THEORY / PRACTICE &

“HumanNEWS power is its own end”—Karl Marx Vol.LETTERS 59 No. 1 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 $1 WORKSHOPTALKS Rampant U.S. surveillance slouches toward totalitarianism Let RNs give care by Franklin Dmitryev Petraeus, and a current Supreme Court Justice. by Htun Lin Judge Reggie Walton concluded that some safe- So overwhelming has been the past year’s flow • On Jan. 6, RNs from the California Nurses Asso- guards had been “frequently and systematically violat- of revelations about the U.S. government’s spying on ciation (CNA) picketed a new state-of-the-art facility ed.” Other judges noted “systemic” misrepresentations virtually everyone that even President Obama’s hand- at Kaiser Oakland to protest increasing restrictions on to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) picked review panel had to acknowledge it. The Dec. 18 access to care while decreasing frontline care staff. The by the NSA. report by the Review Group on Intelligence and Com- opening was timed to coincide with the implementation Analysts spied on former, current, or prospective munications Technolo- • of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). lovers. gies tacitly responded Management issued a statement: “The nurses’ • Analysts listened to widespread outrage http://www.prawnworks.net/rlg/2013/Brad-Manning-130601.html union has indicated that their picketing involves claims in on personal phone with 46 recommenda- about patient safety and access to care...despite their calls of U.S. soldiers tions, including that the claim, it is not about quality and safety. It is about the overseas. National Security Agen- need to adjust staffing related to the overall number of NSA analyst Adri- cy (NSA) should halt • patients in our hospitals. Our hospital census has been enne Kinne admitted its blanket collection of declining for some time.” listening to hundreds U.S. phone call records. The statement goes on to say: “At the same time, of private conversations Though noting the we are experiencing a shift in care delivery to other ap- between U.S. citizens, potential for abuse of propriate settings, such as medical offices, by phone, some from the Red Cross the state’s mountains of and even online...” and Doctors without covertly gathered data, Borders. Emergency Room (ER) nurses are seeing the nowhere does the report In some cases the opposite: longer and longer patient wait times, as by Obama insiders grap- NSA pretends that only the ER is increasingly congested everyday. Many ple with the question of non-citizens outside of those on the picket line were ER nurses, who just what sort of totali- face this concrete reality, not the dishonesty be- the U.S. are monitored, tarian instrument the One of the thousands of demonstrations around the U.S. and the world in support hind the claim of “decreased hospital census.” but the documents also militarized top secret of Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning. This one with 2,000 was held June 1, We workers know that the real cause for a “lower reveal that the agency government has become. 2013, in Fort Meade, Maryland, where Manning’s trial took place last year. hospital census” is restrictions in access imposed by routinely evades such re- Indeed, while the management. The hospital census has been artificially strictions. According to review group repeats kept low because of ongoing deliberate cuts in staffing. Snowden, “we are collecting more in the U.S. on Ameri- with a straight face the administration’s pretense that cans than we are on Russians in Russia.” continued on p. 3 it is all about protecting Americans from terrorism, It has been the practice of every capitalist state’s that is clearly not the preoccupation of a massive appa- repressive apparatus to point the finger abroad to at- ratus whose targets include international aid organiza- tack the class struggle and other freedom movements tions, UN climate change negotiators, senior European EDITORIAL Tahrir at home. “Terrorism” is today’s equivalent of Joe Mc- Union officials and foreign energy companies—not to Carthy and J. Edgar Hoover’s “Communist menace,” mention German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who com- which justified disrupting the civil rights movement pared the NSA to East Germany’s infamous secret po- three years later and the anti-Vietnam War movement, and murdering lice, the Stasi; and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Three years ago, the Egyptian Revolution was fight- people like Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark and her aides, leading to her sharp denunciation at ing for its life in Tahrir Square. For 18 days and nights, Clark. the women and men of the Square faced off against the UN of this “breach of international law.” Citizens President Hosni Mubarak’s security forces and thugs. of France and Spain learned that over 60 million calls OBAMA’S EMPTY TALK In the end Mubarak was forced to follow Tunisia’s Pres- were monitored in each country in one month. Along with ordering the closure of the Guanta- ident-for-life, Ben Ali, into retirement and shame. The The scope of surveillance by the NSA, just one of at namo Bay prison and secret CIA prisons and ordering light of freedom spread—Square to Square, occupation least 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, is staggering. Secret an end to the use of torture in interrogations, Obama to occupation. It was a historic turning point. documents released by then NSA contractor Edward began his presidency by calling for much greater trans- Millions of Egyptians took to the streets again last Snowden show that the NSA collects—in the millions parency. In reality, his administration did nothing to year to protest President Morsi and the Muslim Broth- or even billions—cell phone locations, text messages, curtail or even talk about the surveillance monster that erhood, a conservative religious group that had refused credit card transactions, computer keystrokes, emails, he took over from George W. Bush. to participate in the initial stages of the revolution. contact lists (address books), and telephony metadata The tepid reforms proposed by the review panel, This was part of a worldwide struggle against reaction- (including numbers calling and called). The NSA’s Spe- completely tied to the interests of the national secu- ary fundamentalist religion that extends to Turkey, cial Source Operations group alone has been reported rity state, were further diluted by Obama in his Jan. Tunisia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, the U.S. and beyond. to store the equivalent of the Library of Congress every 17 speech that grandiosely compared today’s surveil- It was this global struggle that the military coup 14.4 seconds. lance to Paul Revere, equating counter-revolution to that ousted Morsi, and led to the massacre of over 800 The administration has little to say about reported revolution. He did not even commit to the most tout- of his supporters, was meant to stop short. Now, revolu- NSA abuses such as: ed measure: to stop the NSA’s collection of telephony tion continues, and the freedom idea lives, but the old • Whistleblower Russ Tice stated that orders were metadata. The report did admit “that the information world has tried hard to destroy it. Egypt’s newest new given in 2004 to tap the phones of Barack Obama, contributed to terrorist investigations by the use of sec- Constitution, passed Jan. 15 under the military rule of Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Dianne tion 215 telephony metadata was not essential to pre- General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, evokes only faint echoes of Feinstein, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Gen. David venting attacks and could readily have been obtained” Tahrir. As artist Hanaa Safwat said, “The referendum continued on p. 10 is stained in innocent people’s blood. It has been built on the dead bodies of 800 people in Rabaa al-Adawiya.” WOMEN AND LABOR IN STRUGGLE Syrian revolution ‘brought us together’ Tahrir Square saw women fighting on the front Chicago—About 150 people braved freezing rain to get tired of it. Revolution is what brought us together, lines for their own freedom, challenging oppressive so- hear Syrian revolutionary activists Razan Ghazzawi as Syrians, for the first time. cial relations in practice; under the new Constitution and Raed Fares speak here. The evening was made In liberated areas, people are out of jobs. They have this becomes an abstract guarantee of equal rights. It more poignant by the knowledge that earlier in the day a lot of spare time but very few resources. We have doc- will only mediate existing social relations rather than 62 members of the Free Syrian Army had been killed tors, lawyers, engineers, but they haven’t been able to create new ones. attempting to lift the siege of Homs. We began with a practice. There was a culture of bribery under Assad. Where the essence of Tahrir was informed by the moment of silence to honor them and all martyrs of the Even the jobs that existed weren’t taken seriously. recent history of labor unrest, including mass strikes Revolution. Schools need books. Arabic, basic English, story- continued on p. 8 Razan is a well-known blogger from Damascus. books. A lot of people in liberated areas aren’t think- Raed is an organizer in Kafranbel, responsible for the ing long term now. You here in the U.S. have time to ON THE INSIDE weekly signs that have become famous around the world. think and plan. We can communicate the situation on Here they speak for themselves: the ground. p. 4 From the writings of Dunayevskaya: › In Syria there isn’t time to do that. Not even to Charles Denby: worker-editor Razan: I wanted to talk briefly about my work. I mourn for lost friends. Things are very different when p. 2 Language and death in Juárez actually started writing my blog before the Revolution you’re outside. began. It’s easy to find someone like me, who blogs in Raed: We wrote on one of our banners: “It’s a Revo- p. 5 Dialectical mediation as missing link English. Western media can deal with that. But there lution that’s going on in Syria. Please understand us.” p. 9 Privatization of prisons is a crime are many others who are not known. When I was first Kafranbel is a small city of 30,000 people that was un- detained, it was with 15 other amazing women who got known before the Revolution. p. 12 War in the Central African Republic no notice. We suffered 50 years of oppression under the If there was no revolution in Syria, I almost feel Assads. People here, and in all of Syria, felt like we ONLINE: www.newsandletters.org like there would be no reason for me to exist. You don’t continued on p. 8 Page 2 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014

WOMAN Sweetening the Pill Language and death in Juárez Sweetening the Pill: or How We Got Hooked on Hor- by Yeyetzi Cardiel violence visible, that the language used by the mass AS media hides. Marcela Lagarde, an anthropologist and monal Birth Control by Holly Grigg-Spall is a poorly According to Walter Ben- former deputy of the Federal Congress of Mexico from written and edited book with no footnotes or index. It jamin, philosophy is made in 2003-2006,1 insists that the word “femicide,” first trans- has provoked controversy among feminists, especially REASON language and, as long as lan- lated into Spanish as “femicidio,” is understood only as over its contention that the birth control pill and other guage is one of the mediations the feminization of the word homicide. But these are hormonal contraception are unsafe. Some say the pill is of the experience, critique is also a way of experience. hate crimes based in scientifically proven safe and are concerned this book Language is not a neutral instru- http://www.naturadigit.com/2013/03/scusa.html misogyny, so Lagarde may fuel recent religious Right attempts to ban it. Oth- ment for expressing ideas or facts, proposed the word “fe- ers thank Grigg-Spall, saying their health problems re- it is a medium in which the mean- minicidio.” She wants sulted from the pill and that feminists should focus on ing depends in part on the words to make explicit the promoting other contraceptive methods. selected and the way we articu- gender violence of Grigg-Spall explains that scientific studies can late them. The way we construct these crimes.2 be biased and manipulated and describes outrageous experience with language has ef- Martínez de la situations in which this happened with both the earli- fects on its transmission and on Escalera, a philoso- est and most recent generations of birth control pills. the configuration of subjectivity, pher and academic, On the other hand, many feminists have analyzed how not only in aesthetics and ethics, states that the term she blatantly does the exact same thing by twisting her but also in understanding politics. femicide (even trans- supposedly scientific evidence to show that all hormon- THE DEAD CAN’T SPEAK lated as “feminicidio,” al contraceptives are harmful. She also hypocritically FOR THEMSELVES which is defined as the ignores the experiences of women who prefer the pill. The effects of language ac- killing of women just CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM IS NECESSARY One of Elina Chauvet’s installations titled “Zapatos Rojos,” at Cas- quire more relevance when what because they are wom- Grigg-Spall only briefly mentions what should be tle Square, Turin, Italy. Each pair of red shoes represents a woman we are trying to make visible and en) has no transparent brutally murdered in Mexico whose killer has never been brought one of her most important topics: the close relationship criticize is of concern to civil soci- to justice. social reference as long between doctors and pharmaceutical companies and ety. That is the case in the crimes as it “is defined by in- the resulting obsession of many doctors with putting all committed against women in Ciu- stitutions that decide women on lifetime prescriptions of hormones. Instead dad Juárez, Chihuahua and other states in Mexico. A the meaning and value of the word and its use…”3. She of making this part of a coherent critique of capitalism, critical approach to visualizing these crimes is ham- emphasizes that the word “femicide” does not help us she makes vague statements that capitalism promotes pered by at least two problems: First, there are no tes- think properly about violence against women. hormonal contraception because it supposedly allows timonies. As long as the women are dead, the closest Gender violence, which “divides civil society be- women to perform monotonous tasks. She spends most we can get to their experiences is from their mothers, tween two heterosexual and hierarchical genders,”4 of the book making biologically essentialist, sexist relatives and friends. Second, most of the news media reproduces two exclusively different ways for the con- claims that women’s thought processes, and in fact our “agreed” to talk about them as “the dead women of struction of subjectivity as if the only option was for very selves, are controlled by our reproductive cycles. Juarez.” This euphemistic phrase suggests that women one gender to dominate. As long as gender is assumed Grigg-Spall makes confused, rambling attempts to just died, and hides the fact that they were sexually as natural, then violence is presented as if it were also put her critique of the pill into feminist, anti-capitalist tortured and murdered. Speaking of these women as natural and not constructed. Escalera believes that as- philosophy, but, deliberately or not, she constantly re- if they simply died makes it impossible to continue the sumptions about the term gender must be questioned if peats the lies of the Right that attempt to give a femi- critique. we want to denaturalize the crimes. nist spin to their own propaganda. She claims women Some vocabulary has been proposed to make the ‘OUR DAUGHTERS BACK HOME’ in developing countries don’t want contraception, sex- Another way of making femicide visible is how rela- positive feminism means “making women sexually tives, mainly mothers and friends of the dead women available to men at all times,” feminists view “pregnan- of Juárez, are becoming activist—making big wooden cy as a disease,” and most abortions are for economic HANDICAPTHIS! crosses painted pink, each one with the name of a mur- reasons. She even trashes Planned Parenthood. dered woman. They place them in the fields where THINKING CRITICALLY by Suzanne Rose the bodies were found. They formed an organization: There is a danger readers alienated by their doc- Around 500 people, mostly disabled, gathered at Nuestras hijas de regreso a casa (Our Daughters Back tors may follow Grigg-Spall into her partially anti-sci- 5 Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, India, to hold a candle- Home) as a way to claim justice. ence and partially Right-wing ideology. Furthermore, light vigil and talk about a new bill, the Rights of Per- They have faced not only injustice but also threats, the feminist health movement continues to put medi- sons with Disabilities. They were protesting that even intimidation and even death. Marisela Escobedo was cal knowledge into the hands of patients, and it is dis- after its approval by the Cabinet on Dec. 12, the bill killed on Dec. 6, 2010, demanding justice for her daugh- turbing that some of its leaders give this book glowing wasn’t even tabled in Parliament before the Houses ad- ter Rubí, who was murdered in 2008. Nuestras hijas de reviews. They should follow the example of the Boston journed. A spokesperson for the group said, “Four years regreso a casa’s blog states that Marisela was “mur- Women’s Health Collective, whose book, Our Bodies, went into drafting that bill. We are scared that the gov- dered twice: by her murderer and by the State who be- Our Selves, balances both scientific research and wom- ernment does not give this bill any priority and, given trayed her in her search for justice.” en’s experiences while dismissing pseudoscience. upcoming general elections, Parliament may not be re- Protesters bring other crosses, also in pink, with Readers put off by Grigg-Spall’s disinformation convened early next year for any legislative business. If the legend “Ni una más” (Not one more). Some bring sil- and ideology might get an inaccurate impression of that happens, all our effort these past four years will houettes of the murdered and tortured women painted feminism or think that opposing capitalism is ridicu- go down the drain.” If that happens, he said, “Disabled in pink with a black cross on their chest, along with lous. They also might miss the few good ideas she does people from across the country will jam the streets of posters, flyers and so on. Mexican artist Elina Chauvet present, such as the many uses for the Fertility Aware- Delhi.” and the Spanish journalist Javier Juárez created an in- ness Method and the need for new contraception