S~ Africa: Mass Rallies Protest Miners' Deaths

• AUSTRALIA $2.00 • BELGIUM BF60 • CANADA $2.00 • FRANCE FF10 • ICELAND Kr150 • NEW ZEALAND $2.50 ·• SWEDEN Kr12 • UK £1 .00 • U.S. $1.50 INSIDE OaterpiiJar strikers, rubber workers keep up their fight TH£ . - PAGES 1.Q...1 1 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 59/NO. 21 MAY 29, 1995

White House. still alone on S~ Africa: mass rallies Iran embargo protest miners' deaths BY NAOMI CRAINE Two weeks after announcing a trade ban against Iran, Washington is still strug­ gling to make headway in getting its impe­ ·.. rialist rivals, Moscow, Beijing, and other governments to go along. The embargo, assertedly aimed at halting "international terrorism" and an alleged nuclear threat from Tehran, bars the purchase of all Ira­ nian goods by U.S. companies, their over­ seas branches, and in many cases their in­ ternational subsidiaries. New York Times columnist A.M. Rosenthal, in a piece titled "When Is an Ally?" bemoaned the fact that "Germany, Japan, Italy, France and other U.S. allies that have been selling high-technology tools, pesticides or other products so use­ ful in modem war told Mr. Clinton to take his embargo and run along. Communist China and North Korea have not been that ~ ~ courteous." Bettman/Patrick de Noinnont Despite pleading and threats from the More than 80,000 people rallied at Vaal Reefs stadium May 17 to commemorate deaths of 105 miners White House and U.S. Congress, Moscow has declined to give up a contract to sell BY JOHN HAWKINS over the country," said Matosa, including dent Nelson Mandela declared a national two nuclear reactors in Iran. And even the AND GREG ROSENBERG that evening in the black townships sur­ day of mourning. "The loss of an esti­ Polish government announced it will pro­ Hundreds of thousands of workers rounding nearby Bloemfontein. "The lead­ mated I 00 lives is deeply shocking to our ceed with the planned sale of more than across South Africa joined demonstrations ership of the ANC and the democratic whole nation," Mandela said in a state­ I 00 tanks to Tehran. during a national day of mourning May 17 movement now must build on the momen­ ment issued May 12. "I urge all South To "persuade" these governments to to commemorate the May 10 disaster at tum to get more concessions from the Africans to mark this day with the dignity bow to Washington's desires, Rosenthal Anglo-American Corp.'s Vaal Reefs mine other side. This was a terrible tragedy. But which would do honor to those who lost urged that the sanctions against Iran be ex­ near Orkney, in which 105 ,gold miners it has introduced a huge space to fight for their lives." tended to ban imports from any company were killed. Working people held mass change. In the past few days, thousands of At the demand of the ANC, NUM, and that does business with Tehran. His com­ rallies in eight regions of South Africa, workers have been demanding manage­ COSATU, the government rapidly an­ plaints and similar bluster from U.S. and workers joined actions and prayer ment take steps to ensure safety. The nounced the formation of a national com­ politicians have had little impact on other meetings for two hours at midday in facto­ mood in Welkom was angry. The general mission of inquiry to investigate the disas­ governments' decisions to date, though. ries from the Atlantic coast to the Indian feeling was that there was an element of ter. Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani Ocean. "The mining industry shut down," company negligence." Mandela urged employers to allow attempted to appeal directly to people in said Gregory Mcatsherwa, a spokesperson Some 80,000 miners, relatives of the workers to participate in commemorations the United States to oppose the Clinton ac­ for the National Union of Mineworkers victims, and others packed the Oppen­ across the country and to make contribu­ tion. In a 75-minute interview with ABC (NUM), in a telephone interview. heimer stadium at the Vaal Reefs mine tions to a national relief fund. He toured anchor Peter Jennings May 15, the Iranian "This was a turning point in the trans­ memorial meeting. "COSATU is commit­ the disaster site May 15 , and told 5,000 official said the U.S. government owes his formation of South Africa -and it was ted to building the economy, but we can­ miners there that the ANC was donating $ country ''a thousand apologies" for its written in the blood of the workers," said not build the economy .at the cost of hu­ 28,000 to the relief fund, and that the "bullying." He noted that Washington Pat Matosa in a telephone interview May man lives," said Congress of South South African government would con­ Continued on Page 14 17. Matosa, a former miner, is provincial African Trade Unions (COSATU) presi­ tribute $1.3 million. Anglo-American sub­ chairperson of the African National dent John Gomomo. sequently announced it would contribute Congress and a member of the cabinet in "You don't need to go to the witch doc­ several million dollars to the fund. the Orange Free State. He had addressed a tor to find out why this accident hap­ At Orkney, Mandela urged employers rally of some 35,000 people - black and pened," said NUM president James Mot­ to allow workers to participate in memo­ 'Militant' white -earlier that day in the mining latsi. "It is racism." rial rallies and workplace commemora­ center of Welkom. The Vaal Reefs disaster was the worst tions. "This perception [that white em- sets second "The commemorations took place all in nearly a decade. South African presi- Continued on Page 12 target week Sinn Fein president on U.S tour says, BY JILL FEIN A team of Militant supporters from Salt Lake City, Utah, recently traveled to Den­ ver and sold 7 subscriptions to the Mili­ 'Ir:eland belongs to all who live in it' tant, one subscription to Perspectiva Mundial, and 4 copies of the Marxist mag­ BY KAREN RAY stopping me from coming here was about azine New International. PORTLAND, Maine - Gerry Adams, meeting people like you," Adams told the The international campaign to sell the the president of Sinn Fein, began his U.S. crowd. "It was like building a paper wall socialist press is going into the seventh speaking tour by addressing a crowd of around Ireland to keep you from knowing week and now stands at 44 percent of the 300 here. The Friends of Sinn Fein in Port­ the truth. goal, 16 percent behind schedule. Sup­ land sponsored the meeting. "We have a host of reasons to not talk porters have sold 1,289 subscriptions to More than 50 supporters of the Irish to the British and the loyalists. But we the Militant, 295 subscriptions to Perspec­ freedom struggle welcomed Adams May 9 have more reasons to talk about peace. We tiva Mundial, and 506 copies of New In­ at the. Portland airport. Workers, students, do not need the British to rule. We have ternational. and other backers of Irish self-deter­ the intelligence and the right to govern A second target week to help get the mination, as well as elected officials from ourselves," he said. campaign on schedule is planned for May the city and from the state legislature at­ Adams said the freedom struggle is 27 through June 4. Results from the last tended the meeting that evening. The Port­ fighting to build a democratic society, say- . target week showed that many opportuni­ land City Council welcomed Adams with ing, "We need a non-sexist Ireland. We ties exist to reach out to workers, youth, a placard. need women and men to see the rule of and those involved in political struggles. Addressing an enthusiastic standing­ Ireland be based on equality." He told the Special teams to visit new areas were es­ room-only crowd, the Sinn Fein leader ex­ audience, "This conflict is not about reli­ pecially important to gaining some mo- plained that he would accept an invitation gious differences but about political dif­ mentum for the drive. . to speak anywhere in the world about the ferences. We want to see an Ireland where The success of the sales team from Salt peace process and the ongoing struggle for it doesn't matter if you are Protestant or Mililllnt/Francisco Picado a democratic Ireland. "-r:wenty years of Continued on Page 5 Gerry Adams at New York fund-raiser Continued on Page 9 Farrakhan, Shabazz speak at New York meeting - page 7 IN ~~BRIEf ______

Mexico's inflation rises year-old law governing reproduc­ won independence from Consumer prices in Mexico rose 8 per­ tive rights May 4 and legalized British colonialism in cent in April, a faster pace than in previ­ abortion under certain circum­ 1948. A military coup ous months. The April inflation works out stances. The new bill makes ousted him in 1969; the na­ to an annualized rate of 151 percent. Tax Guyana the second Caribbean tion has been under army increases and fuel-price hikes imple­ Community member with laws al­ control since. mented as part of government austerity lowing modern medical abortions. measures spurred the jump. Before the After six hours of debate, Par­ Parents face fines economic crisis that began with the deval­ liament passed the law by a vote Starting next school uation of the peso in December, then­ of 32 to 21. Dr. Hughley Hano­ year, parents of every child president Carlos Salinas predicted infla­ man, a disgruntled member of Par­ in Virginia's public tion for 1995 would be kept to a single liament, accused supporters of the schools must sign and re­ digit. measure of "bringing western im­ turn a copy of school rules morality into this country." or pay fines of up to $50. Caracas youth demand justice Gov. George Allen signed Students in Caracas, Venezuela; pro­ Ireland abortion ruling the law May 5, which also tested the high cost of living May 8 and Ireland's Supreme Court af­ allows fi nes of $500 demanded justice in the police killing of a firmed legislation May 12 grant­ against parents unable to classmate during a similar protest a year ing women access to information · meet with school officials earlier. on abortion services outside the to discuss their children. No police officer has ever been charged country. Abortions are illegal in "If parents don't try, then in the shooting of 15-year-old German Ireland except when a woman's there are penalties, and I Sotillo, who died after receiving two gun­ life is in danger. The new law im­ don't think that's unfair," shots to the chest on May 5, 1994. plements part of a 1992 referen­ said Marian Van Landing­ This year's protest, which went on for dum to change the. constitution ham, the Democratic legis­ four hours, closed businesses and forced guaranteeing the right to informa­ lator who sponsored the the suspension of classes. Police re­ tion on abortion services and bill. sponded to the demonstration with tear travel to seek the procedure. Meanwhile, the govern­ gas and rubber bullets. At least 10 students The vote followed street mobi­ ment in Tennessee empow­ were detained and taken to the police sta­ lizations demanding a 14-year-old ered judges to fine parents tion. rape victim be allowed to travel to $50 if their children miss Britain for an abortion. An esti­ what officials consider too Chilean general admits abuses mated 5,000 Irish women a year many days of school. The A Chilean air force general admitted journey to Britain to have abor­ government in Maryland April 29 that the military committed hu­ tions. increased penalties against man rights abuses during almost 17 years The legislation does not permit parents whose children are of military rule under Gen. Augusto abortion providers to advertise-on truant to $1 00 a day or 30 Pinochet. Gen. Fernando Rojas said, "The billboards or in unsolicited publi­ days in jail, and judges families find it hard to reach a reconcilia­ cations. Doctors are also barred have begun enforcing the tion due to some cases of abuse." from making arrangements for or measures. Pinochet caused a stir two days earlier recommending the procedure. when he said an Argentine general ex­ Food stamp rolls fell posed atrocities of the dirty war there be­ British union denounces ~ore than 300 Alabama inmates were forced into leg irons as the The number of people cause, "he was never under fire, as we anti-immigrant plan state became the first in the United States to reintroduce chain receiving food stamps in were." The National Union of Civil . gangs. Prisoner Michael Austin tiled suit against governor and the United States fell by Moreover, a Chilean navy commander and Public Servants in Britain prison officials, arguing chain gangs violate inmates' civil rights. more than 1 million from responded to the dirty-war revelations by condemned London's recent pro- February 1994 to February saying that the navy "does nQt have to pro­ posal to turn thousands of public officials who could then use the information to 1995. Analysts credit the drop to govern­ vide any explanations" about what hap­ and employees into de facto immigration block access to public housing and train­ ment restrictions on the program and an pened during Chile's military dictatorship agents. ing courses to worke~ suspected of ~ing upturn in hiring. More than I 0 percent of between September 1973 and March The union called the proposal "a license undocumented. the U.S. population relies .on some· food 1990. for racism and a recipe for disaster." Un­ stamp assistance. . der the plan government staff would be Miners protest in South Korea The number of food stamp recipients Guyana gov't allows abortions rose to nearly 28 million in March of encouraged to identify immigrant workers The Pyongyang Times reported more Guyana's Parliament threw out a 134- and their families to immigration officials, 1994, three years after the economy went than .5,000 people protested in Sabuk, into a recovery, as incomes for many South Korea, earlier this year to demand workers continued to erode. an end to government restructuring of the coal industry. Since I988, 303 of the Alabama inmate files suit country's 347 mines have been closed, the THE MILITANT newspaper reported. The number of work­ An inmate at the Limestone Correc­ ing miners dropped from 62,000 to about tional Facility in Athens, Alabama, filed 15,000. suit against Gov. Fob James and prison of­ ficials, arguing that working on one of the Burmese youth sentenced state's chain gangs violates his civil rights. Support th.e family farmers' fight Michael Austin, 29, is one of 320 pris­ Nine young people were sentenced to oners forced to work on Limestone's re­ seven years in prison each in Burma for cently reinstituted chain gangs. Austin praising U Nu, the country's only elected cites the 8th Amendment, which prohibits prime minister, at his funeral in February. slavery and cruel and unusual punishment, The youths were among about 50 people, as well as the 14th Amendment, which many of them students, arrested at the protects the right to due process of the February 20 burial. law, in demanding compensation from the U Nu became Burma's first prime min­ state. ister after the Southeast Asian country -PAT SMITH

