him a subscription to Work- would also drag me into a situation in- political prisoner, visit bhbanco.org. Act now for Oakland, Calif. Mumia Abu-Jamal WWP leader denounces Pennsylvania — that is meant to torment political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and induce his demise, this time through out- police terror right medical abuse and neglect. The assault on Abu-Jamal’s health has been going on for well over six months. The alleged recovery prescription is Swiss-cheesed with gaping holes, contra- dictions and medical inaction. On June 29, Suzanne Ross of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) and International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Mumia’s brother, Keith Cook, visited the ailing Mumia. Their observations can be found at [email protected]. Bottom line: Abu-Jamal’s health is not good. His skin condition offers great dis- comfort that hardly reflects healing. Mumia Abu-Jamal We must pull out the stops again to By Henry Hagins protect Mumia’s health and ultimately bring him home! Heat up the grapevine. On July 4, the apparatus of state power, Call friends, family, activists, influential “Capitalism, Policing and State Vio- to open the meeting. like it does every year, arrogantly lauded people and organizations, etc. The time to lence” was the topic of a talk given by Lilly talked about the origination of itself for its alleged mandate to occupy act is surely now! Lamont Lilly at the Alan Blueford Center U.S. policing as antebellum slave patrols, the “lighthouse of democracy” around the Mumia is innocent of all the charges for Justice in Oakland, Calif., on July 10. used to catch runaway enslaved African world. Drunk on the brew of grand larce- against him and should never have been Lilly, a leading member of the Durham, people. He pointed out that whether or not ny, they will never voluntarily imbibe the arrested. In the hands of the prison sys- N.C., branch of Workers World Party, was an individual officer may have some good sobering elixir of Frederick Douglass’ un- tem, he has come extremely close to dy- visiting Oakland to share his experiences intentions, the role of police under capital- forgettable Fourth of July speech in 1853, ing; continued medical neglect and abuse in the fight against police terror. He had ism is to protect the property and the in- in which he soundly revoked U.S. claims make this a constant threat. recently been on the front lines in Balti- terests of the 1% or the ruling class. He de- to such authority. He should be released to receive prop- more for a month, after the police killing tailed how the school-to-prison pipeline, Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the er outside medical care. Call Secretary of Freddie Grey, a 25-year-old African supported by the police, feeds the coffers Fourth of July?” speech could have been John Wetzel, Pennsylvania Department American. Prior to that, Lilly had also of the prison-industrial complex. minted today, at a time when U.S. imperi- of Corrections, at 717-728-4109 and visited Ferguson, Mo., in support of the Lilly is also a contributing writer for alism’s wars pockmark the entire planet; Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Wolf, at Black community there, in the aftermath Workers World newspaper, as well as be- when over 2.4 million prisoners, includ- 717-787-2500, to demand that Mumia of the grand jury nonindictment of Dar- ing published at truth-out.org and coun- ing about a million African Americans, Abu-Jamal be granted treatment by spe- ren Wilson, the white police officer who terpunch.org. He is currently working on languish and toil in slave-like conditions cialists of his choosing who are outside killed 18-year-old Michael Brown. publishing a book of his original poems. in U.S. prisons and jails. the Department of Corrections and that Jada, who also organizes First Friday You can follow him on twitter @Lamont- Just look at the obscene cat-and-mouse he get an appropriate diet and daily visits performances at the Blueford Center, Lilly. game — a war by all levels of the state of by family, friends and attorneys. performed a beautiful spoken word piece, — Story and photo by Terri Kay workers.org July 23, 2015 Page 7

WW commentary Who gets credit for removing Confederate flag?

By Monica Moorehead rabilia. He targeted this historic, activist Confederate flag and other related sym- the massive struggle from below, led by church due to its anti-slavery heritage, bols does not signify the end of white the Black community, that forced the Finally. The profoundly offensive, led by Denmark Vesey, who bought his supremacy. There still exists the lega- removal of the flag. The most dramat- pro-slavery Confederate flag no longer freedom from slavery in 1799 and was cy of slavery today in the form of police ic example of this struggle was a young flies high in front of the State House eventually hanged for attempting an brutality, low wages, lack of health care, African-American woman activist from grounds in Columbia, the capitol of South armed insurrection against the slavoc- the school-to-prison pipeline, the current North Carolina, Bree Newsome. With Carolina. It was taken down on July 10, racy in 1822. rash of Black churches being torched and the assistance of Black and white com- 43 years after it was first hoisted in a cer- The angry response to the Charleston dire poverty in disproportionate num- rades, in an act of heroic defiance, New- emony “officially” marking the centen- massacre and the role of the Confederate bers. some scaled the flagpole on the State nial of the start of the U.S. Civil War. In flag was quite swift and remarkable, not House grounds on July 4 and took down July 2000, a march of more than 50,000, only in South Carolina but around the Why the ceremony? the Confederate flag. She and James Ty- mostly African Americans, demand- country. Confederate flags were burned Other African Americans, including son, who assisted her from the ground, ed that the flag be removed. When state everywhere in the North and South, and this writer, asked: Why was a flag glori- were arrested. Newsome is facing at least elected officials voted not to remove it, Confederate monuments were defaced by fying white supremacy given such pomp three years in jail, if convicted. More than civil rights groups launched a boycott of Black and white activists, including those and circumstance in a ceremony that $125,000 has already been raised for her South Carolina’s tourism industry. involved in the Black Lives Matter move- showed reverence to it? Why was a mil- legal defense. Activists are demanding The decisive moment that reignited the ment fighting racist police terror. itary honor guard necessary, with only that ALL charges be dropped against her. struggle to finally remove the flag was the Once Gov. Nikki Haley signed the bill a 21-gun salute missing? Once the flag Bree Newsome and others who have horrific massacre of nine African-Amer- to take down the flag, an official cere- was meticulously folded, it was sent to been in the forefront of fighting white ican Bible Study members at the histor- mony was held to mark the occasion. the Confederate Relic Room and Military supremacy should be given the credit for ic Emanuel African Methodist Episco- The mainstream media were there en Museum near the Capitol. bringing down the flag, not opportunist pal Church in Charleston on June 17 by masse. Thousands of people, mainly Af- As African-American CNN correspon- politicians like Gov. Haley and her ilk. Dylann Roof, a white supremacist. One rican American, attended the ceremony. dent and New York Times op-ed writer There should have been a ceremony hon- of the nine victims was the Rev. Clem- Family members of the nine massacred Charles Blow commented angrily after oring Bree Newsome and others like her, enta Pinckney, a state senator. Pinckney by Roof were there. Many people cried the ceremony, they could have just tak- who didn’t wait for the politicians to do had demanded justice for Walter Scott, a tears of joy and relief, understandably so en down the flag in a low-key manner, what should have been done more than Black man fatally shot eight times in the after having to endure so many decades given everything it represents. This me- 40 years ago. back by a white cop in North Charleston of seeing a flag glorifying a barbaric sys- dia event turned out to be a photo-op for Moorehead was born under segrega- on April 4. tem that forced their enslaved ancestors the governor, who fought for many years tion in Alabama and refused to play the Roof posted a picture of himself on to suffer under whips and chains. against taking down the flag, along with pro-slavery anthem “Dixie” in her high his website holding a Confederate flag, But many African Americans under- other white politicians. school band in Hampton, Va., during the along with other repulsive racist memo- stand all too well that the removal of the What shouldn’t get lost is that it was late 1960s. Muslim, Jewish help for torched Black churches

