Police, Armies, Courts and Laws

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H The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it. —Karl Marx H JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 VOL. 15 NO. 1

Like high prison walls, the separation wall dividing Israel and Palestine. (UPI Photo/UPI/Debbie Hill). Read Turning Gaza Into a Super-Max Prison on page 55.

On the Front Cover: s Artwork by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson depicting recent police murders of unarmed Black and brown men.

Police, Armies, Courts and Laws - Page 2 Black People’s Grand Jury - Page 3 Blood on the Tracks - Page 28 Dining Out in Dinkytown - Page 35 The Cuban 5 reunite after their release by the United States. Read Demonstrators march holding images of missing students in pro- U.S. and Cuba: A Change in Relationship on Page 43. test for the disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero, in Mexico City. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Read Forth-Three Faces that Move the World page 46. Why Speaking Out is Worth the Risk An Interview with Chelsea Manning by Amnesty International

Chelsea Manning is serving a 35-year my life examined and analyzed for would be transparent by default. prison sentence for leaking classified U.S. every single possible screw-up that I’ve Unfortunately, the world is not ideal. government documents to the website ever made—every flaw and blemish— Many institutions begin a slow creep WikiLeaks. From her prison cell in and to have them used against me in toward being opaque and we need peo- Kansas, Chelsea tells us why speaking the court of public opinion. I was espe- ple who recognize that. I think the term out against injustice can be a once-in-a- cially afraid that my gender identity “whistleblowers” has an overwhelm- lifetime opportunity. would be used against me. ingly negative connotation in government and business, akin to a “tattle- Why did you decide to leak docu- What was it like to feel the full tale” or “snitch.” This needs to be ments about the wars in Iraq and force of the U.S. justice system addressed somehow. Very often poli- Afghanistan? and be presented as a traitor? cies that supposedly protect such peo- These documents were important It was particularly interesting to see ple are actually used to discredit them. because they relate to two connected the logistics involved in the prosecu- counter-insurgency conflicts in real- tion: the stacks of money spent; the What would you say to somebody time from the ground. Humanity has gallons of fuel burned; the reams of who is afraid to speak out against never had this complete and detailed a paper printed; the lengthy rolls of secu- injustice? record of what modern warfare actu- rity personnel, lawyers, and experts—it First, I would point out that life is ally looks like. Once you realize that felt silly at times. It felt especially silly precious. In Iraq in 2009-10, life felt the co-ordinates represent a real place being presented as a traitor by the offi- very cheap. It became overwhelming to where people live; that the dates hap- cers who prosecuted my case. I saw see the sheer number of people suffer- pened in our recent history; that the them out of court for at least 100 days ing and dying, and the learned indiffer- numbers are actually human lives— before and during the trial and devel- ence to it by everybody around me, with all the love, hope, dreams, hatred, oped a very good sense of who they including the Iraqis themselves. That fear, and nightmares that come with were as people. I’m fairly certain that really changed my perspective on my them—then it’s difficult to ever forget they got a good sense of who I am as a life, and made me realize that speaking how important these documents are. person too. I remain convinced that out about injustices is worth the risk. even the advocates that presented the Second, in your life, you are rarely What did you think the consequenc- treason arguments did not believe their given the chance to really make a dif- es might be for you personally? own words as they spoke them. ference. Every now and then you do In 2010, I was a lot younger. The come across a significant choice. Do consequences felt very vague. I expect- Many people think of you as a you really want to find yourself asking ed the worst possible outcome, but I whistleblower. Why are whistle- whether you could have done more, didn’t have a strong sense of what that blowers important? 10-20 years later? These are the kinds might entail. But I expected to be In an ideal world, governments, cor- of questions I didn’t want to haunt me. demonized and have every moment of porations, and other large institutions Why did you choose this particular artwork to represent you? It’s the closest representation of what I might look like if I was allowed to present and express myself the way I see fit. Even after I came out as a trans woman in 2013, I have not been able to express myself as a woman in public. So I worked with Alicia Neal, an artist in California, to sketch a realistic por- trait that more accurately represents who I am. Unfortunately, with the cur- Continued on page inside back cover

SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 SocialistViewpoint January/February 2015 Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT www.socialistviewpoint.org CONTENTS email: [email protected] (415) 824-8730 U.S. Politics and the Economy International Police, Armies, Courts and Laws ...... 2 U.S. and Cuba: A Change in Relationship? ...... 43 By Bonnie Weinstein By Jorge Martin Black People’s Grand Jury ...... 3 Forty-Three Faces that Move the World ...... 46 By Glen Ford Editorial By Frontera NorteSur, New Mexico State University News The Grand Jury ...... 4 End the Killing of Students Now ...... 49 By Lynne Stewart Statement and Petition by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy Immunity for Killer Cops ...... 5 Ebola and the Profit-Driven Healthcare Industry ...... 51 By Glen Ford By Lauren McCauley Ferguson Struggle Alters Black Politics ...... 6 Ebola in Africa ...... 52 By Glen Ford By August H. Nimtz Cops Threaten Blue Coup in New York ...... 7 US Attacks on Muslim Countries ...... 53 By Glen Ford By Glenn Greenwald Bobby Hutton’s Hands Were Up ...... 9 Turning Gaza Into a Super-Max Prison ...... 55 By Michelle Renee Matisons By Jonathan Cook Fighting Police Terror in Washington, DC ...... 10 Israel Deepens ‘Collective Punishment’ of Gaza ...... 56 By Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo By Sarah Lazare Broken Countries Policing ...... 13 By Matt Peppe Incarceration Nation Black Cops Fear Other Cops ...... 16 Why Speaking Out is Worth the Risk . . . .Inside Front Cover By Cliff Weathers No Matter What They Say or Do, We Die . . Inside Back Cover Oakland Protesters Blockade Police Department ...... 17 By Kevin Cooper By Sarah Lazare The New Outlaws ...... 57 Ferguson is Baghdad is New York is Kabul ...... 19 By Lorenzo Johnson By Sonali Kolhatkar Immunity to Kill, Falsely Convict and Mass Incarcerate . . .58 Hundreds of Police Killings Not Reported to FBI ...... 21 By Lorenzo Johnson By Michael Walsh Free All Political Prisoners ...... 58 Exploding Protest Movement ...... 21 By Assata Shakur By Steven Rosenfeld and Alyssa Figueroa Free Reverend Edward Pinkney ...... 60 Homeless Children ...... 23 By Abayomi Azikiwe By Bruce A. Dixon No Indictment of Killer Cop Wilson ...... 62 ‘Some Sort of Hell’ ...... 24 By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson By Evelyn Nieves The Horror of Solitary ...... 65 Justice for Michael Brown ...... 26 By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson By The Labor Fightback Network How to Get Away with Cop Murder ...... 67 Blood on the Tracks ...... 28 By Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall By Guy Miller Death, For a Cigarette! ...... 68 Healthcare is a Human Right ...... 30 By Mumia Abu-Jamal By Andy Coates Obama’s New Torture Plan ...... 31 Book Review By Nafeez Ahmed The Making of an Auto Worker Activist ...... 69 Accuracy of U.S. Drones ...... 34 By Gregg Shotwell By Spencer Ackerman Dining Out in Dinkytown ...... 35 ...... 71 By Bryan Palmer Letters to the Editor Environment Nat Weinstein—An Oral History Bowing to Monsanto ...... 42 Part VII ...... 74 By Sarah Lazare

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Vol.Vol.Vol. 15, 15,3, No.No. 211 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 1

U.S. Politics and the Economy Police, Armies, Courts and Laws What they are actually designed to do By Bonnie Weinstein The U.S. government, its police, The first law of capitalism is prof- Luxembourg,” exposes the gross armies, courts and laws are not its over people hypocrisy of the capitalist system of designed to protect people or keep the In another example of capitalist financial justice and law. peace, they are designed to protect the injustice, a December 29, 2014 New This article exposes how some of the property and rule of the wealthy. They York Times article by Barry Meier and biggest corporations get away with are tools to keep workers in our place Hilary Stout titled, “Victims of G.M. stealing hundreds-of-billions-of-dol- or destroy us if they can’t. Deadly Defect Fall Through the Legal lars in taxes through offshore tax They protect and serve the capitalist Cracks,” tells about the refusal of a law scams. And, in fact, how these legal tax system and its commanders. The com- firm to take a case against General scams are carefully drawn up by corpo- manders make the laws as they go Motors involving the death of a young rate law firms and made legal by the along. What benefits them is legal, girl because the “value of her life…was courts. According to the article: what doesn’t, is illegal, criminal and too small to justify the expense and risk “The list of multinational busi- worthy of their most extreme punish- of litigation.” nesses accused of using European ment—prison, torture or death— “The law firm was unequivocal. jurisdictions to cut their tax bills whatever they deem most effective in It refused to take the case against grew much longer…when a group protecting their rule. General Motors involving a car of investigative reporters published findings accusing more than 300 The effectiveness of the system itself crash that killed 18-year-old Natasha companies, including PepsiCo, Ikea is dependent upon its ability to fool Weigel, saying that the value of her life in a lawsuit was too small to jus- and FedEx, of benefiting from pref- most of the people most of the time tify the expense and risk of litiga- erential deals with the government and that’s what their money buys in tion….But when Ms. Weigel’s fam- of Luxembourg…The findings, by the mass media. ily shared that report with a major the International Consortium of Their wars causing the deaths of plaintiff’s law firm in Milwaukee, Investigative Journalists, are based on millions are justified by lies fed to the the firm responded with cold, hard a trove of leaked documents that mass media and force-fed to us. They math….The family of Amy included 548 so-called comfort letters that the group said Luxembourg are wars for profit and power—capital- Rademaker, the other teenager killed had provided to corporations seek- ist profit and capitalist power. in the Wisconsin crash, was also unable to find a lawyer to take on ing favorable tax treatment. ‘These The job of the media is to convince us G.M. unless they financed the case companies appear to have chan- that “collateral damage” caused by U.S. themselves…Lawyers said they were neled hundreds-of-billions of dol- bombs is not just unavoidable, but can be aware of six ignition-related lawsuits lars through Luxembourg and saved blamed on the dead for being in the vicin- that the automaker had settled out billions of dollars in taxes….’ …the ity of the bomb; that a man can be legally of court, including some under European Commission expanded an choked to death for selling cigarettes; that arrangements that barred public dis- investigation into how Luxembourg provided tax incentives, adding a boy can be shot to death for carrying a closures about them….‘This is so Amazon to the inquiry. The com- toy gun—a gun manufactured, adver- frustrating to me,’ Mr. Rimer said. ‘If we had gone to litigation, this mission had already begun similar tised, promoted as “fun” by billion-dollar would have gone to the forefront. investigations this year into the tax TV commercials; that a young man can We could have saved lives.’ arrangements of a unit of Fiat in be shot to death for walking in the street Luxembourg, Apple in Ireland and “Companies, lawyers and judges because, sometime after he was killed, a Starbucks in the Netherlands…. have long faced criticism for sup- video was released by the police implying Last month, in response to the start pressing information contained in of the investigation concerning that that same young man might have lawsuits about product dangers.” stolen a box of cigars earlier that day. This Amazon, the Luxembourg finance rationalization by the police and the And an earlier article in the New ministry said that reports of so- media is plainly intended to make the York Times dated November 5, 2014 by called state aid were unfounded and police shooting look justified. James Kanter titled, “Hundreds of that ‘the investigation will allow the Companies Seen Cutting Tax Bills by commission to conclude that no This is the job of the capitalist Sending Money Through special tax treatment or benefits media. have been granted to Amazon.’

2 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 “The consortium said the documents it had obtained involved deals Black People’s Grand Jury negotiated by Pricewaterhouse Black people’s Grand Jury indicts cop for first-degree murder of Coopers, an accounting firm, on behalf of hundreds of corporate clients.” Michael Brown By Glen Ford So, according to capitalist law, the selling of individual cigarettes on the A Black People’s Grand Jury in St. wrongdoer.” street without a license is punishable Louis, Missouri, this weekend deliv- The Black People’s Grand Jury also by death; and walking down the street ered a “true bill of indictment” for heard testimony from local residents while Black is punishable by death; and first-degree murder against former with personal knowledge of police a child carrying a toy gun is fair game Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson behavior in the region, including Black for police, too. in the death of Black teenager Michael former police officers—a method of But bombs and drone strikes that kill Brown. Black people “can and must truth-seeking grounded in the logic thousands is justified, and the stealing take matters into our own hands,” said that the most “expert” witnesses on of hundreds-of-billions of tax dollars is Omali Yeshitela, one of four prosecu- institutional racism are its victims, who OK, as long as the capitalists can profit tors that presented evidence, not only have experienced the phenomenon in from it, and still protect their rule. of Wilson’s personal guilt, but the all its dimensions. institutional culpability of the entire The lesson of the capitalist chain regional criminal justice system in the At root, the Black People’s Grand of command: the masses are weak murder and subsequent whitewash of Jury is an exercise in self-determina- and the rulers are all powerful the crime. tion, a collective response to a collective assault on a people that have been The capitalist system only works if “Darren Wilson is a killer, and he’s criminalized by the Mass Black the masses are convinced that we are out there, but he’s not out there by Incarceration State. “We cannot trust powerless and the capitalist are all- himself,” said Yeshitela. “He was doing our children, the future of our com- powerful. Their police, laws and legal what U.S. police have done historically munity, in the hands of this establish- system are set up to convince us of this and traditionally to African people in ment that has proven to us over and myth. It takes money to navigate this country.” It wasn’t Wilson’s deci- over again its disregard for Black life,” through the U.S. legal system—money sion to leave Brown’s uncovered body said Yeshitela, whose International workers don’t have. These capitalist on the asphalt roadway for nearly four- People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement laws are not for us, they are against us. and-a-half hours in 100-degree heat— teamed with local Black organizations From cradle to grave we are told a collective insult and threat to the to convene the proceedings. that we must trust in a power higher victim’s community that harkens back Most importantly, the Black than us. We are taught that we would to the ritual public displays of mutilat- People’s Grand Jury model is easily be living in chaos without yielding to ed and burned Black corpses in the replicable throughout the U.S., just as the higher power of order and law, that time of lynch law. Wilson was later the Mass Black Incarceration State is, capitalist order and capitalist law. rewarded for his crime “with almost one million dollars” in contributions operates in near-uniform fashion in The truth is that capitalism’s order “by white people.” every precinct of the country. North, and law, that puts profits over people, South, East and West, whether the is our prison. The 12 jurors, all of them from Black population is relatively large or greater St. Louis, spent January 3 and 4, Putting people over profits will small, the State’s mission is to contain, 2015, reviewing some of the same evi- throw open the prison gates and, once control, terrorize and criminalize Black dence presented by county prosecutor and for all, we will be free to practice people, and to incarcerate them in Bob McCulloch to the mostly white the human compassion and commu- enormous numbers. The St. Louis grand jury that failed to indict Wilson, nity that will come naturally to us in a model, and longer-form variations on in November. McCulloch’s mission free, just and equal society. the theme, such as Black People’s was to obfuscate the facts and confuse Boards of Inquiry, can go far towards the jurors; to free the cop and convict exposing and deconstructing the the victim—as attested to by one of his police/prison regime that over the past own jurors, who maintains, in a suit two generations has killed innumerable asking permission to speak publicly, Michael Browns and spawned a gulag that McCulloch made the “insinuation so huge and so disproportionately that Brown, not Wilson, was the

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 3 Black that one out of every eight prison national security state and the general misleaders and accommodationists inmates on the planet is an African degradation of bourgeois liberties for who act as agents of the Democratic American. all Americans—a strong basis for Party and the rich. The Mass Black Incarceration State, building multi-racial alliances. The steady drumbeat of protest erected in response to the Black However, African American resis- must be accompanied by institution- Liberation Movement of the Sixties, is tance to the Black Mass Incarceration building projects aimed at dismantling the driving force and organizing prin- State, in all its manifestations, must be the Mass Black Incarceration State— ciple of the U.S. criminal justice sys- rooted in the struggle for self-determi- the transformational task of the cur- tem. (Ironically, its predatory mecha- nation—freedom on our own terms, rent movement. nisms have caused more white which is inseparable from demands for —Black Agenda Report, January 7, Americans to be imprisoned, as well— justice. 2015 collateral damage inflicted by struc- Black People’s Grand Juries can be tures designed to ensnare masses of http://www.blackagendareport.com/ part of the process of building local node/14607 Blacks.) It is an inherently militarized self-determinationist institutions of system of counterinsurgency that resistance to the ruling order, particu- begins with hyper-surveillance of Black larly in bolstering demands for genuine communities and ultimately warps community control of police. For these every aspect of Black internal and reasons, the model can help prevent external social relations. Inevitably, the Black people’s righteous anger and white supremacist, profoundly anti- energies from being dissipated by democratic and ultimately lawless diversions concocted by the matrix of nature of the U.S. police-prison mis- elected officials, their appointees and sion has facilitated the rise of the commissions, along with the Black The Grand Jury Lynne Stewart speaks out on the first anniversary of her release from Prison

Something I’ve always said is that sentation of the case, by the District even those rare instances where the the “law” is what “they” want it to be at Attorney, in a rudimentary way, to a Grand Jury will vote no indictment. any given time. Witness the Dred Scott Grand Jury, who will then vote on an However, the abuse by the Grand Jury decision, the Japanese internment cases indictment. (The famous or infamous in cases such as Michael Brown and of World War II, and the Scottsboro statement that a Grand Jury will indict Eric Garner, where there is only pros- and other legal lynching cases. a ham sandwich being entirely true.) ecution testimony, and that is in total In 2014, stemming from the series As I recall, the Grand Jury was an control of the District Attorney or (ongoing since 1619) of unprosecuted outgrowth of the Magna Carta, a medi- prosecuting authorities, is obvious crimes against the African American eval document that was fought for by when there can be no presentation of population, we confront the lawless- the nobles (male and white and born to an opposition scenario—they have ness, now inherent, of an ancient legal privilege) in which they won the right to killed the obvious witnesses. institution, the Grand Jury. My history not be thrown and left forever in a dank And so, the Grand Jury does what it here may be fuzzy (due to my jail time and dark prison by the king. They now is best at, following the instructions of four-plus years and subsequently had the right (habeas corpus) to demand and demands of the District Attorney— battling cancer)—but hey, there’s to be heard and judged by their “peers” Missouri or Staten Island, N.Y. It is the always Wikipedia! Nonetheless, my (equals). Of course, we are not talking ham sandwich approach, and there is own experiences as a practicing crimi- “fair” here, just the way it operated. no blame, no accountability. The police nal defense lawyer for over 30 years will The functioning of the Grand Jury and prosecutors are a single entity, and help in this short essay. has not changed a great deal since they have an agenda. In New York State, people accused those days. It is still possible for a The Grand Jury, in my not so hum- of serious crimes (felonies) can be defense attorney to present her client ble view, should be abolished. It is an brought before the court by a number and allow him to tell his story (usually anachronism, and the miniscule num- of avenues. Most common is the pre- in a self-defense case), and there are Continued on page 5

4 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Immunity for Killer Cops It’s not the law, but prosecutors, that give immunity to killer cops By Glen Ford

Black Americans know all about Darren Wilson, or Trayvon Martin’s appellate rulings from 1945, 1972, 1993 “law and order:” the term, itself, is code vigilante killer George Zimmerman, or and 1997, that continue to sustain the for the state-wielded hammer that is the whole crew of New York City vitality of the original, Reconstruction relentlessly deployed against us. No homicidal and/or depravedly indiffer- era federal statue forbidding depriva- people on earth are more conditioned ent first-responders in the Eric Garner tion of constitutional rights, including to concentrated bludgeoning under case. Obama and Holder have nothing the right to life, “under cover of law”— “color of law” than African Americans, worthwhile to say to the nine grieving that is, by police. “It is enough...if it who account for one out of out eight of Black mothers now visiting Washington can be proved—by circumstantial evi- the world’s prison inmates. Black males demanding justice for their murdered dence or otherwise—that a defendant are 21 times more likely than their loved ones, other than empty assur- exhibited reckless disregard for a con- white peers to be killed by U.S. lawmen, ances that they feel the families’ pain. stitutional or federal right,” according and make up a clear majority of young The U.S. Justice Department, which to U.S. v. Johnstone, 1997. police shooting victims under the most marshals unlimited resources to pursue That’s not nearly as high a bar to a draconian law and order regime on the long and sometimes fruitless prosecu- good faith prosecution as federal offi- planet. Of all the world’s peoples, none tions of whistleblowers and other cials contend, and an easy argument have been so unremittingly inculcated “national security” targets, claims it is for any federal prosecutor to make with the lessons of crime and punish- helpless to confront police impunity in before malleable grand juries. Whether ment—especially punishment, whether the murder of Black Americans. The an actual trial jury convicts the cop is a merited or not. law, Holder and his apologists claim, different story, but the prosecutor has For a people so acculturated, justice requires that federal criminal prosecu- an obligation to pursue justice to the demands retribution—even for tions under the civil rights statute must full extent of the law. It is not “the law” Pharaoh and his army. Thus, the sim- prove beyond a reasonable doubt that that stands like a brick wall of impunity ple and near-universal Black American the officers “acted willfully” for the spe- for police, but the interpretation of the demand that President Obama and cific purpose of violating the victim’s law by attorneys general and their sub- Attorney General Eric Holder prose- 4th Amendment constitutional right to ordinates who view prosecutions of cute killer cops. life. Making that case, they say, is near- police as akin to unnatural acts that cannot be performed in public view. But, this they will not do. impossible, requiring that prosecutors “get inside the officer’s head” to divine As Attorney Fancher writes, it is The Obama administration has no his intentions at the moment the trigger “hard to imagine why charges cannot intention of pursuing prosecution of was pulled. Therefore, despite Holder be brought when police officers fire and Obama’s public statements of con- dozens of bullets at a homeless man Continued from page 4 cern, no good faith attempt is made to armed only with a pen knife; or when mount prosecutions. police use a choke hold to put a sub- ber that benefit from it are not worth The Michigan branch of the missive man on the ground because he the rubber stamp it has become, par- American Civil Liberties Union doesn’t was alleged to be engaged in unauthor- ticularly in the murder of people of buy that argument. In an article in this ized cigarette sales. By almost anyone’s color by the police. issue of BAR, ACLU lawyer Mark reckoning, such conduct should be A far better solution (short of the Fancher, a counsel in the case of the regarded as ‘open defiance’ or ‘reckless revolution we all hope and dream of) is police “circular firing squad” killing of disregard’ for the constitutional rights to make those suspected of those hei- Milton Hall, in Saginaw, Michigan, of the victims.” nous crimes stand trial. Let 12 jurors contends that the law fully supports In refusing to prosecute, Obama and decide their fate in an open and fully charges of “open defiance” or “reckless Holder demonstrate their own pro- presented evidentiary case. It’s not a disregard” for the constitutional rights found disregard for the collective rights perfect solution but far, far better than of the victims in such cases. Although of Black Americans as a people. Police the endless parade of murderers going prosecutions of police are more diffi- immunity from prosecution begins free because their victims don’t matter. cult than trying civilians, the ACLU with the prosecutors. If the Obama — January 3, 2015 cites U.S. Supreme Court and federal regime were serious about establishing

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 5 “trust” between Black America and the tions of ungovernability in America’s tion in the deaths of Black and brown authorities, as they claim, they would cities that allows no other choice. Police “natives” in the areas they occupy. At begin with a campaign of police prose- impunity is the domestic counterpart of home and abroad, the armed forces of cutions for “reckless disregard” and the legal immunity that U.S. military the racist, imperial State are beyond “open defiance” of Black people’s con- personnel enjoy overseas. The U.S. the law. As such, their very presence is stitutional rights. There is no lack of deploys troops in the majority of coun- an affront to human dignity. That’s actionable cases. As BAR editor and tries in the world, but does not station just as true in Ferguson and Oakland senior columnist Margaret Kimberley soldiers anywhere in the absence of and New York City, as it is in Kabul writes: “There is no need for more task Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) and Ouagadougou and Bogota. forces or advisory commissions. The granting them immunity from prosecu- —Black Agenda Report, December police must stop killing black people tion under the host country’s laws. 10, 2014 with impunity and nothing will make Failure to secure an extension of the that less likely to happen than the sight SOFA agreement with Iraq required the http://blackagendareport.com/ of Wilson and his partners in crime sit- withdrawal of U.S. troops, in 2010. The node/14565 ting in federal prisons.” United States claims it has not joined the The penalty for “reckless disregard” International Criminal Court because, of people’s constitutional rights, among other reasons, compliance with involving violence, is ten years in pris- the treaty could lead to “foreign” prose- on and a stiff fine. cution of its military personnel. Of course, the feds and their state and Essentially, prosecutors in the local counterparts will not break their United States maintain an informal pact with the police—not until a people kind of Status of Forces Agreement, in angry, righteous motion create condi- immunizing the police from prosecu-

Ferguson Struggle Alters Black Politics By Glen Ford

After Missouri Governor Jay Nixon might be the beginning of the best news powerful. They have seen through the notified the National Guard that he of the 21st century for Black America. con game run by the so-called Black might be calling on their services any Whatever happens after the grand power brokers, whose job is to head off day now and declared a state of emer- jury announces it decision on whether any possibility of a rejuvenated Black gency in anticipation of massive demon- to indict the cop that killed Michael mass movement. The fact that protests strations, he appointed a 16 member Brown, the people of Ferguson have in a small town outside of St. Louis commission to study the underlying have put local, state and national secu- social and economic causes of Black dis- rity forces on high alert is testament to content in Ferguson. At some other time ... the governor’s commission is the failure of the Black Misleadership and place, this development might have irrelevant because the people of Class to contain the growing move- been highly newsworthy, and some Ferguson are organizing to ment. And, if Al Sharpton and his local might even think it a hopeful sign for empower themselves, and that Missouri counterparts cannot keep the race relations. The press would pour might be the beginning of the Black masses under control, then the over the biographies of the nine Black best news of the 21st century for appointees to Governor Nixon’s and seven white appointees, and specu- Black America. Ferguson study commission have been late about what the governor meant rendered redundant before they begin. when he said the commission was “Great leap forward” “empowered.” Empowered to do already altered the political landscape. The people now know that the what—change the economic and social They have rejected the counsel of the power is in the streets—a lesson that conditions in Black America? But the local and national Black Misleadership many had all but forgotten over the governor’s commission is irrelevant Class, who specializes in diverting and past forty years, a period in which the because the people of Ferguson are orga- suppressing any movement that threat- underlying social and economic condi- nizing to empower themselves, and that ens their patrons among the rich and

6 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 tions of Black life have scarcely Cops Threaten Blue Coup in New York improved in comparison with whites. This period saw the nation devolve By Glen Ford into a Black Mass Incarceration State as methodically vicious and relentlessly When Police Benevolent Association man who won 95 percent of the Black racist as any regime in history. The (PBA) chief Patrick Lynch said New vote on the promise to put a leash on Black Misleadership Class sought not York Mayor Bill de Blasio has the the gendarmes. only to divert Black people’s attention blood of two dead cops on his hands, There is no doubt the cops feel away from the massive imprisonment he was issuing a physical threat to both betrayed—a rage that has been build- of Black youth and the rapid militari- the person of the mayor and the civil ing in synch with the growth of a zation of the police, they actively abet- authority to which the police are sub- nationwide movement that challenges ted the Mass Black Incarceration State, ordinate and sworn to protect. In a the legitimacy of the Mass Black funding it in Congress and collaborat- nation under the rule of law, such a Incarceration State, of which they are ing in the arrest of millions on the statement by a representative of an the frontline troops, the “heroes” in streets of nominally Black-run cities. armed and enflamed constabulary— the war to criminalize and contain an The leadership of the new movement 35,000-strong, the equivalent of three entire people. The chants and placards that will grow out of Ferguson is not yet light infantry divisions—would trigger are an insult and an indictment of known, because it must be born in an immediate defensive response from THEM, and of their centrality to the struggle. But we do know that the the State, to guard against mutiny. But, racist project that has been an organiz- accommodationist preachers, corporate of course, no such thing happened. ing principle of the nation for more lawyers and professional Democratic When Lynch’s PBA declared, in a than two generations. How is it that Party politicians that have neutralized prepared statement, that “we have, for cops can be compelled to “protect and Black politics for the past four decades the first time in a number of years, serve” marchers whose purpose is no longer hold sway among the grass- become a ‘wartime’ police department” anathema to the American policing roots. And that, alone, is a great leap and “will act accordingly,” that consti- mission: to beat down, lock up, and forward. We can say with certainty that tuted an instruction to union members extra-judicially execute dissident, dis- Michael Brown did not die in vain. His to impose a martial law-type policing orderly, uppity or merely inconvenient legacy is growing by the day. regime on the city—with no authoriza- Black people? —Black Agenda Report, November tion other than the weapons they carry. The cops understand the law, and 20, 2014 Sounds very much like a coup. that the law is conditional, based on http://www.blackagendareport.com/ On Internet message boards, police place, race and wealth, and that in the node/14524 union activists instructed the rank and end there is only force, the use of which file to refuse to respond to incidents is their sacred monopoly. It’s what unless two units were dispatched to the gives them a status that union pay- scene, and to double-up even if given checks cannot buy; what makes blue- orders to the contrary. Under this collar guys and gals “somebody” in “wartime” footing, the police would society. Most of all, they know who is simply seize the power to deploy and nobody: the beatable, friskable, dispos- assign themselves, as they liked—and able, killable folks who would be prey to hell with the chain of command and on any other day, but have lately been civilian authorities. allowed to repeatedly parade down the To hell, especially, with Mayor de most protected streets of the richest Blasio, who now travels nowhere island in the country, screaming defa- except under the protective custody of mations. police commissioner Bill Bratton, a The cops are understandably angry “cop’s cop” and architect of the and confused. As primary enforcers of “Broken Windows” policing strategy the social order, they have an intimate that begat stop-and-frisk. Bratton knowledge of actual class and race rela- translates de Blasio’s words into cop- tionships in America. Their perspec- speak, and has forged a tense truce tives are molded by the geographic and between the uniformed legions and the social boundaries they patrol; they are

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 7 shaped and informed by the inequali- deserve no protection by or from the women who do its dirty work. PBA ties of the system they protect on behalf police. The very existence of honcho Patrick Lynch denounced of the powerful people they serve. (Yes, Constitution-free zones means that the “those that incited violence on the they really do “serve and protect” Bill of Rights is not the law of the land, street under the guise of protests that somebody.) The cop’s worldview is but a Potemkin façade, a con game, a tried to tear down what New York City also firmly anchored in the history of chimera—and no one knows this bet- police officers did everyday. We tried the United States. He may not be aware ter than the cops, whose job is to to warn, ‘It must not go on. It cannot of his profession’s antecedents in the ensure, as best they can, that everyone be tolerated.’” slave patrols, or even that the U.S. stays within their designated space. To which the protesters answer: the Supreme Court once ruled that Black For about a million Black people, police killings and the criminalization people have no rights that the white the assigned “space” is prison. The of a whole people must not go on and man is bound to respect, but cops are Mass Black Incarceration State is the cannot be tolerated. the reigning experts on the borders edifice that defines the American sys- The movement has come to a criti- that delineate rights and privileges in tem of justice, setting it apart from the their localities. They know that public cal juncture, a moment that would rest of the world in size, racial selectiv- have arrived even if Ismaaiyl Brinsley housing residents have virtually no ity, draconian sentencing and institu- rights that cops—as agents of the rul- had not made his own fatal decision. It tionalized torture (80,000 inmates in was always inevitable that the cops ers—are bound to respect. They know solitary confinement on any given that whole sections of their cities, would at some point demand that the day). The police are the drones that State dispense with civil liberties pre- encompassing most of the Black and feed the infernal prison machine, and brown populations, are designated as tenses and allow them to crush the keep Black America in a state of right- nascent movement. New York City’s drug zones where everyone is suspect lessness. As Shakespeare’s mercenary and probable cause is a given, or as police force—by far the nation’s largest warrior Othello would put it: We “have army of domestic occupation—is espe- high-crime zones where every shooting done the state some service, and they is pre-qualified as a good one. cially prone to mutiny and coup-plot- know it.” ting. Thousands of cops, many of them These are the Constitution-free The cops threaten mutiny if the drunk, stormed City Hall in 1992 to zones, full of people who get and State does not stick up for the men and express their utter contempt for Black mayor David Dinkins. But, the current crisis is far different, because it is the movement’s show, not the cops’. The people are exposing the most acute contradictions of American life through direct confrontation with the armed enforcers of the State. The cops are supposed to be upset. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explained, “the purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.” The crisis is here, and will grow deeper, but freedom is non-negotiable. The movement must win or be crushed. —Black Agenda Report, December 24, 2015 http://www.blackagendareport.com/ node/14590

