Students & Scabs
TThe Political Arts h Magazine of ir the College d of Staten Island | Summer R 2002 | a www.ThlrdRallMag.com il a
w e l c o m e ;, STUDENTS & SCABS
. C S I , ldoeSn'+ o a r e i abouf your HEAljQi & ' ■ X r , ■■ ... t £ t % ‘f, -<'i
. • >
«* ! f.
> 4 1 ^ 1 ■Crf"'- f ■/'' ■rjJf ^1^ I jif®- ' -sr-' a «
■'
, '5 m
w l
#»
F /S '.v i’.j;/; - ' m
■ M
THE LATEST FRAGRANCE FROM CALVIN KLEIN
CATCH A W HIFF » ru E in 8 M E R
WWW. EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE N eil S c h u l d in e r J eff M c G r a h a m THIRD G e o r g e S p r in g e r C o lle en M c G r a h a m D A I f STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS Olusoji "Suji" Oluwole Anthony Gargiso Timothy Jen Melissa Molina Shawn Fishe Kelly Reinhart Perri Dresnic . c o m Boris Koyfman Peter MARS^ Nancy Fama A. Venesky Rachel Richards Frank Duffy • « # «•■ Waheed Khalaykh ■'B^: PRODUCTION LAYOUT I DESIGN | COPY EDITING Neil Schuldiner 1 Anthony Gargi Jeff McGraham MORAL SUPPORT Kathy Mchugh 1 Maria Vell/^ Frank Duffy Professor Ira ScHOR Ronald B. McGuire, CUNY Student Legal Defense Project This issue is dedicated to the offici STUDENT LIFE. THANK YOU CAROL BRC -OR TREATING STUDENTS LIKE SHIT AND ING AWAY THE KfYS TO OUR OWN OFFl COMMENTSSUBMISSIONS & Third Rail welcomes all COMMENTS, CRITICISMS & SUBMISSIO Please send them via:
E- m a il : ' s r / B S S e W * mail@ThirdRailM ag.com
W orld W ide W eb: i ThirdRailmag.com \ \ S nail M a il : \ Third Rail magazine \ c /o College of S taten Island \ \ 2800 ViaoRY Boulevard I \ Campus Center Room 2 0 7 \ S taten Island, NY 1 0 3 1 4
\ : Drop Off In Person: \ \ \ Room 231 in the Campus Center \\ Tel: (718) 982-3105 \ \ Fax: (718)982-3104 CSIZ CUNY Students To Pay More Money CSI President Marlene Springer In Favor Of increased Fees by Peter Hogness
O n February 25, the CUNY Board of Trustees approved an computer labs and librarians all able, accessible higher education to end to its decade-old “last semester free” program, urged the Board to adopt the fee New Yorkers.” -though most said they did so with The vice chair for disabled stu under which students receiving a bachelor’s degree regret. dent affairs at the University Stu were not charged tuition for their fmal term. “We just “How can we com dent Senate, Passantino closed by can no longer afford it,” Chancellor Matthew pete in the job market arguing that if this fee was imposed, Goldstein told the Board of Trustees The Board when we’re using CUNY’s 9,000 students with Windows 95 or disabilities should have a propor also voted to impose a “technology fee” of 98, and now tional share dedicated to making $75 per semester for full-time students, Windows XP is computer services accessible. and $37.50 for those who attend part-time. out?” asked Donna The most fundamental argument Quinn, majoring in against the tech fee came from a Both changes were opposed by the end of “last semes computer information tongue-in-cheek presentation from Professional Staff Congress. ter free” in part by systems at John Jay. Hunter student Liam Flynn-Jam- “Ending ‘last semester free’ has been pointing out that since beck, calling it “an ingenious way under discussion at 80th Street for the policy was adopted in COMPUTER HELP to raise money.” She went on: “This over two years,” said PSC Secretary 1992, the City Council estab “For the price of a moderately fee thing seems kinda cool .... I’m Cecelia McCall. “The fact that the lished the Vallone scholarship priced textbook,” the fee will not sure if you know, but many stu Chancellor now wants to ‘self-fund’ program that gives a 50% re double the amount of money for dents use the bathroom at some certain budget items is being used as duction in tuition to students with a computer services at City College, point during the day and they don’t an excuse to push it through.” “B” average or better. However, said Douglas Troeger, chair of pay a dime for this. I thought a little Goldstein said that the additional Mayor Bloomberg has called for ax CCNY’s Computer Science $55 per semester bathroom fee semester of tuition was needed to ing the Vallone program. Department. Improving computer would be appropriate. But why stoD pay for more full-time faculty. But Students in the audience were both Guardia, help facilities is especially impor there?... Let’s face it, chairs aren t the PSC warned that there is no amused and irritated by Goldstein’s represent tant at City, said Troeger, who said free, and students sit on chairs in al guarantee as to how the money will insistence that the move “is in no ing the that students spend too much time most every classroom. Let’s do a be used: while the BOT resolution way a tuition increase.” When the National Action “sitting stymied at the terminal.” $20 chair fee .... What about a $10 on the tech fee specifies that those Chancellor explained that the Network at a But Queens College student Don door fee?” funds must be spent on improving Governor has not requested nor is BOT hearing ald Passantino said that the tech fee “Budgetary cannibalism from computer services, the resolution the Legislature expected to pass any February 19. At the including “amounts to a back-door tuition within our University serves no ending “last semester free” leaves change in tuition this year, a student public hearing, most president, hike,” one that asks students “to one,” declared Valerie Vazquez, stu the use of that money wide open. called out, “If we pay more money, who spoke on “last Marlene shoulder the burden of two decades dent government president at CUNY spokesperson Michael it’s a tuition increase!” Some Albany semester free” opposed Springer. of disinvestment.” He noted that the Queens. “We need to work together Arena told Clarion that the union legislators expect Pataki, if re-elect- ending the program. The Those who work fee would fall most heavily on the to find a better way!” had no cause for concern. “The ed, to ask for a tuition hike next opposite was true for the new most closely with poorest students: “Unlike actual tu Assembly Higher Education Chancellor has indicated that re year.) technology fee, though UFS ob CUNY’s comput ition hikes, the burden of these fees Committee Chair Ed Sullivan has plenishing full-time faculty is his “We know from research that the servers said that 80th Street has ers formed a large and vocal con cannot be offset by student financial introduced a bill that would limit highest priority,” Arena said, “and major reason students drop out of made many calls urging people to stituency in favor of the $75 per aid.” Most importantly, he said, the CUNY and SUNY fees to no more the Board has voted on that. I think CUNY is not academics, but eco speak in its support. semester charge: students and fac tech fee “moves CUNY yet another than 15% of tuition. that’s a very strong statement.” nomics,” said Lawrence Rushing, Five CUNY college presidents ulty in computer science depart step farther from its long-standing From the April edition o f the Clarion. CUNY management justified the professor of psychology at La- spoke in favor of the tech fee, ments, administrators in charge of commitment to providing afford IThirdRailMag ______T h i r d R a i l M a g I COM fr , tf«- <«»'# ;>'‘r. x*..-'5t >. ; Vv s : » , • ' , ; A ., ' j ' . , , V ■ ' ' . rA "- ^ '-. '
T 3
Kz:^ Cj ^> CD O CIX> o > ^ ■ .\:cr: — m i < D
«*:•' . L..1.-# .? .v -V ______
• < S ‘- 7 a '->
--
D M V Ef® '\as^e^
^ m p o G . 1
= km -^\G \\iy\S\0\\^^^ KT VLkST'(iV^-Vs/UOVe ■■-■ ■ ’ •
W tW K\)TW t^(KmtS- M IG ^ t } : l . " ^ f\s 1 ^ t \ ] 6 v ( t ^ t ^ ' s o ^ 'L i o v ’d :!
U \^’c
- , . -.U Vt''*'
- i’" ' ^ 4 „ * > 5 -%#■'' ..> « ■'"■ , :^‘ ^ViT"KSlNN,OV£ O ? ^ ■■•I
t f O N & s ^ M\^\^ M d US a f . , ■ "
M Y O snVXKt Cv ^ R V'^S^V-UQVDS SW^S^ N N oi^m stT'A O St SVtCTkCVlS
If- ,. ,■•■■: . :-v’l ^ u ^ J ^ & ) ^m fM ... ':' ,i|
M
F.S R A N H u n d r e d s COLLEGE ST(0 ENTS
I I H ^ * r S Ik. ■ f
Fed up with years of multiple c s i i f S i i budgetary onslaughts by city and state administrators to CUNY fund favor of militaristic measures, such ing, about 1,000 CUNY high as the building of youth prisons, school, undergraduates, graduate racial profiling and funding war. students and supporters, organized “Education Not Bombs” read one by the CUNY 4 All coalition, staged sign in the colorful and spirited a lively rally and march from Union crowd. Square to City Hall, despite an The purported “war on terror” unsympathetic rainstorm. held additional significance for Although protestors emphasized many CUNY students, who also the threat posed on their education demanded an end to the tuition hike by budget cuts, the demonstration levied on undocumented students at expressed a broader predominant CUNY, who are now charged the theme—the injustice and peril of out-of-state rate of $3,400, rather downsizing public education in than the in-state rate of $1,700.
T hirdkailm ag * s* c o m Daniel, a Hunter College enthusiastic support from According to students, walk outs were staged at Stuyvesant High computer science student and NYU students who waved from the windows of their School, where about half of its 3,000 an organizer with Jobs with tall, brick dormitories high students left class, Beacon High Justice, attended the rally and above Broadway as demon School, LaGuardia High School, spoke of how he has had to strators passed by 8th Martin Luther King High School, as reduce his full-time course Street. well as the High School for load from five classes to one Perhaps the most Environmental Studies, all occur- class because of the immigrant tuition increase. Garcia, who is depending heavily on three T h e C U N Y MARCHERS GAINED bills currently being deliberat ENTHUSIASTIC S U P P O R T FROM ed in the State Assembly to N Y U STUDENTS WHO WAVED FROM THE restore the in-state tuition rate to immigrant students, said, “If WINDOWS OF THEIR TALL, BRICK nothing works out, it will take DORM ITORIES H IG H A B O V E me something like eight to ten years to graduate.” Another Hunter College stu remarkable presence at the demon ring shortly after 11 a.m. dent, “John,” who studies politi stration, however, was made by Hundreds of students from cal science and did not wish to be CUNY high school students, who the various high schools identified by his real name, felt comprised at least half of all protes then congregated in Herald that his ability to perform aca tors. In opposition to a proposed Square, including 400-500 demically has been compromised $358 million, or 7 to 10 percent from Stuyvesant, and rallied reduction in city funding to the by budget reductions, and said, there for about an hour. Board of Education, according to About 500-600 students “It’s gonna bring my GPA the Board’s web site, the high school from the different schools down... it’s going to be harder to students staged a city-wide walk-out later joined the larger graduate without TAP.” earlier Tuesday morning before the CUNY rally in Union The CUNY marchers gained main rally in Union Square. Square. Teachers and school officials did not encourage the walk-out, but neither did they interfere with it, according to Stuyvesant student Tim Reilly, “My teachers said that even though they don’t encour age us to cut classes, [they told us]... they will not penalize us if we go to the walk-out. Teachers are receiving the short end of the stick as well, not just students.” Reilly’s Stuyvesant peer Stephanie Lo told, however, of one teacher’s attempt to deter students from walking out, “Mr. Sand was guarding the door [of the school] and he told students that were filing past as I went out, ‘We’re taking photo graphs of everyone who’s going out and it’s going to be held against you.’” At the High School for Environmental Studies, where about 300 of 1,300 students also walked out of class, and, according to student Jennifer Lipschitz, “three of the girls that were promoting it [the walk-out] the most were threatened with suspension.” At Environmental Stu dies, students’ electives, which with at least a hundred patrolmen on unable to perform to many students’ include many environmentally-ori foot, cars and bikes around Union disappointment, Tuesday’s rally pro- ented courses such as AP (Advanced Square. A long chain of about fifty vided an opportunity for city-wide Placement) Environ-mental Science, officers walked along are slated to be axed from the budg side the demon et. Environmental Studies student Lipschitz attested, “Teachers wanted
to start an AP Philosophy and they had a large backing... but we are losing these new electives, half our old electives and probably our sports teams.” Several non-CUNY students also attended the demonstration in a statement of solidarity with their CUNY peers and large immigrant and minority population. “As a strators strictly minority in New York City,” said confining them to the side Joliz, a high school student, “I feel I walk along Broadway, while a group alliances to be formed and strength should have the same right ... to be of about fifteen patrolmen followed ened. able to have an education and even directly behind the crowd. At least The demonstration also high though I am not an immigrant, I sup twenty NYPD vehicles, by eyewit lighted, however, the gravity of the port the rights of other people to get ness estimates, similarly sought to threats to public education in New an education also.” keep the crowd in check. York City. As Hunter student, John, As has become the norm at New Although the march’s conclud asked, “How is New York City York City protests which challenge ing rally at City Hall had to be going to rebuild if you don’t invest local or national governmental poli abbreviated due to heavy rain, and in education?” cies, police presence was heavy. musical performers Dead Prez were
T h i r d R a i l M a g I COM
COVER STORY C S I W elc o m es R ats I n t o T h e G ym
W aste Laborers, Local 78, of the Laborers’
The gymnasium floor at International Union of North America
the College of Staten (LIUNA) inflated a 15-foot rat in front of the
Island is being ripped up campus because a non-union contractor was
and replaced, after water awarded the job.