By Kris Hamel and national oppression wherever it is funding campaign on launchgood.com. have been torched or burned. found. Led by Black youth and communi- As of this writing, LaunchGood re- A broad coalition of more than 150 re- July 13 — Muslim and Jewish groups ty members, this response to racist terror ports that $79,883 has been collected ligious institutions has raised more than have been raising money to help rebuild has proven to be a setback for reactionary toward a goal of $100,000 to help “re- $150,000 of its quarter-million-dollar at least six Black churches in the South and racist elements in the U.S. and their build Black churches” and “stand united goal to help rebuild Black churches, says hit by arsonists in a racist backlash to the sponsors in the capitalist class. against hate.” Rabbi Susan Talve of the Central Reform unity ignited by the June 17 massacre in The Charleston massacre, which oc- Mosques have been targets of racist Congregation in St. Louis. (theguardian. Charleston, S.C. curred on the first day of the Muslim holy and right-wing hate attacks since 2001. com, July 10) This united outrage, in the footsteps month of Ramadan, led to solidarity ac- In May an Arizona mosque had to defend After the police killing of unarmed of the national Black Lives Matter move- tions by Muslims across the country. itself from an attack by racist, anti-Mus- Black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, ment, brought about the long-overdue Faatimah Knight, a 23-year-old Black lim bikers, reported Huffington Post on Mo., last August, the groups in the Re- removal of the Confederate flag from the Muslim student, helped organize a num- May 28. build the Churches Fund began working grounds of the state Capitol in Columbia, ber of Muslim organizations, including Jewish temples and synagogues, long a together, said Talve. She stressed that all S.C. It also resulted in strong demands Ummah Wide, the Muslim Anti-Racism target of anti-Semitic hate acts, have also must work together to end hate — “racism, throughout the United States to destroy Collaborative and the Arab American As- contributed to the fundraising efforts for anti-semitism, homophobia, Islamopho- this profound symbol of racism, slavery sociation of New York, to start a crowd- Southern Black Christian churches that bia” — and stand up when it happens. Massive people’s march July 25 in Newark

By Sara Flounders Hamm led several recent building actions for the event, including a United National Antiwar Coalition A major demonstration in Newark, N.J., on July 25 call with activists from 14 cities on June 30, followed by — called the Million People’s March Against Police Bru- a New York City mobilizing meeting on July 7 and press tality, Racial Injustice and Economic Inequality — has conferences in Philadelphia; Camden, Montclair and gained the support of over 100 community and grass- Plainfield in New Jersey; and New York City. It was also roots organizations, union locals, religious groups, po- raised at the annual commemoration of the 1967 New- litical prisoners defense committees, immigrant rights, ark Rebellion at Rebellion Monument in Newark. Orga- women’s and LGBTQ groups. The July 25 march was ini- nizers are expecting thousands of participants. tiated by the People’s Organization for Progress, which Groups are organizing to come from far away, includ- has a long history of mobilizing mass protests against ing a bus from Atlanta and vans and cars from Washing- police violence. ton, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Albany, the The rally is set to gather at noon at the Lincoln Monu- mid-Hudson area and throughout New Jersey. In New ment in Newark at the intersection of Springfield Avenue York, Black Lives Matter activists are planning to gath- and West Market Street, across from Essex County Col- er on the Sixth Avenue PATH subway platforms at both lege. After a march through downtown Newark the mass 33rd and 23rd Streets at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 25, gathering is expected to end at the same location. and take the 11:05 a.m. PATH train to Journal Square Lawrence Hamm, the chair of POP, described the ef- and then Newark’s Penn Station. fort this way: “The epidemic of police murders and the Every Thursday at 6:30 p.m., People’s Organiza- massacre in Charleston propel this July 25 March and tion for Progress holds organizing meetings at Ab- the many mass outrage events. July 25 is not just one yssinian Baptist Church, 224 W. Kinney St., New- event. It is about building a movement that responds to ark. For more information call 973-801-0001. To police violence and racist murders. The families of those endorse, send a message to [email protected]. Hamm murdered will be the first speakers at the July 25th has also appealed to activists to link to facebook.com/ march.” events/418074548350082. Page 8 July 23, 2015 workers.org

Detroit to Flint water march ends By Abayomi Azikiwe under emergency management, it was sides of pipes over the past decades to be Editor, Pan-African News Wire broken off in 2014 as a “cost-cutting mea- released into water flowing into people’s Flint, Mich. sure.” homes.” Water flowing into residential homes LeeAnne Walters requested two city A week-long, cross-state march, orga- is coming directly from the Flint River. tests of her water. It revealed dangerously nized under the theme “Clean, Affordable Testing by outside experts indicates that high levels of lead, charting 104 parts per Water for All: Detroit to Flint Water Jus- the use of high levels of chlorine and ferric billion and 397 ppb. tice Journey,” ended in Flint, Mich., on chloride could be causing corrosion in the Yet Virginia Tech researchers found July 10. lead and iron piping system. At least half lead levels in Walters’ water had reached Organizations sponsoring the walk of the homes in Flint were constructed 13,200 ppb — more than twice the amount Flint resident holds hair and contami- included the People’s Water Board, the more than 50 years ago when the use of at which the U.S. Environmental Protec- nated water. Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, lead was common. tion Agency declares water as hazardous Michigan Welfare Rights Organization in New regulations based on the U.S. Safe waste. (deadlinedetroit.com, July 9) aire Gov. Rick Snyder had presidential Detroit and others. Activists from High- Drinking Water Act of 1986 are not being An extremely angry Flint resident out- aspirations but failed miserably when land Park, Pontiac and Flint joined the enforced in the city. Michigan’s Depart- side City Hall brought with her a con- he placed a statewide referendum on the march and rallies held in all four cities. ment of Environmental Quality has been tainer of brown water run from her tap. ballot to raise sales taxes, aimed osten- MWRO Co-Chair Marian Kramer, who criticized for not exercising its authority She also held a fistfull of her hair, which sibly to repair Michigan roads. A corpo- lives in Highland Park, a small municipal- in response to complaints from Flint res- she said fell out after washing with this rate media television outlet revealed that ity surrounded by Detroit, reported that idents. water. She blamed the local and state au- most of the money during the first year residents did not receive water bills for Today families in Flint are suffering thorities. would go toward paying off bond debt three years due to layoffs of meter readers. from a number of health issues. Water on previous road construction schemes. The city of Detroit is now claiming huge from the local system has been described Capitalist disinvestment at root of crisis After the referendum received an 80 debts are owed by Highland Park. Massive as not only undrinkable but unfit for Flint has been hit over the decades by percent “no” vote, Snyder announced he shutoffs could be imminent. washing and cooking. plant closings and financial ruin caused would not pursue the presidency. Under emergency management and Residents discussed the health prob- by the banks and corporations. The The water march gained a significant bankruptcy, the banks and corporate in- lems they are facing due to contaminated birthplace of the United Auto