meth- * * * stallation which covers public squares with hundreds ods. The best thing to do with this book is not to ignore “As many as 6.5 million of the world’s 43.5 million of red shoes. it but to critique it to help ourselves learn to think criti- people displaced by conflict have disabilities. People FIGHT NORMALIZED VIOLENCE cally and challenge counter-revolutionary philosophies. with disabilities are among the most hidden and ne- Despite the fact that mothers, relatives and friends, —Adele glected of all displaced people, excluded from or unable regular citizens, artists, academics, journalists, femi- to access most aid programs because of physical and so- nists, and national and international organizations cial barriers or because of negative attitudes and bias- have organized and demanded justice, the crimes have es. They are often not identified when aid agencies and not been solved, and the femicides continue. WOMENWORLDWIDE organizations collect data and assess needs during and The structural hierarchical and normalized vio- by Artemis after a humanitarian disaster. Often, refugees with dis- lence against women and the naturalization of these abilities are more isolated following their displacement crimes is not only a problem that concerns the whole On Nov. 13 British novelist Doris Lessing died at than when they were in their home communities.” society, but a problem created by the State as long as the age of 94. In 2007, she became the eleventh woman —From Women’s Refugee Commission its institutions reproduce violence against women, and and the oldest person to ever receive the Nobel Prize in * * * the authorities are negligent and partially or totally in literature. The themes of her fiction included Stalin- A new camp for Syrian refugees living with dis- collusion with the murderers. ism, which she later renounced, the female experience, abilities is under construction in Sulimaniyah, Iraq. It is the responsibility of the State not only to clar- mental illness, post-colonial Africa, the problems of A UNICEF officer tries to ensure that families are as ify and punish these crimes, but to stop those respon- nuclear power, and a Sufi-inspired science fiction. Her comfortable as possible while waiting. The Gorgis fam- sible for the monopolization of violence. The birth of a series of The Golden Notebook is a feminist classic. ily has three sons with disabilities. Their oldest, Yousef, new vocabulary to describe and criticize these crimes * * * was paralyzed at birth. Lying on the ground would against women must also consider the collective memo- 2013 also saw the death of the “Lady of the Stars,” make him stiff and insects would attack him. Now he ry built by the solidarity the activists created. astrophysicist Margherita Hack at 91. The first woman has a bed and the family is more able to take care of to lead an astronomical observatory in Italy, she was him. The permanent camp will have facilities for people 1. Lagarde took this opportunity to promote a law against gen- astronomy chair at the University of Trieste. Her re- with special needs, including ramps and wide access der violence against women, which was approved in 2006 search contributed to the classification of many groups points for latrines and other sanitary facilities. and took effect in 2007. She also helped on the modification of stars, and asteroid 8558 Hack is named after her. She of the Penal Code so femicide could be classified as a crime. * * * was a popular science writer and opposed the influence Georgia has become one of the first ex-Soviet re- She keeps working to impose the classification on Penal Codes in other Mexican states. She states that these crimes of religion on scientific research as well as lobbying for publics to abolish state orphanages in favor of foster are crimes of the State as long as the state hasn’t done much legalized abortion, euthanasia, and LGBT rights. care. But disabled children continue to be marginalized stopping them. * * * and face the prospect of life-long isolation from society. 2. Cf. Lagarde, Marcela, “Antropología, feminismo y política: In Nov. 2013, the advocacy group Universities UK The life of one 18-year-old with cerebral palsy is grim. Violencia feminicida y derechos humanos de las mujeres,” published the document “External speakers in higher He lies in the fetal position in bed, is very thin with the Bullen, Margaret and Diez Mintegui, Carmen (coord.), Retos education institutions,” which opined that it is legal to body of a 10-year-old. He has not left his bed for five teóricos y nuevas prácticas, Donostia, Ankulegi Antropologia segregate audiences by gender when a visiting speaker years except to get washed. He lives in one of the three Elkartea, 2008; pp. 209-239. remaining orphanages, some of which are run by the 3. Martínez de la Escalera, Ana María, “Transcripción de la insists upon it for religious reasons as long as the au- participación de Ana María Martínez de la Escalera en la Georgian Orthodox Church, where children are said to dience agrees. There were 40 cases in 2013 in which presentación del libro Feminicidio: actas de denuncia y con- such demands by speakers were met. The document ra- be vulnerable to abuse, a charge the church denies. ”, México, UNAM, 2010, p. 2. Translated for this ar- troversia tionalized this as “freedom of speech” but also referred ticle by Yeyetzi Cardiel. Readers: We want to hear from you! Write to 4. Ibid., p. 3. to the discredited “separate but equal” former policy in us or email! See contact information, p. 8. 5. The blog of this civil association is at: http://nuestrashijas- U.S. law. Criticism from the public and prime minister deregresoacasa.blogspot.mx caused the group to reassess the document. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org Page 3 Cambodian massacre ‘We can’t survive on $7.25’ On Jan. 3, Cambodian police near the capital city New York—Over 500 union and non-union workers, with the city, de Blasio will be certain to play off one of Phnom Penh attacked garment workers on general predominantly from the education field and the newly against the other, exactly as Bloomberg did. strike, firing assault weapons at picket lines, killing at mobilized and militant fast-food workers sector, rallied —Labor solidarity activist least four workers and injuring dozens. They arrested on Dec. 5 to demand a minimum wage of $15. The fast- 23 strike leaders and hauled them away in secret to a food workers demanded as well the right to organize a hard-time prison. This repression, along with Prime union without fear of being fired. McDonald’s walkout Minister Hun Sen’s ban on demonstrations, has forced The rally was the culmination of a one-day many workers back to their jobs. strike by hundreds of fast-food workers around Workers in the 500,000-strong garment and New York and thousands more across the nation. shoe industries had begun their general strike The fast-food workers made their entrance with Dec. 24, with a nationwide demand that the mini- a marching band and loud chants of “We can’t mum wage be doubled from $80 a month to $160. survive on $7.25”—the current minimum wage in That would barely raise wages to a subsistence New York. Retail and grocery store workers were out in force. level. After the massacre seven international retail gi- The teachers union was also well represented, along ants including Gap, Adidas and Levi Strauss, in a letter with contingents from the staff and faculty union at the to Hun Sen, called for “restraint” in the use of force. But City University of New York. they signaled that they will keep their Cambodian sup- One woman I talked to, a retired teacher, said that David M’Oto/News & Letters ply line no matter what. Factory owners lay the blame she was helping organize her rent-stabilized building for starvation wages on what retailers pay them. on the Lower East Side in the face of proposed gentrifi- The garment industry in Cambodia, including cation. She said people were beginning to realize that, companies fleeing China’s militant workers, increased unless they organized themselves, no one else would Oakland, Cal.—The walkout at the 14th and Jackson Street McDonald’s production by over 20% in 2013 before the general help them. near downtown Oakland was part of a Dec. 5 national day of action strike compared to 2012. It represents over one-third of Another teacher told me that what they organized by fast-food workers from coast to coast. Only two or three Cambodia’s GDP and fully 70% of its exports. hoped for from de Blasio, the new mayor, was a employees stayed behind. After 40 minutes one more worker, a middle- In last July’s election the opposition Cambodia Na- change in the city’s educational policies. When I aged Latina, walked out to cheers from 100 co-workers and supporters tional Rescue Party endorsed the workers’ demand for asked a fast-food worker from Brooklyn if he had rallying in the parking lot. She and many low-wage earners belie the a $160 minimum wage. But a rigged vote kept in power struck, he proudly said yes with a smile. corporate claim that fast food workers are just youngsters looking for the Cambodian People’s Party, which has ruled under The only disappointing part of the rally was that, spending money or entry level jobs before a professional career. Hun Sen since 1985. although it had been billed as a rally for all city employ- —David M’Oto The rulers on Jan. 7 gloried in their murder of ees who were working without a contract, the powerful strikers as a triumph over lawless forces—at ceremo- local DC 37 of AFSCME, which represents tens of thou- nies marking the 35th anniversary of victory over the sands of city workers, was notably absent. Unless New LA garment dialogue Khmer Rouge, which killed over a million Cambodians York’s unions present a solid united front in negotiating Los Angeles—On Dec. 6, garment workers and or- ganizers from Bangladesh and Los Angeles discussed between 1975 and 1979. The irony overflows, as Hun their labor conditions at the downtown Garment Cen- Sen has continued to delay and obstruct the special ter. The 40 supporters, mostly Latina/o, included Chi- court charged with bringing Khmer Rouge leaders to nese workers. belated judgment, and the ruling party is riddled with WORKSHOPTALKS The first speaker, from Bangladesh, talked of the Khmer Rouge holdovers. —Bob McGuire collapse of a factory building in April 2013 that killed continued from p. 1 over 1,100 women workers (see “Premeditated murder The result is that patients are warehoused daily in the in Bangladesh” July-Aug. News & Letters). He said if Anti-worker robots ER. they had had a union, owners could not have forced Detroit—Robotics development has exploded within One only has to look at the general decline in the workers back into the factory. Garment workers now the past three years, due in large part to international overall health quality indicators to understand the average $25 a month. They are fighting for a minimum programs sponsored by DARPA (Defense Advanced nurses’ deep concerns over the care they are prevented wage of $63 a month. Research Projects Agency). DARPA started developing from providing. The greatest threat to quality care and He talked of the November 2012 factory fire driverless vehicles nine years ago and has long worked patient safety is the increasing spread of antibiotic- that killed 137 workers. Like the 1911 Triangle in the field of sophisticated robots. resistant bacteria which, management claims, is be- Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City that At a competition of robots held in December in cause hospital workers fail to wash their hands and killed 146 young immigrant workers, doors were Florida, the Japanese robot dominated all others in take other precautions. Period. End of story. locked to keep workers from leaving, and many eight designated tasks, including: clearing out debris, What is the rest of the story? workers jumped to their death. climbing a ladder, opening and closing doors, and driv- As any nurse will tell you, the ever increasing Some European and U.S. corporations have now ing a golf cart. It gave a preview of the next generation workload has been so overwhelming, and speed-up so signed on to a fire safety accord that gives workers the of multi-tasking robots that have a great potential to do severe, that all their tasks are performed with compro- power to sue. But Wal-Mart has refused to sign it. The much good—as well as devastating harm. mises they have no control over. There is no end to the Bangladeshi speaker suggested a national boycott: “We Robots can go into places that are dangerous to hurried, harried, and harassed work pace. need to pressure the buyers (retailers) and factory own- humans—fires, explosions, poisonous fumes, nuclear Staff is monitored by computer software sur- ers, not just the government. Have faith in the workers meltdowns, battlefields—performing many tasks re- veillance. Every problem that arises due to short organizing themselves.” quired for human existence. However, under capital- staffing is not resolved by replacing missing A Latina from the L.A. Garment Center, said many ism, robotics has made millions unemployed. Robots staff, but by adding more technology—to harass workers are paid pennies for piecework and end up have also become a means for employers to intimidate or monitor staff even more. In short, all this ex- making $130 to $140 for 40 to 60 hours of work. Even workers who oppose management dictates. pensive high-tech investment is not a means to then, wages earned are frequently not paid. Many work- Management has but one goal—to increase health. It is a way to get rid of workers. ers suffer abuse because they are undocumented. They profits. This means sacrificing workers. Capital- To corporate America, who see only the bottom want to be in a union, but they need a lot of support. ists have no choice: When there is a conflict be- line, labor is only a cost. They hike premiums while re- A Latino worker in Los Angeles, said of down- tween workers and profits, it is the workers who ducing service and staff, using ACA as an excuse to get town garment factories: “Sometimes we work a must go. rid of workers in the name of “affordability.” 14-hour day at 50 cents an hour. What Guess But it doesn’t end there. Since labor is the primary The ACA is expected to add 30 million new health sells for $40 or $50, we make for five cents per source of all value, removing labor removes value and plan members to our already severely congested health- piece. Often, there’s no ventilation. There are not profit. Capitalism faces itself through its contradictions care system. We are on the cusp of a potentially massive enough toilets. Workers have to endure insults as its own gravedigger, but does not go peacefully. This healthcare disaster in what the Centers for Disease and attacks. generates a revolutionary response in society, and the Control calls the “post-antibiotic era” of the spread of “Nothing happens to employers who violate labor future hangs in the balance. antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the baby-boom gen- laws. Being undocumented also discourages many from A similar contradiction exists in robotics, with its eration is aging. Yet HMOs are hell-bent on their plans looking for other types of work. How can we make the great potential to contribute much that is positive, yet to perform further cuts in the healthcare delivery force. retailer responsible for these conditions of labor?” this potential is stymied by capitalism that is not based “Affordability” to them means sacrificing the During the question period, a retired Chinese gar- on human needs but on capital. That’s why it stands in health and well-being of both patients and work- ment worker recalled: “When we protested, we just total opposition to the philosophy that Karl Marx devel- ers. By picketing, we are saying we cannot afford stopped working. You should have more workers here, oped and called humanism. this kind of deformed healthcare disguised as re- get more workers together.” —Basho —Andy Phillips form. The industry misuses the letter of the law in the ACA to eliminate staff that is very needed to care for the millions of patients seeking care Ukraine: New Unions and Democratic Left meet through the ACA. As I write, on Dec. 19, the Ukraine is once again reformist. Alexei Gusev, radical historian and chair of HMO executives are playing Russian roulette with riven by national strife, fueled, as always, by rival im- Praxis, which I co-founded in 1997, reports below. society’s collective health. More money is poured into perial powers. On the other hand, just two months ago, —Richard Greeman buildings and high-tech, while the workers to tend Kiev was host to an historic international gathering of The Kiev conference was really a breakthrough. those machines are increasingly absent. Healthcare workers’ organizations from four formerly Soviet na- For the first time a meeting co-organized by Praxis was restructuring brings to life what Karl Marx called capi- tions that proposed a very different future. so representative—more than 200 people with strong talism: the increase of dead labor over living labor. The Nov. 2-3, 2013, New Trade Unions and the trade unionist participation and leaders of the nation- Capitalists have declared that affordable care Democratic Left Conference was organized by the Con- al free unions confederations openly expressing their means that labor time in healthcare must be drastically federation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU), democratic Left political orientation! Such events make reduced. This is big business jargon to say that work- the Russian Confederation of Labour (KTR), the Belo- us feel that our work is not in vain. ers are using too much healthcare. Healthcare benefits russian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP), The conference also demonstrated the development that workers struggled hard to win are now declared the Confederation of Trade Unions of Georgia (KPG), of a new independent labor movement in Ukraine rep- “Cadillac” plans and taxed as a luxury. the Global Labour Institute, and the Praxis Research resented by the Confederation of Free Trade Unions, On Jan 6, we healthcare workers picketed our and Education Center of Moscow. which is now very active in huge democratic-revolution- brand new facility. We had picketed the old facility at “New Trade Unions” refers to workers’ organiza- ary movements against “Putinization” of that country, the onset of healthcare restructuring 17 years ago. Our tions that are independent of both the old government- a movement that most of the political “Left,” still influ- message, then as now, is: We are fighting for quality controlled Soviet unions and the U.S.