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2 The Militant May 29, 1995 U.S. gov't enlarges trade rift with Tokyo BY ROBERT MILLER if U.S. officials believed Tokyo would NEWARK, New Jersey- The U.S. follow the traditional script and com­ government has sharply escalated its promise at the last minute, they were trade confrontation with Tokyo by an­ mistaken. While the U.S. auto giants nouncing moves to impose steep tariffs recorded record profits in 1994, the on more than $5 billion of imported flagship industry of Japanese capital­ goods. If the I 00 percent tariffs on 13 ism has been weakened by a sluggish luxury cars from Japan go through, this economy after a 3-year recession and a would be the largest punitive levy ever. rising yen, which puts the squeeze on On May 10, the Clinton administration profit margins on export sales. said it was also filing a legal challenge Tokyo plans to go to the WTO to Tokyo's trading practices with the charging that U.S. penalties violate newly formed World Trade Organiza­ world trade rules by imposing sanc­ tion (WTO). This double-barreled gun tions before going to the trade forum. pointed at U.S. capitalists' rivals in Japanese vehicle exports to the Japan, however, invo lves a high-risk United States have fallen by half since strategy that could backfire. 1986, from 3.4 million to 1.6 million in Washington is demanding that 1994. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Japanese car manufacturers announce Mazda plants now operate in the "voluntary plans" for future purchases United States, and Japanese cars ac­ of U.S.-made auto parts and the expan­ U.S. trade representative Mickey Kantor announces sanctions against Tokyo. At left, Com­ count for 24 percent of the U.S. market. sion of dealerships in Japan that sell merce Secretary Ron Brown; at right, Laura Tyson, of Clinton's National Economic Council. The II Japanese car manufacturers cars produced by U.S.-owned manufac­ also face a squeeze on profit rates and turers. Autos and auto parts accounted for crease in value against the dollar since the May 10 New York Times, "The hour of the are preparing to slash the workforce. Hi­ more than 55 percent of Washington's $66 beginning of the year. "Now that's a dou­ economic nationalist may be at hand." Ar­ roshi Okuda, a vice president of Toyota, billion trade deficit with Japan last year. ble whammy. So, the Japanese might guing that I 00 percent tariffs on $1 billion told the Financial Times the company may Trade negotiations broke off May 5 in compromise," he said. of Japan's exports "doesn't even qualify shut at least one plant Canada. The sanctions take effect May 20, but as a spanking," Buchanan bellowed that The May 7 New York Times stated, The "Big Three" U.S. auto bosses ral­ will be rescinded if an agreement is toward "predators like Japan and China, it "The fact that Tokyo has not caved in so lied around President Bill Clinton's offen­ reached by June 28. This schedule is is time for hardball." He called on far to U.S. demands is remarkable, and sive. We ·•support whatever further action aimed at putting maximum pressure on Congress to impose a tariff of I 0 percent somewhat puzzling to American negotia­ the Clinton administration takes concern­ Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Mu­ on all Japanese imports. tors." The business editor of the Financial ing Japanese trade," said Chrysler chair­ rayama, who will attend the next Group of Times wrote May 11, "If Japan calls the man Robert Eaton. Seven - heads of industrialized nations Tokyo is digging in administration bluff and continues to The Wall Street Journal, though, edito­ - meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, June Tokyo, however, is digging in its heels. stand firm, the ploy could rebound embar­ rialized that "there is a perverse quality to 15. "I don't think this will be resolved under rassingly." the Clinton team's argument that bringing Taking his cue from the White House, pressure," said Yoshihiro Sakamoto, vice out the sanctions club is a way to foster ultrarightist presidential candidate Patrick minister of Japan's ministry of interna­ Robert Miller is a member of United Auto free trade with Japan." The Journal added, Buchanan wrote on the op-ed page of the tional trade and industry. He warned that Workers Local 980 in Edison, New Jersey. "This is a delicate moment for the global trading order, and a peculiar one for Washington to launch a game of chicken." London's Financial Times termed Clin­ Yeltsin rebuffs Clinton at Moscow summit ton's demands "ill-judged" and the policy "misguided." BY NAOMI CRAINE U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher ton has pushed for. Chalk up president Bill Clinton's recent declared, "We will not be satisfied by any­ Even Clinton's mild criticisms of the Clinton ups the ante trip to Russia as a fiasco for Washington. thing other than the end of the nuclear pro­ Russian government's war in Chechnya It was another sign that U.S. imperialism gram." where, he said, "the civilian casualties and The Clinton administration move ups is operating from a position of weakness The Russian government refused to the prolongation of the fighting have trou­ the ante in the trade skirmish between the in the world today. budge, however, on carrying through its bled the rest of the world greatly," got a property-holding classes on both sides of Clinton failed to achieve any of the ma­ contract with Iran. The only "concession" brush-off. the Pacific. In previous trade disputes, jor aims be announced for summit talks Clinton got was a pledge not to sell a sepa­ At a joint news conference with Clin­ what the Journal termed "innocuous" with Russian president Boris Yeltsin fol­ rate piece of equipment to Tehran that was ton, Yeltsin compared the Chechens fight­ goOds were targeted for penalties. lowing the World War II commemorations not part of the original sale and hadn't yet ing for independence to the bombers of This time the targets are high profile in Moscow. The meeting opened a sharp been finalized. the federal building in Oklahoma City. luxury automobiles like the Toyota line of debate and criticism of the White House in Yeltsin did agree that Mosc9w would Then he added, "There are no hostilities Lexus cars and Nissan's Infiniti. The U.S. ruling-class circles. take initial steps to join the Partnership for under way in Chechnya right now." The threatened I 00 percent tariffs on these ve­ One of Clinton's stated goals was to get Peace, a cooperation plan between the same day the press service for the Russian hicles would choke off sales altogether. Moscow to go along with Washington's NATO military alliance and former War­ forces in Chechnya reported that Russian According to one trade analyst cited by campaign against Iran. Before the May I 0 saw Pact countries. But the Russian presi­ troops had killed 38 Chechen "militants." the Journal, the Japanese carmakers are summit, Clinton said he would demand dent reiterated his government's opposi­ Just hours after Yeltsin 's speech, five Rus­ "losing money in sales to the U.S. any­ the Yeltsin government cancel a $1 billion tion to any expansion of NATO to Central sian helicopters attacked a Chechen vil­ way," referring to the yen's 16 percent in- deal to sell two nuclear reactors to Tehran. and Eastern Europe, something Washing- lage, firing rockets into farmhouses, ac­ cording to Reuters. Republican politicians sharply criti­ cized the Clinton administration for its U.S. Army discharges officer for probing handling of the meeting with Yeltsin. Be­ fore Clinton left for Moscow, Sen. Robert Dole warned that the Senate would move human rights violations in Haitian prison to cut off aid to Russia if the nuclear deal with Iran were not canceled. "It would be BY LAURA GARZA Rockwood's lawyer, Ramsey Clark, portation proceedings. almost immediate," he said. "They don't want me behind bars," said submitted reports from international While Washington is trying to give the Secretary of State Christopher replied Lawrence Rockwood, a captain who was groups monitoring human rights condi­ impression it has made Haiti safe for that Washington shouldn't rock the boat recently court-martialed and discharged tions in Haiti that cited a history of beat­ democracy it is having problems justify­ and risk an unstable situation in Russia. from the army for actions he took while ings of prisoners in Haiti. Up to 85 percent ing the treatment it is giving to Haitian "Every bit of aid we give them is in our stationed in Haiti as part of the U.S. inva­ of the inmates in the national prison were refugees at the U.S. naval base in GuantA­ interest," he said. sion force last year. "They are looking af­ said to be in jail for political reasons. namo, Cuba. Some 450 Haitians remain Commenting on the outcome of the ter their own self-interest. In the three years after the military coup on the base, about half are children, and summit, Republican senator Mitch Mc­ "They want this story and the allega­ that overthrew the government of Jean­ most of the adults are receiving medical Connell said, ''It is an embarrassment for tions against their criminal negligence to Bertrand Aristide, killings of political op­ treatment before being forced to return to the administration that the president went go away," he said of the military brass's ponents were widespread. The current Haiti. to Moscow to watch a parade at Yeltsin's actions. "By sending me to prison, of government estimates that 5,000 people Even children with parents or others behest and brought nothing home." course, those allegations would not go were murdered. willing to care for them in the United Clinton maintained that his trip was a away. It was not their ideals that moti­ One of the main groups organi zing the States are being denied entry. Officials say success. "The people of the United" States, vated them. It's their lack of moral terror campaign was a paramilitary outfit they are preparing for their orderly return the people of Russia, and the people of the courage." called Fraph, or Front for Advancement to Haiti. Held without adequate housing or world are safer today than they were two Rockwood took to heart President Bill and Progress of Haiti. The head of Fraph, medical care, and stuck relying on donated years ago and than they were before this Clinton's appeals to stop human rights Emmanuel Constant, had long ties to U.S. shoes and clothing, the youth organized a last meeting between us occurred," Clin­ abuses in Haiti. government officials and was reported to hunger strike and a school boycott re­ ton said. White House officials rebuked ·' He tried in vain to get superior officers be on the payroll of the CIA until the cently. U.S. soldiers who tried to end the McConnell, Dole, and other critics for not to investigate reports of prisoners being spring of 1994. protest were pelted with oranges and some maintaining the traditions of ·•amicabil ity" held in the notorious national prison in Constant fled to the United States, of the tents in the camp were burned and not attacking the president publ!cly on Port-au-Prince. Getting no response, where Washington claimed it couldn 't down. foreign policy questions. Rockwood went there Sept. 30. 1994, stat­ honor Haiti's request to extradite him be­ Despite pleas from many quarters. fo­ Some big-business spokespeople, such ing he wanted to inspect the facility for cause his whereabouts were unknown. But cusing mainly on the plight of the chil­ as the editors of the Washington Post, de­ human rights violations. . on March 29, Secretary of State Warren dren, the U.S. government is continuing to fended Clinton, who they said, ·'held up Haitian authorities turned to the U.S. Christopher revoked Constant's visa stat­ send people back to Haiti. The Miami the American end in Russia." Many others embassy for help, who dispatched a mili­ ing his presence ·•would have potentially Herald reported on the case of a 12-year­ took a sharply opposing view, though. In tary attache to the scene. Rockwood was serious and adverse foreign policy conse­ old named Ronald found sobbing on the a column headlined ''The Pushover .Presi­ ordered to leave the prison and se·nt to an quences for the United States." Then, on street the day he was repatriated to Haiti. dency," conservative commentator army hospital for a psychiatric evaluation May 12, the federal government an­ His mother lives in Miami and his father is Charles Krauthammer said, ·'It is bad where he was cleared. nounced they had found Constant, who up dead, but he was sent to Haiti because enough to have no clout in foreign policy. Rockwood was convicted of four until then had encountered no difficulty adults were with him when he arrived at Why make a point of advertising it? The charges, including leaving a U.S. com­ living in Queens, New York, and had even Guantanamo, therefore he was not consid­ Russians have not just rejected American pound and an army hospital without per­ given an interview to the newspaper Haiti ered an unaccompanied minor. He is now entreaties. They have been contemptuous mission. Observateur. He is being held pending de- living with strangers. of them." May 29, 1995 The Militant 3 -FROM BEHIND PRISON WALLS....------­ DiSCUSSiOn on bombing reveals distrust of gov't BY MARK CURTIS Idaho. But we do not cringe at anger towards snatched Emad from the Pathfinder book­ FT. MADISON, Iowa- The reaction Much of this initial reaction came be­ the capitalist government, which will store in Toronto, Ontario. They detained to the Oklahoma bombing I've encoun­ fore the full picture of the bombing drive workers to reorganize their unions. the youth and pumped him for information tered here reveals something about \he .emerged. Most guys expressed disgust at Some of the white separatist, anti­ about his political activities; religious be­ moods and attitudes of working people to­ the killing of so many innocent people. Jewish, self-styled militia groups getting a liefs, and why he visited revolutionary day. And the debate over its cause and Nevertheless, there was a lot of anti­ lot of attention Ultely will provide cadre Cuba. Emad is a garment worker and a what should be done show the trajectory government feeling and hostility to the for fascist groups. Others can be found in member of the Young Socialists and Com­ of different forces in the U.S. ruling class federal police. Maybe it's because this is a the groups that have already mobilized in munist League. as well. prison full of men with bad experiences the streets attempting to close down abor­ Originally from Iran, the young activist I was a little shocked to hear so much with the cops. Some discussion with fac­ tion clinics, and some are inspired by was harassed the day after the bombing tory workers from Des Moines during vis­ mainstream politicians like Patrick when "Middle Eastern terrorists" were be­ its here also helps convince me that these Buchanan. . ing blamed for the deaths. feelings are not just limited to those be­ Right now, however, it is the Clinton The vast majority of workers do not hind bars. administration and capitalist politicians agree with the rightists. They are not A recently incarcerated construction from both parties who are using the Okla­ racists or anti-Semitic. They support a Mark worker said he thought the bombing homa carnage as a lever to give the FBI woman's right to abortion and object to would push back the .moves to cut Social more powers to wiretap, spy on, infiltrate, the police raiding their workplace to de­ Curtis Security and welfare, and was a reaction and arrest members of political organiza­ port immigrant co-workers. to the decline in wages and the general dif­ tions. Perhaps the most dangerous pro­ Even so, most are not yet aware that ficulty in "making a living." posal is to allow the police to target a they are part of an international class of How he came to that conclusion is less group without evidence of any laws being workers or that the government represents important than the fact that the deep dis­ broken. a small class of capitalist owners that ex­ approval the morning the federal building trust, cynicism, and even hatred toward In the few weeks since the Oklahoma ploits them. Until more battles between was destroyed. A couple of guys ex­ the "powers that be" are carried not just by City bombing, we've seen media com­ these two classes occur and the working pressed satisfaction that the cops and gov­ so-called patriotic militias or ultra-right mentators interview members of rightist class forms its own labor party, vague ernment "got theirs." fringe outfits, but by many workers and militia groups. The liberals· ridicule the anti-government and anti-rich sentiments "This is what happens when the U.S. farmers battered by the economic and so­ conspiracy theories but they can't answer substitute for a real working-class pro­ government bombs Libya and makes war cial crisis of capitalism. them. The rightists come off looking like gram of action against government abuse in the Middle East," someone said to me. Liberals and conservatives may be the good guys fighting "Big Brother" and and capitalist exploitation. Another thought it was proper revenge for alarmed by this sentiment - but socialists condemning Clinton's murderous assault The labor movement can lead the way the federal agents· raid on the Branch Da­ aren't. We do not support terrorist actions. at Waco, gun control laws, and FBI in defending democratic rights. A good vidians' compound in Waco, Texas, in They only harm the building of a fighting abuses. start would be to campaign against harass­ 1993. One inmate repeatedly brought up labor and communist movement, and give Who will be on the government's ment of the "foreign looking" as terrorists the FBI murders of the family of Randy the government a handle to go after demo­ "enemy list" - people like Nojan Emad. and oppose the attempts to expand the Weaver, a white separatist who lived in cratic rights. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police power's of Washington's secret police.

BY JOHN VOTAVA seemed quite reasonable," she said. CHICAGO- Immigration cops are "Then, one of the officials I had been continuing a series of raids in this area un­ working with came up and said, 'Look, I der the auspices of the Justice Depart­ don't want you to think that I was lying to ment's "Operation Jobs." On May 9 at you before, but we just got a call from 5:00 a.m.. immigration agents raided downtown and everything has changed. • Bradrock Industries and Lefebvre Inter­ Then their attitude became as uncoopera­ graphics in Des Plaines, Illinois, arresting tive and nasty as I have ever seen it." The 61 workers. It was the J 1th raid in the lawyer said she thought the change in.atti­ Chicago area since February I. The work­ tude resulted from the.number of wor~ei;.s . ers were thrown into the Broadview De­ who refused to sign the affidavits provided tention Center, and by 2:00 p.m. 54 of by the cops. them were shoved onto buses to the air­ Compernolle said immigration officials port to be deported or sent to detention are distorting information to the press. For centers in other parts of the United States. example, they state that people are al­ Resistance to attacks on immigrants • lowed a phone call and communication rights is also mounting. By noon on the with relatives. "But in practice there is one day of the raid, 40 people had joined a small room with a single phone, a line to picket line outside the immigration of­ use it, and it's hit-or-miss whether you fices. Two days later at the Association will get to it in the time allotted," she said. House, a local community center in a She noted that those who demanded to Puerto Rican neighborhood, about 50 peo­ see a judge and refused to sign the affi­ ple met to hear reports on the sweeps and davit were required to provide a $5,000 plan further protests. Moreover, the ar­ bond. The detainees were allowed no fur­ rested workers themselves have increased ther communication with family or legal Militant/Kevin Jones their resistance because they have been representation. Those who couldn't pay Workers march against anti-immigrant Pr'oposition 187 in.California last year. Fac­ learning more of their rights and because the $5,000 were shipped off-men to El tory sweeps by immigration cops in Midwest are beginning to generate resistance. of the support and publicity that has been Paso, women to Denver- for hearings. generated. Twenty-four of those arrested Weekly vigils are planned for Fridays at refused to sign affidavits claiming they noon in front of the downtown Chicago were being deported willingly. immigration offices to protest the raids. A Waco still haunts White House Susan Compernolle, a Legal Assistance picket is also planned to take place in front BY MAURICE WILLIAMS Ridge, Idaho. An FBI sharpshooter killed Foundation lawyer, was able to get to the of the home of A.D. Moyer, regional head U.S. president Bill Clinton continues to Weaver's unarmed wife. Broadview Detention Center within a few of the Immigration and Naturalization Ser­ urge fast action in Congress on legislation A full-blown debate on the conduct of hours of the raids. "At first the officials vice. to "fight terrorism" that would dramati­ federal police agents has flared in the big­ cally expand secret police powers. Pro­ business press. In full page ads published posed after the bombing of the federal May 16, Tom Washington, president of building in Oklahoma City the White the National Rifle Association (NRA) ap­ Available in Spanish House is coming across unexpected resis­ pealed to former president George Bush to tance to the bill. reconsider his resignation from the organi­ The measures to increase government zation pending Congressional hearings on Why is Mark Curtis spying and conduct unwarranted searches the Texas and Idaho confrontations. Still in Prison? has been criticized by liberals and conser­ Bush resigned from the NRA because vative alike as a threat to civil liberties. of its reference to federal agents as "jack­ The Political Frame-Up of a Unionist and "Clinton and many lawmakers appear far booted Government thugs." Clinton Socialist and the Campaign to Free Him too ready ·to give up liberty to insure praised Bush's actions saying the group safety," warned a recent editorial in the "ought tP be ashamed of themselves." by Naomi Craine New York Times. The ghost of the gruesome massacre at "A genuine fear of the federal govern­ Waco, which has been etched in the con­ Mark Curtis is a union activist and socialist who was ment" exists in the country that would not sciousness of working people around the framed up by police on false charges of rape and burglary be eased by an increase in government world, continues to haunt the administra­ in March 1 988. At the time he was involved in a struggle powers, cautioned House Speaker Newt tion. Under mounting criticism of the ad­ to defend 1 7 Mexican and Salvadoran co-workers arrested Gingrich. Gingrich said the appointment ministration's handling of the raid, Attor­ in an immigration raid at the packinghouse where he of Larry Potts to become the FBI's deputy ney General Janet Reno said May 14, worked in Des Moines, Iowa. director "will further slow down the terror­ "knowing what had happened, I would not This new pamphlet explains what happened to Curtis, ist legislation." do it again. and the stakes for workers, farmers, youth, and other Potts supervised the 1993 raid on the . "I have thought about this almost every democratic-minded people in demanding his release. Branch Davidian compound near Waco, single day since April 19, 1993. It's the Pamphlet, $6 Texas, in which 80 people were inciner­ single hardest decision I've made in my ated following an assault by Bureau of Al­ life," she concluded on the "60 minutes· ~ Available at bookstores, including those listed on page 12, or write Pathfinder, 410 West St. cohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents. Potts news program. Up until recently Clinton New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Fax (212) 727·0150. Or contact the Marte Curtis received a mild re.buke for his role in the administration officials have unabashedly Defense Committee, P.O. Box 1048, Des Moines, Iowa, 50311. Tel: (515) 246·1 695. 1992 siege of the home of Randall defended their actions in killing some 80 Weaver, a radical white separatist in Ruby "cult members."