Workers is amount of media coverage. Participants terests sought to shield the forces respon- water. Melissa Mays of Flint, who chaired now a source of underdevelopment and submitted a petition to the state Capitol sible for the current crisis in access and the July 10 rally, said that she and her political oppression. in Lansing demanding clean and afford- safety. In Detroit, $537 million was taken children were diagnosed with copper poi- Much like Detroit, the city’s landscape able water. out of the system in order to terminate in- soning in March. The family is now in a is covered with abandoned factories and However, capitalist interests remain terest-rate swaps issued by leading finan- detoxification process under medical su- commercial structures. The foreclosure dominant in water management, which cial institutions, including Chase, Bank pervision. rates were extremely high at the height includes the global anti-worker firm Veo- of America, Loop Financial and Morgan A Michigan American Civil Liberties of the Great Recession several years ago. lia. Every effort is being made by the rul- Stanley. Union report suggests that the local wa- Local officials are hampered by the ing class to privatize the system. It will In Flint, where the water situation is ter department’s testing methods are constraints placed on politicians under require vigilance to fight the corporate perhaps the worst, people marched and designed to conceal the level of lead ex- state supervision. and financial interests seeking to deny gathered at City Hall on July 10. posure of residents. Before samples are Michigan’s right-wing, multimillion- safe water to the people. Although both Flint and Detroit have taken, residents are told to run the water been removed from emergency manage- in an effort to flush out the toxin build-up ment, the state of Michigan is still over- near the faucets. seeing the finances of both municipalities. Curt Guyette, of the ACLU of Mich- Water shutoffs in each city continue, but igan, reports, “Flint’s water contained Detroiters demand: in Flint residents are also faced with the corrosion-control chemicals until April extreme deterioration of the quality of 2014, when Flint’s ties to the Detroit wa- their service. ter system were severed. ... Discontinuing ‘Turn on the lights!’ The Flint water system was connected the use of the anti-corrosion chemicals to Detroit’s massive infrastructure until, allowed the toxic scale built-up on the in- By Martha Grevatt state created the Public Lighting Author- Detroit ity as an independent entity, incurring a debt of $185 million to the banks. New Orleans protest: ‘Not one more deportation!’ For six weeks in a row, community ac- Emergency managers are appointed tivists in Detroit have held “light walks” by Gov. Rick Snyder over cities he deems Continued from page 3 shouting, “¡Obama escucha! estamos en every Thursday night. Radio talk show to be in financial distress; almost every under review by the most conservative la lucha!/Obama, listen up! We are in the host Cynthia Johnson, who initiated Michigan city with an EM has a majority federal appeals court in the U.S. struggle!” the walks, pointed out that there are a Black population. Under Public Act 436 The federal measures are known as Young people from the Alabama Co- number of major thoroughfares around — popularly known as the “dictator law” DACA and DAPA, standing for Deferred alition for Immigrant Justice chanted the city that are pitch dark when night — the EM has the power to break union Action for Childhood Arrivals and De- over and over, “We believe that we will falls. Busy bus stops are unlit. Residents contracts, sell off city assets and make ferred Action for Parental ­Accountability. win,” a slogan from the Black Lives Mat- around Dexter Street, where the walks all kinds of decisions without the approv- DACA would limit the deportation of ter movement. A Black and Brown Unity have been held, describe hair-raising sit- al of the elected mayor and city council. some undocumented people who came to campaign was launched by civil rights uations such as being in a wheelchair and Payment to the banks, by law, takes prec- the U.S. as children. DAPA would prevent forces in Alabama in 2011 to count- almost being hit by a car or smashing the edent over city services. the deportation of some undocumented er hate legislation against immigrants brake pedal to avoid hitting a child. The city of Detroit had only 35,000 out parents of children born in the U.S. or there. “Mayor [Mike] Duggan promised a of 88,000 existing lights working as of who have the status of “lawful residents.” Immigrant workers from Texas, the year ago the lights would be turned on,” 2014, but the PLA brags that “the lights Both measures, while very limited, have lead state in the reactionary lawsuit, said Errol Jennings, president of Russell are coming back on.” This seems to only not been implemented due to the an- were especially well-represented. Pres- Woods-Sullivan Historic Neighborhood be true in the downtown and midtown ti-immigrant lawsuit, filed by 26 states. ent were the Texas Domestic Workers Association. areas that are targeted for gentrifica- Network, LITE (Latinos Inmigrantes This unsafe situation was prevent- tion, but the spin doctors of the capitalist ‘Stop the raids! Alta a la polimigra!’ Triunfadores) and FIEL (Familias Inmi- able. Decades of neglect, failure to pur- media have used these limited improve- Trumpets, trombones and tubas blared grantes y Estudiantes en Lucha/Immi- chase new bulbs and mass layoffs of ments to convince the country there is a as two brass bands led the march, New grant Families and Students in Strug- union workers in the city-owned Public “comeback” in Detroit. In fact, the PLA Orleans-style, to rally before the Circuit gle) from Houston. Women from FIEL’s Lighting Department left many neigh- plans to reduce the total number of street Court. A battle between giant puppets Justice Worker Center held signs with a borhoods in the dark. Public buildings lights to 45,000, leaving many areas of broke out — a Latino worker in hard hat unique Spanish spelling to emphasize on PLD’s power grid experienced regular the city in darkness. Neighborhood res- with tools in hand soundly defeating a that “workers” includes both women and outages. This became the excuse former idents, stuck in their homes on a nice Department of Homeland Security mon- men: “Todxs Somos Jornalerxs.” Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr used to summer night because of unsafe, unlit ster with a green head. Participants at the protest were clear dismantle PLD and make private utili- streets, aren’t seeing a comeback but are The hawk of La Raza flew in the Unit- they needed much more than the small ty DTE Energy the power supplier. The wanting a fightback. ed Farm Workers flag. Francisco Torres, relief offered by DAPA and DACA. Reyna a citrus farm worker from Porterville, Wences, a national leader in the DREAM MARXISM, REPARATIONS & the Black Freedom Struggle Calif., marched with the banner, “Con la Act movement, said: “The people risking An anthology of writings from Workers World newspaper. Edited by Monica Moorehead. Union de Campesinos tendremos pape- arrest were there to put an end to the de- Racism, National Oppression & Self-Determination Larry Holmes • Black Labor from les/With a Farmworkers’ Union, we will portations and detention of immigrants. Chattel Slavery to Wage Slavery Sam Marcy • Black Youth: Repression & Resistance LeiLani have papers.” Because they know that DAPA is not Dowell • The Struggle for Socialism Is Key Monica Moorehead • Domestic Workers United The Georgia Latino Alliance for Hu- enough for our communities that don’t ­Demand Passage of a Bill of Rights Imani Henry • Black & Brown Unity: A Pillar of Struggle for Human Rights & Global Justice! Saladin Muhammad Harriet Tubman, Woman Warrior man Rights carried “Brown is beautiful” qualify for that program.” • Mumia ­Abu-Jamal • Racism & Poverty in the Delta Larry Hales • Haiti Needs Reparations, Not signs, as nearby the Una Familia, Una As the march continued, one partici- Sanctions Pat Chin • Alabama’s Black Belt: Legacy of Slavery, Sharecropping & Segregation Alabama red-shirted contingent was en- pant summed up the struggle in a social Consuela Lee • Are Conditions Ripe Again Today? Anniversary of the 1965 Watts Rebellion ergized by a young child on a bullhorn media tweet: “They want our cheap labor, John Parker • Available online and at other bookstores. but they don’t want us to have rights.” workers.org July 23, 2015 Page 9 Stop bankers’ rule in Greece Mass resistance must say NO!