-sponsored AFL- enced by Stalinism, shamefully distanced themselves healthcare. We are not only fighting for our patients’ CIO-type unions the CIA attempted to implant in the from or even attacked. lives, but for our own. early 1990s. Their orientation is radical rather than —Alexei Gusev, www.praxiscenter.ru Page 4 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 FROM THE WRITINGS OF Charles Denby, worker-editor A few months later, both questions I had posed to the youth of the Free Speech Movement, to Women’s Denby reappeared in a most unusual way. It was March Liberationists speaking in many voices—but called to- RAYADUNAYEVSKAYA 5, 1953, when Stalin died. Denby called me the minute gether conferences of activists in all these movements. he got out of the shop. He said he imagined I was writ- Thus, when the highest point in those 1960s came Editor’s note: As a contribution to Black History ing some political analysis of what that meant and he to a climax which, however, was spelled out as aborted Month we reprint Raya Dunayevskaya’s memorial for wanted me to know what the workers in his shop were revolution both in the U.S. and in France, Denby, far Charles Denby (1907-1983), her comrade of 35 years talking about all that day: “Every worker was saying, ‘I from ringing down the curtain, was instrumental in and Editor of News & Letters from its founding in have just the man to fill Stalin’s shoes—my foreman.’” calling together a Black/Red Conference in Detroit on 1955 until his death. Written Oct. 24, 1983, it is ex- It impressed me so much that I said not only that Jan. 12, 1969. Here is his welcome: cerpted here from the Nov. 1983 News & Letters. I would write the political analysis of the death of that This is the first time that such a conference of Black Readers may want to know that author Jacqueline totalitarian, but that the workers’ remarks would be- youth, Black workers, Black women and Black intellec- Jones has just published A Dreadful Deceit: The come the jumping off point for tuals will have a chance to discuss Myth of Race from the Colonial Era to Obama’s my article on the trade unions. I with each other as well as with America, which features a chapter on Denby, using asked whether he could distrib- Marxist-Humanists, who lend the his given name, Simon Owens. ute those articles in his shop and red coloration not only for the sake record the workers’ comments. He of color, but for the sake of philoso- The 75 years of Charles Denby’s life are so full of agreed enthusiastically. phy, a philosophy of liberation. class struggles, Black revolts, freedom movements that Several years earlier I had “Philosophy of liberation” they illuminate not only the present but cast a light translated Lenin’s Philosophic was not mere rhetoric, much less even on the future. At the same time, because his au- Notebooks on Hegel and I now an empty intellectual task. To tobiography—Indignant Heart: A Black Worker’s read certain sections to Denby. He Denby, philosophy became a clear- Journal—reaches back into the far past when, as a said that Hegel’s language meant ing of the head for action. From child during World War I, he asked questions of his absolutely nothing to him, but the minute he became the editor grandmother as she told tales of her slavery days, read- that he certainly understood Len- of News & Letters, which mani- ers suddenly feel they are witness there to the birth of in: “Couldn’t you leave out Hegel fested so unique a combination of a revolutionary. and just publish what Lenin said? worker and intellectual, Denby’s I first met Denby in 1948 when he had already be- If intellectuals want to read Hegel, interest in philosophy was never come a leader of wildcats, a “politico,” but the talk I can’t you just tell them the section separated from action. It was, in heard him give of tenant farming in the South and fac- that Lenin was talking about? I fact, at that Black/Red Confer- tory work in the North was far from being a “political like, for example, Lenin’s sentence ence that he chose to single out speech.” Listening to him, you felt you were witnessing that ‘the idea of the transforma- a quotation directly from Hegel’s an individual’s life that was somehow universal, and tion of the ideal into the real is Phenomenology of Mind as his that touched you personally. You feel that when you profound.’ I think workers would favorite because it applied to the hear him tell of his first strike: like to know how to do that.” relationship of reality to philoso- I remember the first strike I ever led. It was over The following month, on phy: “Enlightenment upsets the the discrimination against Black women workers in our June 17, 1953, the East German household arrangements, which shop. It was during World War II when I was at Briggs workers revolted in East Berlin spirit carries out in the house of and I was so new in the shop I didn’t even know what a against raising the work norms in faith, by bringing in the goods and furnishings belong- strike was. I was working in the dope room where you their factories and, as they marched out of the factories, ing to the world of the Here and Now….” put glue on the airplane wing. The fumes and odor were they smashed the statue of Stalin. This was so great a Three direct results flowed from both the Black/ so bad we had no appetite left by lunchtime….The wom- world historic turning point, and the fact that it broke Red Conference and from the Women’s Liberation Con- en had been talking about their husbands who were in out against speed-up meant so much to Denby, that our ference that followed it: 1) the establishment of a new the service in Germany—and here they couldn’t even get discussions on philosophy became discussions about Black/Red column to be written by John Alan; 2) the a job in the sewing room next door. That was for white concrete actions of workers. creation of a Woman as Reason column for the Wom- women only. These things just burned us up….On the DENBY BECOMES EDITOR en’s Liberation page, and 3) the involvement of the par- day that we walked out, they locked the gates on us. By Denby felt strongly that there was an imperative ticipants from both Conferences in discussions around that time other workers inside the factory were out with need for a new kind of workers’ paper, and in 1955 ac- my new book-in-progress, Philosophy and Revolu- us.…It wasn’t until the company sent for me as the “strike cepted editorship of News & Letters. What pleased me tion: From Hegel to Sartre and from Marx to Mao. leader” that I had realized what we had actually done. especially was that the first issue should appear in hon- Their contribution can be seen in what became Chapter Recently, Denby began talking about what had or of the second anniversary of the East German revolt, 9 of that work, “New Passions and New Forces—The happened when Automation was first introduced. He not only so that none would forget that first revolt from Black Dimension, the Anti-Vietnam War Youth, Rank- was talking about the Miners’ General Strike of 1949- under totalitarianism, but also to show a new phase of and-File Labor, Women’s Liberation.” 50 when the continuous miner had first been intro- international solidarity. duced into the mines. THE FINAL DECADE: PATH TO THE FUTURE Along with the birth of News & Letters came our It was when the government threw the Taft- 1978 was the year Denby decided to write a Part II very first pamphlet. We published, in mimeographed Hartley law at the miners and John L. Lewis ordered to his unique biography, first published in 1952. As he form, Lenin’s Philosophic Notebooks in the form the miners back to work that the miners refused, orga- put it in the new Foreword, this was no mere updating: Denby had recommended—our first “best-seller.” nized their own rank-and-file Relief Committees, and It isn’t only that 25 years separate Part I and Part 1955 was also the year the Montgomery Bus Boy- appealed to other workers throughout the country for II. More importantly, the great events of the 1960s that cott began. Whereas no others recognized the Black help. Denby recalled the miners who had come from gave birth to a new generation of revolutionaries could Revolution until the 1960s, we immediately became ac- West Virginia to his local: but give a new direction to my thoughts and actions as tive participants in that struggle and considered it on I remember that the bureaucrats were not too hot a Black production worker who became the editor of a as high a level for opening new pages of world freedom about the idea. They didn’t dare come right out and very new type of newspaper—News & Letters. as the East European revolts. Alabama was, after all, oppose it, but you could tell they weren’t enthusiastic, In his long three-year battle with cancer, which Denby’s home state, and he headed South to meet with like the rank and file were. But our enthusiasm was so ended on Oct. 10, 1983, Denby continued with his Work- both Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King. Here is strong that by the time the meeting ended the bureau- er’s Journal column. His last letter to me—which he crats had to triple the amount they had intended to give. how his Christmas 1956 visit was reported by Denby in printed in his June 1983 column—spoke of how cru- After that, the miners knew they had to talk directly to News & Letters: cial it is to show the American roots of Marxism, as we I have recently come back from a trip to Alabama, the rank and file. At Local 600 the workers not only gave had developed it in American Civilization on Trial: where I was born and raised. Montgomery is my home- several thousand dollars outright, but pledged $500 a Black Masses as Vanguard. He had been very im- week for as long as the strike lasted, and sent a whole town. From what I’ve seen and feel, there is a social revo- pressed, he said, with the new paragraph I had added lution going on in the South that has it in a turmoil of a caravan—five truckloads—of food and clothing. The on Marx and the Black world to my latest work, Rosa kind that hasn’t been seen since the days of Reconstruc- strike didn’t last too long after that show of solidarity. Luxemburg, Women’s Liberation and Marx’s Phi- tion. Denby’s point was not that today’s workers must losophy of Revolution: “copy” what the labor militants did then, but that it is RELATIONSHIP OF REALITY TO PHILOSOPHY Raya, whatever else we decide to write for the 20th the informal rank-and-file committees that show how In becoming both a columnist—his Worker’s anniversary of our pamphlet, I strongly feel that your “workers talk and think about everything while on the Journal always appeared on page one—and an editor, new paragraph should be the focus. We need to put, job—things about everyday life but also about world he no longer limited himself to stories from auto fac- right in the beginning, the world context of our struggle affairs.” News & Letters, he said, “must continue to tories, but also gathered stories from the mines, steel and the way our view of it is rooted in Marx. I would like elicit from the workers thinking their own thoughts. Ac- mills, and from office workers, too. Here is how he ex- to let all our readers see that paragraph for themselves. tions are sure to follow.” pressed it in Workers Battle Automation: That paragraph did become the focus for the new A TURNING POINT IN DENBY’S LIFE The intellectual—be he scientist, engineer or Introduction we wrote for the expanded edition of The year after the historic miners’ strike, Denby writer—may think Automation means the elimination American Civilization on Trial that came off the began dictating the story of his life. It became a turn- of heavy labor. The production worker sees it as the elim- press just in time to take to the March on Washington. ing point for him because in telling his story he gained ination of the laborer. The inseparability of philosophy and revolution confidence that he could express himself in a way that And just as he had opened two chapters of his au- motivated Denby from the moment he became editor carried meaning for other workers as well. Part I of tobiography so that his wife, Christine (Effie Owens), in 1955 to the very last days of his life, and he always his autobiography was published in 1952. I moved to could tell her story back in 1952, long before the birth had some sentence he would single out from various Detroit in 1953 and it was then I first broached the of the Women’s Liberation Movement, so now he saw to theoretical works that became his favorites. Thus, question of having a worker as editor of a new type of it that stories of women freedom fighters were reflect- from Marxism and Freedom he was always quoting: paper we were planning, instead of forever bestowing ed in News & Letters, as witness the special story on “There is nothing in thought—not even in the thought of that prerogative on an intellectual who would speak the sit-in movement he obtained from a State Teachers a genius—that has not previously been in the activity of “for” the workers. Denby was at first non-committal. College student from his hometown, Montgomery, Ala., the common man.” At the same time he knew I was working on a book which appeared in the April 1960 News & Letters, un- While Denby was too modest a man to think that on Marxism and the new stage of capitalism I called der the title “No One Moved.” this had any relationship to him as a person, he had state-capitalism, and began asking me how trade union One of the most important developments of the full confidence that that expression did mean masses questions were handled in Russia before it became turbulent 1960s, of course, was the anti-Vietnam War in motion. Yet the truth is that the genius of Charles state-capitalism and was still a workers’ state. When I movement whose voices were heard regularly in the pa- Denby lies in the fact that the story of his life—Indig- told him about the famous trade union debate of 1920- per. In general News & Letters not only became the nant Heart: A Black Worker’s Journal—is the his- 21, I asked him whether he thought it would be of inter- publisher for all freedom fighters speaking for them- tory of worker’ struggles for freedom, his and all others est to American workers. selves—from the Black and white Freedom Riders, to the world over. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org Page 5 ESSAY Communization theory’s missing link: dialectical mediation; what happens after by Ron Kelch the French Revolution, its total negative power of ground of his 1844 Humanist Manuscripts, in his The impasse in the anti-capitalist movement immediate thought over prevailing institutions, some most directly organizational document, CGP. Marx after Occupy has led to theoretical stirrings over what of which had existed in Europe for over a millennium. addressed what he said the Communards never got to, to do organizationally, not just about the abolition of Hegel’s dialectic set out to make a difference through namely, releasing “the elements of the new society” (CW, capitalism, but a positive concept of the future after full recognition of how new mediations could arise 22:335). Marx first introduced his CGP organizational capitalism. not just arbitrarily or by default, that is, not just be a principle of a new unity of life and labor in 1844 as the This is an opportunity to engage Marx’s view of these winning faction like a Napoleon or a Stalin, emerging determinate character of being human. Humanity’s concerns, which was rooted in his 1844 declaration of a out of purely negative fury against the old. This self- species character is human activity as free, conscious, revolutionary humanism as the positive in the negative recognized mediating dialectic shaped Marx’s practice life-affirming activity in contrast to labor as a mere that opens up to a totally new future by refusing to be as he engaged the new revolutionary impulses that means to life (CW, 3:276). defined by what it is against. Marx’s humanism also emerged out of the capitalist epoch. This concept of labor is not limited to what is re-emerges when he most MARX’S PRACTICE OF PHILOSOPHY commonly called the labor movement, a self-identity directly defines the role of a SMR sums up Marx’s organizational view after the SMR disparages as being part of capitalism, the revolutionary organization 1848 revolutions in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis dismantling of which demands new theoretical “tools.” in the 1875 Critique of the Bonaparte as siding with the party of total rupture This concept is labor as human activity, in Gotha Program (CGP), in that engages, but is distinct from, the disruptions and distinction from alienated labor under capitalism terms of principles that organizations of spontaneity (240). as well as all the pre-capitalist forms in which labor guide a non-capitalist future, But Marx saw the 1848 revolutions’ total rupture is “mediated by the community.” Neither of these, as like the projection that labor also as an attribute of the tenuous, self-critical, Marx restates his founding principle in the Grundrisse go from “a mere means to spontaneous content of the then new proletarian mass (an early draft of Capital), develops “human power as the prime necessity of life.”1 such...an end in itself...in the absolute movement of Rosa Luxemburg activity—a content, writes Marx, that far exceeded On Jan. 11 in Oakland, its expression, in contrast to other tendencies and becoming” (CW, 28:412). Marx’s concept of labor, as he Calif., over 50 people packed a small room to attend their rhetorical bluster that far exceeded any actual made clear in 1844, is not unilinear or unidimensional. the first of a series of discussions around Endnotes 3 content in their actions. The latter drew their poetry It is rather all the ways humans materially and (September, 2013), a book-length journal put out by a and abstract formulations from the past and came to spiritually reproduce their humanity as free conscious small group of anti-statist, anti-vanguardist Marxists. dominate the historical stage, this time disgorging beings. Indeed, the most fundamental relation is man/ Many of the ideas elaborated in the crucial concluding the farce of another Napoleon (the nephew) declaring woman (CW, 3:296). chapter, “Spontaneity, Mediation, Rupture” (SMR), had himself emperor (CW, 11:106-07). Beginning in 1844 from already been presented by Aaron, a representative from Marx made such a big deal out of the unique and his concept of human activity, Endnotes, in a discussion of communization theory. repressed proletarian dimension with its “prodigious” Marx reengaged Hegel’s dialectic SMR investigates its title concepts in “an attempt though “indefinite” aims for something totally new, directly, calling the “dialectic to re-fashion the tools of revolutionary theory for our that when workers’ self-activity emerged in a big way of negativity as [the] moving times” (229) and to face unresolved issues in Rosa again in the 1871 Paris Commune, after being nearly and creating principle” the Luxemburg’s view of “organization as coordination” in forgotten in the retrogressive 1850s, pundits of the day Phenomenology’s final result the “relationship