• FIFA e imperialismo • ¡Liberen a Oscar! • EUA y Haití 12 WW PHOTO: CHERYL LABASH

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 57, No. 24 June 18, 2015 $ 1 CUBA: Blockade not over 10 End war in Ukraine! Washington backs bombing on Russian border

By Greg Butterfield

June 8 — Ukraine’s far-right government, backed by Washington, launched a new military offensive against the independent Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Repub- lics on the night of June 2 through June 3. The Donbass people’s militia responded quickly, first sending Kiev’s forces scurrying in panic and then dig- ging in for the hard battle for control of Marinka, a city southwest of Donetsk’s capital, against a Ukrainian mil- itary increasingly funded by the U.S. and armed with NATO weaponry. “In the course of [the June 3] fighting and shelling of Marinka and suburban areas of Donetsk, 15 to 20 civil- ians were killed and dozens injured,” military analyst Colonel Cassad reported on his blog. “Overall, this is the bloodiest day of the war since the end of the battle of Debaltsevo, when the Ukrainian Army suffered huge losses trying to escape.” Donetsk Deputy Defense Minister Eduard Basurin reported that 20 militia were killed and 100 wounded. Meanwhile, some 400 Ukrainian troops were killed, said Donetsk head Alexander Zakharchenko. Sixty piec- es of Ukrainian military equipment were destroyed, in- cluding four artillery batteries. (Dan-News.info, June 5) Though initially centered near Marinka, fighting has now spread across the entire “contact line” between Ukraine and the Donbass republics — the buffer zone established by the Minsk 2 ceasefire agreement of ­February. The latest attack by the Kiev junta of oligarchs, neo- liberal politicians and fascists comes after a month of steadily growing ceasefire violations by the Ukrainian military, mostly through indiscriminate shelling of civil- ian targets — including the destruction of the home of 11-year-old Katya Tuv in Gorlovka on May 26. Katya and her father were killed; her young brother was injured; her mother Anna was gravely wounded, losing her arm. the war and extending sanctions against the Russian Federation. Warnings ignored The embattled people of Donbass, the primarily Rus- DETROIT It was from the vicinity of Marinka that Ukrainian sian-speaking mining region formerly part of southeast- occupation forces launched many deadly artillery at- ern Ukraine, took to the streets in late May to protest Fighting foreclosures 5 tacks targeting Gorlovka, Donetsk city, and other resi- Kiev’s continuing war crimes. They recognized that the dential areas. Tuv murders were the beginning of a new phase of the For weeks, the anti-fascist militias in Donetsk and war that began in April 2014 and has officially claimed Lugansk had warned of the quickening buildup of Kiev’s 6,400 lives — but far more by most estimates. military forces in the region, including heavy weaponry The corporate media ignored all the warnings, while expressly forbidden by the ceasefire agreement. U.S. State Department officials denied Kiev’s continu- LGBTQ Pride Month And for weeks, political leaders of Donbass shouted ous violations of the ceasefire. to the world that new provocations would likely coin- On cue, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko ad- cide with a major meeting of the European Union pow- dressed the Rada (parliament) June 5, claiming that ers, timed to help Washington get its way with pursuing CAITLYN JENNER Continued on page 9 Welcome Subscribe to Workers World BALTIMORE editorial 10 n 4 weeks trial $4 n 1 year subscription $30 Assembly on police violence 7 WW PHOTO: KRIS HAMEL Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program workers.org/articles/donate/supporters_/ Name ______GREECE Email ______Phone______Down with austerity 11 Street ______

City / State / Zip ______Michigan plaintiffs in marriage equality case, Jayne Rowse Workers World 212-627-2994 8 (left) and April DeBoer, with their four children at Motor City 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl, NY, NY 10011 workers.org YEMEN Pride, June 7. See page 4. Page 2 June 18, 2015 workers.org