leaking from an adjacent shower room seeped They passed out flyers blasting the
underneath it — creating a perfect breeding D orm itory A uthority and detailing health haz
ground for m old in the insulation under the ards associated w ith m old, and insist they are
f l o o r . m ore qualified in handling m old rem ediation.
The contracting com pany (AWL Industries) The state agency countered that em ployees do
recently sealed off the southw est corner of the not need to be trained in asbestos rem oval and
building and is now rem oving the m old, tear are qualified to perform the job at hand.
ing up the floor and decontam inating the area. “The rat shows up at any public works proj
The project is scheduled to be finished by m id- ect that does not use union labor,” M s. H utton
J u n e . said. “The nice thing about the rat is that you
However, w hat is extrem ely suspicious is the can deflate him and bring him to the next site
fact that CSI officials w ould not disclose the and he m akes a nice photo.”
specific type of m old detected in the gym . “For the sake of the students, I pray to G od
In addition, the repair project is not w ithout that they are doing the right thing,” said Bill
controversy. As AWL employees inside the Doscher, a union organizer w ho was stationed
gymnasium continue with their work, m em next to the inflatable rat yesterday. “In our
bers of the Asbestos, Lead and Hazardous opinion, they are not qualified.”
St u d e n t , Fa c u l t y & St a f f B EW A R E!
SERIOUS HEALTH ISSUES MAY ARISE IF YOU ARE EXPOSED TO MOLD.
AWL Industries, Inc., is a NON-UNION com pany that is using
UNLICENSED, UNTRAINED w orkers to perform m old rem ediation.
Is the NYS D orm itory Authority and CSI’s decision to hire a com pany w ith no
experience and unlicensed w oriters putting students and faculty at risli.^
Is AWL Industries, a com pany with no experience in this field,
acting in a responsible m anner in this school.^*
Should a com pany that doesn’t pay its w orliers a living w age, thus
underm ining all w i^ e earners, be aw arded CSI’s contract to rem ove mold.^
D o you tru st AWL lndustries.»!.»!.»!.» YOU DESERVE BETTER! Call Anil Raut at ( 2 1 2 ) 2 7 3 - 5 0 5 4 and CSI Vice President John Hudacs at ( 7 1 8 ) 9 8 2 - 2 2 4 0 and demand that they hire responsi ble, unionized contractors to perform this hazardous work!
T h i r d R a i l M a g I C S I W e l c o m es R ats I n t o T h e G ym COVER STORY
How can mold afifect your health Too much exposure to mold may cause or worsen conditions such as asthma, hay fever, or other allergies. The most comm on symptoms o f overexposure are cough, congestion, runny nose, eye irritation, and aggravation of asthma. Depending on the amount of exposure and a person’s individual vulnerability, more serious health effects - such as fevers and breathing problems - can occur but are unusual.
How can you be exposed to mold? When moldy material becomes damaged or disturbed, spores (reproductive bodies similar to seeds) can be released into the air. Exposure can occur if people inhale the spores, directly handle moldy materials, or accidentally ingest it. Also, mold can sometimes produce chemicals called mycotoxins. Mycotoxins may cause illness in people who are sensitive to them or if they are exposed to large amounts in the air.
What is Stachybotrys chartarum? Stachybotrys chartarum (also known as Stachybotrys atra) is a type of mold that has been associated with health effects in people. It is a greenish-black mold that can grow on materials with a high cellulose content - such as drywall sheetrock, dropped ceiling tiles, and wood - that become chronically moist or water-damaged, due to excessive humidity, water leaks, condensation, or flooding.
How can you tell if Stachybotrys chartarum is present? Many molds are black in appearance but are not Stachybotrys. For example, the black mold commonly found between bathroom tiles is not Stachybotrys. Stachybotrys can be positively identified only by specially trained professionals (e.g., mycologists) through a microscop-
How can Stachybotrys chartarum affect your health? Typically, indoor air levels of Stachybotrys are low; however, as with other types of mold, at higher levels health effects can occur. These include allergic rhinitis (cold-like symptoms), dermatitis (rashes), sinusitis, conjunctivitis, and aggravation of asthma. Some related symp toms are more general - such as inability to concentrate and fatigue. Usually, symptoms disappear after the contamination is removed. There has been some evidence linking Stachybotrys with pulmonary hemosiderosis in infants who are generally less than six months old. Pulmonary hemosiderosis is an uncommon condition that results from bleeding in the lungs. In studied cases o f pulmonary hemosiderosis, the expo sure to Stachybotrys came from highly contaminated dwellings, where the infants were continually exposed over a long period of time.
Will my health or my child’s health be affected, and should we see a physician? If you believe that you or your children have symptoms that you suspect are caused by exposure to mold, you should see a physician. You should tell your physician about the symptoms and about when, how, and for how long you think you or your children were exposed. '■■■' ^ • ■■■ ‘ / • ’' The bOfies : | ^ w 1 M itch ell *:• 1 J ; ; \ * t ^ i
V ‘ : - v / \
1
* 1 ■r ' h ■ i*-.
AV. >, = sy \ Can you help me find them"? Kqstcmdlranldess le^o\ s\ed
i ^ e nif l jphoraohs ^od ovet YloWSieeX dttte Vaii cdnyos o« \mmoM\\s| AtoM^; on//o forn;disfi^^^ ■'■'••-s.- : ■■ ond on if fhese words appeac. rx.«f^ "* '' \\J' ' u ^ H o w m a n y dted erecting those \ov
' A u t u m n , im pervious,
4g ^ * ~j>& rhaps m ocking our im perial p reten se, w h\ps h et V\\os .„S J rtw T e X r-- Who. «e.e ,*,e. a"ci casts the b on es ot S ep \em \i 4
O n that long m orning’s fall? j^UWons oi -- -‘-xi , r^' sH cks qgoinst Ho prkofv. r i z o f i . F ingers o f F lesti, fingers of M em ory -^ n d \essW UK''JSiSr .z^~. ^ an d sift again that an cien t dus\ ' • » - ' ' die fo r. ^
T h f r d R a i l M a g I ^S tanzifR ycled from Percy ByssHe ¥ eaning to left on m y
skateboarc
in order to turn
i f e e l a s
aim less as a Dird
i n f l i g h t
ride m y bi nto the biggest puddles nstead of the road o p e n r o a d aright blinding sun m ountains left and right tortoise sets im age by;anthony gargiso the sound track... w ords by: rachel richards i could drive forever T HIRDRAILMAG iK l COM T h i r d R a i l M a g I I C O M iM d K S t e N a n c y F a m a - i H i M ■i*-' ■ -' 'i>: .. 'i ' 1 V r : :¥|1/; •4 i^:-' I'.' ThirdR ailM ag e s k C O M I n tr ■ ’ -I:;’ 1 " - - i f 4> '-J ;Mit r l 4i^ - m . w ' 1- ' '“®"w ^ m : : r * ./^ « a»- ■? ^ r(lyjbeirri£i iStnr, tike, 'Kn.< ''' ■ '-^ ■ . , i ^ . - f'.' t . N / f ^ THIRDRAILMAG 21 COM I a ^IN B BA/OR/^US STRA v BBRRIBS j T A K J B O N E , a t . I n H BAirmi NU/^BBKS, Y a a /k A p p r a i s b i t s S a s h i n g - r r o / a B r a n c ^ s i c K w t m R o u s i n g - f A A T B s v / » V/ b ig - h t ^ : , # > r i "D h a p l b s > f u r a n O u p b . ^ ^ ^ s,--- »“ " -*>,.•’ . / .. '' ...... * ' ' . ^ ^ _ _ .' ______ ■' , .*,...... c , ^ ^ , ^ m m i *ji>\ S i V f t » 'A. . ■«■- "■ : fe' " '' ^ '’^ i ife:: ■w ^ i„ ,4'^' ^ ^ '1 - , /' , X, . ‘ife X. ' y . . . i ...... -2.-...... -■...... ,--- L' t, ' ' 'fa*., . ’’X . ■ . - ^ ^ r k i ) ; t . lO B N T t F ^ , -'^ #■' ^ C r s j n c m P o w n '"' i' l "^’ ^ •T~A,rrT A / r \fcfe S K J N i B u t S \/V B B T i 5TTRONG-, NUBlLBj SUPPLB An P BBRRY YOUNG- T h i r d R a i l M a g 2 2 c o m UYi X LflLf LOCJ^ Ut M a t h l b t ' t h b b N O N O /V i t h i a /K s , I SB v ' n WBARBS A^Oi ON O n B AIRB o p ’THOUG-m Oip roi^ARPs C a n a a n 'TUB RB. \ I ^AVB THBtR PRUIT An C> / ^ R B , B l B:5s b O b b GroO, Who p r p s p b r ' o M o a h s VINB, A n P / ^ B tr BRING- FORTH G-RAPBS G-OOP STORB. B u t fXtCH f^R B m/^ I nJST APORBj V fM O OR THB U W S JSOWBR JTUlCB SWBBT WlNB PiP /^\AKBt B v ' n 6 - o P MmsBU=^ BBING- PRBSSBP FOR A1V :SAKB. / v_ ,7 L c r / T h b n h a / b w B t o o v u r g^ a r P ia n F iR B s a n P c l o u P s O u r S c r ip t u r b -PB w P r o p s f a s t : \hlB H A /B OUR SA n P s An P 3BRPBNT3, TBNTS An P S H A l a s I OUR n jR n jR iN G -s n o t l a s t . B u t w HBRB's THB CUUSTBR^ w HBRB's T H B T A S T B O f a m n b inhbritancb ? Lo r P , i f 1 n j s r b o r r o w , Lb t A|^ a s W BIU. t a k b u p t h b i r t o v T h i r d R a i l M a g f 2 3 c o m A Kiwi HAS A W G-APPEN, \j\IHBN tr ARRtVBO NOT BXAcrru/3 URB WHBN. An O THOSE tr wBIRP, 'Th a t AMs^/muiBP pair* O v e r t h e /^o.\n~Hs, Ha v e BE c o ^ FiR/^ r r ibnOs . A t f^lRSTTHEV EACM KJEPT THEIR OlSTAj^CE, T h e KAKA Hu r t IN SOME UNKJ^OWN INSTANCE. An O t h o u g -h h e c a n t t a l k , Bov, CAN HE S6K>Ai/vK ! He LETS HER Kn o w HE S UPSET, By Putting- o n s u c h A s h o w , W ith t h e o PP l o w rlying- s l o w . O n e s h e w o n t ciuicKjj/ r o r g -e t . A n P WILL e n d e a v o u r NEVER TO BE LATE WtTH HIS BREAKp AST AS-AtN. Who would thoug-ht, That IN A subukhAn stkeet. A KAKA WOULP FInP a wELCO/^ RETRBAT. iET TO PEILPING- h e FOUNP HIS wA/, T a k e n u p resiPe n c e in Kiwi's bacKyarP. 'TAKJEN TO HANG-ING- OF^F^ ROOP EAv E S , Lo o k s like h e 's s Et t l e P in t o stay, P r e t p / nJCH POING- As HE PLEAs ES. W e l l /aa/b e r o r a w h i l e a n y w a /. ’^,.'\PE HIHSELP AT H O ^ IN Tt^iE SURROUNPING- TKEES. S tA n P IN G - Up TO THE POG- WtTH RELATIVE EAsE. Kiwi HAS TO R E ^ /^ R TO Put HER CAR IN THE G-ARAS-E, O r BE FOREVER CL INSUP./ 'JCE. A s K aka s h o w e P Kiwi HIS finesse, B y Plsn'^.NTUNG- TI-IE RUC^RS ON HER CAR NO LESS. //aiai you c a n 't r b a l p / c a l l An e n P a n g -e r e P b ir P a p e s t , Ho w e v e r h e is a taxing- g-uEs t , Putting- Kiwi's p a t i e n c e t o t h e t e s t . iET THIS K a k a k n o w s his u a m t s , t^.AySS HER LAjG-H WtTH HIS ANTICS. P i X E S HER WtTH HIS BEAPy G-AZE, An P COAMNG- c lo s e r WtTH EACH PASSING- PAY. THIRDRAILMAG 2 4 COM Wak<2a(^ \^halayi >>x2 niorl<2 S o ^ lcl/)d y^^litf »Hfl<2 a\\fay -froni fha r fwi/(9 s t r i n g s o ^ c o l o r e d papars^ whloh w<2 r chairs and the io\^/ s^^ara fabl p\cf^ras o4 fh < 2 alphab co^ldn f read or r T /te r e w as an o^fdoor bafhroofyt fhaf belonged fo fhe landlord^ who lived nexf door. Only fhe feachers were allowed fo use If. The resf o^ o{s fook a walk behind fhe biilldln^ and looked -for a clean spof befween fhe b^\shes In fhe Open -field. In fhose days If was accepfable 4or fhe liffle ones fo do fheir b^ASiness o ^f >n fhe Open. 4 pa^e or fwo o f any newspaper^ regardless In whaf lan^(\a^e If w as prlnfed~liArklsh^ £n^llsh^ Hebrew or Arablc~wOi^ld do fhe ^ob o f wiping. And 14 newspapers were nof In o^\r l^mtedlafe reach^ a -few s clenf. Ihls was nof d^rln^ fhe Gfone A^e. Ihls was only fhlrfy-fhree years a^o^ when Israel was already esfabllshed -for nlnefeen years on fhe land o f Palesflne. 