Huelga nacional en Guatemala 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 57, No. 36 Sept. 10, 2015 $1 Martyred Emmett Till and his ­mother, Mamie Till Mobley. Read page 10 editorial. Charleston, South Carolina Unions step forward to battle racism

By Workers World Bureau The march will also support an action program, in- South and the U.S. has grown to more than 90 — includ- Charleston, S.C. cluding an end to police brutality, a $15-an-hour mini- ing unions, Black Lives Matter chapters, churches, civil mum wage and collective bargaining rights for all work- rights groups and social organizations. Organizers re- A large demonstration and strategy conference that ers, expanded voting rights, Medicaid expansion and port that a large turnout is expected from across South is being called the “Days of Grace” is expected to take quality education. The program is largely based around Carolina, and delegations are being planned from states place in Charleston, S.C., on Sept. 5 and 6. the issues that were advocated for by the Rev. Clemen- throughout the region. The gathering will honor the nine parishioners from ta Pinckney, the church minister and state senator who ILA locals from all over the East Coast and the Inter- the Mother Emanuel AME Church who were murdered was one of those killed at Emanuel. national Longshore and Warehouse Union on the West by a white supremacist last June 17, as well as Walter In just over a month since the call to action was issued Coast are mobilizing their members to participate in the Scott, a Black man who was killed by police in North by the International Longshoremen’s Association Local weekend’s activities. The work to build the demonstra- Charleston on April 4. 1422, the list of endorsing organizations from across the Continued on page 6

Michigan in struggle 3 ● People’s Assembly ‘I am a woman! ● Release Rev. Pinkney I am Ayotzinapa!’ ● Let there be light

Behind NLRB franchise rule 4

BLACK LIVES MATTER

● Pride at Work solidarity 5

● Samuel Harrell 5

● Transwomen 6

PHOTO: CLAUDIA PALACIOS #KATRINA10 Angelica Lara from the Ayotzinapa Student Front was one of many women fighters bigotry cut deep 6 who spoke at an Aug. 26 Women’s Equal- ity Day rally in Union Square Park in New York City in front of hundreds of onlookers. Lara spoke on the missing 43 students re- pressed in Ayotzinapa, Mexico. Page 7.

WW PHOTO (RIGHT): BRENDA RYAN

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4 weeks trial $4 1 year subscription $30 Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program: workers.org/articles/donate/supporters_/ Behind Guatemala crisis 8 Name______FARC on Venezuela-Colombia 9 Email ______Phone ______

Street______City / State / Zip ______End blockade of Cuba 9 Workers World 212.627.2994 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl, NY, NY 10011 workers.org Iran nuclear treaty 11 Page 2 Sept. 10, 2015 workers.org A letter: On the Colombia-Venezuela border conflict

There have been reports in the U.S. corporate media ternational war against them ... and they remained anti-­ about the conflict on the border area between Colombia imperialist, which was their sin in the capitalist world.  In the U.S. and Venezuela that distort the events there and omit the Colombia ran drugs through Venezuela but the Ven- history of this conflict as well as the disruptive and sub- ezuelans resisted — [Colombia] positioned paramilitary Unions step forward to battle racism ...... 1 versive role of U.S. imperialism in the region. The follow- forces (actually the same as military) and [Venezuela] People’s Assembly links rising racism to economic crisis . 3 ing is a letter to Workers World from someone who lived still resisted. But the time had come to clean the border Protest demands ­release of Rev. Pi­ nkney ...... 3 in Colombia for many years that clarifies much of this. up. That does not mean deporting all the Colombians on Months of protest bring light to a Detroit neighborhood . .3 Aug. 26 - The Colombian­-Venezuelan border is a spe- the border as the international press is saying. cial place with its own characteristics: the meeting of two The Colombians living in Venezuela want [the Venezu- Rising struggle lifts pay, rights ...... 4 countries, one with a left­wing Bolivarian government elan government] to get rid of the mess from Colombia. Victory for Houston activist at immigration hearing . . . 4 and the other with a neoliberal right­-wing government. People on the Venezuelan side have no food because of Workers demand safety at 7-Eleven ...... 4 Colombia has had years of war, massacres, over 5 mil- the contraband. The shops won’t sell goods and food to Pride at Work supports Black Lives Matter ...... 5 lion displaced people, political repression, military and the people in Venezuela because they can sell it to [Co- paramilitary attacks on the communities and of course, lombian smugglers] who take it across the border and sell Black prisoners lives matter — Justice for Samuel Harrell! 5 immense poverty ... probably over 60 percent of the pop- it for a lot more. Katrina+10: Natural disaster or forced removals? . . . . . 6 ulation [are poor]. [Colombian smugglers] crossed the border and bought Cleveland activists say Black Trans Lives matter . . . . . 6 On the other hand, Venezuela with Chávez proclaimed the gasoline to take back to Colombia — there was none Women’s Equality Day speak-out on today’s struggles . . 7 a socialist Bolivarian revolution and has been trying to left for the people in Venezuela. [Colombian] paramil- replace what had been a disaster for the people for many itaries intimidated the communities charging people Days of Action against the Blockade of Cuba ...... 9 years by building universities, schools, subsidized mar- taxes just to breathe, taking their businesses and hous- End the siege of Gaza! ...... 10 kets, control of the natural resources and rejecting U.S. es, taking their daughters, prostituting those who could Boston demonstrators demand peace for Syria . . . . . 11 military and political intervention. not escape and running drugs and contraband and at the Unfortunately, Colombia has welcomed all that the same time plotting for the overthrow of the Bolivarian  Around the world U.S. offers: seven military bases, one becoming the new Revolution. School of the Americas, others preparing for the invasion When Venezuelan soldiers were shot by Colombian A letter on the Colombia-Venezuela border conflict . . . 2 of other Latin American and Caribbean countries, and paramilitaries in early August, Maduro said, “No more!” ’Mass movement must depose President Pérez Molina’ . 8 still others devoted to massive information collection. Venezuela doesn’t need the Colombian problems of vio- Colombia and Venezuela — Two brotherly peoples . . . 9 The elites’ pockets get fatter and fatter. The free trade lence and war across their borders. agreements signed in 2012 reinforced U.S. companies’ I am just surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Today on Brazilian autoworkers strike back against layoffs . . . . 9 dominance in mining, oil, coal, flowers, bananas, etc. the news I saw people smiling and their hands full of gro- Imperialism behind mass migration deaths ...... 10 What does all this have to do with the border? ceries because they could go and now buy food at govern- Why U.S. ruling class wants an Iran deal ...... 11 Throughout the times of Chávez in Venezuela, Colom- ment controlled prices. Who knows if they were Venezu- bia had created a fleeing population with its war on the elans or Colombians?  Editorial people and many fled right into Venezuela. Thousands The people of Latin America are awakening and resist- of Colombians crossed the border illegally, setting up ing. Just because Colombia has a U.S. backed, right-wing Why Emmett Till’s life still matters ...... 10 makeshift houses on the other side from the Guajira to government doesn’t mean that the people are happy. Arauca. Most people were honest folks running for their There are many Colombians who are Bolivarians, many  Noticias en Español lives. They were welcomed in Venezuela, legalized, given peasant, student and popular movements. There has to ¡¡Pérez Molina no quiere renunciar — tenemos que sacarlo land, health care, schools, etc. be because there are around 9,000 political prisoners in con un paro nacional!! ...... 12 As this was happening, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the Co- the jails of Colombia. The repression and killings contin- lombian president for eight years (2002­-2010), blasted ue to target these movements. continuous threats of invasion of Venezuela. The strong The Colombian people are lucky to have Ecuador and Colombian press and the international press supported its Citizens Revolution and Venezuela and its Bolivarian Workers World him. Of course, the U.S. was using Colombia as a pawn Revolution on each side. They will always be a support to 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. to move on and try to destroy the Bolivarian Revolution the Colombian people. New York, N.Y. 10011 of Venezuela. But Venezuela stood firm and faced the in- — Alice Loaiza Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.workers.org Vol. 57, No. 36 • Sept. 10, 2015 Closing date: Sept. 1, 2015 Editor: Deirdre Griswold Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Who we are & what we’re fighting for Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead; Web Editor Gary Wilson Production & Design Editors: Coordinator Lal Roohk; ­degrading people because of their nationality, sexual or Hate capitalism? Workers World Party fights for a Andy Katz, Cheryl LaBash ­socialist society — where the wealth is socially owned gender identity or disabilities — all are tools the ruling and production is planned to satisfy human need. This class uses to keep us apart. They ruthlessly super-ex- Copyediting and Proofreading: Sue Davis, Keith Fine, Bob McCubbin outmoded capitalist system is dragging down workers’ ploit some in order to better exploit us all. WWP builds living standards while throwing millions out of their unity among all workers while supporting the right Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, jobs. If you’re young, you know they’re stealing your of self-determination. Fighting oppression is a work- Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel, K. Durkin, Fred Goldstein, future. And capitalism is threatening the entire planet ing-class issue, which is confirmed by the many labor Martha Grevatt, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, with its unplanned, profit-driven stranglehold over the struggles led today by people of color, immigrants and Berta Joubert-Ceci, Terri Kay, Cheryl LaBash, Milt Neidenberg, John Parker, Bryan G. Pfeifer, means of production. women. Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac Workers built it all — it belongs to society, not to a WWP has a long history of militant opposition to im- handful of billionaires! But we need a revolution to perialist wars. The billionaire rulers are bent on turning Mundo Obero: Redactora Berta Joubert-Ceci; make that change. That’s why for 56 years WWP has back the clock to the bad old days before socialist revolu- Ramiro Fúnez, Teresa Gutierrez, Donna Lazarus, been building a revolutionary party of the working tions and national liberation struggles liberated territory Carlos Vargas class inside the belly of the beast. from their grip. We’ve been in the streets to oppose every Supporter Program: Coordinator Sue Davis We fight every kind of oppression. Racism, sexism, one of imperialism’s wars and aggressions. Copyright © 2014 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium Contact a Workers World Party branch near you: workers.org/wwp without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly National Office Bay Area Cleveland Houston Pittsburgh except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl. 1305 Franklin St. #411 P.O. Box 5963 P.O. Box 3454 [email protected] 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10011. Phone: New York, NY 10011 Oakland, CA 94612 Cleveland, OH 44101 Houston, TX 77253-3454 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $30; institu- 510.600.5800 216.738.0320 713.503.2633 Rochester, N.Y. 212.627.2994 tions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 585.436.6458 edited. 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By Abayomi Azikiwe atorium NOW! Coalition; Diane Bukow- justice for victims and families of police tested the hard-won right of community Editor, Pan-African News Wire ski, editor of Voice of Detroit; Valerie violence; and the defense of residents organizations to hold political meetings Detroit Jean, a water and environmental rights facing eviction by the banks and Fannie and demonstrations on the streets in community activist; Martha Grevatt of Mae. downtown Detroit. In 2014, the bankers A People’s Assembly and Speakout the United Auto Workers; Cynthia John- Moratorium NOW! Coalition organiz- and corporate heads tried to ban such were held on Aug. 29 in downtown De- son, AM 1440 radio host and leader of ers encouraged people to attend their 7 activities, prompting a legal and politi- troit at Grand Circus Park. The event was the Community Light Walk; Maureen p.m. Monday night meetings at 5920 Sec- cal struggle to guarantee free speech and called by the Moratorium NOW! Coali- Taylor, co-chair of the Michigan Welfare ond Ave. in Midtown. assembly in the financial district and its tion and endorsed by other community Rights Organization; Meeko Williams This People’s Assembly once again environs. organizations. of the Detroit Water Brigade; Stephen While the event lasted over three Boyle, a videographer and environmen- hours, so many people requested to tal activist; Helen Moore of Keep the speak that some were not able to state Vote, No Takeover; and Erik Shelly of their views. Organizers apologized due to Michigan United and Black Lives Mat- the constraints of time. ter. Protest demands release­ Speakers at the assembly included Rebeykah Larson, who co-chaired the Action proposals adopted gathering. Larson is a housing activist The Wayne County treasurer has an- of Rev. ­Pinkney in Detroit and has demonstrated against nounced that the remaining foreclosed the pending property tax foreclosures in properties, even those that are owner-oc- By Abayomi Azikiwe Wayne County. cupied, will begin to be auctioned off on JoAnn Watson, former City Council Sept. 11. The People’s Assembly agreed on “It’s not one thing, it is every- member, lent her moral support to the an action proposal to hold a demonstra- thing,” says the Rev. Edward ongoing struggle in Detroit. Attorney Va- tion outside the treasurer’s office at 400 Pinkney of Berrien County, nessa Fluker, a people’s lawyer working Monroe at noon on Sept. 15. Mich., who is currently incar- on housing rights, urged people to fight The action proposal circulated at the cerated for unjust felony forg- the banks at the root of the foreclosure assembly stressed: “This disaster is en- ery charges at the Lakeland crisis. tirely avoidable! The state of Michigan is ­Correctional Facility in Coldwa- Errol Jennings, leader of the Rus- sitting on $200 million in federal Help- ter, Mich. sell Woods Neighborhood Association, ing Hardest Hit Funds that can be used Supporters of Pinkney held called for citywide organization to end to pay delinquent property tax bills for a demonstration in Grand Rap- the forced removals underway against occupied homes. But instead of using ids, Mich., outside the state ap- African Americans and other work- these funds for their stated purpose, to peals court, calling for the civil ing-class people in the city. Jennings had keep families in their homes, the state rights leader to be released on WWPHOTO: ABAYOMI AZIKIWE Supporters of Rev. Edward Pinkney demonstrate on Aug. spearheaded a campaign to get resolu- and federal governments are using these bond pending the outcome of 26 in Grand ­Rapids, Mich., demanding his release on bond. tions from community organizations for funds to tear down homes and turning his challenge to a conviction for a moratorium on tax foreclosures. This them over to the ‘blight task force’ led by attempting to recall the Benton ed of changing five dates on recall peti- helped prompt the City Council to pass billionaire Dan Gilbert.” Harbor, Mich., mayor. Pinkney, the lead- tions. its own language requesting the morato- Other action proposals included an er of the Black Autonomy Network Com- There were no eyewitnesses to this rium. The tax foreclosure deadline was outreach initiative for the annual Labor munity Organization (BANCO) based in alleged crime and the charges were po- postponed for two-and-a-half months, Day parade on Sept. 7. Two items will Berrien County, was sentenced to 30 to litically motivated. Berrien County pros- allowing thousands to make arrange- be circulated to the tens of thousands of 120 months in prison after a trial that ecuting attorney Michael Sepic ques- ments with the Wayne County Treasur- union members: a statement to the la- was observed and followed by thousands tioned witnesses on their organizational er’s Office to save their homes. bor movement from Michigan political throughout the United States and the affiliations and what was said at BANCO Other speakers included Cicely Mc- prisoner Rev. Edward Pinkney and leaf- world. meetings. As a result of the conviction Clellan and Tijuana Morris of the De- lets calling for the demonstration at the Pinkney’s defense attorney, Tim Hol- and sentencing of Pinkney, a nationwide troit Active and Retirees Association; Wayne County treasurer’s office on Sept. loway, has filed a motion to the -Appel movement has sprung into existence de- retired steelworker Pat Driscoll and 15. late Court to reconsider its two-to-one manding his release. attorney Matt Clark of the Detroit Evic- A strong emphasis was placed on the decision to deny bond. Pinkney poses no The demonstration outside the appel- tion Defense; Jack Watkins speaking for need for jobs; the restoration of full pen- threat to the people of Michigan and de- late court in Grand Rapids was covered youth on the rising tide of racism in this sion and health care benefits promised serves to be allowed to rejoin his family by Channel 8 and WOOD radio, which majority African-American city; Debra to municipal retirees; support for a Title and friends in Berrien County. reaches hundreds of thousands across Simmons of the Detroit chapter of the VI racial discrimination complaint to the Judge Sterling Schrock sentenced western Michigan. Protesters traveled to National Action Network and the ACLU federal government charging extreme Pinkney after admonishing him for Grand Rapids from Detroit, Ann Arbor, National Police Reform Campaign; Jerry bias in the destruction of the Detroit his role in Berrien County politics. The Berrien County and other areas around Goldberg and Michael Shane of the Mor- Public Schools system; the need to seek BANCO leader was charged and convict- the state. Months of protest bring light to a neighborhood