PHOTOS: POWLESS Canadian May 31 march. genocide  In the U.S. The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears ...... 3 condemned ‘Texas Rising’: TV mini-series hides slavocracy ...... 3 Motor City Pride: The fight is not over ...... 4 Pride weekend in Buffalo ...... 4 By G. Dunkel Assata Shakur mural removed ...... 4 Beginning in 1820 and continuing until the 1980s On the picket line ...... 5 in some provinces, Canada had an explicit policy of Oil strike not quite over ...... 5 erasing the culture, languages and religion of Indig- Detroiters demand: Stop mass tax foreclosures ...... 5 enous nations — First Nation, Métis and Inuit — by Walk-ins protest proposed education cuts ...... 5 taking children from their parents and placing them in foster homes or residential schools. Workers World and FIST at Left Forum ...... 6 The government seized 150,000 children, of whom at foundland after the Norse left L’Anse aux Meadows African-American and Palestine liberation ...... 6 least 6,000 died and thousands suffered physical and around 1000 C.E. Baltimore people’s assembly a resounding success . . . 7 sexual abuse. The Catholic Church had a major hand in They had very antagonistic relations with the Euro- Organizer’s car shot up in Baltimore ...... 7 running these schools. Some leaders of Idle No More, a pean-origin fisher folk who began to settle Newfound- Oakland police take another young Black life ...... 7 militant Indigenous rights group in Canada, have called land in the 17th century, with raids going back and Festival honors Frank McQueen ...... 7 on the Catholic pope to personally apologize for the forth. The Beothuks generally lost in any physical con- church’s crimes. frontation due to the superior arms of the Europeans.  Around the world The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up by They were gradually driven off the coast, where they the Conservative-led national government in 2007, re- caught fish and seals that were an important part of End war in Ukraine! ...... 1 leased its report of this program June 2. Thousands of their diet, into the interior where they starved. Canadian genocide condemned ...... 2 people, mainly First Nation and their supporters, as well The 2015 book “Unsettling Canada” presents a sum- Can U.N. talks bring peace to Yemen? ...... 8 as contingents of Métis and Inuit, marched from Gatin- mary of the conditions Indigenous people face today in eau, Quebec, across the Ottawa River into Ottawa, the Canada: “Along with suffering all of the calamities of Attacks turn away medical volunteers ...... 8 Canadian capital, on May 31. To the demonstrators, the life that hit the poor with greater impact, our lives are Mass protest confronts G7 summit ...... 9 publication of the TRC report officially acknowledged seven years shorter than the lives of non-Indigenous Criminal blockade of Cuba still in force ...... 10 Canada’s policy of “cultural genocide,” which lasted for Canadians. Our unemployment rates are four times Down with Greek austerity: Let the bankers pay! . . . . 11 160 years. higher. The resources to educate our children are only Melissa Mollen-Dupuis, one of the founders of Idle No a third of what is spent on non-Indigenous children.  Editorial More, gave an interview June 7 to the French TV channel Our youth commit suicide at a rate five times higher.” TV5, pointing out that Indigenous people had long known (page 8) Welcome, Caitlyn ...... 10 about this cultural genocide. They lived it; they felt it and Canada’s economy heavily depends on resource ex- its effects. But the question was: What would be the effect traction. Indigenous peoples, while only 4.3 percent  Noticias en Español of the TRC report on the broader Canadian public? of all Canadians, are the majority in two territories: Departamento de Justicia, FIFA e imperialismo . . . . . 12 Mollen-Dupuis also said there had been “physical” Nunuvut and Northwest Territories, which make up En Nueva York en una sola voz: ¡Liberen a Oscar! . . . . 12 genocide. Canada has had a number of “physical” exter- most of northern Canada. Indigenous peoples are of- EUA a Haití: Sin dinero, no hay elecciones ...... 12 minations — the clearest and most complete being the ten the majority in smaller areas in provinces like Brit- extinction of the Beothuks in 1829. This occurred in ish Columbia and in territories like the Yukon. These Newfoundland, which at that time was not part of Cana- majorities give physical weight to the legal and polit- da but was part of British North America. ical demands Indigenous peoples are making, which Workers World The Beothuks were a First Nation people, related to are well documented in “Unsettling Canada” and on 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. the Mik’maks of eastern Canada, who developed in New- www.idlenomore.ca. New York, N.Y. 10011 Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.workers.org Vol. 57, No. 24 • June 18, 2015 Closing date: June 9, 2015 Editor: Deirdre Griswold Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Who we are & what we’re fighting for Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead; Web Editor Gary Wilson Production & Design Editors: Coordinator Lal Roohk; Hate capitalism? Workers World Party fights for a ­degrading people because of their nationality, sexu- Andy Katz, Cheryl LaBash ­socialist society — where the wealth is socially owned al or gender identity or disabilities — all are tools the and production is planned to satisfy human need. This ruling class uses to keep us apart. They ruthlessly su- Copyediting and Proofreading: Sue Davis, Keith Fine, outmoded capitalist system is dragging down workers’ per-exploit some in order to better exploit us all. WWP Bob McCubbin living standards while throwing millions out of their builds unity among all workers while supporting the Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, jobs. If you’re young, you know they’re stealing your right of self-determination. Fighting oppression is a Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel, K. Durkin, Fred Goldstein, future. And capitalism is threatening the entire planet working-class issue, which is confirmed by the many Martha Grevatt, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, with its unplanned, profit-driven stranglehold over the labor struggles led today by people of color, immi- Berta Joubert-Ceci, Terri Kay, Cheryl LaBash, means of production. grants and women. Milt Neidenberg, John Parker, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Workers built it all — it belongs to society, not to a WWP has a long history of militant opposition to im- Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac handful of billionaires! But we need a revolution to perialist wars. The billionaire rulers are bent on turning Mundo Obero: Redactora Berta Joubert-Ceci; make that change. That’s why for 56 years WWP has back the clock to the bad old days before socialist revo- Ramiro Fúnez, Teresa Gutierrez, Donna Lazarus, been building a revolutionary party of the working lutions and national liberation struggles liberated terri- Carlos Vargas class inside the belly of the beast. tory from their grip. We’ve been in the streets to oppose Supporter Program: Coordinator Sue Davis We fight every kind of oppression. Racism, sexism, every one of imperialism’s wars and aggressions. Copyright © 2014 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium Contact a Workers World Party branch near you: workers.org/wwp without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly National Office Bay Area Cleveland Houston Pittsburgh except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl. 1305 Franklin St. #411 P.O. Box 5963 P.O. 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[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] New York, N.Y. 10011. workers.org June 18, 2015 Page 3 The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears By Dolores Cox westward for white settlers and for ev- treaties. They signed in order to appease trol. As a result, the white population was er-enlarging cotton fields. the government in the hopes of retaining given ownership to 25 million acres of sto- A grassroots campaign to remove Pres- In justifying his relocation policy to some of their land, or to protect them- len land, which subsequent generations of ident Andrew Jackson’s portrait from the Congress, Jackson stated that the demise selves from the onslaught of harassment white families inherited. And slavery was $20 bill is receiving some attention. Why and extinction of Indian Tribal Nations by hostile whites who squatted on their expanded southwest into Mississippi, Ala- Jackson especially? A little history is nec- was inevitable. He viewed the Indigenous land, stole their belongings and livestock, bama, Louisiana and Texas. essary. as in need of “guidance” and presented and burned their villages. Tribes that re- In what was to become Texas, settlers On May 28, 1830, President Andrew the removal policy as beneficial to them. sisted resettlement were massacred. fought the Mexican government, which Jackson signed into law the Indian Re- He stated their continued existence im- Indian Nations strategically resisted resulted in the U.S. government annexing moval Act, after having pushed the legis- peded the economic progress and pros- removal both through wars and nonvio- that part of Mexico by 1836. U.S. history lation through Congress. This deplorable perity of white settlers. lence. The Seminoles, who protected and portrays frontier expansion as part of the act legalized the expulsion of Indigenous In congressional addresses, Jackson harbored fugitive slaves in Spanish Flor- progress of humanity and as spreading the peoples from their land on a massive described how Euro-American “forefa- ida, were targeted and invaded by Jack- “empire of liberty.” However, U.S. history scale. thers” had found the country “covered son’s troops. After several wars, they were is replete with genocidal and racist treat- From the beginning of the 19th centu- with forests” and occupied by “savages,” allowed to migrate to southern Florida ment of Indigenous people in its colonies ry the U.S. government had planned the as compared to the “extensive Republic swamplands. and globally. removal of Indigenous people from their studded with cities, towns and prosper- The Cherokees, after being tricked into Attacks on oppressed people, including ancestral homelands. As a solution to ous farms, embellished with all the im- signing an illegitimate treaty, unsuccess- its citizens, who demand freedom, justice the “Indian problem,” early proposals al- provements which art can devise or in- fully appealed to the Supreme Court. and independence are common. War has lowed the Indigenous to remain on their dustry execute, occupied by more than 12 always been preferred. Peaceful coexis- homelands only if they agreed to adopt million happy people.” Genocidal history of forced removal tence is not in the DNA of the U.S., domes- Euro-American behavioral and cultural Slaveowners also considered slavery The march westward in 1838-39 be- tically or internationally. practices. An 1823 Supreme Court deci- as absolutely essential to progress and came known as the “Trail of Tears.” More The legacy of the Indian Removal Act sion had stated “Indians” could occupy growth; without slavery, there could be than 46,000 Native peoples were forcibly is seen on Indigenous reservations today lands but could not hold title to them. no civilization. They stated that slav- expelled by federal troops. Thousands throughout the West, where its devastat- The United States in 1830 consisted of ery freed them from manual labor and died of hunger, cold, disease and ex- ing economic, social and political impact only states east of the Mississippi River. the economic worries of day-to-day life. haustion. Forced relocation, until 1858, continues. On the East Coast, the residual That area had originally been inhabited Thus, they could supposedly devote more resulted in close to three-quarters of In- damaging effects of displacement on re- by the Indigenous, referred to as Indi- time to intellectual and artistic pursuits digenous land coming under federal con- maining Native peoples are also evident. ans or Native Americans. Jackson called and inventions. for Native removal from the Southeast, The systematic removal of Native peo- MARXISM, REPARATIONS & with resettlement in the West. Ancestral ples from the Southeast focused on five the Black Freedom Struggle homelands of Northeast tribes were al- Tribal Nations: the Seminole, Choctaw, An anthology of writings from Workers World newspaper. ready being confiscated. Cherokee, Chickasaw and Creek. They Edited by Monica Moorehead. were referred to as the “Five Civilized Racism, National Oppression & Self-Determination Larry Holmes Slave-owner Jackson promotes Tribes,” as they seemed the most adapt- Black Labor from Chattel Slavery to Wage Slavery Sam Marcy Black Youth: Repression & Resistance LeiLani Dowell relocation able to white “civilized” culture in their The Struggle for Socialism Is Key Monica Moorehead Jackson was a Southern slave owner attempts to assimilate and peacefully co- Alabama’s Black Belt: Legacy of Slavery, and former military commander in wars exist. Sharecropping & Segregation Consuela Lee with Native nations. He was a strong Pressure, military and otherwise, was Black & Brown Unity: A Pillar of Struggle for Human Rights supporter of expanding federal territory put on the Indigenous to sign removal & Global Justice! Saladin Muhammad Harriet Tubman, Woman Warrior Mumia Abu-Jamal ... and more! Available online and at other bookstores. GRAPHIC: SAHU BARRON ‘Texas Rising’: TV mini-series hides slavocracy By Gene Clancy of rugged frontiersmen, fighting for the gave asylum to three Black men who had the 1890s. Reactionary “historians” from noble cause of Texian independence, and escaped slavery in nearby Louisiana. Texas A&M University during the 1950s On May 25, a highly promoted TV who died as heroes at the hands of vil- The slave owner retained William combined the song with local legends miniseries with many big-name stars lainous Mexicans. A brief investigation Travis as a lawyer to help him get the to assert, in the most racist and sexist premiered on the cable network History into the lives of these so-called heroes enslaved people returned. Knowing he terms possible, that a “biracial courte- Channel, which is co-owned by two giant shows that this is untrue. had little chance in the Mexican courts, san” spied for the Texians and contribut- corporations, Hearst and Disney. For example, Jim Bowie, famous for Travis proceeded to organize a rebel- ed to the Mexican defeat at San Jacinto. According to the title of the already his “Bowie knife” and a co-commander lion to separate Anahuac and its Texian (­tshaonline.org) published companion book by Stephen at the Alamo, was a large capitalist land- population from Mexico. Although this Not a shred of direct historical evi- L. Moore, “Texas Rising” is “the epic true owner who had acquired his more than uprising failed, Travis was later reward- dence supports this story, but “Texas Ris- story of the Lone Star Republic and the 400,000 acres in holdings through huck- ed with the title of lieutenant colonel in ing” has made this imaginary incident rise of the Texas Rangers.” stering. He was angry that the Mexican the Texas Rangers, and ended up at the into a major subplot of the series. The five-part TV series purports, government had closed down his lucra- Alamo. The “Texas Rising” was a treasonous through a series of stories, or vignettes tive — and illegal — business. Another character, who was not at the uprising by the slaveholders for “inde- about some of the main characters in the Bowie first acquired his fortune as a Alamo but plays a major role in the His- pendence” from Mexico’s outlawing of seditious revolt, to cover the Anglo Texas slave trader in Louisiana, where he ille- tory Channel series, is Mirabeau Lamar, slavery. Abolitionist Benjamin Lundy, war against Mexico, from the fall of the gally imported enslaved people captured who participated in the battle at San Ja- who was in Texas at the time fighting to Alamo to the battle of San Jacinto, which by another “patriot,” the pirate Jean cinto and went on to become the second make it a safe haven for freed peoples, led to the establishment of the brief Re- Lafitte, at Galveston Island, and resold president of the Texas Republic. said that the “rising” began when they public of Texas before it was annexed by them within the U.S. He then used this Lamar, who came to Texas from “ascertained that slavery could not be the United States. money, more than $4 million in today’s Georgia shortly before the revolt began, perpetuated ... under the government of According to a New York Times re- currency, to engage in a number of fraud- openly held white supremacist views, es- the Mexican Republic.” view, the so-called adventure drama is ulent land deals in Louisiana and Arkan- pecially where Native peoples were con- In “The War in Texas,” Lundy says, filled with stereotypical characters in sas before coming to Texas to engage in cerned. He referred to them as “tigers “The immediate cause and the leading which “the good guys” — the Anglo Tex- more skulduggery. and hyenas” and “wild cannibals of the object of this contest originated in a set- ians — are good, and “the bad guys” — Bowie acquired a certain amount of woods.” As president, Lamar decided to tled design, among the slaveholders of Native peoples and Mexicans, including fame when he used his knife to murder a completely expel all of the Indigenous this country, (with land speculators and the Mexican president and Gen. Antonio banker who had refused him a loan. His peoples from Texas, including some for- slave traders) to wrest the large and valu- López de Santa Anna — are “repellent wealth and political influence gave him merly friendly Cherokee. He initiated a able territory of Texas from the Mexican caricature[s]” who exist to be hated. (May the rank of colonel at the Alamo. campaign in which he called for “an ex- Republic, in order to re-establish the 22) A trailer shows Mexican soldiers William Travis, Bowie’s co-command- terminating war ... which will admit of no SYSTEM OF SLAVERY; to open a vast massacring and abusing civilians and er at the Alamo, first made a name for compromise and have no termination ex- and profitable SLAVEMARKET therein; focuses on the killing and kidnapping of himself in the Anahuac Disturbances, cept in their total extinction.” (Gary Clay- and, ultimately, to annex it to the Unit- Black people. (tinyurl.com/nuyl27a) which were a sort of trial run by the Anglo ton Anderson, “The Conquest of Texas: ed States.” (www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/ This version of the story is not just a Texians against the Mexican government Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, dewitt/lundy.htm) different narrative or some sort of “dra- over immigration issues, particularly the 1870-1875”) Very often, what is offered up as “his- matic license”; it is an outright lie, and a importation of enslaved people. In 1829, The producers of “Texas Rising” even tory” is really about the present. The pro- racist falsification of the historical facts. the Republic of Mexico abolished slavery attempt to revive the long discredited ducers of “Texas Rising” are, in reality, throughout its territories. legend of the “Yellow Rose of Texas” (Los shamelessly whipping up present-day Slave traders, swindlers and murderers In August of 1831, the commander of Angeles Times, May 25). This racist ca- racism and present-day anti-immigrant The Anglo men at the battle of the Al- a Mexican customs and garrison post at nard originated with a song written by bigotry by presenting a false narrative of amo, which resulted in an overwhelming Anahuac, Mexico, who strongly believed the Christy Minstrels, a white minstrel the events that created the short lived Re- Mexican victory, are portrayed as a group in Mexico’s prohibition against slavery, troupe performing in blackface during public of Texas. Page 4 June 18, 2015 workers.org Motor City Pride: The fight is not over

By Martha Grevatt in place. Festival goers cheered in this state, where a reactionary Legis- April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, lature continues to pass bills attacking Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisex- two Detroit-area nurses and the LGBTQ community. The United Auto ual, transgender and queer people, plaintiffs in the Michigan mar- Workers, for example, has not had a con- and their allies, took to the streets riage case, as they strolled the tingent, and this in the city where the June 7 in the annual Motor City grounds with their four adopt- union was founded 80 years ago. Pride parade. Thousands more at- ed children. Pride, which celebrates the 1969 Stone- tended the weekend-long celebration Members of the Moratorium wall Rebellion, has become commercial- in downtown Detroit. Now! Coalition to Stop Fore- ized over the years. The grand marshall While the parade and festival cel- closures, Evictions and Util- for this year’s parade was not even a per- ebrated the many aspects of LGBTQ ity Shutoffs, Workers World son but a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ve- pride, community and culture, orga- Party and the revolutionary hicle, acknowledging FCA’s sponsorship. nizers acknowledged that the fight youth group Fight Imperial- The Human Rights Campaign gives against discrimination is not over. ism, Stand Together marched FCA a rating of 100 percent on its score- “The way we put it, ‘Married on Sat- together with signs supporting card of LGBTQ issues. This writer, a 28- urday, fired on Monday,’” said Bill the right to marry and declar- year Chrysler UAW worker, disagrees, as Greene, interim executive director ing that “Black + Trans Lives the company does not provide bereave- of Pride sponsor Equality Michi- WW PHOTO: KRIS HAMEL Matter.” Their booth attracted ment pay or family leave for same-sex gan. “People are coming out more, get- The marriage equality fight was in the a steady stream of visitors interested in partners where marriage is not recog- ting married. Unfortunately, the state spotlight this year, particularly in Michi- fighting capitalism. nized and does not have contract or pol- of Michigan lags behind many states in gan, with a Supreme Court ruling expect- Other progressive forces that marched icy language to cover anti-transgender its friendliness to the LGBT communi- ed by the end of this month on whether and tabled include Metro AFL-CIO, the discrimination. ty.” Equality Michigan is the statewide marriage bans in Michigan and three oth- union UNITE HERE, and the Restau- Nevertheless, the parade was a strong LGBTQ civil rights organization that is er states are unconstitutional. A positive rant Opportunities Center. A stronger statement of the willingness of the currently fighting to get LGBTQ protec- ruling will make same-sex marriage legal presence, however, from organized labor LGBTQ community to keep up the fight tions added to state civil rights laws. in the 13 states where bans still remain would strengthen the fight for equality for full equality.