1 a^ Si\re fhe Jewish klnder- ^arfen schools i^ sf have had follef papers^ and probably In dl-fferenf colors. The Palesflnlans^ however^ who were called fhe Israeli-Arabs^ had plenfy o f sfones In fheff -fields^ so fhey ^an~ a ^ e d . Gfones ca>y\e In handy In ty^any dl-fferenf w ays -for Palesflnlans^ bofh a t war and a t peace. If has been since fhe baffle of David and ^ollafh fhaf we have learned fo vaUe sfones^even fhe s^allesf of fhe^. Gfones were and sflll are ^\sed as weapons In baffles fo seffle confllcfs t^nfll fhls very niOn»enf. As children^ we had many ^ames fhaf Involved sfones. One ^ame was called fhe T h i r d R a i l M a g ^ ^ ( COM ^ G V a f) I f (5 m/<2 p il e d s a hna aboiAf 4'i4f 0 n c < 2 fh A dt^sfy yard sfrefched In 4ronf o f fhe whlfe sfone bi^lldln^. The fwo classes shared fhe yard 4or play. The feaoher t^sed fo splash y^afer so we wo^ldn f kick foo >tMch d^isf Info fhe air. 1 re>*H2 »ytber very well fhls kindergarten day^ early In Jm /)<2 i ^ ^ 7 . U /c were playing a ^anne we called fhe C af and fhe f^o^Ase^ a ^a>y>e fhaf we played alniosf every day. The class wo^^ld s^^cxt In a bl^ circle as cats. W e wo^^ld chant a son^ while so I n fo a >HC?iA5e and be^ln fo circle aroi\nd. We had ^i\sf sfarfed fhe ^a>v>e when war airplanes sfarfed fo fhinder over o^\r heads. They woi^ld disappear so 4asf^ b ^ f fhe4f loud noise wOi^ld sfay wlfh t^s nMch longer. We be^an fo sln^ loi^der and lo a d e r while we covered c ^ ^ ears wlfh Oi^r llftle hands. B ^ f If ^of fo fhe point where a new plane's fh^Ander would sfa rf fo approach be4ore fhe prevlo^AS one wO^\ld coniplefely dlsap~‘ pear. Goiyte kids be^an fo cry. The ^an>e w as dlsn^pfed^ and fhe feacher ordered ^a s back Into fhe dassroo<^. In less fhan fen >vilniAfes^ parents P arted fo appear a t fhe classroon^ door fo fake fhelr kids ho 1 w as nof scared. All fhe schools were closed 4or slyc days^ ^Anfll a cease~41re went Info e44ecf. Af fhaf a^e^ I hadn f fhe sll^hfesf idea o f what was ^oln^ on^ biAf w hat 1 really missed was my ^ame a t fhe school. Once fhe Glyc Days War was over^ we went bac^ fo play more o f fhe C at and fhe jAo^ASe. T h i r d R a i l M a g ^ H c o m 1 1 , n n .Lh=i n c here are people ’^ith bldck skin. There are people with red skin, here are people with white skin, here are people with brown skin, here are people with olive skin, here are people with yellow skin, hat's it. ' Som e are assholes. Son-ie aren’t CONSIDE THE DISCOURSE T h i r d R a i l M a g 2 8 c o m FORMALLY CLOSED. * A A % By Shaw n Fisher One day, while lounging around in her tacky yellow robe, doing her nails and listening to the radio, Laverne was visited by her friend Shirley. Possessing the short attention span that most CSl students have, Shirley asked if Laverne wanted to go to the mall. “I would love to, but it’s Sunday and the mall closes at six,” replied Laverne. “That’s not fair, I w anted w hined Shirley again. After York radio stations. O f to spend m ore of D addy’s rolling her eyes back course, since radio stations m oney,” w hined Shirley. Laverne agreed, and the two love to edit and re-edit fiddled around with the songs until a five-m inute Then, hearing a song that’s radio for a num ber of m in tune is only thirty seconds not on the top forty Shirley utes listening only to bits long, the girls w ere forced to asked if she could change and pieces of various pop- flip endlessly around the the radio station. “You know I fluff son gs trying to find that d i a l . don’t listen to anything perfect cookie-cutter Back unless MTV tells m e too,” Seat Boys song that’s on N ew Then suddenly a horrible THIRDR a ILMAG 30 COM noise cam e from the radio. hensible, G od-awful m usic they w ere proud of the ideas After the nausea and throb on the planet.” they developed. Laverne and bing in her head subsided, O utraged, Shirley w ent on Shirley sw ore first thing Shirley asked if she broke a rant about how the DJ’s at tom orrow they w ould go the radio, but Laverne the station should b e strung dow n to the station and inform ed her that it w as only up for w hat they’re playing. shake things up. WSIA. the college’s ow n radio “But it’s not on MTV, how can s t a t i o n . they play anything that has O ne w eek later, Laverne n’t b een on M TV!” ranted and Shirley w ere sitting Like all CSI students, Shirley. She w ent on to tell around doing their nails an,4^ Shirley’s apathy for school Laverne how they should listening to fheradio. W hile w as quickly revealed as she join the station, recruit m ore sw itching around the sta told Laverne that she never students and rally to im prove tions, after getting, bored knew they had a radio sta the form at of the station. So Shirley cam e upon a horrible tion. Laverne responded, the two w orked long and noise. A fter finding out that it “M ost p eop le don’t, w hich is hard for a w hole tw enty m in w as W SIA she said som eone why those w ho work at the utes to w rite out their plans should do som ething about station get aw ay w ith playing before M elrose Place cam e the bad form at. Laverne just the m ost obscure, incom pre on. By the tim e w ere done, looked at her and sighed.... A * — AILMAGfS l ^COM ■ s . ' - T h e Search for Socialism Continue In our last issue, Third Rail M agazine presented an essay investigating the non-dem ocratic nature o f the largest "leftist" organization on college cam puses today — the International Socialist O rganization. This issue, in Kevin C oogan's excellnet investigative article, ■ t h e International A ction C enter, ANSWER a n d W orkers W orld a r e e x p o s e d . n September 29th, 2001, just a few weeks following the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a large peace rally was held in ^J^^ashington, D.C., to oppose an American military response to the attack. The main organizer of the D.C. rally, ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), was officially estab lished shortly after the 9/11 attack. The leading force behind a n s w e r ’s creation is the International Action Center (lAC), which represents itself as a progressive organization devoted to peace, justice, and human rights issues. The lAC’s organizational clout is consider able: for the past decade it has played a leading role in organizing protest demonstrations against U.S. military actions against both Iraq and Serbia. After the September 11th attack, the lAC decided to turn its long-organized plannejd protest against the Internyional Monetary F tn Wolld/Banfc gathetog^hM iM edftr tW29yth, into an action O f ny to terrorism . m r r j ^ HI I. El § n ^ » K IIPJU □ U □ ' 1 t - v ' ' ' h M __ I ‘ J\a COM T h i r d R a i l M a g ^ ^ c o m ’ f'O 'ifii s n s ia i'’ T h i r d R a i l M a g The Search for Socialism Continues l i i The lAC owes its current success to Ramsey Clark, a include serving as the National Chairman of the National former Attorney General during the Johnson Advisory Committee of the ACLU, as well as serving as Administration, who is listed on the lAC’s website as its past president of the Federal Bar Association. founder. Clark’s establishment credentials have caused many in the mass media to accept the lAC’s self-portray Despite his prominence within the establishment, Clark al as a group of disinterested humanitarians appalled by also maintains close ties to the Left. After he ceased being war and poverty who are working to turn American for LBJ’s Attorney General in 1969 when Nixon became eign policy towards a more humane course. On its web President, Clark visited North Vietnam and condemned site the LAC says it was “Founded by Ramsey Clark” and U.S. bombing policy over the “Voice of Vietnam” radio then describes its purpose: “Information, Activism, and station. Lie also served as a lawyer for peace activist Father Resistance to U.S. Militarism, War, and Corporate Phillip Berrigan, and led a committee that investigated Greed, Linking with Struggles Against Racism and the killing of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Oppression within the United States.” Liampton by local police in collusion with the FBI. At the same time, Clark remained politically active inside Yet since its inception in 1992, the lAC’s actions have the more moderate ranks of the Democratic Party. In given rise to serious doubts about its bona fides as an 1976, however, his defeat in the New York Democratic organization truly committed to peace and human rights primary campaign for Senate ended his political ambi issues. Behind the blue door entrance to the lAC’s head tions. From the mid-1970s until today, the Greenwich quarters on l4th Street in Manhattan can be found deep Village-based Clark has pursued a career as a high-pow- er shades of red. When one looks closely at the LAC, it ered defense attorney who specializes in political cases. becomes impossible to ignore the overwhelming presence of members of an avowedly Marxist-Leninist sect called Some of Clark’s current clients, including Shaykh Umar the Workers World Party (WWP), whose cadre staff holds 'Abd al-Rahman, the “blind Sheik” who was convicted virtually all of the LAC’s top positions. Whether or not the and sentenced to a lengthy prison term for his involve LAC is simply a WWP front group remains difficult to ment in helping to organize follow-up terrorist attacks in say. Nor is there any evidence that Ramsey Clark himself New York City after the first World Trade Center attack is a WWP member. What does seem undeniable is that in 1993, are a far cry from Father Berrigan. Shaykh 'Abd without the presence of scores of WWP cadre working al-Rahman, of course, deserves legal representation. inside the LAC, the organization would for all practical What makes Clark’s approach noteworthy is that in the purposes cease to exist. Therefore, even if Clark is not a case of 'Abd al-Rahman (as well as those of Clark’s other WWP member, he is following a political course that political clients), his approach is based more on putting meets with the complete approval of one of the most pro- the government on trial for its alleged misdeeds than Stalinist sects ever to emerge from the American far left. actually proving the innocence of his clients. While com pletely ignoring Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman’s pivotal role in P art O n e : the Egyptian-based Islamist terror group al-Jama'a al- Ramsey Clark from Islamiyyah, as well as the central role that the Shaykh’s Attorney General to the LAC Jersey City-based mosque played in the first World Trade Center attack, Clark tried to portray the blind Shaykh as Before analyzing the role of the WWP in both the cre a brilliant Islamic scholar and religious thinker who was ation and control of the LAC, it is first necessary to being persecuted simply as a result of anti-Muslim preju explain just how the LAC managed to link up with Clark, dice on the part of the American government. a 74-year old Texas-born lawyer and the LAC’s one big name media star. The son of Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark appears to be driven by intense rage at what he Clark (himself a Attorney General in the Johnson admin perceives to be the failures of American foreign policy; a istration), Ramsey Clark radiates “middle America” with rage so strong that it may well be irrelevant to him his puppy dog eyes, short hair, jug ears, Texas twang, whether his clients are actually innocent or guilty as long plain talk, and “aw, shucks” demeanor. Clark backs up his as he can use them to strike back at the American estab- folksy public persona with some dazzling credentials that hshment which once welcomed him with open arms. THIRDRAILMAG COM T^fiter losing his 1976 Senate bid, against each other, a war triggered by izing, and even went so far as to Clark deepened his opposition to Saddam Hussein’s attempted inva express “amazement” at the personal American foreign policy. In June sion of Iran. In 1986 American “vilification” directed at his client! A 1980, at a time when v^merican planes even bombed Libya to punish report from the left-wing watchdog hostages were in their eighth month Colonel Qadhdhafi for backing ter group Political Research Associates of captivity in Iran, Clark sojourned rorist groups in the West. As U.S. suggests that Clark’s fondness for to Tehran to take part in a confer power began to reassert itself global Larouche may have been rooted in ence on the “Crimes of America” ly, Clark became even more extreme Larouche’s aggressive support for sponsored by Ayatollah Khomeini’s in his opposition to American for Panamanian dictator General theocratic Islamic regime. According eign policy. He first astonished Manuel Noriega, who had been to a story on Clark by John Judis many on the Left when he agreed to forcibly removed from power by the that appeared in the April 22nd, defend former Grenada Defense Bush Administration. Both 1991 New Republic, while in Iran Minister Bernard Coard, leader of Larouche and Clark participated in Clark publicly characterized the the ultra-leftist clique responsible for the movement opposed to American Carter Administrations failed mili the assassination of Maurice Bishop. military intervention in Panama. tary attempt to rescue the hostages (It was Bishop’s 1983 murder that Clark even visited Panama in as a violation of international law. had supplied the pretext for the U.S. January 1990 as part of an By the time Clark was sipping tea in invasion of Grenada.) After the U.S. “Independent Commission of Tehran, American foreign policy was attack on Libya, Clark journeyed to Inquiry” to examine American “war in shambles. In both Nicaragua and Tripoli to offer his condolences to crimes.” (Not surprisingly, the Iran, U.S.