Martha Grevatt have turned out with public safety, they were nearly blinded by Detroit DETROIT flashlights and signs, the brightness of brand new street lights chanting “No lights! on shiny new metal poles. Workers in- The ugly face of banker-imposed aus- It ain’t right!” Some- stalling the lights had revealed that they terity takes many forms. The world has times they hold the were reassigned from other neighbor- watched in horror as the residents of De- illuminated letters of hoods to Dexter Avenue “because of the troit, a city whose population is majority the Detroit Light Bri- Light Walks over there.” African-American, have been deprived gade, flashing a simple Neighbors walked and bicycled over of basic necessities such as housing, wa- message: “Turn on the to the protest site to express their elation ter and quality education. Last year, two lights.” Neighborhood and gratitude. Now they can get around United Nations rapporteurs concluded children, with and safely, without fear of being hit by a ve- from their investigation that the mass without their parents, hicle or victimized by crimes of survival. water shutoffs constituted a human come every week. Light Walk organizers will now target WWPHOTO: MARTHA GREVATT rights violation. another unlit area — and another and Walkers win street lights in Detroit. Aug. 27. Due to complaints What is not well-publicized is a public and protests from the another — until the entire city emerges safety crisis, affecting many poor neigh- people of Detroit, an from darkness. borhoods but not touching the downtown Authority originally planned to repair or additional 20,000 lights will be replaced, and midtown areas targeted for gentrifi- replace only 10,000 of the 53,000 lights bringing the total to 65,000. Capitalism cation. The city has miles of broken street that have been out of service, reducing Protestors were skeptical of the prom- lights. Not only on side streets but on ma- the total number of street lights from ise made by Mayor Mike Duggan to Light at a Dead End jor thoroughfares there are wide areas 88,000 to 45,000. Walk organizer Cynthia Johnson that Job destruction, overproduction — where people of all generations walk, But this crime of racist neglect has busy Dexter Avenue would be lit up by and crisis in the high-tech era bicycle, drive, catch buses and maneuver not gone unchallenged. Since June 5, the end of August. But in fact on Aug. 27, For more information on other writings by the their wheelchairs — that are pitch dark the Dexter/Waverly intersection has Light Walkers witnessed the power of author, Fred Goldstein, go to when the sun goes down. been the scene of weekly “Light Walks.” protest. When they arrived for another www.LowWageCapitalism.com The privately operated Public Lighting Every Thursday at 9:00 p.m., people Thursday night action to demand basic Available online and other bookstores. Page 4 Sept. 10, 2015 workers.org

Workers to the NLRB

PHOTO: AI.COM Birmingham low-wage Rising struggle lifts pay, rights workers rally near St. ­Vincent’s Hospital, June 22. By Minnie Bruce Pratt munity bonds. There, low-wage health labor union representation and with in- Low-wage workers are winning big aides and fast food workers were joined vestigating and remedying unfair labor victories in their continuing struggle to by local union members from auto, civil practices.” (nlrb.gov) raise wages and strengthen rights for service, health care, roofing, plumbing, The NLRB ruling could potentially af- those in the lowest-paid jobs in the U.S. transit, and teaching — and represen- fect millions of U.S. workers. According After steady pressure from “Fight for tatives from local anti-war groups, cul- to the National Employment Law Project, $15,” the City Council of Birmingham, tural groups, churches, synagogues and there are about 3.4 million temporary Ala., passed an ordinance on Aug. 17 to mosques. or “staffing-agency” subcontracted jobs raise the city minimum wage to $10.10 alone in the U.S. That’s 2.25 percent of per hour over the next two years. The PHOTO: AI.COM The power of the movement total U.S. employment. The project notes Birmingham low-wage workers and commu- federal $7.25 per hour is now the mini- & the NLRB ruling the numbers are doubtless much higher nity supporters rally to put pressure on City mum wage in Alabama. “Fight for $15” In July, a New York state panel ap- because the U.S. doesn’t track subcon- Council to raise minimum wage, July 14. is a national organization begun by fast pointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo en- tracted workers. (Guardian) food workers to “fight for fair wages and The rise in low-wage worker organiz- dorsed a $15 minimum wage for the Bourgeois economists, pursuing their the right to form a union without retalia- ing has been called an “earthquake,” a state’s 180,000 fast food workers. Cities own political and economic agendas, tion.” (fightfor15.org) “tidal wave” and “an idea whose time has including Seattle, San Francisco and Los have recently backed minimum wage The council vote, under review by the come” by labor analysts. (Guardian, Los Angeles have voted to phase in a $15 min- increases; for example, economist Paul city’s legal department, is thought to be Angeles Times) imum wage. Krugman’s op-ed, “Liberals & Wages,” in the first such law in the southeast U.S. if Led first by fast food workers, the cam- On Aug. 27, the National Labor Rela- the July 17 New York Times. it goes into effect. (Al.com) paign now embraces people in the broad- tions Board ruled three-to-two that a But in an editorial damning the NLRB More historic wage-raising victories est range of low-wage labor — from car company that hires a contractor to staff ruling, the conservative National Re- in Kentucky and North Carolina echo wash, child care, convenience store, fast its business or facilities may be consid- view magazine compared workers to this Deep South gain, made where rul- food, home care and health care workers ered a “joint employer” of any workers bank robbers. Then, in the same article, ing-class resistance to labor organizing to adjunct professors and sweatshop big- hired. This ruling would affect workers at the National Review admitted business has traditionally been most vicious. box warehouse workers. franchise businesses like those licensed owners regularly subcontracted to evade The low-wage movement has surged The low-wage movement and other by McDonald’s, among many others. worker-friendly labor laws. (Aug. 29) dramatically, starting with the first community struggles are connecting, That means a union representing those The Wall Street Journal was aghast at New York City, one-day walkout by 200 linking worker rights to students’ right workers could legally bargain with the the “radical rewriting of U.S. labor law” workers in 2012. In April 2015, tens of to education, people’s right to water and parent company, not just the contractor, by this NLRB decision. (Aug. 28) thousands of low-wage workers and sup- housing, and the Black Lives Matter de- on their behalf, as well as challenge la- In the face of bitter ruling-class resis- porters protested in 200 cities in the mand to freedom from racist state and bor violations for the workers. (New York tance, the recent low-wage worker wins movement’s ninth one-day strike. This police terror. Times, Aug. 27) would never have been realized without mobilization of worker strength is one of The April 15 action by the Workers Cen- The NLRB is the federal “agency of last the fierce struggle of the workers them- the longest continuing U.S. labor cam- ter of Central New York in Syracuse, N.Y., resort” for U.S. worker/labor conflicts, selves, out in the streets with their com- paigns since the 1930s. showed the new strength of labor-com- charged with “conducting elections for munities, “Fighting for $15!” Victory for Houston activist at immigration hearing