Pride weekend in Buffalo

On Sunday, June 7, activists with the Buffalo, N.Y., branch of Workers World Party carried a banner in the Buffalo Pride Parade that was greeted by the huge crowds with roars of approval, applause and high-fives all along the route. It was the only contingent in this year’s parade to raise the urgent need for solidarity with the Black Lives Matter and Trans* Lives Matter movements, along with support for the strug- gles and uprisings against police brutality from Ferguson to Baltimore. The previous evening, the Dyke March celebrated Buffalo’s lesbian history, includ- ing a tribute to those who have died and noting WW Managing Editor Leslie Fein- berg’s pioneering role in the struggle. — Ellie Dorritie, Marge Maloney WW PHOTO: GARRETT DICEMBRE and Garrett Dicembre Assata Shakur mural removed

By Workers World Milwaukee bureau a magazine from the right-wing Wis- 414-288-7714. A petition can be found at effort by Wall Street and their servants consin Policy Research Institute. This ipetitions.com. to attempt to smash what’s left of the la- A mural depicting Assata Shakur was think tank for decades has participated bor-community movement and to make removed in May by Marquette Univer- in the destruction of social safety nets We will not be silenced! the state a Jim Crow, low-wage, non- sity officials after an unrelenting right- such as Aid to Families with Dependent The Coalition of and for Students of union, deregulated playground. wing campaign. Children, the public school system, and Color at Marquette University issued a Besides the usual seething racism by Shakur, a people’s hero and icon of the unions and called for the privatization of statement May 18 after the mural was re- right-wing forces against people’s war- Black Lives Matter movement, is a for- public ­services. moved: riors such as Shakur and against all mer Black Panther falsely accused and Despite a mission statement pro- “Marquette University does not waste people of color, the mural attack is also convicted of killing a cop in New Jersey claiming that the university encourages a moment. They painted over a mural an attack on Cuba and the burgeoning in 1973. She escaped prison and has been a diverse community with “vigorous yet with inspirational quotes from activist youth- and student-led Black Lives Mat- in exile in Cuba for more than 30 years. respectful debate,” university spokes- Assata Shakur without asking anyone ter movement in Wisconsin. These in- The U.S. government has a $2 million person Brian Dorrington spoke for the (the students) if it was ok the same day spiring forces have been connecting race, bounty out on her. Wall Street interests that really run Mar- of graduation. This is an attempt to erase class, gender, sexuality and other issues The mural had been on display in the quette University, the administrators our voice and silence the people, but we such as the environment and supporting Alumni Memorial Union near the Mar- and their servants, and the cops, on May refuse to be silenced MU! Remember unions. The right wing is also attempting quette Gender and Sexuality Resource 20, when he said: “The facts in this in- you are only functioning because we pay to divide white workers from their direly Center since March. Shortly after the stance are clear: A mural of a convicted tuition and the Coalition doesn’t believe needed allies. center posted photos of the mural on its murderer has no place here.” the mural should have been painted over. As the students, faculty and their sup- Facebook page, a longtime conservative Dorrington, of course, said nothing This is disrespectful and unacceptable!” porters fight back, the two quotes from professor, John McAdams, joined a cam- about the innumerable photos, statues The Gender and Sexuality Resource Shakur on the original mural are giving paign to have the mural removed. McAd- and memorabilia littering the Marquette Center was built after the university ad- them inspiration to continue the struggle: ams critiqued the center on his blog for campus and Milwaukee generally that ministration rescinded a job offer to Jodi “No one is going to give you the edu- “glorifying a black militant cop killer.” glorify real criminals and murderers O’Brien, a lesbian professor and noted cation you need to overthrow them. No- Under mass student, faculty and com- such as slave owners, those who’ve com- author of gender and sexuality books. body is going to teach you your true his- munity protest, McAdams, an associate mitted genocide on Native peoples and The center offers lesbian, gay, bisexual, tory, teach you your true heroes if they professor of political science, was sus- plundered whole continents, and the transgender, and queer students and al- know that that knowledge will help set pended in 2014 for criticizing a graduate bankers and industrialists responsible lies space where they can seek counsel- you free.” student teaching assistant on his blog for the vicious exploitation, oppression, ing and resources. It is also designed to “Before going back to college, I knew I for how she handled a discussion of gay and murder of workers and oppressed address issues of sexual violence on cam- didn’t want to be an intellectual, spend- marriage in her class. He faces possible peoples. pus. The center, under Dr. Bartlow’s lead- ing my life in books and libraries without termination. Shortly after the mural was removed, ership since 2012, has also become an knowing what the hell is going on in the Charlie Sykes of the WTMJ radio the director of the center, Dr. Susannah oasis for students of color on the majority streets. Theory without practice is just as ­station in Milwaukee, one of the most Bartlow, either resigned under pressure white and affluent campus. incomplete as practice without theory. rabid right-wing media personalities in or was fired. There is now a campaign to At a time when every progressive law, The two have to go together.” the United States, helped the campaign have her restored to her position. Sup- every policy, every organization and ev- For more information: to have the mural painted over. Sykes porters can email Dr. Michael Lovell, ery resource is under attack by the right tinyurl.com/qdkcc74, has a daily radio show and a TV pro- president of Marquette University, at wing in Wisconsin, the destruction of the tinyurl.com/GSRCMarquetteFB and gram, and edits “Wisconsin Interest,” [email protected] or call mural must be seen as part of the overall #ASSATAMU #HANDSOFASSATA workers.org June 18, 2015 Page 5

On the Picket Line By Matty Starrdust and Sue Davis Oil strike not quite over

Thousands protest N.J. pension fund cuts By Martha Grevatt Some 4,000 members of the Communications Workers and other public sector unions turned out on May 12 to protest N.J. Gov. Chris Christie’s latest $1.6 billion After four months on the picket line, cut to the state’s pension fund. The Christie administration has withheld a total of workers at the BP Husky refinery in To- $14.9 billion in pension fund contributions since 2010, from what is already one of ledo, Ohio, are starting to return to work. the least generous pension plans in the country. Ignoring public sector workers’ right United Steelworkers Local 1-346 was the to care for their families after retirement, Christie and New Jersey lawmakers have most recent local to ratify a local agree- diverted billions of dollars from the pension fund to corporate subsidies and tax cuts ment in the national oil strike that began to the rich. Feb. 1 and at one point involved 15 refin- Protesters wore red T-shirts and carried signs demanding that Christie “Tax mil- eries across the country. That leaves only lionaires! Fund the pension!” and “Don’t betray retirees!” Workers and union leader- the Texas City, Texas, Marathon works ship vowed to continue the fight for their hard-earned pensions, chanting “We will be still out. back!” (CWA-union.org, May 14) Local 1-346, like all 30,000 USW mem- bers in the oil industry, wanted to save Wash. state workers walk, demanding promised raises jobs and stop excessive overtime for the PHOTO: USW.ORG In the largest coordinated job action since their successful strike 14 years ago, thou- sake of safety. The local was up against sands of workers in the 40,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees a particularly hostile management. Re- Marathon is still trying to gut safety pro- (an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) finery manager Mark Dangler even wrote visions that previous owner BP agreed to walked out of more than 70 worksites on May 20. They were demanding that the Leg- an anti-union op-ed piece that was pub- after a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers. islature end the stalemate on their negotiated 4.8 percent pay raises. The walkout lished in the March 3 Toledo Blade. Dan- On top of that, management wants work- comes a week after a salary-setting board OK’d 11 percent raises for legislators while gler made the outrageous claim that “the ers to wear pagers that would allow the the Senate continued to reject modest raises for state employees — 3 percent on July 1 strike is about union clout, not safety or company to call them to work outside of and 1.8 percent on July 1 of next year. These would be the first raises for state employ- pay.” their regular scheduled hours, with only ees in seven years. For two years, they took 3 percent pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs. The contract, which the union lead- an hour’s notice. (The Stand, May 19) ership did not recommend, passed by a USW Local 7-1, at the other struck BP Because of the Senate’s latest budget plan unveiled on May 28, which holds WFSE’s slim majority of strike-weary members. refinery in Whiting, Ind., was also one of contract hostage, the state government may be shut down on July 1, temporarily lay- It allows BP to cut 28 out of roughly 300 the last to get a local agreement. There, ing off thousands of WFSE members. (wfse.org, May 28) Stay tuned. jobs as workers quit, retire or die. This the contract passed in early May, with 92 was a setback but not a total defeat for the percent of the members voting for it. “It’s union, as Dangler and his team wanted got the safety stuff the workers wanted,” Tobacco workers protest at Reynolds stockholders’ meeting unlimited powers to eliminate positions said Local 7-1 Director Mike Millsap. “I At the May 7 stockholders’ meeting of tobacco giant RJ Reynolds in Winston-Sa- as workers leave. think it shows that when pushed, workers lem, N.C., about 30 allies of tobacco workers made compelling statements about un- Members of Local 13-1 in Texas City are willing to stand up.” (Northwest Indi- healthy, unsafe, unjust conditions in the fields. This is the eighth year that the Farm rejected the company’s offer on May 18. ana Times, May 11) Labor Organizing Committee has attended these meetings to pressure Reynolds to sign an agreement guaranteeing labor rights for tobacco workers. Board chairperson Wajnert rebutted their demands with a bold-faced lie, calling their demands “ille- gal and unworkable.” Outside, several hundred FLOC supporters led a loud, colorful, Detroiters demand: forceful march through the streets. To support FLOC demands, sign the petition on the website of the International Labor Resistance Forum. (ilrf.org) ¡Hasta la victoria! ROC haunts restaurant industry trade show Stop mass tax foreclosures Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC) haunted the country’s most pow- erful employer lobby group, the National Restaurant Association, at its trade show in Chicago, May 16-19. ROC held numerous impromptu protests calling for a meeting with NRA President Dawn Sweeney. During one talk, with Sweeney on stage, several workers stood up holding signs and chanting “$2.13 is not the American Dream [sic]!” The figure $2.13 is the federal minimum wage for tipped workers, including servers, bartenders, hosts, bussers and dishwashers. ROC statistics show that the vast ma- jority of servers are women, often women of color, young, immigrant and rural, who use food stamps at double the rate of the rest of the U.S. workforce, are three times as likely to live in poverty and face obscenely high rates of sexual harassment. While ROC’s activities surely got Sweeney’s attention, the press also took notice. N.Y. Gov. Cuomo orders raise for fast food workers In a May 6 op-ed in the New York Times, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo addressed low wages in the state’s fast food industry: “Fast-food workers and their families are twice Demonstrators gathered outside the to get back on the sidewalk or face arrest. as likely to receive public assistance compared with other working families. ... While Wayne County Treasurer’s office in the Shown here are activists with banners workers in the fast-food industry are struggling, the industry is healthy, having taken Greektown section of downtown Detroit who blocked the street to keep police in $551 billion in global revenues last year.” Cuomo announced plans to create a panel on June 8 to protest the tax foreclosure of from other demonstrators. to investigate fast food workers’ wages and to issue a recommendation for an indus- more than 25,000 homes. Activists had Organizers with the Moratorium trywide minimum wage within three months. New York state law does not require stopped the mass foreclosures, originally NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, legislative approval for the governor to raise an industry’s minimum wage. As the slated for March 31, by picketing the site Evictions and Utility Shutoffs called the movement for $15 an hour and a union surges nationally, workers and activists must and causing the treasurer to enact two action “the launch of a summer of re- keep up the pressure to ensure Cuomo makes good on his promise. short moratoriums. The last foreclosure sistance to stop foreclosures and water extension expired June 8. shutoffs and defend the people of Detroit This time protesters took the street, against bankers, developers and their much to the chagrin of police who re- politicians.” Walk-ins protest peatedly ordered the crowd, to no avail, — Report and photo by Kris Hamel proposed education cuts By Workers World Milwaukee bureau public schools, millions in cuts for K-12 Hundreds of educators, staff, parents, and higher education, and the elimina- students and community supporters tion of tenure and shared governance in participated in walk-ins at 17 Milwaukee the University of Wisconsin system. This public schools on June 5. Participants are is among other austerity provisions in engaging in ongoing protests at schools efforts to benefit Wall Street interests, in and other locations in Milwaukee and particular the banks and bondholders. statewide. They’re demanding that nu- On June 11, a statewide protest at the merous provisions in the 2015-2017 state state Capitol called “Another Budget Is budget that would result in the disman- Possible” will take place. For more infor- tling of public education be taken out. mation and to join the struggle, visit: The proposed state budget now before tinyurl.com/nnh7nbm, the right-wing legislature calls for the tinyurl.com/oaycomy and takeover (privatization) of Milwaukee wibailoutpeople.org. PHOTO: MTEA Page 6 June 18, 2015 workers.org Workers World and FIST at Left Forum By Scott Williams ous other members, connected with la- and Kazem Azin of Solidarity Iran dis- Lives Matter movement. Monica Moore- New York bor and community allies on their strug- cussed the Palestine liberation struggle, head, editor of “Marxism, Reparations gle against multinational union-buster relations between the U.S., Israel, Saudi and the Black Freedom Struggle,” and More than 1,300 speakers and thou- Veolia/Transdev and the city of Boston Arabia and Iran, the role of ISIS and the Workers World Party First Secretary sands of activists and academics met in in a panel entitled “Union Power: Boston ongoing wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Larry Holmes joined the panel as well, New York City from May 29 through May School Bus Drivers take on Goliath.” FIST organized a debate on the strug- discussing the need for broader sections 31 for the annual Left Forum, this year Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan Af- gle against U.S. war and the potential for of the left to stand in solidarity with the with the theme “No Justice, No Peace: rican News Wire, along with Sara Floun- uniting groups against imperialism. Nick movement against police brutality and Confronting the Crises of Capitalism and ders of the International Action Center Maniace from New York FIST debated against broader state repression of the Democracy.” Workers World Party and and UNAC, Ramiro Fúnez of FIST and members of the Revolutionary Student movement. its allies in the revolutionary socialist Honduran Resistance, and Teresa Guti- Coordinating Committee, along with oth- There were also important panels on youth organization Fight Imperialism, errez of the May 1st Coalition for Work- er socialist organizations, on the defense struggles in Latin America, the fight to Stand Together and members of the Unit- er and Immigrant Rights and a Workers of countries oppressed and exploited by free political prisoners Mumia Abu-Ja- ed National Antiwar Coalition participat- World Party Secretariat member, spoke U.S. imperialism, with particular focus on mal, Oscar López Rivera, the MOVE 9, ed in numerous panels and debates on on a panel on how to unite the struggles U.S. imperialism’s intervention in Syria. and many more. the major crises facing working-class and against racist police brutality, endless in- Organizers of the People’s Power As- While the Left Forum is often domi- oppressed people. tensifying U.S. wars, and deepening bud- sembly in New York, including Claudia nated by academics and left organizations The militant Boston School Bus Driv- get cuts and austerity. Palacios, Colin Ashby and Ramiro Fúnez that take few positions against U.S. impe- ers Union, led by USW Local 8751 Pres- Bill Doares of the International League of FIST, discussed the importance of the rialism, Workers World, FIST and allies ident Andre François, along with Vice of People’s Struggle, along with Aziki- question of national oppression and lib- remained a strong anti-imperialist, revo- President Steve Kirschbaum and numer- we, Lamis Deek of Al-Awda New York, eration within the context of the Black lutionary socialist current at the event.