8 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Bobby Hutton’s Hands Were Up By Michelle Renee Matisons

The death of Michael Brown in witnessed Hutton’s murder in Oakland, body, just like Bobby Hutton—and they Ferguson, Missouri, has catalyzed California on April 6, 1968. Many are both had their hands up. The fact that intense U.S. anti-policing/ police already quite familiar, not only with Hutton was a Panther in a shoot out demilitarization movement activity, Hutton’s story, but with the surveil- with police before his execution should with Ferguson serving as an urgent lance and violence used to repress the not exclude his name from the long list training ground and meeting point for Panthers. In “Justice Undelivered: of murder-by-cop victims we memori- anti-policing thinkers, writers, artists Open Letter to the Grand Jury,” we alize at anti-policing demonstrations. In and activists. One important move- summarize the events leading up to fact, one would hope to see more, not ment focus is memorializing past vic- Hutton’s execution based on Jennings’ less, references to the lessons Hutton’s tims of police/or vigilante murder, as description in our interview. At the life (and death) teaches. The disgusting the t-shirt reads: “Emmet and Amadou time his deposition was suppressed, it corporate media character assassina- and Sean and Oscar and Trayvon and never made it to the Grand Jury, and tions that murder-by-cop victims have Jordan and Eric and Mike and Ezell…” he was called a liar, harassed—even at to endure (Trayvon Martin was a dope This listing of past victims isn’t intend- gunpoint—by fellow officers. Here we smoking, school skipping delinquent, ed as a mere respectful exercise for the describe Jennings’ version of events: and Michael Brown was a thief) has the dead; it educates about the violent rac- “On the night of April 6, 1968, police movement on edge to prove these young ist continuum that marks the U.S.’s officer Eugene R. Jennings witnessed men did not deserve to be murdered. past and present. As for the future, the the murder of Bobby Hutton by It’s absurd to even have to say some- t-shirt’s informed ellipsis “…” suggests Oakland and Emeryville police officers. thing like, “Even if Michael Brown did that the problem is so large it will no Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Hutton steal those cigars, his hands were up, he doubt continue until racist policing is were engaged in a gun battle with the shouldn’t have been murdered.” If we abolished. (It didn’t take long after police. Jennings states in his deposition have to utter these words today, this Brown’s murder for St. Louis to see its to the police department briefing that doesn’t bode well for those of us who next murder-by-cop victim, 18-year- he arrived at the scene at 1218 28th say, “Bobby Hutton was surrendering, old Vonderrit Myers, Jr.) What com- Street in Oakland and took position his hands were up, and he shouldn’t plicates the inexhaustible list of those across the street on top of a brick build- have been murdered.” murdered by police is that with every ing (building is still standing). He did Sure, there is a world of difference new generation the evidence against not see who was actually shooting, but in the events leading to Hutton’s and policing mounts. As each generation saw “flashes coming from the base- Brown’s deaths. But the racist policing resists racist police practices, this resis- ment” from the house across the street. apparatus perceives all Black and tance incites police to further entirely From his observation the house had unjustified—and now disturbingly caught on fire. Jennings further states “preemptive”—violence. We are wit- that Cleaver and Hutton had surren- nessing this dynamic in the police/ dered to the police and were surround- military build-up before the impend- ed. The police brutalized both Cleaver ing announcement of Ferguson officer and Hutton. According to Jennings’ Darren Wilson’s likely acquittal for testimony, Hutton stumbled after being Michael Brown’s murder. We have pushed from behind, not trying to already seen the state’s severe repres- escape. (During the deposition, the sion/murders of past militant anti-rac- police investigation attempted to coerce ist organizers, especially the Black Jennings to state that Hutton was trying Panthers, including the Party’s first to escape or run). At this point an offi- victim by cop, Bobby Hutton, Jr.— or cer stepped forward and shot Hutton in “Lil’ Bobby.” the head, and other officers followed On July 1, 2005, in Sacramento, suit. Jennings’ description of Hutton’s California, I was part of a small group murder mirrors the version told by who interviewed Eugene Jennings, one Eldridge Cleaver.” Michael Brown was of only two Black police officers who shot in the head, and other parts of his

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 9 brown lives the same: worthless. The establishment that supports the Black Fighting Police Terror in Washington, DC mass incarceration state and its coun- By Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo terinsurgency police militarization practices knows well the lesson of During the recent Black is Back Rally 3. The establishment of a legitimate Bobby Hutton’s life and death. Setting and Teach-In in Washington, D.C. on citizen review board with indict- aside details about how Hutton came November 7, 2014, I had the pleasure of ment and firing powers. to be placed in harms way on the day of interviewing Kenny Nero, one of the origi- his murder, he was young, militant, Over time, we conducted teach-in/ nal organizers of the #DCFerguson move- building sessions on the Sundays, fol- and educating himself about his rights. ment. The group has organized marches He was fighting back. That is what all lowing our Saturday marches. As a with 300-700 participants that have shut result, and to resonate with our imme- the police weaponry is about in down major economic thoroughfares in Ferguson, Missouri right now. They diate community, we added a fourth DC from Chinatown and H Street, to U demand: An investigation into the are warning the next generation of Street and Georgetown. These demonstra- Bobby Huttons to stay home and be 24-plus extrajudicial killings by the tions provided the impetus for DC Council Metropolitan Police Department (DC’s afraid. But this warning has never member Tommy Wells to organize hear- worked and it never will. People can Finest) since 2004. We became aware ings on police brutality, harassment and of these significant extrajudicial kill- see with their own eyes the cold blood- terror in Washington DC. ed murders of Black and brown people, ings in Washington through a Freedom the subsequent police/political cover- Kenny Nero, Jr. is a librarian at the Of Information Act (FOIA) request by ups, the colluding media re-assassina- Howard University Health Sciences AFRO newspaper journalist and DC tions of the victims, their families, and Library and a community organizer by Ferguson supporter, Valencia supporters, and the intimidation and night. He worked on the DC Jail Library Muhammad. That FOIA report is repression of those seeking justice for Coalition initiative to make a library in incomplete in that they left out some victims and their families. DC’s jail a reality. The initiative’s suc- victims’ names that we are aware of. In cesses include the mayor’s allocating $300K mid-September, after our third dem- My point here is not to catalyze a for the library to support: a full time onstration, we decided to revise our debate about controversial anti-police librarian, to be hired in October 2014; a initial list and #DCFerguson is now resistance tactics of the past. As part time library technician, and job read- demanding the following: Ferguson’s daunting militarized police iness and digital literacy programs. presence makes clear, we are in the pre- 1. A legitimate citizen review board emptive strike era of police weaponry Kenny provides insights into a broad with indictment and firing pow- and tactics, so it has to be a new era for array of issues, the philosophy and frame- ers. Currently, the review board resistance strategy and tactics. This is work for the #DCFerguson Movement. I in DC can only make suggestions/ simply to acknowledge that Lil’ Bobby hope by sharing this information, other recommendations. Hutton’s name is on the same justice movements across the country can learn 2. Real community policing; a per- seeking continuum as Emmett and and benefit from #DCFerguson’s mobili- centage of the police that patrol a Amadou and Sean and Oscar and zation experiences. community are to be required to Trayvon and Jordan and Eric and Mike Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: live in that community. and Ezell… Justice for Michael Brown What are the mission and goals of #DC 3. Any officer who fires upon and will be justice for Lil’ Bobby Hutton too. Ferguson? causes the death of an unarmed Michelle Renee Matisons, Ph.D. can Kenny Nero: Our first march was in civilian should be fired, arrested be reached at [email protected]. Chinatown, Washington DC at the end and convicted. —Black Agenda Report, November of August 2014. Our demands were Our mission, coupled with our 19, 2014 strategically simple and broad as a demands, is to seize the momentum of means to mobilize the masses: http://www.Blackagendareport.com/ the time and revolutionize the police node/14519 1. The demilitarization of the police department by lifting our voices and force. mobilizing the people into action. We 2. Arrest of Office Darren Wilson, realize a Black man or boy is murdered the executioner of unarmed every 28 hours by a policeman, security 18-year-old African-American guard or vigilante like George student, Michael Brown. Zimmerman. We’re building a movement and not a moment. We will con-

10 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 tinue to fight until substantive changes organize a long-term social movement borhood and as a consequence lots of are made. to address injustice. For us, DC Ferguson my friends coming up experienced the Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: is a movement and not a moment. We dehumanizations of being subjected to What is the political “end game” for decided on the hashtag DCFerguson to sitting on a curb, hands cuffed behind DC Ferguson? underscore, as noted by the Malcolm X their backs while reactionary police Grassroots Movement’s study Operation aggressively searched their vehicle. Kenny Nero: This answer depends Ghettostorm, that a Michael Brown-type Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: on how one defines politics. If we are murder happens nationwide every 28 to define politics as most Americans do What is the strategy behind “taking hours by the police, security or vigilan- over the city” to dramatize and call then we simply want our goals met. te. We wanted to stand in solidarity The local power structure in attention to police brutality? Washington, DC has been responding Kenny Nero: Malcolm X once said: to our demands through city counsel “The greatest mistake of the movement hearings, including the testimony of ...the system has traded has been trying to organize a sleeping the DC Chief of Police, Cathy Lanier. people around specific goals. You have From that perspective, I think we are plantations for prisons to wake the people up first, then you’ll moving in the right direction. To see quite literally get action.” We sought to shut down that direction to its end, we will need major economic thoroughfares for the Washington, DC power structure precisely this reason—to educate the to implement policies addressing our with the victims of violence in Ferguson people, wake them up, mobilize and demands. If we define politics as meet- while standing in solidarity with victims galvanize the masses into action. ing the basic desires and needs of the of police brutality, harassment, terror or Washington, DC, along with the rest of people, then #DCFerguson has a much other misconducts. I got involved the nation, is experiencing a revolution more difficult battle, because then because this is bigger than me; no mat- of the conscience. we’re talking about revolution. ter how much relative peace I may be Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: experiencing, my brothers and sisters at How long have you been an activist? What is your vision of a society based large are being murdered and locked up Kenny Nero: Although I’ve only on justice? with impunity in our neo-liberal, so- seriously been putting work in since Kenny Nero: A society based on called color blind, white supremacist around November 2013, starting with justice is a civilized society. America world. As individuals, there’s little we the DC Jail Library initiative, being isn’t civilized and it never has been. can do. But when organized, the people politically active runs in my family. My This means we will have to change have the power. #DCFerguson became a late cousin S.T. Nero was an activist America. George Bernard Shaw said movement that inevitably built coali- who struggled for freedom with his America doesn’t know justice. It’s the tions with many other local organiza- community in Mississippi. He was only country to go from barbarism to tions currently expressing the power of acknowledged for his activism in decadence without going through civi- the people. Akinyele Omowale Umoja’s, We Will lization. The challenge of my genera- Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: Shoot Back. Moreover, my father, a tion is to revolutionize society in order Have you been the victim of police native Washingtonian of the Petworth to experience civilization. violence, injustice? Provide examples. community, drove his 1965 Pontiac to Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: the 17th St. NW and U St. NW Black Kenny Nero: I’ve experienced police Panther Party chapter to deliver their Why did you decide to get involved in injustices of the harassment variety. DC Ferguson? newspapers. Struggling for the people I’ve been stopped and pulled over at a is in the Nero genes. Kenny Nero: It was late August when rate much higher than my white peers. Eugene Puryear, At-Large candidate for This only stopped when I sold my car. Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: DC Council, Kymone Freeman, co- I didn’t own one for about five years. What triggered your passion to become founder of We Act Radio and Salim an activist? Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: Adofo, national vice chairperson of the Kenny Nero: What triggered my Have you known other Black men who National Black United Front and I passion was probably a strong desire to have been the victim of police violence, decided—shortly after attending a do something. While the DC Jail Library injustice—provide examples. march and rally in Washington, DC— initiative was ultimately a success, it did that we had to respond to what was Kenny Nero: I grew up in a pre- not directly address the systemic racism happening in Ferguson. We decided to dominantly Black and brown neigh- and institutionalized privilege that feed

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 11 the prison industrial complex. I decid- capitalist system can meet the demands at the September 24, 2014 Congressional ed to link up with organizations of our community. It has become more Black Caucus Foundation Legislative involved in the long-term, protracted devious in modern times as it intro- Weekend? struggle against the system. duced the notion of a world of “color Kenny Nero: The purpose of this Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: blindness” that has fooled the masses rally was to draw national and interna- What college or grad school did you into thinking that anything outside of tional attention to the Congressional attend? What was your major? an overt racist statement or action is Black Caucus, a bourgeois entity that otherwise not racism. This system has Kenny Nero: I took the scenic route continues to betray the interest of the tried to project racism as a thing of the people they claim to represent. after high school. I first went to past; conquered vestiges of the more University of Maryland, Baltimore turbulent times of yesteryear. In reality, Here is what they support: County (UMBC) and removed myself the system has traded plantations for 1. Continued U.S. funding to Israel due to poor grades and study habits prisons quite literally as read in the so- and its slaughter of the people of and went to a local community college; called re-constructionist 13th Gaza/Palestine Montgomery College. I majored in Amendment, which abolished slavery Criminal Justice thinking that I could 2. Its vote against net neutrality, and involuntary servitude except as and do some good, which I now realize was punishment for a crime. Our imperial- an act of complete ignorance to the ist nation has traded colonialism for 3. Continued funding to militarize nuances of the systemic racism and neo-colonialism and seeks to extract the police in African-American institutionalized privilege inherent in resources from every corner of the communities. the system. After that, I went to the planet at the expense of human life, The CBC does not represent the University of Maryland (UMD) and liberty and pursuit of happiness, all in interests of African/black people.1 received a Bachelor of Science in the name of profit. This capitalist sys- Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo is the Psychology and eventually went to the tem cannot know justice, as mentioned author of No FEAR: A Whistleblowers University of Pittsburgh and obtained earlier, because it has never known Triumph over Corruption and a Masters in Library and Information civilization. A just society is an egalitar- Retaliation at the EPA is available Science. I’m currently working as a ian society. A just society will be one through amazon.com. Dr. Coleman- Librarian at Howard University. where mass incarceration of Black peo- Adebayo worked at the EPA for 18 years Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: Do ple is fiction. These are just a few and blew the whistle on a US multina- you think the present system can meet examples of what I think a society tional corporation that endangered the demands of the African-American based on justice is and isn’t and the vanadium mine workers. Marsha’s suc- community? If not, what is your vision only way to achieve it is through revo- cessful lawsuit led to the introduction of a society that is based on justice? lution. and passage of the first civil rights and Kenny Nero: While I don’t know for Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: whistleblower law of the 21st Century: sure what a just society is, I do know Why did you decide to organize and The Notification of Federal Employees what it isn’t. I do not think the present, participate in a protest demonstration Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (NoFEAR Act.) She is Director of Transparency and Accountability for the Green Shadow Cabinet, serves on the Advisory Board of ExposeFacts.com and Coordinator of the DC-based, Hands-Up Coalition and No FEAR Coalition. www.marshacoleman-adebayo.com

1 See link to video of the CBC demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85SKYavgBP A&index=5&list=UU-IXMK9KR_FvddtCvs- v5p3w #DC Ferguson demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=EZNI8Ch9V1Y

12 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Broken Countries Policing Impossible to preach respect for the rule of law By Matt Peppe

Despite being disproven as a strate- U.S. Racial minorities suffer dispropor- “Under assault are those individuals gy for reducing crime, the broken win- tionately lower socioeconomic status and populations considered excess dows policing theory is still utilized in compared to whites, creating a racial such as poor youth of color and immi- New York and throughout in the caste system. With the drastic decline in grants” who are controlled by “fear of United States to crack down on disor- recent decades of agriculture, manufac- punishment, of being killed, tortured, der and nonviolent crime. To think turing and other forms of manual labor, or reduced to the mere level of surviv- that harsh enforcement of this type of populations previously depended on al,” Giroux writes. “crime” would prevent serious crime for cheap labor have become disposable Raven Rakia describes in a Truthout like homicide and assault is patently in the modern economy. article on November 20, 2014 titled, absurd on its face. If you want to rid The state has undertaken a system “Subways Are an NYPD Hotspot in de society of the most serious crimes, you of social control to prevent any solidar- Blasio’s New York,” how low-level should be enforcing the most serious ity and political opposition that would infractions have been disproportion- crimes, like aggressive war. Call it bro- recognize and oppose unjust racial ately enforced against people of color, ken countries policing. castes. Not coincidentally, broken win- sweeping thousands into the criminal In the United States in 2014, you dows policing has been carried out justice system and further marginalizing may be arrested for selling loose ciga- predominantly against African people already struggling economically. rettes, jumping turnstiles, dancing on American and Latino citizens. “Arbitrary rules such as ‘no sleeping the subways, and having small amounts “The public is constantly getting out on a subway car in a way that is hazard- of marijuana, but not for assassination, of control,” Noam Chomsky says. “You ous or interferes with others’ have torture, anal rape, illegal surveillance, have to carry out measures to insure turned into the NYPD brutally arrest- or invading, occupying and bombing that they remain passive and apathetic ing a man on his way home from work sovereign countries. and obedient, and don’t interfere with in an almost empty subway car. He was The “broken windows” theory that you privilege or power. It’s a major theme of later charged with resisting arrest, can nip violent crime in the bud by pun- modern democracy. As the mechanisms obstructing governmental administra- ishing minor “quality of life” violations of democracy expand, like enfranchise- tion and violating local law (the MTA like smoking and drinking in the street or ment and growth, the need to control rules),” Rakia writes. sleeping on the subway is so transparently people by other means increases. Repressive policing has long been nonsensical it is hard to believe anyone “This is accomplished by employing used to maintain political and eco- could even consider it seriously. a police force that operates like an occu- nomic domination over minority It is equivalent to a diet to prevent pying army in poor neighborhoods of groups in the United States. After obesity that consists of forgoing vege- color under the guise of crime preven- African Americans were nominally lib- tables and grains because foods with tion. It would be impossible to admit erated from slavery following the Civil the least calories are a gateway to fatty, publicly that the police mission in these War, southern states manipulated the fried foods with no nutritional value. communities is repression and subjuga- legal system to replicate their control Corn seeds are not Twinkies, and sleep- tion. The idea of broken windows as a over freed slaves. ing on a subway train is not murder. deterrent to violent crime provides In his Pulitzer-prize-winning book Basic common sense and years of cover to justify what is in reality a racist, Slavery By Another Name: The empirical data demonstrate that bro- punitive, paramilitary occupation.” Re-Enslavement of Black Americans ken windows theory has no effect on As Henry Giroux wrote in a Truthout From the Civil War to World War II, preventing serious crime. When you article on December 5, 2014 titled, Douglas Blackmon describes how understand this, it is easy to see that the “State Terrorism and Racist Violence southern states criminalized Black life, broken windows theory put into prac- in the Age of Disposability: From using the legal system to punish Black tice is about something entirely differ- Emmett Till to Eric Garner,” we are and then lease them to corporations to ent than its professed aims. living in “an age of disposability” which work in coal mines, steel furnaces, There is a strong correlation between has seen “the rise of the punishing state farms, quarries and factories. This race and socioeconomic status in the as a way to govern all of social life.” served the dual purposes of marginal-

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 13 izing Blacks politically and supplying placed in job applications, rental agree- “As I have walked among the cheap labor to capitalist commercial ments, loan applications, forms for wel- desperate, rejected and angry young interests. fare benefits, school applications, and men I have told them that Molotov petitions for licenses, informing the cocktails and rifles would not solve “The original records of county jails their problems. I have tried to offer indicated thousands of arrests for general public that ‘felons’ are not wanted here. A criminal record today them my deepest compassion while inconsequential charges or for viola- maintaining my conviction that authorizes precisely the forms of dis- tions of laws specifically written to social change comes most meaning- intimidate Blacks—changing employ- crimination we supposedly left fully through nonviolent action. But ers without permission, vagrancy, rid- behind—discrimination in employ- they asked—and rightly so—what ing freight cars without a ticket, engag- ment, housing, education, public bene- about Vietnam? They asked if our ing in sexual activity—or loud talk— fits, and jury service,” Alexander writes. own nation wasn’t using massive with white women,” Blackmon writes. If we pretend for a minute that the doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it The criminalization of Black life has criminal justice system was meant as a deterrent to prevent the most serious wanted. Their questions hit home, continued since the Reconstruction and I knew that I could never again violent crimes then we could imagine era, morphing into a new form. raise my voice against the violence Whereas once there was convict leas- the most severe punishment for such of the oppressed in the ghettos with- ing, now there is mass incarceration. crimes. The worst crimes are those of out having first spoken clearly to the People are warehoused in prisons at violence—murder, rape, torture, greatest purveyor of violence in the the highest rate in the entire world. assault, etc.—and white-collar crimes world today—my own government. Public prisons create jobs for construc- like fraud that rob people of their For the sake of those boys, for the tion workers and corrections officers in financial security. sake of this government, for the sake rural, mainly white communities, while While individuals can commit atro- of hundreds-of-thousands trem- bling under our violence, I cannot private prisons turn prisoners into cious crimes on their own, states and be silent.” profit centers for corporations and corporations, by virtue of their size, their investors. money and influence, can magnify the King notes the dissimilarity of one size of serious crimes exponentially. person throwing a Molotov cocktail One hundred years ago, African with the U.S. state using 30-billion- Americans were persecuted through International crimes are committed on a scale much larger than retail crime tons of munitions in Indochina— the criminal justice system en masse. including napalm, Agent Orange, clus- Today the system is remarkably simi- committed by individuals or local criminal organizations. The Holocaust ter bombs, “pineapple” bomblets, dai- lar. Besides exploitation for profit, sy-cutter bombs, artillery shells, rock- criminalization of African Americans is six million times worse than a single homicide in New York City. ets, grenades and countless other enables many of the same types of dis- weapons of mass destruction. crimination as previously existed under As the enforcer of domestic law, the Jim Crow. state has the obligation to lead by exam- Aggressive war was deliberately defined by the Nuremberg Trials as the Michelle Alexander notes in her ple and follow international law if it expects its citizens respect its law enforce- “supreme” crime “differing only from book, The New Jim Crow: Mass other crimes in that it contains within Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness ment at home. It is not possible to break the law abroad while claiming moral itself the accumulated evil of the that discrimination against African whole.” Americans today is arguably even more authority inside the country’s borders. pernicious than under Jim Crow Why should anyone listen to someone The U.S. government has been because it is carried out under a nomi- who says: “Do as I say, not as I do?” guilty of aggression multiple times nally colorblind legal system. However, Martin Luther King, Jr. articulated a since World War II, in Korea, Vietnam, the mind-blowing numbers of impris- damning indictment of the U.S. gov- Cambodia, Laos, Grenada, Panama, oned ethnic minorities who are impris- ernment—which at the time was Iraq and Afghanistan. oned mostly for nonviolent crime engaged in a murderous war in The President himself maintains a make the racial aspect of the system Southeast Asia that killed three million “kill list” that he uses in his extrajudi- indisputable. The result is eerily similar Vietnamese—in his speech at Riverside cial drone assassination program that to post-Civil War discrimination Church in 1967 when he pointed out has killed thousands of people since the against Blacks. that one cannot oppose crimes of indi- start of his Presidency. Among the vic- “The ‘whites only’ signs may be gone, viduals while ignoring much larger tims have been at least two American but new signs have gone up—notices crimes of the state: citizens who were never convicted or

14 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 even faced a single charge in any court other public emergency, may be millions more have been wounded, of law. invoked as a justification of torture.” displaced, widowed and orphaned. Why should any U.S. citizen show Furthermore, the state where torture That is in Iraq alone. The situations in indignation against a common street takes place is obligated to “submit the Afghanistan and Libya are equally as criminal who kills someone, but not case to its competent authorities for serious. Syria and Ukraine have been against the President of the country the purpose of prosecution.” destroyed by destabilization and proxy who has executed people many times There is no room under the law for wars encouraged every step of the way over? Since when did the President of someone’s opinion—a person on the by the U.S. government. Millions can- what is supposed to be a democracy, street or in the White House—whether not farm their fields in Pakistan, Yemen where no one is above the law, gain the we should look forwards, backwards, and Somalia without fear of being powers of judge, jury and executioner? or sideways. The law and the obliga- incinerated by U.S. drones. Earlier in December, the Senate tions of each party to the treaty could Until the criminals who cause untold released the Executive Summary of its not be more clear: torture is never jus- death and destruction abroad are held “Torture Report” (while the remaining tifiable, and must always be punished. accountable, it is impossible to preach 6,300 pages remain classified. The As Tom Engelhardt explains in his respect for the rule of law at home. The details of the summary are so horrific, book Shadow Government: Surveillance, imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they make the crimes of a Japanese Secret Wars, and a Global Security State and the rash of unpunished police kill- general hanged for torture after World in a Single-Superpower World: “Today, in ings of unarmed Black men like Michael War II seem mild. the wake of the rampant extra-legality of Brown and Eric Garner, have made clear the Global War on Terror—including that the criminal justice system is not an In addition to the many well-known impartial arbiter serving the nation to cases of waterboarding, the Senate the setting up of a secret, extrajudicial global prison system of ‘Black sites’ uphold justice but a weapon for those Report details instances of “rectal feed- who control it, alternately enabling their ing and rectal hydration” which con- where rampant torture and abuse were carried to the point of death, illegal kid- own criminal actions and punishing oth- sisted of a detainee’s lunch “consisting ers for actions that pale by comparison. of hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts, nappings of terror suspects and their and raisins, [being] ‘pureed’ and rec- rendition to the prisons of torture —Counterpunch, December 29, 2014 tally infused. Additional sessions of regimes, and the assassination by drone rectal feeding and hydration followed.” of American citizens backed by Justice Department legalisms—it’s clear that http://www.counterpunch. These heinous, savage acts are anal national security state officials feel they org/2014/12/29/broken-countries-policing/ rape. Never was the detainee tried or have near total impunity when it comes convicted of anything in a court of law. to whatever they want to do. They know What makes this any different than a that nothing they do, however egregious, man who forces himself on a woman in will be brought a dark alley? before an open There is no one alive that would court of law and claim a rapist who violates a woman prosecuted.” walking home from the subway would Since deserve to be let free because we need President to “look forward as opposed to looking George W. Bush backwards,” yet that is exactly what took office, the President Obama said about rapists countries of and other torturers after taking office Afghanistan, in 2009. Iraq and Libya If there could possibly be any doubt lie in complete morally about the actions described in ruins. In Iraq the Senate Torture Report, legally there alone, estimates is not. The Convention against Torture run as high as makes indisputably clear that “No one million dead exceptional circumstances whatsoever, as a result of U.S. whether a state of war or a threat of military inter- war, internal political instability or any vention. Many

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 15 Black Cops Fear Other Cops Two-dozen Black NYPD cops tell Reuters that they’ve been treated similarly to Eric Garner. By Cliff Weathers

Black New York City Police officers often think that they are being racially profiled by their white colleagues, according to a shocking new report by Reuters. The wire service interviewed 25 Black male officers, ten current cops and 15 retired. With just one exception, they said that they have been victims of racial profiling by police, both when wearing the uniform and while off duty. For its article, Reuters identified racial profiling as “using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone heads slammed against vehicles and Reuters joined a group of Black offi- of having committed a crime.” guns brandished in their faces. cers at a casual outing, where they dis- “The Black officers interviewed cussed the Eric Garner incident and In the article, Reuters equates what said they had been racially profiled unanimously agreed that his death was they experience as the same type of by white officers exclusively, and avoidable. According to Reuters, the racial profiling that cost Eric Garner about one third said they made some cops that met at a Williamsburg tavern his life after he was swarmed by police form of complaint to a supervisor.” said the methods used against Garner officers and one applied a choke hold “All but one said their supervi- were inadvisable and other options, like to him. sors either dismissed the complaints talking him down or spraying him with The Black police officers said their or retaliated against them by deny- mace could have been employed by experiences included being pulled over ing them overtime, choice assign- their colleagues instead of a choke hold. ments, or promotions. The remain- by police for no reason (multiple times The NYPD and the Patrolmen’s for most), being stopped and frisked, ing officers who made no complaints said they refrained from doing so Benevolent Association both declined thrown into prison vans, and being to speak with Reuters. The NYPD also physically assaulted and threatened. either because they feared retribution or because they saw racial pro- failed to respond to a data request from Black cops say that they’ve had their filing as part of the system.” Reuters showing the racial breakdown of harassment complaints by its officers to its Internal Affairs Bureau. Cliff Weathers is a senior editor at AlterNet, covering environmental and consumer issues. He is a former deputy editor at Consumer Reports. His work has also appeared in Salon, Car and Driver, Playboy, Raw Story and Detroit Monthly among other publications. Follow him on Twitter @cliffweath- ers and on Facebook. —AlterNet, December 23, 2014 http://www.alternet.org/Black-nypd- cops-say-theyre-profiled-and-threatened-white-cops?akid=12608.229473. RBf_YO&rd=1&src=newsletter1029174 &t=2

16 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Oakland Protesters Blockade Police Department Black-led direct action disrupts business-as-usual to demand an end to the war on Black people By Sarah Lazare

Bearing a banner declaring “Black officer,” explains a joint statement. as a demonstration of Black peoples’ and Breathing,” protesters surrounded “The 28 minutes highlight the startling right to exist and to thrive, just like and temporarily blockaded the fact that every 28 hours a Black person anyone else.” Oakland Police Department headquar- is killed by police, security or vigilantes Common Dreams spoke over the ters on Monday morning, December in this country.” phone with Alex Tom, a protester with 15, 2014, while shutting down a nearby Protesters say that now is the the Asian solidarity group freeway entrance to demand “an moment to take a stand against this #Asians4BlackLives, which, along with immediate end to the war on Black deadly status quo. the white ally group Bay Area Solidarity people.” “This action is part of a larger, sus- Action Team, helped organize “We fight for justice for every single tained effort to disrupt business as Monday’s action under the leadership Black life that has passed at the hands usual in the tradition of the of Black organizations. “This was a of police, but we must also stand up Montgomery Bus Boycott and the really important action because it was and shut down for the Black and Woolworth counter sit-ins,” said bringing all communities together to breathing who are at risk of the same Jeralynn Blueford, the mother of Alan show that fighting for Black lives fate,” said Deirdre Smith, one of the Blueford who was killed by an Oakland should not just be the job of Black organizers of the action, which was led police officer in 2012. people,” Tom declared. “It is impor- by the all-Black organizations the tant for us as Asians to put our bodies BlackOut Collective, #BlackBrunch “We didn’t get an equal seat on the on the line and shut down institutions and #BlackLivesMatter. bus or at the lunch counter because we like the OPD that perpetrate the war said ‘please,’” Blueford continued. “We on Black people.” Chaining themselves together, got our seats because of our highly demonstrators blocked four sets of organized and effectively sustained Felicia Gustin of the Bay Area doors to the Oakland Police protests and boycotts, disrupting busi- Solidarity Action Team told Common Department while approximately 30 ness as usual. We hold this space today Dreams, “We are part of a national Black protesters held the space in front movement to say Black lives matter. As of the station. Meanwhile, others shut down a major intersection leading to a freeway close by, causing significant traffic disruption. At one point, a demonstrator scaled a pole to replace an OPD flag with one memorializing Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Alex Nieto, Renisha McBride, and Michael Brown—all people of color, almost all of them Black, killed by police or vigilante violence. A group of people locked together at the base of the pole to prevent the alternate flag from being taken down. At the time of publication, organizers announced that they had reached their goal of maintaining the blockade for four hours and 28 minutes. “The four hours honor the memory of Michael Brown, whose body lay in the streets of Ferguson for more than four hours after he was killed by a police

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 17 “There is a war on Black people in America and police are the militarized force leading it,” said Wazi Maret David, an Oakland resident and violence prevention educator. “We are here today to bring our demands to OPD’s front door, to stake claim on their space, and to bring an end to state-sanctioned violence against all Black people.”1 —Common Dreams, December 15, 2014 http://www.commondreams.org/ news/2014/12/15/demanding-end-war- Black-people-oakland-protesters- blockade-police-department

white activists, we want to stress that which emerged from the organization white silence means violence. We as Ferguson Action, including: “an end to 1 A video of the action is available at: white people have to join with Black all forms of discrimination and the full http://www.commondreams.org/ communities to end violence against news/2014/12/15/demanding-end-war-Black- Black communities in this country, people-oakland-protesters-blockade-police- department making sure to do that under their leadership with accountability to “We didn’t get an equal them.” seat on the bus or at the At least 27 people were arrested at lunch counter because the action, and participants are urging support for those detained. we said ‘please,’” Monday’s protest comes on the Blueford continued. heels of massive demonstrations in “We got our seats New York City, Washington, D.C., and because of our highly across the country over the weekend amid a groundswell of anger and mobi- organized and effective- lization in response to institutionalized ly sustained protests and racism in the U.S. and police killings of unarmed Black people and other com- boycotts, disrupting munities of color—including in business as usual. We Oakland. hold this space today as According to data obtained by the a demonstration of Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, the Oakland Police Department, California Black peoples’ right to Highway Patrol, and BART police have exist and to thrive, just killed at least 78 people since 1970. Of those 74 percent were Black and 99 like anyone else.” percent were people of color. The organizers of Monday’s action have been in close touch with protest- recognition of our human rights” and ers across the country, including in “an immediate end to police brutality New York and Ferguson, and have and the murder of Black, brown and all explicitly endorsed a series of demands oppressed people.”