-backed dictators had fall Colonel Qadhdhafi. That same year Commission found America en from power. In Europe, the he defended Palestine Liberation “guilty.”) incoming Reagan Administration Organization (PLO) leaders from a would soon be faced with a growing legal suit brought by the family of Clark’s willingness to defend polit neutralist movement that was partic Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly retired ical clients so long as he felt he could ularly strong in Germany. Inside the man in a wheel chair who was mur use their cases to put the American U.S., the anti-nuclear “freeze” move dered by Palestinian terrorists on the government on trial meant that he ment was then in full swing. Italian cruise ship “Achille Lauro” was less interested in proving that Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the simply because he was Jewish. Clark his clients were saints than in prov Soviet Union had deployed massive even became the lawyer for Nazi col ing that members of his own gov amounts of troops into a formerly laborator Karl Linnas, who was ernment were sinners. Clark’s logic neutral nation for the first time since unsuccessfully fighting deportation now began to extend beyond his the end of World War II. to his native Estonia to face war choice of legal clients to encompass crimes charges. groups that he was willing to collab By the mid-1980s, however, the orate with who he felt might help combination of Reagan in America Clark’s next legal client was equally advance his political agenda. By and Margaret Thatcher in England surprising. In 1989 he became 1990, Clark decided he was even had brought the Left to a screeching Lyndon Larouche’s lead attorney in willing to ally himself closely with halt. Huge sums of covert CIA aid Larouche’s attempt to appeal his an ultra-left Marxist-Leninist sect allowed the mujahidin to turn conviction on federal mail fraud called the Workers World Party Afghanistan into a cemetery for charges. Larouche, who began his (WWP). Russian soldiers, while in Central political career in the late 1940s as a America the U.S. managed first to member of the Trotskyist Socialist Clark’s ties to the WWP first destabilize and then to bring down Workers Party (SWP), had by the became apparent during the 1990- Cuban-allied states like Nicaragua late 1970s embraced the far right, 1991 foreign policy crisis in the and Grenada. In the Middle East, anti-Semitism, and Holocaust Middle East that began unfolding the U.S. (with help from Israel) suc denial. Clark claimed that the gov after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein cessfully encouraged both Iraq and ernment was persecuting Larouche invaded Kuwait in an attempt to Iran to fight a long bloody war solely to suppress his political organ dominate the Middle East’s oil sup- Internotionol Action Center: Peace Activists W ith A Secret A genda? THE lAC AND THE CAM PAIGN AGAINST SANCTIONS: HELPING THE IRAQI PEOPLE OR SADDAM H U S A I N ? One of the lAC's best-known cam imports into Iraq. The proposal would has been embraced by the left - paigns is aimed at lifting all economic also permit- the ordering and contract including radical elements of the left - sanctions against Iraq. By raising this ing of civilian goods on an "as-required it's lost a little bit of its political credibi issue, the lAC is trying to appeal to basis" to overcome cumbersome UN ity." Due to the fringe left's radicc many people who have no sympathy for regulations. beliefs, "virtually all of what they so Iraq but who are rightly concerned that [about Iraq] is wrong, factually; or hea\ the way sanctions are currently imposed While by no means perfect, Powell's ily slanted with a political ideology the only ends up punishing ordinary Iraqis, support for "smart sanctions" met with most of Americans don't find attractive. particularly children, who ore deprived enormous resistance from both W hen one fringe left group claimed the of food and medicine while the ruling Congress and the Pentagon, both of American policy in Iraq was equivaler elite remains unharmed. UN agencies whom fear being seen as overly "soft" to Auschwitz, Ritter told them that such involved with Iraq believe that os a on Iraq. Given this political reality, one statemenot not only alienated people result of the way the sanctions policy would have thought that the lAC might but that "[it was] about as grossly a has been implemented, thousands of hove given at least some of Powell's or irresponsible statement as I can imag innocent Iraqi civilians are needlessly Cortright's proposals a degree of criti ine. This isn't Auschwitz, this isn't gene dying every month. The sanctions policy cal support, since they would materially cide. . .This is a horrible policy that' has also been seized upon by Saddam improve the conditions of ordinary resulting in hundreds of thousands c Hussein to generate sympathy for Iraq, Iraqis — something the lAC itself claims dead kids. But there's a big differenc both in the West and especially within to be so concerned about — as well as between the two." Ritter also said that the Muslim world. Hussein, of course, open up a broader discussion of the was almost impossible to get a legiti wants an end to all sanctions so that he sanctions issue. Yet in a March 20th mate debate in the U.S. about sanction can go about rebuilding his war statement, Richard Becker, the lAC's because while one side "demonizes machine. From his point of view, "Western Regional Coordinator" (and a Iraq, the opposition views "the regim humanitarian concerns about sanctions leading member of the WWP), as some sort of nice little genteel MiddI serve os a perfect "wedge" issue to denounced smart sanctions as a "poi East nation." force on end to any UN-imposed sonous fraud," claimed that smart sanc restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty, restric tions were a form of colonialism, and When specifically asked about Romse tions that were heightened after he vio renewed the lAC's demand "to uncon Clark, Ritter replied: "I wouldn't be /' lated his promise to allow UN inspec ditionally lift the genocidal sanctions touch with Ramsey Clark. . .1 fought /, tors to freely examine potential nuclear, against Iraq" which, coincidently the Gulf War I was in that wan I kno\ biological, and chemical warfare sites enough, is exactly w ha t Saddam what went on during that war, and we'n on Iraqi soil. Hussein himself would like so that he not war criminals. I'm not a war crimi can rebuild his military machine. no/. And none of the people I servei In an attempt to rectify the injustices with ore war criminals. And yet he' caused by sanctions, U.S. Secretary of The manipulation of the Iraq sanctions accusing the U.S. of committing wo State Colin Powell appeared on March issue by the for left for its own political crimes because A-10 aircraft firet 7th, 2001 before the House goals may have hurt the campaign depleted uranium shells at Iraqi tanks International Relations Committee to against sanctions, according to Scott That's horribly irresponsible. I don argue for "humane, smart sanctions" Ritter Ritter, a form er M arine C aptain want to be associated with jhat man that "target Saddam Hussein not the who led the United Nations Special That's the kind o f thing I'm talking Iraqi people." A similar view was reflect Commission (UNSCOM) disarmament about. He may have a point when ed in a report on Iraq from the Fourth team in Iraq for seven years, is today a comes to economic sanctions, but hi Freedom Foundation authored by David leading advocate of ending the type of hasn't a clue of what's involved in mod Cortright, a former executive director of sanctions that only hurt the Iraqi people. ern warfare and why we targeted certaii the anti-war group SANE. Cortright pro In an interview with Ali Asadullah (avail targets. . .He's grossly irresponsible ii poses a revised sanctions policy that able from iviews.com) that appeared on some of the things he says." Apparently specifically targets Hussein's ability to February 2nd, 2000, Ritter stated that Saddam Hussein disagrees with Ritter' use Iraqi oil revenue to either build or one of the problems which genuine assessment of Clark. Otherwise wh import weapons and "duel use" goods sanction critics have being taken seri would he continue to welcome Ramse while letting commercial companies, ously is that the issue "has been Clark-led lAC delegations to Baghdo( not the UN, be responsible for certifying em braced by, I w ould say, the fringe left year after year with open arms? and providing notification of civilian of the United States. . .Because the issue TilRPRAILMAG^^^ n M plies. During the Winter 1990-91 National Campaign also made it choice of a leader, a WWP member Mideast crisis, two separate “anti clear that no matter how much it named Monica Moorhead (the war” coalitions arose to protest the was opposed to a war against Iraq, it WWP’s candidate for President in first Bush Administration’s policies. also considered Hussein’s invasion of the 2000 elections). The Coalition’s Before the military attack on Iraq Kuwait to be an undeniable act of office was adjacent to Clark’s took place in January 1991, the aggression. The National Manhattan law office, where anoth Bush Administration (with support Campaign’s stance on the Gulf War er WWP cadre member named both from Congress and many other was challenged by a rival organiza Gavriella Gemma (Coalition nations) imposed an economic tion, the National Coalition to Stop Coordinator) worked as a legal sec embargo on Hussein in an attempt U.S. Intervention in the Middle retary. The National Coalition (most to pressure him to voluntarily with East. The National Coalition bitter likely through Gemma) extended an draw his forces from Iraq and avoid ly opposed the National Campaign’s invitation to Clark to serve as its a full-scale war. The embargo policy support for the extension of sanc official spokesman. To the astonish was strongly endorsed by Democrats tions. The Coalition argued that ment of many, he accepted. Yet in Washington. Although the Iraq itself was the victim of “U.S. Clark and the WWP, at least pub Russians had long maintained Oil Imperialism,” which was work licly, had so little in common that as strong ties to Iraq, even Soviet leader ing in cahoots with reactionary late as 1989 the WWP’s official Mikhail Gorbachev tried to per states like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and mouthpiece. Workers World (WW), suade Hussein to withdraw his the ruling class of Kuwait itself The never even mentioned Clark in a forces or face military defeat. Coalition demanded, instead, that favorable light. the Left uncritically defend “the The Bush Administration made it Iraqi people” against both continued Clark’s decision paved the way for clear to Hussein that he was on a economic sanctions and direct his subsequent involvement in the tight deadline, and that any failure American military intervention. The WWP-allied International Action to meet that deadline and withdraw divisions inside the Left over this Center. After the Gulf War ended, his forces would result in war. The issue became so deep that both Clark established an “International first anti-war coalition, the National groups were forced to hold rival ral War Crimes Tribunal” to denounce Campaign for Peace in the Middle lies in Washington in January 1991. U.S. actions against Iraq. When the East, strongly opposed the idea of a Tribunal held its first hearings in deadline and advocated the exten The hard Left National Coalition New York on May 11th, 1991, the sion of the sanctions came out of a long speakers included WWP members policy against Iraq as standing Workers Teresa Gutierrez (“co-coordinator” an alternative to mili World Party front of yet another WWP front, the tary action. The Brian organization known International Peace for Cuba as the People’s Appeal), Moorhead, and WWP stal Anti-War wart Sarah Flounders. One year Becker Mobilization later, on July 6th, 1992, Workers (PAM), which World announced the creation of a quickly reorgan “center for international solidarity” ized itself into (the