between spontaneity and the party” nearly universally associated the Commune with Marx, and greatest achievement, which (225). Spontaneity, the creative heart of SMR, poses some even imagining he was its puppet master pulling “grasps the essence of labor and that far from being lack of organization that must the strings from London (CW, 24:575). conceives of objective humans... be given shape externally by the party, spontaneous A less known connection to the Paris Commune as the result of their own labor” revolts create new content, their own disruptive new was Marx’s changes to his greatest theoretical work, (CW, 3:332-33). Further, Hegel’s forms of organization, as well as forms of struggle. Capital, where Marx set out to give expression to the dialectic of negativity is not just Further, none of this can be known in advance. spontaneous movement’s “indefinite” reach for a total total opposition but is “negation The coordination problem “is only solved in and rupture with capitalism. Capitalism is the most abstract Raya Dunayevskaya of the negation” which Marx calls through an unfolding sequence of struggles” (236). The form of mediation where external things, commodities “positive humanism beginning “coordination problem” must tackle how seven billion and capital, “contain” a social property, value, which from itself” (CW, 3:341-42). humans work out their inextricably intertwined lives dominates their creators for whom reality presents itself Positive humanism is a mediating negative without the mediation of value production. This defines as social relations between these things. This inversion self-relation that finally goes beyond external the role of the revolutionary organization out to make a is wholly subjective and arises, says Marx, from the “mediations” like collective property or atheism total break with capitalism. “form itself” as soon as the product of labor “assumes in which one is still defined by what one opposes. The party of total rupture with capitalism the form of a commodity” (BF, 164). Marx didn’t achieve Hegel’s way of expressing this at the end of the coordinates revolutionary spontaneity’s “unfolding such a clear articulation of the wholly subjective root of Phenomenology was to show that totally new sequence of struggles” in a search for tactics to “finally inverted capitalist reality until the Paris Communards beginnings can arise only when the movement destroy the link between finding work and surviving” showed how masses could totally reorganize their lives becomes a “conscious, self-mediating process” (244), that is, destroy living by means of the cash nexus together, each one experiencing the world they created (para. 808). and selling one’s labor power in a global division of as part of their own freely associated activity. The most refreshing aspect of SMR is that its “Conclusions” confront the seemingly impossible but labor ruled by capital. This is not quite the positive new Marx’s “party” was giving philosophic necessary task of addressing now: what kind of new integral link between work and life cited above from expression to the self-activity of the Communards, human being can work out coordination after a total CGP. Neither, however, is an immediate outcome or their creation of new mediations through freely revolutionary break with capitalism? SMR notes the fully realized result of revolutionary spontaneity’s total associated labor. Marx never “paradox” of trying to solve the coordination problem on rupture with capitalism. Therein lies the problem. separated this philosophic the basis of what we are now, since new beginnings that approach, which looked THE POSITIVE IN THE NEGATIVE rupture the old differentiate into new differences (247).2 at the positive aspect of An Endnotes 2 article, “Communisation and That speaks even louder for the dialectic of negation mediation on the other side Value-Form Theory,” defined communization as of the negation as the humanist principle which never of the commodity-form, from “the destruction of the commodity-form and the changes but is open to new ways of developing our simultaneous establishment of immediate social the problem of coordination. “Communisation and Value- humanity, that is, is never exhausted in particular relations between individuals.” “Communization theory moments of unity in difference whether one speaks of and its discontents truncate Marx’s dialectic” (Jul.-Aug. Form Theory” claimed that the “connection between the capitalism or the reach for new unities in forms, like 2013 N&L) sharply criticized this delusory notion. In the Commune, Councils, a Solidarity Union, etc. SMR “immediacy” is qualified as “merely a shorthand” value-form and fetishism—the inversion where humans are Philosophy as dialectical mediation is a crucial for total abolition of the modern world’s self-alienating link to working out the new, which cannot be, as mediations, mediations like capital and the state (237). Karl Marx dominated by the results of their own activity—did not play much SMR claims, only a “practical problem” that “must be SMR acknowledges that “new mediations will theorized within the struggle.” It is rather a movement inevitably be erected out of the old” (238). Yet Hegel’s role in the interpretation of Capital until the 1960s.” The article is certainly correct that most “Marxists” from theory that both challenges the movement from dialectic of freedom, which Marx recreated in the practice to realize its full potential and articulates that whole, corporeal human being, means specifying hadn’t gone beyond the value-form of political economy to ask, as Marx does, why political economy “has never potential as the conscious practice of the dialectic itself. the movement through the way human relations are To stop at total opposition to, or abolition of, existing mediated. “Mediated” human relations means they are once asked the question why this content has assumed that particular form, that is to say, why labour is mediations, misses the essential movement that it is shaped by concepts, which, in turn, determine how the not from but through mediation that one gets to both world presents itself to those humans. In other words, expressed in value, and why the measurement of labour by its duration is expressed in the magnitude of rupture and recognizing the new, not as a ready to hand opposition to capitalist mediation by itself doesn’t given but as having emerged from within. confront the dialectical moment. the value of the product.” However, in the 1950s Raya Dunayevskaya not only singled out Marx’s question but Nothing is more crucial for addressing the problem The dialectical moment is never only a of “what happens after” the revolution than the dialectic general, abstract, merely negative opposition, but went into detail on the ways Marx’s philosophy reached such explicitness only in the version of Capital after the in and for itself, which means mediation that recognizes always realizes the positive in the negative, a new itself as such. Only then will a total break with the mediation, implied through negating something Paris Commune (see “The Paris Commune Illuminates and Deepens the Content of Capital,” Marxism and past, a total discontinuity, be as well a continuity with specific and concrete. Hegel’s Phenomenology the whole course of human development. revealed this dialectic in history to show that if Freedom, Bookman, 1958). the new is truly new, the necessary mediating DIALECTICAL MEDIATION 2. For an in-depth discussion of how Hegel confronted this movement of the positive in the negative must Marx’s concept of the party was not just a paradox, see “Harris’s Paradox and Dunayevskaya’s New come to the fore. coordinating committee for total rupture, but always Beginning: Can Hegel’s Method Shape a New Unity of Hegel’s breakthrough came out of soberly facing looked to spell out the positive dialectical moment of Theory and Practice?” CLIO 32:3 (Spring, 2003), 303-330. contradictions in the total revolutionary rupture of mediation. This urgency shaped Marx’s concept of a revolutionary organization, even as he fully appreciated Like News & Letters? 1. Alternate translation in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, the necessary, but nevertheless momentary, popular Become a bundle dealer. Bulk orders of Collected Works (International Publishers: New York) vol. 24, forms of organization like the Commune, emerging p. 87, further referenced as “CW” with the volume number five or more copies for 25¢ each. and page number in the text, except for the commonly used later in new forms like Soviets or Councils. Distribute the only Marxist-Humanist Thus, after his engagement with the self-activity Ben Fowkes translation of Capital (London: Penguin, 1976), paper in the world! which is referenced with “BF.” of the Communards, Marx returned to the philosophic Page 6 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014

THE SYRIAN REVOLUTION AS TEST OF WORLD POLITICS I have been active in a number of use sarin gas on his people the day a UN student groups around labor and wom- mission to investigate the use of poison en’s issues. We always talk about “inter- gas lands in Damascus. Assad’s immedi- sectionality” and recognizing different ate agreement to the elimination of all struggles. Somehow that didn’t seem to chemical weapons stockpiles is further apply, though, when it came to the Syr- proof that he and his regime weren’t the READERS’VIEWS ian Revolution. Suddenly people didn’t perpetrators in this case. Rand Gould less in the street. A homeless man told want to talk about it. I have noticed Michigan me of mistreatment of homeless people • that when people did support us, they *** at feeding centers and shelters, such as WHY THIS NEWSPAPER? tended to be Marxists. The Lead in the One of the best reporters covering waking people by shouting the F-word N&L as a revolutionary journal Nov.-Dec. News & Letters (“The Syrian Middle East issues is Borzou Daragahi. at them. “House keys, not handcuffs!” is very much true to its beginning, Revolution as the test of So his opinion of the UN’s we chanted. It is easy to make motions providing a space where the voices of world politics”) was good, decision to stop counting sitting in plush offices in City Hall to the lower stratum can be heard and not and very comprehensive. the number of dead in support the businesses of this rich city. separate from voices of intellectuals. I was happy to read some- Syria should carry a lot What is the use of an economic system The relationship of those diverse voices thing that makes me feel of weight. They claim it is that cannot provide facilities for the is indispensable to the working out of a less alone. Syrian woman too hard to do because of homeless to eat, or even pee? Hunger is coherent theory of liberation. The paper Texas the fighting. He wrote in not a crime! is the necessary intersection where *** response, “Bullshit. The Teacher diverse people can meet and engage in a I liked the Lead’s UN had no problem keep- Los Angeles unique perspective on Syria. The U.S. ing a monthly tally of casualty figures in *** much needed discussion and have their and Iran reached a “Grand” bargain re- Iraq during the worst years of the war. Judge Shira Scheindlin, a federal subjectivities respected. garding Iran’s nuclear program. What This is a political decision to appease judge in New York City, after months There needs to be a critical engage- was sacrificed in this bargain was Syria. Bashar, whom the UN needs in order to of testimony, found the “stop-and-frisk” ment with the philosophy of Marxist- Apparently, Iran would remain a great pretend that it’s delivering help to peo- program of the NY Police Department Humanism because of its dialectical player in Syria, hence in Lebanon, in re- ple.” Gerry Emmett violated the Fourth Amendment by method. Real human emancipation does turn for a regime of total nuclear inspec- Chicago authorizing illegal searches of innocent not materialize by simply counterposing tion plus a minor lifting of the sanctions. people. Close to 90% of those stopped what one is against but through positive Iran is now invited to the next round of were Black or Latino youth, and the vast humanism beginning from itself. What Geneva talks, which aims at maintain- • majority of stops produced no evidence is sorely absent in other left-wing for- ing Syria’s pillars of power in any tran- BENEATH THE WHEELS of criminal conduct. Mayor Bloomberg, mations is the fundamental grasp of the sitional arrangement, apparently with Chuck Roth, suffering from liver Police Commissioner Kelly, the cops’ ceaseless movement of thought as the Assad still at the helm! Raha and artery disease and unable to union and the tabloid press reacted with active agent of history. Bay Area walk, was evicted from Astor House in anger and dark warnings of rampant Faruq *** Chicago on Dec. 13 and sent to Stroger criminality. But people of color and Crescent City, Calif. I was asked why I became so active Hospital. He was on life support the next progressives celebrated the judge’s *** in support of the Syrian people’s strug- day and died on Dec. 18. Many tenants ruling. Revolutionary Because of the age of computers, gle. It’s because seeing the courage, the had suffered years of mold, rodents, Queens papers are becoming a thing of the past. endurance, the love, and all the other bedbugs and flooding, only *** Prisons like the one I’m in do not provide great qualities that the people in the to see the building bought A new aggressive breed computers. Few papers that do come in Revolution have shown me, has taught by BJB Properties, which of “entrepreneurs” has set- are so filled with the real deal that’s me for the first time what it means to dumped them and their tled in San Francisco, with going on in the world. You will not find be human. What I do for them is really belongings on the street lots of attitude. Some are any of the truth in those papers that I very little. What they do for me is be- while renovating the building working on automation tech- can find from reading N&L. It’s very yond measure. American activist to jack up the rents for nology to replace living work- important that someone stand up and Illinois new, affluent, mostly white ers, including those in the tell it like it is and not sell out to the *** tenants. Northside Action restaurant industry. Others corporations. It’s the little people who Some say that the “Israel lobby” is for Justice and Communities have established semi-legal have always made the changes that had keeping President Obama from sending United Against Foreclosure taxi operations working from to be made in this world. I only wish my aid to the Syrian rebels. But it’s more and Eviction packed the courtroom for cell phone “apps” and using private driv- eyes were as open years before I came than that. It’s also Arab governments the next hearing on Roth’s eviction, and ers, who are not trained and who lack into this place like they are open now, like Saudi Arabia, who are afraid that held a candlelight vigil in his memory. adequate insurance. On New Year’s but it’s not where you start in life, it’s the fight for freedom will spread among Chuck Roth—killed by gentrification! Eve, a driver for Uber, one such service, how you end. If I ever become a free man their own people. That should be recog- Anti-eviction activist killed a six-year-old girl, Sofia Lui, in a again, I will give my time to help you nized. Syrian American Chicago crosswalk, but since the driver did not keep doing the work that you do for “us.” Illinois *** have a passenger in the vehicle at the Prisoner *** Just before Thanksgiving, 200 time, he was not covered by insurance, Mt. Sterling, Ill. I find it highly unlikely that even the people marched to oppose an L.A. City and Uber will not take responsibility for *** monomaniacal Bashar al-Assad would Council move to ban feeding the home- the death. The Who We Are statement on the D. Cheneville bottom of page 12 is to show we’re not Oakland just a paper but also an organization. WAR AGAINST ABORTION IS WAR AGAINST WOMEN The relationship between the newspaper A pedestrian walking by our clinic past the screaming, praying mob to the and being a member of News and Letters summed up the absurdity of anti-abor- clinic door. It’s unbelievable what they • Committees is very organic for me. I tionists: “Why would you take life ad- endure. Terry Moon YOUTH, RELIGION & PATRIARCHY practice Marxist-Humanism by eliciting vice from someone screaming standing Chicago Christian Nation presents a people’s voices and developing articles on a sidewalk corner?!” *** frightening possibility. (See “Christian for the paper. Having a paper gave me A.H., Clinic escort I received a holiday card from a Nation,” Nov.-Dec. N&L.) Some people a structure and an organizational life. Midwest woman I met online years ago. She in my family are home schooling their That showed me how that is different *** thought we who escort women into children, indoctrinating them to have from just attending a demonstration as Here’s my favorite quote from clinics past lines of fanatic anti- a Christian fundamentalist biblical an individual. Now a lot of organizations our favorite protester this morn- abortionists don’t hear it often worldview instead of encouraging are based on the idea that they can ing “I bet you guys voted for that enough and wished she had said truly human concepts such as critical be a forum for people to express what Halfrican American Obama!” thank you when she visited her thinking and liberation. They hope that is on their minds. What makes News What is wrong with this guy? clinic. She wrote: “Thank you their family is a part of the movement and Letters Committees different is B.B., Clinic escort so much for being an escort. As to populate the earth with likeminded the work on developing a philosophy of Illinois someone who has had to walk people. Youth are key to the religious liberation. It is not enough to publish *** near those people, I wanted to let right. My hope is that all people will people’s thoughts, but to engage their It looks like the Supreme Court you know that people like you really do reject the oppressions of the religious thinking, for example with prisoners, is going to strike down buffer zones make a difference.” She signed it with Right and, instead, work for a humane developing further: “We want to be around clinics that offer abortions. a little drawn heart. C.C. world. validated as human.” A philosophy of Justice Antonin Scalia again proved Evanston, Ill. Rejected fundamentalist Christianity liberation engages a movement so it can his disingenuousness: “These people,” *** Midwest develop. That may be easy to say but is talking about anti-abortion fanatics, Supporters of the “Abortion Insur- hard to practice. Urszula Wislanka “don’t want to protest abortion. They ance Opt-Out Act” argue that it allows Oakland, Calif. want to talk to the women who are people who oppose abortion to avoid • *** about to get abortions and try to talk paying into a plan that covers it. What DON’T DRINK THE POISON Although there is much to be them out of it.” The hell they do. Pic- the hell? Maybe I don’t want to pay for An industry spilled a chemical criticized in “What Is To Be Done” the ture this: A young woman trying to get a plan that covers alternative health called MCHM into the Elk River, the section on the newspaper as a collective to the clinic door and 10 to 50 protest- practices. Maybe I don’t want to pay source of drinking water in and around organizer is well worth reading. No ers getting in her way. She has to try into a plan that covers fertility treat- Charleston, W.Va. A friend of mine in matter what else, Lenin and the to walk around them and each time ments. Or prostate health coverage. Charleston said, “The best one could say Bolsheviks always had a paper. It is they get in her way again, all the time After all, I don’t need that. Oh, WAIT. I is that this is really embarrassing. As important to recognize that we can learn screaming in her face. These protesters don’t have to use every service that my yet, I see no limit to the worst one could from them in this regard. I also agree scream, push, threaten. If they could medical insurance covers. I can limit say...” When the Governor declared it with you on the need to better utilize kill the woman without harming her my choices to the kind of medical de- safe to drink again, he did not mention the paper to help the organization grow. fetus, some of them would. They be- cisions that I want to make for myself that no study has ever been done to de- The fact that News & Letters publishes lieve they are called by god to save “ba- and other people can do the same. That termine whether it causes cancer or six times a year in the world today is bies,” so that just about anything goes. is, unless I work in Michigan and the birth defects. There are 80,000 chemi- nothing short of a miracle. Every issue If you want to know about the real medical decision I want to make for cals in use that have not been tested for is a seed being planted for revolution. abortion wars, talk to those wonder- myself is abortion. Clinic escort safety. Environmentalist Michael Gilbert ful women and men who escort women Minnesota Southern California New York City JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org Page 7