18 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Ferguson is Baghdad is New York is Kabul Our wars abroad are mirror images of the war at home By Sonali Kolhatkar

There is a pattern emerging in my detainees from the “war on terror” in age-old American tradition, historical- Facebook feed this week. One group of Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib ly practiced domestically, as professor friends has been posting stories of and elsewhere, have been almost Anne-Marie Cusac discussed in her police brutality and protests accompa- entirely brown, Muslim men. Just as 2009 book Cruel and Unusual: The nied by personal statements of outrage. people of color, in particular Black Culture of Punishment in America. Another group has been remarking on men, are disproportionately more like- Inmates in CIA custody were also sub- the disgusting revelations from the ly to be killed domestically by police jected to a horrific practice called “rec- Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA officers, U.S. soldiers have been tal feedings,” which resulted in serious torture report and the need for deployed in poor countries such as injuries. But similar techniques have accountability. There is little overlap Iraq and Afghanistan, where the non- been used on U.S. inmates domesti- between the two groups, and yet the white populations of Muslim men, cally, as this report on torture in common threads between the U.S.’ women and children are victimized American prisons reveals. Inmates in foreign and domestic policies are dis- through shootings and raids. federal and state prisons describe being turbingly uncanny. Among the revelations in the report sodomized by flashlights and even hav- Whether on the streets of Baghdad on CIA tactics is the story of an Afghan ing chemical fire extinguishers sprayed or Ferguson, soldiers and militarized man named Gul Rahman who literally inside them. police forces have historically enforced froze to death while in U.S. custody. The brutality of CIA interrogators control, not law. Behind the prison Rahman was chained with only a single as revealed in the Senate committee walls of Guantanamo and Texas, some piece of clothing covering the top half report was part of the project of war authorities have tortured and brutal- of his body and “died of hypothermia.” that includes the open aggression of ized rather than interrogated. They In 2012, at least ten inmates in the U.S. troops on the streets of Baghdad have not protected nor served; they Texas prison system died of heat and Kabul in the post 9/11 years. have attacked and killed. They have not stroke. An unnamed corrections offi- Similarly, the savagery inside U.S. pris- gathered intelligence; they have violat- cer told The New York Times that he ons goes hand in hand with the killings ed people’s humanity. worried about “boiling [inmates] in of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir I am an immigrant to the United their cells.” Rice and the countless slayings of States. The names of those killed and Also revealed in grisly detail in the unarmed Black men in the U.S. Our tortured in Iraq and Afghanistan report on CIA practices is the barba- wars abroad are mirror images of the invoke in my imagination people who rism of waterboarding detainees such war at home. look like me, people I could have as Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Simply comparing photographs of known, who could be my family. In the Mohammad. But water torture is an police in Ferguson to U.S. troops on faces of those killed and tortured in Ferguson and Los Angeles, I see my neighbors and friends, people I know and love and think of as family. These are not separate and distinct. The pain I feel while reading the CIA report is as strong as the grief that comes from perusing the images of unarmed people of color who have been killed by U.S. police. The U.S. tortures and imprisons people of color both at home and abroad. Mass incarceration disproportionately impacts people of color, in particular Black men in the U.S., while

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 19 the battlefield is instructive. We have turned cities into war zones and those cities could be either here in the U.S. or in Iraq or Afghanistan. It is not the case that U.S. police are simply hoping to emulate the military. In fact, the Pentagon has literally outfitted domestic law enforcement with the weapons of war. Often used to justify the trigger- happy behavior of U.S. police is an assertion that policing is a dangerous and “thankless” job and that, in facing off with potential criminals at every in the five year period 2009-2013, only other. Armed men have been perpetra- turn, “it’s either you or them.” six cases actually went to trial. tors, protected by elites, while poor Similarly, U.S. soldiers in the battle- None of this should surprise us. people of color have been the primary field have fired at civilians, claiming After all, presidents have explicitly targets and victims. they were under attack. This siege declared wars on both domestic and Not enough progressive Americans mentality is a convenient cover by foreign fronts. After Nixon pro- make the connection between these armed men using the authority of their nounced a “war on drugs” in 1971 dur- wars we wage simultaneously. Whether badge or uniform to condone their ing the late stages of the Vietnam War, it is our federal or state officials that are killings. that domestic war has been extended responsible for killings and torture at Just as police officers such as Darren by every president since. Criminalizing home or abroad, ultimately we fund it Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo are almost drug use and sales has driven much of all through our tax dollars and sanc- never convicted for killing people, it is the U.S.’ domestic incarceration. And tion it all through our silence. Too similarly rare for U.S. soldiers to face with the advent of the post 9/11 war on many liberal activists fixate on the justice despite overwhelming evidence terror, our imprisonment of “terror effects of U.S. foreign policy while of their wrongdoing. For example, suspects” and foreign fighters has ignoring what is happening on our Amnesty International maintains that of increased dramatically. The two wars doorstep. And too many of us who the 1,800 Afghans killed by U.S. troops have occurred in parallel with each work for justice domestically overlook what is done to our brothers and sisters abroad. If we are to transform the U.S.’ approach to violence we need to draw links between right here and far away. Ferguson is Baghdad is New York is Kabul. Sonali Kolhatkar is the host and executive producer of “Uprising,” a daily radio program at KPFK Pacifica Radio, soon to be on Free Speech TV. She is also the Director of the Afghan Women’s Mission, a U.S.-based non-profit that supports women’s rights activists in Afghanistan and co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence. —Common Dreams, December 12, 2014 http://www.commondreams.org/ views/2014/12/12/ferguson-baghdad- new-york-kabul

20 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Hundreds of Police Killings Not Reported to FBI By Michael Walsh

Hundreds of police killings are not largest police departments. Apparently, named Eric Garner on Staten Island. included in the Federal Bureau of five declined its request for access. Furthermore, recent studies have Investigation’s records on the matter, The internal records show at least revealed that the racial divide in U.S. according to a new report. 1,800 deaths during the aforemen- arrest rates is staggering. More than 550 homicides by police tioned timeframe. That is about 45 Last month, USA Today reported officers between 2007 and 2012 were percent higher than the FBI’s tally of that at least 1,581 police departments missing from the federal statistics or not 1,242, according to the broadsheet. in the United States arrest African- attributed to the law enforcement agency Why don’t the FBI records contain Americans at a higher rate than the involved, the Wall Street Journal reported. these additional deaths? Ferguson Police Department. This makes it nearly impossible to Clearly, some law enforcement And Black people in Ferguson are figure out how many people cops kill— agencies are not reporting all the police arrested nearly three times more than justifiably or not—every year. killings that happen on their watch. other races, according to the study, The analysis comes at a time of Many activists have been speaking which compared arrests reported to heightened pressure for transparency out against what they consider unfair the FBI in 2010 and 2011. from authorities, especially after the treatment for people of color by law —Reader Supported News, shooting death of 18-year-old Michael enforcement and the justice system. December 5, 2014 Brown in Ferguson, MO, in August. A wave of protests spread through To compile the report, the Journal New York Wednesday after a grand jury http://readersupportednews.org/news- looked at the internal figures of killings decided not to indict a white officer in section2/318-66/27334-hundreds-of-kill- by police from 105 of the nation’s 110 the killing of an unarmed black man ings-by-cops-are-not-reported-to-fbi

Exploding Protest Movement People are demanding an end to brutal and racist policing By Steven Rosenfeld and Alyssa Figueroa December 8, 2014—Late Saturday, and youths at the hands of police have Occupy movement, protests over hours into a protest march over police struck a deep chord across America. urban gentrification, rising higher edu- brutality in Berkeley, California, police The more you talk to protesters the cation costs, and other issues with were looking to make arrests and spot- more it becomes clear that this move- racial and economic justice underpin- ted Kyle McCoy. The young Black ment’s goals are crystalized by racist nings. But Cynthia Morse, an older man, a well-known racial justice activ- policing but do not stop there. white woman and longtime protester ist and University of California- “Everyone out there is saying they who came to the court to support those Berkeley alum was arrested on suspi- can’t breathe for a lot of reasons,” said one arrested this weekend, said police bru- cion for felony assault with a deadly protester who came to the courthouse to tality was unlike other issues, especially weapon. He was taken away and support McCoy, referring to Eric Garner’s if your family has been victimized. booked, but by Sunday morning he last words before dying from a chokehold “This whole issue has got to be a was free on bail. On Monday after- during his arrest in New York City. “I Black people’s movement. It’s theirs. noon, when he was scheduled to be know a lot of people who are out there They want it. They don’t need direc- arraigned in court, a bailiff announced [protesting]. It’s a lot of issues.” tion from us. They need our support the criminal charge had been dropped. In the Bay Area, today’s protesters and that’s what most of us are really That kind of routine police harass- are a mix of newcomers and veterans. trying to do,” Morse said. “The institu- ment is partly why protests over police There have been massive protests in tional racism, the overt racism, the brutality and institutional racism con- recent years over other police killings police brutality against young Black tinue nationwide. It is not just because of Black men, notably Oscar Grant. men has been very real to us because ongoing deaths of unarmed Black men There has been the Oakland-centered we are part of Oakland and they have

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 21 been so many of us [seeking justice] with K-12 education and universities, breath out of our bodies but they can- who are Black, and mothers with chil- it’s very clear who has more opportu- not choke the breath out of our spirit,” dren who have been killed, and nities and resources. You have bitter- said Reverend Michael Pfleger during a friends—it’s really personal. This is a ness and anger in the communities that morning service. life and death issue.” don’t have those opportunities. If you In Los Angeles on Saturday, protest- Morse said she was sickened by the include violent police brutality and ers held a “Blackout Hollywood” in outsiders who used the protests to van- repression, then you will have the which hundreds staged a die-in, shut- dalize local stores. “It’s such a disgust- responses that Ferguson has had and ting down a popular intersection where ing lack of respect for the people who now Berkeley, rightly so, is having.” an allegedly armed Black man was have died,” Morse said. “It is just the Coast-to-coast activism recently killed by police on Friday. most incredible disrespect to them and Protests also unfolded in Anchorage, In New York City, protesters have their families.” Alaska, and in Phoenix where police staged a mass die-in at Grand Central killed Rumain Brisbon, an unarmed Protesters demands Terminal on Sunday. They also dis- Black man, last week. Across the country, the core rupted shoppers in Macy’s and H&M, demands of protesters following the tweeting “no justice, no shopping.” The international community also deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, They swarmed Toys ‘R’ Us and held up held actions this weekend, with pro- Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten toy guns in memory of Tamir Rice, a tests in Tokyo, Paris, Melbourne, and Island, New York, have been to end the 12-year-old who was shot and killed by Hannover, Germany. institutionalized racism in policing. a rookie officer in Cleveland. Some Meanwhile, back in the San Francisco This means ending racial profiling, protesters went to Penn Station to sing Bay Area, protests spread outward from changing the police practices and grand “justice carols.” On Monday, protest- Berkeley. In Oakland, protesters entered jury process that allow officers who use ers blocked traffic on the Verrazano a popular restaurant on Sunday and excessive force to evade accountability. Bridge during morning rush hour. sang the old pro-labor song, “Which It means taking a range of militarized In Philadelphia, about 200 protest- side are you on, friends? Which side are weapons out of police hands in non- ers held a die-in outside the Philadelphia you on?” They then read a list of names emergency contexts, such as at protests. Eagles’ stadium blocking cars from of Black people killed by police officers, But as demonstrations continue, there leaving following the game. Some pro- saying, “Justice for Mike Brown is jus- also are related concerns. In Berkeley, athletes held their own form of protest tice for us all. I will fight for freedom some leaders of the weekend marches by writing “I can’t breathe” on their until justice is won.” said their demands included ending the clothing. NBA player Derrick Rose and The caption on a video of their “new Jim Crow,” the lack of educational NFL players Reggie Bush and Johnson action reads, “We interrupt your regu- and economic opportunities. They want Bademosi wore the message on their larly scheduled brunch to bring you to restore affirmative action on UC cam- warm-up shirts. NFL player David #Blackbrunch…No business as usual. puses and double non-white enrollment, Joseph wrote it on his cleats. LeBron Shut it down because #Blacklivesmatter.” said Yvette Felarca, a leader of the James is expected to wear one during Steven Rosenfeld covers national Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Monday’s game in Brooklyn. political issues for AlterNet, including Integration, and Immigrant Rights and The District of Columbia has also America’s retirement crisis, democracy Fight for Equality By Any Means seen protesters rising up. On Saturday, and voting rights, and campaigns and Necessary (BAMN). dozens staged a die-in at Washington’s elections. He is the author of Count My In Detroit, Michigan, Jose Alvarenga, Union Station and blocked a bridge in Vote: A Citizen’s Guide to Voting another BAMN organizer, said their nearby Arlington, Virginia. Elsewhere (AlterNet Books, 2008). top agenda is to “connect the fight in the south, more than 200 demon- Alyssa Figueroa is an associate editor against police brutality to what’s going strators staged a die-in in North at AlterNet. on in Detroit…We have been having Carolina at a holiday event. In Miami, —Alternet.org, December 8, 2014 marches on every Saturday in the east protesters blocked a major freeway and http://www.alternet.org/activism/ side of Detroit against police brutality. sustained protests for three days. exploding-protest-movement-has-gone- They definitely have been bigger now Protesters sang, “We who believe in national-people-are-demanding-end-era- after the two [grand jury] decisions.” freedom cannot rest, until it comes.” brutal-and-racist?akid=12555.229473. “It comes down to the same line of In Chicago, religious leaders from DHvpOf&rd=1&src=newsletter1028372 growing inequality across the coun- about 100 churches led a rally on &t=3&paging=off¤t_ try,” he said. “In some instances, like Sunday. “The enemy might choke the page=1#bookmark

22 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Homeless Children If “the economy is recovering” why is there a surge in homeless children? By Bruce A. Dixon

For the last three elections now, dering why we ourselves are no more In California, the nation’s most 2010, 2012 and 2015, corporate media than a month or two from homelessness. populous state, 34 percent of house- and corporate politicians have cease- America’s shameful surge in home- holds are paying more than half their lessly assured us that “the economy” less children is caused by the fact that annual income for rent, and while the whatever that is, is “back on track,” wages are NOT rising, low-income state’s minimum wage is $8-an-hour, a wherever that is. housing is NOT being built, and the two-bedroom apartment at a third of Despite what corporate media and stock of available housing is being annual income would require tripling politicians tell us, the positive indica- demolished or cannibalized by gentrify- the minimum wage to $25.78-an-hour. tors of soaring stock market valuations, The issue then, is poverty. rising real estate prices and the rigged Millions of children are not suffer- unemployment figures that don’t In 2006 one in 50 ing because their parents have sud- count the jailed, the recently released denly become addicted, or neglectful from jails and prisons, and those children were homeless. or lazy or stupid. Their parents, many who’ve given up on finding work or In 2010 it was one in 45. of whom are working as hard as they those working part time who desper- Now, in the age of can, are simply not able to afford a roof ately want full time hours, real life for over their heads. This is just capitalism. most real people hasn’t got any better Obama, the 2013 It may be a scandal, but it’s no surprise. since 2008 or 2009. number is 1 in 30. This happens to be just the way that Last week an extraordinary and “the economy” works when it’s “back on shameful study emerged from the track.” It’s time to tear up those tracks. National Center on Family ing speculators. Speculators can’t make —Black Agenda Report, November Homelessness confirmed it by demon- 20, 2014 strating that almost 2.5 million chil- money off stable neighborhoods, so the dren in the U.S. were homeless at some poorest have to leave wherever they are http://www.blackagendareport.com/ point during 2013. That’s one child in to make room for something else. node/14527 every thirty, in what we’re accustomed to thinking of as the richest nation on earth. In the most recent months for which statistics exist, the rate of homelessness among children is spiking, increased eight percent nationally from 2012 to 2013, and by ten percent or more in 13 states and the District of Columbia. In 2006 one in 50 children were homeless. In 2010 it was one in 45. Now, in the age of Obama, the 2013 number is 1 in 30. The causes of homelessness among children are not your comforting stereotypes of drug use and mental illness. These are “comforting” because they encourage us to blame the drug-addicted, and pity the mentally ill, and our comfort keeps us from questioning the capitalist system which declares that we must have poverty in the midst of plenty, or won-

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 23 ‘Some Sort of Hell’ San Jose, California, one of the wealthiest cities in America, refuses to provide affordable housing, yet won’t tolerate people living outdoors. By Evelyn Nieves When San Jose dismantled the But the city could offer no viable the airport, also under threat of evic- “Jungle,” the nation’s largest homeless alternative to the people it was expel- tion. At least one hospital reported an encampment, many of its residents ling for the second time in a week. San upsurge of emergency room visits from with nowhere to go scattered. They Jose, the self-described capital of Silicon former residents of the Jungle, sick found hiding places in the scores of Valley, the largest wealth generator in from weathering the elements, having small, less visible encampments within the United States, lacked the resources. misplaced medications in the eviction. the city, where more than 5,000 people The Jungle had become a symbol of “What the city is saying is that it sleep unsheltered on a given night. the growing divide between the nation’s refuses to provide affordable housing, But one group of about three-dozen rich and poor. But its December 4, but it does not tolerate people living evictees gathered what they could sal- 2014 dismantling—a spectacle of cry- outside,” said Sandy Perry, an organiz- vage in backpacks and trash bags, and ing residents struggling with shopping er at the Affordable Housing Network crossed a bridge to a spot about a mile carts, Hazmat-suited cleanup crews of Santa Clara County, who has worked away. They found a clean patch of grass tossing furniture into dump trucks and with San Jose’s homeless population near Coyote Creek, the same creek that hordes of police and reporters standing since 1991. “This is a willful, wholesale the Jungle abutted. There, they pitched watch—only underscored the prob- violation of human rights.” tents donated by some concerned citi- lem, since so many Jungle residents San Jose, by all accounts, is experi- zens, assigned themselves chores and were literally left out in the cold. encing a crisis in homelessness. Even hoped for the best. with dedicated non-profits working to Instead, they got marching orders. San Jose is the nation’s stem the tide, the city’s homeless prob- After weathering the hardest rains to lem, like that of other booming cities— fall in these parts in a decade, the 10th largest city (with New York, Los Angeles and San campers found 72-hour eviction notic- one million residents) Francisco, to name a few—has grown es on their tents. Once again, a little markedly worse in recent years. San Jose more than a week after their forced but the San Jose/Santa is the nation’s 10th largest city (with flight from the Jungle, they had no idea Clara County area, one million residents) but the San Jose/ where they might live. home to 34 billionaires, Santa Clara County area, home to 34 billionaires, has the nation’s fifth largest “This is some sort of hell,” said has the nation’s fifth Raul, 57 (who didn’t want his last homeless population, after New York, name used), a life-long resident of San largest homeless Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego. Jose who had lived in the Jungle for population San Jose/Santa Clara County also nearly eight years. He had nothing left has the nation’s highest percentage of of the home he had created, just a homeless people living on the streets. knapsack, his Chihuahua, Pepe, and a More than 75 percent, upwards of new pup tent. He was so depressed; he Residents of the neighborhood in 7,600, are unsheltered, according to the could barely lift his head. Central San Jose that abutted the Jungle 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment were glad to see the encampment go. Report to Congress, compared to five To an outside observer, the eviction But dismantling the Jungle is already was predictable. The state’s threat to sue percent of the homeless people in New creating new problems. Just days after York City. Santa Clara County over the pollution in the Jungle was torn apart, San Jose Coyote Creek caused by camping spurred police and other city departments Ray Bramson, San Jose’s homeless the closing of the Jungle, a winding, began fielding calls from people in dif- response team manager, said the city 68-acre shantytown under an overpass ferent neighborhoods complaining of did all it could for the Jungle. It ear- with upwards of 300 people. With the former Jungle residents setting up marked $4 million and spent 18 state’s environmental agencies—and the camps near them. Some ended up in a months, with contracted non-profit public—watching, San Jose could not Walmart parking lot before being organizations, to find housing for 144 allow another Jungle to spring up. booted. Others were congregating near Jungle residents, using housing vouch-

24 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 ers that expire in two years. But another Residents of the Jungle, well aware The city came at the crack of dawn 60 residents, vouchers in hand, could of the growing trash and sanitary prob- the day the new camp was evicted. not find apartments, even with social lems caused by so many incoming resi- Workers began taking their posses- workers working on their behalf. By the dents, had appealed to the city for help. sions before residents had even woken end, just weeks before the dismantling, In November, they waged a protest for up, according to a report by ABC7 the population of the Jungle was still better sanitary services. The city had news. It quoted Bramson, who did not between 200 and 300 people, according provided three port-a-potties, eight return requests for an interview for this to housing advocates and volunteers hours a day, for the Jungle’s 300 resi- story, saying, “There are services avail- who worked with jungle residents. dents, and handed out portable sani- able. There is support available.” That’s because every time a resident of tary bags for them to use the rest of the But the only support was a limited the Jungle moved out, another person, time—bags of human waste that com- number of shelter beds the residents or more, took their place. peted with all the other trash in the could try to get into—if they gave up Critics of the way the city disman- Jungle for a spot in the few trash bins their dogs. on site. tled the Jungle, both professional advo- A day after their expulsion, most of cates for the homeless and citizens In the few days that former resi- the group had moved en masse to a new registering their opinions on social dents of the Jungle spent in their sec- location, far from the public eye. But it media, have decried the city for creat- ond location before receiving eviction was still near Coyote Creek. It wouldn’t ing a two-year voucher program that notices, they began organizing. take long, they said, for the city to find inadequately served the population. “We’re creating a community,” one them again. “When a city decides to built a park, woman said. People were assigned to Evelyn Nieves is a senior contribut- it doesn’t build until it has the funding clean up trash, run errands and the ing writer and editor at AlterNet, living to finish it,” said Anthony King, a vol- like. The group wanted to stay togeth- in San Francisco. She has been a reporter unteer outreach worker who was er, monitor activities so the site could for both the New York Times and the homeless for more than ten years. “So stay clean and not generate complaints. Washington Post. why did the city decide to undergo a “I just know that if we keep a place —AlterNet, December 25, 2014 program that addressed the needs of clean, have the bags for the trash, and only some of the people in the Jungle?” stay away from the public, they won’t The city said it was forced to close bother us,” said Raul, the former Jungle http://www.alternet.org/some-sort- the camp for its environmental risks resident. Living in the Jungle was a hell-how-one-wealthiest-cities-america- and hazardous conditions. But hard life, he said, but it was stable. He treats-its-homeless?akid=12616.229473. Bramson himself has said that there are had his shack, he knew everyone, had INozli&rd=1&src=newsletter1029300& many other homeless camps along the friends and support. Like most home- t=2&paging=off¤t_ waterways. In fact, the Jungle was part less people, Raul said he preferred to be page=1#bookmark of a string of 247 tent cities along Santa with other peo- Clara County’s waterways that contain ple he knew, 1,230 people, according to a recent rather than fend county census. for himself. Chris Herring, a Ph.D. candidate in His sister, sociology at the University of California who had a hous- at Berkeley who has extensively ing voucher but researched homeless encampments on couldn’t find an the west coast, said the eviction “will apartment, was not mitigate the ongoing environmen- staying with her tal damage to Coyote Creek by home- three dogs in a less habitation—only move it around.” tent next to In an essay in Beyond Chron.org, Raul’s. Almost Herring also said the eviction “will everyone at the exacerbate rather than improve unsan- encampment itary conditions faced by the evicted, had at least one pushing them further from clean water, small dog, often recycling centers and toilets.” several.

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 25 Justice for Michael Brown Call for March on Washington to demand justice for Michael Brown and other victims of police killings of Black men and women By The Labor Fightback Network With demonstrations sweeping the of these allies if we expect them to sup- ten feet away (which was captured on country to protest the grand jury’s port our struggles. It has to be a two- video and shown to the public at the exoneration of Darren Wilson and to way street. Rice family’s insistence). The boy had demand justice for Michael Brown, the Police killings of unarmed Blacks never pointed the toy gun at the police need for deep and massive involvement are becoming virtually a daily occur- or made any threats. It was not until of labor’s ranks in the streets and in the rence. [Note: Police officers, security four minutes after the shooting that public discourse could not be clearer. guards, or self-appointed vigilan- Tamir received medical assistance when To provide a needed national focus tes extra-judicially killed at least 313 another man was seen bent down next and to sustain the momentum, we urge African-Americans in 2012, according to him. Young Rice died the next day. the civil rights and labor movements to to a recent study. This means that a The killing of Michael Brown was join forces and organize a March on Black person was killed by a security followed by the deaths of two more Washington. This would give impetus officer every 28 hours. The report notes Black men at the hands of police in the to the demand that the federal govern- that it’s possible that the real number St. Louis Area. The litany of names ment indict Darren Wilson for the could be much higher.1] grows nationally: Ezel Ford in Los murder of Michael Brown. One of the most flagrant and egre- Angeles, Eric Garner in Staten Island, The Black Freedom Movement gious examples was the shooting of John Crawford in Ohio, and many oth- urgently needs allies in this struggle. 12-year-old Tamir Rice on November ers. Tanesha Anderson, a mentally ill 22, 2014 by a Cleveland police officer Black woman, was killed in front of her The same is true of the labor move- family in Cleveland. And just recently ment, which also faces a critical fight after a 911 caller said that someone was waving around a gun, which the caller Akai Gurley was gunned down in New for its survival against the corporate York. Meanwhile, George Zimmerman, onslaught. said was “probably fake,” and added “I don’t know if it’s real or not.” (The the vigilante executioner of Trayvon Labor acutely needs the support of dispatcher failed to convey this to Martin, remains unpunished. its allies in its fight against such repres- police.) Within two seconds after their So this epidemic of unjustified police sive anti-labor legislation as the mis- arrival, one of the two officers on the killings constitutes a national crisis. And named “right to work.” But trade scene shot Rice in the stomach from Black people—especially the youth— unionists should support the struggles feel their lives are in peril as police continue to kill them with impunity. What is to be done? Starting with that day in August when Michael Brown was gunned down, the Labor Fightback Network (LFN) has called for the immediate arrest of his killer. We said convening a grand jury was unnecessary, but if it was to be convened an independent prosecutor should be appointed and that Darren Wilson should be put behind bars in preparation for a public trial. Instead, prosecutor Robert McCulloch remained in place and pro- ceeded to manipulate the grand jury into refusing to indict Wilson, who spent four hours testifying before it, with no cross examination.

26 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 But this is not the end of the fight to number of different courses Wilson secret grand jury proceeding. win justice for Michael Brown and his could have taken, even if credence is family. It is just the first round. given to his account as to the actual Enough is enough! “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” That is Remember what happened in 1992 sequence of events, (and a number of the demand vocalized especially by the when Rodney King was viciously beaten publicly identified witnesses have youth in Ferguson. Their anger is deep by police and his assailants were acquit- shown by their statements that there is and pervasive. Millions around the ted in a state court. Under pressure— no basis whatever to give such cre- country share it. A march on and following the riots that took place dence! For example, two workers cut- Washington, in the tradition of those in Los Angeles after the verdict was ting nearby trees at the time have agreed called by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., announced—the Justice Department that Brown appeared to be surrender- has the potential to draw huge num- tried the police under federal civil rights ing when he was shot dead and several bers into the streets and build a new laws and won convictions of two of other witnesses said the same thing.) movement, the likes of which we have them, who were sent to prison. What about a Taser instead of dead- not seen for decades. Labor should use ly force? No, said Wilson, it’s too heavy The LFN fully supports continuing the occasion to mobilize its forces, to carry around. But why not put it in demonstrations in cities and towns cement alliances, revitalize our ranks, the back seat of the car? across the country protesting not only and help turn back the reactionary, Brown’s murder but also the killing of What about pepper gas? No, said racist tide that threatens to engulf all other victims wherever they take place. Wilson, it could blowback on him. But progressive social movements. Such actions are also demanding an end don’t police carry shields to protect Issued by the Labor Fightback to police brutality and racial profiling, themselves against blowback? Network.2 along with other demands being put for- What about staying in his car while ward by the Black Freedom Movement. calling for police reinforcements and 1 http://www.occupy.com/article/black-man- We urge a united front of the civil tailing Brown until they arrived? killed-us-every-28-hours-police#sthash.AJ9Abm- rights and labor movements, along Wilson obviously preferred to go it vO.dpuf with progressive anti-racist communi- alone in pursuing Brown. 2 For more information, please call 973-944- ty organizations, to demand Wilson’s The fatal flaw in Wilson’s desperate 8975 or email [email protected] or write Labor Fightback Network, P.O. Box 187, indictment under the federal Civil attempt to avoid responsibility for his Rights Act, and to make that demand a Flanders, NJ 07836 or visit our website at labor- actions is the undisputed fact that he shot fightback.org. Facebook link: central focus of a march on Washington! Brown twice in the head instead of some https://www.facebook.com/laborfightback Some would-be academic scholars other part of his body, like his leg. That’s Donations to help fund the Labor Fightback have expressed skepticism that federal what makes this a cold-blooded murder. Network based on its program of solidarity and charges against Wilson could result in That’s what provides the “willfulness.” labor-community unity are necessary for our work to continue and will be much appreciated. his conviction because the required In any event, these are issues for a element of “willfulness” in killing Please make checks payable to Labor Fightback jury to decide in a public trial, not dis- Network and mail to the above P.O. Box or you Brown could not be proved. But these missed, in effect, by a prosecutor in a can make a contribution online. Thanks! scholars are looking at this struggle from a narrow legalistic prism. The key to winning it is mass action in the streets to force the federal government to act and at last provide a forum where Wilson could be cross examined. And it is high time for the identity of those who allegedly supported his claims in the state court to be revealed so that their versions could be subjected to the kind of scrutiny that was lacking in the state proceedings. As for “willfulness,” a New York Times article titled “Experts Weigh Officer’s Decisions Leading to Fatal Shooting” (November 27, 2014) cites a

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 27 Blood on the Tracks Saying no to Warren Buffett By Guy Miller

The City of New Orleans by Steve want to accomplish. They do not want, jump 17 percent—this in the midst of Goodman1 is a loving tribute to an era or need tracks, or roadbeds, that can an economy that is, at best, sputtering gone-by. Steve mourned what he per- safely move 15,000 tons of freight at along. ceived to be “the disappearing railroad 100-miles-per-hour, sixty MPH will do No unit train has been more impor- blues.” He takes a nostalgic look back at nicely, thank you. Building and main- tant in reviving the fortunes of an America that looks better through taining the right-of-way is an expen- America’s railroads than double stack the sepia tones of memory than it actu- sive and labor-intensive proposition. container trains. The humble contain- ally was. Steve Goodman was unques- Even with cost-cutting machinery it is er is as central to globalization as is the tionably a great songwriter, but for all viewed by railroads as something to be Internet. Containers stack like bricks. that, he was a lousy economist. America’s kept to a minimum. Containers make a seamless transition railroads are anything but disappearing. In the decade before the crash of from ship to train to truck. A ship Rather than a relic from another time, 2008 railroad freight traffic exploded. docks in Long Beach, cranes move the they are at the forefront of American From 1996 to 2006 railroad and truck containers directly onto double stack capital’s plan for the 21st century. If you traffic both grew, but railroad traffic rail cars and two-hundred containers don’t live along the major corridors of grew faster. Using the metric of ton are on there way to Chicago. No muss. rail traffic, it is easy to miss this vital miles, the industry’s standard measure- No fuss. No longshoremen. These aspect of the U.S. economy. ment, that decade saw rail traffic grow trains are the king of the road as far as For people that live in, or near, one 25.1 percent and truck traffic grow 21.8 the five major railroads are concerned. of the cities that stretch from Boston to percent. This boom is still being fueled They are as time-sensitive as any pas- Washington, when they think about by the growth of “unit trains.” Unit senger train, and huge moneymakers railroads at all, they generally think trains, as opposed to manifest trains, to boot. first about Amtrak. Everyone who uses are a one trick pony. For example a Warren Buffett has a nose for money Amtrak has a horror story to tell. Even train consisting solely of crude oil, or and a nose for exploitation. In 2009 the premium Acela train is seen as not grain or coal are of unit trains. Such Berkshire Hathaway forked over a cool measuring up to the trains of Europe trains go from point A to point B with $26 billion to buy the Burlington or China. The primary reason high no stops in between. No setting out a Northern Santa Fe. You can be sure speed passenger trains aren’t a priority cut of cars in Podunk, Iowa or picking that sentimentality had nothing to do in the U.S. is simple: freight traffic up cars of lumber in Rochester, with this move. During the same peri- makes too damn much money. Minnesota. Much of America has od, while the amount of ton-miles Wherever in the world there are fast become not only flyover country, but rose, the size of the crews that move the and efficient passenger trains, freight also roll-by country as well. This con- tons across those miles has steadily traffic is secondary, or non-exis- trasts with the once more common declined. Traditionally, road crews tent. There was a time in the United manifest train. Such trains required consisted of five people: An engineer, a States when freight traffic was shunted switching at various points along the fireman, a conductor, and two helpers, to the side to make room for passenger route. This change brought with it the or brakemen. The fireman was the first trains. To the major railroads that was loss of thousands of switching jobs; to go in the early 1960s. The title still a waste of time and money. those jobs did indeed go the way of exists for apprentice engineers, but the If high-speed passenger service Steve Goodman’s disappearing railroad. craft itself was a victim of the change were to be successful two essen- After years of consolidations, from steam to diesel. Next, one of the tial things would be needed: 1. American railroads evolved into five two helpers was gradually phased out Government subsidies (or better yet large carriers. With the aid of this in the 1970s. With the departure of the total nationalization) and, 2. A huge monopoly the railroads were on track caboose, and the rear of the train pro- upgrade in infrastructure. File the first for bigger and bigger payoffs. My old tection that went with it, it wasn’t requirement under the category of boss, the Union Pacific has over 32,000 much longer until the second helper “come the revolution,” and the second miles of tracks resulting from mergers was gone. That is where we stand under “unlikely.” The infrastructure is and takeovers. In the second quarter of today: one engineer; one conductor just fine for what the major carriers 2014 the Union Pacific saw its profits per-train.