lAC) with Clark as its the National spokesman. Clark told WW that Coalition, The “the international center can become WWP’s promi a people’s United Nations based on nent role in the grass-roots activism and the princi National ples of peace, equality and justice.” Coalition was With Clark as spokesman and Sarah made evident by Flounders as a coordinator, the lAC the group’s sheltered a myriad of WWP front International Action Center: Peace Activists W ith A Secret A genda? groups and allied organizations, attack on Kurdish people,” WWP notorious record of terror against including the National Coalition to cadre (and current lAC honcho) civilians, one which includes both Stop U.S. Intervention in the Brian Becker denounced Iraq’s “hor the infamous massacre at Srebrenica Middle East, the Haiti Commission, rific chemical weapons attacks on and the displacement of a million the Campaign to Stop Settlements Kurdish villages,” citing “ample evi Muslim refuges from Kosovo. The in Occupied Palestine, the dence” from Kurdish sources and Clark/IAC War Crimes Tribunal’s Commission of Inquiry on the US “independent observers” that “mus hatred of American policy, which Invasion of Panama, the Movement tard gas, cyanide and other outlawed comes coated in legal jargon, borders for a Peoples 7\ssembly, and the chemical weapons have been used in on the comic as well as the megalo- International War Crimes Tribunal. a massive fashion” not just against maniacal. One LAC “legal brief,” for the Kurds but also against “thou example, accuses President Clinton, From 1991 until today, the sands of rebelling Iraqi forces who the U.S. Secretaries of State and lAC/WWP has led repeated delega deserted from the army in 1984 dur Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tions to Iraq with Clark at their head ing the Iran-Iraq war, and took and “U.S. personnel directly to meet with Saddam Hussein and refuge in the marshland areas in involved in designating targets, other top Iraqi officials. The close southern Iraq.” Becker then noted flight crews and deck crews of the ties between the lAC and Hussein that the Iraqi attempt to crush the U.S. military bombers and assault have led other critics of U.S. foreign Kurds “by a combination of terror aircraft, U.S. military personnel policy toward Iraq, such as former and systematic depopulation” has directly involved in targeting, UN inspector Scott Ritter (who, like been “the hallmark of the govern preparing and launching missiles at the lAC, opposes the continuation ment’s policy for the last several Yugoslavia” with war crimes. Nor of sanctions as being far more harm years.” does the LAC indictment ignore the ful to the Iraqi people than to political and military leadership of Hussein), to distance himself from More recently both Clark and the England, Germany, and “every any association with the lAC. lAC have played a leading role in NATO country,” not to mention the Ironically enough, a few years before uncritically defending former governments of Turkey and the Gulf War broke out, the WWP Serbian leader Slobodon Milosevic’s Hungary. It then charges NATO had no qualms about labeling brutal attempts to dominate both with “inflicting, inciting and Saddam Hussein as a genocidal war Bosnia and Kosovo. (Clark even enhancing violence between criminal. In a September defended Muslims and Slavs,” using the media 22nd, 1988 WW article enti- Radovan “to demonize Yugoslavia, Slavs, tied “Iraq launches genocidal ' Karadzic, the Serbs and Muslims as genocidal Monica notorious murderers,” and “attempting to Bosnian Serb destroy the Sovereignty, right to self Moorehead warlord allied determination, democracy and cul with ture of the Slavic, Muslim, Christian Milosevic, and other people of Yugoslavia.” The against a civil suit Alice in Wonderland quality of the brought against him “war crimes indictment” is further for the atrocities car highlighted by its demand for “the ried out by his abolition of NATO”! forces.) While accusing NATO of No matter how surreal the LAC’s committing war actions sound, there can be little crimes against doubt that they are well-funded, Serbia, neither the since LAC/WWP cadres regularly fly LAC nor the WWP to Europe and the Middle East to criticized Serbia’s attend conferences and political meetings. Through a 501(c) 3 organization called the left-liberals along “Popular Front” lines, the CPUSA care People’s Rights Fund, a wealthy Serbian-American who fully avoided spouting radical dogma even as its sister may even have business connections to Belgrade can parties in Moscow and Havana encouraged Marxist-led freely donate to both the lAC and its related media prop revolutions in the Third World. While the CP extended aganda arm, the Peoples Video Network. Nor are foreign its influence into left-liberal circles, particularly during diplomats terribly shy about being publicly associated the Reagan years, party “hardliners” rested content in the with lAC events. Iraq’s UN Ambassador, Dr. Sa'id knowledge that the more clout the CPUSA had inside Hasan, for example, even spoke at the lAC’s “First the Democratic Party and its allied constituent group Hearing of the Independent Commission of Inquiry to ings, the less likely the Reagan Administration would be Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes Against the People able to generate the political will needed to use military of Yugoslavia,” held in New York City on July 31st, 1999. force against revolutionary regimes and movements One foreign official who will not be attending any LAC throughout the Third World. Needless to say, this “two conferences in the near future, however, is former tier” approach met with Moscow’s full approval. Yugoslav leader Slobodon Milosevic, who is currently on trial for war crimes in the Hague. All that changed with the shift of Soviet foreign policy under Gorbachev. Hardliners were infuriated with Part Two: Gorbachev’s decision to end Russian support to its client The Crisis of the Marxist Left states in Eastern Europe. Many of these regimes were run and the Rise of the WWP by ideological hardliners willing to devote considerable resources to encouraging insurgent Marxist movements Although Ramsey Clark greatly contributed to the in the Third World. Not surprisingly, party bosses in lAC’s credibility with respect to the outside world, the regimes like East Germany (whose hold on power was emergence of the WWP inside the American radical ultimately based on Soviet military might) now became movement essentially stems from resistance inside the Gorbachev’s harshest critics. Gorbachev’s decision to dis U.S. Left to the radical changes in the Soviet Union tance the Soviet Union from Cuba also dealt a serious begun by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev’s blow to Cuban-allied insurgency movements throughout attempts to reform the Soviet system sent a shock wave both Central and Latin America. Since the romanticiza- throughout the American Left not unlike that which had tion of the Cuban Revolution, combined with Cuban followed the partial revelations of Stalin’s crimes in the military aid to the Sandinistas and the deployment of famous 1956 20th Party Congress of the CPSU. Cuban troops to help the government of Angola in its Gorbachev’s new policies bitterly split the American war against Jonas Savimbi’s Union Nacional para a Communist Party (CPUSA), whose aging leadership Independencia Total de v^ngola (UNITA, a brutal South clearly opposed the new turn. The CPUSA crack-up also African-, U.S.-, and Chinese-backed opposition move had a profoundly disorienting effect on many of the ment) had led many American leftists into the Soviet “peace” fronts long associated with the party, as well as on camp in the first place, Gorbachev’s actions against Cuba its fellow travelers inside the “Rainbow Coalition’/Jessie came as a particularly bitter blow. The crisis inside the Jackson wing of the Democratic Party. Soviet-allied Left became even more pronounced after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, when Soviet for Starting in the 1960s (when it played a major role in eign policy began to tilt more towards Washington than organizing anti-Vietnam peace demonstrations), the Moscow’s longtime ally Baghdad. CPUSA managed to establish cooperative relationships with left/liberal groups like the National Commission for In the midst of this larger crisis over Gorbachev and a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE), the War Resisters League, Iraq, the WWP became the first avowedly left sect more the American Friends Service Committee, Women’s or less ideologically allied with Moscow to offer its Strike for Peace, sections of the labor movement and the unconditional support to Saddam Hussein as a victim of peace, civil rights, “social justice” and social gospel groups “U.S. imperialism,” while it attacked Gorbachev as “a associated with the National Council of Churches; all of counterrevolutionary” (if not a CIA agent). Until 1988 whom helped form the base of the “progressive” wing of Sam Marcy, the WWP’s three-decades long undisputed the Democratic Party. When dealing with Democrats and leader and theoretical guru, had taken a relatively benign International Action Center: Peace Activists W ith A Secret A genda? The Search for Socialism Continue 1 view of Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika. By the fall decided to disengage from Eastern Europe. The meeting of 1988, however, Marcy had decided that Gorbachev’s ended with the WWP sending out “messages of solidari decision to embrace both market reforms and political ty” to the Communist Parties of East Germany and accommodation with the West was an unmitigated disas Czechoslovakia, according to a report in the November ter. In a February 10th, 1989 forum on Soviet policy that 9th, 1989 WW. Nor did the WWP shy away from pub included a spokesman from the Communist Party, the licly defending Romania’s Dracula-like dictator Nicholae Soviet UN Mission, the Democratic Socialists of America Ceausescu, whom the WWP worked vigorously (but (DSA), the African National Congress, and the now- with Httle success) to turn from monster to mensch inside defunct Line of March grouping, WWP spokesman the pages of Workers World. Larry Holmes confessed to being “worried by perestroika” The WWP was equally consistent when it came to Asia. and other ideas advanced “to justify policies that seem to The sect even applauded the brutal Chinese repression of be alien to socialism.” On September 29th, 1989, the pro-democracy students and workers at Tiananmen WWP convened an “emergency conference” (entitled “In Square. In the April 12th, 1990 WW, Sara Flounders Defense of SociaUsm”) to unify the party around the new (currently a leader of the “human rights” organization anti-Gorbachev line. A few weeks later, in late October lAC), wrote: “Now the significance of the suppression of 1989, the WWP National Committee met to discuss the right-wing movement in Tiananmen Square” could Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze’s October be seen from a “clearer perspective”; namely, that China 23rd speech to the Supreme Soviet, in which had “smashed the plot of international anti-China forces Shevardnadze announced that the Soviet Union had to subvert the legal government and the socialist system W ORKERS WORLD PARTY FROM KIM IL SUNG'S BIRTHDAY M RTY TO THE RUSSIAN 'RED-BROW N ALLIANCE — ■ ■■ ■■■ and Griswold. The Orwellion absurdity that is the a success story!" She then describes a ":'^ W W P reaches itS' sum m it with the nation where there is "no homeless In A p ril 1992 another U.S. delegaM group's well-known love for that well- ness, no hunger, no poverty." The fact tion led by Marcy that included Sue^ known bastion of human rights and that North Korea is one of the poorest Bailey (a WWP'er who heads the "U.Sa free thought. North Korea. Longtime countries in the world and that North O ut of South Korea Committee"), as' WWP leader Deirdre Griswold cap Korea's population faces the threat of well as delegates from the CPUSA, thes tured the sect's admiration for the famine on a regular basis has some SWP, and the American Democrotics world's last remaining Stalinist state how escaped Griswold's notice. Lawyers Association, again visitedi when she wrote as follows in the April North Korea to attend a "Joint Meetings 20th, 2000 Workers World: "In the Ever since its beginnings as the of Parties, Governments, Notional onds Democratic People's Republic of Global Class War tendency inside the International Organizations" organ-^ Korea — the socialist north of the SWP, Sam Marcy's clique has regular /zed by CILRECO, an organization that divided land — no date is m ore ly singled out North Korea for special "promotes solidarity with the Korean important than April 15, the birthday admiration. The WWP's direct "party p e o p le ." (As the official leader o f the of Kim II Sung. . .this year as Koreans to party" relations with the North, U.S. group, M arcy received the N orth celebrate Kim II Sung's birthday — however, only began to blossom fully Korean equivalent of a papal bless and in the U.S.