Workers Need Bailout Plan by Jaimeson Champion Why Workers World Is Endorsing Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

12 MUNDO OBRERO ¿Qué pasó en Colombia? JULY 24, 2008 VOL. 50, NO. 29 50¢ Fed payouts to mortgage banks are a crime Workers need bailout plan By Jaimeson Champion Why Workers World is endorsing Desperate times call for desperate measures. The capi- INDYMAC: More gov´t talist class and its state are getting increasingly desper- handouts to the rich 5 ate as they attempt to stave off a global collapse of the financial system. MUMIA ABu-JAMAL Cynthia McKinney On July 13 the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Federal Reserve unveiled a hastily devised plan aimed on the foreclosure crisis 3 for president at rescuing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage lending behemoths, from the brink of bankruptcy. financial institution. Roosevelt’s aim was to resuscitate Workers World newspaper in Combined, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or the ailing Depression-era housing market by having the the past has supported the can- insure half of the more than $12 trillion mortgage debt government back low-cost, fixed-rate mortgage loans. didates of Workers World Party in the U.S. Bonds issued by Fannie and Freddie are held Fannie operated in this form until 1968. running for national office in the in massive quantities by governments and institutional That year, President Lyndon Johnson, who was grow- U.S. presidential elections and investors around the globe. ing increasingly worried about the escalating costs of who have put forward a revolu- The bailout plan is essentially a promise by the capital- the Vietnam War, pushed to have Fannie taken off the tionary socialist program. This ist state to help finance Fannie and Freddie for the fore- federal books. Johnson didn’t like having to devote part time we are taking the unusual seeable future. of the budget to mortgages for working families; instead step of endorsing the candidacy Officials from the Treasury and the Fed have been in he preferred to spend it on imperialist war in Southeast of Cynthia McKinney because WW PHOTO: JOHN CATALINOTTO constant contact with Wall Street in recent days in pan- Asia. From that point forward, Fannie became a quasi- these are unique times and this is a unique candidate. icked attempts to persuade investors to stop dumping private institution known as a Government Sponsored McKinney, a courageous Black woman and former Fannie and Freddie stock and to continue purchasing Entity. U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, has become one of bonds issued by the once-hallowed financial institutions. GSEs are shareholder-owned companies, but they the most militant leaders and voices for the U.S. left, pro- The story of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac begins back have the expressed backing of the capitalist government. gressive and Black movements. in the Great Depression. In 1938 President Franklin GSEs are owned and operated like private companies Because of her militancy in the struggle against the Roosevelt initiated the creation of Fannie Mae as a public Continued on page 5 Continued on page 10 `LONGEST WALK 2´. Clean up mother earth . RACISM & U.S. ELECTIONS Barack, Michelle Obama under attack New Yorker graphic an outrage 8 Subscribe to Workers World Four weeks trial: $1 One year: $25 PHOTO: LAURA AYERS Two thousand people joined the Longest Walk 2 in Washington, D.C., on July 11. See page 4. NAME PHONE EMAIL U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST SUDAN ADDRESS IRAN Politicized charges an act of war 9 CITY/STATE/ZIP AFGHANISTAN WORKERS WORLD WW IN 1978 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 www.workers.org GI resistance 6-7 Beat back Bakke! 2 Page 2 July 24, 2008 www.workers.org Historic advance in struggle against racism H In the U.S. 35,000 march to ‘Beat back Bakke!’ Workers need bailout plan . 1 WW in 1978: ‘Beat back Bakke!’ . 2 Workers World is in its 50th year of publication. spontaneous chants of the demonstrators that they knew Legal update on Mumia Abu-Jamal . 3 We reprint this article from the April 21, 1978, issue their protest marked a significant advance in the strug- Mumia on foreclosures . 3 of the paper as part of our special archival series. gle against racism. “We say no to racism, we say no to sexism, Actions challenge criminal injustice system . 3 By Jaime Veve we say no to Bakke, we say no to Carter!” With Lucasville prisoner speaks on police roundup . 3 WASHINGTON, D.C., April 15—In one of the these words Jimmy Garrett, co-chairperson of the 'Longest Walk 2' demands Native rights . 4 most militant and massive demonstrations held Washington, D.C., NCOBD, greeted the marchers as WW Pilots protest DHL's job cuts . 