4 The Militant May 29,1995 Second target week is set Sweden* 26 40 65% 9 15 39 45 Continued from front page in socialist ideas since high pressed with an article in the Mil­ Iceland 9 15 60% 0 1 1 3 Lake City helped push the cam­ school, and came to the march itant opposing the embargo, Canada paign there closer to schedule. hoping to find some socialists. thanked her for bringing the pa­ Vancouver 40 70 57% 5 8 14 20 Most of the subscriptions were The May Day march linked up per to his attention, and bought a Toronto -'3 85 51% 8 15 9 45 Montreal 32 75 43% 4 25 25 45 sold at Metropolitan College of with one of the daily protests or­ subscription on the spot. Total 115 230 50% 17 48 48 110 Denver. ganized against the meeting of A <:hinese co-worker bought ""-rio Rico 1 2 50% 3 8 3 5 "I was just sitting in my class the board of governors of the her first Militant to read the arti- Australa 17 40 43% 4 6 8 15 thinking I needed to find New Zealand a newspaper that tells Wellington 7 10 70% 2 4 the truth about issues, Auckland 32 80 40% 1 6 5 20 and here you are," said Christchurch 16 40 40% 2 2 4 10 Total 55 130 42% 3 8 10 34 one woman as she United States walked out of her final Atlanta 60 90 67% 14 20 9 25 exam. Greensboro 44 70 63% 2 8 8 20 Another woman who Los Angeles 114 180 63% 48 90 56 90 bought the paper was Boston 55 100 55% 9 30 17 35 living in Kuwait when Houston 44 80 55% 6 15 13 20 the Iraqi army invaded. Peoria 27 50 54% 2 2 11 20 She has been looking for Salt Lake City 57 105 54% 12 20 13 35 a paper that has cover­ Washington. DC 41 80 51% 16 30 17 35 Seattle 45 90 50% 9 15 13 25 age on Kurdish strug­ Morgantown 24 55 44% 2 6 20 gles. One woman who Philadelphia 50 115 43% 7 30 18 45 wants to go to Cuba Pittsburgh 45 105 43% 6 12 9 30 bought a subscription to Twin Cities 51 120 43% 16 17 12 35 the Militant because of Miami 43 105 41% 17 45 34 (:IJ its reporting on the Detroit 37 95 39% 2 10 15 28 Cuban revolution. Son Francisco 55 150 37% 9 45 31 75 A student told the Des Moines 25 85 29% 11 36 5 30 Militant sales team that Brooklyn 37 130 28% 12 40 32 65 her family keeps issues New York 3& 135 28% 14 30 20 75 of the Militant around Chicago 34 130 26% 7 30 1 20 Cleveland 17 65 26% 10 12 4 50 the house from the Newark 29 130 22% 13 35 12 60 1970s when her uncle, a Birmingham 15 70 21% 5 5 1 20 Chicano activist, was Tucson 4 10 10% 1 2 2 5 killed by a bomb in Cincinnati 0 12 0% 0 2 0 3 Boulder, Colorado. He New Hoven 0 15 0% 0 3 0 3 w.~.s involved in the Total U.S. 991 2357 42"4 249 586 359 m struggt~ for ~ Chicano Gr-.ce 4 10 40% 0 l 4 4 rights and the govern­ Britain ment blamed him and London' 34 70 49% 7 8 21 30 Manchester 10 (:IJ 17% 0 4 6 25 another victim of thf! Sheffield 8 10 80% 1 1 0 10 bombing, saying that Militant Total 52 140 37% 8 13 21 65 they had blown them- Militant distributors set up a literature display in London France 2 10 20% 0 5 13 20 selves up. "Only the Belgium 0 3 0% 0 4 0 10 Militant printed the truth Other 17 2 and my family has had a high re­ Asia Development Bank. They cle on the California grocery International 1289 2977 44% 295 695 506 1240 gard for the paper ever since, al­ opposed the bank's policies and workers strike. When she notice Should.,. 1770 2950 60% 405 675 720 1200 though we didn't realize it was highlighted attacks on demo­ a major article across the page on 11!!1111 lllf! ],, still being published," she said. cratic rights during the massive the war in Vietnam, she asked, m:m:::: :m~ security operation surrounding "Why does the U.S. government AUSTRAUA In Auckland, New Zealand, a the conference. attack a small country like Viet­ AMWU (Food) 0 0% 0 sales team of Militant readers On May 3, supporters of the nam?" AMWU (Metal) 0 1 0% 0 1 AWU-FIME 0 2 0% 1 participated in the annual May Militant went to a 2,000-strong After a discussion about Wash­ march organized by students to ington's response whenever Total 0 3 0% 2 Day march and rally, which this CANADA year was led by a contingent of protest education fees, which workers and peasants anywhere linked up with a sit-in for several in the world stand up for their CAW 1 1 0 protesters from the two-month­ CEP hours. rights, she signed up for a sub­ 2 0 0 long occupation of Moutoua Gar­ lAM 7 11 64% 1 5 2 5 dens in Wanganui. Two young Militant supporters also at­ scription. USWA 1 0 0 people who participated in the tended a solidarity night that The third co-worker who Total 11 11 64% 2 5 2 5 march, have since begun attend­ concluded a week-long confer­ bought a subscription is from NEW ZEAlAND ing Militant Labor Forums. One ence of students from Asia and Puerto Rico and was struck with EU 3 5 60% 0 1 0 2 of them who bought a subscrip­ the Pacific, hosted by the Auck­ the coverage about Mark Curtis. MWU 0 4 0% 0 0 0 land University Students' Asso­ "This is outrageous!" be said. "I Total 3 9 33% 0 0 3 tion to the Militant at his first fo­ SWEDEN rum, said he had been interested ciation. At the event, a student thought frame-ups like this only leader from Papua New Guinea happened in my country." FoodwO!I

BY LAURA GARZA travel ban to Cuba as part of its larger pro­ concrete experiences of mathematicians, als among the peoples of the world must "The right to travel is a fundamental as­ ject to ensure the Free Trade in Ideas be­ engineers and other scientists who have be encouraged, not impeded, especially pect of individual liberty protected by both tween Americans and persons over- been subjected to the U.S. government's where non-democratic societies are in­ international law and the Constitution. It is seas...... travel licensing procedure demonstrate volved." also essential to the exercise of First how this process is inherently arbitrary, The Center for National Security Stud­ Amendment freedoms," states a friend of Adversely affected by travel ban incons!stent and capricious, imposing ies is a civil liberties organization that the court brief submitted by a wide range "The Association for the .Advancement prior restraints and other unreaSQnable re­ monitors ~ction s , taken by_thJ( g~vemment of organizations in support of a suit chal­ of Science (AAAS) is the largest private strictions on the exercise of the rights of under the rubric of national security inter­ lenging current U.S , government restric­ association of scientists in the United freedom of speech, association and travel, ests to insure that constitutional rights are tions on travel to Cuba. States and the world, representing over in violation of the U.S. Constitution and not undermined or violated. It has long ad­ The brief was filed on behalf of the 140,000 individual members of the scien­ comparable provisions in the International vocated ending the travel ban. Northern California and the national tific community, and nearly 300 affiliated Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. American Civil Liberties Union, the scientific and engineering societies," ex­ ratified by the U.S. in 1992." Critical right for public debate American Association for the Advance­ plains the court document. The Association of American Publish­ Human Rights Watch monitors human ment of Science, Association of American "AAAS has made the issue of freedom ers (AAP) is the principal trade associa­ rights abuses and has published 11 reports Publishers, Center for National Security to travel a major policy focus. Special at­ tion of the U.S. book publishing industry. on conditions in Cuba, the most recent of Studies, and Human Rights Watch. They tention has been given to the U.S. policy The organization watches over copyright which sharply criticized U.S. restrictions are supporting a challenge to regulations restricting travel to Cuba because of the issues, First Amendment rights, interna­ on travel to Cuba. It stated, "In the context restricting travel to Cuba being brought by experiences of a number of our members tional freedom to publish, and funding for of Cuba-U.S. relations. the right of Ameri­ several individuals and the Freedom to and affiliated scientific groups who have education and libraries. cans to travel abroad is critical to their Travel Campaign, which has organized been directly and adversely affected by "The President of AAP, Ambassador ability to participate fully in public debate educational trips to Cuba since October these policies, including a number of psy­ Nicholas A. Veliotes, testified regarding on foreign policy and international secu­ 1993. chologists and mathematicians who were the travel ban before the House Foreign rity matters, to share information with The brief outlines the interest each denied the right to travel to Cuba to attend Affairs Committee. He also led a delega­ Cubans who are largely isolated from group has in seeing the travel ban ended, scientific conferences recognized and tion of publishers who exhibited their American viewpoints and opinions, and to while it also notes several of the groups sanctioned by the International Council of books in Cuba in February 1995," ex­ return to the United States capable of in­ have taken no position on the U.S. em­ Scientific Unions." plains the statement to the court. ''The As­ forming their fellow citizens of conditions bargo against Cuba as a whole. It states, The document further explains, "AAAS sociation strongly believes that exchanges abroad." "The ACLU has long worked to end the is a party to this amicus brief because the of ideas, books and informational materi- The brief outlines the history of at­ tempted restrictions on the right of U.S. citizens to travel, including an effort in the 1950s that was eventually struck down to Cuban youth and students invite the ban the issuing of passports to members of the Communist Party. Because of previous youth of the world to the rulings protecting the right to travel, the U.S. government in 1982 resorted to im­ posing currency restrictions under the Trading With the Enemy Act in order to 'Cuba Lives' International render travel to Cuba illegal. The document notes the government Youth Festival currently argues that constitutional rights 1\ugust 1 - 7 , 199. 'i can be restricted, in spite of laws and regu­ City of Ha\'ana and lations protecting them, if the executive ('uban provinces branch deems the restriction an "appropriate" response to national secu­ rity interests. By this logic, the brief states, Topics to be discussed in the provinces: "it sets a standard that would sustain all restrictions on international travel because Employment - Pinar del Rio • Cultural and National Identity - by definition there would always be some Havana City • Education and Childhood - Havana Province • foreign policy nexus." Environment and Development - Matanzas • Democracy and The Freedom to Travel Campaign has Participation - Villa Clara • Health Care - Cienfuegos • not complied with government require­ Women's Issues- Isle of Youth ments to apply for a license to organize trips to Cuba. The group has continued to successfully organize such visits. The Called by: UN ION OF YOUNG COMMUNISTS OF CUBA, FEDERATION OF government froze their bank account at UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, FEDERATION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, jOSE one point, and individuals taking part in MARTI ORGANIZATION OF PIONEERS Freedom to Travel trips have been ques­ Union of Young Communists - International Relations Department, tioned, ·harassed, and subsequently re­ Avenida de las Misiones 5 y 7, Havana, Cuba. Tel (537) 625-644 or 625-672 ceived letters warning them of possible vi­ olations of the currency restrictions.

6 The Militant May 29,1995 Farrakhan, Shabazz speak at N.Y. meeting

BY MAURICE WILLIAMS The Final Call. Aziz, formerly Norman NEW YORK- More than 1,400 peo­ 3X Butler, was one of the three men con­ ple filled a meeting at Harlem's Apollo victed of Malcolm X's murder. Theater May 6 that featured Minister The day of Malcolm X's assassination, Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Feb. 21, 1965, Talmadge Hayer was Islam, and Betty Shabazz, widow of Mal­ I hl FARRAKHAN caught by members of the audience at the colm X. Billed as "A New Beginning," the Audubon Ballroom in New York. He was meeting was a benefit for the Shabazz arrested by the New York City cops and family fund, originally initiated to raise subsequently tried and convicted. At the money for the legal defense of Qubilah trial, Hayer confessed to involvement in Shabazz. the murder. He has repeatedly denied be­ Qubilah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm ing a member of the Nation of Islam. X and Betty Shabazz, came under federal Hayer said he was hired to do the job indictment January 12 for allegedly plot­ and insists that the two men convicted ting to assassinate Farrakhan. On May 1, with him - Norman Butler and Thomas prosecutors dropped their murder-for-hire Johnson, both known members of the case against Shabazz in a plea-bargain Nation - were not involved. Instead, agreement. Hayer named four other Muslims as his One of Shabazz's attorneys, Percy Sut­ accomplices. ton, told the audience that the evidence In the final days before he was shot to against her was cooked up by Michael death, Malcolm X raised that more might Fitzpatrick, a former high school class­ be involved in the unfolding pattern of at­ mate and longtime FBI informer. "We're tempts on his life. "I'm going to tell you grateful to Minister Farrakhan and Con­ something brother," he said, according to gressman Rangel," Sutton said, "for inter­ Alex Haley, the writer who was helping to vening in a case that should never have prepare his autobiography. ''The more I been brought to court." keep thinking about. .. the things that have ·'From day one I feel he [Fitzpatrick) been happening lately, I'm not at all sure sought to entrap me," Shabazz told the Militant/Maurice Williams it's the Muslims. I know what they can do May 9 Minneapolis Star Tribune. Louis Farrakban, at podium, appeared with Betty Shabazz, seated second from and what they can't, and they can't do Federal officials agreed to pay Fitz­ right, in New York. Some 1,400 people attended the meeting where they spoke. some of the stuff recently going on." patrick $45,000 for his help in secretly The New York City police publicly ad­ recording telephone conversations with mitted at the time of Malcolm X's death Qubilah Shabazz. Fitzpatrick, who is in Black United Front; Hald Madhubuti, for­ Coming 30 years after the assassination that they knew an attempt was to be made the government's federal witness protec­ merly Don Lee, of Third World Press; of Malcolm X, many among the hundreds on his life. One of Malcolm X's body­ tion program, currently faces a five-year poet Sonia Sanchez; and radio talk show who attended the four-and-a-half-hour guards, Gene Roberts, turned out to be an prison term on an earlier drug charge. host Bob Law of "Night Talk." program viewed Louis Farrakhan and undercover cop. He was sitting in the front In her remarks to the meeting, Betty Other speakers included civil liberties Betty Shabazz sharing the same stage as a row when Malcolm X was killed. Roberts Shabazz said she "would like to thank Mr. lawyer William Kunstler, who also served historic event. said in the recently released documentary Louis Farrakhan for his original and gentle as legal counsel for Qubilah Shabazz, and Brother Minister that his assignment as an words of assurance" in defense of her attorney C. Vernon Mason. Benjamin Break with the Nation of Islam undercover cop for the New York police daughter. "Minister Farrakhan, may your Chavis, recently ousted as executive di­ Malcolm X was forced out of the Na­ Department's "Red squad" was to infil­ conceptual framework keep broadening," rector of the NAACP, and City University tion of Islam in late 1963 after being or­ trate Malcolm X's Organization of Afro­ she said. "May you take up the mantle and of New York professor Leonard Jeffries, dered to remain publicly silent by the American Unity. do God's work." were on the speakers' dais but did not ad­ group's leader, Elijah Muhammad. dress the meeting. Once he announced his separation from Nation of Islam involvement Prominent figures attend meeting During the fund-raising portion of the the organization in 1964, Malcolm X was In his speech at the Apollo Theater, Far­ The Apollo event was organized by the program thousands of dollars were raised, hounded by Nation of Islam members. rakhan invoked biblical figures of forgive­ Nation of Islam and a number of commu­ including from celebrities like Mike Wal­ Malcolm explained a week before he was ness and redemption and referred to nego­ nity activists and ministers. A large banner lace of the television program "60 Min­ killed that "Elijah Muhammad invited­ tiations taking place among political h~ng over the stage that read: "ALL utes," who pledged $1 ;000; Boxing pro­ called all his officials, national officials, to forces around the world today. PRAISE ' J~)'-J)tJE :To ALLAH: Celebrat-· moter Rock Newman promised that $1 Chicago in October and ordered them to "The Irish and the British, who have ing Unity, The Hon. Minister Louis Far­ million of the proceeds from the next title kill or maim any of his followers who been at war with one another for years rakhan and Dr. Betty Shabazz." fight of his client Riddick Bowe would be leave him to follow me." now, come together across pools of their Some prominent figures in the Black split among the Nation of Islam, the "At that time nearly every minister in people's blood. Their handshake has been community spoke at the event, including Shabazz family, and the Union Temple the Nation of Islam was making incendi­ received with gladness," he said. "It is my U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel; Rev. Calvin Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Peo­ ary speeches about Malcolm," Muham­ hope that a dialogue between Betty Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church; ple paid $50-100 a ticket to attend the mad Abdul Aziz said in the Feb. 8, 1995, Shabazz and myself will be encouraged to Conrad Worrill, chairman of the National event. issue of the Nation of Islam newspaper, continue. "If we cannot forgive each other, we will go down in the dust from whence we sprung," he said. Free-speech rights upheld in New York "Members of the Nation of Islam were involved in the assassination of Malcolm," campaigner was engaged in "unauthorized ''I'm glad to get the money back, but the BY TAMAR ROSENFELD Farrakhan publicly acknowledged for the NEW YORK- The Socialist Workers commercial activity"-violating the sub­ issue in this case was never payfng a fine," way's prohibition on selling food, goods, explained Rogers. "If they shut us down, first time. ''The Nation has taken the heat Party and the New York Civil Liberties and carried the burden of the murder of they can shut anyone down. The subways Union (NYCLU) recently announced a services, and entertainment without a li­ Malcolm X. We can't deny whatever our cense. A separate regulation, the one that are one of the most concentrated gathering victory in an important ~ourt decision pro­ part was." tecting the right to distribute political liter­ covers what Rogers was doing that day, points for working people in this Farrakhan then pointed to the govern­ ature and solicit political contributions in specifically permits "public speaking; dis­ city- and therefore an important place to be able to distribute literature and cany on ment's role in Malcolm X's assassination, New York City subway stations. The rul­ tribution of written noncommercial mate­ saying, "We must not let the real culprit ing, issued by State Supreme Court Justice rials; ... [and] solicitation for religious or discussions. The democratic rights of working-class candidates, pro-choice get away with hiding their hands .... It was Leonard Yoswein in April and entered political causes." manipulation and stimulation of our own The hearing officer also denied Rogers campaigners, union members, and politi­ May I , also upholds basic due· process pettiness and weakness by outside forces. and his attorneys the opportunity to cross­ cal activists to talk to others about their rights for individuals charged with violat­ The government of America is that outside examine the transit officer who issued the causes is reinforced by this judgment. ing Transit Authority regulations. force. The case arose when campaign volun­ summons. In essence,· the hearing officer "Rights like these," Rogers empha­ "The government by its own admission teer Jim Rogers was canvassing (or the acted as both prosecutor and judge, find­ sized, "must be used, not just recorded in had agents on both sides to manipulate the Socialist Workers candidates two days be­ ing Rogers guilty of the new charge and legal decisions, and that's why I'm fore the I 993 mayoral election. Rogers set fining him $50. A Transit Authority ap­ spreading tl!e word about this victory." Continued on Page 14 up a campaign literature table on the mez­ peals board upheld the ruling. zanine level of the Jamaica, Queens, sub­ In overturning the Transit Adjudication way station. In the course of engaging Bureau rulings on appeal, the ·State passersby in discussions on the socialist Supreme Court upheld Rogers's constitu­ from Pathfinder candidates' positions, he distributed tional right to distribute political material leaflets and sold copies of the Militant and to solicit contributions. Justice February 1965: The Final SjJeeches newspaper. Two transit officers closed the Yoswein writes, "The incidental sale of a BYM~LCOLMX campaign table down and issued Rogers a few copies of a political party's newspa­ S~ches from the last three weel