By Gloria Rubac tation!’” declared Hope San- tained, his family suffered great losses, Houston ford, one of the leaders of the including having their bills pile up with- group aiming to stop today’s out his income. The Intensive Supervision Appearance deportation. Torres was granted a stay of removal Program was pressured into halting, at In 2013, Israel “Izzy” Mén- last year after the community turned out least for now, the deportation of Houston dez Torres applied for a spe- in large numbers to support him. This activist, artist and father Izzy Torres on cial work permit required year the local ICE field office denied his Aug. 26. for his job as a bartender at stay and told him he had to leave his fam- Torres was accompanied by dozens of a local club. Since he was an ily. supporters, known informally as “Team undocumented worker, he “Many Houston community leaders Izzy,” as he reported for deportation. They applied using a false Social believe Israel [Torres] is being punished were told not to enter the office building PHOTO: BLANCA ALANIS Security card. Unfortunately, for his activism. Israel has lost thousands but did anyhow. The security officer for Israel Torres’ supporters demonstrate outside GEO offices he was caught and detained of dollars fighting his case and then was in Houston, Aug. 26. the office building said we would disrupt for months by Immigration told to buy his own ticket and ‘self-de- business, but things were quiet and the not approved, he was given more time to and Customs Enforcement agents and port’ for having made a choice many im- hallways empty except for Team Izzy. prove his case and this was a victory. The since then has been fighting his depor- migrant workers have to make every day: Cheers went up about 30 minutes later group gathered on the front sidewalk and tation. to work with a fake Social Security num- as Torres emerged from the ISAP offices cheered and hugged Torres, and the me- Torres is a father of three teenagers ber,” said Sanford. with a broad smile on his face. “I’m not dia did their interviews. “This was a vic- who are U.S. citizens and a stepdad to “We thank all the organizations who going anywhere,” he said. tory for the family and supporters of Izzy two daughters. He has lived in the U.S. have come out to support Izzy: the Fe y Although his stay of deportation was whose mantra is, ‘Not One More Depor- for more than 23 years. While he was de- Justicia Workers Center, FIEL (Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en Lucha), La Tuya, Ivan Sanchez in the office of Con- gresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee and oth- ers. Workers demand safety at 7-Eleven “Izzy has been fighting for his freedom for two years — the freedom to perma- the owners’ costs down, tests and petition by either firing or cut- nently be with his family, the freedom to while the threats that the ting the hours of workers who spoke up. live disconnected from any ankle moni- workers face rise. Every Chanting “When workers’ lives are un- tor, the freedom to work and live without day, the workers are con- der attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight knowing that at any moment, the Migra fronted with harassment back!” and “Workplace violence has got to can grab and deport him,” Sanford con- and threats of violence. Last go!” the protesters marched through the cluded. winter, a 7-Eleven clerk was busy Buffalo Art Festival, ending outside The agency that Torres reported to, raped, beaten and robbed a 7-Eleven store to hold a rally. ISAP, is part of the GEO Group Inc. Ac- while working alone in the The rally connected the demand for cording to its corporate website, GEO is store at 5 a.m. an end to workplace violence and the the world’s leading firm providing cor- 7-Eleven’s regional man- national struggle of low-wage workers rectional, detention and community WW PHOTO: GARRETT DICEMBRE agement has refused to accept the work- with talks addressing a livable wage and re-entry services with 98 facilities, ap- 7-Eleven workers in Buffalo, N.Y., led a ers’ petition for safety measures, or the placards that read “Black Lives Matter proximately 78,500 beds and 18,000 em- march and speakout on Aug. 30 demand- community’s concern. These demands at Work!” and “7-Eleven: Value Work- ployees around the world. They squeeze ing an end to unsafe working conditions. include putting guards on the overnight ers Over Property! Protect People Not profits from immigration detention pris- For many hours each day, workers are shifts and hiring more overnight staff. ­Products!” ons throughout the United States, the required to work a store alone, keeping Management reacted to the initial pro- — Ellie Dorritie and Garrett Dicembre world’s leader in imprisoning people. workers.org Sept. 10, 2015 Page 5 Pride at Work supports Black Lives Matter

By Gerry Scoppettuolo Department; and Charlene Carruthers of Another resolution directly challenged John Kerry and the Obama administra- Orlando, Fla. Black Youth Project 100. the group known as the Human Rights tion in the strongest language imaginable Hearns was a national organizer of Campaign for catering to “big money do- for trying to force the Trans Pacific Part- A lot of pride and fightback energy was the Aug. 25 “Trans Liberation Tuesday,” nors” and for having “misguided priori- nership agreement through Congress. on display at the “Triennial Convention observed in many cities across the coun- ties [that] have disproportionately affect- The TPP is a gift bag to global capitalism of Pride at Work, AFL-CIO,” in Orlando, try. Hearns spoke passionately about the ed the transgender community, People of that would undermine labor rights in Fla., on Aug. 26-28. Pride at Work is the dozens of murders of African-American Color and workers.” many participating countries and make it official lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen- trans persons over the past year, with five The Human Rights Campaign is impossible to manufacture cheap generic der and queer constituency group of the murders just in the previous week. known to have a “fist-in-glove” relation- versions of drugs, including life-saving AFL-CIO, created in 1994 as part of a This writer had attended a Boston ship with the Democratic Party. The res- HIV anti-retrovirals. grassroots activist upsurge of the LGBTQ Black Lives Matter Trans Liberation Day olution’s particular ire was reserved for Pride at Work union members at the working class. rally in Roxbury, where Andre Francois, HRC’s 90 percent corporate approval convention are involved in organizing for Some 175 delegates charted a course the president of the Boston School Bus rating for Walmart, despite that compa- the “Days of Grace” union rally against for the coming year to fight for the needs Drivers Union, Steelworkers Local 8751, ny’s anti-gay and anti-worker record. The racism on Sept. 5 in Charleston, S.C., site of LGBTQ workers, their unions and all and members of the union’s executive “Our Walmart” campaign of the United of the recent terrorist massacre of nine working people. board had pledged union support for Food and Commercial Workers has been church members at Charleston’s Moth- The influence of the Black Lives Matter trans rights. fighting for $15 and a union for Walmart er Emanuel AME Church. One of those movement was very evident at the con- The Florida convention unanimously workers for the past two years. Rank- killed was the pastor, the Rev. Clemen- vention and a strong BLM resolution was passed a Black Lives Matter resolution and-file members of UFCW’s OUTreach ta Pinckney, a state senator who was a passed. The first-ever all African-Ameri- on race relations, resolving that “public Caucus, known as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisex- known ally of the LGBTQ community. can women and trans-inclusive panel ad- services that systematically underserve ual, Transgender Labor and Our Allies,” A number of LGBTQ groups will be dressed the plenary meeting on the sub- or mistreat communities because of their gave strong support to this resolution. participating in the march, which is be- ject of “Race and the Queer Community.” racial prejudice must be challenged and The most withering attack on corpo- ing organized by the International Long- Panelists included Elle Hearns, a trans changed.” Similar language had been rate America and its paid-for politicians shoremen’s Association, Local 1422, and woman leader of GetEQUAL; Carmen used in May at the 44th annual con- was delivered by Pride at Work Co-Pres- endorsed by many unions and communi- Barkley and Sheva Diagne of the AFL- vention of the Coalition of Black Trade ident Shane Larson. Addressing the ple- ty groups, including the Southern Work- CIO’s Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Unionists. nary, Larson excoriated Hillary Clinton, ers Assembly. Black prisoners lives matter — Justice for Samuel Harrell!

By Kathy Durkin Demonstrators held a banner saying than a dozen inmate witnesses.” “#Justice for Samuel Harrell” and blocked Edwin Pearson said, “Like he was a A “Beat Up Squad” of up to 20 prison traffic. Some held signs naming DA Grady trampoline, they were jumping on him.” guards killed Samuel Harrell on April 21 and guards implicated in the assault. A Inmates saw Harrell “thrown or dragged at Fishkill Correctional Facility in Bea- rally was held across from Grady’s office. down a staircase.” One prisoner saw him con, N.Y., charge his family and commu- Some protesters circled the building while lying on the landing, “bent in an impossi- nity supporters. They are seeking justice others blocked the entrance. ble position.” for this 30-year-old African-American Diane Harrell, the slain prisoner’s Attorneys for Harrell’s family have re- prisoner. spouse, said: “Sam was murdered by a ceived 19 affidavits and letters from in- No charges have yet been filed against group of men who used their positions of mate eyewitnesses. None state that Harrell any officers involved in this atrocity. No power in the prison to act out their rage. I fought back or even talked to his assailants. guard has even been suspended or put on cannot bear the thought of my husband’s They name nine officers who participated leave. The “Beat Up Squad” members are last few minutes of life. I know he felt ex- in the attack and the ranking officer on still on the job. cruciating pain. I can promise that we will duty at the time — Sgt. Joseph Guarino — Members of Hudson Valley Black Lives not rest until there is justice for Sam.” Samuel Harrell who has often been sued for brutality. Matter, along with other area residents, And Margaret Kwateng of the Hudson rections officers, but condoning racist vi- Inmates who saw the horrific beat- marched with Harrell’s relatives to the of- Valley BLM, which organized the demon- olence in prisons in general.” (Huffington ing have been put into solitary confine- fice of Dutchess County District Attorney stration, stressed, “What is left to investi- Post, Aug. 27) ment and threatened with violence after William Grady in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on gate? … If Bill Grady doesn’t press homicide Natajah Roberts of Citizen Action of speaking to Harrell’s lawyers, relatives Aug. 27 to demand the arrest, indictment charges, he will not only be condoning the New York said: “Many inmates who saw or journalists. and conviction of those responsible for continued terrorizing of current inmates at [Harrell’s killing] have been threatened ... Harrell’s death. the hands of a known gang of violent cor- put in solitary and ... told not to say any- ‘Pervasive culture of abuse’ thing about what they saw. We are here to The blog of the Correctional Association demand justice and specifically to demand of New York, a prisoner-advocacy group, that the DA file homicide charges.” (Radio cites its 2013 report documenting “harass- ‘Labor Day’ unmasked station WAMC, Aug. 28) ment and provocation” in the building in After the demonstration, Grady an- which Harrell was killed. On Aug. 18, the Build Workers World! nounced that his office will investigate website condemned “the pervasive culture Harrell’s death together with the U.S. At- of violence and abuse perpetrated by De- Did you know that the federal holiday whom were well-known socialists or an- torney for the Southern District of New partment of Correction and Community “Labor Day,” celebrated the first Monday archists who had not even been at the York. Supervision and the attempted cover-up in September, was founded in 1887? The scene. Four of them were executed by the — this time at Fishkill. The homicide of reason it’s in September and not May 1, state in 1887. Death ruled a ‘homicide’ 30-year-old Samuel Harrell on April 21 by which is celebrated today in 80 coun- So there is nothing honorable, wor- Harrell’s relatives say that his bipolar Fishkill prison guards is a reminder that tries as International Workers Day, has thy or celebratory behind “Labor Day.” mental illness contributed to his confusion the entire prison system is out of control nothing to do with honoring the role of In fact, its roots are deeply imbedded in on April 21, when he mistakenly expected and irreparably broken.” labor in building this country. It has ev- the most vile kind of capitalist lies, police his family to pick him up to take him home. Other revelations about brutality in erything to do with the capitalist govern- terror and fear of working people’s rights As he got ready to leave, guards attacked New York state prisons have recently come ment refusing recognition to the role of — most of all the workers’ righteous de- him. They claimed he had smoked synthet- to light. In June, when two prisoners es- socialists and other radical organizers in mands for a socialist revolution, which ic marijuana and was behaving erratically. caped from the Clinton Correctional Fa- the labor movement. were clearly expressed at Haymarket. However, the Orange County medical cility in Dannemora, N.Y., other inmates The American Federation of Labor, That’s the kind of information you’ve examiner found cuts and bruises on Har- were put into solitary confinement and ever fearful of alienating the ruling come to expect from Workers World: nell’s body — and no illegal drugs in his tortured by prison guards trying to extract class, was enlisted to suggest in 1887 hard-hitting, anti-racist, anti-sexist, system. His death was ruled a “homicide.” information. that the holiday be in September to take pro-LGBTQ and pro-working class truth. State prison officials have released little in- These horrific incidents once again ex- attention away from May Day — and the But Workers World can’t do it without formation about the fatal assault. pose the intrinsically racist, oppressive fight of working people in Chicago for your support. Please join the Workers The New York Times extensively in- and brutal system of mass incarceration. the 8-hour day, which had led to a po- World Supporter Program and make a vestigated the massive attack on Harrell, In demanding justice for Samuel Harrell lice riot on May 4, 1886, known as the regular donation, no matter how mod- reporting on Aug. 18 that he “was thrown and all victims of racist police violence, it ­Haymarket Massacre. est. Go to workers.org/donate/ or send to the floor and was handcuffed. As many is essential to call for the uprooting of the Police were trying to disperse protest- checks to Workers World, 147 W. 24th St., as 20 officers — including members of a entire prison system. It is a cornerstone ers when a bomb was thrown, the cops 2nd floor, New York, NY 10011, with your group known around the prison as the of the capitalist state, whose mission is responded by killing four workers plus name and address; write “For WWSP.” “Beat Up Squad” — repeatedly kicked and to use force and violence to maintain ex- seven of their own. That led to a round- We appreciate your help in growing punched Mr. Harrell … with some of them ploitation of the multinational working up of leading labor organizers, most of the revolutionary media in the U.S. shouting racial slurs, according to more class. Page 6 Sept. 10, 2015 workers.org

Katrina+10: Natural disaster or forced removals?