said: “Greece seeks strategic ties with Continued from page 1 Iran and is against the policy of impo- the government and destroy Tsipras in ‘Those who insist on the choice of staying in the euro sition of sanction to isolate countries.” front of his own people as an object les- whatever the cost might know that it is a disaster. (Iran News Agency, April 20) son to all others who would rebel against Tsipras recently made a trip to Rus- the iron austerity demanded by the Euro- We need a prepared exit to open up a new path.’ sia to discuss a gas pipeline, which also pean powers — and by the International opens up possibilities to maintain trade Monetary Fund, headed by the U.S. Thanassis Petrakos, outside the euro. If necessary, tempo- Speaker of Syriza parliamentary group, rary barter relationships could be estab- Terms of further austerity member of Left Platform lished. This tactic was used successfully The “Troika” — the IMF, European by Iran to get around U.S. sanctions. Central Bank and European Commission In any case, the logic of remaining in — and the Greek government, together sures dictated by European finance cap- ical and a class ‘no.’ Some high-ranked the euro at all costs has transformed the with the other Greek bourgeois parties, ital, with Wall Street in the background, comrades insist on the ‘there is no other Syriza government from an opponent of have now signed terms that will deepen and agreed to by Tsipras’ hapless and way’ logic. We should prepare exiting the austerity to an enforcer of austerity. This the Greek debt enslavement. Following battered government. The widest possi- eurozone and say that clearly to the peo- cycle must be broken. are highlights of the agreement signed ble unity of resistance must be achieved ple. The Left has a future when it opens in Brussels by all 19 eurozone countries. in the coming days. its wings to the unknown, not to noth- Capitalist parasites cheering The Greek government has agreed to Last spring the Syriza-led Greek Par- ingness. Those who insist on the choice Right now the stock markets around submit to the oversight of the IMF; to liament authorized a study by the Com- of staying in the euro whatever the cost the world are on the rise as news spreads allow supervised machinery that will mittee Opposed to Debt. (See Workers might know that it is a disaster. We need of the signing of the austerity agreement trigger automatic spending cuts if bud- World, “Greek Debt Committee,” July a prepared exit to open up a new path. by the Greek government. The million- get surpluses fall short; to “ambitious 6.) Though presented within a capitalist The first steps are the public control of aires and billionaires who speculate on pension reform,” meaning cuts to pen- framework, the arguments form the legal the banks and of the Greek central bank stocks are drooling as they sense that sioners; to “modernization of collective foundation for rejecting the extortionate and a crackdown on oligarchy.” (Jacobin the banks are going to squeeze ever more bargaining,” meaning curtailing union debt to the bankers. The report provides magazine, July 10) blood from the Greek masses. rights; and to “industrial action” reform, evidence that the debt is “illegal, illegiti- Only the left and revolutionary forc- An obscene celebration is going on in that is, cracking down on the right to mate, and odious.” es can prepare the path forward — the financial circles over the intended attack strike. The report concluded: “The Commit- struggle to overturn the agreement and by the banks on the Greek people — the The agreement requires the govern- tee considers that Greece has been and to break with the euro. Under new left workers, the poor, the pensioners, the ment to carry out “product market re- still is the victim of an attack premedi- leadership there could be a mass cam- youth. The global financial oligarchy is forms” that remove any price protection tated and organized by the International paign to overcome the fear of a rupture. looking forward to the Troika shoring up on prescription drugs, milk and bread, Monetary Fund, the European Central The possibilities of surviving a break the Greek banks so that Greece can shell among other things; and to proceed with Bank, and the European Commission, with the euro could be illustrated con- out money to the creditors. the privatization of the national electric aimed exclusively at shifting private debt cretely. For example, plans to form lo- There are those on the left who regard- network (ADMIE). onto the public sector.” cal committees everywhere to ensure ed Tsipras’ capitulation as inevitable and There will be no reduction in the prin- the food supply and to carry out distri- used this as a rationale to abstain from cipal amount, the hundreds of billions of Break with the euro bution, especially to the poor, could be the struggle. In particular the Greek euros owed to the banks — no “haircut” vs. long-term debt slavery drawn up. These committees could also Communist Party held back its broad — only a possible lowering of interest As we recently wrote in these pages, be empowered to suppress hoarding, following among the militant, class-con- rates and a possible stretching out of the a commitment made in advance by the to monitor the capitalists against profit scious sectors of the organized work- repayment period. But there has been no Syriza leaders to remain in the eurozone gouging and hoarding, to ensure medical ing class from joining with the broader commitment at all to any debt relief. was a clear signal to the bankers that the services, etc. anti-austerity forces loyal to Syriza in The government must submit econom- financiers had the upper hand and would It should be pointed out that a new a common struggle against the Troika. ic legislation to the Troika before it is sub- resort to financial strangulation, which sovereign currency could be employed Thus, they gave up the chance to steer mitted to Parliament or the public. These is exactly what they have done. to put the masses of unemployed, es- the wider movement in a left and revo- commitments are required before any Whatever the difficulties of breaking pecially the youth, back to work; vastly lutionary direction, which could have negotiations for a future bailout ­begin. with the euro to free Greece from the ab- increase production; and overcome the helped to forestall a capitulation or to solute financial control of Frankfurt, the depression that Greece is now in. prepare for it when it came. Mass resistance needed ECB and German, European and U.S. fi- Of course, the nationalization of the We are confident that the Greek pop- Whether or not the government falls, nance capital, these difficulties must be banks and of strategic sectors of the ular organizations will find solutions there needs to be a new leadership of faced. The technical preparations and economy would be fundamental steps to to overcome present developments and resistance in Greece to mobilize mass the education effort to explain it to the regain sovereignty over the economy. that all the forces on the left will rethink struggle, both in the country and by masses should have been carried out Such steps could be accompanied by and regroup for the broadest possible winning solidarity throughout Europe, long ago. As many left forces have point- international negotiations to set up al- united struggle to overturn this latest to rebuff this agreement before it can be ed out, it is better to go through tempo- ternate trade patterns where necessary, capitulation to the austerity demands of fully implemented. An immediate, unit- rary hardship than to submit to perma- both import and export. This would be in the financial powers. ed mass response must be called to say nent debt slavery and financial plunder. anticipation of commercial obstruction The smiles can still be wiped from the No! — no to further austerity, no to pay- Left forces in Syriza called for a break by the EU. It should be possible to open faces of the financial parasites and the ing this illegitimate debt. long ago. Even the bourgeois anti-auster- up discussions with every government stock exchanges of the capitalist world An emergency gathering could be ity Keynesian economists Paul Krugman that praised the “No” vote. The ALBA if a powerful mass movement mounts a called by the Greek left and progressive and Joseph Stiglitz have suggested that (the Bolivian Alliance for the Peoples of counterattack. It is time to overcome dif- forces of representatives from the facto- Greece would be better off if it left the Our America) countries in Latin Ameri- ferences and launch a fightback that will ries, the communities, the pensioners, euro. ca come to mind. rock the Merkels, Hollandes and all the the schools and universities, and the Stathis Kouvelakis, a member of the This past April, the Greek ambassador bankers of Europe and the U.S. back on countryside, as well as small business- Syriza Central Committee who teaches to Iran was received by President Has- their heels. es, to formulate a counter-program and in London, quoted Thanassis Petrakos, san Rouhani. “In the meeting (the pres- Goldstein is the author of two books, a plan of agitation and ongoing mass re- one of the three speakers of Syriza’s par- ident) said that Greece has many capac- “Capitalism at a Dead End” and “Low- sistance to overturn the agreement. liamentary group and a prominent mem- ities in various fields and the economies Wage Capitalism.” More of his writing The aim must be to obstruct the imple- ber of the Left Platform, who declared: of Iran and Greece can complement each is posted on lowwagecapitalism.org mentation of the extreme austerity mea- “The ‘no’ of the referendum was a rad- other. ” The Greek ambassador, in turn, and on his Facebook page.