WW Commentary African-American and Palestine liberation By Abayomi Azikiwe been exceptionally harsh in his criticism, have any chance of swaying Israeli opin- These victims of settler colonialism Editor, Pan-African News Wire which is starting to create a backlash ion, he needs to decouple his view of the and institutional racism are somehow among Israelis.” ‘plight’ of the Palestinians from that of expected to acquiesce to oppression in A series of opinion articles have been The question is: backlash against African-Americans in the United States. favor of the continuation and worsening published recently in Newsweek contra- what? Obama has continued the same It is true that both groups have been, and of their social plight. dictorily condemning and praising the imperialist agenda throughout the region are, discriminated against, and certainly There is a firm political basis for the Barack Obama administration’s efforts and is providing firm support to the cur- both groups have suffered. connection linking apartheid, Jim Crow to reassure the state of Israel that Unit- rent war against Yemen waged by Saudi “However, the historic analogy between and Zionism in its present and historic ed States imperialism is on its side all Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council the two is very weak. African-Americans forms. Israel has inflicted racist treat- the way in suppressing and eliminating alliance. were taken as captives from their homes ment on the Palestinians, but also against the Palestinian people. The authors go so Public opinion in the U.S. is increas- and kept as slaves until a civil war freed those from Africa who have migrated to far as to caution Obama against drawing ingly in favor of the Palestinian struggle them. Many African-Americans endured the country. any comparison between the plight of for self-determination and statehood. a century or more of discrimination, even In recent years, attacks against Af- African Americans and the Palestinian Demonstrations during the summer of after the Civil War ended.” rican immigrants from Sudan, Eritrea struggle for national liberation. 2014 against the Israeli Defense Forces’ Weren’t the Palestinians driven from and Ethiopia have gotten international Such an editorial slant reveals that massive bombing and ground incursion their homes by the Israeli state with the media attention. Netanyahu recently the shapers of U.S. foreign policy in the into Gaza were the largest protests in full backing of the U.S. and the imperial- met with an African IDF soldier who Middle East are concerned about grow- history against these repeated genocidal ist nations? Both Africans in the U.S. and was attacked by police for racist rea- ing support for Palestine in the U.S., es- acts. the Palestinians have been subjected to sons. Yet what Netanyahu and his co- pecially among African Americans and national oppression involving mass kill- horts do not mention is that his political African Americans and U.S. foreign their allies. ings and forced removal from urban and coalition has deliberately exploited rac- policy Israeli foreign policy is a by-product of rural areas. ist attitudes and social policies toward the overall imperialist designs of Wash- Both African-American and Pales- In a failed attempt to draw such a dis- Palestinians and Africans in order to ington and Wall Street in the region. tinian peoples suffer from national op- tinction between the history and condi- maintain control over a settler state that Not only is it necessary to maintain the pression and efforts aimed at genocid- tions of Africans and Palestinians, the is losing support even within the U.S. settler-colonial state in Palestine as a al removal by the racist governmental same author writes, “The Israeli-Pales- and of course throughout the broader bulwark of Pentagon and NATO military structures in both states. tinian conflict is a traditional national- international community. strategy, but it is also important to con- During 2014, when the U.S. witnessed istic conflict, with two peoples claiming Both the U.S. and Israel are facing tinue the domination of Egypt and oth- the largest Palestine solidarity demon- the same land. This conflict would have growing opposition internally and glob- er states in North Africa and the Middle strations ever in response to the bomb- ended long ago if Palestinians had agreed ally. These racist and nationally oppres- East. ing and ground invasion of Gaza, Afri- to any of the previously offered compro- sive states can only rely on military might Successive U.S. administrations have can-American youth played a prominent mise solutions.” and the economic dominance of imperi- waged wars against the people of Iraq, role in these actions. Both Palestinians Such an argument is reminiscent of the alism to provide any semblance of a se- Libya, Syria, and Sudan. Consequent- and African Americans spoke out clear- racist newspaper editorials which blame cured future. ly, any notion of a lessening of support ly of their common struggle, from Gaza Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Greater solidarity between Palestine for Israel flies in the face of the annual and the West Bank to Ferguson, Mo., and Rice, Freddie Gray and others for their and African Americans will be an im- multibillion-dollar subsidy to Tel Aviv, Baltimore. own deaths. Similar are those reports portant factor in the burgeoning struggle along with the transfer of arms and other In Detroit demonstrations during “Op- describing African Americans involved against imperialism. Whether the White military technology that is tested on the eration Protective Edge” — in which the in militant demonstrations against po- House, Congress and Wall Street recog- Palestinian people in Gaza and the other Israeli Defense Forces pounded Gaza and lice terrorism and judicial impunity as nize or accept this shifting situation, it is occupied territories. escalated repressive measures against “thugs” for engaging in the destruction of inevitable, and will change the course of Efforts are underway to make the re- Palestinians living in the West Bank — property and self-defense tactics against history in support of the oppressed and cent national elections in Israel a repre- signs appeared demanding water for the law-enforcement agencies. working people of the world. sentation of the uncertainty of the dom- people of both Gaza and Detroit. Weekly ination by conservative forces centered protests at the Detroit Water Sewerage around Prime Minister Benyamin Net- Department known as “Freedom Fri- anyahu. Nonetheless, the uneasiness of days” during the summer of 2014 often the Obama administration about Dem- joined rallies and marches taking place Come out for Pride! Come out for Workers World! ocratic Party and U.S. policy in general outside the Federal Courthouse in soli- toward Israel is partly to blame for the darity with Palestine. At this same time June is Pride month, with rallies and Drawing on the theoretical work of Fred- appearance of differences of approach to the Detroit bankruptcy proceedings were marches all over the world commemorating erick Engels and Dorothy Ballan to provide a the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic still being litigated in federal court. This the 46th anniversary of the historic Stonewall dialectical materialist explanation of LGBTQ Republic of Iran. was the most significant municipal bank- Rebellion. Workers World has a proud history oppression, McCubbin showed how early com- According to a May 24 Newsweek ruptcy in U.S. history. of reporting on the living struggle for lesbian, munal societies accepted all forms of human magazine article titled “Tel Aviv Dia- Expressing concern about the more vo- gay, bisexual, transgender and queer justice interrelations, but after material surpluses de- ry” written by Marc Shulman, “The one cal opinion in support of Palestine among and equality. But Workers World also made a veloped and male supremacy arose, rigid rules person who seems unwilling to accept African Americans and its potential im- theoretical contribution to that struggle with governing gender and sexuality were adopted. the results of the election here appears pact on electoral politics in the U.S., with the publication of WW contributor and staff That’s what we’re fighting to end today. to be the current occupant of the White a national election looming during 2016, member Bob McCubbin’s book, “The Roots of That analysis drives Workers World’s view that House and other members of his admin- Shulman wrote in the June 3 issue of Lesbian and Gay Oppression: A Marxist View” the LGBTQ struggle is a vital component in the istration. President Barack Obama has Newsweek: “Of course, if Obama wants to (World View Forum, third ed., 1993). overall struggle to end capitalist oppression. workers.org June 18, 2015 Page 7 Baltimore people’s assembly a resounding success

By the WW Baltimore bureau

The Baltimore People’s Power Assembly and the Greater Baltimore

WW PHOTOS: chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference held a Peo- SHARON BLACK ple’s Assembly and Tribunal on June 6. More than 150 people partic- ipated. Along with testimony from victims of police terror, the assembly resolved to call for national actions on the Aug. 9 anniversary week- end of the Ferguson rebellion along with a number of local actions and campaigns, including a “Know Your Rights/Cop Watch” campaign, lo- cal protests in defense of arrested youth, and “Black women and girls lives matter” protests on June 20 and June 21. Workers World will print an extensive article on the tribunal in next week’s issue. Organizer’s car shot up in Baltimore