BY PAUL DAVIES em Ireland and the strug­ BELFAST- A spirited and angry gle to end the division of protest of 100 people picketed in down­ Ireland imposed by Lon­ town Belfast to oppose the exclusion of don since 1921. Saoirse from the Lord Mayor's parade Protests to free the pris­ May 6. Saoirse was formed last year to oners have been a major campaign for the release of all Irish politi­ focus for action as sup­ cal prisoners. The Belfast City Council porters of Irish self­ Militantffony .Hunt turned down the group's request for a float determination across the Protesters at May 7 memorial march in Belfast, Northern Ireland, commemorating Bobby Sands in the annual parade. island make use of the in­ and other Irish fighters demand relea~ of all Irish political prisoners. 'This is supposed to be a people's pa­ creased space today to rade, that belongs to everyone. They let press their struggle forward. An article in the London Fit~ancial of some of the housing estates in the the Royal Ulster Constabulary [RUC] and One sign that London's pos1t1on is Times on the talks noted, "The fact that no Catholic areas of Belfast hung black flags the British army have floats, but not us," weakening was the May 10 talks between one in Belfast had bothered to demon­ commemorating Sands and the other explained Joe Savage, one of the British government minister Michael An­ strate, despite the protestations of betrayal hunger strikers who died in 1981 fighting protesters. Armed officers of the RUC cram· and a Sinn Fein delegation led by from anti-republican politicians, testified to regain political status for republican searched Savage's house the previous Martin McGuinness. This was the first to the startling changes that have taken prisoners. Many housing estates have mu­ night at 3 a.m. This was the first time that ministerial-level meeting with leaders of . place in the nine months since the IRA rals recording the names of prisoners from his house had been searched since the the republican organization in more than cease-fire." Further bilateral talks are pro- that area who are currently in jail. A large cease-fire declared by the Irish Republi­ two decades. Previously, the British gov­ jected. · banner demanding, "Free all POWs" can Army (IRA) last August and subse­ ernment banned such contacts with Sinn The day before the meeting with An­ (prisoners of war) is hung from a block of quently by the loyalist paramilitary Fein, insisting it would not sit down at the cram, 2,000 people demonstrated in Derry flats in the New Lodge area and can be groups. Prior to the cease-fires, Savage table until the IRA "decommissioned," or demanding equality of treatment for Sinn seen from parts of the city center. said, the British army would search completely disarmed. Fein in the negotiations. Addressing the ''Around 450 political prisoners are held through all the cupboards and look under Following the meeting in Belfast, Derry rally Sinn Fein member Dodie in the six counties in the north of Ireland floorboards several times a year. McGuinness said, "Another obstacle on McGuinness called on republicans to con­ and a further 150 are held in jails in Protesters chanted, "Go home!" as the road to a lasting peace has been re­ tinue exercising the right to protest and Britain, Germany, and the USA," said floats of British army regiments passed moved." The Sinn Fein delegation entered march peacefully. Prior to the rally Social Michael Brown from the Sinn Fein pris­ by. They held up placards demanding the the bilateral dialogue to "secure equality Democratic and Labour Party leader John oner of war department in an interview release of the prisoners in sight of thou­ of treatment for our party and electorate, Hume had demanded that the action be with the Militant. Since the cease-fire the sands who had turned out to watch the pa­ and work out the logistics of all-party called off. government in the south of Ireland has re­ rade. talks," he said, "which are an essential leased 21 of the 50 political prisoners held Release of the prisoners ''is a central means to a political settlement." Sinn Fein 'Equality pickets' in its jails. "People who don't have a his­ point in the resolution of the conflict. If also requested a meeting with Northern On the same day in Swatragh, county tory of political activity have embraced the Brits cannot see that and act accord­ lreland Secretary Patrick Mayhew. Derry, 80 protesters blocked the Coleraine this campaign," Brown commented. ingly, they will eventually be forced to," Ancram repeated London's precondi­ to Cookstown Road, also demanding Some of the recent attempts by prison said Tom Holland, the following day dur­ tion of "decommissioning" in order for equality for Sinn Fein, and for inclusive authorities to break the spirit and solidar­ ing the annual Bobby Sands memorial Sinn Fein to participate in all-party talks. negotiations with all parties to begin as ity of prisoners and their supporters have march. Holland was imprisoned in the H­ The republican party has repeatedly ex­ soon as possible. RUC cops watched and been set back. At Maghaberry prison au­ blocks from 1974 to 1991. Thousands plained that the real question is demilita­ videotaped the protest, but did not try to thorities had to reverse a ban on relatives have been imprisoned in the past two rization 0f Nor:them Ireland, beginning stop it: Such ''Equality Pickets" are now a of republican • prisoners fcom wearing decades in the course of the resistance to with withdrawing British troops and dis­ frequent event in Northern Ireland. Saoirse's green ribbons. Saoirse cam- the British military occupation of North- banding the RUC. The weekend before the talks, residents Continued on Page 9 'There's no solution that does not include all of Ireland' BY NELL WHEELER mer honorary secretary of the UUP. overflow crowd of some 1,200 students, "are the ultimate scapegoats. There are NEW YORK -"The foundation stone "It's very sad that I have to travel 3,000 workers, and others. "We have lived as over 600 prisoners who wouldn't have of peace in Ireland is universal agreement miles to debate someone from Northern second-class citizens. But no more. We seen the inside of a jail if it hadn't been for on self-determination. Sinn Fein stands for Ireland," O'Hara said in his opening re­ don't want privilege, we want equality." the British in Ireland." a united, open, secular, representative marks. He called upon all parties to nego­ O'Hara also said that to demand the One participant asked the debaters democracy in Ireland." This was the mes­ tiate. IRA decommission arms was "a serious whether they would be willing to speak at sage delivered by Gerry O'Hara at the McGimpsey opened his presentation by distraction." Moreover, he pointed out, a similar event in Northern Ireland. first-ever debate between representatives talking about Irish Republican Army "Sinn Fein is a political party and we don't Sinn Fein "will talk with anyone, any of Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party (IRA) "death squads," and claimed that have any weapons." ti me, anywhere to advance the peace pro­ (UUP), held at Fordham University here the real British presence is not the troops Demilitarization, he said, must start cess," O'Hara replied. May 8. No such public meeting between a but "the over I million people who feel with the occupying British army and the McGimpsey said, ''Formal debate with Sinn Fein representative and a prominent themselves British." Throughout the de­ Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). "The Sinn Fein happens in Belfast in council unionist has ever taken place - in Britain, bate, the unionist continued to demand police force is part of the Orange state," chambers. But the UUP won't talk with the United States, Ireland, or anywhere. that the IRA decommission arms as a pre­ O'Hara said. 'The RUC are not-acceptable them outside of chambers in Northern Ire­ O'Hara is a city councilor in Derry and condition to negotiations. in our community. They are 93 percent land until decommissioning." chair of Sinn Fein's Six-County Execu­ Protestant and I 00 percent unionist." tive. His opponent in the debate, Christo­ 'We want equality' O'Hara likened the Emergency Powers Support for Sinn Fein pher McGimpsey, is a Belfast city coun­ 'There is no solution that does not in­ Act that restricts democratic rights in A large portion of the audience sup­ cilor in the Shankill Road District and for- clude all of Ireland," O'Hara said to the Northern Ireland to repressive legislation ported the Sinn Fein leader's views. Many under apartheid in South Africa. He said others were like Melissa Fredrickson, a there has been an increase in RUC attacks Fordham University student who said, "I NEW on opponents of British rule, and said it had no idea about what is happening in FROM PATH FINDER was due to the British-backed police force Ireland. I heard this was a historic event realizing that their days are numbered. and decided to come to learn more." A "The RUC has to go- they have to be smaller number backe9 McGimpsey. disbanded," he said to applause. " It would be a great shame if the IRA or LENIN'S FINAL. FIGHT The Sinn Fein official described the dis­ any other force felt compelled to go back crimination imposed on Catholics in the to arms. It's either peace or war," said By V. I. Lenin north of Ireland under the British partition, Philip Wright, a Fordham student and from the gerrymandering of voting dis­ member of the Gaelic Society, which co­ The record of Lenin's last. and most concen­ tricts that lasted until the 1970s or later, to sponsored the event. He said he supported trated. polftical battle against a growing privileged the segregated school system that exists Sinn Fein's position on pressing for nego­ layer. as he sought to set the Communist Party on today. "There's a bell that still rings at tiations. a course to strengthen the alliance of workers and 9:00p.m. every day in Derry," he said, "a John Francis, a student attending the peasants and the voluntary union of soviet re­ symbol of when Catholics had to be out of meeting, said, ''The British are always publics. $19.95 town." saying it's the IRA that causes all the vio­ SPECIAL OFFER $~4.95. Offer ends May 31. For his part, McGimpsey talked about lence. But it's been months now since the Also available in hal'dcovct• fot' $50. ''self-determination for Northern Ireland," cease-fire and they're still stalling, and SPECIAL OFFER $25.00 commenting, "I doubt that California they still have their troops there. Ireland is Special Offer would join Mexico just because some the last foothold for the British, and I think Mexican politicians said it belonged to they're just trying to hold on." Francis will For an ann.ual fee of$10, the Pathfinder Readers Club them." He maintained that Irish people in be traveling to Ireland this summer to par­ $14.95 entitles you to a IS% discount on all Pathfinder titles, as well as special offers like this. the north are "better off as part of the lib­ ticipate in Gay Pride marches "from or Pathfinder Readers Available from bookstores li~ted on page 12. or directly from eral, multicultural, multinational democ­ Belfast to Dublin," he said. "Ever since Club members Pathfinder, 410 West St.. New York, NY 10014. Fax: (212) 727- racy of the United Kingdom." the cease-fire, it's kind of like a new wave 0150. Tel.: (212) 741·0690. Jf ordering by mail. plea.-.e add $3. During the discussion, O'Hara spoke of people acting on their own, out in the about the Irish political prisoners, who streets. It's very positive."

8 The Militant May 29,1995 Adams's U.S. tour

Continued from front page never been afraid to face their soldiers, Catholic." and we are certainly not afraid to make Megan Putnam, a Bowdoin College stu­ peace with their politicians." dent, said she had to come and hear Adams recounted the famine in the Adams in person. She spent a semester in 1840s that lead to the death of a million Northern Ireland last year and was deeply Irish as a result of British oppression, as affected by what she had seen. Putnam well as other atrocities committed against said she is encouraged by the peace talks. the Irish people. "We have plenty of rea­ "Every talk is a step forward," she said. sons to be bitter, to be spiteful, to be an­ "There is still a long way to go but this is noyed. And this is why I say that we come progress." to this [process] with a spirit of generos­ Moriah Coughlin, another Bowdoin ity," he said. "And we call upon the College student who has traveled to British government to match our generos­ Northern Ireland, said, "When you see the ity. news it seems people don' t believe Sinn "We say without any sense of prejudice Fein is being honest. But I think they are that Ireland belongs to all the people who honest and these are real moves for real live in it," he stated to loud applause. Be­ peace taking place." cause, " if it happened in South Africa, why could it not happen in Ireland. "There will be difficulties, and there BY NAOMI CRAINE will be set backs," the Sinn Fein leader UNITED NATIONS -"The member­ said, "but I can tell you that the tide of his­ ship of the United Nations has increased tory, of 800 years of history, is behind the over the years as colonial peoples won struggle for freedom, and justice, and their freedom. Many of them learned from peace in Ireland. There is nowhere for the the Irish struggle, yet Ireland is still not British government to go except back Militant free," Gerry Adams told reporters at a home to their own country." Saoirse picket at British prime minister John Major's official residence, May 7. Ac­ packed meeting hosted by the United Na­ In closing his speech, Adams paid trib­ tivists worldwide are taking advantage of openings to fight for prisoners' release. tions Correspondents Association May 10. ute to Bobby Sands and James Connolly, The Sinn Fein president answered ques­ who he said stood for the emancipation of tions for more than an hour from journal­ oppressed peoples worldwide, as well as [the White House Conference for Trade icy. The six-county 'state' [of Northern ists representing media around the world. the "emancipation of rural and urban and Investment in Ireland] hosted by Pres­ Ireland] has failed, and the 26-county ba­ Asked whether the republican party working people to shape our economic ident Clinton in· Washington, D.C., in late nana republic of Ireland has failed." would support sending UN troops as and political destiny." May. All of the major players in Northern Nelis is currently awaiting trial, she "peacekeepers" in Northern Ireland, Ireland - the Unionists, the Loyalists, the said, by the British-run courts on charges Adams said, "We don't want any more Social-Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn she and two other Sinn Fein members kid­ Fein, the Irish government representatives foreign soldiers in our country." The de­ BY CATHLEEN GUTEKANST napped and beat a young woman. This colonization of Ireland is a political ques­ SAN FRANCISCO - More than 400 and the British government - will be at­ frame-up, Nelis said, along with the con­ tending. We hope that the economic con­ tion in the world, however, he said. ''The supporters of Irish self-determination tinued imprisonment of more than 800 British government has argued that these turned out May II to hear Gerry Adams at ference will also provide a venue for meet­ Irish freedom fighters in the jails of the are internal matters for the British govern­ a $125-per-person dinner here. ings between all of these parties." north, indicates "there is more struggle Richard McAuley, the Sinn Fein press ment to deal with. We say no, they are in­ In his speech to the San Francisco meet­ ahead." aide to Adams, noted that Adams had just ternational questions." ing, Adams again stressed the importance "The current negotiations are an aspect returned from Switzerland where he was Commenting on former British prime of international support and solidarity for of that struggle," she said, and are a prod­ awarded the annual Thorr Peace Prize. minister Margaret Thatcher's statements the Irish freedom struggle. ''You people uct "of the pressure the Irish people have comparing Sinn Fein to the bombers of the here can have an impact," Adams told the put on the British government. They could not crush the Irish Republican Army, nor federal building in Oklahoma City, Adams crowd. "The way that campaigns were BY JON HILLSON the Irish people who fight for sovereignty, said, "1 don't think given Thatcher's fought here like the H-Biock Four send a AND TOM O'BRIEN freedom, and equality." record she's really in a position to lecture definite message. This will make the dif­ ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Despite their anyone. r;m not concerned .with .bec-.abus­ ·f6rence.in how long it. will take us to get a "racism and their arrogance," the rulers of The withdrawal of British troops and ing us-she's not prime minister any lasting peace." Britain can see "the handwriting on the the unification of the country, Nelis said, more. Bobby Sands died 14 years ago. Jimmy Smyth, one of the H-Biock Four, wall," said Mary Nelis, a veteran Irish means "a new Ireland." Margaret Thatcher is now a teacher of his­ was introduced from the podium and re­ freedom fighter and Sinn Fein member of Nelis joined another touring fighter, tory. And the republican struggle hasn't ceived an ovation. He is one of four Irish the Derry City Council, "and the British from the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, gone away." activists who are currently fighting extra­ are going to go." Mexico, at one reception with local politi­ dition to Northern Ireland. They had es­ Nelis spoke to students at the University cal activists. At another gathering, Nelis caped from Long Kesh prison in Northern of St. Thomas here May 11 , and at Arise! responded to the question of a Central BY FRANCISCO PICADO Ireland and lived in the San Francisco area bookstore in Minneapolis May 12. Min­ American immigrant about Sinn Fein's NEW YORK -Sinn Fein president for many years before being targeted by nesotans for a United Ireland sponsored support for "other struggles against op­ Gerry Adams spoke at a $ 1,000-a-plate­ the U.S. Justice Department. Smyth won the events. She also participated in several pression, in Latin America, Africa, and dinner May I 0 at the Plaza Hotel here in a his case for asylum in the United States informal meetings and receptions in the Cuba's permanent fight." packed conference hall. He announced last September, but the Justice Department area. Nelis is one of several Sinn Fein She said Sinn Fein has received delega­ that earlier that day, Sinn Fein leader Mar­ is appealing the ruling. The other three members touring the United States, back­ tions from the African National Congress tin McGuinness had led a delegation that men-Terrence Kirby, Kevin Barry Artt, ing up the current cross-country visit of from South Africa, and has supported anti­ met with a British government minister for and Pol Brennan -are currently awaiting Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. Wash­ imperialist struggles in Nicaragua and El the first time in decades, as part of the pro­ trial. ington denied her entry on a previous at­ Salvador. "We've got no blueprint," she cess of negotiating a peace settlement in Commenting on Sinn Fein's goals, tempt to visit the United States. noted. "We need to learn about what a Ireland. Adams said, "We need to move more British imperialism 's seven decades of new Ireland can be." ''We are not afraid to face the British speedily toward all-party talks. i'll be at­ partition in Ireland is coming to an end, ''Why not invite Fidel Castro to visit a government," he emphasized. "We have tending the economic summit conference Nelis said·, because "it is a bankrupt pol- free Derry?" she asked. Campaign for Irish prisoners New International' . Continued from Page 8 Since the cease-fire, the strip searching A MAGAZINE OF MARXIST POLITICS Ai':'D THEORY paigners are distributing symbolic green of prisoners continues, but "it is less fre­ ribbons until all the prisoners are released. quent and less a fact of daily life than it Participants in the May 6 Saoirse action use to be," Holland noted. Body searches . reported that teachers at a school in west are one of several weapons that the au­ ... . Belfast had instructed pupils not to wear thorities have used in their attempts to de­ 0 Their Trotsky and Oura:Comrnunlst Continuity Today the ribbons on their school uniforms. A humanize political prisoners. by Jack Barnes · 16-year-old student at a school in the An­ Outside the jails the government tries to dersontown district told Militant reporters wipe out the legacy of the hunger strike 0 unln and 1he Colonial Question the situation of political prisoners was the and the solidarity movement that it in­ · by Carlos Rafael Rodriguez . , biggest discussion at her school and that spired. The RUC recently pa int~d over the 0 The EuUr Reb4.illon in INieftct. TWo Vl81 most students wore green ribbons. face of Bobby Sands's portrait on a mural by V.l Lenin and Leon Tr.otsk)' "t ... in Twinbrook, where the young activist . ,.~·. Political prisoners in jails in the United ~.. 't' Kingdom serve a far greater percentage of was raised. On May 8, a Saoirse supporter their sentence than those convicted of was picked up by the RUC at the end of other crimes. Inside the special security the Belfast marathon after he and another units in jails in Britain, authorities subject activist ran across the finish line of the prisoners to 24-hour camera surveillance. race with a banner, just in front of the win­ In these jails Irish political prisoners never ner. won the gains that were won in the H Addressing the Sands memorial rally on blocks and Arn1agh in Northern Ireland behalf of Saoirse, Maura Fryers said "our following the 1981 hunger strikes, ex­ determination will be decisive in winning plained Holland. "Within a year of the· the prisoners release. The British must hunger strikes I was able to stop wearing come to terms with the fact that all the prison uniforms and wear my own clothes. legacies of the war must be removed." I was also able to refuse prison work. As a result of the hunger strikes the authorities Paul Davies is a member of the Amalga­ were forced to recognize the republican mated Engineering and Electrical Union command structure in the jails," he said. in London.