Low-Wage Capitalism El capitalismo Capitalism ­describes in sweeping detail the en un callejón ­drastic effect on the working class in at a Dead End the United States of new technology sin salida Job destruction, overproduction and the restructuring of global capital- Fred Goldstein utiliza las leyes and crisis in the high-tech era ism in the post-Soviet era. It uses Karl de la acumulación capitalista Marx’s law of wages and other findings de Marx, y la tasa decreciente to show that these developments are de ganancia, para demostrar For more information on these books and not only continuing to drive down por qué el capitalismo global other writings by the author, Fred Goldstein, wages but are creating the material ha llegado finalmente a un go to LowWageCapitalism.com basis for future social upheaval. punto de inflexión. Available at all major online booksellers. Page 10 July 23, 2015 workers.org Greece Migrants find solidarity as well as repression Solidarity with By John Catalinotto after five months’ work, they hadn’t been paid anything, so they refused workers in Greece Jobless in a depression-era society, to go on working. Three gangsters targeted by fascists like those in the who had been overseeing the workers Golden Dawn party and seeing bene- for the boss opened fire, injuring 35 Which side are you on? they don’t have to write off the loans as un- fits cut even for workers who are citi- workers, four critically. In the struggle between European and payable. That’s one Big Lie. zens, immigrant workers are near the In June 2014, despite union and U.S. finance capital, on one side, and the Another Big Lie is that the conflict is be- bottom of Greek society, with perhaps anti-fascist demonstrations support- work force of Greece, on the other, the choice tween German and Greek workers, that Ger- only the refugees from ongoing wars ing the farmworkers, and a strong should be easy. man workers “resent” bailing out allegedly below them. Immigrants find only the legal defense backed by left forces Any class-conscious worker, any progres- laid-back Greek workers. This is a lie on two toughest jobs needing the least skills in Greece, a Greek court found the sive individual from Tierra del Fuego to Lap- counts. First, it’s not the Greek workers but that pay little. Nearly all are excluded shooters not guilty. The Bangladeshi land, from Vladivostok west to Honolulu, the banks that have been bailed out. Second, from Greek electoral life. workers remain hungry and are being should be in solidarity with the Greek work- according to figures from the Organisation All workers in Greece need soli- held in a camp. ers — on the streets of their cities if possible. for Economic Co-operation and Development, darity in their struggle against the Imperialist finance capital, using the debt Greeks, when they have jobs, work on average big bankers of Europe and the Unit- Solidarity with migrants that various countries, cities and territories more than 2,000 hours a year, while Germans ed States. Greece’s migrant workers Before this January’s elections, a have accumulated, are waging war on the work less than 1,400. This ignores the fact that need an extra dose. rightist government was in power. It workers around the world. Their banks are 10 percent of the workforce in Greece are mi- Because Greek workers also em- built a fence blocking the Greek-Turk- in trouble because they forced loans on peo- grants, who work harder still, just as migrant igrate and the birthrate is low, im- ish border and ordered its Coast Guard ple who can no longer pay them back. And workers do in Germany. migrants help keep the population to keep migrant ships out at sea. But they are using economic, political and mili- The truth is that the battle is between the steady at nearly 11 million. Migrants this year, some 77,000 migrants have tary power to squeeze the workers to pay the German imperialist banks -- plus the French, make up about 8 percent of the total already landed in Greece by sea. banks. Dutch, British and U.S. big banks -- and the population and more than 10 percent Nasim Lomani, an immigrant We said the choice should be easy. What working people of Greece. of the workforce. Most come from and member of the Network for So- complicates the choice is the mountain of lies What this means is that all labor union neighboring Albania, with overall cial Support for Refugees and Mi- that finance capital orders its media mouth- members, all unemployed youth, from the Eu- more than 80 percent from the Bal- grants, has lived 15 years in Greece. pieces to propagate. ropean Union to the United States, should find kan states and the former USSR. The He told the German daily newspaper For example, the lie that they offer money a way to show their complete support for and newest refugee surge is mainly from Junge Welt of July 11 that the Syriza to Greece to help the Greek people. No, nearly solidarity with the working class in Greece. Syria and Afghanistan. government had ordered the Coast all the money goes to rescuing the banks so It’s a struggle that involves all of us. While all migrants face govern- Guard to stand down from expelling ment repression and fascist xenopho- the migrants, and that this order has bia, a singularly savage assault took held so far. place in April 2013 against undocu- Lomani said, however, that despite Debt means having mented mostly Bangladeshi agricul- the improvements since Syriza was tural workers who were hired to pick elected, conditions are still terrible strawberries during the growing and for the migrants. Near the town of the same enemy harvesting season. This class attack Moria, on the island of Lesbos just off aimed at robbing the workers’ wag- the Turkish coast, for example, there What do working people in Greece, Ghana, atory banks foisted on it and headed toward es. The ensuing legal case exposed is a camp built to hold 250 refugees Detroit and Puerto Rico have in common? bankruptcy, Detroit’s city government was xenophobia directed at South Asian that is now housing 1,000. “What is They are all exploited by imperialist fi- forced to cede rule to a state-appointed man- workers. gratifying,” he added, “is that unbe- nance capital. Now, in 2015, all are targets ager. His role was to assure that repaying the The strawberry pickers were sup- lievably many of the islanders are tak- of big capital’s class war. From Wall Street to banks had priority over saving pensions, city posed to receive 22 euros per day, ing care of the refugees in a way that London, Paris and Frankfurt, the banks and jobs, education and social services. less six euros for room and board. But shows their solidarity.” the national states that ride shotgun for their As Berta Joubert-Ceci wrote in the July 16 interests are using the debt crisis to squeeze issue of this newspaper, workers in Puerto every last ounce of profit out of workers’ labor Rico — a country that has been a colony of power. U.S. imperialism for the past 117 years — face Workers all over the capitalist globe face se- a similar debt attack to that haunting Greece, vere cutbacks in whatever social programs still Ghana and Detroit, despite its different polit- exist. At the same time, workers still feel the ical status. Puerto Rico now owes $72 billion economic disaster of the capitalist crisis that to its creditors, and its colonial governor ad- exploded during 2007 and 2008 and contin- mits the country is unable to pay it. Recetas neoliberales para Puerto Rico ues