The following press statement was re- This past Tuesday [June 2, Baltimore of threatening phone calls to both the for justice for Freddie Grey and all vic- leased by the Baltimore People’s Power People’s Power Assembly organizer] Sha- PPA’s phone line and Black’s personal tims of police terror. We want to say to all Assembly and the Southern Christian ron Black’s car was shot up with what ap- phone, including a barrage of robotic of our concerned friends and supporters: Leadership Conference on June 4. The pears to have been a 357-magnum weap- attacks to both phones and disruptions We are stronger than ever and look for- groups held a press conference at 2011 on. Bullets went through several layers to the organization’s communications ward to a vibrant and productive assem- N. Charles St. in Baltimore on June 5. of steel from back to front, aimed at the systems. bly this Saturday, when we will not only “To the Baltimore City Police Depart- driver’s head rest. The rear window was Black and the Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, hear from the victims of police abuse but ment and all concerned: We will not be also shot up. president of the Baltimore City South- plan our next steps toward ending police intimidated, silenced or stopped! Our Black, her son Steven Ceci and a guest ern Christian Leadership Council, joint- terror and winning jobs and livable wag- organizations and organizers will con- from South Central Los Angeles, John ly stated: “We take this attack and other es now.” tinue to stand strong until justice is won Parker, were at her East Baltimore row threats very seriously and want to send a Saturday’s [June 6] Assembly will for Freddie Grey and all of the victims of home after returning from work at the clear message to the Baltimore Police De- take place at New Unity Church, 100 police terror. We look forward to a strong PPA’s nearby offices when all three heard partment, the Fraternal Order of Police, W. Franklin St., Baltimore, MD 21201 and united People’s Assembly and Tribu- five to six gunshots several yards from and any and all forces that may wish us (corner of West Franklin and Cathedral nal on Police Terror called for this Satur- the residence at approximately 11 p.m. harm, that we will not be intimidated, si- streets) from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. day on June 6.” This attack is combined with a series lenced or stopped in our continuing fight Oakland police take another young Black life By Terri Kay fire.” (­insidebayarea.com, June 6) He was MENT in the vehicle. Then, and these are June 12, at 6 p.m. at Lake Merritt. At this Oakland, Calif. pronounced dead at Highland Hospital quotes: writing, 824 people have joined the event soon afterwards. The yet unnamed man 8:42:26 making contact on Facebook. Oakland Police Department officers who was killed had at least one child, a 8:42:33 everybody hold their position It remains to be seen how the OPD will took yet another young Black man’s life daughter in grade school, according to 8:42:47 taking suspect into custody respond to this large nighttime gather- on the morning of June 6. According to the mother of her best friend. 8:42:55 start medical from Lakeshore ing. They are still trying to enforce a new initial reports, the man was unconscious The Anti Police-Terror Project’s first 8:43:22 GET MEDICAL HERE RIGHT policing policy, ordered by Mayor Libby behind the wheel of his car, which was responder team was on the scene shortly NOW” Schaaf and implemented for the first time stopped at the curb in a lane which exits afterwards, trying to find witnesses and So in the space of less than one min- on May 21, that prohibits night marches from I-580 near the Lake Merritt shop- gather evidence. They were able to obtain ute, the announcement went from “no in the streets. The community has been ping district. The police were called by police dispatch records. Daniela Kantor- movement” (presumably he was still un- holding frequent protests against this new firefighters after they had approached the ova posted on Facebook a summary of conscious) to that he was Tased, shot and “curfew” ever since. Another one, “Whose car to provide assistance, but saw a gun what she found: killed. Streets? Our Streets!” is called for June on the passenger seat. “Between 8:12-8:42, police firing bean The community is outraged and the 10 at Oscar Grant Plaza (14th Street and Police officials said that they attempt- bags at the car, and reports NO MOVE- APTP has organized a vigil for Friday, Broadway) by the Black Youth Project. ed to awaken the man by shooting bean bag rounds at the car windows. They then used another instrument to break the windows. Police Chief Sean Whent, in a press conference that afternoon, said, “Upon the last attempt to (make Festival honors Frank McQueen contact), officers approached the car, the A year ago on June 2, Frank McQueen Matthews organized a June 6 com- ca’s Problem: Black Man” from “My Way person at that time was awake, a con- was shot and killed by Chester, Pa., po- munity festival dedicated to McQueen’s of Saying Thank You,” one of McQueen’s frontation ensued with the officers and lice. Since then, McQueen’s mother, Del memory and to raise money for his chil- three published books, revealing the tal- the person, one officer deployed a Taser, Matthews, has been seeking justice and dren’s college fund. ent lost when cops killed her brother. a second officer deployed a firearm, the trying to get answers on why cops killed A highlight was when McQueen’s sister, —Story and photo by Joe Piette person in the car was struck by the gun- her son. Genita Beckham, read the poem “Ameri-

You created the genocide we now witness, plus the modern-day slavery of drugs and jail cells Come out for Pride! Come out for Workers World! minus reparations, education, and rehabilitation. And this is supposed to be equal? We invite you to Join the WW Supporter America the beautiful? Program, set up 38 years ago to help us publish Where’s the beauty in sweeping problems under the rug? anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-LGBTQ, working-class “Outta sight, outta mind,” is for the ignorant. truth and build the many campaigns needed to But I know, oh I know it still exists. crush capitalism and usher in socialism. So because I don’t close my eyes Write checks to Workers World and mail I am another one of America’s problems! Because I don’t shut my mouth them, with your name and address, to 147 W. I am another one of America’s problems! 24th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011. Or do- Because I was born Black nate online at workers.org/donate/. I am another one of America’s problems! We are grateful for your help in growing Well then, I accept my fate. the revolutionary press in the U.S. America, you got a problem and I refuse to go away easily! Page 8 June 18, 2015 workers.org Can U.N. talks bring peace to Yemen?

By Abayomi Azikiwe ing to reporters from the Saudi capital, According to a June 8 media release sarullah are regaining territory they lost Editor, Pan-African News Wire Riyadh, Khaled Bahah said he hopes carried by the official Saudi Press Agen- in recent clashes with militias backed by the June 14 meeting will lead to more cy, a National Guard soldier and a mem- Saudi Arabia and the GCC and given air June 8 — Even though peace talks are intensive negotiations on a road map for ber of the Border Guard were killed in cover by Pentagon-coordinated aircraft. slated to begin on June 14 in Geneva be- Yemen’s future, including an eventual these attacks, which occurred in the Asir Reuters reported on June 3, “Saudi-led tween the major parties involved in the referendum on a draft constitution and region. An additional two Border Guards air strikes killed a group of around 20 conflict over control of Yemen, the fight- fresh elections.” were killed in a missile strike in the same Houthi fighters outside the southern Ye- ing rages on inside this underdeveloped A spokesperson for the Ansarullah area in late May. meni port city of Aden on Wednesday Middle Eastern state. forces immediately dismissed the asser- It is estimated that 37 people in Saudi [June 3] and also shook the capital Sanaa Prior to the announcement of the tion by the Hadi faction. Their position Arabia, many of whom were members of in the north, militiamen opposed to the U.N.-sponsored talks, discussions were is that the discussions should focus on the armed forces, have been killed in bor- Houthis said. The militia sources said the taking place between the Obama admin- the implementation of a U.N. resolution der clashes and cross-territorial shelling Houthis were killed when the air raid hit istration’s State Department and the An- passed earlier this year calling for the since March 26, when the Saudi-led coa- their military convoy as it was transport- sarullah movement (Houthis) in Oman. withdrawal of armed forces from various lition began bombing Yemen. ing an artillery piece toward the north- An alliance led by Saudi Arabia and the regions of the capital and throughout the An additional four soldiers were slain west suburbs of Aden. The death toll Gulf Cooperation Council, and backed country. along with dozens of Yemenis on June could not be independently verified.” by the U.S., has been conducting aerial In a statement reported in AP, Houthi 5, when units loyal to former President People living in Aden consistently bombardments and supporting militias spokesperson Mohammed Abdel-Salam Saleh launched an offensive operation in report deteriorating conditions, as the to attack the Ansarullah and the forces stressed that the Hadi regime is illegiti- the Saudi border districts of Jazan and U.S.-backed forces have implemented a in the military still loyal to former Presi- mate and therefore in no position to force Najran. Scud missiles were fired into blockade preventing food and fuel from dent Abdullah Ali Saleh. preconditions for U.N.-supervised talks. Saudi territory but were repelled, say of- reaching many areas of the city. In the Even before negotiations began, Sau- Abdel-Salam characterized Hadi as a ficial sources in Riyadh. district of Crater, where fierce battles di-backed political forces of fugitive Ye- “tool of Riyadh” and asserted that his On a regional level the war is being have taken place for weeks, residents said meni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Saudi-backed regime “can’t talk the lan- portrayed as a conflict between Saudi that four people died of dengue fever on Hadi set parameters for the talks based guage of logic, instead they can talk the Arabia and the GCC-backed coalition June 2. Regular service of electricity, wa- upon restoring Hadi’s government to language of aggression.” supported by the U.S. on one side and the ter and trash removal have been severely power in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital city. Ansarullah movement forces question Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies on hampered since the intensified fighting Hadi had fled to the south of Yemen whether the Hadi regime even wants the the other. Any proposed settlement will began on March 26. and later to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Geneva talks to take place, saying that have to consider these factors. Washington’s foreign policy is creat- he claims to be the country’s legitimate U.S.-allied interests would not be able In addition, inside Yemen itself, a se- ing more deaths and destruction in Ye- head of state. The U.S. appears to recog- to unify its own fractious elements irre- cessionist movement in the south has men and throughout the region. In Iraq, nize Hadi as the de facto regime in Yemen spective of a national mandate for peace. re-emerged, evoking the former People’s Syria and Libya, the impact of Pentagon despite Ansarullah taking large amounts Democratic Republic of Yemen in ex- regime-change wars is continuing to of territory. The White House withdrew Ground attacks intensify istence from the late 1960s to the early prompt dislocation and human misery 100 special forces from Yemen earlier along Saudi border 1990s. The demands for greater autono- on a mass scale. this year and recalled its diplomatic per- In response to the Saudi-led coalition’s my and possible independence must also Yet efforts to reshape the Middle East sonnel. Hundreds of Yemeni Americans massive bombing campaign in Yemen, be taken into account in projecting the and North Africa are being resisted in have been stranded in the embattled the Ansarullah and Saleh-loyal forces are future of the country. Yemen and in other states. The bombing state where Washington has ignored the taking the war into eastern Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula of Yemen for more than two months has plight of those who hold U.S. passports. Cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State are also active in still not resulted in the defeat of the An- A June 8 Associated Press report not- have resulted in dozens of casualties. Yemen. The U.S. has for years launched sarullah and its allies. ed: “Yemen’s internationally recognized A missile launched from Yemen on drone attacks resulting in many deaths, Until the people of the region unite prime minister said Monday [June 8] June 8 was reported to have fatally struck including people who held U.S. pass- against imperialist intervention, the hu- that upcoming United Nations-spon- two Saudi soldiers. These deaths were ac- ports, claiming to target the AQAP. manitarian crisis cannot be abated. The sored peace talks in Geneva are aimed knowledged by the Riyadh-led coalition. resources and waterways of the region at ‘restoring power’ to his government (Al-Arabiya, June 8) Just a few days be- Fighting continues in the south belong to the people, not the multina- and pressuring Shiite rebels to withdraw fore, at least four Saudi troops were killed Intense battles are still raging in the tional corporations and the international from the capital and other cities. Speak- in a similar attack. southern port city of Aden, where the An- financial institutions.