28 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 It seemed at the time that this last to a tsk, tsk: “Who then was in a posi- done at sixty miles an hour, while reduction to the two-person crew tion to check on this company, to monitoring speed, air pressure, track would be the end of job cuts. After all, make sure safety standards were being conditions, amperage and signals. In trains were getting longer, the freight met? Who was the guardian of Public short a prescription for catastrophe. was becoming more dangerous and Safety?” Note the absence of the word Knowing all this the union negotia- profits were going through the roof. “greed” in her questions. tors of the engineers and the brake- The idea of “engineer only” was Life for railroad operating person- men wanted to sign a sweetheart deal unthinkable to any experienced rail- nel is controlled by the extra-board. with the BNSF allowing the travesty of roader, and anathema to anyone who Here is one relic of the 19th century a one-person crew in the next con- knows the potential dangers involved. that the carriers are happy to keep. The tract. More concerned with which Ask yourself how safe would you feel extra-board consists of being on call 24 craft would get the remaining position boarding a 737 with only a pilot in the hours, 365 days a year. Ten hours off than the safety and well being of their cockpit? Ask the people at Lac- and get ready. You get the call. You’re membership, much less the general Mégantic, Quebec2 how having only out the door. Usually with two hours public, these union misleaders were an engineer in the cab of the locomo- to get to your assignment. Baby up all ready to go along to get along. But the tive worked out for them. For forty- night? Too bad. Construction down membership had other ideas, and they seven of the town’s citizens it is too late the block? Too bad. Car alarm went off had the final say. (I am proud to say I to ask. The train involved in this disas- after two hours of sleep? Too bad. Day was part of a movement in the early ter was the “engineer only” nightmare after day, month after month you are a 1970s that fought and won the right to advocated by the BNSF (Burlington prisoner of the telephone. After awhile vote on contracts by the membership Northern Santa Fe). At the end of his you find yourself in a perpetual state of in the United Transportation Union). run the engineer got off the engine and half-asleep and half-awake. The rank and file defied the union performed what is normally conduc- Now climb aboard four huge leadership and voted down the engi- tor’s work. With no one to help, and engines with enough horsepower to neer only proposal. They said no to with no one to discuss the safest course move a mile long train, a train often the BNSF. No to Berkshire Hathaway. of action, he tied on seven handbrakes with enough hazardous materials to And no to the union bureaucrats. I on the seventy-two-car train. Often the wipe out a mid-size town. Be prepared have never been prouder of my broth- rulebook calls for “sufficient hand to be alone in the cab of the engine for ers and sisters. brakes,” a weasel formulation that the next ten to twelve hours. You’re Guy Miller worked thirty-eight years places the onus squarely on the crew. given a stack of track bulletins, each on first the Chicago Northwestern, and Due to faulty equipment repairs, the one with specific, complicated instruc- later the Union Pacific as a trainman. seven handbrakes were not sufficient. tions. Each one of these bulletins can He is a retired member of Local 577 of The train’s air brakes failed as a result be a question of life and death. In the the United Transportation Union and of a fire, and the cars ran full speed into course of your run you are constantly lives in Chicago. He can be reached at: Lac Magnetic, demolishing a large sec- interacting with dispatchers, train mas- [email protected] tion of the town and killing forty-seven ters, yardmasters, track foremen, con- —Counterpunch, Weekend Edition people. Almost before the smoke trol operators, other trains and emer- September 26-28, 2014 cleared the engineer became the villain. gency personnel. Many of these radio What followed was yet another classic conversations require exact wording, http://www.counterpunch. replay of the Mai Lai syndrome. The and a long ritualized formula: org/2014/09/26/blood-on-the-tracks-2/ Mai Lai syndrome is when blame “Engineer on UP7215 East calling fore- is passed down the chain of command, man Brown in charge of track bulletin 1 “City of New Orleans” is a folk song writ- and doesn’t stop until it reaches the 624 issued on September 24, between ten by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for lowest possible level. The last link in mile post 281.6 to mile post 285.7, Goodman’s self-titled 1971 album), describing the chain was the engineer, who over.” And so on back and forth the a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad’s City of New now faces forty-seven counts of crimi- exchanges go over and over, with every Orleans in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. nal neglect and life in prison. Meanwhile word repeated exactly. No one to help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_New_ management and government walk interpret the sometimes-ambiguous Orleans_%28song%29 away with a stern warning. Wendy instructions; add to this a bad radio Taros, of the Canadian Transportation and a hard to understand track fore- Safety Board delivered what amounts man and you get the picture. All this is

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 29 Healthcare is a Human Right Vermont’s governor sadly has it wrong. Now is the time for single-payer everywhere. By Andy Coates

On Wednesday, December 17, 2014, men who put their profits above the care. Yet from its inception, the Vermont’s governor, after campaign- interests of our patients—resources will enabling legislation for reform in ing for single payer for years, announced be liberated to improve the health of all. Vermont—Act 48—allowed a con- that he would not work to pass single- Dr. William Hsiao, the Harvard tinuing role for private insurers along- payer legislation in Vermont this year. health economist who Governor side public payers. Lawmakers there- “Single payer” is shorthand for a Shumlin recruited to study the impact fore dropped the term “single payer” reform that will replace the present of single payer in Vermont, estimated from its text. wasteful and chaotic system of private that a single-payer-like reform (not a The continued presence of multiple health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid true single payer, since there would still payers in the proposed Vermont reform and out-of-pocket cash payments with be multiple plans, including private necessarily canceled out many of the a single public finance system that will plans) would achieve an overall savings administrative savings that would be redirect resources in order to guarantee of over 25 percent on healthcare spend- attained by a true single-payer system access to all necessary care for everyone, ing (ten percent delivery system savings, and opened the door to multi-tiered care which would include many essentials 8.5 percent overhead savings, five per- along the lines of what the Affordable not covered by any present plan. cent reduction in fraud and two percent Care Act currently represents. Governor Peter Shumlin, in his saved through lower malpractice costs.) It’s important to note that the press conference, stated that “now is Governor Shumlin stated that the Affordable Care Act has increased the not the right time” for single payer. costs of his proposed reform would be influence of the big insurers and other I disagree. too great, saying, “The taxes required private interests in our healthcare sys- to replace healthcare premiums with a tem. Strengthening these forces has hurt The time for a single-payer system is publicly financed plan that would best our patients and the profession of med- now. Our patients in every state serve Vermont are, in a word, enor- icine in all states, including Vermont. urgently need it. mous.” (The governor’s finance pro- The announcement by Governor Indeed, the people of Vermont, posal would have instituted an 11.5 Shumlin, a leading light in the including the state’s physicians, nurses payroll tax on employers and a pro- Democratic Party, thus shows the dif- and other caregiving professionals, gressive income tax of zero to 9.5 per- ficulty that individual states face in have repeatedly affirmed their support cent, depending on income.) The gov- trying to disentangle themselves from for single-payer reform. ernor did not dwell upon the fact that these private corporate interests. It Vermonters throughout the state the taxes he cited would be less, on shows why physicians and Americans understand that an equitable healthcare average, than the exorbitant and bur- as a whole need to step up the demand system must be truly universal and must densome premiums and out-of-pocket for a deep-going, national reform—an remove all financial barriers to medi- costs that presently weigh heavily upon improved Medicare for all. households as well as employers. cally necessary care. They recognize that It is time to put the interests of a public single payer is an essential Governor Shumlin also invoked “risk patients first, ahead of political expedi- incremental step toward these goals. of economic shock” as a reason to turn ence. Now IS the time for single payer The people of Vermont have said away from single payer—the idea that in Vermont and in the nation. It is the healthcare should be regarded as a pub- the transition to a Vermont without only reform that will cover everyone, lic good, much like fire protection, and private health insurance, a Vermont save lives, and save money. Mr. not as a commodity you buy on the without profiteers lining up to make a Shumlin, of all our nations’ governors, market. Governor Shumlin was elected buck off the suffering of the sick, would knows this well. prove too threatening to the social order. to office in considerable part because of We pledge to redouble our efforts to his championing of this view. Governor Shumlin has made many press for national legislation—such as Single-payer activists in Vermont speeches about the need to liberate H.R. 676, the Expanded and Improved have pointed out that by eliminating Vermont, and indeed the United States, Medicare for All Act—to achieve the goal the unnecessary and wasteful role of from the corrupting and corrosive of universal access to high-quality, afford- private insurance companies—middle- influence of profit-seeking in health- Continued on page 31

30 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Obama’s New Torture Plan Senate report being used to whitewash Obama’s rehabilitation of torture By Nafeez Ahmed

The grizzly details of CIA torture recognizable functioning system of due Bush, Vice President Cheney, former have, finally, been at least partly aired process, endured a litany of extreme National Security Advisor Condoleezza through the release this Tuesday, abuses normally associated with for- Rice, Defense Secretary Donald December 9, 2014, of the executive eign dictatorships: 180 hour sleep Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin summary to a landmark Senate intelli- deprivation, forced “rectal feeding,” Powell, CIA directors George Tenet and gence committee report. The extent of rectal “examinations” using “excessive Michael Hayden, and Attorney General the torture has been covered exten- force,” standing for dozens of hours on John Ashcroft. sively across the media, and is horrify- broken limbs, water-boarding, being Yet the focus on the Bush adminis- ing—unless you’re a FOX News pun- submerged in iced baths, and on and tration serves a useful purpose. While dit. But much of the media coverage of on and on. the UN has called for prosecutions of this issue is missing the crucial bigger Yet for the most part, it has been Bush officials, Obama himself is picture: the deliberate rehabilitation of assumed that the CIA’s “enhanced excused on the pretext that he banned torture under the Obama administra- interrogation program,” originated domestic torture in 2009, and reiterat- tion, and its systematic use to manu- under the Bush administration after ed the ban abroad this November. facture false intelligence to justify end- 9/11, was a major “aberration” from less war. Even Dan Froomklin of The normal CIA practice—as one U.S. for- Intercept congratulated the November Torture victims, who had been mer military prosecutor put it in The move as a “win” for the “good guys.” detained by the U.S. national security Guardian. Indeed, with the release of the Senate apparatus entirely outside any sort of On BBC Newsnight, December 10, report, Obama’s declaration that he 2014, presenter Emily Maitlis asked has ended “the CIA’s detention and Continued from page 30 former National Security Adviser interrogation program” has been large- under Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, ly uncritically reported by both main- able care. We invite Governor Shumlin to about the problem of “rogue elements stream and progressive media, rein- rededicate himself to the cause of a public in the CIA,” and whether this was forcing this narrative. national health program. inevitable due to the need for secrecy As Hillel, the great ancient sage, in intelligence. Rehabilitating the torture regime famously asked, “If I am not for myself, Yet Obama did not ban torture in who will be for me? And, if I am only High-level sanction 2009, and has not rescinded it now. He, for myself alone, then what am I? And, Media coverage of the Senate report instead, rehabilitated torture with a if not now, when?” has largely whitewashed the extent to carefully crafted Executive Order that Now is the time to press forward, which torture has always been an inte- has received little scrutiny. He demand- not retreat. Our patients do not deserve gral and systematic intelligence prac- ed, for instance, that interrogation to wait. tice since the Second World War, con- techniques be made to fit the U.S. tinuing even today under the careful Army Field Manual, which complies Dr. Andy Coates is president of recalibration of Obama and his senior with the Geneva Convention and has Physicians for a National Health military intelligence officials. The key prohibited torture since 1956. Program. Dr. Coates is chief of hospital function of torture, largely overlooked But in 2006, revisions were made to medicine at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, by the pundits, is its role in manufac- New York, and an assistant professor of the Army Field Manual, in particular turing nebulous threats that legitimize through “Appendix M,” which con- medicine and psychiatry at Albany the existence and expansion of the Medical College. tained interrogation techniques that national security apparatus. went far beyond the original Geneva- —Common Dreams, December 18, 2014 The CIA’s post-9/11 torture program inspired restrictions of the original ver- http://www.commondreams.org/ was formally approved at the highest sion of the manual. This includes 19 views/2014/12/18/vermonts-governor- levels of the civilian administration. We methods of interrogation and the prac- sadly-has-it-wrong-now-time-single- have known for years that torture was tice of extraordinary rendition. As payer-everywhere officially sanctioned by at least President pointed out by U.S. psychologist Jeff

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 31 Kaye who has worked extensively with Obama did not really ban the CIA’s use The pinnacle of this effort was the torture victims, a new UN Committee of secret prisons either, permitting indefi- CIA’s Kubark Counterintelligence Against Torture (UNCAT) review of nite detention of people without due pro- Interrogation handbook finalized in the manual shows that a wide-range of cess “on a short-term transitory basis.” 1963, which determined the agency’s torture techniques continue to be interrogation methods around the deployed by the U.S. government, Half a century of torture as a system world. In the ensuing decade, the agen- including isolation, sensory depriva- What we are seeing now is not the cy trained over a million police officers tion, stress positions, chemically- Obama administration putting an end across 47 countries in torture. A later induced psychosis, adjustments of to torture, but rather putting an end to incarnation of the CIA torture training environmental and dietary rules, the open acknowledgement of the use of doctrine emerged under Freedom of among others. torture as a routine intelligence practice. Information in the form of the 1983 Human Resources Training Exploitation Indeed, the revelations contained in But the ways of old illustrate that we Manual. the Senate report are a mere fraction of should not be shocked by the latest the totality of torture techniques revelations. Declassified CIA training Power…and propaganda deployed by the CIA and other agen- manuals from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and One of the critical findings of the cies. Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen ’90s, prove that the CIA has consis- Senate report is that torture simply born and raised in Germany who was tently practiced torture long before the doesn’t work, and consistently fails to detained in Guantánamo for five years, Bush administration attempted to produce meaningful intelligence. So has for instance charged that he had legitimize the practice publicly. why insist on its use? For McCoy, the been subjected to prolonged solitary In his seminal study of the subject, A addiction to torture itself is a symptom confinement, repeated beatings, water- Question of Torture, U.S. historian of a deep-seated psychological disor- dunking, electric shock treatment, and Professor Alfred W. McCoy of the der, rather than a rational imperative: suspension by his arms, by U.S. forces. University of Wisconsin-Madison “In sum, the powerful often turn to On January 22nd, 2009, retired proves using official documents and torture in times of crisis, not because it Admiral Dennis Blair, then Obama’s interviews with intelligence sources that works but because it salves their fears director of national intelligence, told the use of torture has been a systematic and insecurities with the psychic balm the Senate intelligence committee that practice of U.S. and British intelligence of empowerment.” the Army Field Manual would be agencies, sanctioned at the highest lev- He is right, but in the post-9/11 era, amended to allow new forms of harsh els, over “the past half century.” Since there is more to the national security interrogation, but that these changes the Second World War, he writes, a apparatus’ chronic torture addiction would remain classified: “distinctive U.S. covert-warfare doc- than this. “We have large amounts of trine…in which psychological torture It is not a mere accident that torture unclassified doctrine for our troops has emerged as a central if clandestine generates vacuous intelligence, but nev- to use, but we don’t put anything in facet of American foreign policy.” ertheless continues to be used and justi- there that our enemies can use The psychological paradigm against us. And we’ll figure it out for fied for intelligence purposes. For this manual…there will be some deployed by the CIA fused two meth- instance, the CIA claimed that its tor- sort of document that’s widely avail- ods in particular, “sensory disorienta- ture of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid able in an unclassified form, but the tion” and so-called “self-inflicted Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) led to the specific techniques that can provide pain.” These methods were based on discovery and thwarting of a plot to training value to adversaries, we will intensive “behavioral research that hijack civilian planes at Heathrow and handle much more carefully.” made psychological torture NATO’s crash them into the airport and build- Obama’s supposed banning of the secret weapon against communism ings in Canary Wharf. The entire plot, CIA’s secret rendition programs was and cognitive science the handmaiden however, was an invention provoked by also a misnomer. While White House of state security.” torture that included waterboarding, officials insisted that from now on, “From 1950 to 1962,” found McCoy, “facial and abdominal slaps, the facial detainees would not be rendered to “any “the CIA became involved in torture grab, stress positions, standing sleep country that engages in torture,” ren- through a massive mind-control effort, deprivation” and “rectal rehydration.” dered detainees were already being sent with psychological warfare and secret As one former senior CIA official who to countries in the EU that purportedly research into human consciousness had read all KSM’s interrogation reports do not sanction torture—where they that reached a cost of a billion dollars told Vanity Fair, “90 percent of it was were then tortured by the CIA. annually.” total fucking bullshit.” Another ex-Penta-

32 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 gon analyst said that torturing KSM had That torture generates false infor- permanent global war: generating spu- produced “no actionable intelligence.” mation has long been known to the rious overblown “intelligence” that can Torture also played a key role in the intelligence community. Much of the be fed into official security narratives much-hyped London ricin plot. CIA’s techniques are derived from of imminent terrorist threats every- Algerian security services alerted British reverse engineering Survival Evasion where, in turn requiring evermore intelligence in January 2003 to the so- Resistance and Escape (SERE) training, empowerment of the security agencies, called plot after interrogating and tor- where U.S. troops are briefly exposed in and legitimizing military expansionism turing a “terrorist suspect,” former controlled settings to abusive interro- in strategic regions. British resident Mohammed Meguerba. gation techniques used by enemy forc- The Obama administration is now es, so that they can better resist treat- We now know there was no plot. Four exploiting the new Senate report to ment they might face if they are cap- of the defendants were acquitted of ter- convince the world that the intelli- tured. SERE training, however, adopted rorism and four others had the cases gence community’s systematic tactics used by Chinese Communists against them abandoned. Only Kamal embroilment in torture was merely a against American soldiers during the Bourgass was convicted after he mur- Bush-era aberration that is now safely Korean War for the purpose of eliciting dered Special Branch Detective in the past. false confessions for propaganda pur- Constable Stephen Oake during a raid. Do not be fooled. Obama has reha- poses, according to a Senate Armed Former British ambassador to bilitated and recalibrated the covert tor- Services Committee report in 2009. Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has also ture apparatus, and is attempting to blown the whistle on how the CIA Torture: core mechanism to legiti- leverage the torture report’s damning would render “terror suspects” to the mize threat projection findings to claim moral high ground his country to be tortured by Uzbek secret By deploying the same techniques administration doesn’t have. The torture police, including being boiled alive. The against “terror suspects,” the intelli- regime is alive and well—but it has been confessions generated would be sent to gence community was not seeking to put back in the box of classified secrecy the CIA and MI6 to be fed into “intel- identify real threats: it was seeking to to continue without public scrutiny. ligence” reports. Murray described the manufacture threats for the purpose of Dr. Nafeez Ahmed is an investigative reports as “bollocks,” replete with false justifying war. As David Rose found journalist, bestselling author and inter- information not worth the “blood- after interviewing “numerous counter- national security scholar. Formerly of stained paper” they are written on. terrorist officials from agencies on both The Guardian, he writes the “System Many are unaware that the 9/11 sides of the Atlantic,” their unanimous Shift” column for VICE’s Motherboard, Commission report is exactly such a verdict was that “coercive methods” and is the winner of a 2015 Project document. Nearly a third of the report’s had squandered massive resources to Censored Award for Outstanding footnotes reference information manufacture “false leads, chimerical Investigative Journalism for his obtained from detainees subject to plots, and unnecessary safety alerts.” Guardian work. He is the author of A “enhanced” interrogation by the CIA. Far from exposing any deadly plots, User’s Guide to the Crisis of In 2004, the commission demanded torture led only to “more torture of Civilization: And How to Save It that the CIA conduct “new rounds of supposed accomplices of ‘terror sus- (2010), and the scifi thriller novel ZERO interrogations” to get answers to its pects’ while also providing some mis- POINT, among other books. His work questions. As investigative reporter leading ‘information’ that boosted the on the root causes and covert operations Philip Shennon pointed out in administration’s argument for invad- linked to international terrorism officially contributed to the 9/11 Commission Newsweek, this has “troubling implica- ing Iraq.” But the Iraq War was not and the 7/7 Coroner’s Inquest. If you tions for the credibility of the commis- about responding to terrorism. found this article useful, you can support sion’s final report” and “its account of According to declassified British Nafeez’s journalism via his upcoming the 9/11 plot and al-Qaeda’s history.” Foreign Office files, it was about secur- project, Insurge. Which is why lawyers for the chief 9/11 ing control over Persian Gulf oil and mastermind suspects now say after the gas resources, and opening them up to —The Cutting Edge, December 11, release of the Senate report that the global markets to avert a portended 2014 case for prosecution may well unravel. energy crisis. http://www.nafeezahmed. Not surprising if a third of the report is In other words, torture plays a piv- com/2014/12/cia-torture-addiction-is- merely “bollocks.” otal role in the Pentagon’s posture of about.html

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 33 Accuracy of U.S. Drones 41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed By Spencer Ackerman

The drones came for Ayman multiple times. Their data, shared with later died from natural causes, believed Zawahiri on January 13, 2006, hovering the Guardian, raises questions about the to be hepatitis. over a village in Pakistan called accuracy of U.S. intelligence guiding The data cohort is only a fraction of Damadola. Ten months later, they came strikes that U.S. officials describe using those killed by U.S. drones overall. again for the man who would become words like “clinical” and “precise.” Reprieve did not focus on named tar- al-Qaida’s leader, this time in Bajaur. The analysis is a partial estimate of gets struck only once. Neither Reprieve Eight years later, Zawahiri is still the damage wrought by Obama’s nor the Guardian examined the subset alive. Seventy-six children and 29 favored weapon of war, a tool he and of drone strikes that do not target spe- adults, according to reports after the his administration describe as far more cific people: the so-called “signature two strikes, are not. precise than more familiar instruments strikes” that attack people based on a However many Americans know of land or air power. pattern of behavior considered suspi- who Zawahiri is, far fewer are familiar “Drone strikes have been sold to the cious, rather than intelligence tying with Qari Hussain. Hussain was a depu- American public on the claim that they’re their targets to terrorist activity. An ty commander of the Pakistani Taliban, ‘precise.’ But they are only as precise as analytically conservative Council on a militant group aligned with al-Qaida the intelligence that feeds them. There is Foreign Relations tally assesses that 500 that trained the would-be Times Square nothing precise about intelligence that drone strikes outside of Iraq and bomber, Faisal Shahzad, before his results in the deaths of 28 unknown Afghanistan have killed 3,674 people. unsuccessful 2010 attack. The drones people, including women and children, As well, the data is agnostic on the first came for Hussain years before, on for every ‘bad guy’ the U.S. goes after,” validity of the named targets struck on January 29, 2008. Then they came on said Reprieve’s Jennifer Gibson, who multiple occasions being marked for June 23, 2009, January 15, 2010, October spearheaded the group’s study. death in the first place. 2, 2010 and October 7, 2010. Some 24 men specifically targeted in Like all weapons, drones will inevi- Finally, on October 15, 2010, Pakistan resulted in the death of 874 tably miss their targets given enough Hellfire missiles fired from a Predator people. All were reported in the press chances. But the secrecy surrounding or Reaper drone killed Hussain, the as “killed” on multiple occasions, them obscures how often misses occur Pakistani Taliban later confirmed. For meaning that numerous strikes were and the reasons for them. Even for the the death of a man whom practically aimed at each of them. The vast major- 33 named targets whom the drones no American can name, the U.S. killed ity of those strikes were unsuccessful. eventually killed—successes, by the 128 people, 13 of them children, none An estimated 142 children were killed logic of the drone strikes—another 947 of whom it meant to harm. in the course of pursuing those 24 people died in the process. A new analysis of the data available men; only six of whom died in the There are myriad problems with to the public about drone strikes, con- course of drone strikes that killed their analyzing data from U.S. drone strikes. ducted by the human-rights group intended targets. Those strikes occur under a blanket of Reprieve, indicates that even when In Yemen, 17 named men were tar- official secrecy, which means analysts operators target specific individuals— geted multiple times. Strikes on them must rely on local media reporting the most focused effort of what Barack killed 273 people, at least seven of them about their aftermath, with all the Obama calls “targeted killing”—they children. At least four of the targets are attendant problems besetting journal- kill vastly more people than their tar- still alive. ism in dangerous or denied places. gets, often needing to strike multiple Available data for the 41 men tar- Anonymous leaks to media organiza- times. Attempts to kill 41 men resulted geted for drone strikes across both tions, typically citing an unnamed in the deaths of an estimated 1,147 countries indicate that each of them American, Yemeni or Pakistani official, people, as of November 24. was reported killed multiple times. are the only acknowledgements that Reprieve, sifting through reports Seven of them are believed to still be the strikes actually occur, or target a compiled by the Bureau of Investigative alive. The status of another, Haji Omar, particular individual. Journalism, examined cases in which is unknown. Abu Ubaidah al-Masri, Without the CIA and the Joint specific people were targeted by drones whom drones targeted three times, Special Operations Command declas-

34 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 sifying more information on the Dining Out in Dinkytown strikes, unofficial and imprecise information is all that is available, compli- Remembering the Minneapolis Truckers’ Strikes of 1934 cating efforts to independently verify By Bryan Palmer or refute administration assurances about the impact of the drones. Dinkytown’s best breakfast looming over the shoulders of the for- What little U.S. officials say about If you are in Minneapolis, after a tunately-seated customers. I wondered the strikes typically boils down to hard day’s night, the place to go for a if I would eat before noon. assurances that they apply “targeted, morning pick-me-up is Al’s Breakfast. The four guys in front of me must surgical pressure to the groups that Or so I was informed. Being in the have sensed my unease, appreciating threaten us,” as John Brennan, now the Twin Cities in mid-July, I made my way that I was a first timer. “Don’t worry,” CIA director, said in a 2011 speech. to the legendary A.M. eatery, located in they assured me, “the line moves “The only people that we fire a the heart of Dinkytown, the neighbor- quickly.” “Where are you from?” drone at [sic] are confirmed terrorist hood adjacent to the University of Introductions made, the conversa- targets at the highest level after a great Minnesota where Al’s is located. tion turned to why I was in Minneapolis. deal of vetting that takes a long period Mind you, no one had told me any- My new-found friends were astounded of time. We don’t just fire a drone at thing about the place. My heart sank as that I had flown from Toronto to be somebody and think they’re a terror- I rounded the 14th Avenue corner and part of a series of events commemorat- ist,” the secretary of state, John Kerry, took in the line that had formed outing the 1934 Teamsters’ strikes. said at a BBC forum in 2013. side of an establishment half way down These class struggles were momen- A Reprieve team investigating on the the block. As I shuffled into place at the tous battles. Workers and their “special ground in Pakistan turned up what it end of the queue and glanced inside my deputy” opponents died in picket line believes to be a confirmed case of mis- spirits nose-dived even further. confrontations. The conflict raged over taken identity. Someone with the same The place wasn’t so much a restau- collective bargaining rights for coal name as a terror suspect on the Obama rant as a refurbished alleyway. Indeed, heavers, market produce haulers, and administration’s “kill list” was killed its origins, I later ascertained, were just truck drivers. When I told the group on the third attempt by U.S. drones. that. The space was once a converted lining up for breakfast that the top His brother was captured, interrogated corridor separating two stores, first used wage demanded by this motley crew and encouraged to “tell the Americans to stockpile sheet metal and plumbing was less than 50 cents an hour, it was what they want to hear:” that they had parts by a hardware outlet. It was all news to them. in fact killed the right person. Reprieve “made-over” into a restaurant in 1950. As I explained that the three strikes has withheld identifying details of the At ten feet wide, with a mere fourteen waged between February and August in family in question, making the story stools, its mid-century clientele consist- 1934 were part of a nation-wide class impossible to independently verify. ed largely of railroad workers. upheaval that brought workers out of “President Obama needs to be Over the years Al’s has become the doldrums of the Great Depression straight with the American people renowned for its waffles, blueberry and into new forms of unionism that about the human cost of this program. pancakes, and ingenious egg concoc- organized the unorganized and defeat- If even his government doesn’t know tions, its quick-paced pack-’em-in bra- ed die-hard anti-labor employers, they who is filling the body bags every time vado, and the banter of its wait staff were surprised. “In Minneapolis,” they a strike goes wrong, his claims that this and cooks. No time is wasted on the seemed to shrug, “who knew?” is a precise program look like non- pseudo-niceties of sycophantic service. Elaborating on all of this, I recount- sense, and the risk that it is in fact mak- Placards on the wall set the tone: “Not ed how the Teamsters had grown local- ing us less safe looks all too real,” Responsible for Alienated Affections;” ly from a union with no more than 175 Gibson said. “Beware of Waitress With An Attitude.” members in 1933 to a vibrant presence —The Guardian, November 24, But the place wins national awards, in Minneapolis, 7,000 strong. Once an attracts the cognoscenti, and clearly 2014 employer-dominated “open shop has strong advocates. town,” Minneapolis was transformed. Not much of this was evident as I It became a “union city.” I explained http://www.theguardian.com/us- waited outside behind fifteen or so how this breakthrough then exploded news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes- hungry patrons. Another dozen stood into an eleven-state over-the-road kill-1147 inside Al’s, leaning against the wall and teamster organizing drive that qua-

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 35 drupled the national membership of Local 120 critic voiced disgust at the ated strikingly effective ways of con- the International Brotherhood, push- 2012 revelations, claiming that the fronting employers and built new and ing it past the 500,000 mark by 1940. union had become little more than “a democratic forms of mass unionism good-old-boys club.” He reported that that challenged the status quo on all The Hoffa hangover it was impossible to get rid of those kinds of levels. They battled the truck- Jimmy Hoffa, before he was gang- embezzling union funds and engaging ing bosses with panache. in all manner of fraudulent schemes, stered-up, learned how to organize Organizing workers to win truckers in this late 1930s mobilization, including a union-run, money-losing spearheaded out of the Minnesota bar in Fargo, North Dakota. That ven- New strike tactics such as the flying metropole. “Minneapolis Teamsters,” ture managed to see $200,000 worth of pickets that roved Minneapolis streets my morning conversationalists replied liquor and beer go missing. in 1934, chasing down scab trucks, were devised and implemented. in wonder. “Really! They did this?” To Fargo, I thought when I became Teamster leaders developed an exten- them, teamsters were a stereotype, a aware of this sordid bit of recent sive “intelligence network,” and were muscle-shirt wearing contingent of Minneapolis Teamster history—Joel well informed by secretaries working independent-contract drivers, under the and Ethan Coen clearly miscast the for various enterprises of what the tutelage of a racketeering officialdom. players in their dark comedy about trucking magnates were preparing to murder, used car dealerships, and And this clearly has had its local do next. To get its message out to thou- development schemes. They should story-line. sands of members, scattered through- have set the stage with Local 120 char- As late as 2012, Local 120 of the out Minneapolis, the union took to the acters and their tavern-tampering ways. International Brotherhood of Teamsters skies and the streets, enlisting an air- (IBT), serving Minneapolis and adja- A revolutionary leadership and its plane and a squad of teenaged motor- cent centers and the direct descendant day in (bourgeois/kangaroo) court cyclists. of the union that waged the strikes of The leaders of these 1934 Strikes were planned down to the 1934, was rocked with a corruption Minneapolis strikes were an entirely last detail. A massive union headquar- scandal. A report undertaken by a different breed. They adhered to the ters was staffed with dispatchers, a Teamster union review board revealed views of Leon Trotsky, and were orga- commissary was outfitted, and a make- that a father-son Secretary-Treasurer/ nized in a group known as the shift hospital to care for the wounded President duo had diverted hundreds- Communist League of America (CLA) was put in place. Refusing to be hood- of-thousands of dollars of membership that would later develop into the winked by the tired leadership of the funds into a variety of construction, Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Barely IBT, these workers’ leaders instead enterprise, sporting ticket, and other half-a-dozen of these revolutionary involved the rank-and-file in strike schemes that resulted in the local being Trotskyists had been agitating in the committees 100-strong, drew the put under trusteeship by IBT union coal yards and among truckers since unemployed to work with the union, boss, James Hoffa, Jr., not to be con- the late 1920s, and their patient efforts and organized a women’s auxiliary that fused with this father Jimmy. led to the victory of the 1934 strikes. attracted wives and daughters, mothers Hoffa Sr., after presiding over the So successful were these teamster and aunts, to the necessity of building IBT from the late 1950s, was convicted leaders that the state, the employers, unionism. on jury tampering, attempted bribery, the IBT bureaucracy (with Jimmy Winning truckers and others in the and fraud charges in the early 1960s. Hoffa as its head thug), and even the transportation industry to militant Sentenced to 13 years in prison, Hoffa Communist Party colluded in World activism, these leaders championed delayed the inevitable with appeal after War II to displace and defeat them. open discussions in regularly-con- appeal. Eventually he went to jail. The low point of this vendetta: two vened mass meetings, favoring public Incarcerated for less than one-third of show trials of the early 1940s that saw votes of all union members rather than his time, Hoffa was pardoned by the Minneapolis revolutionary team- secret ballots. When they actually Richard Nixon in 1971. He then disap- sters and other genuine workers’ lead- secured paid union positions after their peared in 1975, widely thought to have ers convicted on trumped-up treason 1934 strike victories, the revolutionary been murdered by the mob in Detroit. charges. Twenty-nine individuals were Trotskyists guiding the teamsters’ Jimmy Hoffa, then, consolidated a hauled into court, 18 of them railroad- insurgency instituted salary scales for view of the Teamsters as corrupt that ed to jail. themselves insuring that union officials was, in places like Minneapolis, con- The real crime of the Trotskyists were paid no more than those working firmed by modern developments. One and teamster leaders was that they cre- in the industry.