without relief. This means high unemploy- The colonial laws controlling Puerto Rico ment rates and an increase of those living in forbid it from declaring bankruptcy. That extreme poverty. means it can’t even do what Detroit did to Continua de página 12 ción colectiva y por lo tanto, a la libre In each of the four places named above, write down some of the debt — not that this asociación. alcaldes, legisladores, sectores de la the workers face both class and national op- helped Detroit’s workers. Those who would “Esa es una medida que estamos sociedad y sindicatos, oyeran la pre- pression, the latter taking the form of a lack “manage” Puerto Rico’s debt have more or tomando desde el punto de vista le- sentación del informe por la misma of both national sovereignty and economic less the same recipe as those imposing “aus- gal. La otra más urgente que está Krueger. Pedraza Leduc mencionó el self-determination. terity” all over the globe: Lower the $7.25 tomando la UTIER y el movimiento papel jugado por la Ley 66, la cual el According to ghanaweb.com on July 8, the minimum wage; privatize public property; sindical, que es lo que vamos a estar Informe Krueger avala. Esta “Ley de International Monetary Fund insisted that cut education, health care and social ser- haciendo en todos los sectores, es una Sostenibilidad Fiscal y Operacional Ghana’s government reduce spending for sal- vices; and prioritize paying the predatory discusión con los delegados y con la del Gobierno del Estado Libre Aso- aries of public workers. Health workers who banks. Puerto Rico is tied to the dollar like base de los sindicatos, de toda esta ciado de Puerto Rico, permite al gobi- had successfully completed two- and three- Greece is to the euro — unable to control its problemática. Que la gente se empape erno hacer los ajustes necesarios para year education programs and served for a own currency. Additionally, it has the added y discuta todo lo que está pasando atender la crisis fiscal que enfrenta el year in the national health service are now burden of U.S. political domination. para que tengamos una base de apoyo país”. (aldia.microjuris.com) Ha sido unemployed. Dictating that decision to Ghana Greece has been the focus of attention world- para las acciones de lucha. Porque no la base utilizada para atacar a los hurts both the health workers and most of the wide these past few weeks. An announced deal es una lucha (a nivel legal) y de dis- ­sindicatos. 27 million people living there. — which hasn’t yet been ratified in either Ath- cusión con esta gente, pues ellos (go- Dice Pedraza Leduc: “el plant- The United States is the major decider in ens or Berlin — imposes even more sacrifices bierno y consultores) ya tienen una eamiento es de extender la Ley 66, the IMF — which makes up one-third of the and hardships on the Greek working class. As decisión tomada”. significa no negociación colectiva European Union’s “Troika” that has been in the other areas, this is done with the collab- Esta semana se celebrarán varias y es eliminar beneficios. En el caso persecuting Greek workers. oration of the local ruling class, which is as an- reuniones a ese efecto. nuestro, de PROSOL, que estamos Detroit was once the model for a work- ti-worker as are the foreign banks. Puerto Rico se encuentra en una representando a los empleados de la ing-class city in the U.S., home to the coun- These four examples in four different encrucijada donde el movimiento Autoridad de Carreteras, que es una try’s automobile industry where the United parts of the world clearly show that the boss- progresista puertorriqueño, tanto en corporación pública, el lunes 29 de Auto Workers set the tone for the best union es and bankers have used the debt to wage las islas como en la diáspora, necesi- junio comenzamos en el tribunal un contracts. Since restructuring and out- war on the working class. The first step to- tan de amplios debates y movili- recurso de interdicto en contra de sourcing, a weakened UAW and the “Great ward a successful fightback is the realization zaciones. El futuro de Borinken está esta ley. Planteamos que esa ley es Recession,” this now 83 percent Black city that workers all over the world face the same en juego. inconstitucional, porque va contra el has lost half its population, plunging it into enemy and have the same interests in defeat- Joubert-Ceci es puertorriqueña derecho constitucional a la negocia- poverty. Unable to repay the debt that pred- ing that enemy. ­residente en el estado de Pensilvania workers.org July 23, 2015 Page 11 On the road with the Cuba caravan

By Cheryl LaBash of Cuba’s National Assembly, Rev. Dr. Yellow school buses are a common Ofelia Ortega Suarez from Matanzas. sight in the U.S. Usually the rides are Many organizers of caravan stops shorter than the 2,300 miles we just embraced the call to organize local sup- covered in 10 days on a very special port actions during “End the Blockade bus. Ours was just one of the latest to of Cuba” days set for Washington, D.C. have traversed the North American — Sept. 16 through 18, initiated by The continent since the early 1990s, to be International Committee’s Campaign donated to the revolutionary people for a Just Policy toward Cuba, IFCO/ of Cuba as a gift of love and solidari- Pastors for Peace and the Institute for ty. It was part of the Friendshipment Policy Studies. (TheInternationalCom- Caravans, organized by the Interre- mittee.org) ligious Foundation for Community In the U.S., some 77 percent of am- Organizations/Pastors for Peace. putations due to diabetic foot ulcers GRAPHIC: IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE This year’s 26th Caravan is trav- could be avoided using a treatment de- eling through 50 cities and 38 states veloped in Cuba, but it is barred from to take 10 tons of material aid to Cuba, nancial, commercial and economic block- Cuba’s Latin American School of Medi- U.S. residents by the blockade. Cuba’s including sewing machines and mobility ade of Cuba still exists, notwithstanding cine participated in many meetings. In infant mortality is around four per 1,000 aids in addition to the two full-size school the intent to restore diplomatic relations Albuquerque, N.M., Dr. Joanna Souers, live births, while in Detroit and other buses, another small bus and a box truck. announced seven months ago. The 2015 recently returned from internationalist oppressed communities in the U.S. it is Fifty caravanistas will arrive in Cuba just challenges highlight the fact that travel, work in Liberia, explained the origins of three times that. days before the Cuban flag is raised in trade and credit restrictions are still in the scholarship program that Cuba has Cuba has shown that free education Washington, D.C., on July 20, signaling place, that Guantánamo is still illegal- offered to students from underserved and universal preventive health care for the renewal of formal diplomatic rela- ly occupied by a U.S. naval base against communities in the U.S. Ten new stu- all can be achieved, even in a poor and tions, which had been broken by the U.S. the will of the Cuban people and their dents will begin their medical school blockaded country. The resistance of the on Jan. 3, 1961. government and even in violation of the studies this year. Twenty-three others U.S. ruling class to normal relations has This summer, participants in both the imperialist treaty imposed on Cuba, and will graduate in July. been because the right wing fears letting Friendshipment