By Abayomi Azikiwe tries. Nonetheless, the Bush administra- were warehoused in hotels for months aged and destroyed homes and commu- Editor, Pan-African News Wire tion and Congress were determined to until the government stopped housing nities. continue these occupations, which were them. After 10 years, most dislocated Af- In the Aug. 28 Deutsche Welle, Rich- It has been a decade since the people of based on fabricated allegations of de- rican Americans are still living outside ard Walker interviewed Cashauna Hill, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were dis- stroying “weapons of mass destruction” Louisiana and the Gulf region with no executive director of the Greater New located due to the federal government’s and fighting a “war on terrorism.” prospects of returning home. Orleans Fair Housing Action Center. failure to protect their communities and The Federal Emergency Management Whole neighborhoods remain in ruins Hill explained, “Our counselors began to rebuild them after Hurricane Katrina. Agency demonstrated its racist character with damaged homes, churches, schools notice that white homeowners in white Approximately 1,800 people died in and administrative incompetence. The and businesses that cannot reopen. The neighborhoods were slated to receive New Orleans alone during the hurri- images of hundreds of thousands of dis- New Orleans public schools were turned larger grants than those for Black home- cane — which struck during the last week located African Americans in public ar- over to a charter system, leaving teachers owners in African-American neighbor- of August 2005 — and in its aftermath. eas and on buses and warships awaiting and other educational workers unem- hoods — even when their homes were of Many others suffered severe injuries, removal illustrated the national oppres- ployed. similar age and similar square footage.” while the area’s municipal and health sion and class inequality in the world’s The Aug. 30 German newspaper Deut- Hill noted, “Because of this country’s care systems were overwhelmed. richest capitalist country. sche Welle told of Meghan Sullivan, an history of government-sanctioned and The storm and flooding damaged When Cuba and Venezuela offered ma- ultrasound technician now living in sponsored racial segregation and dis- thousands of homes, causing people to terial assistance to the people of the re- Houston, whose family could not afford crimination, African-Americans’ homes take refuge on roofs of buildings and in gion, the Bush administration declined, to return to New Orleans. “We had to in African-American neighborhoods are New Orleans’ streets. Mass evacuations saying that the U.S. could take care of evacuate quite suddenly and leave every- valued lower than the homes of white took place, sending people to convention its own people. More than 1,000 Cuban thing behind that didn’t fit in the car. We people in white neighborhoods.” centers and stadiums, as well as to oth- physicians were prepared to deploy to the didn’t realize it was going to be this bad, Allocation of grants was not based on er towns, cities and states. Later, people Gulf. Venezuela was willing to send ships but we lost everything in the storm.” reconstruction costs, but on the resi- were transported out of the Gulf Coast with fuel in a gesture of solidarity with Sullivan continued: “A year later, we dence’s market value before Katrina hit. region in Louisiana, Mississippi and Al- African Americans and others in the re- decided to move to Houston. We were However, this formula must always take abama. gion. pretty much priced out of buying a new into account the racist history of how Families, neighborhoods, churches, Therefore, by not providing assistance home in New Orleans at that point al- housing values are determined for insur- organizations, schools, social clubs and to the people and preventing other coun- ready. There simply weren’t enough ance and real estate assessment purpos- a centuries-long culture were eradicated tries from doing so, the government was properties around. And now, people who es. in a matter of days. Although then Presi- actually intensifying a war against the have never lived in New Orleans before Rents have soared in the last decade dent George W. Bush told the media that oppressed. Over the next few years, the are spending insane amounts of money and low-income African Americans have the federal government was working to U.S. economic crisis mounted as soaring to buy tiny condos and miserable plots of been largely priced out of the market. provide assistance to the impacted cities, jobless rates and home foreclosures and land, while no one knows how long it will Landlords often discriminate against towns and rural areas, these falsehoods evictions hit many people in oppressed take until the next natural disaster hits people who are allocated housing vouch- were soon exposed. communities hard. the city.” ers as opposed to those who pay cash. Armed militias of white racists pre- These developments in New Orleans vented African Americans from fleeing Federal policy a failure Rebuilding without the Black masses and along the Gulf Coast have been repli- into their neighborhoods, amid reports More than 1 million people were forced Corporate news media report that “a cated throughout the U.S. The late 2000s’ of racially motivated murders. Police to relocate, as untold numbers perished rebirth of New Orleans” is taking place “subprime” mortgage crisis had the same brutality was rampant. On Sept. 4, 2005, and suffered from even deeper levels of — but that’s with white domination of the impact in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, New Orleans police opened fire on un- poverty and social neglect after the hur- political structures and the further op- Los Angeles, Baltimore, Atlanta, Boston armed people on the Danziger Bridge, ricane. African-American communities pression of African Americans. and elsewhere. killing two African Americans. Five offi- along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana, Mis- Whereas assistance was made avail- Despite the fines paid to the federal cers were convicted, but an appeals court sissippi and Alabama were dispropor- able through grants and insurance com- government by the banks which engi- just granted them a new trial. tionately impacted. pany payouts for those impacted by the neered the housing crisis, most monies The damage done to New Orleans’ hurricane in white neighborhoods, that have not reached people adversely im- U.S. wars abroad, racist neglect at home Eighth and Ninth Wards provided a ra- was not true in African-American com- pacted by the dislocations that were not The Katrina disaster’s aftermath ex- tionale for mass removals of their inhab- munities. Many in the Ninth Ward were directly caused by a natural disaster. Un- posed the Bush administration for its do- itants. Public housing complexes were falsely told that if they lived near the le- til housing is a guaranteed human right mestic and international failures. Much shuttered, while neighborhood residents vee they did not need insurance, and that in the U.S., this problem will only worsen of the resources of the federal govern- were not given any assistance to relocate the federal government would cover their in the future. ment were employed in the U.S. war of and rebuild. expenses if a disaster occurred. aggression against Iraq. Thousands of people were placed in Meanwhile, thousands of African The U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghan- makeshift government housing where Americans in the Ninth Ward were re- Charleston, South Carolina istan resulted in the deaths of thousands they suffered further injury and isola- fused flood insurance or could not afford of U.S. and NATO troops and hundreds tion. In cities as far away as Detroit, dis- the premiums. So, they were left without Unions step forward against racism of thousands of civilians in these coun- located African Americans and others resources to relocate or reconstruct dam- Continued from page 1 tion and conference has been anchored by a broad coalition of labor, civil rights, faith based and community organizations Cleveland activists say that have been making preparations and sending teams to canvass neighborhoods throughout the city. Black Trans Lives matter The Southern Workers Assembly has been engaged in outreach to unions and By Susan Schnur will help to push back against the bloody other worker organizations throughout Cleveland toll that racism and bigotry have taken on the region. They are building for a South- our sisters. ern workers contingent in the march on People gathered Aug. 25 There was also a saying of the names Saturday morning and will be holding in Cleveland’s Luke Easter of murdered Black transwomen (an im- a meeting immediately following the Park, a main green space in portant part of recognizing the humanity march at 12:30 p.m. at the ILA hall at the African-American com- of the individual) and discussion of how 1402 Morrison Drive. munity. They were part of the larger community can help to cre- a national call by the Black ate safe space for much needed healing Working-class movement asked Lives Matter movement in and support for loved ones of murdered to fight racism response to the epidemic ­transwomen and transmen. Among other things, the meeting will of murders of Black trans- The circle was then broken and bal- take up the need to engage the work- women. Under the hashtag loons were released into the late after- ing-class movement more deeply in the of #BlackTransLivesMatter, noon sky, each one representing a mur- fight against racist terror and confront 20 cities held gatherings and actions to WWPHOTO: SUSAN SCHNUR dered Black transwoman. This is the the special conditions facing workers, fight back against the violent hate crimes number is most likely low do to frequent price too often paid for living authentic particular Black workers, in the South. In being committed against this segment of misreporting of gender by the main- lives in a racist and transphobic society. a statement, the SWA said, “Young Black the African-American community. stream media. However, the fightback against hate and people of conscience across the coun- There have been at least 17 transwom- While holding signs, the participants is growing stronger every day. #Say- try are rebelling against this economic en killed in 2015. Fifteen of the 17 were gathered in a circle. Each person made HerName, #TransLiberation, #Black- and politically driven racist climate that Black or Brown. (MSNBC, Aug. 15). This a commitment to at least one action that TransLivesMatter has declared War on Black America in workers.org Sept. 10, 2015 Page 7

Laborers Local 79 Women’s Committee

City Councilwoman, Inez Barron IWWD Coalition Co-chair Candice Sering; Bernadette Ellorin, BAYAN- USA; Shagaysia Diamond, Audre Women’s Lorde Project/TransJustice Equality Day The magnificent Vinie Burrows speak-out on today’s struggles Joyce Kanowitz, Workers World Party People with Disabilities Caucus

By Monica Moorehead “Ain’t I a Woman?” made at the first Na- New York City tional Women’s Rights Conference in 1850 by Sojourner Truth, a former slave August 26 was the 95th anniversary who became an activist against slavery of U.S. women’s hard-won right to vote, and for women’s rights. fought for by a fierce national suffragist City Councilwoman Inez Barron spoke movement and won in 1920. To mark on a current bill up for debate, aimed at this historic occasion and the 50th an- ending all secretive grand juries for cases niversary of the Voting Rights Act and involving police. These grand juries have to also discuss contemporary struggles overwhelmingly sided with impacting poor women, working wom- the police whenever a per- en and women of color in the U.S. and son of color is killed, giving worldwide, the International Working the police impunity. Nerdeen Kiswani, Women’s Day Coalition held a speakout Some of the other speak- Students for Justice in Palestine at Union Square Park in New York City. ers represented the strug- There was a major focus in words and gles in Puerto Rico against Janviere Williams, signs on the current Black Lives Matter the debt crisis; for the on­ Panamanian activist upsurge against rampant racism, includ- going efforts to free all ing police terror. U.S. political prisoners; in The speakout was co-chaired by Co- Palestine against the U.S.- alition member KaLisa Moore from the backed Zionist occupation; People’s Power Assembly and Co-chair in Mexico and the Philip- Candice Sering from Gabriela USA. pines to stop repression; for Brenda Stokely, Hundreds of people heard speeches transgender rights; against IWWD Coalition co-chair and cultural performers on the growing domestic violence, gentri- movements to end all forms of attacks fication and homelessness; for $15 now! on women’s human rights, including vi- and a union; and to demand reparations olence, and about their political and eco- Darlene Bryant for Indigenous and people of African nomic exploitation rooted in capitalism ­descent. and imperialism. See video highlights at: The speakout got off to a rousing start youtu.be/kRVbAMolPeY with longtime activist and actor, Vinie Burrows, re-enacting a famous speech,

Supporter of Kyam Livingston, who was killed by NYPD. Monica Moorehead, IWWD Coalition co-chair

Sister Dequi, Malcolm X Commemoration Committee KaLisa Moore Elma Relian

Lourdes Garcia, Call to Action for Puerto Rico PHOTO: PEOPLE’S VIDEO NETWORK

the form of economic, political and social the majority of the people without special violence.” privileges. Labor must prepare itself to It continued, “To challenge and de- shut the economy down to stop the War feat this racist system, the power of the on Black America and the working class!” people, especially the Black and general The demonstration will begin Satur- Alicia Boyd, Brooklyn working class must be organized and mo- day, Sept. 5, at 9 a.m. in Wragg Square ­Anti-Gentrification Network bilized against the economic and political (342 Meeting St.) and conclude at Marion forces and system that place profits over Square, near the Emanuel AME Church. human needs and rights. … Organized la- The conference will begin shortly there- bor must become a force not only for eco- after at 2 p.m. at the ILA hall and contin- “THE BEAUTIFUL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE ARE CREDITED TO CLAUDIA PALACIOS nomic justice, but also for social justice ue on Sunday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. until AND BRENDA RYAN, UNLESS OTHERWISE and fundamental change that benefits 3 p.m. that afternoon. NOTED. Page 8 Sept. 10, 2015 workers.org