36 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 These revolutionaries also gained were vilified in the mainstream news- Chippewa; Ray Rainbolt, Sioux; Doc the confidence and respect of laboring papers. Anti-communism blanketed Tollotson, Chippewa; Bill Bolt, men and women by helping their Minneapolis in 1934 like a dense fog; Chippewa; Bill Rogers, Chippewa; Joe working-class confreres in time of you could cut it with a dull bourgeois Belanger, Chippewa.” The Red Scare need. They also suffered firings, beat- blade. Demanding 42-and-a-half- was no doubt driven by the employers ings, and jailings. Encouraging workers cents-an-hour for the drivers and and their political and socio-cultural to think independently, in the midst of insisting on the right of those handling allies, but conservative laborites also the strikes of 1934 they put out a daily crates of vegetables in the market to contributed. One Native American newspaper, The Organizer. This strike join the union were the thin edge of a wrote as “A member of 574, not a bulletin used innovative means, among wedge ostensibly opening the door to a Communist, but a Chippewa Indian them satire and humor, to convince Soviet Minneapolis. Or so the Citizen’s and a real American.” He protested the laborers that it was necessary to fight Alliance, the employers’ voice in the ways in which the ossified trade union for their rights. strikes, claimed. tops occupying the plush office seats at the headquarters of the International Class war warriors and the red Brotherhood of Teamsters redbaited scare Winning truckers and the Minneapolis strike leadership. In the late 1930s, fascists threatened others in the transporta- These underhanded attacks did the to organize in Minneapolis, realizing bosses’ bidding, adding “fuel to the that the victories achieved in the 1934 tion industry to militant fire” of the employer association’s anti- strikes needed to be turned back if activism, these leaders communism. their reactionary cause was to succeed. Known as the Silver Shirts, these reac- championed open dis- Unions as history tionaries talked of infiltrating the cussions in regularly- As it turns out, my breakfast part- unions, making them nurseries of convened mass meet- ners to be were educators in the public recruitment to right-wing thought, school system. They did not much like cultivating opposition to class-based ings, favoring public their teachers’ federations. “Hadn’t understandings of the social order. votes of all union mem- unions become too big and powerful They propagated a pernicious racism and reactionary?” asked my chatty and anti-Semitism. bers rather than secret mates. “Hadn’t labor organizations Trotskyists immediately saw the ballots. When they actu- outlived their usefulness?” Trade danger this posed. They formed an ally secured paid union unions, in the vernacular of these educational workers, “were history.” armed contingent of workers known as positions after their the Union Defense Guard. Its “com- This is not an unusual view. And it mander” was Ray Rainbolt, a Sioux 1934 strike victories, the contains a small grain of truth. Many Nation trucker and SWP member. He revolutionary workers will indeed speak of their union drilled the rifle-bearing workers and as a distant and ossified structure. But I railed against the Silver Shirts and their Trotskyists guiding the argued with these teachers that if unions project. Preparedness was the watch- teamsters’ insurgency did often function in bureaucratic ways, word among these revolutionaries. But instituted salary scales they were hardly unduly powerful in workers arming themselves didn’t their dealings with the employers and curry favor with the Justice Department for themselves insuring the state. On the contrary, they were and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that union officials were weakened bodies, and had long been on both of which were involved in the the skids. They needed to be rebuilt, later legal onslaught against the paid no more than those and in this rejuvenation their demo- Minneapolis teamsters. working in the industry. cratic promise and potential was neces- Nor did the affront of labor effec- sarily going to be integral to the labor tively standing up against its class movement’s revitalization. adversaries win the Minneapolis team- Evidence of union decline is unam- sters acclaim locally, at least as far as The Organizer countered, “They biguous. The percentage of the work- conventional authority was concerned. accuse us in this local of being un- force organized in United States unions The General Drivers Union, known as American but how’s this for some real was roughly 33 percent in 1945, had Local 574, and its Trotskyist leadership American Members: Happy Holstein, declined to 24 percent by the end of the

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 37 1970s, and now stands at little more Minneapolis in 1934, arguably a key banner of these exemplary strikes. They than ten percent. Moreover, this union struggle that made so much of trade call themselves the Remember 1934 density is regionally skewed. Fully 4.4 unionism’s mid-century advance pos- committee. One of their current tasks million of the total 14.5 million union sible, not only in one city in one paris to raise funds for a plaque to be members in the United States live in ticularly difficult time, the years of the placed in the old Warehouse District two states, California and New York, a Great Depression, but in wider nation- where two workers, Teamster rank- whopping 21 percent. Try cracking a al circles. What happened in and-file member Henry Ness and union in North Carolina or Arkansas. Minneapolis in 1934 helped galvanize unemployed worker John Bellor, died If we factor out public sector workers workers to fight back. in a viciously one-sided, strike-related such as teachers and government It influenced national figures like battle with police on “Bloody Friday,” employees, whose high union densities United Mine Workers leader, John L. July 20, 1934. This being the 80th anni- of 35 percent are a product of 1960s Lewis, to see that the moribund union- versary of the strikes, the 1934 com- organizational breakthroughs in these ism of the American Federation of mittee and a number of Minneapolis areas, the health of the trade union Labor (AFL), in which leaders like IBT unions organized an impressive series movement looks even worse. The pre- strongman Daniel Tobin were of events. cipitous decline of unions in the pri- ensconced, needed to be revitalized in I was honored to participate in the vate sector—where the mass produc- what would come to be known as the proceedings, which included a public tion labor gains of the 1930s and 1940s Congress of Industrial Organizations lecture on my book at the Central were registered—is astounding. Today, (CIO). The CIO mass production Library; a film night featuring video less than seven percent of American unionism that repudiated the narrow, and newsreel clips from a number of workers who toil in these traditional craft-organized, business unionism of 1934 strikes, including those of blue-collar occupations are union the AFL, threatened, for a brief time, to Minneapolis, sponsored by American members. Trade unionism is not exact- become a social mass production union- Federation of State, County, and ly trending in the right direction. ism that connected up with other fights Municipal Employees Local 3800; a “What will the United States look for civil rights, women’s rights, and Teamsters Local 120 picnic and rally, like without unions?” I asked Al’s cus- various other social justice causes. Born with speakers like Minnesota’s populist tomers. I reminded them of what the of “red” leaderships like those active in Senator, Al Franken; a march to where labor movement had historically Minneapolis and elsewhere, and driven many of the pitched street battles of the accomplished. Unions were vital forces by rank-and-file militancy, this reinvig- 1934 conflict took place; the laying of a in securing working people the basic orated mass unionism put the move- union wreath where an unarmed entitlements that now mean so much ment back in labor’s mobilizations. Henry Ness was viciously murdered by to ordinary Americans: the eight-hour police; a six-hour street festival, involv- Too often this process is seen as day; the weekend; a living wage; paid ing hip-hop artists, street art exhibits, somehow a product of Lewis himself, holiday time; some essential protection Aztec dancers, union and other speak- and his ostensibly far-seeing vision of a from arbitrary dismissal or humiliating ers; a Sunday picnic paying tribute to new unionism. In fact, Lewis looked to denigration. As jaundiced as they had the descendants of the strikers, many Minneapolis. As one of his early biog- come to be about unions as they are in of whom remain committed unionists, raphers, Saul Alinsky, wrote in 1947, our times, the men I talked to outside activists, and socialists; and a book when “Blood ran in [the streets of] of and then inside of Al’s Breakfast launch and talk at a local institution of Minneapolis,” it got the burly, idiosyn- knew this. They agreed that a United the left, MayDay Books, focusing on cratic head of the miners’ union to sit States without unions would be a Revolutionary Teamsters. up and take notice. country in which working people were These events heralded suggestions acutely disadvantaged. Our dialogue Commemorating workers’ of fresh beginnings amidst recollec- seemed to move them out of their pres- struggle: remember 1934 tions of old commitments. ent discontents and uncovered more in I was in Minneapolis in mid-July In the past, for instance, few descen- the way of positive appreciations of the because I had recently authored a book dants seemed to come forward and value of labor organization. These men on these local strikes and their participate in efforts to Remember knew, intuitively, that without the pro- Trotskyist leadership: Revolutionary 1934. At this year’s 80th anniversary tections of trade unionism they and Teamsters: The Minneapolis Truckers’ celebrations, however, more relatives countless others were going to suffer. Strikes of 1934. Minneapolis has a dedi- of the strikers came out. They recalled, What they did not know is the his- cated crew of individuals who, on par- often quite movingly, the ways their tory of the Teamster insurgency in ticular anniversaries, hold high the kinfolk’s lives were forever altered by

38 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 the experience of fighting to build spirit of 1934, demand, as was often well have been a potent force for unionism in Minneapolis. said in periods of upheaval like 1968, social change in earlier periods, Within Local 120, which has in the the seemingly impossible. But this but this is not the case now. Peo- past eschewed a direct involvement in must be done in ways that understand ple see their circumstances from the Remember 1934 events, this is the what can be accomplished in a particu- the vantage point of individual first time that the official Teamsters lar context. A balance must be struck rather than collective concerns. union, as opposed to a reform current between what might realistically be Mobilizations like that of Minne- within it, Teamsters for a Democratic squeezed out of the actualities of the apolis in 1934 are now impossible. Union, has participated in the com- moment, without capitulating to the • Unions are outmoded institu- memorations with unambiguous sorry ideological denials of possibility tions. They are top-heavy with enthusiasm. In effect, 2014 marked a characteristic of any particular time. bureaucracy and are removed change in the IBT’s willingness to This capacity to maximize what from their dues-paying member- “own” its history. There was even men- could be secured through struggle in ships. Labor organizations thus tion of “Trotskyist communist” leader- 1934, rather than succumbing to the have no relevance in progressive, ship in one of the speeches at the Local defeatism all around them, was what contemporary social struggles. 120 picnic. distinguished the revolutionary A lot of this was on order at Al’s Too much cannot be made of such Trotskyists in the Minneapolis truck- Breakfast. But Trotskyists in developments. They may nonetheless ing industry from the IBT bureaucratic Minneapolis answered these denials of suggest, as do a host of other happen- union officialdom. possibility. ings, from the Occupy movement to If we compare the circumstances Their economic prospects, in 1933- the protests in Wisconsin against state that a handful of these radicals faced in 1934, looked no better and probably a attacks on trade unionism to the victo- the coal yards of Minneapolis in the lot worse, than anything recent genera- ries around the $15 minimum wage in early 1930s, with what we confront tions of workers have faced. Seattle and elsewhere, to the impressive today, it is impossible not to conclude recent fight of Chicago’s teachers, that that things looked worse, not better, in To be sure, the claims that workers the anti-union tide that has threatened those Great Depression years. The today are less likely to struggle in class to engulf American labor is now meet- working class of Minneapolis won in and collective ways than their counter- ing resistance. 1934 because it had a leadership to parts in the past may seem self-evident. guide it and a militant willingness to No doubt the fragmentation of work- Dialectics of possibility fight. This can happen again, not only ing-class community life has increased The Teamsters’ strikes of 1934 mat- in Minneapolis, but throughout the over time, and the lure of consumer ter today because they remind us that, capitalist economies of our time, which capitalism is more powerful now than however bad the situation and what- are overripe for popular insurgencies. it was decades ago. There are state ever the power of those opposing institutions, like the National Labor change, victories can indeed be won. Unionism today and the denial of Relations Board (NLRB), that exercise a decisive and detrimental sway over One of the tangible hurdles that must possibility laboring men and women in ways that be overcome if unions are to once again Three claims are often currently made were only weakly established in the be remade as fighting agencies of the denying the possibility of union revival. 1930s. There is no doubt that the legal- popular will is precisely the inertia and It is instructive to look at these assertions istic snare in which unions now seemed defeatism that suggests that they cannot, and compare them to the situation trapped is an impediment to class in the current climate, realize the poten- Minneapolis militants faced in 1934: struggle mobilization. tial that has always animated the labor • When the economy is in terrible movement. After all, unionism origi- shape, as it is now, the times pro- Yet as the Minneapolis teamster nated in and has long been inspired by hibit overt class struggles and leaders showed in their opposition to the slogan, “An injury to one, is an demand concessions and a hold- Franklin D. Roosevelt’s original NLRB, injury to all.” That brief admonition ing back on demands. the corps of mediators sent to defuse the volatile situation in Minneapolis, broadens understandings of what strug- • In the past, workers were able to gles can and should be about. and the smooth talking Farmer-Labor build solidarity and collective Party state governor, Floyd Olson, it is What is needed within unions and ways of resisting because their possible to beat back the state’s hege- other social movements in our times is circumstances were different than monic hold over the working class. The the kind of leadership that can, in the those prevailing today. Class may claims of conventional wisdoms suffo-

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 39 cating popular insurgency’s potent Communist League of America leader- shoots, from China to Cuba, this potential can be refused; the barriers ship, established in New York, with a view of the 1945-1990 world con- erected against the active agency of trade union fraction working diligently cluded that a revolutionary chal- workers by contemporary labor rela- on the ground in a distant Minnesota lenge to capitalism had, finally, tions and their institutions of indus- city. been vanquished. Capitalism’s trial legality can be transcended. What these revolutionaries brought contest with socialism was So, too, can the seemingly insuper- to trade unionism from outside of its declared decisively over. able divisions of working-class life in experiences was decisively important. • With the revolutionary left for- the modern era. While racism and all So, too, was the fact that these revolu- ever dispensed with, the politics manner of chauvinisms have existed tionaries were embedded within the of our times are confined to a throughout history and while they trucking industry and were well- new, and lesser, opposition. The exercise their divisiveness within known, and respected, among the only political contest involves today’s working class, it is nevertheless workers of Minneapolis. The particu- progressive reform within capi- the case that civil rights struggles, fem- larities of place mattered, but so too talism, of the social democratic or inism, LBGTQ mobilizations, and did general principles learned in vari- liberal kind, versus the mainte- other social movements, including ous schools of hard knocks, and con- nance of a civil society prostrate trade unionism, have set the stage for a solidated over the course of years of before the hegemony of the mar- wider sense of human solidarity than revolutionary thought and practice. ket, or neoliberalism. has ever before been imaginable. When the situation exploded in all-out The Minneapolis truckers’ insur- Finally, precisely because capitalism class war, the local leadership could gency and its leadership made it abun- has been in a state of crisis manage- rely on the advice, guidance, and skills dantly clear that Stalinism need not ment since the mid-1970s, its capacity of their “party-like” formation and its encompass the entirety of the revolu- to lure the oppressed and exploited comrades, as well as the support, tionary left. The Trotskyists who guid- into its ideological lair has weakened resolve, energy, and militancy of rank- ed the 1934 teamster upheaval under- considerably in recent times. Many and-file workers in Minneapolis, both stood how the Communist Party of people aren’t “buying” it anymore. For in the trucking sector and outside of it. this era had abandoned its revolution- all of the problems inherent in the If we are to witness events the like of ary origins and was on a slow, but Occupy Movement, its slogan of Minneapolis 1934 again, we obviously inevitable, road to the implosion of “Down with the 1%, Up with the need, not only new unions, but a new, 1989. They offered workers and their 99%,” articulated an undeniable and and revived, revolutionary left. allies an alternative. growing repudiation of capitalism’s fundamental inequalities, highlighting Yet the ideological commonsense of That alternative, moreover, kept the the salience of class solidarity. our current times proclaims the revo- promise of revolutionary socialism lutionary left dead and buried. It does alive precisely because it refused to col- Finally, to those arguing that unions so in ways that are, again, usefully lapse all struggle into the small, com- are bureaucratic beasts whose time has compared to the 1934 Minneapolis placent, container of progressive, lib- passed, the Minneapolis teamsters struggles: eral, reform. A politics of the left that strikes of 1934 show precisely how an became nothing more than the attempt ossified officialdom can be swept aside • With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, capitalist commentators to insure that the lesser of many evils in a moment of class upheaval. In the triumphed, necessitating the embrace process, trade unionism can be revived. proclaimed “the end of history.” This grandiose posture was pre- of many pernicious illusions, was The left today and the denial of mised on the view that with the anathema to the revolutionary leadership of the Teamster rebellion. They possibility implosion of actually existing socialism in its Stalinist variant, would no more have regarded There is also a second set of denials Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Governor that also inhibit active change. They capitalism was triumphant, ending a contest pitting the free-world Olson as an ally than should today’s relate to the revolutionary left. left look to someone far less radical, colossus (headed by the U.S. in Barrack Obama, as anything approxi- The primary lesson of Minneapolis the West) against the so-called mating an answer to the untold griev- is that the leadership that achieved the totalitarian planned economies. victory of 1934 came from this revolu- ances of the dispossessed. • Equating the entirety of the tionary left. There would have been no If the Trotskyist teamsters were not socialist project with Soviet victories in Minneapolis in the mid- fighting directly for Revolution in 1934, 1930s if there had not been a Stalinism and its modern off-

40 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 and they were not, their militant refusal servers scurry back and forth. Each by volunteer doctors and nurses. to succumb to the many temptations booklet has a name boldly marked on Discussions took place about how on offer by those whose purpose it was its outside. to maximize nutrition in the meals to limit unionism to nothing more than I asked the waitress what they were. served, which were prepared by strike an appendage to capitalism, built “Prepaid breakfasts,” she replied, barely supporters, many of the ingredients important bridges to revolutionary stopping to answer as she walked off provided by local farmers who sided possibility. And that is exactly why that briskly to pick-up and drop off another with the workers in their battles. revolutionary leadership and those order. Apparently the practice began in After a full day of picket duty, a bridges had to be attacked by bourgeois the 1950s: railroad workers, paid once a power and its props within the working striking worker might well have sat month, would deposit a portion of their down to a plate of roast chicken, class, under the guise of World War wages with Al so they would be assured II-fomented treason charges. mashed potatoes, and fresh vegetables. of eating at the end of the month when This was likely to be followed by con- What the Minneapolis Trotskyists their cash reserves would likely be low. versation and discussion with fellow tell us is that principle and a vision of Not quite “From each according to their unionists, perhaps even an address by what can be achieved by militant abilities, to each according to their one of the strike leaders or a report actions and resolve, whatever the cir- needs.” But something. from the Strike Committee of 100. To cumstances, do matter. They did not In 1934, when they were on strike, cap off the evening, this worker likely barter away their critical senses in a teamsters dined at their massive union took time to do a reading of the day’s cat-and-mouse game of setting their hall. This was a place that proclaimed issue of The Organizer. Food for sights on one main enemy and toying the collective power of the working thought. with ways of making their struggle class. More than a building, it was an more palatable to others, with whom Bryan D. Palmer is the author of edifice that represented a way of life. they had fundamental disagreements. Revolutionary Teamsters: The Workers’ meals were not prepaid, at They fought employers and IBT Minneapolis Truckers’ Strikes of 1934 least not in terms of the cash that oils bureaucrats; Stalinist slander and social (Chicago: Haymarket, 2014) and a past the wheels of the marketplace. Rather, democratic carrots of enticement; editor of the Canadian journal, Labour/ it was the collective being of class labor boards, courts, and mediators; Le Travail. He is the Canada Research mobilization that literally put food on the pulpit, police and provocateurs. Chair, Canadian Studies Department, the workers’ communal tables in 1934, This audacity goes a long way toward Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario. and that ordered concerns of health explaining just how they won, when so and well-being. Sustenance in the —Labor and Working-Class History many other working-class struggles midst of struggle was provided by the Association, November 7, 2014 came up short. General Drivers’ Union. Local 574’s http://lawcha.org/word- Victories can be achieved, then, commissary was staffed by women’s press/2014/11/07/dining-dinkytown- even in the worst of times. Even in our auxiliary members; its hospital was run remembering-minneapolis-truckers- times. They will not, however, be strikes-1934-bryan-d-palmer/ secured by drinking the hemlock of conciliation, compromising everything in order to achieve a small, and always vulnerable, corner of what is needed. Reality must be faced squarely; capitu- lation can never be countenanced. We need to remember 1934 because, 80 years later, it still lives for us as a path- way to possibility. Dining out as it has been and as it might be Al’s Breakfast has a long row of yel- low ticket books. They are thrown into rectangular alphabetically-ordered bins that run much of the length of the narrow service area in which cooks and

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 41

Environment ENVIRONMENT Bowing to Monsanto USDA approves new GMO soy and cotton crops By Sarah Lazare

The United States Department of genetically modified crops “the latest to the ecosystem. As the Center for Agriculture on Thursday approved in a slew of bad ideas” and a sign of the Food Safety points out, dicamba has Monsanto’s controversial herbicide- USDA’s “allegiance to the largest pesti- been linked in epidemiology studies to resistant genetically modified strains of cide corporations.” “increased rates of cancer in farmers soybean and cotton, in a move that The U.S. Department of and birth defects in their male off- critics say is a bow to the powerful bio- Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health spring.” First approved in 1967, dicam- technology industry, at the expense of Inspection Service (APHIS) on ba seeps through the environment, human and environmental health. Thursday, January 15, 2015, granted causing damage to crops and flowering The green-light is “simply the latest “nonregulated status for Monsanto plants and polluting waterways. example of USDA’s allegiance to the Company’s (Monsanto) soybeans and Furthermore, herbicides give rise to biotechnology industry and depen- cotton that are resistant to certain her- resistant weeds, leading to the develop- dence upon chemical solutions,” Food bicides, including one known as ment of new herbicides, accompanied and Water Watch Executive Director dicamba.” The biotechnology giant by resistant genetically engineered Wenonah Hauter declared in a press still awaits the Environmental crop strains. Critics charge that, rather statement. “This continues the dis- Protection Agency’s approval of the than embark on an endless cycle of turbing trend of more herbicide-toler- new herbicide, which contains both pumping chemicals and genetically ant crop approvals taking place under dicamba and glyphosate, designed to modified crops into the environment, President Obama’s watch.” accompany the resistant strain. fostering a “pesticide treadmill,” regu- Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman of the But food and environmental safety lators should take the long-term well- Pesticide Action Network echoed advocates warn that the corresponding being of the ecosystem into account Hauter’s concerns, calling the new increase in herbicide use is dangerous and change the status quo. The USDA’s green-light follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval in October of Dow AgroSciences’ herbicide Enlist Duo, which farmers and scientists warn threatens human and environmental health. “Monsanto’s genetically-engineered dicamba-resistant crops are yet another example of how pesticide firms are taking agriculture back to the dark days of heavy, indiscriminate use of hazardous pesticides, seriously endan- gering human health and the environment,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety. —Common Dreams, January 16, 2015 http://www.commondreams.org/ news/2015/01/16/bowing-monsanto- usda-approves-new-gmo-soy-and-cotton-crops

42 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1

International INTERNATIONAL U.S. and Cuba: A Change in Relationship? U.S. admits failure and re-establishes diplomatic relations with Cuba—a change of tactics to achieve the same aim By Jorge Martin

On Wednesday, December 17, 2014, years and how they failed: “Though percent of the land and three-quarters the United States admitted that its this policy has been rooted in the best of primary industry. attempt to bully Cuba into submission of intentions, it has had little effect— For three decades, the combination had failed. This should be seen as a vic- today, as in 1961, Cuba is governed by of the enormous advances of the revolu- tory for the Cuban Revolution and its the Castros and the Communist party.” tion in the fields of healthcare, housing, resilience against the relentless This cannot be underestimated. education and others, alongside very onslaught of the most powerful imperi- Washington has pursued a criminal favorable trade links with the Soviet alist power on earth only 90 miles away policy against the Cuban revolution Union allowed the revolution to survive from its shores. However, U.S. imperi- ever since it overthrew the U.S. spon- this assault. It has to be added that the alism has not given up on its aims: the sored dictatorship of Batista. This relationship also meant a bureaucrati- restoration of the rule of private prop- assault included sponsoring invasions, zation of the Cuban revolution. erty and the destruction of the gains of a commercial, economic, and financial After the collapse of the Soviet the revolution. It has just changed the embargo, terrorism, assassination Union however, the small island was means to achieve the same result. attempts, financing of “dissidents,” a left to its own devices. The Special The announcement of the reestab- constant barrage of propaganda, desta- Period (1991-94) witnessed an eco- lishment of diplomatic relations bilization attempts, etc. The cost of nomic collapse without precedent as between the two countries came after these policies of imperialist aggression Cuba was left at the mercy of the world many months of secret negotiations has been huge. According to the Cuban market. The fact that despite all the dif- and was finally confirmed in a phone government, the embargo costs the ficulties the revolution did not collapse conversation between Raúl Castro and small island $685 million in U.S. dol- and capitalism was not restored was a Barack Obama on Monday, December lars every year. clear indication that the Cuban revolu- 15, 2014. As part of the agreement, Even as recently as September this tion was still alive and had enormous Cuba released U.S. spy Alan Grossman, year several European banks were fined reserves of support amongst the mass- on humanitarian grounds, as well as hundreds-of-thousands of U.S. dollars es. There was a generation, which another unnamed U.S. spy, and the for violating the U.S. embargo on remembered how life was before the U.S. released the remaining three of the Cuba. German bank Commerzbank revolution, under the jackboot of U.S. Cuban 5, jailed in the U.S. for the was fined over one billion U.S. dollars puppet dictators, and what had been crime of having told the FBI of terrorist in two separate decisions and the won through the abolition of private actions being planned from U.S. soil by French bank BNP Paribas another nine property. The resistance was not only Cuban reactionary émigrés. billion (though the fine also included economic but also political against the The statement from the White violating sanctions on Sudan and Iran). massive propaganda campaign of the House announcing the change of policy Diplomatic relations between the ruling class internationally to say that starts with a clear admission of bank- two countries were broken by the socialism had died and there was no ruptcy: “A Failed Approach. Decades of United States in January 1961 after the alternative to capitalism. U.S. isolation of Cuba have failed to Cubans demanded the scaling back of accomplish our objective of empower- the U.S. diplomatic mission, which ing Cubans to build an open and dem- was involved in terrorist activities ocratic country.” Of course, where it against the new revolutionary govern- says an “open and democratic country” ment. The embargo, which has not yet what they really mean is a capitalist been removed, as Raúl Castro pointed country, where “democracy” is just a fig out, had already started in 1960 in leaf for the rule of big corporations. response to the revolution’s expropri- And the statement continues by ation of U.S. property. Before the rev- making clear their aims for nearly 55 olution, U.S. companies controlled 70