Caravan and the Vencer- that regime change programs are still In Santa Fe, N.M., Kathryn Hall-Trujil- the people here know the truth about so- emos Brigade will once again challenge fully funded through the U.S. Agency for lo, founding director of Birthing Project cialism, socialist ideas and solidarity. the illegal, unilateral and internationally International Development, the National USA, showed statistically that for Black To follow reports from the caravan and condemned U.S. blockade of Cuba. Endowment for Democracy, Radio Martí, babies of any nationality, Cuba is the best find out how to donate, go to IFCOnews. This personal and organizational soli- TV Martí and others. place to be born for survival and develop- org, IFCO/Pastors for Peace on Facebook, darity dramatizes the fact that the U.S. fi- Graduates and current students at ment. Also participating was a member CubaCaravan2015.org. LONDON Transport workers shut down subway system By Gene Clancy the 24-hour walkout was nearly 100 per- Cameron. Like other countries cent. The Tube was completely shut down. in the European Union, it has On July 9, some 20,000 workers on the The dramatic impact of the strike has pursued a harsh government London Underground railway system, of- already led the mayor of London, Boris policy of cutbacks and higher ten called “the Tube,” walked off the job, Johnson, to say that he is reconsidering costs on the poor and working shutting down one of the largest transit the date of implementation of the contro- classes of Britain. systems in the world. versial “Night Tube” program, one of the The National Union of Rail, The Tube stretches for 250 miles under main points of contention with the work- Maritime and Transport Work- the streets of London and its environs, ers. (theguardian.com, July 9) ers says: “Our action is in re- and carries 4 million passengers per day. Despite other immediate issues, the sponse to the impact of a 4.2 All four unions representing the workers underlying cause of the strike is the aus- billion pounds cuts program in the system voted in favor of the strike terity program of the Conservative (Tory) imposed by the government by a 90 percent margin. Participation in government of Prime Minister David and mayor of London.” (mirror. co.uk, July 8) The London Underground Underground station during strike. is administered by Transport for London (TfL), a semipublic ‘Caminata de Justicia’ por el agua authority supported mostly by fares but night, and lead to enormous disruptions under the jurisdiction of the central gov- in the schedules of night workers. Continua de página 12 de Highland Park tuvieron que pagar a ernment. The cutbacks would not only endanger bios de Oakland, Macomb y al condado Detroit por su agua. Immediately before the strike, the TfL overall safety and convenience, but lessen de Wayne, que están fuera de Detroit. Ahora, residentes y pequeños negocios threw down a “take it or leave it” offer to the services available for disabled pas- El acuerdo para establecer la autoridad que no fueron facturados por dos años, es- the unions. In addition to an inadequate sengers. Because of past struggles, as this regional tiene una disposición para elevar tán siendo golpeados con cuentas de miles pay proposal, it failed to address the se- writer can personally attest, the London las tasas por encima del 10 por ciento en de dólares e incluso decenas de miles. El rious disruptions of the new Night Tube transportation system has a relatively los suburbios y otras ciudades. Hay resis- DWSD amenaza con cortar el servicio a program, scheduled to begin in Septem- high level of support for disabled people tencia a este plan, que incluye la petición todas/os en Highland Park porque dice ber. The new schedules would lay off 850 compared to most U.S. cities. These rights para poner la venta del DWSD en referén- que la ciudad debe a Detroit millones de workers, close all the ticket offices at for the disabled are now under attack. dum en la boleta electoral. Un aumento de dólares. ¡El Concejo Municipal de High- la tarifa fue rechazado por el Concejo de land Park votó a favor de aumentar las la Ciudad de Detroit el 30 de junio. tarifas de agua un 138 por ciento en junio! Dentro de los límites de la ciudad de Flint, a 70 millas al norte de Detroit, Detroit está la ciudad de Highland Park. históricamente obtenía su agua del alta- WAR WITHOUT VICTORY Al igual que Detroit, la población de mente contaminado Río Flint. Esto ha by Sara Flounders Highland Park es mayormente afroamer- causado erupciones en la piel, pérdida “By revealing the underbelly of the empire, Flounders sheds insight on icana, la tasa de pobreza se sitúa cerca del de cabello, trastornos autoinmunes y en- how to stand up to the imperialist war machine and, in so doing, save 40 por ciento. Esa ciudad tenía su propia venenamiento por plomo en las/os niños, ourselves and humanity.” estación de bombeo de agua hasta 2012 junto con las tasas impagables. – Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, President, U.N. General Assembly, 2008-2009; cuando el alcalde la cerró para repara- Activistas de Flint, Highland Park y Foreign Minister of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. ciones temporales. Pero luego hizo que Detroit están unidas/os y decididos a la ciudad se conectara al DWSD perma- llegar hasta el final, declarando que “El Available on amazon.com and bookstores around the country. nentemente, por lo que las/os residentes agua es un derecho humano”. PentagonAchillesHeel.com Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a: [email protected]

¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios! workers.org Vol. 57 Núm. 29 23 de julio, 2015 $1 Recetas neoliberales para Puerto Rico

Por Berta Joubert-Ceci extras a partir de 40 horas semanales y no como se hace ahora, a partir de las El gobernador de Puerto Rico Alejan- ocho horas al día; “reducir requisitos dro García Padilla, sorprendió cuando le onerosos para demostrar causa justifica- declaró al pueblo en mensaje televisado, da en despidos”; reducción de maestras/ que la deuda pública de PR es “impaga- os y consolidación – léase cierre - de es- ble” y que “no se trata de política. Se tra- cuelas; reducción de las asignaciones a la ta de matemáticas”. Aceptar de pronto Universidad de Puerto Rico, etc. lo que el movimiento independentista y Incluye además privatizaciones de progresista de las islas - Puerto Rico es agencias públicas como la Autoridad de un archipiélago - viene diciendo desde Energía Eléctrica, y otras agencias efici- hace bastante tiempo, es desconcertante. entes del gobierno que generan ingresos ¿Cuál es el propósito? como el Fondo del Seguro del Estado. Como mero administrador del gobi- Algo novedoso en la propuesta es el erno colonial, García Padilla obedece, pedido al congreso de EUA que excluya a no a las necesidades del pueblo, sino a PR de la imposibilidad de someterse a la sus amos en Washington y Wall Street. Ley de Quiebra y así poder “renegociar” Cuando dice que es impagable, no lo hace la deuda; y la suspensión de la Ley Jones, para proteger al pueblo, sino a los bonis- o Ley de Cabotaje que hace que todo pro- tas estado­unidenses. ducto que llegue a la isla desde dondequi- La enorme crisis de PR, enmarca- era que venga, sea trasladado en embar- da dentro de la crisis del capitalismo caciones EUA con personal EUA, lo que en callejón sin salida a nivel global y en encarece el producto en más del doble. particular con la de