-occupied south, where after the WWP started attacking Soviet ing.) The Americans, along with dele such actions must be taken in secret leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The gates from 130 other countries, trav because of repressive 'national securi WWP's big break came in May 1990, eled to the North "to attend mass pub ty ' laws — they will also be telling the when the first official WWP delegation lic celebrations of the 80th birthday" world that they are proud of and con headed by Marcy visited North Korea of Kim II Sung, according to a report in fident in their new leader, Kim Jong II "for 12 days in M ay" at the invitation on April 1992 issue of WW by Sue [Kim II Sung's son and heir — KC], of the Central Committee of the Bailey and Key Martin datelined who is following in the socialist foot Workers Party of Korea. While in Pyongyang. steps of Kim II Sung." A frequent visitor Pyongyang, the WWP delegates "had to North Korea, Griswold regularly the great honor of meeting and While in the North for Kim's birthday goes into fits of literary rapture when exchanging views with Kim II Sung." party, the WWP entered into discus relating her experiences in the North. The June 7th, 1990 issue of WW even sions with other hardline Communist Her December 22nd, 1986 WW included a photo op of the WWP del groups, including a Stalin-worshipping report on her visit to Pyongyang (enti egates with their North Korean friends, sect called the Russian Communist tled "A visit to People's Korea where including Kim II Sung, who stood in the Workers Party (RCWP) (Rossiskaia there is housing for all") begins "What center of the photo flanked by Marcy of China.” How did Flounders capitalism into Eastern Europe “has Part Three: Icnow tliis to be true? Because been a tyranny as bad as any terror.” Stealth Trotskyism and the Chinese Premier Li Peng said so in a On September 28-29th, 1991, the Mystery of the WWP March 20th speech to the National WWP held an “emergency confer Peoples Congress in Beijing. ence” in New York “in response to One of the many ironies of the The WWP s pubUc opposition to the Gorbachev-Yeltsin takeover” in LVC/WWP story is that a group Gorbachev made it a potential vehi Russia. According to an article in the now aligned with some of the most cle for hard Left elements then try October 10th, 1991 WW, “over 45 dogmatic elements in what’s left of ing to construct their own line inde comrades” spoke on an open micro the Left is itself most likely run by pendent of Moscow. Left stars like phone at the conference about the secret Trotskyists. Given the hermit famed radical lawyer William “counterrevolutionary” events in like quality of the WWP, it’s hard to Kunstler openly endorsed the WWP Russia and — surprise, surprise — know for sure. Even accurate esti line on Gorbachev in blurbs for Sam “not one of them found cause to mates of the group’s members are Marcy’s April 1990 book oppose the party’s analysis.” One hard to come by. In the 1980s most Perestroika: A Marxist Critique WWP’er even expressed pleasure conventional estimates were that it (essentially a compilation of his arti about the way that China had had somewhere between three and cles written for WW). Spurred on by “stopped in Tiananmen Square” the four hundred followers. Thanks to the favorable response, the WWP “so-called democracy movement,” the L\C in particular, the WWP’s intensified its attack. A September while another praised the former recruiting efforts over the past 8th, 1991 WW editorial even East Germany as “a haven for gay decade have met with some success, claimed that the introduction of liberation”! especially in New York and San Kommunisticheskaia Robochoio fact that any overt alliance with the pseudo-Communist anti-Semitic Partiia, o r RKRP), which em erged from RCWP would be rather difficult for the organization." At the same time that the onfi-Gorbachev, "anti-revisionist" WWP's more naive rank-and-file the RCWP appeals to the far right, it Movement of Communist Initiative in members to stomach, since the RCWP maintains a pro-Stalin analysis of November 1991. On September 3rd, is a textbook exam ple o f a radical "le ft Russia that is almost identical to the 1992, WW ran an article by Viktor fascist" group. one promoted by the WWP According Tyulkin, the group's top leader and the to the RCWP program, for example, Secretary of its Central Committee. The anti-globalization movement "The RCWP completely rejects the The introduction to the article was recently confronted with the prob revisionist, opportunist, traitorous line explained that Tyulkin and Marcy had lem of the RCWP after it was learned that was promoted and adhered to by first met in Pyongyang during the April that two RCWP members were official the CPSU leadership from 1953- festivities for Kim "and [had] discussed ly invited to take part in the recent 1991, which brought about the tem the p o litica l situation in the USSR and Genoa protests by the international porary collapse of the Soviet Union in the U.S." They remained in contact, association ATTAC (the Association for a counter-revolution. The XX Congress and on Marcy's 85th birthday Tyulkin the Taxation of Financial Transactions of the CPSU (1956) was the breaking sent him a "message of solidarity" for the Aid of Citizens, which is best point in the history of our country and from the RCWP that was reprinted in known for supporting the proposed the communist movement." the October 1 7th, 1996 WW. Tyulkin's "Tobin tax" on speculative transac a comrade Victor Anpilov from the tions.) The leftist International Victor Anpilov, a former Soviet jour Executive Committee of Working Solidarity with Workers in Russia nalist who became co-secretary of the Russia also enclosed his own message (ISWoR-SITR-MCPP) group immediate RCWP in 1992 (but who broke with ^ of solidarity. ly alerted other anti-globalization Tyulkin in 1996-1997 over electoral activists that the RCWP was an strategy), also sent his greetings ofsol^ Although the RCWP doesn't receive extremely racist and homophobic party idarity to Marcy on his 85th birthday in much press coverage in WW, it seems whose members worship Stalin, cam 1996. However, if anything Anpilov is clear that the WWP has a sympathetic paign against black people in general even further to the right than Tyulkin. view of its activities. In a January 13th, and rap music in particular, issue After leaving the RCWP, he first entered 2000 WW article on Russian politics, material calling for homosexuals to be into an alliance with the notorious the RCWP was singled out for its lead jailed, and published a party docu Eduard Limonov and his Natsionalno- ership role both in the strike movement ment in 1997 that blamed Russia's Bolshevistskaia Partiia (National as well as inside the "Communist economic crisis on 'American imperi Bolshevik Party). Today, Anpilov is pro Workers of Russia" voting bloc. The alism and international Zionism." The moting a new party, the CPSU Lenin- RCWP "left" is also contrasted favor group also attacked Russian President Stalin that backs Stalin's grandson as ably to Gennadi Zyuganov's far larger Vladimir Putin for being so close to Russia's new leader. KPRF. Workers World's reluctance to . "the Jews that he ignores true Russian devote extensive press coverage to the 'patriots'." According to ISWoR, the T h i r DR a i l M a g i 4 l \ c O M RCWI^ however, may stem from the RCWP could be best described as "a The Search for Soc Francisco. If both actual WWP members and fellow trav Although Ballan (who died in 1992) graduated from elers are counted, the group may now deploy up to a Hunter College with a degree in education, she joined thousand cadres, if not more. the United Paper Workers to spread the Marxist gospel. Following traditional Left “industrial colonization” tac Insofar as the WWP has had difficulty in recruiting, it tics, Marcy and Ballan next moved to Buffalo and began may be due in part to the extremely closed and clannish recruiting workers in industrial plants there into the nature of its leadership. Nowhere is this fact more evident SWP. By the late 1940s, however, the anti-communist then when it comes to discussing the group’s origin. For backlash that would culminate in McCarthyism made some reason the WWP exercises great circumspection their work inside the trade union movement virtually when it comes to acknowledging its origins as a faction impossible. inside the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The WWP’s leaders even obscure their background to their Despite these pohtical setbacks, Marcy and his fellow own members. In the May 6th, 1986 WW, for example, Buffalo SWP comrades (most notably Vince Copeland) the paper began a lengthy four-part series ostensibly ded became increasingly convinced that the world had icated to explaining the WWP’s history. Not once in the entered a new period of revolutionary class struggle, par entire series was it ever mentioned that the WWP first ticularly following the Chinese Revolution. The outbreak emerged out of the Socialist Workers Party or that the of the Korean War in 1950 hastened the emergence of group’s founders had spent over a decade as a faction what was known in the SWP as the Marcy/Copeland inside the SWP. Yet the WWP’s analysis of the Soviet “Global Class War” tendency. The Buffalo-based “global Union strongly suggests that the sect never aban ^ class warriors” called on the SWP to doned the worldview that its founding leaders first downplay its differences with Stalinist acquired while still inside the SWP This issue, how regimes and forge a joint front against ever, remains so sensitive that following the death of “U.S. Imperialism.” Global Class War’s WWP founder Sam Marcy on fundamental point was that the geopo February 1st, 1998, not one WWP litical defense of “really existing social- memorial speech mentioned that ism took priority over the Trotskyist Marcy had ever been in the SWP, argument that put a premium on promoting class strug much less a former member of the gles inside the Soviet bloc against the dominant Stalinist party’s National Committee. The bureaucracy. Marcy and Copeland’s position might be bizarre nature of the WWP’s attempt best described as “semi-entrist” because although they to conceal its origins is only heightened by the fact that very much wanted to court the Stalinist states, they virtually everything written about the group by outside rejected any argument that called on Trotskyists to enter commentators notes its beginnings inside the SWP. One the CPUSA en masse. of the rare academic discussions of the WWP’s history comes in a survey book by Robert Alexander which is What the Global Class War argument meant in practice aptly titled International Trotskyism. became clear during the 1956 Fiungarian Revolution. The SWP majority supported the uprising as a student The mystery of the WWP begins with Sam Marcy, who and worker-led revolt against Stalinist oppression. The dominated the organization from its official inception in Global Class War faction, however, completely disagreed. 