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 43 The coming to power of the revolution by brute force. They also (increasing the limit from $500 to Bolivarian revolution in 1998 threw a realized that as Cuba opened certain $2000) and the fact that “support for new lifeline to Cuba. On the one hand, sectors to foreign investment, U.S. the development of private businesses it meant the exchange of Venezuelan companies were losing out on poten- in Cuba will no longer require a spe- oil for Cuban medical services on very tially profitable business opportunities cific license.” This is accompanied by a favorable terms. On the other, it broke against Canadian and European capi- series of other measures aimed at eas- the isolation of the Cuban revolution talists. Above all, they argued, U.S. ing the embargo (allowing the use of and provided the hope that it could aims (the restoration of capitalism in U.S. credit cards on the island; allow- spread even further. Cuba) would be best served by a change ing U.S. banks to open accounts in The collapse of the Soviet Union in tactics, which is what this announce- Cuba; lifting some of the import/ also brought sharply to the fore the ment really means. export restrictions; etc.) fundamental problem facing the Cuban The statement from the White House This is precisely the policy advocated revolution: its isolation. The Cuban makes this clear: “We know from hard- for a long time by a section of the U.S. economy, despite the limitations learned experience that it is better to ruling class: defeat the revolution imposed by the embargo, is inserted in encourage and support reform than to through the “heavy artillery of cheap the world market on very unfavorable impose policies that will render a coun- commodity prices” that Marx talked terms. It acquires hard currency by try a failed state…Today, the President about. Just to give an example, ten years selling nickel and medical services, announced additional measures to end ago, one of the directors of the conser- through tourism and remittances, our outdated approach, and to promote vative capitalist think tank Cato Institute which then it has to use to buy at full more effectively change in Cuba that is argued for an end to the embargo and a market price almost everything (from consistent with U.S. support for the series of measures which are, almost to heavy machinery to food). As with any Cuban people and in line with U.S. the word, the ones announced by other underdeveloped economy, with national security interests.” Obama yesterday. The article concluded low productivity of labor and outdated What this means is that the United by saying: “The most powerful force for machinery in most sectors, the terms of States government still considers it has change in Cuba will not be more sanc- trade extract a heavy toll. the right to decide the future of Cuba tions, but more daily interaction with It is in this context that significant “in line with U.S. national security free people bearing dollars and new sections of the leadership in Cuba have interests.” Clearly, the “change” that the ideas.” (“Four Decades of Failure: The started to toy with the idea that the U.S. ruling class wants to see in Cuba is, U.S. Embargo against Cuba.”) “Chinese way” (that is, introducing on the one hand, the full restoration of Capitalist public opinion was pre- market relations in certain aspects of private property over the means of pro- pared for the announcement by an the economy, while maintaining an duction (and with it the destruction of editorial article dated December 14, overall control on the part of the state) the gains of the revolution) and the 2014 in the New York Times titled, was the way forward. At the end of the establishment of a bourgeois “democ- “Cuba’s Economy at a Crossroads,” day, wasn’t China the fastest growing racy” that they can control. which is interesting because it reveals economy in the world? The problem If one looks at the detail of the mea- what the thinking is behind these mea- with this plan is that in China, market sures adopted by Obama, it is clear that sures. The article points out that there mechanisms in certain sectors progres- they are aimed at promoting, encour- is a split in the Cuban leadership sively led to the full restoration of capi- aging and aiding the development of a between those it describes as “the Old talism in the country and the destruc- private capitalist class. Amongst other Guard leaders” who “warn that a liber- tion of many of the conquests of the things, Obama’s statement explains: alized market economy could turn revolution. Cuba, a small island with “The policy changes make it easier for Cuba into a less egalitarian society and limited resources, is in a much weaker Americans to provide business training provide an opening for the United position than China was when it went for private Cuban businesses and small States to destabilize the government back into the world market. farmers and provide other support for through a flood of private investment” U.S. ruling class changes tactics the growth of Cuba’s nascent private on the one hand, and “reformists, against the Cuban Revolution sector. Additional options for pro- including some of the country’s leading economists, say the current state of For many years, a section of the rul- moting the growth of entrepreneurship and the private sector in Cuba will be the economy is untenable.” The advice ing class in the U.S. had pointed out of the New York Times? “Washington the failure of Washington’s approach explored.” The new policy also includes allowing for larger remittances could empower the reformist camp by to attempt to overthrow the Cuban making it easier for Cuban entrepre-

44 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 neurs to get external financing and allocation of productive resources, ly determine their future. Our efforts business training.” growing role of direct taxation (on the are aimed at promoting the indepen- results of productive activity) in state dence of the Cuban people so they do Modernizing socialism, or moving funding, amongst others.” not need to rely on the Cuban state.” towards a market economy? The problem, as we have argued What stinking hypocrisy! The gov- This division of opinion in the before, is that these kinds of measures ernment which is involved in mass spy- Cuban leadership is not just a figment acquire a dynamic of their own and, as ing on its own citizens, torture, the of the imagination of New York Times shown in China, lead directly to the killing of unarmed civilians by its editorial writers, not wishful thinking restoration of capitalism. This restora- police, repression of its own citizens, on the part of the U.S. ruling class. We tion would destroy the gains of the invading any country which does not have warned before that there is a revolution, particularly in the fields of follow its dictates is now talking about strong current of opinion amongst healthcare, education and housing. democratic rights and independence! leading economists who propose as a way forward a series of wide ranging The changes which have taken place market reforms like the ones which amongst the Cuban community in started the process of capitalist restora- U.S. imperialism has not Florida are also a factor in Obama’s calculations. The generation of those tion in China. Some of these have given up on its aims: the already been implemented1. who emigrated in the 1960s fleeing the restoration of the rule of revolution has now been largely One of the most outspoken of these replaced by their offspring, who, economists is Omar Everleny of the private property and the although fundamentally opposed to official Centre for the Study of Cuban destruction of the gains the revolution, are more open to the Economy (CEEC). In an interview of the revolution. proposed change in tactics. There has with Havana Times on the new foreign also been an influx of a new layer of investment law, he summed up his economic migrants from Cuba, who approach: “No country can survive on would like to see restrictions on travel its own resources alone in today’s glo- and on remittances lifted. For the first balized world—one way or another, U.S. imperialist meddling will continue time, public opinion in Florida is now they need foreign resources to achieve for the lifting of the embargo and the As well as the battery of economic development. China and Vietnam have Democrats are ahead of the measures announced by Washington, demonstrated that one can make mas- Republicans. Still, Obama will have a there is also a promise to remove Cuba sive use of foreign investment and hard time passing measures lifting the from the list of countries, which “spon- achieve good economic results without embargo through Congress, where the sor terrorism.” Cuba’s presence on the losing political control at home.” Republicans have a majority. For this list is particularly scandalous as in fact Two other prominent CEEC econo- reason so far he has relied on his own it has been the U.S., which has helped, mists, Juan Triana Cordoví and executive powers. protected and funded terrorists acting Ricardo Torres Pérez, in, analyzing the How can the Cuban revolution challenges of “policies for economic against the Cuban revolution. face the new challenges? growth,” reach the conclusion that, However, the U.S. says openly that it “although certain terms are not used, it will continue meddling in the internal The current world situation, with seems clear that Cuba is heading affairs of Cuba, all in the name of an intractable economic crisis of capi- towards a model more similar to that “human rights” and “democracy.” This talism and the resulting growing ques- of a market economy, even though the is what the statement says: “A critical tioning of the system, plays in favor of final aim does not seem to be the tran- focus of our increased engagement will the Cuban revolution. The situation on sition to a typical capitalist country.” include continued strong support by the island however, is one which does And they list the measures taken to the United States for improved human not leave much room for maneuver. back up that assertion: “This can be rights conditions and democratic The economic problems resulting from seen in a series of spheres such as the reforms in Cuba. The promotion of its unequal insertion in the world mar- growing weight of the non-state sector democracy supports universal human ket are compounded by mismanage- (private and cooperative), greater rights by empowering civil society and ment and bureaucracy. The status quo decentralization in decision making for a person’s right to speak freely, peace- cannot be maintained. the economic agents as a whole… fully assemble, and associate, and by This situation shows that the main greater role of the pricing system in the supporting the ability of people to free- danger facing the Cuban revolution

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 45 comes from the fact that the revolution Forty-Three Faces that Move the World is still isolated in a small island surrounded by the world capitalist mar- Editorial By Frontera NorteSur, New Mexico State University News ket. This is an unavoidable fact. The whole history of the relationship Editor’s Note: The latest installment a trumpet call bouncing off mountain between Cuba and the Soviet Union, of Frontera NorteSur’s special coverage peaks, gliding into river valleys and and later with Venezuela, underlines on the crisis in Mexico. crossing oceans. In various ways, the the point that the Cuban revolution, if On a frigid November night, candles United Nations, Inter-American it is to survive, it cannot remain iso- illuminated the photos of 43 missing Commission on Human Rights and lated. Its fate, ultimately, will be decid- young men laid out on the patio of the European Parliament are involved in ed in the arena of the world class Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque, the issue. struggle. New Mexico. A man crouched on the Pope Francisco recently conveyed That in turn will have a dialectical ground, reading out the names of the his “closeness in a painful moment” to relationship with the balance of forces disappeared: “Leonel Castro Abarca the Mexican people. inside the island, between those who (18), Mauricio Ortega Valerio (18), Last week, 35 members of the UK argue that the way forward is on the Felipe Arnulfo Rosa (20)…” Parliament signed a motion demand- road to the market and those who “Presente!” roared back a crowd of ing that London pressure Mexico on argue that the defense of the gains of about 100 people as each name was the human rights front. In Chile, the the revolution is linked to the defense read off. Mixed in ethnicity and age but Chamber of Deputies approved a reso- of the nationalized property forms with a heavy representation of young lution calling on President Michele which made them possible. people, the demonstrators sang, chant- Bachelet to recall Chile’s ambassador Defend the Cuban revolution! ed and spoke out about the murdered in Mexico for consultations. On a visit No imperialist intervention! and forcibly disappeared students of to Guerrero, German lawmaker Heike No capitalist restoration! the Ayotzinapa rural teachers’ college Hansel, who represents the left fraction in the southern Mexican state of in her country’s parliament, met with —In Defense of Marxism, December Guerrero. Ayotzinapa parents, human rights 18, 2014 “Justice! When do we want it? activists and an official from the federal http://www.marxist.com/us-admits- Now!” demanded the protesters. The attorney general’s office. failure-and-re-establishes-diplomatic- November 13 Duke City demonstra- Hansel told the local press that relations-with-cuba-a-change-of-tac- tion was among numerous actions that German arms illegally exported to tics-to-achieve-the-same-aim.htm swept the globe in recent days as out- Mexico were used in a 2011 police rage swelled over the police/cartel kill- attack against protesting Ayotzinapa ings and forced disappearances of 49 students that left two young men dead; students and civilians in Iguala, civil society organizations are cam- 1 http://www.marxist.com/where-is-cuba- going-capitalism-or-socialism.htm Guerrero, last September 26 and 27. paigning against a new security agree- For Cipriana Jurado, the atrocities ment between Mexico and Germany, of Iguala are far from new. A longtime the parliamentarian said. labor and human rights activist from In Amsterdam, meanwhile, dozens of Ciudad Juarez who participated in the members of Mexico’s vast diaspora staged Consulate protest, Jurado was granted a demonstration inside a soccer stadium U.S. political asylum following threats where the Mexican and Dutch national and the killings of her friends from the teams were competing. A participant in Reyes Salazar family in the Juarez the protest, Nela Avila, later said her Valley during 2010 and 2011. group waved white handkerchiefs and “We’ve suffered other massacres shouted “43! 43! 43!” when the clock like those in Juarez and Tamaulipas, struck the 43rd minute of the match. but Ayotzinapa is the straw that broke The shadows of Ayotzinapa fol- the camel’s back,” Jurado told FNS. lowed Mexican President Enrique Pena 43 Faces Inside and outside Mexico, demands Nieto to Australia for a meeting of the for justice for Ayotzinapa resound like G-20 nations. A group of Mexican emi- gres and Australians, Australia in

46 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Action for Ayotzinapa, issued a state- As the week drew to a close, three movement is becoming very plural in ment while organizing protests in caravans headed by parents of the Juarez,” Acosta added. Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Ayotzinapa students left Guerrero for At the same time, what might be Melbourne and Sydney. different states of the Mexican repub- termed the “Ayotzinapa Effect” rolled “Young people in Mexico are in lic, where meetings were held with a across the nation, surfacing in Tres constant risk and double victims,” the cross-section of Mexican society rang- Marias outside Mexico City, where group declared. “On the one hand, they ing from small farmers in Chihuahua residents blockaded the highway to are victims of harassment, violence and to indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas. protest another politically and crimi- murder perpetrated by state-criminal The caravan plans to converge on nally tainted kidnapping. Mexico City for a national protest on collusion; and on the other, (youth) are A November 16 march of 5,000 coopted by organized crime that takes November 20—the holiday anniversary of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. people in Ecatapec, Mexico state, pro- advantage of the lack of educational tested growing insecurity in the city and employment opportunities.” “The flame of civil insurgency is lit,” while expressing support for the In Mexico, protests electrified the declared parents’ spokesperson Felipe Ayotzinapa students. de la Cruz. country. Most were peaceful but some In a similar vein, teachers in were not. Students from public and In the northern border region, Acapulco shut down about 100 schools private universities led a march of about 100 students of the Autonomous in the city November 13-14. Despite 2,000 people in the state capital of University of Ciudad Juarez occupied previous strikes over the same safety Aguascalientes, while the National the rector’s office the evening of grievances, and federal and state inter- Coordinator of Education Workers November 13, demanding that the uni- vention in Acapulco’s law enforcement, shut down schools and occupied 113 versity support the November 20 teachers claimed 19 fellow educators city halls in the state of Michoacan. national day of protest. had been murdered in 2014 alone. Filmmakers Alonso Cuaron and The students also called on the uni- “The repudiation of the kidnapping Guillermo del Toro became the latest in versity to take a stronger stance on the of 43 student-teachers has a new focal a parade of celebrities to sharply con- issue of women’s murders, or femi- point in Veracruz, where the 22nd demn the violence against the Ayotzinapa cides. After an all-night occupation, Central American and Caribbean students, joining the voices of soccer star university officials issued a statement Games are underway,” wrote Proceso’s Chicharito, pop singer Thalia, Mana’s declaring support for the protest and Noe Zavaleta. “In this encounter of Fher, and the norteño combo Los Tigres inviting the community to attend rele- international projection, students, pol- del Norte, among many others. At a vant activities at the school’s University iticians and activists have undertaken Mexico City concert, 43 candles deco- Cultural Center on November 20. an effort to give visibility to one of the rated the stage for a performance of the “Because they were taken alive, we want most brutal cases of government crim- popular rock group Café Tacuba. them back alive,” read an official university inality in recent years.” “This is a grave situation in which statement. “We are all Ayotzinapa.” At the November 14 kick-off of the we live,” lead singer Ruben Albarran A student survivor of September’s games, thousands of people reportedly told the crowd of about 10,000 fans. government carnage in Iguala who was booed Veracruz Governor Javier “Let’s not confuse ourselves. This is a present in Juarez said “he was really Duarte and Interior Minister Miguel state crime.” joyful to see all the support of all the Angel Osorio Chong. Soldiers and Across Mexico, protesters seized students from Juarez,” according to police have militarized the zone around highway tollbooths, occupied com- Gio Acosta, member of the newly- the games and even outnumber the mercial plazas and snarled traffic. On formed El Paso-Juarez group 5,000-plus athletes, according to some Friday, November 14, Mexico City Ayotzinapa Sin Fronteras. media accounts. traffic was paralyzed by multiple block- In a phone interview with FNS, To say the situation in Guerrero is ades inside the capital city and around Acosta said the student movement was explosive would be a monumental three access highways. The police growing in Juarez, with the political understatement. shooting and wounding of a young discussion expanding to include issues man on the Autonomous National If a soundtrack were to accompany such as femicide and the high cost of University of Mexico campus some episodes in Acapulco and the higher education. November 15 further inflamed the sit- state capital of Chilpancingo, the old uation, prompting clashes with local “Students have been joining in. It’s Rolling Stones’ song “Street Fighting police and more protests. hard to keep track of them, but the Man” would be an apt addition, as

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 47 pitched battles between police and held in Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Las highways, the young woman said. groups of protesters have involved Cruces and El Paso, among other places. “There are shootouts and deaths in rocks, clubs and bottle rockets; almost Convened by social media, the Tamaulipas every day,” Olvera said. systematically, brigades of hooded men November 13 Albuquerque vigil was a “Everybody is afraid to speak out in have trashed and set fire to govern- very spirited event. Mexican Consul Mexico. Ayotizinapa is the tip of the ment buildings and the offices of polit- Mauricio Ibarra walked up to the large iceberg of everything that is happening ical parties. candle-lit circle and thanked the attend- in Mexico.” A November 15 shootout in the ees for their concern about Mexico and Political exile Cipriana Jurado rural section of Acapulco between events that “should not happen.” agreed that Ayotzinapa could also be a gravel company employees and mem- But Ibarra was soon fielding shouts watershed moment. “It’s very impor- bers of the Cecop, a landowners’ coali- for President Pena Nieto to resign and tant,” she said. “Now Mexicans all over tion that is opposed to a proposed dam recriminations over the controversial the world are tired of the situation in and supportive of the Ayotzinapa stu- statement by Mexican Attorney General Mexico—massacres, impunity, the dents, left four people dead and five Jesus Murrillo Karam that the 43 miss- murders of women. The line between others wounded. Conversely, a silent ing students had been murdered and government and organized crime is march of more than 250 people pro- incinerated at a garbage dump. Ibarra erased—it’s the same.” ceeded without incident through assured FNS that the Mexican govern- The Albuquerque Consulate protest Chilpancingo to draw attention to the ment is awaiting the results of an inves- “forgotten victims” of the September ended with shouts of “Long Live tigation by the University of Innsbruck Zapata!” and a performance by two 26 Iguala violence, in addition to the in Austria to determine if ashes recov- Ayotzinapa 43. young musicians singing Molotov’s ered in northern Guerrero belonged to “Give me the Power,” the classic broad- Relatives of bus driver Victor any of the students. side against the socio-economic order Manuel Lugo Cortes and 15-year-old “We are treating the case as a disap- and Mexican political class. Local activ- soccer player David Josue Evangelista pearance until there are other indica- ists plan another demonstration for the Garza, who were both killed when tions,” Ibarra said. Asked about the Ayotzinapa students at the Consulate police fired on a bus carrying Los Mexican government’s view of the on the evening of November 20.1 Avispones soccer club members, par- worldwide protests sparked by —New Mexico State University ticipated in the march for justice. The Ayotzinapa, Ibarra said it was striking News, November 17, 2014 families were joined by other “forgot- to see “the solidarity people are show- ten victims”—survivors of last year’s ing to the people of Mexico.” http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/ Tropical Storm Manuel who contend Addressing the crowd, speakers they have gone more than a year with- talked about the role of U.S. arms in out adequate government assistance. fomenting violence in Mexico, the With the passage of each day, the influence of Mexican media giants 1 Additional Sources: El Sur, November 15 possibility of more repression grows. Televisa and TV Azteca and generalized and 16, 2014. Articles by Anarsis Pacheco Poli- Upon returning from his trip to China insecurity south of the border. to, Lourdes Chavez and Carlos Moreno A. and Australia this past weekend, Gemma Olvera, who moved to Nortedigital.mx, November 13 and 15, 2014. El Diario de Chihuahua, November 15, 2014. La President Pena Nieto immediately gave Albuquerque less than one year ago a press conference in which he con- Jornada (Guerrero edition), November 15, from the northern Mexican border 2014. Article by Hector Briseno. La Jornada demned violent protests and insisted state of Tamaulipas, told FNS that con- (Aguascalientes edition), November 14, 2014. the government was “privileging dia- ditions back home had not improved Article by Alejandra Huerta. El Diario de El logue” with different groups. during the Pena Nieto presidency. Paso, November 13, 2014. Article by Diego Murcia. “I aspire to and hope it is not the Olvera said the public safety climate case that the government must arrive La Jornada, November 12, 13, 13, 15, 16, took a sharp dive about six years ago, 2014. Articles by Rubicela Morelos, Josefina to the extreme of using public force,” recalling a shootout in front of an ele- Quintero, Sergio Ocampo, Ernesto Martinez, Pena Nieto said. “We want to convoke mentary school in her town during Jorge A. Perez Alonso, Diana Manzo, Elio order and peace.” regular school hours that forced the Enriquez, Rosa Elvira Vargas, Silvia Chavez children to duck and cover. Nowadays, Gonzalez, Hector Briseno, Javier Salinas, the North of the border, Ayotzinapa- Associated Press, AFP, DPA, and editorial staff. themed vigils, protests outside Mexican criminals freely roam private universi- Proceso/Apro, November 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, consulates, press conferences and uni- ties demanding pay-offs, extort small 2014. Articles by Beatriz Pereyra, Noe Zavaleta versity roundtables have been recently businesses and leave bodies on public and editorial staff.

48 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 End the Killing of Students Now Peace, justice, and democracy for Mexico

Statement and Petition by the dents were doing. The federal army has their governments are involved in Campaign for Peace and a strong presence in Iguala, the site of direct and indirect ways alongside the Democracy the massacre, and was nearby at the Mexican state in the repression of the time and aware of the attacks. It did Mexican people and the despoliation We send our solidarity to the par- nothing. The federal army itself carried of their society. ents of the dead and missing students, out another mass execution of 22 to the millions of student protesters, The drug war, a battle between rival young people in the same region, in the and to the Mexican people! drug gangs, generally linked to differ- town of Tlatlaya, in the neighboring ent groups of the local, state, and fed- We condemn the murders and state of Mexico in June 2014. The army eral authorities, has provided a cover human rights violations by the Mexican and the federal government then for the renewal of the dirty war of the government and the drug cartels. And attempted to cover up these executions 1970s, when the Mexican government we condemn the U.S. and Canadian in Tlatlaya, a cover-up that included carried out large numbers of assassina- governments for their support of the harassing and threatening witnesses. tions and forced disappearances in an Mexican state. The investigation that followed the attempt to stop rising protests and We feel pain, anger and outrage at September 2014 massacre of the stu- guerrilla movements. State-executed the kidnapping, torture, and execu- dents from the Ayotzinapa college has assassinations and disappearances con- tions of rural students from the teach- been deliberately incompetent and tinued at a reduced level in the follow- ers’ college of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, staged as an effort to deflect blame to ing decades but have sharply escalated Mexico on September 26, 2014, at the the local level, to cool out protest with- since 2006 and even more so since hands of police in collusion with out attempting to find the disappeared Enrique Peña Nieto became president groups linked to drug trafficking. This or to get to the roots of the crime. in 2012. was a crime against humanity. The 43 The depth of the Mexican crisis, the The growing repression is only par- missing and three of the six whose state and drug cartel violence, and the tially linked to the drug wars. It is inti- murders have been confirmed are perception that the electoral route is mately linked to attempts to eliminate young students, mostly children of closed because of widespread fraud, resistance to the ongoing neoliberal poor rural families. For decades, espe- manipulation and corruption, means offensive in Mexico, an offensive being cially for the past six years, the school that Mexican popular movements have promoted by business interests and where they were studying, the Rural to work in the middle of a boiling caul- governments of Mexico, Canada and Normal “Raúl Isidro Burgos,” a school dron of repression and violence. The the United States. The harsh human specializing in training teachers to United States is deeply involved in this consequences of the neoliberal offen- serve the rural and indigenous poor, as cauldron through military agreements sive in Mexico—a sharp increase in well as rural teachers’ colleges as a with the Mexican armed forces in car- poverty and inequality, the downgrad- whole, have been subjected to an rying out this repression in Mexico ing of the labor market, and the dispos- intense political attack by the state and under the cover of the drug war. And session of large numbers of rural powerful business groups. Canadian mining companies are also Mexicans from their lands—have been It was the state deeply involved as they seize and generating resistance, as have the dep- despoil the waters and lands of Mexican These crimes against humanity, redations on communities being car- peasants and carry out brutal repres- ried out by the drug gangs, the police, sadly, are the rule not the exception in sion through private armies aided by Mexico. And they are often carried private security forces of mining com- various levels of the Mexican govern- panies, and the armed forces. For out—or tolerated—by different levels ment against many Mexican commu- of the Mexican government and/or in example, many community militias nities. The giant oil corporations wel- have been formed in the state of collusion with the drug gangs. As the comed in by the privatization of protesters in Mexico have repeatedly Guerrero and the neighboring state of Mexican oil will be protected from Michoacán to defend their communi- declared, “Fue el Estado” (It was the popular protests by the Mexican armed state). The federal government is ties against these aggressions. But the forces with the ongoing massive mili- state and national governments have responsible for the safety of people tary assistance from the United States. travelling on federal roads, as the stu- arrested the leaders of the community U.S. and Canadian companies and militias and sought to disband them as

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 49 they continue to tolerate the attacks by umbrella of the drug war. We also call We are heartened by the massive the drug gangs and by the local and for an end to the role of the United size and national scope of the protests. state government. States in facilitating these horrific abus- Thousands of protesters, including es through the military aid provided in family members of the missing stu- The recent changes to the Mexican dents, blocked the Acapulco, Guerrero Constitution promise to speed up the international airport for three hours dispossession of rural communities as interrupting flights on November 10. they allow for the privatization of oil The investigation that Twenty-two of the 81 municipalities of and other natural resources and permit followed the September the state of Guerrero have been taken the government to remove local com- over by protesters. Nearly four million munities for the sake of resource devel- 2014 massacre of the students staged a national strike on opment—communities that are students from the November 5, 2014 and the inter-uni- already being dispossessed informally Ayotzinapa college has versity committee that organized this by gangs working for business inter- third national action within the last ests, or by the despoiling of their land been deliberately incom- month continues to plan new protests. by mining development. As resistance petent and staged as an The scale of the protests has grown and has increased, so has repression. effort to deflect blame to the demands have become more radi- We express our solidarity with the the local level, to cool cal. The righteous indignation of the bereaved but courageous parents of the Mexican people has not succumbed to dead and disappeared students of out protest without fatalism or cynicism nor have they Ayotzinapa and with the millions of attempting to find the been fooled by the various maneuvers Mexican students and citizens demand- of the federal government attempting ing justice and a different Mexico, a disappeared or to get to to demobilize the protests. The more Mexico of peace, democracy, social the roots of the crime. the mobilizations grow and radicalize, well-being and justice. We support the more likely are attempts to end their demand for an independent inter- them by force. We must raise aware- national inquiry not only into the ness of the ongoing struggles and viola- events of Iguala and Tlatlaya but also the Mérida Plan and military training, tions of human rights in Mexico. Their into the thousands of disappearances, as well as the systematic human rights struggle is our struggle. We are all killings and human rights abuses that violations being carried out to protect Ayotzinapa! have been carried out under the Canadian and U.S. companies. Partial list of signers: Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval, Ed Asner, Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorf- man, Barbara Ehrenreich, Daniel Ellsberg, Mike Farrell, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Barbara Garson, Sam Gindin, Greg Grandin, Robin D.G. Kelley, Kathy Kelly, Enrique C. Ochoa, Leo Panitch, William I. Robinson, Marta F. Sánchez Soler, and Lynn Marie Stephen. Sign the petition at: Campaign for Peace and Democracy, November 13, 2014 http://www.cpdweb.org/stmts/1024/stmt. shtml?utm_source=MailerMailer&utm_ medium=email&utm_ content=English&utm_campaign=Stateme nt+sent+to+Mexican+protesters+%2B+Me xican%2C+U.S.+and+Canadian+officials+

50 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Ebola and the Profit-Driven Healthcare Industry By Lauren McCauley

Speaking before a gathering of African “As you all know, much of Africa’s some 4,000 have become orphaned. health ministers on Monday, November growth has been concentrated in sec- Intense transmission continues in 3, 2014, the leader of the World Health tors, such as mining and petroleum, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where Organization (WHO) said that the that favor the elite but do little to there are reports of a new “transmis- blame for the Ebola crisis lies largely on improve living conditions and health sion surge.” The Sunday Times, quoting the “profit-driven” pharmaceutical status in the rural areas where most of numbers from Tony Blair’s Africa industry, which does not invest in cures the poor and sick reside,” said Chan. Governance Initiative, reported this “for markets that cannot pay.” She added that previously, Africa has week that in Sierra Leone transmission WHO director-general Dr. Margaret deferred to priorities and strategies rates are now nine times higher than Chan made the comments while speak- defined by global initiatives and not its they were two months ago. Other ing before the Regional Committee for own population’s needs. affected countries include Nigeria, Africa, made up of representatives Senegal, the U.S. and Spain. Mali also from the 47 African nations, which is A profit-driven industry confirmed its first case last week. meeting this week in Cotonou, does not invest in Chan said that the Ebola outbreak, Republic of Benin. which continues to ravage parts of West During her address, Chan said that products for markets Africa, “is the most severe acute public despite Africa’s recent economic and that cannot pay. health emergency seen in modern times.” social gains, the Ebola outbreak bol- Chan concluded: “Without funda- sters two arguments that WHO has In April, African health ministers mental public health infrastructures in long made “that have fallen on deaf place, no country is stable. No society is ears for decades [and] are now out vowed to work towards continent-wide universal health coverage. Citing that secure. No resilience exists to withstand there with consequences that all the the shocks that our 21st century societies world can see, every day, on prime- pledge, Chan added: “This is what I mean by leadership.” are delivering with ever-greater frequen- time TV news.” cy and force, whether from a changing One, she said, is the failure to put According to WHO’s latest num- climate or a runaway killer virus.” bers, there have been 13,567 reported basic public health infrastructures in —Common Dreams, November 4, 2014 place. The second argument, Chan Ebola cases in eight affected countries said, is the reason that clinicians are since the outbreak began, with 4,951 http://www.commondreams.org/ “still empty-handed, with no vaccines reported deaths. Further, UNICEF news/2014/11/04/world-health-chief- and no cure,” despite Ebola having estimates that five million children are rips-profit-driven-healthcare-industry- emerged nearly four decades ago: currently affected by the epidemic and ebola-fail “Because Ebola has historically been confined to poor African nations. The research and development incentive is virtually non-existent. A profit-driven industry does not invest in products for markets that cannot pay.” Speaking before the group, Chan argued that this crisis should provide the assembled ministers with an incentive to seize their new health agenda on their own terms. The Committee is meeting to set new policies to guide WHO’s work in the region, including a strategic plan for immunization. Africa, she continued, has “suffered from some bad development advice.”