Guatemala national strike ’Mass movement must depose President Pérez Molina’ From WW editors: A general strike and mass demonstration in Guatemala City demanded on Aug. 27 that President Otto Pérez Molina resign. A New York Times editorial the same day praised the Gua- temalan system for being in a position to push Pérez Molina’s corrupt regime aside. What the Times omits is Washing- ton’s responsibility for backing the Gua- temalan president’s regime in the first place, including Pérez Molina’s past role heading death squads under Washing- ton’s sponsorship during the genocidal regime of Ríos Montt. But it does make clear the facts behind the arguments ex- pressed by Central American Marxists Left: National strike in Guatemala. Right: Sign condemns the current president, who once ran a death squad while using the name Tito Arias. on Aug. 21 on the elsoca.org website. They explain that U.S. imperialism and mittee of Agricultural, Commercial, of collapse. For the moment, Pérez Moli- to the electoral law. These changes are the Guatemalan oligarchy are trying to Industrial and Financial Associations na is reluctant to relinquish power, but is needed to eliminate corruption in the use upcoming elections to replace Pérez (CACIF), finally abandoned the president holding on under conditions of greater political party system and facilitate con- Molina — who so far refuses to resign — to his fate, demanding his “immediate weakness and social isolation. ditions for the approval of independent in order to forestall a mass uprising. The resignation” at a news conference on Fri- The bourgeois sector that is pressur- candidates who reflect the interests of Central American workers’ parties call day evening, Aug. 21. ing Pérez Molina wants the current vice workers and of peasant and Indigenous instead for a mass struggle to oust Pérez As a corollary, four ministers and five president, Alejandro Maldonado, to as- communities, with the perspective of es- Molina and restructure the government government officials who are linked to sume the reins of power in a transitional tablishing a National Constituent Assem- before the “low-intensity coup” succeeds. the oligarchy submitted their resigna- government that will remain a puppet of bly to transform the country on behalf of See the following: tions. They are Economics Minister Ser- the oligarchy and U.S. imperialism. The the oppressed and exploited. gio de la Torre, Minister of Education goal is to speed up democratic reforms in But one thing is the ideal situation, GUATEMALA – PRES. Pérez Molina Cynthia Eagle, Health Minister Luis En- order to contain any mobilization of the which we all want but does not yet exist, REFUSES TO RESIGN ... WE HAVE TO rique Monterroso, Agricultural Minister masses. and another is the stark political reality THROW HIM OUT WITH A NATIONAL Sebastián Marcucci, Presidential Com- that we face. There are only a few days STRIKE!! missioner for Competitiveness and In- Pérez Molina must be overthrown! before the election, and the forces of reac- vestment Juan Carlos Paiz and other eco- If anything is clear it is that President tion are reluctant to change the electoral DOWN WITH PÉREZ MOLINA AND nomics and finance officials Claudia del Pérez Molina will not resign. The pres- calendar. The left and the Indigenous and HIS DECADENT GOVERNMENT! Águila, Sigfrido Lee, María Luisa Flores, sure from the CACIF oligarchs and impe- popular movements are facing a great di- FOR A GOVERNMENT OF POPULAR Adela Camacho de Torrebiarte and Mar- rialism has failed to impose a Maldonado lemma. The reactionary parties have im- ORGANIZATIONS! co Antonio Gutiérrez. On Aug. 23, Met- regime. The mass marches have not had posed the electoral struggle on us. ropolitan Archbishop Óscar Vian, repre- enough force to depose Pérez Molina and Our strategic goal should be to topple FOR A POPULAR AND PLURINATION- senting the Catholic Church, also called impose democratic reforms. Under these the Pérez Molina government and im- AL CONSTITUENT NATIONAL AS- for the president’s resignation. conditions it is necessary to increase the pose the National Constituent Assem- SEMBLY! In this way, the pincers are closing in people’s pressure. This means that the bly from below, so we must combine the on the Otto Pérez Molina government left, the workers, the unions and Indig- methods of struggle. We must prioritize In a new, spectacular blow on Friday, and the Patriotic Party, starting with the enous and peasant organizations, need the mobilization to summon and carry Aug. 21, the International Commission first charges and arrests of April 16, driv- to convene a great national strike to de- out the great national strike, with the Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) en by the CICIG and the MP. At the be- mand the overthrow of Pérez Molina and central slogan: Down with the corrupt and the Public Ministry (MP), report- ginning of the crisis, the major parties in his government. government of Pérez Molina! At the same ed that as a result of investigations into Congress, the Renewed Democratic Lib- Faced with the imminent collapse of time, we cannot leave the field open to the case of customs fraud, in which the erty Party (LIDER) and the ruling Patri- the government of Pérez Molina, we of the reactionary forces of the current re- power structure known as “The Line” otic Party (PP), opposed the request for the left, the Social and Popular Assembly gime, which are organizing a changeover (“La Línea”) is involved, concluded that impeachment against Pérez Molina that (ASP), trade unions and labor, Indige- exit by holding elections on Sept. 6. the top leaders of this group were former Deputy Amilcar Pop had requested. Since nous and popular peasant organizations The short time remaining until the Vice President Roxana Baldetti and Pres- then, many social sectors have gradually must establish an alternative govern- elections prevents us from presenting ident Otto Pérez Molina. withdrawn their support from President ment of working people. joint candidates on the left. Despite the Based on the investigation on charges Pérez Molina, entrenching it instead in a If we succeed in imposing this revo- sectarianism that undermines the cre- of conspiracy, with the special case of sector of the armed forces and the de fac- lutionary solution, it would dramatical- ation of an alternative government, we customs fraud and passive bribery, an to alliance between the LIDER and the ly change the situation in Guatemala. If reiterate our call to not waste the vote, arrest warrant against Baldetti was re- PP in Congress. this does not happen in the days ahead, to make it an instrument of protest. We quested before High Court B (Juzgado de we will face a distinct disadvantage in the should vote critically for candidates who Mayor Riesgo B). The former vice presi- A low intensity coup? electoral challenge mounted by the cur- are Indigenous, peasant and popular dent was taken prisoner in the private As we have explained in other state- rent political regime, because so far it is representatives submitted by the Gua- hospital where she had been admitted ments, U.S. imperialism, given its need unlikely the elections will be postponed. temalan National Revolutionary Unity only days earlier and transferred to the to promote the Partnership Plan for (URNG-WINAQ) and the Council of the military prison at Matamoros Headquar- Prosperity (PAP), which aims to halt the The panorama of the undemocratic Maya People (CPO-CONVERGENCIA) ters. growing migration of Central American elections parties. As for the president, the MP filed a workers toward the United States and the Two weeks before the general election The more votes that the left parties request for impeachment against him drug trafficking that plagues the region, [on Sept. 6], the situation is becoming obtain, the less the reactionaries will be before the judiciary to prosecute him for has decided to promote changes in po- very complex. Because of the tenacious able to impose the changeover of the gov- the same crimes of which they accused litical regimes of the Northern Triangle opposition of the decadent major parties ernment. A massive election of deputies Baldetti. Amid persistent rumors of the [Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador]. in Congress, the timid proposal to re- and mayors from these left forces would imminent resignation of the president, These changes aim to improve the func- form the Electoral and Political Parties form a powerful left bloc, which must Pérez Molina said on national televi- tioning of bourgeois democracy, sweep- Law promoted by the University of San continue the struggle after the elections sion on the evening of Aug. 23 that he ing aside the corruption that has charac- Carlos (USAC) and the Supreme Elector- against the current capitalist system and will not resign and rejected the charge terized governments and political parties al Tribunal (TSE), ran aground. In urban which on the congressional and munici- that he was connected with The Line; there for decades. areas, the middle strata and popular sec- pal government levels can push the im- he apologized for the corruption in his In Guatemala, fearing the outbreak of tors have adopted a just attitude of reject- mediate task of building the National government, accused the business com- a social revolution, a section of the bour- ing the traditional parties and corrupt Constituent Assembly. munity of benefiting from customs fraud, geoisie and the army, especially the intel- politicians; they demand the postpone- Popular organizations must lead the invoked the support of the rural area in ligence agencies and security, are using ment or suspension of the elections, as struggle in the streets his favor, called on citizens to vote and the CICIG and the MP to force the gov- the electoral system has been designed to The electoral front is just one of the put himself at the disposition of the legal ernment of Pérez Molina to make chang- perpetuate the control of the parties that many fronts of struggle. The struggle in processes that apply in order to prove his es that are necessary to prevent a mass dominate the Congress. the streets is more important. Regard- innocence. movement from arising that can impose Due to the undemocratic existing ing this issue we have insisted on the ur- changes from below. But time and pa- electoral system, it would be ideal if the gent need for peasant, Indigenous, trade The president gets isolated tience are running out quickly. In this elections were suspended or postponed. union, popular, youth and women’s or- The powerful sector of the bourgeoisie struggle, the contradictions have led the Before elections are held, profound- represented by the Coordinating Com- government of Pérez Molina to the verge ly democratic changes should be made Continued on page 9 workers.org Sept. 10, 2015 Page 9 Colombia and Venezuela — Two brotherly peoples The following is a statement of the ization of the situation on the border, deniable solidarity and social support ters and favor their personal interests. Peace Delegation of the Revolutionary hopefully with the creation of a bina- — since Comandante Hugo Chávez was The cancer of paramilitarism can- Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s tional zone of integration and develop- in power — received by those who had not destroy the bonds of harmony that Army (FARC-EP) from Havana, Cuba, ment in which fraternity, coexistence to leave for exile because in this coun- historically, since the struggle for in- site of the peace talks, dated Aug. 28, and the construction of one great nation try there was no inclusion and respect, dependence, have made Colombia and discussing the crisis between Colombia will be encouraged. something we are still demanding. Venezuela one family with a common and Venezuela: The sovereignty of the Bolivarian Re- We understand clearly that the con- destiny: a dream of dignity and free- It is essential for Colombia to public of Venezuela must be respected; frontation in Colombia, as well as the dom, enrolled in the sublime cause of strengthen bilateral relations between the perfidy of moving paramilitarism, serious humanitarian crisis that goes Our America. the two countries if we want to build a that has caused so many victimizations beyond our borders today, are rooted in “We are children of the country left by stable and lasting peace that radiates in Colombia, to another place, should be the unjust social order we experience, the Liberator and we will defend it with brotherhood to the continent. ceased. and for which the successive govern- love, his legacy calls upon us.” May the Venezuela is and will remain essen- As sister nations we need to be unit- ments that have passed through the Catatumbo lightning [a unique atmo- tial for peace in Colombia. We have to ed for peace to prevail. Therefore, we Casa de Nariño [official home of the spheric phenomenon in Venezuela] en- extinguish this chauvinist fire, in order should close spaces to the tension of Colombian president] should be held lighten us. We are optimistic: like in Ali to promote unity and integration of two warmongering spirits and make the accountable. We cannot close our eyes Primera’s song, “The Orinoco and Mag- nations with a common history, daugh- rights of peoples prevail above all those to that, and we believe that serenity and dalena [principal rivers of Venezuela ters of the same father, the Liberator who want to destabilize the legitimate common sense should emerge, in order and Colombia] embrace each other with Simón Bolívar. government of President Nicolás Mad- to not give way to certain irresponsible songs of the jungle, and your children It is best to seek, through construc- uro through economic war and all kinds politicians who only want to sow hatred and my children will smile at peace.” tive and sincere dialogue, the normal- of conspiracies, and overturn the un- towards Venezuela, fish in troubled wa- May our friendship last forever.