May 29,1995 The Militant 9 'Factory farms' fuel debate in Midwest BY JON HILLSON SAVE ST. PAUL, Minnesota - In the small In Renville County, 43 farmers pooled towns that break the rolling landscape of resources to set up a small mega-bam. the rural Midwest, in the homes of work­ The shining structures of Churchill Co­ FAn\LY ing farmers, and in the pages of local operative Farms, heavily posted with "No newspapers, there is a mounting debate Trespassing" signs, house nearly 7,000 about the growth of sprawling, capitalist­ pigs. The animals are brought in at 15 owned hog-raising operations. These large pounds, raised, and prepared for slaughter farms, sometimes called "corporate" or in Minnesota and Iowa packinghouses. "factory" farms are often connected to a These windowless metal confinement network of contract farmers. Increased at­ barns, stainless steel inside, and tin or zinc tention is now focused on this issue as a outside, are state-of-the-art operations. result of protests by working farmers who capital intensive, and computerized. The fear for their future under intensified com­ farmers have a com-raising operation that petition from hog-raising giants and con­ provides the feed supply directly for their tractors. pigs at the mega-bam. Farmers under contract are forced to Several signs reading "We oppose fac­ take on considerable long-term risk, in­ tory farms" are nailed into trees along ru­ cluding going deeply in debt. In return ral roads in the area. they are "guaranteed" a short-term market Militant/Jon Hillson for their hogs, though contracts are gener­ Two thousand farmers, unionists, and others rallied in Unionville, Missouri, April 1 ally structured to make it easy for the large ''I don't care if something's big, as long to protest confinement operation of Premium Standard Farms. operators to break them, leaving the con­ as it doesn't hurt anybody," said Darlene tractors with a mound of debt and no mar­ Hand. She and her husband, who's recu­ Another farmer, whose land would abut too. An emotionally charged county com­ ket for their products. perating from a heart attack, manage a the expansion, wrote in a letter to the mission(}rs meeting drew hundreds of foes The number of hog farmers in the 650-acre com and soybean farm on the Northfield News, "In just one of these one­ and backers of the expansion, with propo­ United States has decreased from 3 mil­ outskirts of Northfield, 35 miles south of square-mile areas nearly 10,000 adult and nents of the project "all wearing these T­ lion in 1950 to 256,000 in 1990 - a fig­ Minneapolis-St. Paul. young pigs will be concentrated. My math shirts that said 'FARM' for Farmers Agri­ ure that continues to spiral downward un­ Hand and four other farmers sat in her makes that a city larger than Northfield. cultural Rights Movement," Hand noted. der the current restructuring of the pork­ living room, explaining how they orga­ We are witnessing the creation of the The expansion was backed by several con­ producing industry.The growth of con­ nized area farmers to win a narrow vote equivalent of cities' worth of sewage with tract farmers, feed merchants, veterinari­ finement operations also poses consider­ from Rice County commissioners last fall disposal plans which would be shameful ans, and the Harmel meatpaclcing com­ able environmental problems. The la­ to declare a year-long moratorium on any in Third World countries." pany. goons where hog waste is stored can seep expansion of Holden Farms Inc. "There are supposedly regulations, but The opponents won support from envi­ into the rivers, streams, and the water The owners, a partnership of two weal­ they're never enforced," noted Stephanie ronmentalists, like the Sierra Club, and table. Stench from the lagoons can be thy farmers and a big landholder in the Henriksen, who raises soybean, com, and "some students and biology department smelled for great distances. area, had wanted to convert a turkey bam alfalfa. She got so involved in the opposi­ faculty from Carleton College," according On April I, 2,000 farmers, unionists, into a hog confinement bam of nearly tion to the expansion she had to close to Marlene Halverson, who lives on her political activists, and young people 3,000 sows, build additional confinement down her small store. family 's corn and soybean farm of 55 demonstrated in Unionville, Missouri, facilities, and create a multi-site operation The owners of Holden Farms just years. They were upset because the expan­ near the Iowa border to protest against of more than 21,000 animals. "thought they could ramrod everything sion "would be just across from where the Premium Standard Farms Inc., which has The issue was joined in February 1994, through, without anybody knowing it," college holds their classes," she explained. 73 confinement buildings and an on-site when farmers first learned of the expan­ said Mike Daniels, a young, sixth genera­ ''The soil around here is very sandy," packing house that employs 1,500 work­ sion proposal. The principal reason for op­ tion farmer who raises livestock on land Hand said. "Leakage from the lagoons ers in Lincoln Township. position to Holden Farms was "the smell," that's been in his family since 1856. goes right into the water table." The following article is based on trips to said Hand, a former hog. farmer. "We The informal group did research on en­ Hand described the polarization in the Minnesota farm areas, discussions, meet­ know people a quarter of a mile from their vironmental effects; addressed local and area over the issue. ings, and Qther information. existing operation, and even with central state officials; got the ear of the Minnesota ''The little town church split right down air condition ina-,· you carfsmeU. dead hogs Pollution Control Agency; sent letters; got the middle. People I've known.since l was in the living room. This isn't normal ani­ hundreds of people, most of them farmers, born," she nodded in the direction of an Mike Erickson has been farming on mal waste. It's eerie." to sign petitions; and sparked an intense, adjoining farm, "tum the other way on the land that's been in the family since the late The other farmers vigorously agreed. running debate in local newspapers. street when they see me. Friendships have 1940s. He raises corn, soybeans. sheep, They explained how summer events at Normally routine township council been destroyed." and with his father up the road, hogs. their homes were canceled because of the meetings were packed to overflowing to "We all lost friends, but we got to know "We had to sell some of the land off to intense odor. In photos, one farmer cap­ discuss ordinance proposals on waste each other," Darlene Hand said. "And we keep the farm," he said, pointing to nearby tured an open sewer of hog waste, includ­ management and limits on the distance decided we were not going to roll over and acreage. Last year they sold the 30 sows ing carcasses of dead animals, floating in confinement barns could be to residences. play dead. That's made everything worth they maintained for breeding. ··we black water. Supporters of the expansion mobilized, it." couldn't afford to keep them anymore," Erickson explained. He and his father purchased I 00 feeder pigs. Inside their hog barn. he noted that low com prices have enabled them to raise Rubber workers in I owa maintain strike the pigs for sale to a broker. "This is your BY NORTON SANDLER thing we do out of necessity." Sint lair said ists one by one, when and if they are basic operation." he said. as the two­ DES MOINES, Iowa- Following the the strikers are fighting for "a fair and eq­ needed. month-old pigs run and jostle each other rubber workers' decision to call off the uitable agree~ent" that would allow them "We agreed to go back so that we can for feed. The smell in the lightly venti­ strike in Decatur, Illinois, union members to "return to work with pride and dignity." vote [in any future decertification elec­ lated, aging bam is pungent, but it recedes here are demonstrating their resolve to More than 850 union members remain tion] to salvage the union and live to fight as soon as you step outside. stand firm against Bridgestone/Firestone's on strike in Des Moines against the tire­ another day," said Randy Gordon, vice "The bam needs all kinds of improve­ takeback and union-busting demands. making conglomerate. Last July, 4,100 president of Local 7 13. Some members of ment. but we can't get any loans,'' he said. At informational meetings May I 0 and URW members struck the company at its the Decatur local are claiming that the de­ By contracting with a big c.;ompany, he II , union members reviewed develop­ plants in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; No­ cision to return to work should be thrown added, it's easy at first to get loans. "But,'' ments in their 10-month strike. United blesville, Indiana; Decatur, Illinois; out since union members were not given he emphasized, ''it's not reall y yours. And Rubber Workers (URW) Local 310 presi­ Akron, Ohio; and Des Moines. Less than proper notice that a strike vote meeting if something goes wrong, you lose the dent Bernie Sinclair told the press, "This 2,000 union members remain on strike at had been called. farm." is not something we enjoy, this is some- these plants, with the biggest concentra­ The union received official notice May tion of them in Des Moines at the com­ 12 that the National Labor Relations pany's agricultural tire planr. Board dismissed the URW's unfair labor On May 14, 60 union members and practice charge that the company had their supporters demonstrated in a failed to carry out good-faith negotiations Mother's Day protest at the Iowa gover­ on a new contract. Farmers Face the Crisis of the 1990s nor's mansion. The action focused on The union contended the company DOUG JENNESS Examines the deepening economic and Gov. Terry Branstad's refusal to meet forced the workers on strike and imposed social crbis in the capitalist world and explains how with members of the striking local. a last and final offer with steep takebacks farmers and workers can unite internationally against the Paul Gnade, co-chair of the union's that include pay cuts, mandatory 12-hour mounting ilssaults from the hillionilirc hilnkers. family support group, told the crowd, ''I'd shifts, gutting of seniority and vacations, industriill ists, ilnd merchants of grain. S3.50 like to ask him why he's never gotten in­ and cuts in company paid health-care cov­ volved in this and why he's allowed the erage. Similar claims by the company of company to dictate to him what he's going ''bad faith bargaining" by the union were The Changing Face of U.S. Politics to do. also thrown out by the NLRB. Other un­ Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions "Wives and husbands work long hours fair labor practice charges by the union are for low pay, while the chosen few receive still pending. JACK 81\.RNES A handbook for workers coming into the factories, mines, ilnd mills, as they react to the uncertilin lift', the lion 's share of the profits generated by Last month, Federal Judge Ronald ceilseless turmoil, and brutality of capitillism in the closing our labor. We, the working people, make Longstaff found the union guilty of violat­ years of the twentieth century. It shows how millions uf up the largest section of the population. ing court injunctions and ordered a tight­ · workers, as political resistance grows, will revolutionize It 's us, the working people, the laboring ening of the lim its on picketing at the Des themselves, their unions, and all of society. S19.95 people, that you [Branstad) have turned Moines plant. Local 3 10 was forced to pay Special offer - $14.95 your back on," Gnade said. nearly $3,000 to mail a copy of the new (For members of the Pathfinder Readers Club, through June 15) Members of Local 713 in Decatur voted injunction to every member of the union. May 7 to unconditionally end their strike. In another development, the URW 's in­ Available a1 book.•lores. including lho~ Ji,ledling if orManhattan CALIFORNIA can woman. Sat., May 27, 7:30p.m. Dinner: 6 Victory for Free Speech - The Jim Rogers BRITAIN p.m. 2105 Forest Av. Donation: $4 Tel: (515) Los Angeles case and the struggle for First Amendment London Speakout Against Omnibus Counter­ 246-8249. rights in New York. Speakers: Jim Rogers, Terrorism Act: In Defense of Democratic Socialist Workers Party; Arthur Eisenberg, le­ Ireland: New Openings in the Fight for Self­ Rights. Speakers: Frank Wilkinson, ACLU MASSACHUSETTS gal director, N.Y. Civil Liberties Union. Determination. Panel of speakers from and National Committee Against Repressive Thurs., May 25, 7:30 p.m. 214 Avenue A Saiorse (London), Wolfe Tone Society, and Boston participants in recent Militant reporting team to Legislation; Tony Russo, ex-defendant in Pen­ Campaign Rally for Socialist Candidates for (Between 13th and 14th Sts.). Donation: $4. tagon Papers Ellsberg-Russo trial; Salam AI Tel: (212) 388-9346. Northern Ireland. Sat., May 27, 6 p.m. 47 The Boston City Council. Speakers: Valerie John­ Cut. Donation: £2. Tel: 0171-928 7993 Margati, Director, Muslim Public Affairs son and Maceo Dixon, Socialist Workers can­ Council; Don White, Veteran Organizer, Com­ didates. Fri., May 26, 7:30p.m. 7!¥J Tremont PENNSYLVANIA Manchester mittee in Solidarity with the People of El Sal­ St. Donation: $4. Tel: (617) 247-6772. vador; Nelson Blackstock, author, Cointelpro: Pittsburgh Troops Out of Ireland - Release All Political The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom. The 50th Anniversary of the End of World Prisoners. Speakers from recent Militant re­ Sat., June 3, 7:30p.m. 2546 W. Pico (2 Blks W. MINNESOTA War II: War for Democracy or Imperialist porting team to Belfast. Sat., May 27, 6 p.m. of Vermont) Donation $4. Translation into St. Paul Slaugbter?--A Working-Class Perspective. First Aoor, 6(), Shudehill. Donation: £2. Tel: Spanish. Tel: (213) 380-946(). A True History of World War II And The Speaker: Arnold Weissberg. Fri., May 26, 7 06/-839-1766. Workers in South Africa protest mine disaster Continued from front page the NUM's demands for immediate reme­ workers joined demonstrations in front of Botswana, Lesotho, and South Africa. ployers don't care about the lives of black dial action to reduce death, injury, and dis­ management offices and prayer meet­ More than 69,000 miners, mostly blac~. workers] is not going to be removed by ease in the mining industry. ings," Ngcobo reported. have been killed and more than a million word of mouth, but by what the country as Lena Ntuli, a shop steward for the Na­ injured in South African mines between a whole - and the white minority in 'We are really angry' tional Union of Metal Workers of South 1911 and 1994. particular - do on occasions like this." "This time, we are really angry," said Africa at the Caterpillar, Inc. plant in Jo­ The government of Lesotho also agreed The accident occurred as workers were Mapalo Tsatsimpe, NUM coordinator for hannesburg, said that all members of the to declare a national day of mourning May descending the 7,000-foot No. 2 shaft on the Carletonville region, in a telephone in­ union held a commemoration at midday. 17. "Thirty thousand people attended the their way to work the night shift !'Aay I 0. terview. "We say management must im­ "The main demand to emerge from the rally at National Stadium in the capital," More than a mile down the shaft, a 12-ton plement all the recommendations of the Welkom rally was for full-time safety said Candi Ratabane Ramainoane in an in­ locomotive and a mine car fell down the Leon Commission. No worker should stewards," Matosa reported. Currently, the terview from Maseru. Ramainoane, the shaft, cutting the hoist cables, and causing work in a dangerous environment- a owners of various mines refuse to allow former Maseru mayor and now publisher the cage to fall more than 1,500 fe.et to the worker has a right to refuse it." full-time union safety representatives un­ of Moafrica newspaper, reported the main mine floor. Moments later the train In a May 11 statement, Mandela de­ derground. "Management has been very speakers were from the NUM. Anglo­ crashed down on top of the two-story clared that "the government commits itself difficult on this question," he said. American, and the government of Leso­ cage, compressing it to about one third its to speedily finalize the recommendations "As an organization that was put into tho. "This was a very unique meeting fo(" original size. The driver of the locomotive on mine health and safety submitted by power by the majority of the working Lesotho. Many of our people work in the leapt from the vehicle seconds before it the Leon Commission." After a May 15 people- particularly African workers South African mines," he said. "The NUM plunged down the shaft deadline for final submissions, said Man­ - the ANC will fight for safety through speaker was the one who stirred the Anglo-American is the biggest- and deJa, the Cabinet and parliament will act new legislation;" Matosa emphasized. But crowd. He pointed out that our people are wealthiest - mining company in South on it "as a matter of urgency." he added, "Mine management· is not pre­ still dying due to company -JlegJigence.'', Africa. In 1980, 30 miners were killed in a Tsatsimpe reported that up to 60,000 pared to restructure mines to where there The NUM is preparing for negotiations lift cage accident at the same gold mining workers rallied at Randfontein, traveling is complete empowennent of workers in with the South African mining companies complex, which announced profits of from mines owned by Anglo-American, the mines. We need fundamental transfor­ later this year. High on the union's list of $845 million in 1994. Dick Fisher, general Gold Fields of South Africa, and Rand mation, but there will be resistance." demands, published in a document enti­ manager of Vaal Reefs Mine, surmised Corp. ---' many of them on buses donated "Tragic as this incident may be," said a tled, "Addressing the legacy of apartheid," that the accident had been caused by the to the union for free by bus companies. COSATU statement, "it should be viewed are improved safety and health conditions, failure of safety devices designed to pre­ In Durban, the largest city in KwaZulu­ not only as a national disaster, but as a re­ along with affirmative action for black vent such shaft accidents. "It appears that Natal province, some 1,000 people at­ minder of how cheap the lives of workers miners to allow them to move into higher­ the loco went through various safety de­ tended a midday rally commemorating the are in this country .... We should bring an paying, more highly skilled jobs, and vices and jumped a rail which changed its disaster. The union movement's main em­ end to the fear that workers have every housing for black miners who, under apar­ direction and it then fell down the shaft." phasis, said COSATU regional secretary day as they go underground or to any theid, were barred from living in white Motlatsi, who went to the accident site Paulos Ngcobo in a telephone interview, other workplace that their lives count less. towns near the mines. 112 miles southwest of Johannesburg the was on workplace demonstrations. "In the that profits are the primary concern." morning of May I I, presented a different factories and workplaces in this province, All the victims in the May 10 tragedy John Hawkins is a member ofUnited Mine picture. "Nothing like that can be anything initial estimates indicate that 200,000 were black workers from Mozambique, Workers ofAmerica Local 1867. more than negligence," Motlatsi said. ''The safety mechanisms were not in place." Motlatsi described the disaster as the worst he had ever seen. "Pieces of -If YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP flesh were scattered all over as the two­ Where to lind Pathfinder books and (612) 644-6325. AUSTRALIA floor mining carriage was crushed into a distributors of tbe Militant, Perspectiva NEW JERSEY: Newark: 141 Halsey. Sydney: I 9 Terry St., Surry Hills 2010. one-floor tin box." Placing the blame for MundWI, New International, Nouvelle ln­ Mailing address: 1188 Raymond Blvd., Suite Mailing address: P.O. Box K879, Hay­ the accident squarely on Anglo-American, Jemationale, Nueva lnterntlcional and Ny 222. Zip: 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. market. NSW 2000. Tel: 02-281-3297. Motlatsi demanded that the company I ntenuJJional. NEW YORK: Albany: P. 0. Box 2357, compensate workers and their families. E.S.P. Zip: 12220. Tel: (518) 465-0585. BRITAIN London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: SE I Brooklyn: 59 4th Avenue (comer of Bergen) UNITED STATES 8LL. Tel: 071-928-7993. 'There was no safety at all' Zip: 11217. Tel: (718) 399-7257. New ALABAMA: Birmingham: Ill 21st St. Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Poslal York: 214-16 Avenue A. Mailing address: "There was no safety at all on that South. Zip: 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079. code: M4 4AA. Tel: 061-839-1766. P.O. Box 2652. Zip: 10009. Tel: (212) 388- train," said Benedict Thaba, NUM chair­ CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. person at the West Driefontein mine near 9346; 167 Charles St. Zip: 10014. Tel: (212) CANADA Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460, 366-1973. Montreal: 4581 Saint-Denis. Pos1al code: Carletonville. Reached at his workplace 380-9640. Compuserve: 74642,326. Inter­ NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: H2J 2L4. Tel: (514) 284-7369. on May 18, Thaba told the Militant, "The net: [email protected] San 2000-C S. Elm-Eugene St. Zip 27406. Tel: Toronto: 827 Bloor St. West. Postal code: gate of that shaft was open. Many miners Francisco: 3284 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (910) 272-5996. Compuserve: 75127,2153. M6G I MI. Tel: (416) 533-4324. feel there was something intentional about (415) 285-5323. Compuserve: 75604,556. OHIO: Cincinnati: P.O. Box 19484. Zip: Vancouver: 3967 Main St. Postal code: this. Everyone is waiting for the outcome CONNECTICUT: New Haven: Mailing 45219. Tel: (513) 662-1931. Cleveland: V5V 3P3. Tel: (604) 872-8343. of the inquiry." Thaba reported thousands address: P.O ..Box 16751, Baybrook Station, 1832 Euclid. Zip: 44115. Tel: (216) 861- of miners from West Driefontein, which West Haven. Zip: 06516. FRANCE 6150. shut down for the day, went to nearby FLORIDA: Miami: 137 N.E. 54th St. Paris: MBE 20 I, 208 rue de Ia Conven­ PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 Randfontein for the memorial rally. Zip: 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. tion. Postal code: 75015. Tel: (I) 47-26-58- South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215) 546-8218. The Vaal Reefs disaster comes just 21. GEORGIA: Atlanta: 803 Peachtree NE. Pittsburgh: 1103 E. Carson St. Zip 15203. weeks after the Leon Commission issued Zip: 30308. Tel: (404) 724-9759. Tel: (412) 381-9785. ICELAND a report calling for the drastic overhaul of Reykjavik: Klapparstig 26. Mailing ad­ ILLINOIS: Chicago: 545 W. Roosevelt TEXAS: Houston: 6969 Gulf Freeway, dress: P. Box 233, 121 Reykjavik. Tel: 552 mining legislation in South Africa. Con­ Rd. Zip: 60607. Tel: (312) 829-6815, 829- Suite 250. Zip: 77087. Tel: (713) 644-9066. vened in response to demands from the 5502. 7018. Peoria: P.O. Bo.x 302. Zip: 61650- UTAH: Salt Lake City: 147 E. 900 S. NUM, the commission conducted an in­ 0302. Tel: (309) 674-9441. Zip: 84111. Tel: (801 ) 355-1124. NEW ZEALAND quiry last year into safety and health con­ IOWA: Des Moines: 2105 Forest Ave. WASHINGTON, D.C.: 1802 Belmont Auckland: La Gonda Arcade, 203 Karan­ ditions in the country's coal and mineral Zip: 50311. Tel: (515) 246-8249. Rd. N.W. Zip: 20009. Tel: (202) 387-2185. gahape Road. Postal address: P.O. Box 3025. mines. This was the first such inquiry in MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 780 Tre­ Compuserve: 75407,3345. Tel: (9) 379-3075. more than 30 years. mont St. Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) 247-6772. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 1405 E. Madi­ Christchurch: 199 High St. Postal ad­ The Leon Commission has recom­ MICHIGAN: Detroit: 7414 Woodward son. Zip: 98122. Tel: (206) 323-1755. Com­ dress: P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 365-6055. mended government action to draft a new Ave. Zip: 48202. Tel: (313) 875-0100. E­ puserve: 7 4461 ,2544. SWEDEN set of Jaws regulating mining. In a 191 - mail: [email protected]. WEST VIRGINIA: Morgantown: 242 Stockholm: Vikingagatan 10 (T-bana St page report issued at the end of March the MINNESOTA: Twin Cities: 2490 Uni­ Walnut. Mailing address: P.O. Box 203. Zip: Eriksplan). Pos1al code: S-113 42. Tel: (08) commission acknowledged the validity of versity Ave. W ., St. Paul. Zip: 551 14. Tel: 26507. Tel: (304) 296-0055. 3 1 69 33. 