Eyewitness Yemen rescue ship Attacks turn away medical volunteers

This slightly edited report is one of the food and supplies. are risking their lives each day to several eyewitness accounts provided According to reports, the port of bring aid to those in great danger. by International Action Center and FIST Hodiedah has been “completely de- While I was on the Rescue Ship, (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together) stroyed” after days of relentless bombing. I had the honor of having many youth activist Caleb Maupin, who took In addition, the Saudi airstrikes have tar- in-depth conversations with part in a humanitarian aid mission to geted a medical university in Hodiedah. Red Crescent Society volunteers. Yemen in May. Twelve young Yemenis who were sitting Many of them have spent years By Caleb Maupin in class, studying to become doctors or working in international oper- Tehran, Iran nurses, were killed. Scores of others have ations. They have been all over been wounded. the world, throughout the Middle May 29 — The mission of the Iran Sha- How can the Saudi military and its East and to Latin America, Asia hed Rescue Ship to Yemen, as previously U.S. allies, or any rational human being, and Europe, and they have some- reported, was unsuccessful. Massive Sau- justify slaughtering noncombatant medi- times been in very dangerous sit- di bombing of the Hodiedah port and 15 cal students? uations. hired Sudanese mercenaries with rocket This horrendous act may have been re- One of the volunteers told me launchers made delivery of humanitarian taliation against the Red Crescent Soci- his life story. He described how Caleb Maupin on board the Iran Shahed Rescue Ship. aid to the people of Yemen impossible. ety of Yemen because it dared collaborate his two older brothers died in the The 2,500 tons of medical supplies, with the Red Crescent Society of Iran in Iraq-Iran war during the 1980s. A great honor food and water were handed over to the planning the delivery of humanitarian He told of how his mother, after losing her When it was announced that our ship U.N. World Food Programme for dis- aid from our ship. This speculation fills two oldest sons in that horrific war, had was unable to go to Yemen, these volun- tribution when Saudi terrorism made it me with feelings of extreme grief, sad- psychological trauma for the rest of her teers were filled with bitter disappoint- impossible for us to deliver them to the ness and anger. life. He told of going to Iraq in the after- ment. They wanted to go to Hodiedah and people of Yemen. math of the U.S. invasion as a Red Cres- help those who needed them. They felt Risking their lives to help Since our ship docked in Djibouti and cent Society volunteer. In Iraq, he was they had a moral responsibility to get to my return to Tehran, the Saudi bombing There are many Red Crescent Soci- captured and spent months held prisoner Yemen. They were so let down, unable to campaign has only increased. The total ety volunteers currently in Yemen. As a by an armed faction. He was eventually do what they had set out to do. number of Yemenis now dead is esti- wealthy U.S.-backed autocratic kingdom able to escape in the chaos of the fighting. These volunteers are from a different mated to be well over 4,000. The Saudi unleashes its forces of destruction on one Because I do not speak Farsi, I was un- country, half a world away from where I bombers, being refueled by the U.S. Air of the poorest countries on earth, those able to communicate with many of the was born in Ohio. They have a different Force and directed by U.S. satellites, volunteers are stepping up and doing what others on board. If I had, I am sure I would religion and a different political perspec- are specifically targeting the region of must be done. The medical volunteers who have heard many more amazing stories. tive than I do. Regardless, I still hold Hodiedah, where we intended to deliver are aiding the people in Yemen right now workers.org June 18, 2015 Page 9 Mass protest confronts G7 summit Munich, June 4. By John Catalinotto fused to submit to the NATO countries’ high-handedness in overthrowing the Like medieval lords plotting against elected Ukrainian government in Kiev an impending peasant revolt after a bad in February 2014 and NATO’s plan to ex- harvest, the heads of the seven most tend its military reach to the Ukrainian powerful imperialist countries — the border with Russia. U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Despite the meeting’s isolation in the Italy and Canada — met June 7-8 in a village of Elmau, the German hosts gath- renovated castle-turned-hotel in Elmau ered nearly 30,000 cops and other em- in southeastern Germany to plot on be- ployees of the state apparatus to block half of the tiny group of billionaires who any protesters from getting close to the rule the world. heads of state. The capitalist world economy has been The protesters were demanding an end in crisis since 2008. The role of this sum- to the trade accords known as the Trans- mit meeting, which is costing $350 mil- atlantic Trade and Investment Partner- lion, is to resolve the crisis on the backs ship and the Comprehensive Economic of the working class and the weaker na- and Trade Agreement, whose overall tions. effect is to eliminate jobs, cut workers’ This year’s meeting excluded even cap- wages and create riskier working condi- perialist countries. ly youthful protesters climbed right up italist Russia from a seat at the masters’ tions. The activists also demanded effec- On June 4, some 40,000 people to the security fence and the thousands table at the resort. The imperialist over- tive measures to protect the climate and demonstrated in the nearest major city, of cops separating the powerful heads of lords accused Russia of “aggression” in fight against poverty — which has been Munich, in the largest of the protests. state from the people they pretend to rep- Ukraine. That’s because Russia has re- growing worldwide, including in the im- On June 8 in Elmau, some 7,000 most- resent.

End war in Ukraine! Washington backs bombing on Russian border

Continued from page 1 The law also states that “potential car- line,” including multiple rocket launch- Perhaps most ominous, though, was there were more than 9,000 Russian riers of nuclear and other types of weap- er systems. “Fortifications have already Poroshenko’s signing a law June 8 can- troops in 14 tactical groups on Ukrainian ons of mass destruction are permitted been built on the highway between Kon- celling all military agreements with territory. … for short-term accommodation.” (RT. stantinovka and Dzerzhynsk, which Russia in relationship to Transnistria, a “I wonder how he counted them?” was com, June 5) block civilian traffic.” (Novorossia Today) breakaway region of Moldova, Ukraine’s the caustic response of Donetsk leader Lugansk chief negotiator Vladislav In addition, Ukrainian President Pe­ tro southern neighbor, where 1,200 Russian Zakharchenko. “The Ukrainian presi- Danego pointed out that the law is also Poroshenko signed a law authorizing peacekeeping troops are stationed. dent’s talent is unique. It is very diffi- meant to justify the presence of foreign martial law “in case of armed aggression Along with the appointment of for- cult to hide 9,000 troops of the Russian troops that are “already operating in or threat of attack, threat for Ukraine’s mer Georgian President and U.S. stooge Armed Forces, not only from the [Orga- Ukraine. There are some 20,000, pri- independence or territorial integrity” — Mikhail Saakashvili as governor of the nization for Security and Co-operation in marily from Hungary and Poland,” he all buzzwords that have been previously Odessa region and a reported buildup Europe], but also from us. … told Interfax news agency, in addition used to justify the war against Donbass. of Ukrainian military forces there, the “If there were 9,000 [Russian forces] to mercenaries from the U.S. and other Provisions of the law include “forced set- voiding of military agreements signals here, I wouldn’t be explaining what hap- countries. tlement of citizens of a foreign country plans afoot to provoke Moscow on a sec- pened in Krasnogorovka or Marinka. U.S. President Barack Obama declared that threatens to attack or conduct ag- ond front to further Washington’s plans We would talk about [fighting in] Kiev or at the meeting of the Group of 7 imperi- gression against Ukraine,” a threat that for NATO expansion, destruction of in- Kharkov.” (Dan-News.info, June 5) alist countries the need to “stand up to has frequently been levied against resi- dependent Donbass and regime change Russian aggression in Ukraine” — ignor- dents of Donbass. (TASS, June 8) in Russia. G7 wine and dine, Donbass people die ing the fact that his administration and The occasion for Poroshenko’s bom- Congress engineered the right-wing coup bastic speech was the Rada’s adoption of that deposed the legally elected govern- a law allowing “admission of the armed ment of Ukraine in February 2014 as a forces of other states on the territory of step toward expanding NATO military Ukraine” for “international peacekeeping power to Russia’s western border. (Sput- and security.” nik News, June 7) The junta has repeatedly called for Here’s a sample of what was happening U.N. or NATO “peacekeepers” to help put in Donbass while Obama and other heads down the popular resistance in Donbass. of the G7 — the U.S., Canada, Britain, Previously, the presence of an interna- France, Italy, Germany and Japan — met tional military force required adoption at a luxury hotel in Bavaria, Germany, of a special law initiated by the president June 6-7, to discuss how to punish Russia. stipulating the length of the stay. Under The people of Telmanovo mourned at the new law, no additional legal authori- the funeral of 4-year-old Vanya Neste- zation is required and the length of stay ru, killed by Ukrainian shelling on June is indefinite. 5. (Ren.tv) Kiev tanks attacked the vil- lage of Oktyabrsky, shelling a nine-story apartment building, where a resident had his leg blown off. (LifeNews, June 7) them up in the highest admiration. It was Gennady Moska, Kiev’s appointed one of the greatest honors to be able to ac- “governor” of Lugansk, gave the order to company them for two weeks. Especial- turn off the water supply to the Lugansk ly as someone from the United States, a People’s Republic, leaving hundreds country which has so much blood on its of thousands of people without water. hands, it means so much that I was trust- (­Anna-News.info, June 6) ed and welcomed onboard. “Heavy fights are in progress all over The actions of the Red Crescent Society the frontline from Mariupol to Lugansk,” volunteers point toward a side of human reported New Russia Press June 7, citing nature that the apologists for capitalism Shyrokyne, Sahanka, Gorlovka, Marin- and neoliberalism simply do not acknowl- ka, Spartak, Pesky, Donetsk city, Donetsk edge. Within the human spirit, there is a Airport, Bahmutka and Shchastya. drive to help others or “stand with the op- pressed,” as Shia Muslims put it. Preparing for war, not peace Though it is not rewarded in a global Fighting continued June 8 around economic setup defined by profits, this Donetsk, Gorlovka and Mariupol, while kind of solidarity has not been, and will tanks and artillery shelled Shirokino, ac- never be, driven from the human psyche. cording to Timer.od.ua. Beyond the bombs and cruise missiles, Also June 8, Donetsk Deputy Defense there is hope for a better world. Minister Basurin said Ukraine “keeps bringing up heavy artillery to the contact Page 10 June 18, 2015 workers.org