tional Network on Cuba; and the Institute a seat, contact IFCO/Pastors for Peace at September 16 - 18 in Washington, D.C. for Policy Studies. It has been endorsed by [email protected]. more than 50 U.S. and international orga- Detailed information on the “Days of nizations. Action Against the Blockade” is avail- Days of Action against able at theinternationalcommittee.org Get on the Bus! and ifconews.org, at Pastors for Peace is organizing a bus to facebook.com/DaysofAction4Cuba, on the blockade of Cuba travel from New York City to Washington, Instagram @CeseElBloqueo, and on D.C., for those who want to participate in Twitter @thecuban5 and at the one-day conference on Sept.18. The #DaysOfAction4Cuba. Event organiz- By Paul Teitelbaum ed Nations, “There is not, and there has bus will depart from NYC on Thursday, ers can be contacted by emailing not been in the world, such a terrorizing Sept. 17, and return to NYC on Saturday, [email protected] The success of the Cuban Revolution in and vile violation of human rights of an Sept. 19. Bus tickets are $20. To reserve and [email protected]. 1959 struck fear into the cold heart of U.S. entire people than the blockade that the imperialism, which responded by imme- U.S. government has been leading against diately planning ways to undermine the Cuba for 55 years.” (RT Business, Sept. 10, Revolution and return Cuba to its former 2014) status. Of all the tactics employed by the U.S. against Cuba, the blockade of the Days of Action = Solidarity socialist island is the harshest and most A series of activities, entitled “Days of inhumane. Action against the Blockade,” will take The U.S.’s unilateral blockade of Cuba place from Sept. 16 to Sept. 18 in Wash- began in October 1960 and was greatly ex- ington, D.C. These events will not only panded in 1962. It has been strengthened demand the lifting of the blockade, but Brazilian autoworkers strike back against layoffs by additional executive actions and legis- will also call for the U.S. to respect Cuba’s lation, including the Helms–Burton Act of self-determination and sovereignty and By Martha Grevatt GM’s hundred-plus year history. 1996, which codified the blockade into law. end its goal of regime change. During the course of the 12-day strike, Washington’s intention has been to in- The three days of activities will include On Aug. 8, General Motors do Brasil, the union held mass assemblies of workers crease the hardships of the Cuban people, visits with Congress members, an “Ecu- which has four plants in the country, an- and staged a half-hour highway blockade. as the blockade affects everything from menical Service and Evening of Culture,” nounced there would be 798 workers per- This was the second strike at the plant this basic goods essential for everyday life to the opening of the photographic exhibit manently laid off at its São José dos Cam- year, the first being a stay-in “standstill” in the provision of health care and education entitled, “The Cuban 5 Return: An Entire pos plant. There was no advance notice; January that forced GM to cancel planned for the people. Country Celebrates,” and a one-day con- the layoffs began immediately for the first layoffs. The Cuban people have heroically re- ference. 300 workers. In less than 24 hours, the On Aug. 22, GM and the union reached sisted the blockade, an act of belligerence The all-day conference will be on “The Metalworkers Union of São José dos Cam- a settlement. The permanent layoffs would which is estimated to have cost the Cu- U.S. Blockade against Cuba: Why It’s pos launched a strike to save the workers’ all be converted to five-month temporary ban economy in excess of $117 billion, ac- Wrong and What We Need to Do to End jobs. layoffs. On Aug. 24, at a mass assembly of cording to the United Nations Economic It.” It will feature workshops and speakers, “GM has high profits and does not jus- 4,000 workers, union members voted to Commission for Latin America and the including Rafael Cancel Miranda, Puerto tify these layoffs,” union Vice President accept the settlement. Caribbean, as reported by Telesur TV on Rican independence fighter and former Herbert Claros stated in an email to inter- Now Brazilian Volkswagen workers are Aug. 5. political prisoner; Jan Susler, attorney national supporters. “Workers who have on strike in the city of Taubaté. Like nearby Every year since 1992, the United Na- for Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar been laid off and their families understand São José dos Campos, this small industri- tions General Assembly has passed a López Rivera; authors; filmmakers; and that these dismissals are unfair and there- al city lies about 60 miles northeast of São resolution condemning the blockade others. fore are getting strong on the picket line.” Paulo on the road to Rio de Janeiro. The and declaring it to be in violation of the The event is being organized by the In- GM tried to justify the layoffs by claiming strike, called by the Taubaté Metalworkers U.N. Charter and international law. In ternational Committee for Peace, Justice there is a sales crisis. In fact, car sales in Union, began Aug. 17, the same day VW September 2014, Cuban Deputy Foreign and Dignity for the Peoples; IFCO/Pastors the U.S. are above pre-recession levels and announced 100 permanent layoffs. As of Minister Abelardo Moreno told the Unit- for Peace; the Venceremos Brigade; the Na- profits continue to reach levels unseen in Aug. 29, the strike is continuing.

Continued from page 8 own demands and impose the pow- ning Tuesday (Aug. 25) by the ASP, the Central America, Aug. 24, 2015 er of their organizations and parties. Teachers in Resistance and the USAC. ganizations and other oppressed social Because of this we have emphasized We must demand the resignation and Executive Central American Secretariat sectors to place themselves at the head that the Social and Popular Assembly departure of President Otto Pérez Mo- (SECA) of the demonstrations against corrup- (ASP), in partnership with other effec- lina; the reform of the Electoral and Central American Socialist Party tion and impose their class demands, tive organizations such as the National Political Parties Law with deeper and ( ­P SOCA) complementing the democratic demands Coordination of Peasant Organizations more democratic proposals than those with the heartfelt social demands of the (CNOC) and the Committee of Peasant made by the Supreme Electoral Tribu- The original version of this document oppressed and exploited in Guatemala. Development (CODECA), boldly place nal; the establishment of a peasant, was published at the website of EL Historical experience teaches us that themselves at the forefront of the pro- Indigenous, trade union and popular ­S ­O CIALISTA CENTROAMERICANO democratic revolutions always start as tests. government without the participation (­elsoca.org), a news site expressing conflicts between factions of the bour- of representatives of groups or parties of the viewpoint of various Marxist and geoisie, and the socialist and popular The struggle to change Guatemala is the bourgeoisie; and the convening of a workers’ parties in the different Cen- revolutions begin as democratic revo- just beginning Popular and Plurinational National Con- tral American countries. Translation by lutions, which the oppressed and ex- We wholeheartedly support the pro- stituent Assembly that can transform Workers World managing editor John ploited can use to press forward their tests announced for next week begin- Guatemala on behalf of the dispossessed. Catalinotto. Page 10 Sept. 10, 2015 workers.org

5,000 demonstrate in ­Dresden, Germany, on Aug. 29 in solidarity with migrants. Sign in center reads: ‘No human being is illegal.’

Why Emmett Till’s life still matters Imperialism behind During the height of the 1960s Civil thousand Black people turned out for his Rights Movement in the South, activists funeral in Chicago. mass migration deaths like Jimmy Lee Jackson, Medgar Evers, His mother demanded that his coffin Viola Liuzzo, James Chaney, Andrew be opened so that the whole world could Goodman, Michael Schwerner, the Rev. see her son’s unrecognizable, mutilated By Abayomi Azikiwe Also, growing class divisions and eco- James Reeb and others lost their lives to face due to the savage beating from the Editor, Pan-African News Wire nomic difficulties in other Asian and KKK violence. But the reaction to one ear- butt of a .45-caliber pistol. African states are creating tensions that lier lynching, along with the Montgomery Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were ac- Yet another gruesome discovery has foster migration. Some of the states im- Bus Boycott in Alabama, helped to spark quitted by an all-white jury after just five been made: 71 dead migrants inside an pacted by this global crisis include Mo- this movement. It was the brutal lynching days of testimony. Four months later, abandoned truck in Austria, between rocco in North Africa, Nigeria in West of 14-year-old African American Emmett Bryant and Milam, knowing that legally Budapest and Vienna, where thousands Africa and Bangladesh in South Asia. Till, who 60 years ago on Aug. 28 lost his they could not be retried, admitted in a are seeking refuge. These deaths are in When the U.S. and its NATO allies went precious life in Money, Miss. Look magazine article that they had mur- addition to approximately 100 others who to war against the Taliban government in Emmett Till was born on July 25, 1941, dered Till. died recently after their vessel capsized Afghanistan in 2001, they claimed their and raised in Chicago. His parents had Less than five years after this lynching, en route to Europe. aim was to end “terrorism” and ensure migrated to the North, as did millions Black college students launched heroic The people in the truck had apparent- stability in Central Asia. of Black people, to escape the oppressive sit-ins against segregated lunch counters ly suffocated while being illegally trans- Some 14 years later, hundreds of thou- South. In late August 1955, he traveled to in Woolworth’s and other stores. ported from the Mediterranean Sea into sands of people have lost their lives in the heart of the Mississippi Delta to visit As Christopher Benson, co-author of Southern and Eastern Europe. both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now, an uncle. the book, “Death of Innocence,” on Till’s Austrian government officials an- many more are leaving Afghanistan as a His mother, Mamie Till Mobley, murder, stated in a 2003 interview: “Be- nounced on Aug. 28 that the 71 refugees, result of ongoing fighting between forces warned him that the attitudes of whites fore Trayvon Martin, before Michael including an infant girl, were found dead that either support or oppose the Wash- in Money toward Black people were “dif- Brown, before Tamir Rice, there was Em- in what appeared to be an abandoned ington-imposed regime in Kabul. ferent” from those of whites in Chicago, mett Till. This was the first ‘Black Lives freezer truck. On the same day, Libyan Beginning in 1979, the U.S. waged a even though both cities were marked by Matter’ story. It is no wonder, then, that naval units recovered the bodies of 105 covert, CIA-managed war against a so- segregation. each time we read about another young migrants washed ashore, apparently after cialist-oriented Afghan government that Roy Bryant, a rabid segregationist, unarmed black male being shot down in an overcrowded boat in the Mediterra- then asked for and got support from owned a store in Money frequented by the street — unjustly — by an authority nean Sea capsized on its way to Europe. the Soviet Union. Washington funded, Black sharecroppers. As Till was leaving figure, there is the mention of Emmett’s These deaths came after an upsurge trained and coordinated Islamic fighters his store, Bryant’s spouse alleged that the name.” (New York Times, Aug. 31) in migrants running away from war and against the secular government, and this teenager, who suffered from a speech im- And what about the hundreds of face- poverty resulting from U.S. and Europe- led to the formation of al-Qaida and the pediment, whistled at her. less Emmett Tills who lost their lives an Union foreign policies. United Nations eventual ascendancy of the Taliban. Several days later, in the middle of the during Hurricane Katrina 10 years ago officials and other international agencies In Iraq, since the U.S. military buildup night, Bryant, J.W. Milam and another in what we now know was the planned concerned with migration have reported and invasion of 2002-2003, an estimated white racist kidnapped the teenager at flooding of the Black Ninth Ward with that the number of internally displaced 1 million people have died. War still rag- gunpoint from his uncle’s house. deteriorating levees and the police kill- persons and refugees is higher today than es between the Islamic State of Iraq and Willie Reed, a Black sharecropper who ings of Black people attempting to escape at any period since the end of World War Syria (ISIS) and the Iraqi government in worked for Milam, stated in the 2003 from the flooding of New Orleans? Hun- II. Baghdad, causing a new wave of emigra- documentary, “The Murder of Emmett dreds of thousands of Black people to this The International Organization for Mi- tion. Till,” that he heard Till being beaten by day have been permanently displaced af- gration revealed that over 330,000 peo- Both Syria and Libya were targeted for the three men in a tool shed. He heard the ter Katrina as New Orleans continues to ple have crossed the Mediterranean so regime change in 2011 by way of West- teenager screaming in agony. A blood- be gentrified by big real estate interests far this year. The estimates of those who ern-funded opponents and militias. In soaked Till was then driven to the banks to bring back rich and affluent whites. have died while trying to cross ranges in Libya, this was followed by a massive of the Tallahatchie River where he was There are also the breathing Emmett the thousands, and more such tragedies NATO bombing campaign. shot point-blank in the head. Tills facing a living hell as they languish are expected. Over 4 million Syrians have left their A cotton gin fan was tied around his under mass incarceration. country; many are now seeking refuge in Impact of imperialist wars neck with wire. His body was tossed in The lynching of Emmett Till reminds Europe. spans continents the river, where it was found days later. us all that real justice for Till and the The situation in the Horn of Africa is After Reed was forced to wash Till’s blood other victims that came before and after These recent mass deaths are by no also largely the result of successive U.S. from the back of the truck, he disap- him can only come with a revolutionary means isolated incidents. A pattern of administrations meddling in the affairs peared, fearing for his own life. uprooting of the capitalist system, which dislocation has been rising steadily since of the region. Somalia has been a major The murder of Emmett Till made na- perpetuates systemic racism on a daily the wars of regime change in Afghani- target of Pentagon and CIA interventions tional and international headlines. Fifty basis. stan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Ni- since the late 1970s, when the adminis- geria, from 2001 until the present. tration of Jimmy Carter encouraged the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre to invade Ethiopia, which at that time was under- going a socialist revolution supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba. End the siege of Gaza! After the overthrow of the Workers Party state in Ethiopia in 1991, the U.S. assaulted the small Pal- Workers World Party and others joined the following year invaded and occupied estinian enclave of Gaza. this protest as speakers condemned the Somalia under the guise of a humanitar- This Aug. 26 was the first killing of 2,300 Palestinians in Gaza and ian mission. anniversary of the cease- the wounding of nearly 11,000 more, one Somalis rose up against the occupa- fire that ended the slaugh- third of whom were children. The Israeli tion in 1993, prompting a withdrawal ter. It was marked by a blitz destroyed 12,000 Palestinian homes by Pentagon and United Nations forces. march through the streets and ruined much of the infrastructure in Washington continued to seek domina- of midtown Manhattan the crowded area where nearly 2 million tion of Somalia through an invasion by by 150 people who chant- Palestinians have been forced to live. the now Western oriented Ethiopian re- ed “Resistance is justified Holding colorful signs and banners, gime in 2006. An African Union Mission when a people are occu- they insisted that Washington “End U.S. to Somalia (AMISOM) 22,000-member pied!” aid to Israel! What happened is a traves- military force now operates inside the WW PHOTO: ANNE PRUDEN Led by the organization ty!” As of 2013, Israel had received a total country. Jewish Voice for Peace, the demonstra- of $130 billion in aid from the U.S. gov- People from all these war-torn regions By Catherine Zeitz tors first gathered in front of the Muse- ernment, more than half of it direct mil- are now being lured by human traffickers New York um of Natural History and then walked itary aid. (Washington Report on Middle across borders in Asia, the Middle East a mile through city streets to get out East Affairs) Speakers also pledged their and Africa, with the promise of refuge For seven weeks last summer, Israeli their message, with cries of “Remember solidarity with the Black Lives Matter in Europe. However, Europe itself is in missiles, warplanes and ground troops and honor Palestine!” The Green Party, movement. Continued on next page workers.org Sept. 10, 2015 Page 11 Why U.S. ruling class wants an Iran deal