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 51 Ebola in Africa A product of history, not a natural phenomenon By August H. Nimtz

There is nothing inevitable about ral resources in the most lucrative way. pendent since 1847—its elite (the the Ebola epidemic now devastating Social services that might have benefit- descendants of repatriated slaves from parts of Africa. Like other disasters, it ed the colonial subjects, such as health- America) ensured that Firestone too is the product of history, of the care and education, were, to save costs, Rubber would reap enormous profits decisions that governments have made kept to a minimum—if that. This from its operations there. Thus, the in the past as well as the present. explains the profoundly undemocratic outrageously ironic situation today Modern African history teaches, where, in one of the world’s leading often tragically, the need to distinguish rubber producers, there are not enough rubber gloves to protect its citizens between what might be called natural In the case of Liberia, a phenomena from those that are essen- from the scourge. tially socio-economic-political. The semi-colony of the In recent decades, in the name of droughts that ravaged many parts of U.S.—nominally inde- fighting wasteful government spending the continent in the early 1970s were and corruption, international lending an example of the former. (I leave aside pendent since 1847—its agencies such as the International the issue of human actions and global elite (the descendants of Monetary Fund have demanded, as a warming.) As drought-stricken repatriated slaves from condition for getting new funding, California presently shows, the famines African governments must reduce their and the tens-of-thousands of lives lost America) ensured that spending. African elites have willingly that came in their wake were not, how- Firestone Rubber would agreed to do so with resulting cuts in ever, inevitable. That horrific outcome reap enormous profits healthcare and education—helping to was largely the product of the policies create the perfect storm for the Ebola put in place by colonial governments from its operations virus. and dutifully and sadly reproduced by there. Thus, the outra- Lest it be assumed that only poor or post-colonial regimes. geously ironic situation underdeveloped countries are afflicted The same lesson is being taught, with Ebola in Africa with such tragic again, tragically, by the continent’s lat- today where, in one of outcomes—a product of history, not a est scourge. Human pathogens have the world’s leading rub- natural phenomenon—consider what existed in Africa ever since our species ber producers, there are happened in the richest country in the began to evolve there and they too world in 2005. In the wake of a natural evolve, sometimes resulting in viruses not enough rubber phenomenon, Hurricane Katrina— like Ebola. But there’s nothing inevita- gloves to protect its citi- global warming again notwithstand- ble about the Ebola epidemic that’s still ing—more than 1,600 people (and still unfolding. Like famines, it too is the zens from the scourge. counting for those of us intimately product of history, the decisions that familiar with what happened) lost their governments have made in the past as lives in New Orleans and environs. Yet well as the present. The relevant ques- character of those regimes. The last two months earlier a hurricane of tion is whose interests are prioritized in thing the extractors wanted is for the greater intensity, Dennis, struck Cuba those choices? How a society responds subjects to have some say-so about twice and only 15 of its citizens per- to that most natural of processes, the how they were governed and, hence, ished. Neither outcome was inevitable. evolution of human pathogens, testifies how their natural resources should be The difference, rather, evidenced the to the answers it gives to that question. utilized. These were the arrangements deep going structural transformations Colonial regimes, in place from that post-colonial elites not only inher- in Cuban society after 1959—its revo- about the last quarter of the nineteenth ited and readily embraced but deep- lution. For the first time in Cuba’s his- century to a decade or so after the ened to advance their own narrow class tory, its toilers had a government that Second World War, were, above all interests. In the case of Liberia, a semi- prioritized their interests and not those else, designed to extract Africa’s natu- colony of the U.S.—nominally inde- of a tiny elite. Their life chances, as measured by, for example, infant mor-

52 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 tality rates, life expectancy, levels of US Attacks on Muslim Countries education, dramatically improved, despite the fact that Cuba is still poor How many Muslim countries has the U.S. bombed or occupied since 1980? and underdeveloped. The starkly dif- By Glenn Greenwald ferent aftermaths of the two hurricanes in both societies spoke volumes about Barack Obama, in his post-election both amazingly revealing facts. what Cuba’s toilers had achieved and press conference yesterday, November American violence is so ongoing and what their apparently better-off coun- 6, 2014, announced that he would seek continuous that we barely notice it any terparts 400 miles to the north had not. an Authorization for Use of Military more. Just this week, a U.S. drone Neither is it a coincidence that Cuba Force (AUMF) from the new Congress, launched a missile that killed ten peo- has stepped forward, unlike any other one that would authorize ple in Yemen, and the dead were country, to commit healthcare person- Obama’s bombing campaign in Iraq promptly labeled “suspected militants” nel to fight the Ebola scourge. Four and Syria—the one he began three (which actually just means they are hundred and sixty-one Cubans are months ago. If one were being gener- “military-age males”); those kill- either on their way or already in the ous, one could say that seeking con- ings received almost no discussion. affected areas. They were selected from gressional authorization for a war that To get a full scope of American vio- 15,000 of their 11 million citizens who commenced months ago is at least bet- lence in the world, it is worth asking a volunteered to go. That’s tellingly in ter than fighting a war even after broader question: how many countries contrast to, as of this week, the 2,700 Congress explicitly rejected its authori- in the Islamic world has the U.S. U.S. citizens, out of a population of zation, as Obama lawlessly did in the bombed or occupied since 1980? That 316 million, who, according to the U.S. now-collapsed country of Libya. answer was provided in a Agency for International Development, recent Washington Post op-ed by the have volunteered to do the same. For military historian and former U.S. Cubans there is nothing unusual about That is, Syria has Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich: what they are doing since four thou- As America’s efforts to “degrade sand of their healthcare workers already become at least the 14th and ultimately destroy” Islamic State serve in 38 African countries and about country in the Islamic militants extent into Syria, Iraq War III 45,000 in 28 countries elsewhere. Thus, world that U.S. forces has seamlessly morphed into Greater the political choices a society makes Middle East Battlefield XIV. That is, have consequences not only for the life have invaded or occu- Syria has become at least the 14th chances of its own citizens but also for pied or bombed, and in country in the Islamic world that U.S. those of other countries. And therein is forces have invaded or occupied or the most important lesson. Until the which American soldiers bombed, and in which American sol- toilers, not only in Africa but else- have killed or been diers have killed or been killed. And where, have governments that serve that’s just since 1980. their interests they risk being once killed. And that’s just again needless victims of natural phe- since 1980. Let’s tick them off: Iran (1980, 1987- nomena. 1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq August H. Nimtz is a professor of (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992- political science and African American 1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi and African Studies at the University of When Obama began bombing targets inside Syria in September, I noted Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan Minnesota. (Note: This article previous- (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo ly appeared in Pambazuka News.) that it was the seventh predominantly Muslim country that had been bombed (1999), Yemen (2000, 2002-), Pakistan —Black Agenda Report, November by the U.S. during his presidency (that (2004-) and now Syria. Whew. 5, 2014 did not count Obama’s bombing of the Bacevich’s count excludes the http://blackagendareport.com/ Muslim minority in the Philippines). I bombing and occupation of still other node/14495 also previously noted that this new predominantly Muslim countries by bombing campaign meant that Obama key U.S. allies such as Israel and Saudi had become the fourth consecutive Arabia, carried out with crucial U.S. President to order bombs dropped American support. It excludes coups on Iraq. Standing alone, those are against democratically elected govern-

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 53 Those who sit around in the U.S. or the U.K. endlessly inveighing against the evil of Islam, depicting it as the root of violence and evil (the “mother lode of bad ideas“), while spending very little time on their own societies’ addictions to violence and aggression, or their own religious and nationalistic drives, have reached the peak of self- blinding tribalism. They really are akin to having a neighbor down the street who constantly murders, steals and pillages, and then spends his spare time flamboyantly denouncing people who live thousands of miles away for their bad acts. Such a person would be regarded as pathologically self-delud- ed, a term that also describes those political and intellectual factions which replicate that behavior. ments, torture, and imprisonment of thriving gay communities in places like people with no charges. It also, of Beirut and Istanbul, or the lack of them The sheer casualness with which course, excludes all the other bombing in Christian Uganda. Employing the Obama yesterday called for a new and invading and occupying that the defining tactic of bigotry, they love to AUMF is reflective of how central, how U.S. has carried out during this time highlight the worst behavior of indi- commonplace, violence and militarism period in other parts of the world, vidual Muslims as a means of attribut- are in the U.S.’s imperial management including in Central America and the ing it to the group as a whole, while of the world. That some citizens of that Caribbean, as well as various proxy ignoring (often expressly) the worst same country devote themselves pri- wars in Africa. behavior of individual Jews and/or their marily if not exclusively to denouncing the violence and savagery of others is a There is an awful lot to be said about own groups (they similarly cite the most extreme precepts of Islam while testament to how powerful and self- the factions in the west which blinding tribalism is as a human drive. devote huge amounts of their time and ignoring similarly extreme ones from attention to preaching against the Judaism). That’s because, as Rula —The Intercept, November 6, 2014 supreme primitiveness and vio- Jebreal told Bill Maher last week, if https://firstlook.org/theinter- lence of Muslims. There are no gay bars these oh-so-brave rationality war- cept/2014/11/06/many-countries-islam- in Gaza, the obsessively anti-Islam riors said about Jews what they say ic-world-u-s-bombed-occupied- polemicists proclaim—as though about Muslims, they’d be fired. since-1980/ that (rather than levels of violence and But of all the various points to make aggression unleashed against the world) about this group, this is always the is the most important metric for judg- most astounding: those same people, ing a society. Reflecting their single- who love to denounce the violence of minded obsession with demonizing Islam as some sort of ultimate threat, Muslims (at exactly the same time, live in countries whose governments coincidentally, their governments wage unleash far more violence, bombing, a never-ending war on Muslim coun- invasions, and occupations than any- tries and their societies marginalize one else by far. That is just a fact. Muslims), they notably neglect to note

54 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 Turning Gaza Into a Super-Max Prison By Jonathan Cook

It is astonishing that the reconstruc- international law, to resist their oppres- ties of cement needed. That means tion of Gaza, bombed into the Stone Age sor were sacrificed to satisfy Israel’s much of the donors’ money will end according to the explicit goals of an desire to make the enforcement of its up in the pockets of Israeli cement- Israeli military doctrine known as occupation more efficient. makers and middlemen. “Dahiya,” has tentatively only just begun It is hard not to view the agreement But the problem runs deeper than two months after the end of the fighting. reached in Cairo October 12, 2014 for that. The system must satisfy Israel’s According to the United Nations, Gaza’s reconstruction in similar terms. desire to know where every bag of 100,000 homes have been destroyed or cement or steel rod ends up, to prevent Donors pledged $5.4 billion— damaged; leaving 600,000 Hamas rebuilding its homemade rock- though, based on past experience, Palestinians—nearly one in three of ets and network of tunnels. much of it won’t materialize. In addi- Gaza’s population—homeless or in tion, half will be immediately redirect- The tunnels, and element of sur- urgent need of humanitarian help. ed to the distant West Bank to pay off prise they offered, were the reason Roads, schools and the electricity plant the Palestinian Authority’s mounting Israel lost so many soldiers. Without to power water and sewerage systems are debts. No one in the international them, Israel will have a freer hand next in ruins. The cold and wet of winter are community appears to have suggested time it wants to “mow the grass,” as its approaching. Aid agency Oxfam warns that Israel, which has asset-stripped commanders call Gaza’s repeated that at the current rate of progress it may both the West Bank and Gaza in differ- destruction. take 50 years to rebuild Gaza. ent ways, foot the bill. Last week Israel’s defense minister Where else in the world apart from The Cairo agreement has been Moshe Yaalon warned that rebuilding the Palestinian territories would the widely welcomed, though the terms on Gaza would be conditioned on Hamas’s international community stand by idly which Gaza will be rebuilt have been good behavior. Israel wanted to be sure as so many people suffer—and not only vaguely publicized. Leaks from “the funds and equipment are not used from a random act of God but willed worried insiders, however, have fleshed for terrorism, therefore we are closely by fellow humans? out the details. monitoring all of the developments.” The reason for the hold-up is, as One Israeli analyst has compared The PA and UN will have to submit ever, Israel’s “security needs.” Gaza can the proposed solution to transforming to a database reviewed by Israel the be rebuilt but only to the precise speci- a third-world prison into a modern details of every home that needs rebuild- fications laid down by Israeli officials. U.S. super-max incarceration facility. ing. Indications are that Israeli drones We have been here before. Twelve The more civilized exterior will simply will watch every move on the ground. years ago, Israeli bulldozers rolled into obscure its real purpose: not to make Israel will be able to veto anyone it con- Jenin camp in the West Bank in the life better for the Palestinian inmates, siders a militant—which means anyone midst of the second intifada. Israel had but to offer greater security to the with a connection to Hamas or Islamic just lost its largest number of soldiers Israeli guards. Jihad. Presumably, Israel hopes this will in a single battle as the army struggled Humanitarian concern is being har- dissuade most Palestinians from associat- through a warren of narrow alleys. In nessed to allow Israel to streamline an ing with the resistance movements. scenes that shocked the world, Israel eight-year blockade that has barred many Further, it is hard not to assume that turned hundreds of homes to rubble. essential items, including those needed to the supervision system will provide With residents living in tents, Israel rebuild Gaza after previous assaults. Israel with the GPS co-ordinates of insisted on the terms of Jenin camp’s The agreement passes nominal con- every home in Gaza, and the details of rehabilitation. The alleys that assisted trol over Gaza’s borders and the trans- every family, consolidating its control the Palestinian resistance in its fer of reconstruction materials to the when it next decides to attack. And ambushes had to go. In their place, PA and UN in order to bypass and Israel can hold the whole process to streets were built wide enough for weaken Hamas. But the overseers— ransom, pulling the plug at any moment. Israeli tanks to patrol. and true decision-makers—will be Sadly, the UN—desperate to see In short, both the Palestinians’ Israel. For example, it will get a veto relief for Gaza’s families—has agreed humanitarian needs and their right, in over who supplies the massive quanti- to conspire in this new version of the

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 55 blockade, despite its violating international law and Palestinians’ rights. Israel Deepens ‘Collective Punishment’ of Gaza By Sarah Lazare Washington and its allies, it seems, are only too happy to see Hamas and Islamic Jihad deprived of the materials Despite widespread calls for The United Nations Relief and needed to resist Israel’s next onslaught. increased humanitarian aid and eco- Works Agency (UNRWA) reports that The New York Times summed up nomic activity, the approximately 1.8 18 of the school buildings they admin- the concern: “What is the point of rais- million people living in the Gaza Strip ister in the Gaza Strip are currently ing and spending many millions of have been further isolated from the serving approximately 32,419 internal- dollars … to rebuild the Gaza Strip just outside world following Israel’s closure ly displaced Palestinians. “The critical so it can be destroyed in the next war?” Sunday, November 2, 2014, and Egypt’s immediate priority in Gaza remains closure last week, of border crossings the reconstruction of people’s homes,” For some donors exasperated by into the Palestinian territory. writes the agency. years of sinking money into a bottom- less hole, upgrading Gaza to a super- The Israeli Defense Ministry stated Meanwhile, Defense for Children max prison looks like a better return Sunday it has closed its Erez and Kerem International-Palestine reports that on their investment. Shalom crossings to Gaza in response Gaza residents are scrambling to to a single rocket fire from Gaza, which assemble classrooms following the Jonathan Cook won the Martha resulted in no injuries, deaths, or dam- mid-September start to the school year. Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. ages. Gisha, a legal center that advo- At least 26 schools were destroyed in His latest books are Israel and the Clash cates for Palestinian freedom of move- the offensive, 228 were damaged, and of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan ment, reported Monday that both pas- another 31 schools continue to serve as to Remake the Middle East and sages remained closed for a second day, shelters for displaced people. Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s save for extremely limited transport of Experiments in Human Despair. “I think it’s shameful that Israel fuel in and medical patients. continues to its now seven-year siege —AlterNet.org, November 6, 2014 The U.S.-backed Egyptian govern- on the people of Gaza, following the http://www.alternet.org/world/how- ment last week shut the Rafah crossing deadly war and all the destruction cre- israel-turning-gaza-super-max- into Gaza and commenced destroying ated through the war—of houses, fac- prison?akid=12455.229473.sEOUB0&r Egyptian nearby homes to create a so- tories, and schools,” Ramah Kudaimi d=1&src=newsletter1026589&t=18&pa called “buffer zone” along the border. of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli ging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark Palestinian rights campaigners warn Occupation told Common Dreams. that the closures are especially danger- “This is an additional amount of suf- ous as traumatized and displaced Gaza fering placed on people in Gaza.” residents struggle to rebuild from Israel’s “This means they are not able to get recent seven-week military assault in materials to rebuild homes, and they which 2,000 Palestinians—at least 75 are having to deal with shortages in percent of them civilians—were killed. food, medicine, electricity, and clean “As winter approaches, and in the water,” Kudaimi continued. “In the wake of the recent military operation, past seven years, Israel has conducted a civilians in Gaza are increasingly vul- massive bombing campaign against nerable. Israel, like dozens of donor Gaza at least three times. People are countries, has recognized the obliga- not being given the opportunity to tion to allow Gaza’s urgent reconstruc- rebuild their lives.” tion,” the statement from Gisha con- —Common Dreams, November 3, tinued. “Unfortunately, this latest act 2014 of closure as a response to rocket or http://www.commondreams.org/ mortar fire can be interpreted as collec- news/2014/11/03/gaza-cut-all-sides-col- tive punishment and represents a dis- lective-punishment-deepens turbing and dangerous regression to a policy that has harmed hundreds-of- thousands of civilians and also proven ineffective.”

56 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1

Incarceration Nation INCARCERATION NATION The New Outlaws Are corrupt criminal prosecutors the new outlaws? By Lorenzo Johnson

While operating with total disregard Tools that are most frequently used review by a Federal Court.” Professor for precedent case law that defines our to assist corrupt prosecutors vary. To Ritter went on to say: “Many aspects of constitution, prosecutors are prosecut- name a few—false convictions, wit- habeas corpus law changed when the ing cases daily with a reckless abandon- nesses, evidence, and motives, with- AEDPA was signed into law by President ment of human life and the judicial holding of DNA and non-DNA evi- Clinton in 1996. One of, if not the most system they took an oath to serve to the dence that can show a prisoner’s inno- significant change, was the elimination best of their ability. It’s not about law cence. One of the biggest tools is strict of de novo review. Today, federal courts and protecting the innocent. These procedures that have been put in place must give a measure of deference to the same prosecutors operate under full by our own judicial system, such as the state court’s resolution of federal issues. immunity. Some have aspirations to be Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Fearing the difficulties of retrials which judges with no fear of criminal sanc- Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). In a often occur many years after a crime tions for their corrupt ways and actions. recent essay written by Law Professor was committed, states’ rights champi- What reason do they have to stop? Judith L. Ritter titled: “After the ons in congress pushed AEDPA through There are multiple innocence organi- Hurricane: The Legacy of the Rubin partly due to concerns that federal zations in every state. Now there are Carter case,” Professor Ritter stated: judges were too eager to upset a state Integrity Units popping up all over the “In this essay I argue that it is the per- court’s judgment.” place. If Integrity Units are over-seeing fect time to reformulate habeas law. As an innocent prisoner, I suffered cases that have been called into ques- Because of AEDPA, there is a grave risk from AEDPA. I spent sixteen-and-a-half tion, that totally affirms that some- that individuals wrongfully convicted years on a natural life sentence before the thing has gone afoul in the prosecu- in State Courts—the Rubin Carters of Federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals tors’ offices nationwide. today—have little hope for meaningful vacated my sentence on the grounds of insufficient evidence, which is equivalent to a Not Guilty verdict barring a re- trial. Six months after my release, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated my conviction because the Federal Court did not give deference to the Jury. I was ordered to return to a life sentence for a crime I’m innocent of. Now I’m at my 19-year mark and I’ve discovered that my trial prosecutor withheld evidence of my innocence for my whole 19 years of incarceration! Is it safe to say that I was prosecuted by a criminal? —December 18, 2014 Write to: Lorenzo Johnson #DF1036 SCI Mahanoy 301 Morea Drive Frackville, PA 17932 [email protected] www.FreeLorenzoJohnson.org www.facebook.com/LorenzoJohnson JPay.com code: Lorenzo Johnson DF 1036 PA DOC

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 57 Immunity to Kill, Falsely Convict and Mass Incarcerate By Lorenzo Johnson

It’s not a coincidence that minorities amount of time an innocent prisoner Mass Incarceration has been going are killed by police at an alarming rate, spends in prison is between thirteen- on for decades under a lot of different with simply no regard for human rights. and-a-half and fifteen years. And that’s umbrellas. The biggest one was and is Not having safeguards in place when an only if they get the necessary represen- the War On Drugs. Once again the unarmed person is killed, gives the tation needed. In some cases, innocent minorities are the target. I keep hearing police the okay to continue to kill. The prisoners die in prison before their politicians saying: “Our judicial system first thing society is told is: “The Grand innocence comes out. Prosecutors is off balance. We must trust and Jury is reviewing evidence to see if a continue to fight tooth and nail to strengthen it.” As an innocent prison- crime occurred.” This is all a smoke maintain their false convictions. They er, the last time I checked, the judicial screen. Just look at the murders of hide favorable material that can show a system has been our worst nightmare. Michael Brown and Eric Garner, to prisoner’s innocence. They let false Our Judicial System is no longer about testimony stand just to secure a convic- name just two. Mr. Garner’s death was justice. It’s about politics and votes for tion. Out of all exonerations of inno- recorded by a phone showing his assas- politicians. When there are special laws cent men and women, not even one sination, still no police were indicted that target the inner cities that differ percent of the prosecutors were held for using a banned choke-hold on Mr. accountable for their malicious prose- from suburbia, the message is loud and Garner. Until the police are fully held cutions. One fact that can’t be disput- clear. Thanks to social media the world accountable, minorities will continue ed: Minorities make up 90 percent of is finally seeing what’s been taking to be targeted and unfortunately, killed. wrongful convictions! Until prosecu- place in our communities. There have been over five hundred tors are stripped of their immunity and —December 7, 2014 exonerations of innocent prisoners held fully accountable, this will unfor- that we know about. The average tunately continue to happen. Free All Political Prisoners An open letter to the media By Assata Shakur

My name is Assata Shakur, and I am Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party tion, and the cruel and inhuman treat- a 20th century escaped slave. Because had become the number one organiza- ment they receive in U.S. prisons. of government persecution, I was left tion targeted by the FBI’s According to the report: 1 with no other choice than to flee from COINTELPRO program. Because the “The FBI and the New York the political repression, racism and Black Panther Party demanded the Police Department in particular, violence that dominate the U.S. gov- total liberation of Black people, J. charged and accused Assata Shakur ernment’s policy towards people of Edgar Hoover called it “greatest threat of participating in attacks on law color. I am an ex-political prisoner, to the internal security of the country” enforcement personnel and widely and I have been living in exile in Cuba and vowed to destroy it and its leaders circulated such charges and accusa- since 1984. and activists. tions among police agencies and units. The FBI and the NYPD fur- I have been a political activist most In 1978, my case was one of many ther charged her as being a leader of of my life, and although the U.S. gov- cases bought before the United Nations the Black Liberation Army, which ernment has done everything in its Organization in a petition filed by the the government and its respective power to criminalize me, I am not a National Conference of Black Lawyers, agencies described as an organiza- criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the National Alliance Against Racist tion engaged in the shooting of the 1960s, I participated in various and Political Repression, and the police officers. struggles: the Black liberation move- United Church of Christ Commission “This description of the Black ment, the student rights movement, for Racial Justice, exposing the exis- Liberation Army and the accusation and the movement to end the war in tence of political prisoners in the of Assata Shakur’s relationship to it Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther United States, their political persecu- was widely circulated by govern-

58 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 ment agents among police agencies Malik Shakur, under the New Jersey their letter public. Knowing that they and units. As a result of these activi- felony murder law, I was charged with had probably totally distorted the facts, ties by the government, Ms. Shakur killing both Zayd Malik Shakur, who and attempted to get the Pope to do became a hunted person; posters in was my closest friend and comrade, the devil’s work in the name of reli- police precincts and banks described and charged in the death of trooper gion, I decided to write the Pope2 to her as being involved in serious Foerster. Never in my life have I felt inform him about the reality of “jus- criminal activities; she was high- such grief. Zayd had vowed to protect tice” for Black people in the State of lighted on the FBI’s most wanted list; and to police at all levels she me, and to help me to get to a safe New Jersey and in the United States. became a ‘shoot-to-kill’ target.” place, and it was clear that he had lost In January of 1998, during the his life, trying to protect both me and I was falsely accused in six different pope’s visit to Cuba, I agreed to do an Sundiata. Although he was also “criminal cases” and in all six of these interview with NBC journalist Ralph unarmed, and the gun that killed cases I was eventually acquitted or the Penza around my letter to the Pope, trooper Foerster was found under charges were dismissed. The fact that I about my experiences in New Jersey Zayd’s leg, Sundiata Acoli, who was was acquitted or that the charges were court system, and about the changes I captured later, was also charged with dismissed, did not mean that I received saw in the United States and its treat- both deaths. Neither Sundiata Acoli justice in the court—that was certainly ment of Black people in the last 25 nor I ever received a fair trial We were not the case. It only meant that the years. I agreed to do this interview both convicted in the news media way “evidence” presented against me was because I saw this secret letter to the before our trials. No news media was so flimsy and false that my innocence Pope as a vicious, vulgar, publicity ever permitted to interview us, became evident. This political persecu- maneuver on the part of the New although the New Jersey police and the tion was part and parcel of the govern- Jersey State Police, and as a cynical FBI fed stories to the press on a daily ment’s policy of eliminating political attempt to manipulate Pope John Paul basis. In 1977, I was convicted by an opponents by charging them with II. I have lived in Cuba for many years, all-white jury and sentenced to life plus crimes and arresting them with no and was completely out of touch with 33 years in prison. regard to the factual basis of such the sensationalist, dishonest, nature of charges. In 1979, fearing that I would be mur- the establishment media today. It is dered in prison, and knowing that I worse today than it was 30 years ago. On May 2, 1973 I, along with Zayd would never receive any justice, I was Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were After years of being victimized by liberated from prison, aided by commit- stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike, the “establishment” media it was naive ted comrades who understood the depths supposedly for a “faulty tail light.” of me to hope that I might finally get of the injustices in my case, and who Sundiata Acoli got out of the car to the opportunity to tell “my side of the were also extremely fearful for my life. determine why we were stopped. Zayd story.” Instead of an interview with me, and I remained in the car. State trooper The U.S. Senate’s 1976 Church what took place was a “staged media Harper then came to the car, opened Commission report on intelligence event” in three parts, full of distor- the door and began to question us. operations inside the USA revealed tions, inaccuracies and outright lies. Because we were Black, and riding in a that, “The FBI has attempted covertly NBC purposely misrepresented the car with Vermont license plates, he to influence the public’s perception of facts. Not only did NBC spend thou- claimed he became “suspicious.” He persons and organizations by dissemi- sands of dollars promoting this “exclu- then drew his gun, pointed it at us, and nating derogatory information to the sive interview series” on NBC, they also told us to put our hands up in the air, press, either anonymously or through spent a great deal of money advertising in front of us, where he could see them. ‘friendly’ news contacts.” This same this “exclusive interview” on Black I complied and in a split second, there policy is evidently still very much in radio stations and also placed notices was a sound that came from outside effect today. in local newspapers. the car, there was a sudden movement, On December 24, 1997, The New Like most poor and oppressed peo- and I was shot once with my arms held Jersey State called a press conference to ple in the United States, I do not have up in the air, and then once again from announce that New Jersey State Police a voice. Black people, poor people in the back. had written a letter to Pope John Paul the U.S. have no real freedom of speech, Zayd Malik Shakur was later killed, II asking him to intervene on their no real freedom of expression and very trooper Werner Foerster was killed, behalf and to aid in having me extra- little freedom of the press. The Black and even though trooper Harper dited back to New Jersey prisons. The press and the progressive media has admitted that he shot and killed Zayd New Jersey State Police refused to make historically played an essential role in

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 59 the struggle for social justice. We need Free Reverend Edward Pinkney to continue and to expand that tradition. We need to create media outlets National defense campaign building that help to educate our people and By Abayomi Azikiwe our children, and not annihilate their minds. I am only one woman. Michigan political prisoner hung jury, for “mishandling” absentee I own no TV stations, or Radio Reverend Edward Pinkney is now ballots during a recall election involv- Stations or Newspapers. But I feel that being held in Jackson state prison. He ing two Benton Harbor city commis- people need to be educated as to what remains in good spirits despite the rac- sioners. The results of the elections is going on, and to understand the con- ist injustice that has landed him in removing the officials were overturned nection between the news media and detention over manufactured claims after criminal charges were filed against the instruments of repression in that he changed the dates on five signa- the BANCO leader. Amerika. All I have is my voice, my ture entries on a recall petition designed Pinkney was sentenced to one year spirit and the will to tell the truth. But to remove Benton Harbor Mayor under house arrest and four more years I sincerely ask, those of you in the James Hightower. of probation. Later in 2007, he was Black media, those of you in the pro- During the course of the trial there charged with violating the terms of his gressive media, those of you who was no material or circumstantial evi- sentence for allegedly threatening a believe in true freedom, to publish this dence presented that would implicate judge in Berrien County. statement and to let people know what Pinkney in the purported five felonies. The threat charge stemmed from an is happening. We have no voice, so you Many believe that the Berrien County article he wrote in the People’s Tribune must be the voice of the voiceless. activist and leader of the Black newspaper based in Chicago where he Free all political prisoners, I send Autonomy Network Community quoted scriptures from the Old you love and revolutionary greetings Organization (BANCO) is being pun- Testament. He was ordered impris- from Cuba, One of the Largest, Most ished by the local authorities for oppos- oned for three to ten years. Resistant and Most Courageous ing the corporate program of Whirlpool The charges were overturned in late Palenques (Maroon Camps)3 that has Corporation, which is headquartered 2008 by the Michigan Appeals Court ever existed on the face of this planet. in Benton Harbor. after the activist received widespread Assata Shakur lives in Havana, Cuba. In 2012, Pinkney and BANCO led support from the civil liberties, ecu- an “Occupy the PGA” demonstration —Counterpunch, December 30, menical and academic communities against the world-renowned golf tour- 2014 across the country. He was released at nament that was held at the newly- the end of 2008 and successfully com- http://www.counterpunch. created Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf pleted his probation, returning to full- org/2014/12/30/an-open-letter-to-the- Course on Lake Michigan. The course time activism in Berrien County. media/ was carved out of Jean Klock Park, which had been donated to the City of Pinkney in 2008 from his prison cell Benton Harbor decades ago. ran for United States Congress on the Green Party ticket in Michigan. He 1 COINTELPRO (an acronym for COunter Berrien County officials were deter- received 3,500 votes in a challenge to INTELligence PROgram) was a series of covert, mined to defeat a recall campaign Fred Upton, a Republican congress- and at times illegal, projects conducted by the against Mayor Hightower of Benton man and heir to the Whirpool corpo- United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Harbor, who opposed a program to tax rate dynasty. (FBI) aimed at surveying, infiltrating, discredit- local corporations in an effort to create ing, and disrupting domestic political organiza- jobs and improve conditions in the A statement issued December 17 by tions. Green Party Watch says: “The overt tar- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO majority African American municipal- ity. Benton Harbor, like other Michigan geting of an African-American activist 2 “Open Letter to Pope John Paul II,” by for a politically motivated prosecution is Assata Shakur cities, has been devastated by wide- reminiscent of recent episodes involving http://genius.com/4597722/Assata-shakur- spread poverty and unemployment. open-letter-to-pope-john-paul-ii/Cointelpro Chuck Turner and Elston McCowan, Statements of support pour in 3 Camps where African refugees escaped both Greens who challenged the power slavery in the Americas and formed indepen- This is not the first time that Pinkney structures in their communities. In a dent settlements. has been imprisoned for his political system where police officers regularly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ activities. In 2007 he was convicted in a kill unarmed African-American men Maroon_%28people%29 second trial, with the first ending in a without facing trial, it is especially gall-

60 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 ing that the same system sentences an from an elections process. The Old Jim Ptashnik and Victoria Collier wrote African-American activist to up to ten Crow would have unapologetically sent in Truth-out.org on December 16, years imprisonment on trumped-up, Pinkney to the chain gang for being an 2014: “Concerned activists and clergy politically motivated charges.” uppity Black man, but the New Jim associated with People Demanding Black Agenda Report, a well-known Crow simply piled on a bunch of felo- Action, a national social justice organi- media outlet opposing the corporate nies to put him away as a serial crimi- zation, are circulating a petition to influence over African American poli- nal, allowing the system to claim that ministers and various organizations. tics in the U.S., wrote in a December 17 race had nothing to do with it.” The petition is to be forwarded to the editorial: “This may seem like an Old A national conference call was held on U.S. Justice Department and Attorney Jim Crow story, about a preacher from Thursday, December 18, designed to General Eric Holder, asking for an a small, mostly Black town who wanted build a defense campaign. Former investigation into the circumstances of only to help his people through the vot- Vermont State Senator Ben-Zion Ptashnik Pinkney’s trial and sentencing.” ing process, but is set upon by backward initiated the call through the People To sign the petition in support of whites determined to maintain their Demanding Action (PDA) organization. Reverend Edward Pinkney log on to: monopoly on political power. And, it is The conference call included activist http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/ true; Old Man Jim Crow is alive and members of the clergy, electoral reform o/6405/c/10113/p/dia/action3/common/ well on the banks of Lake Michigan.” organizers, former Green Party candi- public/?action_KEY=10735 This same editorial goes on, saying: dates, progressive Democrats, the Contributions for the defense of “But it is the New Jim Crow, the Mass People’s Tribune newspaper, Reverend Pinkney can be sent to Black Incarceration State, that has Moratorium NOW! Coalition and oth- BANCO at 1940 Union St., Benton snatched 66-year-old Reverend Pinkney ers. The call provided an update on the Harbor, Michigan 49022. away to what could become life in case and plans to publicize the plight of prison. The judge and prosecutor said Reverend Pinkney and the people of Messages of support for Reverend that Pinkney’s 12 past and present felo- Berrien County, recruit a legal team Pinkney and concern for his welfare ny convictions make him a career crim- and organize a fundraising drive to should be sent to Warden Randall Haas, inal, even though each count stems proceed with an appeal. G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility, 3500 North Elm Road, Jackson MI 49201, phone: 517-780-5600. Encourage the media to ask the warden to arrange an interview with Reverend Pinkney. Send some love and light to Reverend Pinkney, who is said to be locked down 23 hours a day: Reverend Edward Pinkney, 294671, G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility, 3855 Cooper St., Jackson MI 49201. Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan- African News Wire. Pan-African News Wire is the world’s only international daily pan-African news source, is designed to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world. —San Francisco Bay View, December 23, 2014 http://sfbayview.com/2014/12/ national-defense-campaign-building- for-rev-edward-pinkney/

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 61 No Indictment of Killer Cop Wilson Why no indictment was issued against the cop who killed Michael Brown: the problem and answer By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