1959 until his death at age 86 in 1998. Born in 1911 in A Trotskyist named Fred Mazelis recalled Marcy telling Russia into an extremely poor Jewish family, “Comrade him in 1959 that “the Hungarian workers were hopeless Sam” grew up in Brooklyn. After spending time in the counterrevolutionaries and that we should support the CPUSA’s Young Communist League (YCL), Marcy Stalinists in their crushing of the Hungarian workers joined the SWP in either the late 1930s or 1940s. Trained councils.” According to another former SWP’er named as a lawyer, he served as a legal counsel and organization Tim Wohlforth, “Marcy had decided that the Hungarian al secretary for a local United Paper Workers Union. Revolution was basically a Fascist uprising and that as During this time he met his wife Dorothy Ballan, who defenders of the Soviet Union, Trotskyists had a duty to also came from an immigrant Russian-Jewish family. support Soviet intervention.” The WWP’s 1959 found- T h i r d R a i l M a g COM ing statement (reprinted in a 1959 After breaking with the SWP, the attacked any and all liberalization issue of WW under the heading tiny WWP sought to ally itself with tendencies in Comm^unist Bloc “Proletarian Left Wing of SWP pro-Stalinist and anti-Khrushchev nations and scrambled to be first in SpUts, Calls for Return to Road of elements still inside the CPUSA line to applaud crackdowns on dissi Lenin and Trotsky”) explained that who were angry about v\merican CP dent movements. The April 1959 while it was OK to support demands leader William Foster’s refusal to issue of WW even ran an editorial for “proletarian democracy,” once openly criticize the Khrushchev praising the brutal Chinese suppres the Hungarians began demanding “revisionists.” Around the time that sion of Tibet’s independence move “bourgeois political democracy,” the the WWP was created, a splinter ment. As for the Soviet Union, the correct Trotskyist policy was to sup group called the Provisional WWP regularly attacked the entire port “the final intervention of the Organizing Committee to spectrum of dissident thinkers from Red Army which saved Hungary Reconstitute a Marxist-Leninist Solzhenitsyn to Sakharov. The from the capitalist counterrevolu Party in the United States (POC) - WWP line was that the dissidents tion.” In other words, if 99.9% of better known as the “Vanguard” really reflected broader “rightwing the Hungarian people wanted to group - split from the CPUSA and forces” percolating inside the Soviet overthrow Russian domination and embraced Chinas anti-Khrushchev, CP itself In a February 22nd, 1974 prevent Hungary from being a “anti-revisionist” line. Although the essay, Marcy noted that satrapy of Moscow, introduce a WWP supported the Chinese posi Khrushchev’s “so called democrati democratic parliamentary system, tion, the Vanguard group refused all zation” had “opened up a Pandora’s and adopt an economic system that of its political overtures because they box of bourgeois reaction, not only worked, they were morally wrong; in viewed the WWP as treasonous in the Soviet Union but even more contrast, the Soviet troops who shot “Trotskyites”! Not long thereafter, virulently in Eastern Europe.” The down unarmed Hungarian student the WWP began removing Trotsky’s WWP fully supported the 1968 and worker protesters were morally picture along with any references to Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, right. him in party publications. Now when Russian tanks crushed the thoroughly isolated from the rest of Dubcek Regime and with it “Prague In its founding statement, the the Left, Marcy led his little group Spring.” Needless to say, it also WWP also denounced the SWPs with a strong hand. Tim Wohlforth fiercely opposed the Polish attempts to engage in coalition elec met Marcy in 1959 at an SWP con Sohdarity movement in the 1980s. toral campaigns with a group of for vention held at a New Jersey sum The WWP’s true love throughout mer CP’ers (known as the “Gates mer camp shortly before the Global the 1960s was Maoist China, with faction” after its leader, John Gates) Class War clique broke with the North Korea a close second. The who had broken from the CPUSA SWP. As Wohlforth later recalled in WWP even opposed the signing of after the 20th Soviet Party Congress’ his memoir. The Prophet’s Children, the 1963 U.S.-Soviet Test Ban partial revelations about Stalin’s while at the camp he had come upon Treaty because it would bar China massive crimes. According to WW, a small mass of people “moving like from acquiring nuclear weapons! however, the real “rightwing” trend a swarm of bees” and deeply engaged When the Chinese exploded their inside the Soviet Union actually in conversation. In the middle of the first H-bomb in 1967, WW began after Stalin’s death with the mass “was a little animated man declared it to be “a major victory for rise of Khrushchev! The WWP’s talking nonstop” who had a “high- socialism.” The party was particular founding statement further noted pitched voice” and “spoke in a com ly enthusiastic about China’s disas that while Stalinism “may be theo pletely hysterical manner.” Yet trous “Cultural Revolution,” so retically as wrong as social democra Marcy’s devoted followers seemed much so that as late as the WWP’s cy,” social democrats were “consid “enthralled by his performance. . .It 1986 party conference, Mao’s wife ered friendly to American imperial was my first experience with true Chang Ching (a Cultural ism and the Stalinists are considered political cult followers.” Revolution enthusiast and “Gang of hostile.” Ergo, Stalinism was better Four” leader) was singled out for than social democracy. From its inception, the WWP special praise. International Action Center: Peace Activists W ith A Secret A genda? The Search for A dah's // A.H,S.VI.E.R. AWD T H E "POD PEOPLE The lAC/WWP's new group line on the w^^ U.S.-led rnents^&i the lAC/WWP Outside of like' Max Bohnel, a writer for the As much as the WWP admired China, it despised Israel. WWP cadre Infernafional ANSWER (Act Now to. Stop military actions against "Usamah ibn these fwo articles, in order to find any German Communist paper Neues proudly carried signs in support of al-Fath that read “Israel = Tool of War & End Racism), coordinated the Ladin and other Islamist terrorists is real real commentary on the lAC and WW/? Deutschland. In describing the lAC in a ly part of a U.S. imperialist plot." An lAC Wall Street Rule” and “Hitler-Dayan, Both the Same.” A June 24th, September 29th protests in Washington one has to turn to the left sectarian and June 23rd, 1999 article, he wrote: and San Francisco that drew close to statement on the current crisis begins anarchist press. Perhaps the most 1967 WW editorial following the Six Day War stated that Israel “is not "fiinter dem lAC steht die 'Workers 20,000 participants. p 'As the U.S.-led bombing campaign detailed article dealing with Ramsey World Parly' (WWP), die den hngsamen the state of the Jewish nation,” but a state “that oppresses Jewish work against the people of Afghanistan con Clark, the lAC, and the WWP appeared Zusammenbruch der US-Restlinken ers as well as Arabs.” The fact that Israel was largely created by Socialist There can be little doubt about tinues and civilian casualties mount, the in the Lower East Side New York-anar- bemerkenswert gut uberstanden hat." Zionists and in 1967 was led by Labor Party Premier Golda Meir (a ANSWER'S ties to the WWR ANSWER'S international Action Center condemns chist journal The Shadow a few years ["Behind the lAC stands the Workers woman - something unthinkable in the Arab world), whose political September 23rd press release, for in the strongest terms this latest terror ago, in an article by Manny Goldstein World Parly, which has withstood the base was the Social Democratic Israeli trade union movement, did not example, listed as "press contacts" I bombing of a civilian population." O f entitled "The Mysterious Ramsey Clark: gradual collapse of the remaining US matter. Nor did it matter that every Arab state that opposed Israel had Richard Becker and Sarah Sloan. A I I course, only the most hardened leftist Stalinist Dupe or Ruling-Class left remarkably well."] Neues director o f the West Coast lAC, Becker systematically crushed all independent labor unions or that “progressive” I ideologue (or Muslim extremist) could Spook?"(to which one is tempted to add Deutschland then points out that both was one of the WWP leaders chosen to . Arab governments like Jamal 'Abd al-Nasr s Egypt had a long record of believe that the U.S. attack in "o r Flat-O ut Kook"). This article has Ramsey Clark and the WWP have even give a presentation honoring the mem- I [ Afghanistan is a "terror bombing" cam employing Nazis both to train its military and security forces and to recently been widely circulated on the come under criticism from other leftists ory of the WWP's founder, Sam Marcy: paign that is intentionally directed at Internet. Self-described "council com because of their lack of criticism spread anti-Semitic hate propaganda throughout the Middle East. As the As for Sarah Sloan, "Youth Coordinator : Afghanistan's "civilian population" and munist" Lefty fiooligan has also ["wegen mangelnder Kritik"] for the WW editorial explained, “The fact that many of the Arab states are still for ANSWER," she is also the "YouthJ not at the Taliban. The lAC statement exposed the WWP/IAC in the punk rock governments of Iraq and Yugoslavia. ruled by conservative or even reactionary regimes does not materially Coordinator" for the I AC. Wearing her then calls for opposition to "this imperi publication Maximum RocknRoll. In his affect this position” of support, because the Arabs “are struggling against WWP hat, Sloan gave a presentation on i alist w a r" and concocts a conspiracy February 1998 MRR column, for exam Even activists on the libertarian/isola imperialism, which is the main enemy of human progress,” whereas the evils of capitalism at a WWP confer theory blaming the "US. military-oil ple, Hooligan commented on longtime tionist right like Justin Raimondo o f anti Israel “is on the side of the oppressors.” This same editorial went on to ence held at New York's Fashion complex" for using the 9/11 attack as W W P honcho G loria LaRiva, whose war, com have noticed the heavy hand assert that “When the bosses on a world scale - i.e., the imperialists - go Institute o f Technology on December "a cynical opportunity" to beat its "rivals "handcuffs-and-nightstick Leftism is also of the WWP In a July 2nd, 2001 col 2nd and 3rd, 2000. Teresa Gutierrez, umn, Raimondo pointed out that to war with the oppressed colonial and semi-colonial nations, it makes in Germ any and Russia, for the oil evident in her unapologetic support for another ANSWER leader, a speaker at I resources of the former Soviet Union," Ramsey Clark "is nothing if not a walk little difference who fires the first shot, as far as the rights and wrongs of Saddam hiussein's brutality." (This is the the September 29th Washington demo thereby ignoring the obvious fact that same Gloria LaRiva who, according to a ing stereotype, ever since he joined up the matter are concerned. . .Naturally, the imperialists were the original and the "Co-Director, lAC," is further both Germ any and Russia completely report in the August 9th, 1990 Workers with the Workers World Parly cult that aggressors in every case.” Some two decades later, the WWP would use described in an ANSWER press release support U.S. actions against Islamist ter World, told a San Francisco audience runs his 'International Action Center'." virtually identical arguments to justify supporting Saddam Hussein. The as the "co-chairperson of the National rorist fanatics. that "Cuba is far more democratic than Raimondo then continues: "The WWP WWP’s remarkable capacity for Orwellian “double think” was by no Committee to Return Elian Gonzalez to the U.S.") Flooligan's remarks, however, pod people, having taken over the body means limited to the issue of the Soviet Union or Israel. Take gay liber Cuba, and [as] a coordinator of the Given the sheer crudeness of the WWP did not prevent MRR from later running o f an ex-U.S. Attorney General, use ation, for example. Starting in the early 1970s the WWP actively recruit International Peace for Cuba Appeal." and.its allied organizations, one would a virtual press release from the lAC Clark as a front to push their own zeal ed many gay and lesbian followers, since paradoxically enough