By Deirdre Griswold erals and admirals that also appeared as evelt. KR bragged about riding on a tank ment — and an important part of the a full-page ad in the New York Times on into Teheran in his book “Countercoup: ruling class that relies on profits from Since the 18-month season of bour- Aug. 30. It called the agreement, known The Struggle for the Control of Iran.” abroad — has much bigger worries than geois national elections in the United as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Ac- The Iranian oil industry, which had that. In fact, they are trying to figure out States has already started, it’s not sur- tion, “dangerous” and said that the deal belonged to the Iranian nation, was de- how to shore up their position, especial- prising that an agreement negotiated “makes it likely that the war the Iranian nationalized in 1955. Three years later, ly in southwest Asia, where horrendous between the Iranian government and the regime has waged against us since 1979 Kermit Roosevelt left the CIA to work for wars of U.S./NATO aggression have cre- P5+1 — the five permanent members of [sic!] will continue, with far higher risks Gulf Oil, soon becoming a vice president ated crisis conditions for tens of millions the United Nations Security Council plus to our national security interests.” of the company. of people — and totally disrupted the eco- Germany — has become a big political Earlier, on Aug. 11, a group of three The Shah on his Peacock Throne was nomic life on which big business fattens. issue. dozen retired generals and admirals a conduit for Western imperialism to get The current volatility in international The Obama administration says the had sent a letter to Obama arguing just rich off Iran’s major marketable resource, financial markets is just one indication of agreement will keep Iran from devel- the opposite. They said that “the Iran petroleum. how unstable the position of all the major oping nuclear weapons for at least 15 deal benefits U.S. national security.” The Almost as soon as the Shah was anoint- capitalist countries has become. years. In return, the Western imperial- Washington Post pointed out: “Signers of ed by U.S. and British bankers and oil Secretary of State John Kerry defended ists say they will lift some — not all — of the [pro-deal] military letter include re- magnates, he announced in 1953 that the agreement at a televised event on Aug. the sanctions that have been imposed on tired general and flag officers from every Iran would launch a civilian nuclear pro- 12. Reuters news service reported: “If the Iran since 2005. By preventing Iran from branch of service. They include four-star gram as part of U.S. President Dwight D. United States walks away from the nuclear selling oil on the world market, among Marine Gens. James Cartwright, former Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative. deal with Iran and demands that its allies other strictures, they have hobbled its vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Western imperialists were all for comply with U.S. sanctions, a loss of con- economy. and Joseph P. Hoar, former head of the it — indeed, they facilitated Iran’s nuclear fidence in U.S. leadership could threaten The agreement is being attacked by all U.S. Central Command; and Gens. Mer- program — until 1979, when the masses the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve the Republican would-be candidates as rill McPeak and Lloyd W. Newton of the rose up in a heroic struggle and over- currency, the top U.S. diplomat said on little short of “treason.” Air Force.” threw the Shah and his torturing secret Tuesday. ‘If we turn around and nix the Congress must vote by Sept. 17 on The Netanyahu government in Israel police, the Savak. deal and then tell them, “You’re going to whether or not to approve the deal. Some is violently opposed to the deal. To show That was when the imperialists began have to obey our rules and sanctions any- Democrats have joined Republicans in that there was Jewish and even Zion- looking for ways to justify an economic way,” that is a recipe, very quickly ... for saying they’ll oppose it. Furious lobby- ist support for the agreement, however, war against Iran. By the mid-1990s, the the American dollar to cease to be the re- ing is going on, including not only direct the Post also pointed out that one of the Clinton administration was levying sanc- serve currency of the world,’ U.S. Secre- pressure on representatives and senators signers, retired Navy Rear Adm. Harold tions on Iran, ostensibly over its nuclear tary of State John Kerry said at a Reuters but large ads taken in newspapers and on L. Robinson, was a rabbi who describes program. That was 20 years ago, and U.S. Newsmaker event.” television by both sides. himself as “a life-long Zionist.” hostility has only grown worse since then. It is highly unusual for a top govern- The latest example was a letter to The Post added: “The letter from the If the issue driving the sanctions real- ment official to sound panicky about the Obama signed by 214 retired U.S. gen- retired military officers followed the ly were the possibility that at some time U.S. economy, even when motivated by release this past weekend of a letter to Iran’s peaceful energy program could lead the need to defend some big initiative. Obama by 29 of the nation’s leading sci- to nuclear weapons, then why hasn’t Isra- But panic, it seems, is in the air, both on entists, who called the Iran deal ‘tech- el been sanctioned for its widely known Wall Street and in the boardrooms of the a serious economic crisis, particularly in nically sound, stringent and innovative’ but never admitted nuclear arsenal? It major oil companies. southern states such as Greece. and said it would ‘provide the necessary has never signed the Non-Proliferation Their strategy to greatly expand U.S. assurance in the coming decade and Treaty; Iran has. oil production and make billions by frack- EU divided over migrant crisis more that Iran is not developing nuclear Now comes the possibility that, despite ing for oil and gas — a very expensive way Deaths of migrants — totaling near- weapons.’” all the hullabaloo about “risks to national to get energy — has totally boomeranged ly 3,000 this year — pose a problem for security,” the P5+1 agreement with Iran as world overproduction and stagnant or the European Union due to the financial False arguments distort history may become a reality — although it might shrinking economies recently drove the instability inside the imperialist states. There are so many false arguments be necessary for the president to veto a price of crude below $40 a barrel. Oil Many migrants have entered Greece, being bandied about in this debate that a majority “no” vote in the House and/or from Saudi Arabia and Iran can still be where austerity demands by the Inter- little history is necessary to understand Senate to get the agreement approved. profitable at that price — but not oil from national Monetary Fund and European what is really going on. Sixty-seven of the 100 senators would Canada’s tar sands or much of the U.S. banks have led to the most serious eco- First of all, the U.S. and the other West- have to vote “no” to override Obama’s This explains why there is support for nomic downturn and put millions in pov- ern imperialists had no problems with veto. the Iran deal from a powerful section of erty and uncertainty. Iran when it was ruled by the autocratic the military-industrial-banking complex. Italy has experienced a large wave of and brutal Shah Reza Pahlevi, who had Instability drives Washington The Obama administration’s agenda is migration in recent months. The Inter- got his job through a CIA-organized coup There is speculation in the corpo- not more “liberal” than that of many Re- national Organization for Migration says in 1953. The U.S. agent coordinating that rate media that Obama wants to push it publicans — it’s just more tuned in to Wall that over 65 percent of the people seeking coup was Kermit Roosevelt Jr., grandson through in order to cement his “legacy.” Street and less encumbered by far-right entry into Europe this year have crossed of notorious imperialist Theodore Roos- But reports show that the U.S. govern- rhetoric and ideology. over into Greece and Italy. (Reuters, Aug. 28) The International Business Times re- WW PHOTO: DANNY HAIPHONG ported on Aug. 30 that recent migrants are being trafficked heavily through Boston demonstrators the Balkans region, “which has now re- portedly become the primary route for people-smuggling gangs transporting migrants and refugees from the Middle demand peace for Syria East, Africa and Central Asia into West- By Danny Haiphong terial support for “rebels“ inside of Syria ern Europe. Between January and July Boston in their efforts to overthrow the govern- this year, 102,342 people crossed into ment of Bashar al-Assad. In the sum- Austria via the western Balkans.” The Syrian American Forum mobi- mer of 2013, the Obama administration acknowledge that an alliance which in- In June, the EU sought to handle lized people to gather in Copley Square in sought congressional approval for mili- cludes Syria is the only path to a strong the burgeoning migration into Europe Boston to call on the Obama administra- tary intervention in Syria to achieve this alliance to defeat ISIS, Al-Nusra, and through military means, by halting, tion to help end the ongoing war in Syria. objective. other terrorists.” boarding and returning vessels in which A group of Syrians and their supporters At the time, Russia brokered a deal Syrians at the demonstration made it migrants were being transported. demonstrated on Aug. 29 outside of the that prevented a potential world war sce- clear they want Washington to play a role An Aug. 31 Washington Post analysis Boston Public Library to demand peace nario. Ever since, the U.S. and its allies in bringing peace to the war-torn nation. of the crisis acknowledged the EU’s fail- for Syria. have continued the war under the guise When asked what people in the U.S. can ure to develop a sound and rational im- The Syrian American Forum has been of fighting ISIS. A coalition, led by the do to help, a Syrian American Forum migration policy: at the forefront of the struggle for peace U.S. and Turkey, has conducted numer- representative answered, “Stop listening “Perhaps nowhere is that more true and self-determination in Syria since the ous airstrikes in Syria without the ap- to the American government.” than in Hungary, the nation the perished war began in 2011. Forum activists raised proval of the government in Damascus The war on Syria is part and parcel migrants were smuggled through. This Syrian flags and carried signs that con- or even the United Nations. These strikes of the world capitalist system’s drive to former Soviet bloc country, now led by demned U.S. allies such as Turkey and have killed Syrian civilians, including 52 expand global profits at the expense of right-wing nationalists, is fast emerging Saudi Arabia for their support for rebel in May of 2015. workers and oppressed people. Self-de- as the toughest obstacle for a record num- groups in the country. The Syrian American Forum press re- termination is a critical principle in the ber of refugees trying to reach Europe The Syrian Observatory for Human lease for the demonstration states: “The fight against capitalism and for a new from war-torn Syria, Iraq and other na- Rights has estimated the war has caused [U.S.] American and international battle socialist world. It is of absolute necessity tions. ... Hungary is building a 109-mile- the death of over 200,000 Syrians. The against terrorism continues to be short that people in the U.S. stand with Syrians long razor-wire fence on its southern bor- U.S., Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and of achieving its objectives. This is due to in their just fight to defend the sovereign- der meant to keep out migrants.” Qatar have provided diplomatic and ma- ... the refusal of the U.S. and its allies to ty of their nation. Long live Syria! Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a: [email protected]

¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios! workers.org Vol. 57 Núm. 36 10 de septiembre, 2015 $1 Tito Arias es el nombre de guerra del Pres- idente Otto Pérez Molina de Guatemala. Guatemala — ¡¡Pérez Molina no quiere renunciar — tenemos que sacarlo con un paro nacional!!