12 The Militant May 29,1995 -GREAT SOCIETY------And worse than useless - bara newspaper ad announced "a their day was abruptly cut short 24-hour waiting period on wqmen And bow are you doing? - In "Our enemies want to stop new timely workshop for local employ­ when he was called in and fl.red. A seeking an abortion. 1994, the top dogs at major U.S. prison construction and give pris­ ers." Subject: "How to hire and company spokesman said, "The He offered an amendment to corporations "earned" an average oners more rights. They say we're fire in California without getting timing of the dismissal of Mr. make it illegal "to engage in sex­ of $883,000, up I 1 percent from overpaid and under worked." sued." Means was regrettable." ual activities that may cause the '93. conception of a child unless at In a nutshell - That Santa Dr. IQ- In the North Carolina least 24 hours prior to such activ­ Free-market medicine - In Barbara seminar was led by a legislature, Rep. Henry Aldridge ity, the man has received counsel­ India, dealers do nicely selling Harry "firing instructor" for the Ameri­ argued against abortion funding ing regarding the ramifications of kidneys bought from the impover­ can Management Assn. Sketching for low-income women. He de­ producing a child." Motion de­ ished. Now they're into stealing a firing scenario, he advised: clared that women who get raped feated. them. Ri ng "Simply announce a decision has don't get pregnant because, "the One jobless worker, at a clinic been made. Never apologize, juices don't flow, the body func­ It's the thought that counts to sell blood, was put to sleep and agree, or argue." tions don't work." -A California entrepreneur is woke up with a big incision. He marketing a pocket-size bullet­ was told the blood was drawn 'Sorry about that' - Marisa 'What's good for the - Complaint by California prison proof bible. "We wouldn't want from his waist because they Means, 8, was shook up when her goose •• .'? - In the Florida legis­ guards' "union." anyone to substitute it for a protec­ needed a lot of it. Later, when get­ dad took her to his job on Take lature, Sen. Howard Forman ar­ tive vest." he said. "But we think ting medical treatment, he learned Seize the time - A Santa Bar- Our Daughters to Work Day and gued against a move to impose a it would make an ideal gift." he was missing a kidney. Ottawa mounts campaign against Innu rights BY ROGER ANNIS The Newfoundland Supreme Court Inco, a Canadian MONTREAL-The Canadian govern­ convicted Katie Rich and two Innu col­ company and the 0 200 ment and big-business interests have leagues of contempt April 28 in Goose world's largest I km I mounted a new campaign against the Bay, Labrador. They were jailed 10 days nickel producer, is rights of the Innu people of Labrador terri­ earlier on charges that arose from a mobi­ scrambling to buy tory in eastern Canada. lization of the Innu community of Davis into development of On May I , Ottawa announced it would Inlet in December I 993. That protest ex­ the site. The Voisey continue a jet fighter low-level flight train­ pelled the Newfoundland provincial court, Bay ore is high­ ing program over Labrador. The govern­ which was notorious for handing out harsh grade and could' be ment will even increase the number of sentences to the Innu, along with the smelted at a lower flights per year, from the current 6,000 to Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). cost than at loco's 7,000 to as many as 18,000. Rich was chief at the time and helped lead existing operations The territory covered by the flights will the protest. in Ontario and Mani­ also increase. The sorties involve the air In August 1994, the community again toba. forces of Canada and several NATO al­ mobilized and repulsed a threatened The Innu and Inuit lies, including the Netherlands, Germany, RCMP invasion intended to reimpose the oppose the develop­ and Britain. court and the RCMP detachment. ment because it will The Innu are bitterly opposed because The jailing of Rich raised a storm of destroy the environ­ LABRADOR the ear-shattering sound emitted by the protest from human rights and Native In­ ment and they claim aircraft disrupts their lives and harms the dian organizations. Reacting to that pres­ title to the land. Resi­ animal and fish life on which they depend sure, the court gave the three Innu sus­ dents of Davis Inlet QUEBEC for food and their economic livelihood. pended sentences. occupied the site for They have fought for years to cancel the Rich refused an offer from the govern­ several weeks in program and their fight is winning grow­ ment after her arrest to be released from February to stop fur­ ing publicity and support. jail in exchange for recognition of the gov­ ther exploration ac­ "We 're outraged and disappointed," ernment's jurisdiction in Davis Inlet. tivity. Dozens of said Stephen Dankowich of the Interna­ Social conditions in Davis Inlet rival RCMP officers were tional Campaign for the Innu and the those of the poorest countries in the world. dispatched to back the exploration. province, administers the territory. The Earth. There is no running water or sewage treat­ Davis Inlet is located about 190 miles RCMP, Canada's federal police force, acts New 1 0efu~ratte> Party '0\e~'beY' OflPar'-' nte·ntYillere 'is· "NO regulat employment: north of Goose··Bay, the administrative under contract as the provincial force in liament Svend Robinson called the deci­ The Newfoundland government moved capital of Labrador. The government of many Canadian provinces, including sion a ''disgrace." hundreds of Innu to Davis Inlet in 1967. Newfoundland, Canada's easternmost Newfoundland. "The lnnu have been trying for many The island location cut them off from their years to persuade the government to put principal source of food and income ­ an end to existing flights," he said. "For fishing the rivers and hunting and trapping this government to now increase the wild animals. They are demanding the -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--- flights is an act of complete contempt for Canadian and Newfoundland govern­ body tried to run. I didn't make it. I tried. the Innu people." ments move the community back to the I got a couple of steps. Then I got hit." mainland but the governments have re­ TH£ Out in the street students are carrying Gov't concerned about opposition fused to help. signs. One reads, "Jackson State, Another The stakes for the government and mili­ Some 1,500 Innu live in Labrador. They Cambodia." tary in continuing the flights are consider­ are among the original inhabitants there. MILITANT able. The May 13 Toronto Globe and Mail More than 10,000 others live across north­ Publithod in tho lntorot t of tho Working Pooplo reported that Defense Minister David Col­ east Quebec. May 26,1970 Ptitc I Ot lenette will soon unveil a multi-billion­ THE MILITANT dollar package of expenditure for new mil­ Mining boom threatens Innu and Inuit JACKSON, Miss., May 17-Two NEW YOJf., H.Y. itary equipment The government is con­ The discovery last winter of huge de­ unarmed Black students were shot to cerned about opposition to such a pro­ posits of nickel, copper, and cobalt at death here by state troopers and city police May 26,1945 gram. It is currently under fire for cutting Voisey Bay on the labrador coast posed a May 14. Fourteen others were wounded. billions from education, health care, and new threat to the lnnu, and to 4,000 Inuit The murders carne on the second night of "No Meat- No Work!" This appears other social services. who live in Labrador. The site is 30 miles antiwar demonstrations at Jackson State. to be the slogan of a group of West One of the proposals being fl oated by north of Davis Inlet and 18 miles south of Police said they were answering sniper Virginia miners. According to an Asso­ Collenette calls for upgrading Canada's Nain, the principal Inuit community. fire. Students, however, report hearing no ciated Press dispatch, 200 men went on submarine fleet through a barter deal with According to a mine industry analyst, sniper fire. . strike at Earling, West Virginia, on May London. In exchange for the submarines, the site could produce the equivalent of 6 "They were trying to kill," says James 11 because there was no meat in the Ottawa would grant the British air force percent of the world's current production Meate, 19, a freshman at Jackson State. company store there. By May 17, more long-term access to the flight training cen­ of nickel. The discovery has touched off a "And they did kill. It was nothing but a than 1,000 men were out. ter in Labrador. bonanza of further exploration. massacre ....Th is is worse than Kent State. For, declared Professor Paul Cannon of They say at Kent State they killed four.and the University of Chicago at a nutritional just forgot about it. Here they killed two conference in Washington last year, and kept trying to kill more." giving hungry people what have been v~t (4 ~t ~e Jackson State, with an. enrollment of highly called "energy foods" is not more than 3,000, was closed for the enough. These so-called energy foods remainder of the school year yesterday by - breads, cereals, other cheap carbo­ administrators. Students were sent home. hydrates - will satisfy hunger Professor But angry students, with community Cannon pointed out, but they will not IIIDIIIan support, held a memorial service for the rebuild broken-do.wn tissues nor will they slain Jackson victims at the Masonic build muscles. Along with vitamins and Volume 47, the latest addttJon to the c:omplete wrffings of Temple today. More than 1,000 persons, minerals, proteins are essentials in the the founders of the modem revolutionary wo..Urs many from Jackson, marched to the cam­ diet. Proteins are the muscle-building, the movement, c:ontains Frederick Engels's c:orrespondenc:e KARL pus. They wore black armbands. Students tissue-building food. from Mardi 1883 to 1886. Of the 310 letters, more than MARX from as far away as Alabama and In an article in the May 19 Collier's, haH are published In English for the first time. fREDERK]( Louisiana attended the services. W.B. Courtney writes "there are today International Publishers. more than 600 pounds of beef cattle Volumes 1-34, 38-47 now available 44-volume set S1 ,1 00. ENG8.S Students had been demonstrating Volume 47 only $25. against the U.S. invasions of Cambodia, as grazing on the ranch lands or chomping in have students all over the country. More the feedlots and stockyards for every man, woman and child in this nation." And Available from bookstores listed on page 12, or directly from Pathfinder. than 300 students at the predominantly If ordering by mail, please enclose $3 to cover postage and hangling for Black college held a peaceful rally the that's what the miners would like - their a single volume; write for shipping costs for complete set. previous evening, May 13. 600 pounds a piece of beef! Because it's At the university hospital this after­ beef that the workers want now. Pork is P A T H F f N ll £ R, 410 W£)T )T., NEW YO~, NY 10014. noon, Leroy Kinton described the rapid the poor man 's meat. If the workers must events: "They were marching down the eat pork, they want to eat "high up on the T£L. :(212) "141-0~~0 . FAX:C212) lll-01~0 . COHPlJS£~£ : "13>21,414 street, and they stopped. They kneeled to hog"-roasts and chops, not fatback and the ground. They started shooting. Every- "chitlins." May 29,1995 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------Iran embargo Continued from front page owes Tehran billions of dollars from before the U.S.­ backed Shah was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolu­ The assassination of Malcolm X tion. "We are not asking the United States to have rela­ tions with us," Rafsanjani said. "What we are asking the A broad array of forces in. the Black community at­ Before Malcolm's death, several former members of United States is to stop its hostility against us." tended the May 6 meeting at the Apollo Theater in the Nation who had broken from it were physicaiiy at­ The Iranian president denied the allegation that Iran is Harlem that featured Louis Farrakhan and Betty tacked and some of them murdered by Nation of Islam a terrorist state bent on acquiring weapons of mass de­ Shabazz. Organized in response to government indict­ members. struction, and challenged Washington to prove it. At­ ments against Qubilah Shabazz, in the background of When Malcolm was murdered, Elijah Muhammad tempting to· answer him, U.S. State Department this meeting stood the legacy of Malcolm X and the po­ called him a hypocrite and said that "Malcolm X got just spokesman Nicholas Bums declared that it is litical repercussions of his assassination. what he preached." Malcolm separated from the Nation "objectively true to anyone who is a student of the Mid­ The only major voice of a current in the Black strug­ of Islam after learning about the corrupt personal behav­ dle East" that Tehran "has been a major supporter of ter­ gle not heard was that representing Malcolm X. The rev­ ior and hypocrisy of Muhammad, who had engaged in rorism." olutionary struggle that he dedicated his life to and its sexual relations with a number of teenage women in the This is a standard charge by White House officials, lessons for today were absent at this gathering. organization. Elijah Muhammad then organized humili­ but as one article in the Washington Post put it, the lack Farrakhan publicly acknowledged for the first time ating internal trials and suspended the women from of facts presented "has ·limited their ability to convince that "members of the Nation of Islam were involved in membership, after several had become pregnant. the public that Iran is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." the assassination of Malcolm X." He then tried to ex­ As recently as 1993, Farrakhan sought to justify Mal­ Washington does mean business with its economic plain away this admission by declaring the government colm's assassination when he said in a speech, "Was aggression against Tehran. Secretary of State Warren to be the "real culprit" who manipulated "the zeal and Malcolm your traitor or ours? And if we dealt with Christopher tried but failed last year to get other imperi­ ignorance inside the ranks of the Nation of Islam and [Malcolm] like a nation deals with a traitor, what the hell alist governments to refuse to renegotiate Tehran's among the followers of Brother Malcolm X" that created business is it of yours? ...A nation has to be able to deal debts. Nevertheless, one third of the country's projected the climate that "allowed him to be assassinated." with traitors and cutthroats and turncoats." oil revenue for this year is already slated to go for pay­ Farrakhan's efforts to put in the past and minimize the The May 6 meeting at the Apollo was Farrakhan's at­ ments on debts to banks in Japan and Europe, and the responsibility of the Nation of Islam in the assassination tempt to win credibility among Blacks who associate the figure will probably rise to 50 percent in 1996. of Malcolm X should be rejected by all supporters of the Nation with the assassination. Malcolm's growing popu­ This has helped fuel inflation of more than 120 per­ fight for Black liberation and the struggle for social jus­ larity among youth keeps this "albatross" around his cent. In the first week ~fter the embargo was imposed, tice and equality. neck. the Iranian rial plunged to its lowest value against the It is not true that Malcolm and others who left the Na­ But far from dimming the Nation's role in Malcolm's dollar since the Iranian revolution. Without a surge in oil tion of Islam and formed the Organization of African murder, Farrakhan's statements at the Apollo underline prices, there will likely not be enough foreign exchange Unity and Muslim Mosque Inc. fell into a government the politically destructive character of those who use the currency next year to cover the $10 billion in annual im­ trap that ended in the assassination of Malcolm X. methods practiced by the Nation- then, now, or in the ports of food, medicine, and other essentials that people In his speeches, interviews, and writings, Malcolm ex­ future. in Iran need. plains the moral and political factors that Jay behind his While a leading minister of the Nation of Islam in the Tehran has stepped up its oil production in a show of parting of the ways with the Nation. He openly pointed early 1960s, Malcolm's revolutionary political views defiance against the U.S. embargo. Officials of the state­ to and helped educate fighters on the role of government broadened under the impact of the struggles by Blacks owned National Iranian Oil Co. told reporters they in­ police agencies in attempts to undermine the Black and other oppressed peoples in the United States and tend to maintain production despite the sanctions, and struggle. around the world. This course diverged from that of the are not feeling any impact so far. They said, however, Any serious fighter against racism and other evils pro­ Nation, which abstained from any political activity. that they "don't know yet if there are some spare parts duced by capitalism knows the government will use During the last year of his life, Malcolm sought to ef­ that can only be bought from the U.S.," the world's lead­ spies, provocateurs, dirty tricks, and assassination to try fectively fight against racist injustice and for the human ing source of oilfield equipment. to disrupt and derail the struggle. That's a given. rights of Blacks and all the oppressed and exploited. His The Iranian government is also moving ahead on ne­ Organizations that claim to advance the struggle of the identification with revolutionary and anti-imperialist gotiations with the French oil company Total to develop oppressed and e"ploited are not helpless in the face of struggles in Vietnam, the Congo, Cuba, and Algeria ran the off-shore oilfields that U.S. rival Conoco had government disruption efforts. The leadership of every counter to the politics and actions of the Nation of Islam. planned to invest in. Washington nixed the Conoco deal such organization that claims to fight for the oppressed Malcolm sought to explain, educate, and convince the shortly before announcing the trade ban against Iran. has the responsibility to conduct itself in a manner that oppressed of their self-worth, and capacity to think, act. wi11 make the movement, its organizations, and mem­ and change the world and themselves. "You're living at bers as impervious as possible to the stock-and-trade of a time of... revolution, a time when there's got to be a secret police operations: agent-baiting, poison pen let­ change," Malcolm told students at Oxford University in ters, and the resolution of political differences by acts of Britain at a nationally televised talk in 1964. "I for one Farrakhan and thuggery, murder, and so on. will join with anyone, I don't care what color you are, as Ten weeks before Malcolm's assassination, Farrakhan long as you want to change this miserable condition that wrote in the Nation of Islam's newspaper at the time, exists on this earth." Shabazz meeting Muhammad Speaks, "Only those who wish to be led to A fitting response to Farrakhan's admission of the Na­ hell, or to their doom, will follow Malcolm." At that tion of Islam's involvement in the assassination of Mal­ Continued from Page 7 time, Farrakhan and "nearly every minister in the Nation colm X would be to grab hold of Malcolm's living had agents on both sides to manipulate the zeal and igno­ of Islam was making incendiary speeches about Mal­ legacy found in his speeches, writings, and interviews, rance inside the ranks of the Nation oflslam and among colm," explained one of those convicted in the killing of to better understand and join in the struggle for the type the followers of Brother Malcolm X to create the atmo­ Malcolm. of just and humane world he fought for. sphere that allowed him to be assassinated," he said. "Untold sums oftaxpayers' dollars were used by the FBI to hurt the legitimate movement of our people toward liberation," the Nation of Islam leader added. Farrakhan called on the government to open its files on the case. "They know that Farrakhan had nothing to do with the murder of Malcolm X," he stated. "We in the U.S. gov't escalates trade conflict Nation of Islam as well as those outside the Nation of .Islam need to know all of the truth as it relates to the U.S. president Bill Clinton's announcement that ing the pressure on Japan will give them stili more of an assassination of Brother Malcolm X." Washington will slap 100 percent tariffs on 13 automo­ edge. At the same time administration strategists are Betty .Shabazz said in a television interview with biles produced in Japan for export to the United pushing a cynical ploy to whip up support for their WNBC last year that she believed that the Nation of Is­ States- unless a deal can be worked out by June course among working people in the United States. lam was involved in the death of her husband. "Nobody 28 - is the most serious escalation of the Tokyo­ "The U.S. is not going to stand by and watch its work­ kept it a secret," she said. "It was a badge of honor. Ev­ Washington rivalry in some years. ers and its products unfairly treated," said White House erybody talked about it." The bipartisan stab at the Big Three's competitors in trade hatchet man Mickey Kantor. Since the cars on the In her opening remarks at the Apollo Theater, Japan may have unanticipated consequences. The own­ initial sanctions list all cost more than $25,000, the New Shabazz told the audience that Malcolm X had predicted ers of auto plants across the Pacific are in no mood to York Times argued the list was "more a political master­ his murder and told her, "Don't be bitter." comply, facing a profit squeeze of their own. The tariff piece than an economic one ... enabling Mr. Clinton to Returning to the government's case against Qubilah hike follows right on the heels of the administration's argue that he has punished Japan without hurting Shabazz, Farrakhan suggested a broader intrigue was in decision to slap a trade embargo on Iran, a move that is middle-class American consumers. As one of Mr. Clin­ the works against him. "I believe the entrapment of Sis­ also aimed at Japan. The U.S. government-albeit un­ ton's political advisers said in half jest the other day, 'So ter Qubilah was part of a much wider conspiracy. It was successfully so far- has put heavy pressure on imperi­ we Jose the Lexus vote in Greenwich, [Connecticut].' " supposed to lure me into a fight with Dr. . Shabazz," he alist powers, including Tokyo, to join in the assault on The projected sanctions are the latest in a series of stated. Tehran's sovereignty. This directly threatens Japan's oil trade skirmishes between the main capitalist powers. 'There is no way that the government of the United supply, since it imports 600,000 barrels per day from U.S. capitalists, wbo have gone further in the past States would commit Michael Fitzpatrick, a member of Iran. decade in driving down the price of labor power, are us­ the Jewish community, to assassinate Louis Farrakhan Governments grouped in the European Union, em­ ing the protectionist bludgeon to make sure they stay on knowing of the possible repercussions it could cause. I broiled in their own trade conflicts with Uncle Sam, took top. Japan's vehicle exports to the United States have do not believe the government wants a Caucasian to be a coo] attitude toward the Clinton sanctions. The London fallen by half since 1986, to 1.6 miliion last year. openly involved in an attempt on my assassination. daily Financial Times editors warned, "By proposing It is the working class in Japan and the United States, Their desire would be a member of our own Black fam­ measures which almost certainly violate the rules of the ultimately, that will pay a high price for the aggressive ily, preferably a Muslim or a nationalist." World Trade Organization, Washington is signaling its moves of the capitalist powers toward one another as At the end of his talk, Farrakhan promoted a national disregard for the new body before it is even properly es­ these conflicts become more virulent. That's why work­ demonstration he is organizing for Black men only. tablished," a worry that others will qualify for similar ers should reject protectionist proposals advanced by "This year Oct. 16, 1995, we propose a million-man treatment. governments, bosses, and union officials. Instead, the la­ march on Washington. We call it the 'Day of Atone­ The intended beneficiaries of the sanctions - the bor movement should organize a common movement of ment,' " he declared. "On this day of atonement we are auto bosses in the United States-are in a joyous mood. worker~ across national boundaries to fight for jobs for asking the government of America to acknowledge her Already swimming in big profits this year, they are hop- all. sins against the people. Against the struggles of poor and Black people for justice."