ENVIRONMENT UNDER THREAT these young people were getting into. PHILOSOPHIC DIALOGUE Your coverage of our struggle and That the Japanese government and prisoner issues is appreciated. Recently I attended a talk near A young man with whom I rode to a nuclear industry are both bad actors is Prisoner Berkeley, Calif., by a retired professor prison support action in Corcoran, was another thing that cannot have been a Pelican Bay, Calif. about the effect of environmental thrilled with the essay on “Communiza- mystery to the Navy. Anti-nuke *** damage on political instability in the tion theory and its discontents truncate Midwest I like reading about what is hap- Middle East. He spoke disparagingly of Marx’s dialectic” (July-Aug. 2013 N&L). pening all over the world. Having been Arab countries, He said they are translating commu- in this place for over two decades, I know but was full of • nization theory in Santa Cruz, where what it is like to be oppressed, held praise for Israeli COMMUNIST-BASED FORTUNES it’s the latest “ultra-left” theory, but he down and treated like you are nothing, technology agreed that it subsumes the particular A recent news story said five of the like you’re unimportant, like your opin- and “adaptive subject. He raised Althusser’s Struc- world’s ten richest people came from two ion means nothing. So I relate to a lot science.” He turalism as a way to reveal the particu- families, the Kochs and the Waltons. of what these people are going through. stated that larity behind each subject. I discussed What’s even more interesting is to con- Thank you very much for this donation autocracy was Althusser’s objection to Chapter One of sider what both those family fortunes for my sub. Prisoner the best way to confront problems, Capital and how Raya Dunayevskaya have in common: Communism! The Angelton, Texas including overpopulation. At this point, singled out that chapter as crucial to Walton fortune derives from Wal-Mart, *** a woman in the audience challenged “the dialectic structure of Capital” when with its dependence on Chinese labor to I’m a white man incarcerated in him, pointing out that if women had Stalin ordered it not to be taught. The keep production costs down and profits California. For over 30 years I’ve been full control of their lives, the runaway dialectic of Capital is open to all the new up. They import more Chinese products in the Security Housing Unit, solitary birthrate would end. Some people in passions and forces; far from subsuming than do big countries like Russia or Ger- confinement, the “Hole.” Name changes the room applauded, most smiled with the concrete, it is how the concrete sub- many. The Koch brothers family fortune, over the years, only the circumstances approval, and Mr. Speaker was visibly ject—the human being fighting for free- on the other hand, derives from their get worse. The “system” doesn’t discrim- taken off guard. dom—moves. Marxist-Humanism not father’s building of Stalin’s Russian oil inate once you are in here. Only recently On energy sources he said that more only supports all forces fighting for free- industry in the 1930s. You might say it’s eyes are being opened to the greed and research needed to be done on hydraulic dom, but also the single dialectic struc- ironic, but I’d call it state-capitalism in corruption of the prison system here and fracturing. I asked if I had heard him ture of the multidimensional struggle to action. Wide-eyed across the country. Thank you for dis- correctly, that he supported fracking? be whole. Ron Kelch tributing the news of our progress as it He hastily said no, but continued, saying Illinois Oakland, Calif. happens. Prisoner “all possibilities need to be explored.” Pelican Bay, Calif. Afterward, most of the audience • *** expressed disappointment with him, • Thank you for the subscription to especially the women, and were glad he THE REAL VIETNAM SYNDROME FROM BEHIND THE BARS It is a measure of the depth of the News & Letters. The articles and reports had been challenged. I’ve been ruling class’s collective guilt and remorse on current events and world politics Revolutionary confined in an over their Vietnam War disaster, that are very enlightening and educational. California isolation unit whenever the memory of President Furthermore, everyone around me who I *** in California Kennedy is invoked, almost invariably share your newsletter with, appreciates Did you read Melville’s description for more than the first question asked is, “What would the coverage you’ve done on our Hunger of the death of a whale? They’re going 40 years. Kennedy have done in Vietnam if he Strike and struggle behind these walls. to be gone due to sonar, pollution, the Your dynamic had not been assassinated?” Given the It’d be greatly appreciated if you garbage gyre, and radiation leaks into publication Cold War politics of the time, Kennedy, a can keep me on your subscription list for their home. When I fear the loss of any keeps me Democrat, would have had to have proved future issues. Lastly, if possible, maybe cetacean species, every time I think, duly informed on the national and that he was “tough on communism.” someone on the prisoner fund list could “We hardly knew ye.” We’re killing international issues that surround the The U.S. achieved a towering stature send me a copy of the pamphlet on the off our mental cousins. It is so beyond world. Thank you for the good job and during World War II, yet behaved like Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers. stewardship of the earth to kill a whale. please continue my donor subscription. Nazis in Vietnam, losing its stature as a Prisoner Thinking mammal Prisoner “beacon” to the “free world.” Our country Pelican Bay, Calif. Utah Pelican Bay, Calif. has never truly come to grips with the *** *** legacy of that war and it is still haunting TO OUR READERS: Can you do- After delivering humanitarian aid N&L is excellent and informative! us today. We should emulate Germany nate $5, the price of a subscription, to Fukushima Daiichi and getting can- Information and views expressed not and their efforts to come to terms with for a prisoner who cannot pay for cer or other diseases, over 70 sailors found in mainstream media. I share their legacy of Nazism. one? It will be shared with many from the USS Ronald Reagan are su- your publication with the seven others others. A donation of $8 pays for a ing the Japanese for. Couldn’t the U.S. Retired Postal Worker here with me in solitary confinement. I subscription plus the Pelican Bay Navy afford a geiger counter? It’s be- Battle Creek, Mich. am one of the hunger strikers at Pelican Hunger Strikers pamphlet to be yond imagination that they didn’t have Bay State Prison who did the whole 59 sent to a prisoner. the wherewithal to assess the situation • days and a member of the class action. 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World since World War II $8.00 Birth of Marxist-Humanism In the U.S. Enclosed find $______for the literature checked. by Andy Phillips and Raya Dunayevskaya $8.00 Please add $2 postage for each pamphlet, $4 postage for books. q Nationalism, Communism, Marxist-Humanism and Illinois residents add 7% sales tax. the Afro-Asian Revolutions $5.00 q Dialectics of Black Freedom Struggles: Race, Philosophy & the Needed American Revolution q Guides to Collection and Supplement to the Raya by John Alan $10.00 Name ______Dunayevskaya Collection: Marxist-Humanism: A Half Century of Its World Development q Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers: Address ______Full description of 17,000-page microfilm collection $5.00 ‘We want to be validated as human’ $5.00 q The Raya Dunayevskaya Collection— q Voices from within the Prison Walls City ______State_____ Zip______Marxist-Humanism: A Half Century of Its World by D. A. Sheldon $8.00 Development A 17,000-page microfilm collection on 9 reels available from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202 q Working Women for Freedom Email Address ______$165.00 by Angela Terrano, Marie Dignan, and Mary Holmes $8.00 1-2/14 Page 8 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 Syrian revolution ‘brought us together’ Kansas City confronts continued from p. 1 to take care of ourselves. After all the lies we’ve been were in prison. When the Arab Spring started, we first taught there’s probably a little of Assad in each of our anti-immigrant Nazis began making protest signs. The first protests in north- heads. We need to work on bringing ourselves together. Kansas City, Mo.—More than 300 people of all races ern Syria were in Kafranbel, May 5, 2011. The regime We publish a human rights journal. We broadcast came out to confront a handful of Nazis who had an- responded by treating it as an occupied area—burning a daily news report, as well as a two-hour daily show nounced a rally in the front of the Jackson County houses, killing people; 1,700 soldiers closed down the devoted to women’s issues and a Muslim program. We Courthouse here on Nov. 9. Racists of the National So- civilian infrastructure, at- also have a children’s cialist Movement labeled themselves as anti-immigrant tempting to destroy it. show of songs and warriors and took delight that it was the 75th anniver- On Aug. 12, the Kaf- stories. We put mail sary of the night of an anti-Semitic wave of killings and ranbel Free Syrian Army buckets around town terror in Hitler’s Germany called Kristallnacht. formed and started fight- for kids to write Their ravings were made possible courtesy of ex- ing. They pushed Assad’s in suggestions for cessive police protection. Anti-Nazi demonstrators, in- army out of town. We what we should talk cluding the Latino Council of Kansas City, were blocked changed our signs from about. across the street behind barricades and a line of mount- “Occupied Kafranbel” to There is a wom- ed police. “Liberated Kafranbel.” en’s center where In the late 1970s the National Socialist Movement Assad still terrorized us women can learn attempted to establish a permanent storefront head- from the sky, though. One skills and study quarters in Southwest Detroit. Members of News and day I saw an old woman English, and also a Letters Committees began a series of daily confronta- and two children martyred women’s journal. On tions that included community residents, leftists and by the bombs. I could smell Dec. 28, ISIL (Is- Holocaust survivors. the blood. lamic State of Iraq Months of daily demonstrations forced the Last Thursday the re- Syrians at Chicago meeting expressing solidarity with Boston bombing victims. and the Levant, an al Nazi headquarters out of the neighborhood and gime bombed the bazaar. Qaeda affiliate) went out of two more white, working-class neighbor- Twenty-six people died. There was one 50-year-old into the Kafranbel media center, ransacked our offices, hoods at a time when racists in Detroit were woman who was completely gone. We only knew she and kidnapped colleagues. The next day they came, too. blaming Blacks, Arabs and Asians for disappear- was a martyr. They especially objected to the women’s program. ing auto factory jobs. Why do they call Kafranbel the “light of the Revo- This stirred the young activists. They coordinated Along the Missouri-Kansas state line people are lution”? Because we are organized. That is key. We with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and stood up to ISIL. still conscious of the Border War divisions of a century started out with only three people, then, when we grew The FSA has been pushing ISIL out. ago. You can find Confederate flags at sporting events to 15, we designated different tasks. We held the first Through everything we keep protesting and orga- and sometimes positive regard for pro-slavery Quant- democratic election in Free Syria. nizing. There is hope! When you’ve seen the light you rill’s Raiders. The hundreds of anti-Nazi protesters One of the earliest things we had was a media of- can’t go back to the darkness. What kind of Syria do we show we have far more young people who are the suc- fice. There was myself; Ahmad, the artist who draws want, though? Democracy will take a lot of work. How cessors of the Free Staters and John Brown. the banners; and one person who was in charge of the will we do it? —Bob McGuire equipment. We got donations and started a bureau for We hope that Americans will see the Syrian Revo- handling them. Not just one person, but a team. lution for what it is. We aren’t terrorists. We aren’t sec- We also opened a bureau of human statistics to tarian—we work with Christians, Alawites, and Druze keep track of people killed, houses burned, and so on. against Assad. All groups have stepped up to be non- EDITORIAL After 50 years of the Baathist regime we were learning violent activists, just like us. continued from p. 1 led by working women, one woman labor activist, Saud La escuelita zapatista (Zapatista Little School) Omar, said of the new Constitution, that it “contains many of the same labor violations contained in the autonomous education system. (3) A healthcare system San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico—The end Muslim Brotherhood’s 2012 Constitution.” including centers in many of the communities and larger of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 marked the 30th an- Its provisions include protection for the continuing clinics, staffed with community members who had niversary of the founding of the EZLN (the Zapatista use of child labor, the use of forced labor, and restric- taken workshops on different aspects of healthcare. (4) Army of National Liberation) and the 20th anniversary tions on the right to form unions. There is also a pro- The role of women who make up 50% of all the different of the Jan. 1, 1994, rebellion, when the Zapatistas went vision for civilians being tried in military courts. This commissions, from governing bodies to education and public. The double celebration was part of a new mo- codifies what has already been happening, as the mili- health commissions. There is an insistence on full ment in the Zapatista resistance and struggle for au- tary crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood is accom- participation of women in all the administrative work tonomy—the experience of the Zapatista Little School panied by the repression of secular activists. (la escuelita zapatista). which the Zapatistas strive to implement. (5) Collective When has any social movement facing “bad govern- work on recuperated lands from the 1994 rebellion. STATE-CAPITALISM & COUNTER-REVOLUTION ment” on the federal, state and local levels, as well as After the assembly came the heart and soul of the The Egyptian military has reserved to itself a lead- continual threats from paramilitary groups, chosen to Little School, which was to experience the life and labor ing role, and General Sisi is expected to run for Presi- open their doors to thousands of social activists from of the families in the community for three days. I lived dent. The state security apparatus, acting as mediator Mexico and countries around the world to come and in San Miguel, a Tzotzile community. between the citizen and the demands of world capital- live with the Indigenous communities in resistance and Although the Zapatistas have striven to ism, is a form of state-capitalism. learn about “Freedom according to the Zapatistas”? implement equality of women in all administrative The Egyptian military, funded by the U.S. and Gulf Between 1,000 and 2,000 students (we, the social tasks, within the family there remains a strong states, has tried, relatively speaking, to do this with a activists who had come to Chiapas to participate) sexual division of labor. In my family, the women velvet glove—when compared to Syria’s Assad or Libya’s traveled from San Cristobal to one of five regions of were the first up, grinding corn, building the Qaddafi. But they hold every counter-revolutionary the Zapatista territories. I arrived at the Morelia fire, and preparing the breakfast. They cared for method in reserve: at the same time that they outlaw region (Caricol 4) with several hundred others in a bus the children while cleaning, collecting firewood, and attack the Muslim Brotherhood, and jail other ac- caravan. We were greeted by hundreds of Indigenous going for water, washing the cloths in a nearby tivists, the military is courting the even more funda- Zapatistas from dozens of communities. Each of us was stream, preparing lunch and later dinner. mentalist Nour party—also funded by the Saudis. met by a guardian who would be our individual tutor- With our guardians we had study sessions on REVOLUTION VS. IMPERIALIST WORLD