Han publicado este artículo en el periódico El Socialista perialismo estadounidense, ante la necesidad de impulsar elecciones, y las fuerzas de la reacción se resisten a modi- Centroamericana el 24 de agosto, unos días antes de la el Plan Alianza Para la Prosperidad (PAP), que se propone ficar al calendario electoral. La izquierda y el movimiento huelga nacional en Guatemala (elsoca.org): frenar la creciente migración de trabajadores centroamer- indígena y popular estamos ante una gran disyuntiva. La icanos hacia el norte, y el narcotráfico que azota la región, lucha en el plano electoral nos ha sido impuesta por los ¡ABAJO PÉREZ MOLINA Y SU DECADENTE ha decidido impulsar cambios en los regímenes políticos partidos de la reacción. GOBIERNO! del Triángulo Norte. Estos cambios apuntan a mejorar el Nuestro objetivo estratégico debe ser tumbar al gobier- ¡POR UN GOBIERNO DE LAS ORGANIZACIONES funcionamiento de la democracia burguesa, barriendo no de Pérez Molina e imponer desde abajo la Asamblea Na- POPULARES! con la corruptela que ha caracterizado por décadas a los cional Constituyente, para ello tenemos que combinar los ¡POR UNA ASAMBLEA NACIONAL CONSTITUYENTE gobier­nos y los partidos políticos. métodos de lucha. Debemos priorizar la movilización para PLURINACIONAL Y POPULAR! En Guatemala, ante el temor del estallido de una rev- convocar e imponer el gran paro nacional, con la consigna olución social, un sector de la burguesía y del ejército, central de: ¡¡Abajo el corrupto gobierno de Pérez Molina!! En un nuevo golpe espectacular, el viernes 21 de agosto, especialmente de los órganos de inteligencia y seguridad, Pero al mismo tiempo, no podemos dejarle el campo libre la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Gua- están utilizando a la CICIG y al MP, para forzar al gobi- a las fuerzas reaccionarias del actual régimen, que están temala (CICIG) y el Ministerio Público (MP), denunciaron erno de Pérez Molina a realizar los cambios necesarios organizando una salida de recambio con la realización de que, como resultado de las investigaciones del caso de de- que impidan que el movimiento de masas imponga los las elecciones el 6 de Septiembre. El escaso tiempo que fraudación aduanera en el que está implicada la estructura cambios desde abajo. Pero el tiempo y la paciencia se ag- falta para las elecciones ya no permite la presentación de “La Línea”, llegaron a la conclusión de que los máximos otaron rápidamente. En este forcejeo las contradicciones candidaturas conjuntas de la izquierda. A pesar de que dirigentes de la misma eran la ex vicepresidenta Roxana han llevado al gobierno de Pérez Molina al borde de su este sectarismo debilita la constitución de una alternativa Baldetti y el presidente Otto Pérez Molina. caída. Por el momento, Pérez Molina se resiste a aban- de gobierno, reiteramos nuestro llamado a no desperdi- En base a la investigación por los delitos de asociación donar el poder, pero en un contexto de mayor debilidad ciar el sufragio, para convertirlo en un instrumento más ilícita, caso especial de defraudación aduanera y cohecho y aislamiento social. de protesta, votando críticamente por las candidaturas pasivo, se solicitó una orden de captura ante el Juzgado de El sector burgués que presiona a Pérez Molina aspira a de dirigentes y representantes campesinos, indígenas y Mayor Riesgo B contra Baldetti. La ex vicepresidenta fue que el actual vicepresidenteAlejandro Maldonado, asuma populares presentadas por los partidos URNG-WINAQ y capturada en el hospital privado en el que se había inter- las riendas del poder bajo un gobierno transitorio títere de CPO-CONVERGENCIA. nado días antes y trasladada a la cárcel militar del Cuartel la oligarquía y del imperialismo norteamericano, con el Entre más votos saquen los partidos de izquierda de Matamoros. objetivo de acelerar las reformas democráticas para con- menos probabilidades que la reacción imponga el re- En cuanto al presidente, el MP interpuso una solicitud tener la movilización de masas cambio de gobierno. Una masiva elección de diputados de antejuicio en su contra ante el Organismo Judicial, para y alcaldes pertenecientes a estas fuerzas permitiría la poder procesarlo por los mismos delitos de que se acusa a ¡A Pérez Molina hay que tumbarlo! formación de un poderoso bloque de izquierda que debe Baldetti. En medio de insistentes rumores de la inminente Si algo está claro es que el presidente Pérez Molina no continuar la lucha después de las elecciones, contra el renuncia del presidente, Pérez Molina declaró en cadena va a renunciar. Las presiones del CACIF y del imperialis- actual sistema capitalista, e impulse a nivel del Congre- nacional, la noche del 23 de agosto, que no renunciará, re- mo no han logrado imponer a Maldonado. Las marchas no so y municipalidades la inmediata tarea de imponer la chazó su vinculación con La Línea, pidió disculpas por la han tenido la fuerza suficiente para sacar a Pérez Molina Asamblea Nacional Constituyente. corrupción en su gobierno, acusó al empresariado de ben- e imponer reformas democráticas. Entonces, es necesario eficiarse con la defraudación aduanera, invocó el apoyo del elevar la presión popular. Corresponde a la izquierda, los Que las organizaciones populares conduzcan la lucha en área rural a su favor, llamó a los ciudadanos a votar y se trabajadores, sindicatos y organizaciones indígenas y cam- las calles puso a disposición de los procesos legales que correspon- pesinas, convocar a un gran paro nacional para exigir la El frente electoral es solo uno de los tantos frentes de dan para demostrar su inocencia. salida de Pérez Molina y su gobierno. lucha. Más importante es la lucha en las calles. En este La Izquierda, la ASP, los sindicatos y organizaciones tema hemos sido insistentes en la imperiosa necesidad de El presidente se queda aislado obreras, campesinas indígenas y populares, debemos con- que las organizaciones campesinas, indígenas, sindicales El poderoso sector de la burguesía representado stituir una alternativa de gobierno de los trabajadores, ante y populares, las organizaciones de mujeres y jóvenes, y por el Comité Coordinador de Asociaciones Agrícolas, el desmoronamiento del gobierno de Pérez Molina. demás sectores sociales oprimidos, se pongan a la cabeza Comerciales, Industriales y Financieras (CACIF), aban- Si logramos imponer esta salida revolucionaria, cambi- de las movilizaciones contra la corrupción e impongan su donó finalmente a su suerte al presidente, exigiendo en aría dramáticamente la situación en Guatemala. Si eso no sello de clase, complementando las demandas democráti- conferencia de prensa el viernes 21 por la noche su “re- ocurre en los próximos días, tendremos que afrontar en cas con las sentidas reivindicaciones sociales de los oprim- nuncia inmediata”. clara desventaja el desafío electoral montado por el actual idos y explotados de Guatemala. Como corolario, cuatro ministros y cinco funcionarios régimen político, porque hasta el momento es poco proba- La experiencia histórica nos indica que las revoluciones del gobierno, que están vinculados a la oligarquía, pre- ble la posposición de las elecciones. democráticas siempre inician como conflictos entre frac- sentaron su renuncia. Ellos son el ministro de economía ciones de la burguesía, y las revoluciones socialistas y pop- Sergio de la Torre, la ministra de educación Cynthia del El panorama de las elecciones antidemocráticas ulares inician como revoluciones democráticas, que son Águila, el ministro de salud Luis Enrique Monterroso, el A dos semanas de las elecciones generales, el panora- aprovechadas por los oprimidos y explotados para colar de agricultura Sebastián Marcucci, el comisionado pres- ma se torna muy complejo. Por la tenaz oposición de los sus demandas e imponer el poder de sus organizaciones y idencial para la Competitividad e Inversión Juan Carlos podridos partidos mayoritarios en el Congreso, la tími- partidos. Por ellos hemos insistido en que la Asamblea So- Paiz y los funcionarios del área de economía y finanzas da propuesta de reforma a la Ley Electoral y de Partidos cial y Popular (ASP), en alianza con otras organizaciones Claudia del Águila, Sigfrido Lee, María Luisa Flores, Adela Políticos (LEEP) impulsada por la Universidad de San Car- consecuentes como CNOC y CODECA, se coloquen audaz- Camacho de Torrebiarte y Marco Antonio Gutiérrez. La Ig- los (USAC) y el Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE), quedó mente como la vanguardia de las protestas. lesia Católica, el 23 de agosto, en la persona del Arzobispo varada. En el área urbana, las capas medias y sectores Metropolitano, Óscar Vián, también pidió la renuncia del populares, en una justa actitud de rechazo a los partidos La lucha por cambiar Guatemala apenas comienza presidente. y políticos tradicionales corruptos, exigen la posposición Apoyamos incondicionalmente las protestas anuncia- De esta manera se cierran las tenazas alrededor del o la suspensión de las elecciones, pues el sistema electoral das para la próxima semana a partir del martes por la gobierno de Otto Pérez Molina y el Partido Patriota, acor- ha sido diseñando para perpetuar el control de los partidos ASP, el Magisterio en Resistencia y la USAC. Debemos ralamiento iniciado con las primeras denuncias y capturas que dominan actualmente el Congreso. demandar la renuncia o salida del presidente Otto Pérez del 16 de abril, impulsadas por la CICIG y el MP. Al ini- Debido al antidemocrático sistema electoral vigente, lo Molina; la reforma de la Ley Electoral y de Partidos Políti- cio de la crisis, los partidos mayoritarios en el Congreso, ideal sería que las elecciones se suspendan o se pospongan, cos con propuestas más profundas y democratizantes que Libertad Democrática Renovada (LIDER) y el gobernante y que antes de su realización se aprueben cambios profun- las del TSE; el establecimiento de un gobierno de las orga- Partido Patriota (PP), se opusieron a la solicitud de ante- damente democráticos a la Ley Electoral, que permitan nizaciones campesinas, indígenas, sindicales y populares juicio contra el Pérez Molina, solicitada por el diputado de eliminar la corrupción en el sistema de partidos políticos y sin la participación de representantes de grupos o partidos WINAQ, Amílcar Pop. Desde entonces, muchos sectores faciliten las condiciones para la postulación de candidatos de la burguesía; y la convocatoria a una Asamblea Nacio- sociales le han retirado gradualmente su apoyo al presi- independientes, que reflejen a los trabajadores y comuni- nal Constituyente Plurinacional y popular que transforme dente Pérez Molina, atrincherándose éste en un sector de dades campesinas e indígenas, en la perspectiva de instau- Guatemala en beneficio de los desposeídos. las Fuerzas Armadas y en la alianza de facto entre LIDER rar una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente que transforme y el PP dentro del Congreso. el país en beneficio de los oprimidos y explotados. Centroamérica, 24 de agosto del 2015 Pero una cosa es la situación ideal que todavía no existe Secretariado Ejecutivo Centroamericano (SECA) ¿Un golpe de Estado de baja intensidad? y que todos deseamos, y otra es la candente realidad políti- Partido Socialista Centroamericano (PSOCA) Como ya hemos explicado en otras declaraciones, el im- ca, tal como se nos presenta. Estamos a escasos días de las www.elsoca.org