Correction: The article entitled, "Houston students welcome Cuban youth" in issue no. 19 reported that University of Houston chancellor Alexander Schilts wrote a letter published in the Houston Chronicle. It was published in La Informacion.

14 The Militant May 29,1995 Hospital workers rally for a decent contract This column is devoted to re­ that they are not alone. Gerald dered a new election. The porting the resistance by working McEntee of the international board said the union victory people to the employers' assault union urged workers at other hos­ was tainted by improper su­ on their living standards, working pitals to be prepared to adopt a pervision and inadequate condit.ions, and unions. striker if no agreement is reached Spanish translation at the We invite you to contribute by July I, when the current con­ polls. On the other band, the short items to this column as a tract expires. Harry Lombardo, board found that Kaolin way for other fighting workers president of Transport Workers Mushroom Farms violated around the world to read about Union Local 234, returned soli­ fair labor practices by firing and lea.rn from these important darity given during his union's re­ 11 workers during the strike. struggles. Jot down a few lines cent strike. Joe Rausch, president The board ordered that the l l about what is happening in your of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO La­ be reinstated with back pay. union, at your workplace, or other bor Council, also offered support. "The decision was half and half, but more of a tri­ umph for us," Luis Tlaseca, one of the frred workers and ON THE PICKET LINE a leader of the union organiz­ ing effort, said. The union announced it is challenging workplaces in your area, includ­ Mushroom workers fight the order for a new election ing interesting political discus­ at an April 20 news confer­ sions. for union recognition ence attended by some 35 Workers in Kennett Square, workers. Chanting, "No contract, no Pennsylvania, are continuing the "It was a clean election work!" I ,000 members of District struggle to win recognition fo~ and the decision of the work­ I 199C of the hospital employees their union at Kaolin Mushroom ers should be respected," union demonstrated May I 0 out­ Farms. With more than $30 mil­ Tlaseca insists. Union attor­ side Children's Hospital of Penn­ lion in annual sales, Kaolin Mush­ ney Arthur Read believes the sylvania in Philadelphia. After room Farms is the country's fifth­ board's order for a new elec­ three sessions at the bargaining largest mushroom producer. tion has a good chance of Shipyard workers in Brazil on strike. A nationwide strike of table the hospital is still stalling On April 11 , the Pennsylvania being reversed on appeal. 300,000 public service workers halted railways, telecommunica­ negotiations on a new contract. Labor Relations Board (PLRB) fi­ State labor law does not tions, oil refineries, federal universities, and social security services The hospital administration is nally issued its ruling on a dis­ require verbal translation across Brazil May 11. Unionists threatened to broaden the strike threatening to cut workers' pen­ puted union recognition election during a union election, only movement if demands for wage increases are not met. sions and refusing to adopt a re­ won by the Kaolin Workers Union that the ballots be presented training program that the union by a vote of 124-102 on May 27, in the appropriate languages. has won at other city hospitals. 1993. That vote took place after a In this case they were. The charge the strike, implying that known other union supporters be rein­ ·'The hospital has been u~ing 30-day strike during which the of improper supervision applies to union supporters could not be as­ stated with back pay." sick children to gain the public's ·mainly Mexican workers won one incident in the first five min­ sured they would still have jobs Tlaseca is eager for a chance to sympathy against the workers," a support from area unions and the utes of voting. The incident could after returning from visits with return to his job, but said, "We hospital employee told the Mili­ Philadelphia Central Labor Coun­ not have affected the union's mar­ their families in Mexico. plan to continue our struggle to tant. cil. With the help of churches and gin of victory, especially if the "Kaolin has also increased pay organize our union for the work­ ''They have all kinds of ma­ organizations in the Asian com­ votes of the 11 reinstated workers by 5 cents per basket [of 16 ers any way we can." chines to operate on little babies; munity, the farm workers also par­ were to be taken into account. pounds) each year since the strike. now it's the workers out here get­ ried an attempt to continue pro­ Tlaseca says a new election at Meanwhile, he's gotten an injunc­ Contributors to this week's col­ ting operated on," a union spokes­ duction with Cambodian and this point would stack things in tion prohibiting leaders of the umn include: Erin Forbes, a Tem­ person told the crowd. Vietnamese replacement workers. favor of the boss. "He has put con­ Kaolin Workers Union from go­ ple University student and mem­ The rally showed that the The PLRB ruling was contra­ siderable pressure on the many ing near the plant and appealed ber of the Young Socialists, and unionists are ready to fight and dictory. On the one hand it or- new workers he bas hired since the PLRB order that myself and Pete Seidman in Philadelphia.

