U.S. Troops in Iraq Launch Brutal Assault
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· AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Young Socialists: Build U.S. Social Forum! — PAGE 4 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 71/NO. 26 July 2, 2007 Interest wide Protesters U.S. troops in Iraq in U.S. Social condemn Forum ‘la migra’ raid launch brutal assault in Atlanta in Oregon With blessing from U.S. Congress, BY Lisa POTasH BY EDWIN FRUIT Pentagon completes military escalation ATLANTA—Activists throughout AND CHRis HOEPPNER this city are significantly stepping up their PORTLAND, Oregon, June 16— efforts to build the U.S. Social Forum. About 160 Immigration and Custom The political gathering, which organiz- Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the ers expect will draw at least 10,000 from Fresh Del Monte Produce plant here across the United States, as well as Africa, four days ago and arrested 167 work- Asia, Europe, and Latin America, will ers. La migra also raided two offices take place here June 27–July 1. of American Staffing Resources, the The slogan of the event is “Another temporary agency that hires workers world is possible; another U.S. is neces- for Fresh Del Monte. sary.” Atlanta was chosen as host, in Some 70 people protested against part, because it is one of the cities where the raid today outside the Northwest thousands of working people, in their Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash- majority Black, came to flee Hurricane ington, where the arrested workers Katrina and the social catastrophe that are detained. followed. Facing off 10 members of the Min- Fanning out across the city to build the utemen, a rightist vigilante group that forum, teams are leafleting and posting opposes legalization of undocumented fliers in working-class neighborhoods immigrants, protesters chanted, “Stop Getty Images/Chris Hondros like College Park. In April, 500 people the raids! Stop the deportations!” and U.S. warplanes bomb palm fields in Baghdad June 17 as a Humvee blocks the highway. marched through that suburb as part of “¡Sí, se puede!” (Yes, we can.) The next day, 10,000 U.S. troops launched a major offensive in nearby Baquba. the funeral procession for Ron Pettaway, Militant reporters visited the plant BY saM MANueL forces and Sunni-led militias associ- a young African American who was here this weekend and talked to work- WASHINGTON, June 19—The U.S. ated with the former Saddam Hussein killed by Fulton County police. Other ers, as well as to people in nearby military unleashed a major offensive regime around the city of Baquba, the targeted areas include the West End, one neighborhoods. involving 10,000 U.S. troops northeast capital of Diyala province. of the historic Black communities here, Normally, about 600 people work of Baghdad yesterday. The military Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which Continued on page 4 Continued on page 9 says its objective is to destroy al-Qaeda Continued on page 3 Atlanta rally: ‘End cruel, unusual Day laborers in N.Y. town win punishment of young Black man’ hiring hall in Black church Georgia Atty. General appeals judge’s release order BY RÓGER CALERO BY BILL ARTH that charge for engaging in consensual MAMARONECK, New York, June ATLANTA, June 14—About 200 sex with a 15-year-old girl from his high 19—The Village of Mamaroneck Board people gathered on the steps of the State school when he was 17. of Trustees ratified a settlement June 11 Capitol here today to demand freedom for On June 11, a Monroe County superior that prohibits “police misconduct and Genarlow Wilson, a 21-year-old African court judge ruled that Wilson’s sentence discriminatory behavior towards day American. violated the state constitution as cruel and laborers,” including banning routine Wilson has served more than two years unusual punishment. The judge changed police inquiry into the immigration sta- of a 10-year prison sentence, without Wilson’s felony conviction to a misde- tus of these workers. The decision came the possibility of parole, for aggravated meanor, resentenced him to 12 months, on the heels of a victory in a lawsuit by child molestation. He was convicted on Continued on page 4 day laborers against town officials and police for discriminating against them when they gather on street corners to SWP National Committee honors life look for work. The settlement of the lawsuit includes Militant/Róger Calero of Cuban communist leader Vilma Espín Day laborers in Mamaroneck, New York, payment of $550,000 for legal fees to learn English June 19 while waiting for The following is a message to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the attorneys who represented the work- Cuba sent June 20 by Jack Barnes, the national secretary of the Socialist Workers jobs at Strait Gate Church, which has a ers. After