Diplomatic steps forward but Criminal blockade of Cuba still in force

By Cheryl LaBash newed sanctions on Cuba for another year, under the 1917 Trading with the Ads and articles promoting travel to Enemies Act. Without further action it Cuba seem to be everywhere. Didn’t will expire Sept. 14, 2015, and with it Welcome, Caitlyn President Barack Obama announce a authorization for the Treasury Depart- new relationship with Cuba on Dec. ment’s Cuban Asset Control Regula- 17? Didn’t that mean the U.S. blockade tions. of Cuba, a relic of the Cold War, was Reactionary U.S. representatives Bruce Jenner, the 1976 decathlon Jenner as well and affirms her right to over? have attached amendments to trans- champion and Olympic gold medalist, self-determination. Moreover, we recog- Not so fast! The U.S. economic, portation and appropriations legisla- came out as transgender to an interna- nize that it is the decades-long movement commercial and financial blockade of tion in the U.S. House in an attempt to tional audience when a two-hour inter- for basic rights and liberation of and by Cuba is in full force and effect! And so reverse some of the measures Obama view with Diane Sawyer aired on ABC on trans people that built the platform Jen- are U.S. restrictions on U.S. residents took to restore diplomatic relations April 24. A record-breaking 20 million ner now stands on as a transitioning, traveling to and spending money in with and liberalize travel restrictions viewers watched the interview — really proud and out trans woman. Cuba. regarding Cuba. The president may still a mini-documentary — and heard Jen- We fight against the legalized dis- Respectful, equal and professional have to veto these if they are passed. ner speak his (the pronoun he used at the crimination, oppression and violence discussions between the U.S. and Cuba Why not just repeal the Helms-Burton time) truth: “... I am a woman.” facing many trans people, preponder- are working at formalizing diplomatic Act — signed by Democratic President In a two-part E! special, “Keeping Up antly transwomen and trans people of relations. This means having open and Bill Clinton in 1996 — which codified With the Kardashians: About Bruce” in color. Many trans people face family direct communication or a working the blockade into law? May, Jenner stated: “The only thing I want rejection, homelessness, poverty and relationship on issues of mutual inter- The Venceremos Brigade and IFCO/ out of this is just to help people. Not just other oppressive and demeaning so- est, like hurricane warnings, and on Pastors for Peace, which over decades the trans community — it’s really bigger cial problems. It is legal in most states international health emergencies, like have challenged all regulations by than that, it’s so much more. ... We need to discriminate against trans people in the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa. traveling to Cuba, demonstrate that more tolerance in this world towards our jobs, housing and other areas. Accord- Such discussions mean progress and Cuba is not our enemy. This summer fellow [people]. We are all human beings ing to a report issued in January by the are a victory for the Cuban Revolution, these groups once again assert their put on this earth; we need to learn to live Human Rights Campaign and the Trans which is already a respected interna- right to freely travel and associate with together.” People of Color Coalition, violence tional partner around the globe. the Cuban people without an affidavit, Caitlyn Jenner was introduced on June against and killing of trans people is a But these limited discussions fall a license or a pledge to abide by the 1 when the July cover of Vanity Fair mag- “national crisis.” short of overcoming the severe, ille- Treasury Department’s Office of For- azine was unveiled. Millions of people And yet, trans people courageously gal and reprehensible web of laws and eign Asset Control requirements. around the United States and the world live their lives in ways they choose, and regulations that make up the blockade applauded Jenner’s courage, at age 65, to become political leaders in struggles for of Cuba. Washington’s small steps for- Obama can do more further reveal her lifelong struggle and liberation. ward detract attention from its con- But Obama himself has not done come out publicly as a woman. On so- Workers World will continue to stand tinued measures to undermine Cuba’s everything he has the power to do. In cial media, trans people, including many with the most oppressed and fight for sovereign decision to build socialism. a Feb. 12 Granma interview, Josefina trans women of color, were ecstatic, wel- full civil rights and liberation for all trans These measures include the blockade, Vidal, director general of the U.S. di- coming, proud and celebratory of Jen- people. We applaud Caitlyn Jenner’s pub- which the U.N. General Assembly votes vision of Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign ner’s transition. lic celebration and all that she has done to overwhelmingly to end each year. Relations, said, “The blockade has not Notwithstanding her wealth and po- encourage, inspire and raise the spirits of ended. ... The president of the United litical ideology, Workers World applauds trans people everywhere. Three steps forward, with limitations States has options, I would say un- On May 29, Secretary of State John limited, to gut the blockade of its fun- Kerry officially signed papers remov- damental content. According to the ing Cuba from the U.S. “terrorism” attorneys who are advising us on this list, a unilateral designation for states issue — because it is a question which Washington is hostile to. Kerry’s pa- has its complexities from a legal stand- pers included no apology, much less point – there are only a few questions Departamento de Estado EUA a reparations for the harm done to Cuba which the president cannot modify, by the terror campaigns launched from because they are prohibited by law. … Haití: Sin dinero, no hay elecciones U.S. soil. Admitted terrorist and con- “Tourism in Cuba is prohibited by victed bomber Luis Posada Carriles law [and] commerce with Cuba by sub- Continúa de la página 12 que era el momento “oportuno” para que and others live free in Miami today, sidiaries of U.S. companies in other Haití cambiara su calendario electoral. protected by U.S. imperialism. countries. ... tarse en las elecciones parlamentarias. Dijo que no tiene el dinero para llevarlo a Regarding travel to Cuba, U.S. resi- “Obama could tomorrow, for ex- cabo. (Haití Sentinel, 22 de mayo) dents still cannot buy an airline ticket ample, using his prerogatives, permit Apoyo para Fanmi Lavalas Durante los últimos 10 años la táctica from a U.S. airport to a Cuban airport a U.S. company to do business with El 19 de mayo se vio una gran ex- que EUA y la burguesía haitiana han uti- without filling out an affidavit and Cuba, trade in both directions, both plosión de apoyo popular para Fanmi lizado para asegurar que Fanmi Lavalas pledging to keep all records of the trip export and import; … allow other Lavalas, el partido político fundado por no ganara las elecciones ha sido no per- available for government inspection non-agricultural products to be sold to el ex presidente Jean Bertrand Aristide. mitir a Fanmi Lavalas en la boleta elec- for five years. Plus the trip cannot be Cuba on credit; … permit, for example, Miles de seguidoras/es emocionados y toral. Pero ahora EUA ha perdido el con- a “vacation,” as vacations to Cuba are that products from other countries, militantes fueron de la casa de Aristide trol de los procesos electorales. Muchos expressly prohibited by U.S. law. manufactured with Cuban raw materi- en Tabarre para acompañar a la Dra. candidatos progresistas reconocidos Because of U.S. restrictions, the Cu- als, be imported to the United States. Maryse Narcisse, la candidata de Fanmi están en la boleta electoral, como Moïse ban Interests Section in Washington, “It cannot be expected that in order Lavalas para la presidencia, a las oficinas Jean-Charles de Platfòm Pitit Dessalines. D.C., has had to operate without a bank to improve relations with the Unit- electorales. Estos candidatos tienden a obtener los vo- account for more than a year. A Flor- ed States, or to advance in this long, Antes, Narcisse viajó dos veces a Bos- tos que quieren elegir las/os haitianos en ida bank has finally agreed to accept complex process toward normalization ton para solicitar apoyo en la comunidad lugar de votar por el mal menor. its business. According to Cuba’s chief which we have before us, that Cuba is haitiana donde se reunió con activistas Washington recuerda lo que sucedió en negotiator in the discussions with the going to negotiate questions of an in- comunitarias/os y sindicalistas haitia- 1990. Con una victoria aplastante Jean U.S., even this step forward had to re- ternal nature, in exchange for a policy nas/os. Bertrand Aristide venció al candidato re- ceive a U.S. license in compliance with change on the part of the United States, El 23 de mayo, el CEP informó que 70 spaldado por EUA que había gastado 60 U.S. blockade regulations. when [the U.S. itself recognizes] that it personas se habían inscrito como candi- veces más. Esa derrota estadounidense Although Obama announced on Dec. has failed. Nor are we going to negoti- datas/os para presidente y plantearon ob- amenazó el control de Washington en 17 that Mastercard and Visa issued by ate questions of an internal nature, of jeciones a las calificaciones de 23 de ellos, Haití lo cual requirió dos décadas de in- U.S. banks could now be used in Cuba, Cuban sovereignty, in exchange for the incluyendo a Narcisse. tervención para restaurar. the fine print still leaves the decision lifting of the blockade.” Dos días después de la asamblea de Para evitar un retroceso similar en las to the issuing bank based on blockade Fanmi Lavalas, el Asesor Especial en próximas elecciones, Washington está restrictions. Read the full Granma interview at Haití del Departamento de Estado de proponiendo la posibilidad de cancelar tinyurl.com/p2xorhv. To contact the Cuba is not our enemy EUA Thomas C. Adams, dijo a un grupo totalmente las elecciones. Venceremos Brigade, visit de periodistas haitianos en Washington Es imposible perder una elección que Signed in September 2014, Obama’s VenceremosBrigade.net; for IFCO/­ que el Departamento de Estado consideró no tiene lugar. Presidential Determination letter re- Pastors for Peace, visit IFCOnews.org. workers.org June 18, 2015 Page 11 Down with Greek austerity Let the bankers pay!

By Fred Goldstein ernments, has been trying to hold off an could also set off solidarity struggles money went to the financial sector. (The attack. throughout Europe. International Attac network) Since February, shortly after the elec- This is what the bankers in Berlin, One Greek capitalist government after toral bloc Syriza won Greece’s national Finance capital holds many strings Paris, Brussels and Washington fear another paid hundreds of billions of euros elections on an anti-austerity program, It is important to understand the rela- most. The Political Secretariat of Syri- to the bankers, who had caused the cri- negotiations have been going back and tionship of forces in the struggle. On one za recently called for a national mobili- sis in the first place and are now profit- forth between Syriza and the Troika over side is European finance capital, headed zation. But so far the Tsipras leadership ing from it. The Greek governments have Greek government debt. The Troika re- by German imperialism, along with the has been nonstruggle. It does not match its been paying the bankers who loaned them fers to the International Monetary Fund, French, Dutch, Italian, Belgian and 17 defiant words in parliament and in public bailout money with tax money taken from the European Central Bank and the Eu- other European imperialist powers. commentary with defiant deeds. the workers and with money gained from ropean Commission. cutbacks in pensions, wages, layoffs and In the latest developments, the Greek privatizations of public facilities. government skipped a payment to the These governments have been a IMF of 300 million euros due on June 5 The Greek masses should not willing part of a vicious cycle. For five and is scheduled to bundle it with sub- straight years, without letup, they at- sequent payments on June 30. Also, have to pay one more euro tacked the working class in order to pay the Communist Party of Greece has an- the rich. Half the population is now in nounced mass demonstrations in the up- poverty. Production is down over 25 per- coming weeks. to the Troika. The onerous cent. Unemployment is sky high. Hunger It is important to grasp the nature of is everywhere. Greece is suffering from the present negotiations and this strug- debt imposed by the financial a Great Depression of its own. The Troi- gle. It is a struggle over concessions. It ka has been demanding draconian cuts is a struggle by the Syriza government — and each government has dutifully to loosen the viselike grip of austerity ­vultures who prey on the complied. that has brought untold suffering to the Syriza is the first government since Greek workers and to ward off new at- ­working class should be the crisis began that has said “Enough!” tacks on pensions and wages. and has tried to put a stop to the auster- ity measures. But it has few means to do Syriza: reformists trying to hold off thoroughly repudiated. this without the combative mobilization an attack of the working class, the youth, the op- Syriza is not trying to overthrow Greek pressed and all the victims of austerity. capitalism. Perhaps a more revolutionary On the other side is the Greek so- Several mass demonstrations took place struggle could eventually emerge, but cial-democratic government. The Greek during the early stages of the negotiations Greek Communist Party to mobilize even the most revolutionary leadership government is not financially sovereign. in February and March. But there has It is a good omen that the Communist must understand that at this point the It cannot issue its own currency under been no followup. Party of Greece (KKE) has called a mass main axis of the struggle is to ward off the rules of the eurozone. It cannot fi- To appreciate the potential for mass demonstration for June 11 and another the blows of finance capital aimed at the nance its way out of debt. It is totally de- resistance, it is worth remembering that on June 25. Through years of class strug- workers and to arrest the most extreme pendent on funds from the ECB. And it is Syriza was elected with around 33 per- gle and the fight against fascism and measures of austerity. Slogans against subject to harsh retaliation if it defaults. cent of the vote. But after the victory, reaction, the party has earned a great Greek capitalism and for socialism must The European bankers control the when Tsipras announced his plans — to following among the workers. Since the be raised for the sake of the future of the money. The ECB is dominated by Ber- fight austerity, demand a cut in the debt, negotiations began with the Troika in struggle. But at the same time all efforts lin. It can shut down the Greek financial rehire fired workers, protect pensions and February, their absence up until now has must be made to strengthen the immedi- system at any time by withholding funds collective bargaining rights, and subsi- been sorely missed. ate fight against austerity. from its banks. Money is the starting dize the poor — his popularity in the polls Hopefully, the KKE will find a way to It is also important to understand the point of all production and commerce shot up to close to 80 percent! This means attract the broader masses and to win forces in the struggle. Syriza is a left so- under capitalism, and the bankers con- that people who voted for the traditional them over to an anti-capitalist perspec- cial-democratic formation with different trol the money. bourgeois parties went over to Syriza in tive and to the struggle for socialism. currents in it. The leadership, represent- The relationship of forces is clearly droves, at least in sentiment. This has been their program. ed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, is unfavorable to the Syriza government in But this can best be done by directing not at all revolutionary. It is adminis- the present crisis. The question of leav- Five years of austerity governments their fire at the Troika as the main enemy tering the Greek capitalist state, which ing the eurozone and issuing drachmas, The history of recent Greek politics and supporting the demand for lifting the is based on capitalist exploitation and the former Greek currency, is one possi- will give an appreciation of the impact on austerity alongside raising the anti-capi- wage slavery. Whatever these leaders ble scenario. It should be explored and the population of Syriza’s efforts to com- talist struggle. It is urgent that the mass- say, they are in the position of upholding preparations made for such an eventual- bat austerity, however inconsistent they es see this first and foremost as the KKE Greek capitalism. They could capitulate ity — if that becomes necessary. may be. and the workers in the unions pushing at any time because the leadership is The global capitalist financial crisis against finance capital, fighting the new locked into the capitalist framework of Syriza’s true leverage: mass mobilization struck in 2008. Since 2009, all the Greek attacks and battling to lift the austerity. the European Union. and bankers’ fear governments have acted as vassals for the If the Syriza leadership falters and But Syriza’s main struggle now is not At the negotiating table, the Syriza German, French, Dutch, U.S. and oth- yields to demands for austerity, then a against the working class of Greece but government has some leverage. er bankers. These governments passed revolutionary left that has been in the against the financial oligarchy, which is First, the euro bankers and the U.S. austerity budget after austerity budget. struggle against austerity will be in a trying to tighten the screws on the work- bankers fear that unknown crises could These vassals from the New Democracy credible position to step in and give ing class. This must be acknowledged result from a Greek default. They fear a Party and PASOK (so-called “socialists”) ­leadership. in order to find the correct road in the default could set off a chain of defaults, followed the dictates of the Troika. The Greek masses should not have struggle. such as happened when Lehman Broth- The global financial crisis bankrupted to pay one more euro to the Troika. The To be sure, the Syriza leadership is ers was allowed to fail in 2008. the Greek government. The government onerous debt imposed by the financial wavering and inconsistent, seeking to This is a passive advantage held by in Athens owed hundreds of billions vultures who prey on the working class reconcile the irreconcilable — that is, to Athens — if they can hold out. But the of euros in debt to bankers and private should be thoroughly repudiated. pay the debt but also get an “honorable major card has not been played. The bondholders. In order to protect those The Greek masses should be orga- settlement” that does not cross the red factor that would give greater leverage bankers and bondholders against a pos- nized and mobilized to resist any and all lines of pension protection, wage protec- to Greek negotiators is for the masses to sible Greek government default on its retaliation and punitive measures im- tion and general social protection for the be out on the streets, fighting militantly debts, the Troika lent “bailout money” to posed by the bankers. And they should workers. against austerity. the government, on the condition that it be prepared to leave the eurozone — if it Syriza, after initially repudiating the Given the extraordinary imbalance in impose austerity on the workers. comes to that. The KKE, and left forces debt, now acknowledges the obligation the relationship of forces between the It was the banks that were actually be- in and out of Syriza, can and must play a to pay a large part of what is, in fact, a Greek government and the euro bank- ing bailed out, not the Greek masses. For key role in that struggle. It is not too late fraudulent debt imposed by means of fi- ers, it is incumbent upon the govern- example, between March 2010 and 2012, to strike a hard blow at finance capital — nancial extortion. ment to mobilize the masses. A strong the Greek government made 23 pay- at all the monied powers lauding it over But having said all that, up to now mass fightback would not only electrify ments to the Troika, amounting to 206.9 the workers and all the downtrodden. the government, unlike previous gov- the people and frighten the bankers, but billion euros. At least 77 percent of that Make the bankers pay! Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a: [email protected] WW PHOTO: MONICA MOOREHEAD MONICA WW PHOTO:

¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios! workers.org Vol. 57 Núm. 24 18 de junio, 2015 $1 Baltimore, 2 de Mayo. Departamento de Justicia, FIFA e imperialismo

Editorial Workers World-Mundo Obrero Mundial Femenina en Canadá podría de drogas ilícitas en los bancos, hasta la solidaridad con los trabajadores explota- aumentar el atractivo. Pero esto no afecta provisión de armas – para mantener las dos de construcción a quienes se les paga El repentino y dramático arresto de nuestras preguntas. ganancias. Eso es el capitalismo. centavos, y con los explotados jugadores nueve funcionarios de alto rango de la Los torneos de la FIFA traen miles de Los gigantes del petróleo, las farmacéu- de fútbol, pocos de los cuales logran sal- organización de fútbol más grande del millones de dólares. Sus países anfitri- ticas, el complejo militar-industrial y los arios estelares. mundo y de cinco ejecutivos de corpora- ones atraen a cientos de miles de turistas. mega bancos imperialistas mantienen Por otro lado, sospechamos la decisión ciones por el Departamento de Justicia La Copa Mundial de Fútbol es incluso relaciones estrechas con los gobiernos del DJ de EUA en meter su puño imperi- (DJ) de Estados Unidos suscitó preguntas más grande que los Juegos Olímpicos y para engrasar la máquina de lucro. ¿Por alista en otro ámbito internacional. ¿Por en las/os miles de millones de fanáticos que el Súper Bowl de la Liga Nacional de qué debería sorprendernos que la FIFA qué? ¿Acaso EUA dio el visto bueno al del deporte más popular del mundo. És- Fútbol. pueda hacer lo mismo? DJ cuando perdió frente a Qatar por los tas son dos: No tenemos ninguna información “in- Por lo que hemos aprendido sobre la juegos 2022? ¿Es para castigar a Rusia ¿Cuál es el papel de la Federación In- terna” sobre la FIFA. Pero “WW-Mundo FIFA y sus principales ejecutivos, es que – que será sede de los juegos de 2018 – ternacional de Fútbol Asociado, FIFA, la Obrero” tiene una visión clara de cómo el primer ejecutivo reelegido Joseph Blat- como parte de la ofensiva de Ucrania? organización privada que se encarga de la las mega corporaciones privadas fun- ter, es un misógino que ha menosprecia- Aquí en este país hay bandas aún más Copa Mundial de Fútbol ​​que comenzó en cionan en un mundo dominado por el do el papel de las mujeres jugadoras. Su peligrosas que la FIFA. Por ejemplo, los 1930, y la Copa Mundial Femenina, que se imperialismo. Su objetivo es maximizar política islamofóbica desde 2007 hasta enormes bancos transnacionales cuyas inició en 1991? las ganancias. Eso significa la constante 2014 era no permitir el hiyab en el campo, especulaciones exacerbaron el colapso ¿Por qué el DJ de EUA encabezó una explotación de sus trabajadoras/es y de excluyendo así a las mujeres musulmanas capitalista del 2008, y cuyos ejecutivos se operación internacional encubierta que naciones oprimidas. de este deporte. Sabemos que la FIFA per- han ganado el nuevo término de “bank- involucra a personas que no son ciudada- También significa el uso de todas las mitió alguna construcción cuestionable sters”. Las compañías farmacéuticas que nos estadounidenses en un deporte muy medidas, incluidos los sobornos y la in- en Brasil y algunas obras mortales en Qa- utilizan artimañas para extender sus pat- popular fuera de EUA? timidación – en el caso de EUA inclu- tar – donde 1.200 inmigrantes mal paga- entes. Fabricantes de armas que emplean Ahora la atracción por el fútbol está so amenazas de guerras – para captar dos, prácticamente trabajadores esclavos, a generales retirados para torcer brazos. creciendo en EUA, especialmente en los nuevos mercados a precios rentables. han muerto en el trabajo desde 2010. Los departamentos de policía en todo deportes femeninos. De hecho, la próx- Significa arriesgarse con todo tipo de ac- No tenemos ninguna simpatía por los EUA que arrestan, matan y ocupan las ima apertura el 6 de junio de la Copa tividad ilegal – desde el lavado de dinero ejecutivos de la FIFA. Tenemos nuestra comunidades basados en el racismo. En Nueva York en una sola voz: ¡Liberen a Oscar!

Por Berta Joubert-Ceci NYC, congresistas estatales y naciona- todo volumen una canción por el puertor- se formó un Comité de Solidaridad Oscar les), con diferentes grados de tendencias riqueño Danny Rivera sobre la liberación López Rivera en un vecindario creado por Las calles de Harlem en Nueva York, progresistas estuvieron presentes. de Oscar a la vez que ondeaban gigantes- la Gran Misión Vivienda y bautizado con vieron la más grande movilización que se Sin embargo, aunque la cobertura cas banderas boricuas. el nombre de Oscar. El Presidente Nicolás haya dado hasta la fecha por la excarcel- de los medios noticiosos destacaba la Maduro ha apoyado activamente la causa ación del prisionero político puertor- presencia de políticos y religiosos, fue Campañas en PR y Latinoamérica de la liberación así como otros líderes lati- riqueño Oscar López Rivera este sábado el pueblo latino, mayormente el boricua, En Puerto Rico, el movimiento por noamericanos como el expresidente José 30 de mayo. Más de 3.000 personas bajo pero con acompañamiento del dominica- Oscar ha aumentado como fue un día la Mujica, el presidente nicaragüense Dan- la consigna “Una sola voz por Oscar” le no, mexicano y de otras naciones latinas, exitosa lucha viequense. Cada día 29 se iel Ortega y otros. En Madrid, Alemania exigieron al presidente Barak Obama la que fue el verdadero sujeto significativo celebran actividades, incluyendo la de y Panamá, se celebraron actos y recogi- inmediata liberación del patriota boric- en la marcha. un grupo de mujeres llamadas “34 por do de firmas pidiendo la excarcelación. ua. La mayoría de los contingentes iden- Oscar”, representando los 34 años en En más de 10 países latinoamericanos se Oscar López tiene ya 72 años y es ahora tificados por sus banderas pertenecían prisión. Esta semana se celebró en la isla convocaron actos por Oscar y Puerto Rico el prisionero político puertorriqueño más a colectivos pro Oscar, con la presencia la 2da Caminata por Oscar que recorrió el 29 de mayo, como resultado de las res- antiguo. El pasado 29 de mayo cumplió también de organizaciones sobre pri- 40 pueblos en 34 días llevando infor- oluciones acordadas en la Declaración Fi- 34 años en cárceles del imperio, 12 de sioneros políticos como Mumia Abu Ja- mación sobre el caso y recogiendo resolu- nal de la reciente Cumbre de las Américas los cuales pasó en total aislamiento. Fue mal y Leonard Peltier. Hubo también una ciones de apoyo de los municipios por los realizada en Panamá. acusado de “conspiración sediciosa” – lo importante presencia del sector sindical que pasaban. Muchas personalidades también se mismo que se le aplicó a Nelson Mandela con la presencia de un numeroso contin- Pero la solidaridad se extiende fuera de han manifestado a favor de Oscar como – por pertenecer a las Fuerzas Armadas gente del 1199 SEIU liderado por su vice- PR. En Cuba se han hecho muchas activ- los premios Nobel Rigoberta Menchú y de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña, presidenta Estela Vázquez. Movimientos idades y conferencias, incluyendo un acto Desmond Tutu. FALN, basadas en Chicago que luchan de solidaridad y de la izquierda estadoun- convocado por la OSPAAAL en la Misión ¡La hora ha llegado para liberar a Oscar por liberar a la colonia boricua del yugo idense también dijeron presente. de Puerto Rico en la Habana. En Venezuela López Rivera y Puerto Rico! estadounidense. La manifestación en Harlem refle- El pueblo en la calle jó el amplio apoyo que en el último año Las/os marchantes llegaron desde 25 Departamento de Estado EUA a ha conseguido el caso de López Rivera. estados y muchos contingentes se iden- La campaña basada en la violación a los tificaban con sus ciudades de origen en Haití: Sin dinero, no hay elecciones derechos humanos, ha logrado sumar las la isla. Reflejando esto la inmensa ola voces hasta de políticos de derecha como migratoria que en los últimos años se ha Por G. Dunkel to; la elección presidencial será el 25 de se ve por la carta que el Caucus Hispano producido dada la devastadora situación octubre, con una segunda vuelta el 27 de del Congreso estadounidense – el cual in- económica que atraviesa el país caribeño. El parlamento haitiano esencialmente diciembre si es necesario; las elecciones cluye a derechistas como la cubana Ileana Aparte de la marcha, se iba producien- se disolvió hace meses cuando finaliza- locales y municipales tendrán lugar en la Ros-Lehtinen – le envió recientemente a do otro fenómeno paralelo en las aceras. ron los términos de todos sus miembros, fecha de octubre. Obama pidiendo la excarcelación. Muchas personas no sabían del caso de a excepción de 10 senadores. El presi- Algunas organizaciones políticas hai- Familiares de Oscar López lideraron la Oscar y querían saber más información. dente Michel Martelly, quien no puede tianas como la progresista Coordinación marcha. Su única hija Clarisa López viajó Se producían espontáneas tertulias postularse de nuevo, ha estado gober- Dessalines y sus aliados se oponen a desde Puerto Rico la noche anterior lu- donde se explicaba el caso de Oscar a la nando por decreto. El primer ministro elecciones mientras que la Minustah de ego de participar en manifestaciones en vez que se discutía la situación que ahoga de Martelly, Evan Paul, desempeña su la ONU siga imponiendo una ocupación la isla; y el hermano de Oscar, José López la isla. Muchas personas querían saber cargo solo sobre una base de facto, ya militar del país y Martelly, impuesto por Rivera, profesor y reconocido activista cómo integrarse al movimiento de lib- que el Parlamento ha sido disuelto y por EUA, sea todavía presidente. comunitario en Chicago llegó desde esa eración de Oscar en la Gran Manzana. lo tanto no puede aprobar su nombra- Pero otros grupos han decidido par- ciudad. Desde los altos de edificios residenciales miento. ticipar. Mujeres y hombres puertorriqueños se veían banderas puertorriqueñas onde- En marzo, el Consejo Electoral Pro- El CEP anunció el 15 de mayo que 1.515 con puestos políticos tanto en PR (la ando y sus residentes gritando las con- visional (CEP) estableció la agenda: Dos candidatos de 98 partidos van a presen- alcaldesa de San Juan) como en EUA signas y saludando a las/os marchantes. tercios del Senado y toda la cámara baja (la presidenta del concejo municipal de Una tienda de música boricua tocaba a de diputados serán elegidos el 9 de agos- Continúa en la página 10