4 anywhere in the United States since the civil rights they gathered at the steps of the Capitol where the Reproductive rights under further attack . 4 struggle of the 1960s, over 35,000 people, the major- in1978 final rally was held. Failing banks line up for gov’t handouts . 5 ity Black, Asian and Latin youth, came to Washington, Hilda Mason of the Washington, D.C., City Council D.C., today to voice their total opposition to the racist opened up the rally by voicing the feelings of everyone Army court-martials resister for blowing whistle . 6 Bakke case now pending before the Nixon-packed U.S. present at today’s historic march. “Today we are march- Behind the attacks on Michelle Obama . 8 Supreme Court. ing, we are marching for justice. We are marching to stop Is it ‘satire’ or racism? . 8 Chanting “We won’t go back, send Bakke back,” the the oppression against minorities, against the denied, New Yorkers protest racist magazine cover . 8 angry voices of thousands of youth from the oppressed against the have-nots.” Confronting the corporate media . 10 com munities demanding the overturn of the notorious Bill Simons, president of the Washington Teachers Bakke decision, an end to racism and upholding of affirma- Union and secretary of the Coalition of Black Trade H Around the world tive action programs were undoubtedly heard in the hal- Unionists, denounced the Bakke decision as a racist Afghan resistance grows in response to U .S . war crimes 6 lowed halls of the Supreme Court and the White House. offensive against affirmative action. He added, “We will Canadian government deports U .S . war resister . 6 Three hours before the march was to begin, people continue to march until we get what we were promised— U .S . and Israel prepare for attack on Iran . 7 were already arriving at the assembly site, reflecting the equality and justice for all.” Czechs protest Rice visit over radar base treaty . 7 tremendous response among the oppressed youth to this Antonio Rodriguez of CASA-General Brotherhood demonstration against racism, called by the National of Workers, a Mexican workers’ organization based in UN court indicts Sudan leader . 9 Committee to Overturn the Bakke Decision. Buses and car- California, said, “There is no greater proof that the peo- International assaults on Zimbabwe foiled . 9 loads of demonstrators began arriving from places as dis- ple make history, make social change, than today here in Cynthia McKinney speaks on ‘free trade’ in Mexico . 11 tant as Detroit, Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, North Carolina, Washington, D.C. We say that affirmative action, we say Two Haitian militants killed in mob attack . 11 Philadelphia, Baltimore, Rochester and Newark. that special admission programs are the only concrete Youth defy U .S . blockade of Cuba . 11 Over 100 buses came from New York City, including 35 ways toward those goals when they talk about equality in from the various campuses of the City University of New the abstract.” H Editorials York. In no time, the Ellipse became a sea of people hold- Other speakers at the rally were Grantland Johnson Cynthia McKinney for president . 1 ing up hundreds of bright yellow banners and flags made from the NCOBD, Aimee Cruz of KDP, Digna Sanchez H Noticias En Español by the NCOBD with slogans that proclaimed “Say no to of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Betsy Gimbel of ¿Qué pasó en Colombia? . 12 racism, overturn the Bakke decision,” “Bakke—apartheid Disabled in Action, Reverend Bob Pruitt, Joe Malloy, in jobs, housing, and education,” “Fight for education, a coal miner and member of the United Mine Workers overturn Bakke,” and “If Bakke wins, we all lose.” Union, and Claudette Furlonge of the Women’s Focus of At the assembly point, the crowd enthusiastically the NCOBD. waved their flags in the air as Dennis Serrette, chairman ‘A Turning Point in the Struggle’ Workers World of the New York NCOBD, and Belinda Lightfoot, co-coor- 55 West 17 Street Larry Holmes, New York City mobilizer of the NCOBD, dinator of the Washington NCOBD, chaired the first rally, New York, N.Y. 10011 received a tremendous cheer as he opened his remarks with which heard from a number of individuals active in the Phone: (212) 627-2994 the chant “Down with Bakke, up with Soweto.” He then struggle against racism and the Bakke decision. Some of Fax: (212) 675-7869 went on to express the sentiments of all those parti ci pating the speakers represented were Alice Jennings, co-chair- E-mail: [email protected] in today’s demonstration when he said, “Today we have a woman of the Detroit NCOBD; Arthur Kinoy, progressive Web: www.workers.org constitutional lawyer; Frank Schaefer-Corona, a mem- meeting of organizers, a meeting of anti-racist activists. We ber of the Washington, D.C., School Board; Odette King have to be about continuing the struggle. Our presence Vol.

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