the agreement, the day labor- Party, on behalf of the SWP National Committee. majority Black congregation. The church ers established a hiring hall at a local now serves as hiring hall for day laborers, Dear Comrades, church in the Black community, a rare most of them Latino immigrants. The National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party joins you in paying high- occurrence. est tribute to Vilma Espín Guillois. A courageous leader of the clandestine struggle, “The court upheld the fact that immi- who along with Frank País set an example for all, and an outstanding combatant grants have protection from harassment Also Inside: of the Rebel Army, Vilma was part of the generation of leaders forged in the and discrimination,” said Cesar Perales, battles that led to the revolutionary victory over the U.S.-backed Batista tyranny. ‘Honeymoon is over,’ many president and general counsel of the That triumph opened the socialist revolution in the Americas and transformed Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educa- liberals say about Democrats 2 world politics forever. The political leadership of women in that revolutionary tion Fund. The group filed the suit on struggle, exemplified by Vilma, was the weightiest of any popular revolution the Closing of TV station world has yet known. behalf of six day laborers in April 2006. Last November, federal judge Colleen by Venezuelan gov’t sparks Vilma’s decades-long leadership of the Federation of Cuban Women—which, polarized mobilizations 3 together with the party she helped lead, fought for the conquests won by the McMahon ruled that town officials had revolution in the struggle for women’s emancipation—sets a lasting example for “engaged in a campaign designed to drive the workers movement worldwide. out the Latino day laborers.” She ordered Australian gov’t steps up Her political contributions, in deed and in word, will be emulated by revolution- the two sides to settle. intervention in Philippines 5 ary-minded working people and youth, both women and men, in the sharpening “We are not under the anxiety of a struggles against the imperialist world order we all see approaching. This is the cop or a neighbor harassing us,” Diego UN committee: ‘Puerto Rico highest honor we can pay her. Durán, 60, originally from Venezuela, has right to self-determination’ 6 s/Jack Barnes Continued on page 9 for the SWP National Committee ‘Honeymoon is over,’ many Minneapolis event honors Ernesto Che Guevara liberals say about Democrats BY sam manuel posted on his web site a letter from WASHINGTON, June 13—A flurry Cindy Sheehan explaining why she of news articles and editorials in lib- could not support Clinton’s presiden- eral publications expressing “disap- tial bid. Sheehan has since announced pointment” at Congress’s approval of her departure from the peace move- $100 billion for Washington’s wars ment, explaining she came under harsh in Afghanistan and Iraq highlight the attacks by Democrats and their hang- demoralization of many on the left ers-on after condemning their prowar who had hoped the Democrats could stance along with the Republicans. be nudged toward ending the war. Sheehan had staged sit-ins at Hillary Many liberals are also disheartened at Clinton’s office to protest the senator’s the Democrats’ failure to pass hardly support for the Iraq war. any of their highly publicized social “Beyond ending the war,” the Nation spending bills in the “first 100 hours” said, “Democrats were elected because since they assumed majority control in of popular rejection of corporate trade Militant/Christian Villarroal MINNEAPOLIS—More than 50 people participated in a discussion here June 14 both the U.S. House of Representatives policies and the stench of corruption on the topic, “Che Lives: The Cuban Revolution Today and the Importance of Che’s and Senate. in Washington. Tom DeLay is gone, Ideas for Latin America and the World Today.” Presentations on the revolutionary “The Honeymoon Is Over,” was the but the corporate lobbies just reloaded contributions of Ernesto Che Guevara were given by Jesús “Chucho” García, the headline of an editorial in the June 18 with Democrats.” founder of the Afro-Venezuelan Network; Yasmin Tovar, a leader of the Minnesota issue of the Nation, a liberal magazine. The editorial noted that senators Venezuela Committee; and Tom Baumann from the Young Socialists. “The slim Democratic majority in both from both parties came together —REBECCA WILLIAMSON Houses is not a progressive majority,” to “deep-six” efforts to authorize the editorial said. Medicare to negotiate lower prescrip- John Walsh, a frequent contributor tion-drug prices. Two bills that would in the federal minimum wage in a a time line to redeploy U.S. troops in to Counter Punch—a liberal newslet- remove a requirement that reproduc- decade. Iraq out of combat roles.