teacher-companion for five days. “Freedom according to the Zapatistas”: two books The legacy of Tahrir Square is understood differ- The next morning was a large assembly where more on their autonomous form of government, one on the ently by the masses and the rulers. After the lessons than a dozen Zapatista teachers explained the central participation of women in the autonomous government, of the Arab Spring, it is no longer possible for revolu- concepts of autonomy for the Zapatista communities and one on autonomous resistance. These books were tionaries to think only in terms of what one is against, including: (1) Councils of Good Government (Juntas not written by intellectuals, Subcomandante Marcos or without projecting at the same time what one is fight- de Buen Gobierno) at the regional level as well as others. Rather, the experience and thought of members ing for. For that, philosophy is indispensable. municipal and local governing bodies, all independent of the Indigenous Zapatista communities in resistance The oppressive powers, Marx pointed out during of the Mexican government. (2) Construction of an was recorded, transcribed and presented. (Books in the Paris Commune, might be united by their common Spanish can be found at: www.proyectoambulante.org/ interest in counter-revolution. Lenin made the same How to contact index.php/noticias/nacionales/item/2612-cuadernos- point in his book on imperialism—the imperialist pow- NEWS & LETTERS COMMITTEES del-curso-la-libertad-segun-l-s-zapatistas). ers might fight one another to the death one moment, Discussing the book with my guardian was and be united against a revolution the next. CHICAGO LOS ANGELES insightful. He has lived this autonomy and added his Issues in each country go beyond local conditions 228 South Wabash, #230 MEETINGS experience to the books. Living with a family and having to include such universal questions as the role of state Chicago, IL 60604 Sundays, 6:00 PM a chance to listen to a father speak of conversations power vs. non-state social organizations, in the spirit of Phone 312-431-8242 Echo Park United with his grandmother about the conditions of near Tahrir Square; of the necessity for women’s freedom to Fax 312-431-8252 Methodist Church slavery for the Indigenous 100 and more years ago, as be integral to the overthrow of capitalist relations; and MEETINGS 1226 N. Alvarado well as stories of his own life when he grew up without of the absolute need for international perspectives, from Call for Information (North of Sunset, side door) access to schools, gave me a feeling of what it means to the start, in revolution. Without a philosophy of revolu- struggle and live in autonomy today in the Zapatista DETROIT OAKLAND tion in permanence, these truths can be buried in the P.O. Box 27205 communities. P.O. Box 3345, Oakland, CA 94609 struggle against counter-revolution. Detroit, MI 48227 Three moments standout for me in my experience In Egypt, in Syria, everywhere, the Arab Spring [email protected] MEETINGS at the Little School: (1) The incredible self-organization has begun to inspire a rebirth of revolutionary phi- MEETINGS Sundays, 2:00 PM and self-discipline of the Zapatista Indigenous to build losophy. This is still in its early stages, and sometimes Write for information Sundays, 6:30 PM and live in their communities, and to be able to carry barely conscious of itself. It must become self-conscious NEW YORK Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library out the Little Schools for thousands of participants. in order to solidify and continue to develop. The hero- [email protected] 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland (2) The creativity in practice and thought of the ism of the masses—who have done everything humanly MEETINGS FLINT, MI communities recorded in the four books of the Little possible to push forward the idea and reality of free- For Information: 718-626-2030 P.O. Box 3384, Flint, MI 48502 School—the voices from below in reflection. (3) What dom—can be lost if the new and deeper understanding cannot so easily be expressed in words, but can be felt of our human reality the masses have created is not INTERNET in one’s heart, is when the experience of Zapatistas made explicit. If they haven’t yet been able to complete Email WORLD WIDE WEB constructing their “new world,” their freedom and their revolutions, the masses have pointed toward a [email protected] www.newsandletters.org dignity, is before all of one’s senses while living briefly method and direction by which that completeness can in their communities. —Eugene Walker develop. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org Page 9 Prison privatization is a crime Hyper-‘gentrification’ —In the Nov. 5 city election, voters re- sary Sales,” PLN, Oct. 2009, p. 25; and “Florida: Two San Francisco Lapeer, Mich.—On Dec. 1, Aramark Correctional jected, 2-to-1, the “8 Washington Plan,” a developer’s Men Sentenced in Prison Canteen Kickback Scheme,” Services will begin running Food Service for the Michi- scheme to override city laws and build multi-million– PLN, Oct. 2012, p. 40. gan Department of Corrections (MDOC), creating an- dollar condos on the Embarcadero waterfront, a plan For a private corporation to take over a other sector of low-wage workers in Michigan. Instead which had the support of the mayor and most of the publicly funded operation in Michigan, such as of rewarding MDOC Food Service employees for their Democratic big shots. That victory marks a public “out- MDOC Food Service, there has to be a saving for years of loyal service, the state of Michigan took away ing” of a long-simmering problem. This would have the state. MDOC Food Service’s reportedly feeds their decent-paying jobs with benefits and gave them displaced people currently living in San Francisco with prisoners at a cost of $1.65 per day, an unbeliev- the choice of quitting or working for Aramark at the much wealthier newcomers who are flooding into the ably low figure, unless one has eaten the food, as poverty wage of $10 per hour. In a state struggling with area to work in the high-tech industries. Two days after I have. a high unemployment rate and flooded with low-wage the election, protesters picketed Twitter headquarters Incredibly, Aramark claims it can feed prisoners for dead-end jobs, 60,000 in the fast-food sector in the met- on Market Street to protest Twitter’s exemption from even less, yet they needed $2.76 per prisoner per day to ro Detroit area alone, why would the state government local payroll taxes. feed Oakland County Jail prisoners in 2011 according choose to add to these statistics? The displacement of lower income people has been to Undersheriff Michael McCabe. See Chris Christoff, Michigan’s ill-advised MDOC privatization in- going on for over 30 years. It has entered a new stage “What Snyder may try to cut,” The Detroit Free Press, cludes Corizon Inc. (Health Service), Keefe Commis- because of the massive expansion of “Silicon Valley” 1/16/11, 5A. sary Network (Prisoner Store) and, now, Aramark with the arrival of high-paid “techies”; and massive real The harm inflicted by Aramark will be almost (Food Service). They are middlemen with their hands estate speculation, some of it fueled by Chinese and Ca- immediate. Aramark is advertising for food service in taxpayers’ pockets, the pockets of their employees, nadian money. prisoners and their families. They offer little or nothing employees at $10 per hour—a poverty wage that will Rents have nearly doubled in the past three in return for the millions of dollars they skim, except increase the smuggling of tobacco and drugs into Mich- years. San Francisco is reported to be the world’s bribes disguised as cam- igan’s prisons, resulting most expensive city. Rent for a newly moved-into paign donations and the in further loss of control apartment is a median of $3,500 or more for a one- occasional kickbacks in in prisons where control bedroom or even some studios. Evictions are at an return for contracts. Not is already critical. It’s all-time high, as are condominium conversions. one of them is a Michi- well documented that People being evicted from their Market Street gan-based business. corrections employees apartments held a demonstration on Dec. 10 and Corizon formerly are responsible for over 90% of contraband smug- another in front of Twitter headquarters. was Correctional Medi- A number of mini-apartments have been approved gled into prison and un- cal Services Inc. (CMS), by the city. This new manifestation of austerity is being derpaying them serves to whose failure to provide touted as “innovation.” One woman bragged that she incentivize their smug- adequate healthcare to is paying $1,800 a month for less than 300 square feet gling. Michigan prisoners was of space. The streets are cluttered with buses carrying The atrociously in- exposed in August 2006. thousands of tech workers from the Peninsula. Those Then-governor Jennifer adequate healthcare pro-

ROJS News buses interfere with the city bus system, though Mayor vided by Corizon might Granholm had to conduct Lee is allowing it. take more time to mani- an independent review, Business evictions are rampant. A popular café fest. Diagnosed colorec- which resulted in CMS’s July 2011, Union members protest Michigan’s cuts to food services in prisons. on Guerrero Street was forced to close after the land- tal, prostate and skin replacement by Prison lord raised the rent from $3,300 to $6,600 monthly. A cancers remain untreated for years, diagnosed hernias Health Services Inc. (PHS). CMS then just merged with vibrant center of Latino culture at 24th Street is now will remain intentionally untreated, with patients’ in- PHS, changing its name to Corizon. Keefe is infamous threatened. Dozens of condo high-rises are being built testines protruding through their abdominal walls, un- for taking over prisoner stores and price gouging. Ara- all over the city, and the existing water and sewer sys- til they strangulate, while pain management is nonex- mark has a well-documented history of so underbidding tems may not be able to handle them. So many creative istent, etc. Corizon’s business model is to provide little DOC contracts that they have to cut prisoner meals artists have been priced out of “The City” that now Oak- or no healthcare until sued, and then offer lowball set- down to a near bread and water diet in order to turn land, not San Francisco, is acknowledged as the “place tlements to prisoners or deceased prisoners’ estates. In a profit. See David M. Reutter, “Aramark Discontin- to be” for artists. Yet real estate speculators, especially Corizon’s eyes prisoners’ lives aren’t worth very much, ues, Loses Food Service Contracts,” Prison Legal News from China, are also threatening Oakland. and certainly not worth adversely affecting their bot- (PLN), Oct. 2009, pp. 36-37. The plan for high-speed rail in California was tom line. Eventually, Corizon will bail out with their Aramark’s plan, in part, relies on prisoners feed- passed in a campaign of misinformation where the cost bank accounts swollen at state taxpayers’ expense, as ing themselves by buying the egregiously overpriced was originally presented as $19 billion. Now it is of- will Aramark and Keefe, and the taxpayers will end up garbage sold in prisoner stores operated by Keefe’s ficially projected to be $68 to $91 billion, but may run footing the bill for an aged and poorly cared for prisoner kickback and bribery specialists. See David M. Reutter, into the hundreds of billions. Now most Californians population. —Rand Gould “Florida DOC and Keefe Gouge Prisoners on Commis- are opposed to it. The plan calls for eminent domain seizures of thousands of homes and cutting through wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas. Solidarity with Guantanamo hunger strikers The problems of deteriorating social conditions and environmental degradation can’t be solved by despotic (continued from last issue) If we ask Yasiin Bey after his demonstrative ordeal as to whether force-feeding was torture, he would not planning but only by the free association of self-deter- The argument that, with the destruction of the Tal- mining people working collectively, as equals. iban state, the nature of the conflict has changed, leads hesitate. The UN has condemned U.S. actions. In May —D. Chêneville the U.S. into murky legal waters. The U.S. has unfor- a number of officials, from the UN Working Group on tunately replicated the arguments of the British gov- Arbitrary Detention to the Inter-American Commission ernment during their prosecution of the Second Boer on Human Rights, lashed out at the U.S. response to War of 1899-1902, where, following the destruction of the hunger strikers, citing force-feeding as illegitimate the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic, and denouncing the indefinite holding of many prison- QUEERNOTES Britain reclassified Boer soldiers as “rebels” who were ers as “arbitrary” and illegal under international law. by Dee Perkins thus ineligible for any legal niceties they had previously Yet the UN has failed to follow through with Russia’s renewed oppression of LGBT people con- enjoyed as subjects of a recognized government. Even renewed, forceful criticism of U.S. intransi- tinues to be met with opposition at home and abroad, worse, in its attempts to deal with ongoing resistance, gence, largely due to its status as a body directly calls for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Britain adopted extreme measures—even funneling dependent on an international order founded on as well as protests at the games themselves. A draco- citizens of the two former states into vast concentration state power. Within this setting, the nation-state nian anti-propaganda law passed in June criminalizes camps—where the families of those who continued to remains paramount over the actual human per- the promotion of “nontraditional marital relations” to fight British domination were subjected to particularly son. minors, threatening foreign game participants and at- harsh measures as punishment for ongoing resistance. Human rights law is always going to find itself tendees with arrest and deportation. With unintended The name “detention center” hardly describes the in a dilemma: it recognizes that, as in Guantanamo, irony Russia underscored its general crackdown on civil true role of Guantanamo Bay. Joseph Sweeney, in a pa- the majority of human rights abuses are committed by society, targeting activists and journalists especially, by per written for the Fordham International Law Journal states, yet due to their status as prime actors in legal assuring the International Olympic Committee that in 2006, holds that the facility really constitutes a “per- and political enforcement, states are viewed as safe- the crackdown is not anti-LGBT since it prohibits all manent warehouse for men expected to be sources of guarding the rights of individuals. The end result is speech promoting “nontraditional” sexual relations. intelligence over an indefinite period.” an impotent system where human rights law simply Many countries have stated that high-ranking officials Sweeney casts doubt over the legitimacy of the appeals to national states to behave, and when infrac- will not attend. President Obama announced a U.S. U.S. presence at Guantanamo, citing Article 52 of the tions occur, seeks to shame offending governments into delegation that includes Lesbian and Gay athletes Hall Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) re- compliance. Such appeals can fall on deaf ears, as is the of Famer Billie Jean King and Olympian medalists garding the validity of a treaty obtained through coer- case of the U.S. and its now notorious lack of respect for Caitlin Cohow and Brian Boitano. cion. Article 52 may give grounds for invalidating trea- international legality. * * * ties obtained in the wake of military action, including My decision to go on hunger strike points to the India’s Supreme Court ruled in December that U.S. control over Guantanamo just five years after the need for new forces to defend the idea of universal hu- only Parliament had the power to repeal the 1861 Brit- expulsion of Spanish forces from Cuba. The real legal man rights. Although the number of inmates refusing ish colonial-era anti-sodomy law. The decision reverses issue, however, lies in Guantanamo’s conversion from to take food at Guantanamo has recently declined sub- the 2009 ruling deeming Section 377 of the Indian Pe- naval station to interrogation and, let’s be honest, tor- stantially, solidarity remains a vitally important fac- nal Code unconstitutional and, as the Human Rights ture facility. tor, where those enduring the unendurable can gain Campaign put it, “recriminalizes love.” Sapna Pandya U.S.’s supposed adherence to the Universal support from those empathizing with their plight. The of KhushDC, an advocacy group for LGBTQ peoples of Declaration of Human Rights, the International solidarity gained from a mutual display of hardship South Asian descent, declared, “We stand in solidarity Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the needs to be further elaborated, politically, morally and with the brave activists of South Asia and worldwide… Convention against Torture, make the treatment philosophically, into a potential alternate model for the and know they will continue the fight for equality in of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners plainly illegal. implementation of human rights. Such a model would spite of the disappointment…” Importantly, U.S. am- Equivocations on whether such treatment is tor- go beyond the absurd method of petitioning and be- bassador to the UN Samantha Power stated, “To criti- ture will not be engaged with, as anyone claim- seeching the primary abusers of human well-being, the cize the criminalization of LGBT status is not cultural ing that beatings, food and sleep deprivation, capitalist state, and instead reconstitute society where imperialism. To deny Gays and Lesbians the right to and waterboarding do not constitute “cruel, in- the human subject, not the profit motive or legal ab- live freely and to threaten them with discrimination human” or “degrading” punishment, is morally stractions, are placed at the heart of deliberations. and even death is not a form of moral or religious Puri- vacant and best ignored. —Dan Read tanism. It’s in fact barbarism.” Page 10 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 Rampant U.S. surveillance Illegal evictions sully continued from p. 1 cupy Oakland.2 Oakland plans to analyze video feeds in other ways. from public transit, public housing, public schools and Mandela’s legacy libraries as well as traffic cameras. Blacks and Latinos However, the collection would not be stopped but Durban, South Africa—Christmas is often the time turned over to the phone companies or a private consor- can expect to be under the most comprehensive surveil- of evictions in Durban. The Municipality knows that tium. As if private capitalists are more trustworthy to lance. many people are away at their rural homes and that it spy on us! From Facebook to little-known web tracking We need only remember how monitoring and in- is difficult to get legal, media and political support at and advertising companies, corporations are already filtration went hand in hand with the nationally co- this time. accumulating vast loads of data about consumers, em- ordinated effort to crush the Occupy Movement in Today, Dec. 23, the municipality is demolishing November 2011, with involvement by the Department ployees and critics. The state can access those terabytes homes at the Marikana land occupation in Cato Crest. of Homeland Security and local Joint Terrorism Task both “legally”—with a search warrant, an FBI letter, About 40 houses have already been demolished by the Forces. (See “Occupy defies attacks,” Jan.