Estados Unidos, ha Una consecuencia de este informe es puesto en escena una compleja trama que involuntariamente, echa abajo algu- para tratar de cobrarle al pueblo puertor- otros estados y ciudades con problemas trosas medidas neoliberales contenidas nas de las razones que quienes abogan riqueño el más mínimo centavo por los financieros de EUA. De hecho, de acuer- en el reporte Krueger. El reporte de 30 por la estadidad utilizan para tratar de bonos municipales vendidos por los suce- do con Reuters, a los bancos como UBS, páginas recoge un estudio detallado de convencer que bajo la estadidad se es- sivos gobiernos para cumplir con el fun- se les pagaron en promedio márgenes la economía de la colonia y sus prácticas taría mejor y se tendrían más derechos. cionamiento del país y mantener a flote brutos de un 31 por ciento más alto que por 10 años consecutivos realizado por Cuando en el reporte se mencionan al- sus agencias públicas. los márgenes cobrados a Detroit”. Anne O. Krueger, Ranjit Teja y Andrew gunas de estas medidas, como por ejem- La deuda, que ya ronda sobre los 72 mil El artículo concluye con lo que tam- Wolfe, ex economistas nada menos que plo, la reducción de vacaciones y de los millones de dólares, representa más de bién se puede concluir ahora: “Para en- del Fondo Monetario Internacional. requisitos para demostrar despidos in- $20.000 por persona en PR, más que el tender cómo Puerto Rico está en tales Si bien el propósito de este estudio, tit- justificados, y redefinir las horas extras, ingreso medio de $19.518. (“Puerto Rico’s condiciones extremas, simplemente siga ulado “Puerto Rico, un camino a seguir,” argumenta que deben ser como los nive- Fiscal Crisis is America’s Colonial Crisis”, el dinero a Wall Street”. (Forbes.com) era el de buscar la forma de extraer más les en la “mainland” (EUA), donde se han por Angelo Falcon) Hoy, el gobierno de PR se encuentra ganancias a la colonia, tuvo por necesidad perdido tantos derechos laborales. El dinero prestado al gobierno solo ha en bancarrota y sin ningún crecimiento que abordar la verdadera crisis del país: el En PR, a pesar de ser colonia, la lucha sido utilizado para pagar las deudas lo- económico. A pesar de haber implantado colonialismo, aunque no lo verbalice así. sindical ha logrado avances que se han cales o los enormes intereses que de PR medidas desesperadas para balancear el Refleja la realidad colonial que no tiene la perdido en la “mainland”. Otra compara- recaudan los bonistas. Aunque Moody’s y presupuesto desde incluso antes de la cri- capacidad de poder resolver los problemas ción la hace con la educación, diciendo otras agencias han ido bajando progresiv- sis económica del 2008. Medidas como financieros con una política soberana. que hay que reducir el presupuesto de la amente las cualificaciones de estos bonos la imposición de impuesto de ventas en Pero, ¿cuáles son esas recetas para UPR porque es muy barata y debe encar- a estado “chatarra”, estos bonos han sido 2006, los despidos de empleadas/os pú- sacar a PR del atolladero? El mismo in- ecerse como en EUA. apetecidos por las grandes firmas de tene- blicos en 2009, la reforma de pensiones forme resalta que son medidas difíciles dores de bonos por ser libres de impuestos en 2013, hasta el nuevo impuesto a la gas- que no tienen acogida popular, sobre Resistencia es educación y lucha y tener el rendimiento más alto existente. olina y el reciente IVU (impuesto de ven- todo de los sindicatos. Workers World-Mundo Obrero habló Aparte de los rendimientos, las tarifas tas y uso) entre otras. Nada ha mejorado Algunas medidas de este plan de cinco con Luis Pedraza Leduc, portavoz de la cobradas por Wall Street son astronómi- la economía y el gobierno se encuentra sin años son: Eliminar el salario mínimo de Coordinadora Sindical y Coordinador cas. Un artículo de Forbes en 2013 tit- posibilidades de continuar los pagos a la $7,25 la hora, el cual dice que es muy alto de PROSOL, el Programa de Solidari- ulado “How Wall Street Has Profited deuda. para PR y que se debe bajar hasta que la dad de la UTIER, Unión de Trabajadores From Puerto Rico’s Misery” (“Cómo Wall situación de PR se acerque a la del esta- de la Industria Eléctrica y Riego, quien Street se ha beneficiado de la miseria de Reporte Krueger, receta neoliberal del FMI do más pobre de EUA. Fin al bono de fin asistió a la reunión convocada el pasado PR”), reporta que “Las tarifas cobradas García Padilla no hacía sino preparar de año o de Navidad; reducción de vaca- 29 de junio por el gobernador para que fueron mayores que las calculadas en al pueblo para la imposición de desas- ciones de 30 a 15 días; redefinir las horas Continua a página 10 Comienza ‘Caminata de Justicia’ por el agua Por Martha Grevatt junto a todas/os los más de 10.000 resi- infraestructura. Sin esta alza de ganan- imposibilitaron mantenerse al día con Detroit dentes de Highland Park, se enfrentan al cias para los bancos más ricos, el DWSD el pago. Ahora, la mayoría de quienes corte de su servicio de agua. Sin agua cor- [Departamento de Aguas y Alcantarilla- tienen planes de pago pueden perder La Caminata de Justicia por el Agua, riente en sus hogares, madres y padres es- do de Detroit] estaría en buenas condi- el servicio, pues el corte ha comenzado una caminata de 70 millas en ocho días tán perdiendo la custodia de sus hijas/os. ciones financieras”. para cualquier persona que adeude más desde Detroit a Flint-Michigan, comenzó Existe otra crisis en Flint, donde el agua El verano pasado, los cortes de agua de $150 o lleve dos meses sin pagar. el 3 de julio con un encuentro en las oril- no es potable ni apta para lavar y bañarse. en Detroit llamaron la atención mundi- las del río Detroit, el suministro principal Esta situación de emergencia era com- al. Dos relatores de las Naciones Unidas Crisis se expande fuera de Detroit de agua para millones en todo el sureste pletamente prevenible. vinieron aquí y publicaron un informe Teniendo la calidad del agua entre las de Michigan. Los culpables son los bancos, las em- criticando al DWSD y a funcionarios de mejores de EUA, el DWSD proporciona El primer día de la caminata terminó presas y el Estado capitalista. Como la ciudad de Detroit por privar a las/os ci- agua para los condados de Wayne, Oak- justo al norte de Detroit en el bullicioso dijo Jerry Goldberg, representante de la udadanos del derecho al agua. El alcalde land e incluso comunidades tan lejanas centro de Ferndale, donde la Brigada de Coalición ¡Moratoria AHORA! para Aca- Mike Duggan, en lugar de tomar medidas como Flint. Parte del saqueo racista de Luz de Detroit expuso el mensaje: ¡”Agua bar con Ejecuciones Hipotecarias, Desa- para prevenir los cortes y restaurar el los bienes de Detroit durante la quie- limpia y económica ya”! El Consejo Pop- hucios y Cierres de Servicios en el acto servicio, tachó la opinión de los relatores bra municipal fue el plan para vender el ular de Aguas organizó la caminata para inicial, “Las tasas de terminación de los como mal informados. DWSD a la Autoridad de Aguas de los llamar la atención sobre la crisis del agua swaps de los intereses representan $537 Para mantener el servicio, las/os res- Grandes Lagos, GLWA, un grupo region- en el sureste de Michigan. millones de los $1100 millones prestados identes firmaron planes de pago, pero al, dándole un mayor control a los subur- Decenas de miles de hogares de Detroit, para la reparación y mantenimiento de la los términos establecidos por el DWSD Continua a página 11