--LETTERS------~~~ Observations on Cuba police Steve Sharp to a rally excess of the 1960s and '70s, Here are two quotes from organizer in which he told especially the government's Cubans that encapsulate the con­ her if there was going to be a infiltration and disruption of tinuing revolutionary conscious­ protest he wanted to "nip it in antiwar, Black liberation, and ness of most of the friends and the bud" before it happened. other groups through the noto­ acquaintances we have made over The organizer responded to rious FBI Cointelpro program. the years on our annual holiday in Sharp by telling him he had If anyone reading this thinks: Cuba. no say in whether or not a "But I don't belong to any of A cigar worker: ·'You know, in protest would occur. those groups!" think again. In Cuba, we don't work for me and At the police station the the future, you may wish to my family; we work for all of us protesters were able to con­ join a group opposing tax in­ and then we share in what we've front Sharp. Sharp stated that creases, unemployment, dis­ got. For instance, if I need a heart the police department was crimination, or promoting any transplant l get it all free. And as doing all it could in the case, good cause. The FBI may well for education, three of my chil­ but also the woman who was be there with you - as it was dren have a university education raped by four men made poor in the 1970's - to destroy -all free." choices that led to her rape. your newspapers, foment per­ A tourist guide: ''Yes we have This statement brought im­ sonality conflicts, initiate poverty in Cuba. But we do not mediate cries of "Shame!" break-away groups, blacklist have misery. Misery is poverty and "How dare you say such your members, and worse. without dignity. And we have dig­ a thing!" along with boos and All reasonable people op­ nity." hissing directed at Sharp. One events. Without it I would become prisoners for a subscription. I have pose the heinous crime committed And the Canadian engineer do­ protester commented that Sharp, as ill-inforined as a man trapped been unable to get the prison li­ in Oklahoma. And the govern­ ing oil prospecting in Cuba: ''The "really proved where his sympa­ and lost on an island, thus cut brary to subscribe to the Militant, ment already has plenty of power Cuban government has a reputa­ thies are.'' completely off from the rest of the however hopefully after obtaining to investigate and find criminals. tion for scrupulously carrying out After confronting Sharp many world. This is how I feel when re­ a back issue maybe I can then sell But under the impetus of the new any agreements they have made, protesters went to People's Park in lying on CNN, ABC, NBC, Time other inmates on the paper, in an fear, we should not allow politi­ whether verbal or written, which downtown Bloomington to join a magazine, Newsweek, "60 Min­ effort we can pool our resources. cians to take away our bard-won is rare in Latin America. And they rally of more than I 00 people, utes," "20/20'' and the rest of the A prisoner civil liberties-even if we have don't take bribes." mainly high school-aged stu­ capitalists' own information cen­ Beaumont, Texas no immediate plans to use them! Your excellent coverage very dents, who were protesting a ters - or rather - misinforma­ Let's keep the rights we have. much coincides with what we March 23 incident in which tion centers. As this letter greets you with Albert Fried-Cassorla have observed in Cuba. Bloomington police surrounded The $10 enclosed herewith is the highest form of respect, I hope Melrose Park, Pennsylvania Bea Bryant the park and without a warrant il­ not a lot of money, but please sign that this finds you maintaining the Blenheim, Ontario legally searched the youth gath­ me up for as many Militants as it struggle for freedom, justice, and The Militant receives many re­ ered in the park. This rally comes can buy me. peace. I am a prisoner that is con­ quests from readers behind bars. Protesting police actions on the heels of an April 16 protest A prisoner fined in the belly of the beast T he Militant Prisoner Subscrip· The youth and students of in which people marched through Graterford, Pennsylvania (hole) and on death row. I am tion Fund makes it possible to Bloomington, Indiana, are now downtown Bloomington to the po­ writing this letter requesting that send reduced-rate subscriptions saying "enough" to the growing lice station to demand justice. At I have enjoyed reading your pa­ you please place my name on your to prisoners who can't pay for number of incidents of police ha­ both the rally and the march there per for many years now. I am mailing list to receive your news­ them. To help us respond to re­ rassment and misconduct by the were calls for punishment of the · presently incarcerated at Pelican paper as soon as possible. quests for subscriptions please Bloomington Police Department. officers involved in the search and Bay state prison. I am writing to A prisoner send your contribution to the Mil­ On April 29, 60 people marched the firing of the chief of police, you requesting to be placed on Camp Hill, Pennsylvania itant Prisoner Subscription Fund, from the Monroe County court­ Steve Sharp. your list for indigent prisoners to 410 West SL, New York, NY house to the Bloomington police Tom Alter receive your paper, anything you Defend civil liberties 10014. station to protest an April 23 Bloomington, Indiana can do to help me in the above In the rush to fight terrorism The letters column is an open gang-rape case where the pollee will be well appreciated. with expanded police powers, forum for aU viewpoints on sub­ refused to believe the woman that Letters from prisoners A prisoner U.S. working people have much jects of general interest to our she was raped and did not collect I don't have a lot of money, but Crescent City, California to lose. By granting broader au- readers. Please keep your letters the majority of the evidence in­ ignorance will always be more ex­ thority to the FBI and other agen- brief. Where necessary they will volved. pensive than education. For many I am writing to obtain a copy of cies, the stage will again be set for be abridged. Please indicate if you This protest went off despite a years now the Militant has been a back issue of the Militant, and to disruption of political groups. prefer that your initials be used call from Bloomington chief of my mentor regarding world also obtain the subsidized cost for None of us should forget the rather than your full name. May 29, 1995 The Militant 15 TH£ MILITANT Kashmiris demand: India out now! BY GREG ROSENBERG New Delhi slapped a 24-hour curfew on "Azad Kashmir! (Free Kashmir)" the area. But throughout the valley, cops shouted women in the charred town of fired bullets and tear gas at protesters who Charar Sharif- the scene of a devastat­ defied it. In Srinagar, troops did not even ing inferno provoked by the Indian army allow residents to open their windows, os­ May9. tensibly to protect two federal ministers The burning of more than 1,000 houses visiting the region. and shops in the town galvanized new op­ Abdul Ghani Lone, a prominent oppo­ position to India's bloody rule over nent of the Indian occupation, said sol­ Kashmir- a territory of 7.8 million peo­ diers beat him on the head with the butt of ple, and the only Indian state with a Mus­ a gun as he attempted to walk through po­ lim majority. Tens of thousands joined in lice lines to visit the burning town. As protests to angrily denounce the army's Lone was being interviewed by the press, actions. ''India get out!" demanded the troops arrested him and dragged him to a forn1er residents of the town, some 18 police wagon. miles from the summer capital of Srinagar. Despite New Delhi's claims that the "Indian killers go home!" guerrillas in the town had set the fire, area The events in Charar Sharif delivered a residents were adamant that the army was fresh political crisis to the Congress Party to blame. Some reported army helicopters government of Indian prime minister P. V. hovering above the area dropping ord­ Narasimha Rao. nance just prior to the blaze. Kashmir lies in the foothills of the tow­ At least 20,000 people have died in the ering Hindu Kush and Himalayan moun­ Kashmir conflict over the past five years tain ranges, bordering Pakistan, India, and -the vast majority slain by the Indian China. Kashmir's Muslim majority has army, cops, or special hit squads. Accord­ waged a decades-long battle for self­ Protests rocked Kashmir after burning of town. Thousands ignored 24-hour curfew ing to Amnesty International, 715 people determination from New Delhi. This battle decreed by New Delhi. Above, police arrest two people alleged to have thrown stones. have been tortured or shot to death while expanded into civil war in 1990, when ris­ in government custody since 1990. ing worker and peasant protests convinced More than 14,400 Kashmiris have been New Delhi to dissolve the state govern­ plosive of several battles for national ishly intone the mantra that India is "the detained under New Delhi's notorious ment and rule by fiat. rights throughout India, and the Indian world's biggest democracy." Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act The Kashmiri fight for self- capitalist families need it kept in check to "On May 12, the army allowed nearly (TADA), while only 30 have been charged determination has its roots in British colo­ prevent a victory from inspiring fighters 100 foreign and Indian journalists to sur­ with any offense. T ADA gives cops the nial rule on the Indian subcontinent, the for self-determination from Punjab in the vey the valley," wrote Shiraz Sidhva in the powers to arrest someone as a terrorist for resulting partition of India and Pakistan in west to Assam in the east. May 15 Financial Times. "A few shots carrying a pocketknife and hold political 1947, and the desire oflndia's ruling fam­ were fired and a building in the valley opponents in jail without charges­ ilies to keep the possession in their grip. 12,000 troops vs. SO fighters went up in flames in perfect timing for the sometimes for years. The rival capitalist regime in Pakistan Some 12,000 Indian troops surrounded TV cameras. The army displayed the bod­ "It is not a law, it is a tool of absolute - which occupies one third of Kashmir Cbarar Sharif over the past 10 weeks in an ies of five militants, who they said were repression," said Ravi Nair, director of the - lays claim to the rest of it. Islamabad attempt to corner about 50 armed oppo­ foreign nationals. New Delhi-based South Asia Human and New Delhi have fought three wars nents of New Delhi's occupation. As the "But later, when some journalists, in­ Rights Documentation Center. Students since 1947, and in 1990 came to the brink Indian army moved in May 9 and gun bat­ cluding this correspondent, returned to protesting high milk prices, landless peas­ of nuclear exchanges following rising tles broke out, a fire swept through the Alamdar Basti, near Chrar-e-Sharief, the ants demanding rights, and farmers seek­ protests in Kashmir. town, which at one time was home to bodies had been brought to an open field ing lower electricity prices for their village As justification for its hold on Kashmir, 25,000 people. Most of the residents had beside a road," Sidhva wrote. "Villagers have been arrested under T ADA. Some 80 successive Congress Party governments fled earlier. Among the structures de­ wept over the corpses and said they were percent of those arrested under T ADA in have painted the self-determination strug­ stroyed was a mosque housing the 15th local people, not foreigners." Nearly 30 three of India's largest states are Muslims; gle as a Pakistani aggression, complete century mausoleum of Nooruddin W ali, corpses have been recovered so far. only 13 percent of India's population is with charges of "Muslim ' militancy" and the patron saint of Kashmir. The Indian government maintains at Muslim. terrorism. While some armed formations The Indian army was quick to blame least 300,000 troops in Kashmir- about fighting Indian troops favor annexation to "Muslim militants" for the fire. In a May one soldier for every 25 people living in Crisis for Congress Party Pakistan, a majority of Kashmiris simply 15 speech to Parliament, Rao declared the the region. New Delhi rapidly swung its Attempting to deflect mounting criti­ want independence. fire to be the work of "militants from Pak­ military machine into action in a vain at­ cism of its conduct in Kashmir, the Rao New Delhi has continuously ignored istan." Army commanders offered profuse tempt to quash protests that swept the re­ government quickly blamed Islamabad for United Nations calls for a plebiscite on in­ explanations of their version of the events, gion. the blaze. Internal Security Minister Ra­ dependence. Rao scheduled state elections but prevented reporters from getting closer Police opened fire on a large crowd that jesh Pilot warned, "Pakistan should not in Kashmir for next month to take the heat than one mile from Charar Sharif for sev­ gathered to protest the inferno May 11 in test the patience of this country." off his government. But after the burning eral days after the blaze. central Srinagar, killing two people. At The Kashmir debacle brought immedi­ of Charar Sharif, senior Indian officials New Delhi's heavy-handed censorship Chadoora, near Charar Sharif, police at­ ate calls for Rao's resignation. The ultra­ proclaimed the plan ·'dead in the water." was too much even for reporters for the tempted to shut down a march of 20,000 rightist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), The Kashmiri conflict is the most ex- big-business press, who are prone to slav- protesters. whose followers razed the Ayodhya mosque in 1992, resulting in mass riots throughout India, blamed Rao and the Pakistani regime. "The nation will never Auckland cops target thousands for DNA forgive the government for failing to pre­ vent the militants and mercenaries coming BY JAMES ROBB have been pulled over in their cars on the would allow police to obtain a court order across the border from Pakistan to enter AUCKLAND. New Zealand- A po­ pretext of traffic violations, and then authorizing ·them to use force to obtain a the holy shrine, burn it, and get away," lice dragnet operation in which thousands asked to give a sample. blood sample. said Krishna LaI Sharma, BJP general sec­ of men have been pressured to give blood While most of the thousands of people This aspect of the bill has been criti­ retary. samples for DNA testing has widened a approached in this way have consented to cized by the Medical Association, the Pri­ Prominent officials of his own party debate over mandatory DNA testing here. be tested, some who have refused report vacy Commissioner, a committee of the also called for Rao to step down. The The police operation is being conducted serious harassment. One man has laid a Auckland District Law Society, and the prime minister's political fortunes have in the name of an effort to catch the complaint with the Police Complaints Au­ Council for Civil Liberties. The coordina­ waned following state elections earlier this ··south Auckland serial rapist." There has thority, saying that after he refused to give tor of Rape Crisis, Toni All wood, said the year in which the Congress Party was been extensive publicity in the news me­ a blood sample, he was visited a~ home bill overturns several traditional principles trounced. In four of the largest states - dia recently of the fact that since I 988 several times by the police. His mother, of law, including the presumption of inno­ Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kamataka, and there have been more than 30 unsolved father, wife, and employer were also vis- . cence until proven guilty, and the right not Andhra Pradesh -Congress candidates rapes of women and young girls reported ited. to give self-incriminating evidence. were badly outvoted, and the party now in the working-class suburbs of South Prominent criminal lawyers have pub­ In a written submission to Parliament retains power in only 8 of India's 26 Auckland. licly criticized the police "investigation." on the bill, the national collective of Rape states. In Gujarat and Maharashtra, the Many of these rapes have taken place in The president of the Auckland Criminal Crisis groups suggested that instead of us­ BJP and its ultraright ally Shiv Sena tri­ very similar circumstances, in the victims' Bar Association, Isaac Koya. warned that ing force to collect blood samples, refusal umphed. own homes. The police say that DNA men who were asked for blood samples in should carry a penalty of a fine or jail The Kashmir events promise to deepen samples taken from the rape victims indi­ this way should refuse to give one. Con­ term. The refusal could be used as evi­ opposition to Congress that has crystal­ cate that at least 13 of these attacks have demning the police methods as unjusti­ dence for the related case, the statement lized around Rao's austerity measures, been carried out by the same individual. fied, he said there was no guarantee of said. · which are aimed in part at attracting for­ The rapist is described as a slim Maori or what would happen to any sample once The bill also provides for the creation of eign capital. "The trouble with India's Pacific Islander, age 25 to 40. the serial rapist inquiry team had finished a national databank of DNA profiles of in­ economic reforms has always been their Recently it was revealed that the special with it. dividuals tested in the course of police in­ lack of appeal to the poor who make up police squad set up to catch the rapist has There is at present no legal obligation vestigations, including, in some circum­ the bulk of the population," lamented a re­ been visiting shopping centers and other for anyone to provide a blood sample to stances, those who have not been con­ cent Financial Times article. public places in the area, and approaching police for DNA testing. The government victed of any crime. New Delhi has promised $5 million to anyone who fits that description. The is trying to change that, however. The rebuild some of Charar Sharif. Muslim or­ .. suspect" is then pressured to give a blood Criminal Investigations (Blood Samples) James Robb is a member of the Meat ganizations rejected the offer, saying they sample for DNA testing. Many others Bill, which is currently before Parliament, Workers Union in Auckland. will raise the funds for reconstruction.

16 The Militant May 29,1995