-Feb. 2012 or sometimes an informal request—and illegally, as in eThekwini Land Invasion Unit. We are still counting as N&L.) This had nothing to do with Al Qaeda the PRISM program revealed in leaked docu- they are still demol- and everything to do with the rulers’ fear ments boasting about secretly tapping ishing. of revolution in the shadow of Arab internal data streams of Apple, Ya- Cato Crest sits Spring, the Wisconsin protests, re- For Nelson Mandela hoo, Google, Facebook and several with an order from volts and occupations in Europe, other companies. This revela- the Durban High prisoners’ strikes in Georgia He was Umkhonto we tion provoked tech companies Court which pro- and California, and Occupy, Sizwe to call for reforms—because tects the residents culminating in Oakland’s Spear of the nation it threatens their profits. from the illegal de- general strike. Lived in a box 8 feet by 7 molition of their THE USES OF Since the surveillance on Robben Island homes. Yet the mu- SURVEILLANCE and repression are in the Prisoner 466/64 nicipality does not Surveillance is not an service of preserving the respect the order end in itself. It is used to capitalist order, it makes The jailer and demolishes in control people, to intimi- no sense to try to oppose a savage of the Aryan open violation of date, to locate and stifle them by allying with pro- north the law. This is the opposition. Each intel- capitalist “libertarians” Hendrik Werwoerd eighth time this ligence agency has close like Rand Paul or Freedom- passed on the key to the year that the mu- links to the military; the works, one of the main spon- box nicipality has acted NSA head is always a gen- sors of last October’s “Stop when the tide of violence, in open contempt of eral or admiral. Some agen- Watching Us” rally. These whirlpool of hate, cies, like the CIA, have their are the same people cheer- the court by demol- fine European import, own paramilitary branches, leading the crushing of Oc- ishing homes at this snuffed out his fetid life. even their own killer drones. cupy and destruction of settlement. The super-secret Joint labor unions, and opposing Just when Man- Africa, Logo of the NROL-39 satellite of the National Reconnaissance Office. Special Operations Com- any regulations on business. dela has passed, the playground of the safari mand (JSOC) runs its own drones, airplanes, space If they took state power, there is no doubt that the guns African National set, unit, surveillance technology and secret prisons. JSOC would be aimed at workers and people of color. Congress is turning pith helmets, bush jackets reports directly to the president, not to Congress or the Unfortunately, Snowden and his ally Glenn Green- this country against and gin; regular military hierarchy. With a secret budget, it op- wald are drawn to libertarianism and the racist and his wishes. They are theater of infringement, erates in 70 countries, fighting covert battles and car- sexist Ron and Rand Paul, as are a segment of the Left. not even ashamed barbarian invaders rying out death squad missions. Its only operation to Similarly, the new Wikileaks Party in Australia flirted of the lives the poor hunting down slaves and have been revealed is the assassination of Osama bin with the far-Right anti-immigrant Australia First Par- are living, or the fact tigers, that the residents Laden, a figure so deservedly hated that his assassins ty and sent a “solidarity delegation” to Syrian dictator ivory, gold, diamonds, of Cato Crest will have been lionized by everyone from Fox News to Jon Bashar al-Assad. This kind of alliance is a symptom of laborers; spend Christmas on Stewart of The Daily Show to socialist Senator Bernie partial opposition to the state’s invasion of privacy, fall- Africa bleeds. the street. Sanders. ing short of recognizing the need to uproot the class ba- This year the In the mid-1970s, revelations of CIA involvement sis of the state, which functions to keep workers under He was Umkhonto we Member of the Ex- in assassination plots drew such outrage that first the thumb of capitalist exploitation. Sizwe President Ford, then Carter, then Reagan issued or- ecutive Council for Spear of rebellion. ders banning direct or indirect government involve- THE GOAL: SUPPRESS REVOLT Human Settlement, He was Nelson Suppression of revolt has always been key to the ment in assassinations. Not 30 years later, the hyste- Mr Ravi Pillay, Rolihlahala Mandela. mission of “law enforcement,” whether we roll history ria after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks enabled the Bush promised to inter- He was. back to the slave patrols that could stop and question administration to make targeted killings a centerpiece vene. Are these ille- any African American on or off the plantation in South- of its “global war on terror,” supposedly authorized by gal evictions leaving The disease festers. ern states, or to the origins of the FBI in the 1919-20 Congress’s September 2001 declaration of war with the people homeless his The sore, Palmer raids that targeted working people and Blacks whole world as a perpetual battleground. intervention? an ugly gash in the in the wake of the 1919 Seattle general strike and the Now JSOC, the CIA and the Pentagon each have Last year at epidermis of a sick rise of the Garvey movement. their own kill list. Drones are used in most of the kill- around this time planet, All of the 1960s mass movements—civil rights, ings, such as those in Yemen in 2011 of U.S. citizens many homes were infects the organism: anti-war, student free speech and women’s liberation— Samir Khan, Anwar al-Awlaki and, later, 16-year-old burnt down at the Delusions of a fevered were subject to illegal surveillance and arrest by the Abdulrahman al-Awlaki; and, again in Yemen, the De- Kennedy Road set- brain, FBI working with local police, and to infiltration, black- cember 2013 killing of 15 members of a wedding party. tlement. The eThe- The curse, mail and disruption. FBI informants were involved in A study by Stanford and New York Universities con- kwini Mayor James Profanity: some of the most heinous crimes, such as the vicious cluded that only 2% of the over 4,700 people murdered Nxumalo promised “One race must serve the 1961 assault on the Freedom Riders in Birmingham, in drone strikes are known terrorists. Partly this is due to give the people other.” to the documented—but not acknowledged—practice of Ala. The mushrooming prison system beginning in the proper homes. One 1970s is not separate from this repression. executing a second strike when rescuers arrive to re- year later, those He is Umkhonto we Sizwe trieve the dead and wounded. The reforms enacted to rein in the FBI, CIA and promises have not police abuses revealed after Watergate were gutted The surveillance, the secrecy, the militarization to- been met. Spear of justice. after Al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some were gether impact the war at home, as can be seen from the The political Free. rolled back by Congress or courts but in many cases intensive surveillance systems being implemented by leaders could not No grave will hold him the Bush administration simply violated the law and the police in cities like Chicago, New York, Baltimore care less for the peo- until the last of the the Constitution. In their oversight capacity, Congress and Oakland. Chicago and San Diego police are using ple. Their only inter- children of Africa, changed the law to allow some practices, while FISC facial recognition systems, as are the FBI and Border est is to suck votes spread out in a judges made secret rulings blessing others as constitu- Patrol. NYPD officers have been prosecuted for abusing from the people so dazzling diaspora of tional. The Obama administration has continued many the FBI-operated National Crime Information Center that they can enrich consciousness, of those violations, including the massive surveillance. database to “snoop on co-workers, tip off drug dealers, themselves. It is like is Free. Despite distancing itself from torture as a means stage robberies and—most notoriously—scheme to ab- all the politicians 1 of interrogation (or, rather, outsourcing it to other coun- duct, [kill] and eat women.” are born from one Madiba tries), the administration has blocked any prosecution mother. The revolution is in TARGET: LABOR, OCCUPY, BLACKS of the officials responsible for torture and its cover-up. Reporting on the citywide surveillance system be- —Abahlali base permanence. In contrast, it has gone after whistleblowers with a ven- ing built in Oakland, the East Bay Express found that Mjondolo geance. During Obama’s presidency, more people have internal discussions by police officials and other city For more in- —Paul Knopf been prosecuted under the Espionage Act for leaking staff did not take up crime, the purported reason for formation contact: classified information than in all previous U.S. history. the system, but did discuss ways to spy on labor actions Ndabo Mzimela 072 401 5974, Bandile Mdlalose 084 Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, source of the 2010 and political protests. It has already been used to moni- 557 5090, or S’bu Zikode 083 547 0474. Wikileaks revelations on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars tor demonstrators, longshore workers, truckers and Oc- and more, was sentenced to 35 years in prison last year. 1. Tom Hays, “NYC Cases Show Crooked Cops’ Abuse of FBI The ever-growing top-secret militarized surveil- NEWS & LETTERS Database,” July 7, 2013, Associated Press. lance state, the continuity between the Bush and VOL.59/NO. 1 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 Obama administrations, the complicity of the legisla- News & Letters (ISSN 0028-8969) is published bi-monthly. Subscriptions are $5 a year (bulk order of 5 or more, 25c each) from News & Letters, 228 South Wabash, tive and judicial branches, are not “abuses” but rather “A subscription to News & #230, Chicago, IL 60604. Telephone 312-431-8242. Fax 312-431-8252. Periodical the natural outgrowth of capitalism in deep crisis. The postage paid at Chicago, Illinois. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to News Letters reveals to the reader the machinery of counter-revolution grows in reaction to & Letters, 228 South Wabash, #230, Chicago, IL 60604. Articles may be reprinted revolutionary potential and verbatim if credited to “News & Letters.” the specter of revolution, forming the apparatus ready- Raya Dunayevskaya actuality of people fighting for made for a new, high-tech fascism. Nothing less than Chairwoman, National Editorial Board (1955-1987) freedom. The idea of freedom a revolutionary uprooting of their capitalist basis can Charles Denby, Editor (1955-1983) abolish these threats to freedom. Olga Domanski, Franklin Dmitryev, Co-National Organizers, News and Letters Com- shines through each page of mittees. Terry Moon, Managing Editor. Felix Martin, Labor Editor (1983-1999), John this publication.” Alan, National Editorial Board Member Emeritus (2008-2011). 2. Darwin BondGraham and Ali Winston, “The Real Purpose Subscribe! Still only $5/year for 6 issues. of Oakland’s Surveillance Center,” Dec. 18, 2013, East Bay News & Letters is printed in a union shop. Express. News & Letters is indexed by Alternative Press Index. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org Page 11 Stay Solid! A Radical Handbook for Youth Teach-in on the When I was a teenager I had a couple of survival where young people and their elders write about, reflect manuals. We were trying to survive a racist, sexist, war- on, explain and discuss the particular topic. One writer Revolution in Syria mongering, repressive society that seemingly couldn’t provides a step-by-step guide to setting up a pirate TV New York, N.Y.—On Nov. 17 an overflow crowd wait to ship us off to die or radio station. Another packed a classroom at New York University (NYU) to in Vietnam. One was reflects on what it means, participate in a teach-in on “Syria in the Context of the Abbie Hoffman’s Steal through her poetry, to be Arab Uprisings.” It was sponsored by the Middle East This Book and the other a Third World person con- North Africa Solidarity Network-US and featured nine was Dance the Eagle to stantly being studied by presentations, most of them via video or Skype from a Sleep by Marge Piercy. academics and other jerks number of different people involved in different aspects Both gave ideas about of their ilk. One writer of the opposition to the Assad regime. how to survive, but, explains what the idea of The first speaker, Razan Ghazzawi, a blogger from more importantly, how class and class struggle is Syria, noted that when Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to stay strong and fight really about and offers a initially came to power many people looked on him as to change the world. But two-page analysis and cri- a reformer. But he quickly implemented neoliberal eco- the book that I wish we tique of liberalism. There nomic policies and by 2010, the year before the revolu- had was only published are a powerful section on tion began, 35.4% of the population was living under in 2012. Every young ecocide and a Zapatista the poverty line. He disrupted the agricultural economy person around the world cartoon book. and the consequence was an influx of rural people into should run to their near- Many of the authors the cities. There was a severe drought and the villages est radical bookstore are ingenious, bold and were depopulated. and buy a copy. Stay Sol- eloquent. For example, in This, and the tone set by the Arab Spring, set the id! A Radical Handbook the section on community, stage for the uprisings of 2011. Ghazzawi noted that for Youth is dynamite. one writer said, “we must young people, especially women, are the core of the From the very be- tell our story in a new lan- resistance. She said that in the truly liberated zones, ginning it sets out a guage, a language of pas- where neither Assad nor the jihadists are in control, revolutionary vision of sion and purpose, vision there are grassroots Revolutionary Councils that in- both the book itself and and creativity. Solidar- clude all segments of the population. She mentioned a the world that it hopes ity and direct action. And number of urban-based anti-Assad resistance groups will come to be one day, when we truly find our including the Syrian Revolution Youth Coalition and after the revolution. The voice, we should use it to the Union of Free Students. She concluded her remarks editor says, “This book shout, finally and deafen- saying, “Grassroots civil resistance is still alive.” is a collection of ideas ingly: Of course there is The second speaker, Leila Shrooms, spoke about and stories, information, an alternative. It is us.” the first days of the revolution. She said the protests advice, and encourage- The book also features sec- in Damascus included Alawites as well as Sunnis. For ment to stay solid and tions on mental and physi- many young people the revolution came as a great sur- build a good life in a cra- cal wellness and the battle prise but in the first wave of protest they felt “a moment zy world. We’re pretty for both in an increasingly of total freedom” and said that the beginnings of the confident that what you’ll find in here is an argument insane society and concludes with some words for the revolution in Damascus were the greatest moments in for a different, better kind of world.” What is the goal new generation of young revolutionaries from older rev- their lives. She noted that the revolution is now con- of the book? It is for readers to “stay radical, keep ask- olutionaries who also began their time as a revolution- fronting two counter-revolutionary powers: the Assad ing hard questions, keep resisting, keep fighting the ary teen. So, as we say in the streets and in the ‘hoods: regime and the jihadists/Islamists. good fight and keep trying to be a good person leading “Great revolutionary book. C’mon and check it out.” Other speakers described the beginning of a new a thoughtful, generous, fun life.” —Michael Gilbert movement, the “Stop the Killing Campaign,” in territo- Stay Solid is divided into 21 sections, each one vital ries controlled by Assad and in areas he does not con- for young people. The topics range from the family— trol—both jihadist and no-jihadists areas. It is a non- with a radical redefinition of what it means to be part Patient Protection and violent protest movement whose slogan is “We want to of a family—to school, community, relationships, and build a nation for all Syrians.” drugs. But for revolutionary organizers the best parts Affordable Care Act A constant theme was the danger to the revolution are found in the discussions on race and gender, media, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or that the jihadists pose. Everyone who spoke of them de- class and class struggle. “Obamacare,” does respond to a serious problem. Over scribed them as one of the main counter-revolutionary Every section is set up the same way. There is an 47 million non-elderly Americans were uninsured in forces in Syria today. As one woman activist on the introduction by the editor or editorial collective, a short 2012, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Founda- ground said, they are “smothering the revolution.” Oth- but valuable resource guide, and then lots of pages tion. The Centers for Disease Control says that 46.3% er speakers noted that when Assad made a big deal of of uninsured adults went to hospital emergency rooms freeing political prisoners, the ones he released were for treatment because they had nowhere else to go. almost all jihadists; that he uses the threat of a jihadist takeover to frighten people away from genuine revolu- The number of bankruptcies that result from Protests at CUNY tionary forces; and that the revolution has empowered New York, N.Y.