the group Unmentioned in the press release is the have thought that the "capitalist imperi- attacking American perfidy in its mis ous defense of virtually every tyrant on fact that Gutierrez is also a long-stand ' alist" press would play a key role in had a fairly advanced position on this issue. The sect’s recruitment suc named "News" section. The WWP/IAC earth, from Saddam ffussein to the ing WWP leader who, in her March ; exposing the WWP's central role in both 'anti-imperialist' militias of Rwanda, to cesses in this area came about in part because most of the other ultra-left connection has also been repeatedly 14th, 1998 speech at a WWP memori " the lAC and ANSWER. Yet nothing Slobodan Milosevic." After describing groups competing with the WWP were orthodox Maoists who endorsed exposed by the WWP's rivals in the al to Sam Marcy held in New York, could be further from the truth. Indeed, fringe Trotskyist movement, most notably Clark as "positively spooky," Raimondo the Stalinist/Maoist line that homosexuality was a sexual perversion gushed, 'As a lesbian, as a Latina, as a i /^SW ER itself reprints reports from both in the Spartacist League paper Workers notes that the lAC "not only defends caused by decadent capitalism that would be swiftly cured come the rev woman and as a worker, I feel com : Reuters and the Washington Post about Vanguard, which in its September 28th, tyrants against US intervention — it glo olution. Yet even though WWP cadres frequently promoted themselves pelled today to express my utmost grati the Washington protests that treat both 2001 issue casually refers to the rifies them as heroic fighters for 'social- as gay or lesbian, the WWP refused to criticize the notoriously repressive tude to this man [Marcy]." Yet another I the lAC and ANSWER as if they were "Stalinoid Workers World Parly" as well practices directed against homosexuals in China, North Korea, and ANWER statement came from one Brian { perfectly legitimate groups.- C SPAN _ as the "WWP's International Action O f course it should be pointed out that Cuba, much less in Serbia or Iraq. Becker (not to be confused with Richard ^ even covered the September 29th Center" without further elaboration, Becker), a "Co-Director of the the WWP's radical critics themselves Washington demonstration in its entire presumably since the WWP's role in the often promote views that are almost as International Action Center," nationah ty. Until now, virtually nothing has been I AC is already so 'well known to fringe Perhaps the ultimate absurdity of the WWP, however, is that the stealth wacky as those of the WWP coordinator of the January 20th, 2001 written about the lAC/WWf^ even in the leftists. The April-M ay 1999 issue o f The Trotskyism of its leadership actually saved the sect from collapse in the Nonetheless, up until now it has prima "Counter-Inaugural Protest" in upscale left/liberal press — with two Internationalist (from yet another late 1970s. In the 1960s the WWP, primarily through two key front rily been voices from the fringe Left that Washington, D.C., and "a frequent notable exceptions. The first was John Trotskyist splinter group) devotes an groups, Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWP) and the American commentator on Fox TV" In the WWP have pointed out the ties belween the Judis' article on Ramsey Clark for the entire page to attacking the WWP and lAC and WWf^ ties that are utterly trans Servicemen’s Union (ASU), managed to recruit a fair amount of new paper Workers World, Brian Becker is ■April 22th, 1991 issue o f the N ew "its creation the International Action parent to anyone with even the slightest members who were drawn to the group less by its theories than by the identified as a member of the WWP's Republic._ M ore recently. The Nation Center" for serving as a "leftist front for Secretariat. knowledge of the Left, but which appear extreme militancy of its street actions. Indeed, YAWF’s one notable con magazine's UN correspondent, Ian reactionary Serbian nationalist politics." to be utterly opaque to big "capitalist" tribution to the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was that it was Williams, wrote a June 21st, 1999 arti The V/WP's presence inside the lAC is The WWP/IAC/ANSWER network is media outlets like Reuters, the cle for Salon entitled "Ramsey Clark, the equally transparent to European leftists now pushing its own paranoid Marxofd T h i r d R a i l M a g g f t c o M war criminal's best friend," which com- Washington Post, and CNN. The Search for Socialism Continu the only group which supported the the WWP’s stealth Trotskyism, how that dissimilar to Trotsky’s attack on Weatherman at the disastrous SDS ever, the group managed to escape Bukharin - not Stalin - in books convention in Chicago in the sum political oblivion by reorienting like The Revolution Betrayed as the mer of 1969. YAWF also participat itself away from China and toward main threat to socialism in the ed in the Weatherman-organized the Soviet Bloc with relative ease. Soviet Union in the 1930s. “Days of Rage” protest that same autumn. With the end of the The WWP’s great advantage in the The WWP’s brand of covert Vietnam War, however, the entire post-1977 period was that through Trotskyism would prove crucial to 7\merican Left began to suffer an out its entire history it only con its future growth. In the late 1970s, enormous downturn, and the WWP cealed - but never abandoned - its its ideology allowed the sect to was no exception to the rule. The basic Trotskyist ideology. Orthodox attach itself like a pilot fish to Soviet cadre-based Left was further weak Maoism, it should be recalled, main and Cuban-allied organizations and ened by the rise of new social move tained that with the death of Stalin avoid political annihilation either ments like women’s liberation, gay the Soviet Union had ceased to be from the atrophy of its membership liberation, and the anti-nuclear and socialist state. Maoists even went so or from a devastating political ecology movements, all of which far as to claim that, thanks to schism. The WWP’s switch from operated organizationally and ideo “Khrushchevite revisionism,” the Mao’s China to Brezhnev’s Russia logically outside the traditional USSR had been transformed into “a was so remarkable that in 1984 the framework of orthodox Marxism, social-imperialist state” not unlike sect, which not long before was much less that of authoritarian Tsarist Russia. The WWP, however, singing the praises of the Gang of Marxist-Leninist sects. completely rejected this view even Four, now publicly endorsed Jesse while it was busily glorifying ultra- Jackson for President! Finally, when Faced with the challenge of wide Maoist groups like China’s “Gang of the CPUSA itself split into pieces in spread de-radicalization, as well as Four” for their revolutionary zeal. In the late 1980s, the WWP was in a the growth of new social move a May 1976 WW article, for exam position to exploit the new situation ments, the WWP (like many other ple, Marcy reasserted the Trotskyist for maximum political profit. Marxist sects) took an “industrial position (naturally without identify turn” and ordered its followers back ing it as such) against the standard C o n c lu s io n into the labor movement. The Maoist argument. More specifically, WWP even created the Centers for he rejected the idea “that there is a Given the WWP’s worldview, the United Labor Action (CULA) to new exploiting class in the Soviet notion that a group as closely linked help coordinate these efforts. Yet Union,” and that there had been a to the WWP as the International ironically, what ultimately gave the “return to the bourgeoisie to power Action Center could ever be taken WWP a second lease on life was the there.” The reality was that the seriously, either as a “human rights” death of Mao and the subsequent USSR still remained “a workers’ or “peace” organization, seems com ideological crisis inside post-Mao state” whose “underlying social sys ical as well as grotesque. The all too China that finally resulted in the tem. , .is infinitely superior to that “resistible rise” of the L\C/ WWP, defeat of the “Gang of Four.” The of the most developed, the most however, only makes sense when it is WWP’s competitors in orthodox ‘glorious’ and the most ‘democratic’ viewed in the context of the broader Maoist grouplets like the October of the imperialist states.” At the collapse of Soviet-style Marxism and League rapidly ran out of ideological same time (again following Trotsky) all of its ideological variants. Left to steam as the new post-Mao Chinese he admitted that Russia had under its own devices, the WWP would leadership moved even closer to the gone “a severe strain, deterioration, have remained on the political mar United States. After China began and erosion of revolutionary princi gin as a quirky Left sect whose aiding American and South African- ples, and [was] moreover headed by weirdly messianic ideology com backed movements like UNITA, a privileged and absolutist bureau bined the worst aspects of and Chinese troops tried to invade cracy.” Marcy’s later rejection of Trotskyism, Maoism, and Stalinism Vietnam, orthodox Maoism became Gorbachev as a “capitalist restora- into a unique and utterly foul brew. even harder to rationalize. Thanks to tionist” in the late 1980s was not all That a bizarre outfit like the WWP T HIRDRAILMAG COM could become a serious player in America’s enemies are “objectively” on the Left, however, makes such a American left-wing radicalism in the progressive and therefore worth development highly unlikely. At the year 2001 is above all a testament to defending. If this were not the case, very least, however, the rational ele the existing ideological, intellectual, the LAC never could or would have ments within the Left should be and moral bankruptcy of the broad emerged as a serious force. willing to critically examine the pro- er Left, which still insists on living in pagandistic claims emanating from a a decrepit fantasy world where crim There is no reason, at least in the variety of self-styled “human rights” inals are good, the police are evil, ory, why a new movement from the and “anti-war” groups that are as blacks are noble, whites are all racist, Left could not both support a U.S.- politically compromised and moral heterosexual men are sexist, all led war against Islamist fanatics and ly dubious as the lA C , ANSWER, women are victims, Israel is always fight to preserve civil liberties and and the WWP. While the ftiture role 1 0 0 % wrong, the Palestinians are social justice, both at home and of the Left after 9/11 may not be always 100% right, America is abroad. The entrenched knee-jerk clear, surely that much ought to be ’’objectively” reactionary, and anti-American mindset of so many obvious. International Action Center: Peace Activists With A Secret Agenda? I Am th e people, th e Lar' oandDuroi 1 AM tke peoi-ie- -The moh- -the c-rowd ihe m )mei irnes I a rc .\ ‘\ lyQ you KDOvv I h si Sr The orssf vvc:'k ot the \v a c n e throLiah rrfe: I I dm The worKmgrr^sn, The mveriTor, The ma 'her, i, th world > tocci and ciofhes. I dm the sudier'iC-e jtial' '.v!i-ne. „)e:i.- hiSiory. -.The come trom me and The Linnc'nS. ! hey die. And "oeT vvhQ rGDoed me fh e h I oend iorTh more Nsncieont- and L m eans -they} .fhei-e i-dm th e .seed around: Tdm;-a nr dtrie thai vvi, 7o r much piow m a. ^ em bie 5torm 5 pd-:-5 o v e r me. i\/ 'the, nam e. I io rq e f. . The .^e^-l o i me i5 quaked o u f and wa: I fo rq e i; TvBr^/lhirn bui Deaih c ome:: To me ana leer in h-:y voice or make6 me work and qive up wHaf I have. n n d I io r q e i. he m o b th e crOvvd ' the -D- T h ir d R a il Ma g 4 7 c o m I WANT TO SUCK Y O U R B I G , HAIRY F i c n c k K ^ , v ' i - -, i f l 1 r L L.:.;::' C V ^ SNAIL MAIL; E-m a i l : D r o p O f f I n P e r s o n : Third Rail Magazine e d i t o r s @T h i r d R a i l M a g . c o m R o o m 2 3 1 in t h e C a m p u s C e n t e r C/0 The College of Statcn Island OR IN OUR MAILBOX LOCATED IN 2800 Victory Blvd, 1C-207 On The W eb: R o o m l C - 2 0 7 ( s t u d e n t STATEN Island, NY 10314 w w w .T h i r d R a i l M a g . c o m G o v e r n m e n t O f f i c e ) T h i r d R a i l M a g C m c o