—On Oct. 20, during the middle of unpaid medical and hospital bills, especially for women even in the more conservative regions of the midterms, students at City University of New York emergency room visits, is elusive, but there is no countryside. (CUNY) heard that the Guillermo Morales/Assata doubt that hospitals have large amounts of un- The conclusion was best summed up by a speaker Shakur Center was being locked down. City College collectible debts and that hospital costs paid by who said, “The revolution is tragically alone.” Whether alumnus David Suker sat down in front of the door in insurance, Medicare and Medicaid reflect a great that will continue depends on the international Left protest, which eventually led to his arrest. deal of “bad debt.” The American Hospital Asso- building a mass movement against Assad, the defeat Less than 24 hours later, students from the Revolu- ciation claims that in 2001 “uncompensated care of the jihadists and all the imperialist powers who are tionary Student Coordination Committee were able to cost,” which includes bad debt as well as “charity waging war on the authentic Syrian revolutionary pull together a good turnout at a protest to reclaim the care,” was 5.9% of total expenses. movement, and most of all, on the Syrian people who space. The Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Center is Health insurance companies are getting a large are fighting for freedom, social justice, equality and directed by students-of-color clubs, as well as marginal- subsidy from the government in the form of subsidized dignity. International solidarity is the key. Conferences ized peoples clubs like the Black Student Union, New premium payments. The Kaiser Foundation subsidy like this one, although sponsored by a certain political York Students Rising, and organizations that are build- calculator shows that a family of two adults and two ideology (Trotskyism) have the potential to forge an ing Leftist movements on campus. children with an annual income of $50,000 would re- alternative to the shortsighted forces of the Left that Students use that space as a resource. It has been ceive a subsidy of $4,925 for estimated premiums of continue to defend Assad. a space within City College that was won and continu- $8,290 for one year. The subsidy is in the form of a —Participant ously fought for over years of struggle—because the refundable tax credit, which means that the taxpayer administration has continuously attempted to take it gets a refund of $4,925 even if his or her actual income away. Stories of infiltration and NYPD spying on stu- taxes are less than that amount. dents within college campuses have also been recorded The opposition to Obamacare by Republicans is Celebrate Black History Month! in spaces like this. We believe that this is happening unprincipled and hypocritical. In 1989 the Heritage as a direct form of repression against students who are Foundation, a Right-wing think tank, pushed a plan Indignant Heart, A mobilizing antiwar efforts on campus. that was very similar to Obamacare as a great idea. The Oct. 24 sit-in and protest at CUNY turned con- Republican members of Congress introduced similar Black Worker’s Journal frontational in the afternoon when a protester was pep- legislation in 1993. Clearly, Republican opposition is per-sprayed and arrested for “endangering the welfare part of a strategy to deny any accomplishment to Presi- of a minor, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.” dent Obama. A story of the On Oct. 30, CUNY students Tafadar Sourov and Be that as it may, the issues with the website and Khalil Vasquez were approached by CUNY public safe- cancellation of subpar policies are part of many things Black and ty officers and told to leave the campus. After taking about Obamacare that are objectionable and needless- labor freedom their school IDs, public safety proceeded to threaten ly complex. The system assumes that enough young, them: “They told us that if we came back onto cam- healthy people will enroll to lower premiums. There is struggles of pus we would be arrested. We couldn’t attend any of otherwise no effective means of cost or premium con- the 20th our classes,” said Sourov. “They (the Administration) trol. By far the biggest plus is that health insurance wanted to stop our revolutionary leadership among the plans cannot refuse coverage or charge more because of century. A student body, and saw that we were exposing the mili- pre-existing conditions. Also, there are minimum stan- tarization of CUNY,” said Vasquez. dards set for health insurance policies. worker’s view After students heard about Sourov and Vasquez’s President Obama assumed that he would have 100 of racism and suspension, they attempted to speak with the VP of days or so in his first term to get some kind of health Student Affairs Juana Reina but were told that she was reform legislation passed. He was not going to push automation booked for the day. Subsequently, Sourov and Vasquez for anything, such as a single payer system, that could that speaks were ordered by the New York State Police and the not pass in a short “honeymoon” period. A single payer New York County District Attorney’s office to present system would be far superior to Obamacare and avoid to today! themselves to be arrested and are now facing criminal most of the complexity and unpopularity of Obamacare. To get your copy, see page 7 charges. —New Yorker —Dan B. Page 12 NEWS & LETTERS – www.newsandletters.org JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014

IN Social crisis in Central African Republic WORLD VIEW lives, nearly a million people have fled their homes. expert David Smith has suggested that a Kosova-style by Gerry Emmett Two million people, or half the population, are in need transitional administration might be necessary, consid- Violence between Christian majority and Muslim of humanitarian aid. ering the historic instability of state institutions. minority communities has torn the social fabric of the While some point to religious differences as being The crisis here is related to the other regional cri- Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest at the root of this crisis, it should be noted that Chris- ses and disasters in neighboring Darfur, South Sudan, countries. Over 1,000 people have been killed since Mi- tians and Muslims have a history of peaceful co-exis- and Congo. In Congo alone, over 5,400,000 have died chel Djotodia seized power in March 2013. He was in- tence in the CAR. Indeed, during the current strife the from war-related causes since 1998. Tantalum, tin, stalled by a Muslim militia group, Seleka (“Alliance”), Christian and Muslim clergy have sometimes brought tungsten, gold and oil have been a higher priority for made up largely of Chadian fight- torn communities back together. the international community than African lives. ers—although many residents of Neither can Djotodia be said The anti-colonial revolutions that inspired human- the more populous regions of CAR to have been inspired by religious ity in the 1950s and 1960s had the misfortune of tak- consider all people from Djotodia’s fanaticism. He is a thoroughly ing place in a fundamentally uncivilized world, torn by remote Northwestern province to modern bureaucrat who was ed- the competition between superpower blocs. While the be Chadian, too. ucated in the Soviet Union and African masses aspired to create a new humanism, the Reciprocal massacres be- returned to his country, as the world powers were more interested in old resources, tween these communities have led imam in his community said, and new foot soldiers. Only the fulfillment of the Afri- many observers to see a real pos- only to seek power. He gained can Revolution will turn this around. sibility of a Rwanda-type genocide it through an alliance with the being perpetrated here. sort of political-military entre- preneurs that have prospered Racism in Israel BACKGROUND TO A Tens of thousands of African asylum seekers dem- through Africa’s civil wars. DICTATOR onstrated in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Jan. 5 and 6. Most are Despite Djotodia’s having FRAGILE ACCORD from war-torn countries like Sudan, Eritrea and Ethio- been forced to step down by agree- There are now 1,600 French pia. The Sudanese refugees cite genocidal massacres ment with the Economic Commu- peacekeepers in the capital, Ban- in Darfur and the Nuba mountains as their reason for nity of Central African States, and gui, and 5,000 African Union leaving home. They marched to Western embassies call- the official disbanding of the Sele- troops charged with peacekeep- ing for “Freedom!” for the refugees detained in a Negev ka, the situation remains desperate. Seleka remnants ing. A Transitional National Council has been given desert facility under Israel’s new anti-immigrant laws. and Christian anti-balaka (“anti-machete”) militias the job of forming a new government, prior to elections, New “illegal immigrants” can be held for up to a have continued to commit atrocities. Fearing for their by the Central African Constitutional Court. Africa year without trial, while those already resident can be held indefinitely in the Negev. Detainees are being held in harsh desert camps, lacking medical care, education South Korea on strike, North Korea on ‘ice’ or recreation facilities, and privacy. • Over 100,000 South Koreans, mainly workers, • North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had his WORKING CLASS EXPLOITED demonstrated in Seoul on Dec. 28. They expressed uncle, Jang Sung-thaek, executed by firing squad in The immigrants also staged a three-day strike. their anger over a number of issues at the government late December. He then appeared on television to curse Many of them work at low-paid jobs in service indus- of President Park Geun-hye. Jang as a traitor, drug addict, and coup plotter. Jang tries. As a statement by activists said, “We believe this One source of anger is the move to privatize some had served his purpose in ushering young Kim into the strike will demonstrate our importance to the Israeli service by KORAIL (Korean Railroad Corp.). This had darker corners of his inheritance and was now dispos- economy and create a pressure that will cause them to already led to the largest-ever walkout by members of able. change their policies.” These workers are often exploit- the railroad workers’ union. Union officials say moves This is a kind of ancient dynastic politics that ed owing to their precarious legal position. to privatize will mean fare hikes, service reductions, hardly differs from the days of Egyptian or Roman The Israeli Right wishes to deny refugees any ser- and safety problems. ruling houses. Despite what some observers said, it is vices, restrict their movements, and expel them. This is On Dec. 22 riot police were sent to attack the Seoul unlikely that it signals any significant disunity among the stated policy of the Netanyahu government. There headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade North Korea’s ruling elite. The small group at the top— have been violent assaults on refugees and their sup- Unions. Without search warrants, they broke down those who are allowed to read Marx—know how fragile porters, especially in Tel Aviv. That the essence of this doors and caused serious property damage, including their rule would be without lockstep unity. is racist to the core was seen last year when rightists to the adjoining offices of the Kyunghang newspaper, What was at stake in the murder of Jang was prob- cursed at and physically attacked an Ethiopian-Israeli which has been critical of Park’s policies. ably just what Kim said it was when he accused him who objected to their rhetoric. He was told, “This in- Other citizens, outraged by revelations of manipu- of selling off part of North Korea to foreigners and of cludes you, you son of a bitch! Go back to your country! lation by the National Intelligence Service of the 2012 drug trafficking. Jang was considered the architect of You rape our children!” elections when Park was elected, joined protesting the Rason Special Economic Zone, on the border of both A woman who defended him was told, “Take him to workers. Police had confirmed illegal attempts to ma- Russia and China, which permits investment by compa- your room! You whore!” nipulate the election beforehand, but were ordered to nies from those countries. remain silent. The area is also central to the huge methamphet- HISTORIC CONNECTIONS With all these problems and more, South Korean amine (“ice”) trade that has grown in North Korea. Other Israelis, opposing these racist laws, have youth have been inspired by the “Why We Aren’t Fine!” Much of what is produced is shipped across the border made the connections. One young woman blocking a campaign. This was launched when a student at Korea to China, which has a growing crystal meth epidemic. police vehicle said, “We have no choice. They are cre- University, Ju Hyun-woo, made a poster for his school But it is also sold internally, both as a substitute for un- ating concentration camps, and if we get up and leave bulletin board that was picked up and broadcast over available medical treatment and as a way to curb hun- we are consenting to it. Seventy years ago we would social media. He wrote: “I just want to ask, ‘Are you ger. It was the dire famine of the 1990s in which over a have been happy if people would have blocked streets okay?’ Are you fine with ignoring all these issues be- million perished, that spurred the creation of the Rason for our grandfathers and grandmothers in Europe.” cause they aren’t your problems?...And if you are not Special Economic Zone. This historic memory is the opposite to that of the Is- ‘fine’ after seeing all these problems, then voice your Despite his denunciation of Jang, the “thrice raeli Right, which now sees fit to embrace illegal settle- opinions—whatever they may be.” cursed,” it remains to be seen whether Kim Jong-un ments, the expulsion of Palestinians, European neo- Many of these young people joined in the Dec. 28 will either end foreign investments in Rason, or crack fascists, Assad’s genocide, and the prospect of war with demonstrations, and also held flash mobs in cities down on the meth trade. More likely he has just assured Iran about equally—having learned nothing at all from across the country. his own control of scarce financial resources. the Jewish history they profess to represent. NEWS AND LETTERS COMMITTEES Who We Are And What We Stand For News and Letters Committees is an The articulation of the relationship tion, and Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution world, climate change, and failed revolu- organization of Marxist-Humanists. It between the movement from practice (1982) explores Marx’s body of ideas from tions, it becomes imperative not only to has always stood for the abolition of capi- which is itself a form of theory and the his discovery of a continent of thought reject what is, but to further work out the talism, both in its private property form movement from theory to philosophy is and of revolution in his youth to the “new revolutionary Humanist future inherent as in the U.S., and in its state property reflected in Dunayevskaya’s three major moments” of his last decade. Written in the present. The recreation of Marx’s form that appeared as the Russian Revo- works. for our time of revolutions in developing philosophy as Marxist-Humanism is re- lution was transformed into its opposite. Marxism and Freedom, from 1776 countries, the rise of the international corded in Dunayevskaya’s archives, The That retrogression anticipated the next until Today (1958), established the women’s liberation movement, and glob- Raya Dunayevskaya Collection—Marxist- stage of development—the age of state- American roots of Marxism while pre- al economic crisis, it reveals the absolute Humanism: A Half-Century of Its World capitalism. We stand for a society of new senting a comprehensive attack on pres- challenge to make real Marx’s “revolu- Development, deposited at Wayne State human relations, what Marx called a ent-day Communism, which is a form of tion in permanence” as the determinant University in Detroit and available to all. new Humanism. state-capitalism. It re-established Marx- for the relationship of theory and prac- We aim to continue to develop News & Letters was founded in 1955, ism in its original form as “a thorough- tice and as ground for organization. Marxist-Humanism and make it avail- the year of the Detroit wildcat strikes going Naturalism or humanism,” while These works spell out the philosoph- able to all who struggle for freedom. In against automation and the Montgom- pointing to the new Humanist philosophy ic ground of Marx’s Humanism. Ameri- opposing this capitalistic, racist, sexist, ery Bus Boycott against segregation— expressed by the working class. It pre- can Civilization on Trial: Black Masses heterosexist, class-ridden society, we have activities which signaled a new move- sented history and theory as emanating as Vanguard (1963, 1983) concretizes it adopted a committee form of organization ment from practice that was itself a form from the movement from practice. on the American scene and shows the rather than any elitist party “to lead.” of theory. News & Letters was created so Philosophy and Revolution: From two-way freedom road between the U.S. We participate in all class and free- that the voices of revolt could be heard Hegel to Sartre and from Marx to Mao and Africa. dom struggles, nationally and interna- unseparated from the articulation of a (1973), written after the failed revolts of In 1989 News and Letters Commit- tionally. As our Constitution states: “It philosophy of liberation. the 1960s, articulated the integrality of tees published Dunayevskaya’s original is our aim…to promote the firmest unity Raya Dunayevskaya (1910–1987), philosophy and revolution as the charac- 1953 philosophic breakthrough—her two among workers, Blacks and other mi- founder of the body of ideas of Marxist- teristic of the age and, tracing it histori- letters on Hegel’s Absolutes—and her norities, women, youth and those intel- Humanism, was Chairwoman of News cally, caught the link of continuity with 1987 Presentation on the Dialectics of Or- lectuals who have broken with the ruling and Letters Committees from its found- the Humanism of Marx. As against the ganization and Philosophy in The Philo- bureaucracy of both capital and labor.” ing to 1987. Charles Denby (1907–1983), vanguard party, the integration of dialec- sophic Moment of Marxist-Humanism. We do not separate mass activities from a Black rank-and-file autoworker, author tics and organization reflects the revolu- This body of ideas challenges all the activity of thinking. Send for a free of Indignant Heart: A Black Worker’s tionary maturity of the age and the pas- those desiring freedom to transcend the copy of the Constitution of News and Let- Journal, was editor of the paper from sion for a philosophy of liberation. limitations of post-Marx Marxism. In ters Committees or see it on our website: 1955 to 1983. Rosa Luxemburg, Women’s Libera- light of the crises of our nuclear-armed www.newsandletters.org.