“No indictment”—I already knew admit it’s almost unheard of for a pros- Wilson’s actions in a criminal light to It’s easy to say, after the fact, that I ecutor to call the subject of a grand the grand jury. And if he were to call knew there would be no grand jury jury proceeding to testify before the Wilson as a witness under these cir- indictment against Darren Wilson, the jury. cumstances, Wilson would have to have his own attorney present to ensure white Missouri cop who killed New The prosecutor’s game African/Black teenager Michael Brown he didn’t say or do anything to incrim- in cold blood on August 9, 2014. But, Unlike a trial, a grand jury proceed- inate himself or sabotage his own truth be told, I did know it. And you’ll ing is not adversarial. Meaning it defense. So he most likely would have recognize how obvious the game was doesn’t function to have the jury con- been instructed by his attorney to say too, once I explain. sider both sides of a case. It is a sum- nothing by invoking his 5th mary proceeding that exists solely to Amendment privilege against self- I recognized the game not just hear a sample of what evidence the incrimination. because the Amerikan criminal (in) prosecution has collected which tends So McCulloch took very deliberate justice and (selective) law enforcement to show a crime occurred, without any tactical steps to ensure that he could systems work hand-in-hand against consideration of the potential defen- advocate for Wilson rather than func- (not in favor of) people of color and dant’s side of the story, and thereupon tion as his adversary to the end of ensur- the poor, but because of two major determine if the prosecutor has enough ing that no indictment would be issued. deviations from established grand jury evidence to show probable cause to procedure that were made by the St. believe the subject committed a poten- And these major departures from Louis prosecuting attorney, Robert tial crime. That’s it. The prosecutor established grand jury practice were McCulloch, who was supposedly seek- presents only the most basic incrimi- made by a white prosecutor whose own ing the indictment against Wilson. natory evidence and never puts the father was not only himself a cop, but a The red flags were the massive potential defendant on, because unless cop who was allegedly killed by a Black amount of “evidence” presented to the the prosecutor is in effect using the man. So he had not just a professional grand jury, but more specifically, that potential defendant as her/his own wit- bias in Wilson’s favor, but a personal Wilson was allowed to testify before ness (which is exactly what McCulloch one as well. So, when I heard on the the grand jury. This never happens. did with Wilson), to do so would news a few days before the verdict not to indict was announced, that Wilson And I speak with the experience of a transform the grand jury proceeding had been allowed to testify before the member of a class of people who have into an actual trial which would com- grand jury, I knew, just like with the more than just a little experience with pel a wide range of procedures and trial of George Zimmerman for the indictments, namely, U.S. prisoners. rights of the potential defendant to 1 murder of Trayvon Martin, that the Most all of the criminal proceedings come into play. prosecutor was deliberately sabotaging that landed each of us in prison were This is why McCulloch dispensed the proceeding to ensure an outcome based on grand jury indictments, but, with another common procedure in in favor of the cop (or cop wanna-be, unlike Wilson, we were never allowed such cases, namely, he never had as in Zimmerman’s case). to testify before those grand juries. Wilson charged and arrested on a war- Why? Cuz that’s not how grand jury rant prior to supposedly seeking an And you can bet every legal “expert” proceedings work. And I should know indictment. Because, the moment in Amerika recognized it too, including since over the years I’ve fought and Wilson was arrested, McCulloch would past Harvard law professor, Barack beat some 16 indicted crimes repre- become his adversary (and could not “uncle scam in Blackface” Obama, who senting myself. So I have a legal under- advocate for him as he did in calling implored everyone to accept the ver- standing of the process as well. But Wilson as his own witness to give his dict cuz the rule of law had prevailed don’t just take my word for it, ask any side of the story to make it conform to and the grand jury rendered a decision attorney with experience in criminal other evidence in a way that would that it was its duty to make. Sadly, law. S/he might do a bit of hemming exonerate Wilson). As Wilson’s adver- many of us oppressed people of color and hawing and trying to rationalize sary, McCulloch could only present can’t get past our skin worship of what was done, but in the end they’ll such “evidence” as would paint Obama and recognize him for the

62 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 imperialist running dog (a wolf in pointed out and most criminal defen- murdering our youth and bent on our black sheep’s clothing) that he really is. dants know, cops almost instinctively suffering and destruction. As for the grand jury’s duty, these lie in court. They do it because they feel Indeed, every time I hear of these bodies are actually the tools of prose- compelled to validate their arrests and civil-rightists raising a hue and cry cuting attorneys, who have almost actions, and make them fit with the law against yet another government out- absolute control over both the conduct to support the desired outcome. And rage, I’m reminded of the words of of grand jury proceedings and over they’re “comfortable lying in a court- Anthony Asadullah Samad, criticizing influencing these juries. This is why room because the system always toler- the ineffective civil rights advocacy tac- New York State Judge Sol Wachtler ated [their] lying; judges look the other tics in the Black Commentator some way and jurors [are] supposed to once admitted, “it’s so easy to get a years back: accept it.”3 And jurors do accept it, grand jury to indict, they’d indict a “Whether it’s protest, negotia- because the typical overwhelmingly ham sandwich if that’s what the pros- tion, boycott or voter revolt (the white jury just doesn’t believe cops do ecutor wanted.” latter two of which we rarely, if ever, bad things and are in almost visceral use), watching Black advocacy is like Then there’s the fact that grand jury denial of prevailing institutionalized watching re-runs of Sanford and proceedings lasted from August 20th to racism in Amerika, even as they enter- Son; you know what’s about to come November 24th. As noted, prosecutors tain racist stereotypes, fears and carica- next—and what the line is going to typically put only a small bit of evi- tures of people of color. White Amerika be when Redd Foxx grabs his dence before grand juries, and only has a very different experience with chest….Okay, this is where they that which incriminates the potential cops than people of color. Blacks and march in. Now, they’re about to hol- defendant. Even University of Missouri Browns especially. Indeed, Black par- ler and scream, and give long Law Professor, Ben Trachtenberg, ents across Amerika must take special speeches, watch’em. Here is where they put the community mothers up admits that McCulloch, “put on a pains to teach their sons to show spe- to cry, sigh, ain’t it sad? Now this is much greater amount of evidence than cial deference and passive body lan- the part where they march out sing- we’re used to,” producing 24 volumes guage when confronted by cops to ing ‘we shall overcome,’ then they’ll of evidence which included 5,000 pages avoid being beaten or killed, just as go home and be quiet until the next of testimony from 60 witnesses (100 Blacks had to be trained to act when in time we get caught violating them or pages of which was Wilson’s testimo- company of whites during chattel slav- their interests. But the response will ny). In the “normal” proceeding, ery and open Jim Crow, also to avoid be the same.” Trachtenberg said, “the grand jury can beatings and lynching. And we should remember that while see evidence in a few minutes and take In essence, the entire grand jury these old tactics proved effective in a vote.” As various legal experts con- proceeding was staged to produce the dismantling the old Jim Crow laws of cede, McCulloch’s method was to very outcome that resulted, and in a the rural South, they failed miserably inundate the grand jury with so much society racially divided by policy, prac- in changing the oppressed conditions, information that it was overwhelmed tice and design of those in power. including police murders and brutality and confused.2 I too recognized this, in the urban communities of color. since, in a grand jury proceeding the Towards a real solution Indeed, these stark failures led to the jury is not guided by adversarial attor- How absurd is it anyway to look for demise and discrediting of the civil neys to pay attention to certain evi- a savior in the very courts that we rights movement in the urban areas, dence and the implications of it as know and see everyday railroading which gave rise to youth-based, Black would occur in a trial. people of color into prison at such and Brown liberation movements, and So that now, Wilson’s testimony, astronomical rates, that they are recog- struggles for socialism in Amerika in which was not subject to cross exami- nized to be a continuation of both the 1960s-70s. 4 nation to expose obvious lies and slavery and Jim Crow? It was the ineffectiveness and fail- inconsistencies (such as his claim the Yet this is exactly what our frus- ures of the civil rights movement to he used his gun because he had no trated youth are being misled to do address urban suffering that resulted in non-lethal options, which he obviously (while being left in the crosshairs) by the mass urban uprisings of 1964-1968. did—such as use of mace—which an old guard aspiring bourgeois civil And each of those uprisings was trig- McCulloch never brought up), now rights misleadership, who can do noth- gered by police murders or beatings of stands as the official version of what ing more than continue engaging in urban Blacks, exactly as continues to happened when he killed Michael empty moralizing and playing bargain- occur today in the face of these fruitless Brown. As the late Johnny Cochran ing-games with the very forces that are civil rights tactics.

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 63 It was in response to just such condi- luxury of the terrible casualties wan- critically wounded. But it gave us, by tions that the Black Panther Party took tonly inflicted upon us by the cops far, the best example and lessons of root and won broad support as a com- during these spontaneous rebel- organized tactical resistance to the munity-based revolutionary organiza- lions….There is a world of differ- oppressive U.S. system, which we can tion that brought real solutions to the ence between 30 million unarmed, continue to learn from and build on, oppressed communities and real chal- submissive Black people and 30 mil- and this is the basis of the work of the lion Black people armed with free- lenge to the murderous police. It was New African Black Panther Party— dom and defense-guns and the stra- actually in their response to a police tegic methods of liberation.”5 Prison chapter. killing of a Black male, Denzil Dowell The Panthers instantly struck fear in The same mass ferment and anger on April 1, 1967 (a murder not very dif- of our youth is evident and cries out ferent from Michael Brown’s), that the the hearts of the murderous police and the centers of capitalist power in the for real solutions as it was during the Panthers brought an effective model of old Panther era. And without a genu- leadership and resistance to urban peo- U.S., and won allies across all exploited sectors of U.S. society: poor white hill- ine revolutionary organization and ple. And one that also pointed out the leadership it will be coopted and con- futility of spontaneous mass uprisings. billies and working class whites and students, Mexicans/Chicanos, Puerto verted into a tool of the old conformist As Panther co-founder and Defense collaborationist civil rights agenda, Minister Huey Newton pointed out: Ricans, Natives, antiwar activists, youth gangs, etc. But as an inexperienced youth that has us looking to our oppressors “We are continuing to function organization, they were ill equipped to to be our savior instead of ourselves, or in petty, futile ways, divided, con- contend with or even recognize the dirty it will explode into destructive sponta- fused, fighting among ourselves, we neous uprisings which the pigs actually are still in the elementary stage of counter-intelligence tactics of the police, led and organized by the Federal gov- want, because it polarizes New Afrikan/ throwing rocks, sticks, empty wine Black and white society instead of ally- bottle and beer cans at racist cops ernment, which had coopted and infil- ing us, and gives them grounds to jus- who lie in wait to murder unarmed trated the civil rights movement. The Black people. The racist cops have to government’s anti-Panther crusade tify their murderous and militaristic murder unarmed Black people. The applied devious no-holds-barred meth- practices that we are rising against. racist cops have worked out a system ods developed and refined from use in Dare to Struggle Dare to Win! for suppressing these spontaneous war and peacetimes against foreign All Power to the People! rebellions that flare up from the “enemies” and political movements. anger, frustration and desperation As a result, the BPP ended up inter- of the masses of Black People. We 1 Now, if the prosecutor knows or believes can no longer afford the dubious nally split along antagonistic lines and no crime was committed, then there exists no basis at all to present a case to a grand jury. To do so would be an illegal misuse of the grand jury process and to convert the process into something other than its intended purpose. 2 See Marisol Bello et al., “Grand Jury Charg- es Easy, Except Against Police: Prosecutor Piled on Members An Extreme Amount of Info,” USA Today, p. 3A, November 26, 2014. 3 Johnny Cochran, A Lawyer’s Life, p. 111. 4 See Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color- blindness, (The New Press, NY, 2010/2013). 5 Huey P. Newton, “In Defense of Self Defense,” Black Panther, June 20, 1967, pp.n3-4.

Most all of the criminal proceedings that landed each of us in prison were based on grand jury indictments, but, unlike Wilson, we were never allowed to testify before those grand juries.

64 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 The Horror of Solitary What would compel a man to try to cut his own face off? By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

health and torture experts unanimously thanked me and we both retreated to agree that psychological torture is the the backs of our cells in our own worst and most damaging of the two. worlds. We never exchanged names. We all recognize that pain alerts and After a bit of writing, I nodded off protects us against injury and possible to sleep. I was awakened some time death. Aversion to pain is therefore an later by the explosive echoes of some- instinct wired into most healthy living one nearby repeatedly kicking his cell things. Torturers deliberately render door. Each kick sounds off and rever- one powerless to avert pain, which is berates like a gun blast inside an echo what makes torture an effective meth- chamber. Kicking cell doors is a com- od of crushing a person’s will and driv- mon occurrence in solitary, most often ing them to shameless desperation. done by one or more prisoners in pro- Pushed hard enough and it will also test against some guard abuse, or in an Kevin “Rashid” Johnson drive one insane, which is why psycho- attempt to get them to respond to a I recently witnessed a man try to cut logical torture is the worst sort. serious situation. So I got up to see his own face off. For me this wasn’t Sensory deprivation—or cutting what the matter was and lend my sup- anything out of the ordinary, but as it one off from the sensory stimulation of port to the prisoner, if necessary. played out, I imagined the reactions normal social environments—is the Upon reaching my cell door, I and questions that might arise in the worst type of psychological torture. immediately observed it was the new mind of someone in society if they’d Experts also agree on this. It’s like iso- occupant of H231 kicking, that his face observed the same. lating a wildflower and starving it of was covered with blood, and blood was They would probably wonder in natural sunlight. It will become feeble, streaming down his torso like a scene shock, “What sort of conditions could wither and die. from a slasher movie. be so unbearable that they’d drive a Sensory deprivation is the exact form Several prisoners, also seeing him, person to suffer cutting through the of torture inflicted by design and with- began yelling to the guard working the skin, nerves, muscles and arteries of his out relief in the multitudes of U.S. soli- pod, Jesus Cruz, that the man in H231 own face, at the risk of permanent dis- tary confinement units. Even the United was bleeding badly and to come check figurement, disability or even death?” Nations has denounced the practice. on him and call medical staff. Cruz I, of course, knew the answer: tor- So, one can imagine that these units replied, “I don’t give a fuck! Fuck ture. More specifically, the torture by are places of the greatest tragedies. And him!” The din got louder as I and oth- official design of living in one of the life in them is never uneventful. Like ers joined in the demand to get atten- many solitary confinement units in witnessing a man try to cut his face off tion to the situation. Amerika’s vast prison system, which is and prison officials’ indifference to After several minutes of our yelling why seeing this sort of thing isn’t such tragedies. Here’s what happened. and banging wearing at him, Cruz uncommon for me—I’ve lived in soli- finally got up from the desk, however tary for nearly two decades. Todd Hines strikes (himself) again not to go to cell H231, but instead to And, yes, Amerika inflicts such On October 20, 2014 I observed two stage making a security round in the extreme torture on prisoners that they guards, here at Clements unit prison in pod. Guards are required to make secu- routinely commit such acts as could Amarillo, Texas, move a white prisoner rity rounds at least hourly, walking never be expected of a sane and stable into the cell across from me (cell around the pod looking into each cell mind. And this is the point—solitary #H231). A few minutes after the new to ensure the prisoners’ safety. However, confinement drives people into insanity. occupant moved in, he got my atten- rounds are typically made several hours tion and asked if I had an extra used apart if at all by the guards, who would Let’s talk about torture razor he could have to shave with. I did rather sit at their desk nodding off, There are two types of torture. The not. “How about a shot of coffee?” he reading magazines stolen from prison- physical and the psychological. Mental asked. I did, so I sent him some. He ers or talking on the telephone.

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 65 Cruz began his round downstairs at Martinez and Dustin Anderson The incident began at 2:40 P.M. and cell H101. Cell H231 is upstairs at the (Sanchez and Anderson also joined in took until 2:53 P.M. for Cruz to reach very opposite end of the pod. Walking the insults and name calling, and his cell. It wasn’t until 3:12 P.M. that with exaggerated slowness, Cruz com- threatened to gas the bleeding prisoner he was finally brought out. Obviously, pleted the downstairs round, being from a large canister, “just for being all involved staff were content to see cursed by a number of outraged pris- stupid!”) and finally a nurse and por- him bleed to death. Their concern, as oners as he passed their cells. He then table audio-video camera. When the noted, extended only to insults and slowly climbed the stairs to stage a camera was activated the verbal abuses indifference. All else was just a per- round on the top tier, again beginning abruptly stopped and all the guards functory performance and with delib- at the opposite end from H231. instantly put on “professional” airs and erate malicious slowness. When finally he made it to the bleed- gas masks or their own protection The next day Finney worked the ing man’s cell, Cruz peered in and asked against the large amount of Cruz’s OC pod and marveled loudly to anyone nonchalantly, “What’s the problem?” gas that was now circulating outside who’d listen that the prisoner required The blood-covered occupant was sitting the cell and throughout the pod con- 95 stitches to his face. silently on his bed leaning foreword taminating everyone. As disturbing as the overall situa- with blood running onto the floor from Finney, ever eager to play HNIC tion was per se, it was no less disturbing his face. Cruz stood looking at him for a (Head Negro In Charge,) positioned to discover who the prisoner was. His moment then ordered him to, “Kick the himself to be the one to order the name was Todd Hines, #588382. The razor blade under the cell door,” which bleeding prisoner around, beginning very same Todd Hines I’d just written he did, then returned to sit on the bed. with compelling him to perform a an article about, who’d attempted sui- Cruz at that point took out his por- lengthy strip search, as he bled pro- cide by cutting his throat and temples table canister of OC gas (oleoresin fusely from the face. Finney ordered on September 4, 2014 and guards and a capsicum, also known as pepper spray,) him first to hand out his bloody box- nurse deliberately tried to allow to opened the hatch on the cell door and ers, then open his mouth, move his bleed out.1 Although the October 20th emptied the can of gas into the cell tongue around, run his index finger incident had a distinct feel of deja vu, I spraying the cell floor, bed and occu- between his lips and gums, permit view didn’t recognize Todd initially because, pant at length. When the canister was into his nostrils, manipulate his geni- ironically, the last and only time I’d completely empty, he closed the slot tals, show the bottom of each foot and seen and taken notice of him before and called over his walkie-talkie, again wiggle his toes, bend at the waist and then, was on September 4th when his nonplussed that a prisoner had cut spread his buttocks; he was then given face was also covered with blood. back his boxers to put on. He was himself and a supervisor and medical Apparently, when he was moved staff needed to report to the pod. warned if he’d faltered, the entire search process would be repeated until into H231 he’d just returned to Gradually, other guards trickled in. he got it right, his medical state not- Clements unit from a temporary trans- Among the first was Desmond Finney, withstanding. fer to a mental health prison, which a guard well known for his loud mouth routinely follows serious suicide The search completed, he was and going out of his way to impress his attempts. So he was brought right back ordered to put his hands out the slot colleagues with bragging compulsively to solitary and interestingly placed in backwards to be handcuffed. He was and assaulting prisoners upon the the cell directly in front of me And only then made to kneel and, when the cell slightest pretext, typically when they a few hours back at the unit he’d cut door was opened, ordered to crawl out are in handcuffs or locked inside a cell. himself up again. backwards on his knees. Shackles were Upon reaching and peering to cell placed on his ankles and he was made A land of laws? H231, Finney let loose a litany of curses to stand. There were large pools of As my prior article noted, Todd is a and insults directed at the prisoner. blood all over the cell floor and more mentally ill prisoner who by law has “What type of dumb motherfucker gathering where he kneeled and stood no business in administrative segrega- tries to cut his face off?” he bellowed. outside the cell. tion, like over half the prisoners “You stupid asshole, you shoulda cut The nurse came over to examine his housed in this prison’s segregation your throat!” Other guards also came face, wiping blood away to see the cuts. unit, which for every responsible offi- to the cell and joined in the insults. A Long, deep gashes ran down both sides cial is a criminal act.2 Worse still, the few were visibly shaken. of his face and across his forehead, with federal courts recognized that Texas’ In came a lieutenant Narciso one or both temple arteries possibly cut. segregation units inflict psychological Sanchez and two sergeants, Candace He was made to walk out of the pod. pain that causes both the mentally ill

66 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 and the mentally healthy psychological damage.3 How to Get Away with Cop Murder By Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall What does such brazen official law- lessness say of a country that promotes itself as being a land governed by the There is a disturbing pattern of and Uncle Tom Black apologists for rule of law and an example of demo- cops getting away with murdering white supremacy to come up with every cratic freedoms to be emulated by the unarmed, mostly Black and Latino excuse imaginable to justify murder of world, that imprisons and criminalizes males in America. This pattern of cops an innocent, unarmed Black male. more people than any other country in murdering unarmed Black males can Step Five: Have a secret Grand Jury the world—past and present—and fur- be seen in the cases of Oscar Grant, or a criminal trial by jury. No matter thermore proclaims itself the rightful Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and the judicial process, the deck is stacked overseer and policeman of the world? Eric Garner. From the patterns of those in your favor to win, so don’t sweat it, The answer is: it is a country ruled by cases, one can discern the blueprint for you’ll be just fine. hypocrites, liars and dictators—indeed How to Get Away With Cop Murder. by fascists no less heinous than those it Step Six: discredit the murder victim Step one: Join any police depart- and all witnesses to the crime because is so good at self-righteously vilifying. ment in America to become a cop. Only such people could subject their the dead victim can’t tell his side of the Now you have a license to kill anyone story and witnesses can be contradic- own subjects and anyone else to such you don’t like. tortuous conditions as would lead a tive. Besides, who are the public going man to try and cut his own face off. Step Two: Identify a person to kill to believe, a seemingly honest cop or from America’s undesirable poor class these animals in the streets? and its historically racist, boogieman, Step Seven: Blame the cause of mur- preferably a big Black nigga! Because der on the deceased victim himself by 1 Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, “Prison Assisted the lives of the poor and people of stating the suspect attacked you, Suicide—The Texas Way,” available at rashid- color don’t matter in America. appeared menacing, reached for your mod.com and at Socialist Viewpoint, Vol. 14, No. 6, http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/novdec_14/ Step Three: Wait for a situation to gun, was a giant man, was like a demon, novdec_14_28.html arise, or create a confrontational situa- or he resisted arrest. Any of these justi- 2 Texas federal courts long ago recognized tion with a scary Black guy, then shoot fications will suffice to place the blame and condemned the Texas prison system, hold- him to death. on the victim. ing that, “administrative segregation is being Step Four: Stick to your claim of Step Eight: overwhelm the jury with utilized unconstitutionally to house mentally ill inmates whose illness can only be exacerbated justifiable homicide while the systems so much evidence and frivolous infor- by the depravity of their confinement.” Ruiz v. of institutional racism circle their wag- mation about the evidence, that it Estelle, 37 F. supp. 2d 855, 915 (S.D. Tex 1999). ons to protect you. Just remain firm obscures the issue, allowing the jury to The violation of any person’s constitutional and consistent in your cover story of: reach a favorable decision that will get civil rights is a federal crime. See, 18 United You stopped a suspect, he became angry you off the hook. States Code, Section 242. and violent, he was a big Black guy, you 3 The court stated: “Texas’ administrative The judicial outcome is predict- segregation units are virtual incubators of psy- feared for your life, so you shot him to able—no criminal indictment, or a choses—seeding illness in otherwise health death, although he was unarmed and verdict of not guilty of any crime. Now inmates and exacerbating illness in those hadn’t committed a crime. your mission is complete. You have already suffering from mental infirmities.” Id. Don’t be concerned about news sta- just gotten away with committing cop at 907. tions placing the national spotlight on murder. you, because although they will put on Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall is co- a good show of objective reporting, founder and editor of The Movement CNN, FOX News, and HLN are actually human rights magazine, Prison Radio on the government’s and cops’ side and correspondent, and child lifer prisoner. have your back. They are going to put before cameras their team of talking Write to: heads of ex-cops, ex-prosecutors, crim- Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall, #BE7826 inal justice experts, politicians, govern- SCI-Rockview, Box-A ment-appointed Black stooge leaders, Bellefonte, PA 16823

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 67 Death, For a Cigarette! By Mumia Abu-Jamal

unconsciousness—and shortly thereaf- ter—his death. Now, the words “I can’t breathe” have become joined with the cry “Hands Up!”—reminders of the Garner and Brown killings at the hands of police. Both cases are also noted for the behavior of grand juries, which now appear reckless beyond belief, in their inability to return indictments against cops. The grand jury emigrated here from England, where, as it was then called, “grand assizes,” a body of about a dozen knights, under the direction of a Mumia Abu-Jamal baron (or some other noble), would investigate cases and charge people. The name Eric Garner is now whom have never had a grand jury enshrined in the grim annals of history. Later, they became tools of the king. indictment, unlike the average cop. It joins Mike Brown, Ramarley Today, they are instruments of the The System is constructed to pro- Graham, Alan Blueford, Dontre prosecutors, and used, just as under tect their minions (the cops), no mat- Hamilton, Tamir Rice, and thousands kings, to target whom they wish—and ter how outrageous their behavior. of others, who were murdered by those to clear whom they wish. That’s just a fact. their taxes have helped pay: cops. Outrage stems from the long history And as the nation now celebrates In many ways, Garner’s case is even of its use to protect cops—yes—even historic events from the civil rights more egregious than Brown’s, for it killer cops. movement of a half-century ago, the was videotaped, and one sees his take- This, while the nation is awash in grim and ugly present of Black life— down, his incessant choking, his mass incarceration, the majority of and Black Death—in America, makes that glowing history feel hollow indeed. —PrisonRadio.org, December 4, 2014 Write to Mumia at: Mumia Abu-Jamal AM-8335 SCI-Mahanoy 301 Morea Road Frackville, PA 17932

68 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1

Book Review BOOK REVIEW The Making of an Auto Worker Activist By Gregg Shotwell

mother felt he would be safe from the “By reading the Spark and talking to KKK and Southern police. people around it, I began to get a big- What a different place America was ger picture of the U.S. system...” he then. On a road trip back to Alabama says. “Added to what I already under- to visit family, Johnson and his friends stood from how I grew up, I began to ran into Little Richard on a Texas high- see that as long as the capitalists con- way. “Don’t you guys know me? I used trol everything, it’s going to keep get- to perform all around through ting worse for the majority of people.” Alabama,” the rock-and-roll legend The street fighter acquired focus. said. Little Richard took them out to Johnson kicked heroin and became an eat and picked up the tab. elected union committeeman, and in In Los Angeles, Johnson worked his own words, various jobs, got some job training, “…a revolutionary militant in cavorted with “a fast crowd,” and had a the working class, trying to get other few run-ins with the police. workers to see and understand what needs to be done, trying to bring “I couldn’t hang with where Martin workers to stand together to use the Luther King and them were coming force they have. from,” he writes. “I saw these guys “And I always tried to give them lying on the ground, letting the racists the bigger picture, where we fit in, to beat on them. Unh-uh. Nah. I wasn’t get them to understand how things ready for that. I was for fighting back, A Fighter All My Life, by Sam Johnson could change if working people turn it around.” stood together, what we could do to Abecedarian Books, 2014. Getting the bigger picture defend ourselves and to build a different society.” A Fighter All My Life is the memoir At age 29, Johnson moved to of Sam Johnson, a Black man from the Detroit—just in time for the riots of Wildcats and bats South who became a Detroit auto- 1967. New to the city, he was an worker and dissident union activist. observer. Afterwards he said, “So that The international UAW broke up a Johnson was born and raised on the makes you get the bigger picture. That’s 1973 wildcat strike at Chrysler supplier front lines of class conflict in America. why I say, if there are enough of us Mack Stamping, Johnson reports, His everyday life was fraught with dan- together, they can’t deal with us.” “with sticks and bats and other things.” ger. In the tradition of the memoirs of Sure enough, the auto companies Rather than support workers and Hosea Hudson, Malcolm X, and Big started hiring Black workers. “The cor- address the safety issues, which led to Bill Haywood, the book traces how he porations were thinking they had too the strike, the union threatened strik- came to full consciousness of the roots many Blacks in the street. They didn’t ing workers and told them they would of our oppression. want another riot—better give them be fired. He was always a fighter—but in the jobs.” He also describes how heroin Johnson witnessed this and report- United Auto Workers (UAW) he found became prevalent in Detroit and in the ed back to his co-workers, warning his true calling, militant unionist, and auto plants in the late sixties and how them to get ready. “If you know what’s the right target for his righteous anger, tolerated it was by authorities and good for you,” a UAW official told capitalism. police: “Those drugs coming in helped him, “you’ll keep that Mack shit out of The book begins with anecdotes of break the militancy.” your mouth.” Johnson’s childhood in Alabama, com- Eventually Johnson got a job at “If you’re making that a threat, if ing of age under Jim Crow, and being Dodge Main, where he started reading you’re thinking about having your sent in 1959 to Los Angeles, where his the Spark, a militant leftist newsletter. boys jump me, they better do a good

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 69 job,” Johnson fired back. “If they don’t, talking. The next day workers got their this way. These guys understood I’ll be coming looking for you!” And he checks. that I knew how to fight. I had got into some fights and they knew it. I distributed a flyer about the Mack When the UAW eliminated his dis- strike and the lies of the international. had to let them know they were trict and he was put out of elected wrong how they acted toward Johnson took labor classes at Wayne office, Johnson continued to organize women.” State University. He got elected stew- and educate. He stood up against sexu- Over and over, Johnson was fired ard, organizing lunchtime meetings al harassment, too: and laid off. “Any time you are a prob- and rank-and-file direct actions to deal “When you come to understand lem for the company, they definitely with grievances. the system and if you want to change try to figure out a way to get rid of the system, you have to understand For example, when Chrysler you,” he says, “but especially if you are that it’s a problem, the attitudes a lot deprived workers of overtime pay- trying to organize the workers to stand ments, Johnson led 30 workers into a of men have toward women. I had to set an example to some of the together. And that’s where I was com- supervisor’s office and let them do the militant guys in the plant who acted ing from.” On or off the job, he kept organizing. Johnson retired from Chrysler in 1999, but he never retired from militant life. This year he ran as an independent candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 13th district. Like an old friend The book was transcribed and edited from a collection of tapes recorded over several years. Written language is judged by different standards than spoken language. There are vocal and facial expressions, which can’t be elicited from a tran- script. Stories collected over a long period are redundant, chronologically confusing, and sometimes conflicting. It’s a painstaking process. An editor may be tempted to impose his or her own words in an attempt to clarify. She may wish to clean up the account. But such well-intentioned and protective editing can intervene between the author and the reader, and diminish authenticity. I must commend the editor, Judith Carpenter. I never saw her shadow or felt her scalpel. A Fighter All My Life was like listening to an old friend. Gregg Shotwell is a retired UAW-GM member and author of Autoworkers Under the Gun. —Labor Notes, November 06, 2014 http://labornotes.org/blogs/2014/11/ review-making-auto-worker-activist

70 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1

Letters to the Editor LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We have new snow here in not for money. getting jobs with businesses as private Wisconsin for the New Year. Closing Bloomberg was wrong. His police guards, some for more money, some my eyes, I can remember back eighty are paid mercenaries because they cost for less, but all with greater security years and I see the red blood on the much more than an army and they do and less chance of being killed. new white snow. That image of the past much less. They are extremely subject If you look closely you can see the will never go away; but I now see that to corruption, both the lower rung changing nature of the U.S. police there will be red blood on new white ranks and the higher officers, including force. It is becoming more and more snow in the near future. the very highest. They are a destructive like the Mexican police force—cor- In 1934, the police were driven from force that costs billions, and when the rupt, degenerated, decadent, dishonest the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota people rebel and fight back the cost of and weak. The higher police officers by coal-drivers on strike. All the drivers the police doubles and redoubles. with political connections are even wanted were a few pennies more and a As long as the people are divided, now carving out territory for them- union, and they were willing to strike have faith and trust in the government selves. This was the situation in and fight for a living wage. The police and corruption is not too deep in the Ferguson, Missouri and is now the sit- tried to stop them, but they were police, they can do their “job” of occu- uation in Detroit, Michigan. When this defeated and driven from the streets of pying and controlling the city. But happens the ruling class cannot depend Minneapolis by the strikers. when the people become united they on their police force to do their bid- Minneapolis was a medium size, blow the police away. The police must ding of occupying the cities. Midwestern city, and New York is the have back up now of a real army! As of now the capitalists do not financial capital of the United States This winter we will see changes understand how weak the police are. and the empire city of the world. made in the police throughout the They are to some extent captives of Yet on December 5, 2014 the people United States. First there will be a short their own propaganda. At this time of New York, crying out for justice, period when the police will shoot to they feel that a few “reforms” will be were able to take back the streets from kill and try to break the people by killable to both take some pressure off the the police. It was for just a few hours, ing and terror. police and strengthen them. but still a major defeat for the police of If the people do not break, the The Democratic Party section of the New York City. police will. The police are not an army capitalist class will be called on to do New York has, according to its past and they have no staying power. Even the job, for that is what they’re good at. mayor, Bloomberg, the seventh largest now, the police are quietly quitting; They will have the help of the Black army in the world in its police. An army equipped with airplanes, heavy machine guns, etc.—a police army, given billions by the Defense Department and constantly being improved in military equipment. They are organized like an army with a ladder of authority. The ranks march and obey the ones above. Their organization is clearly patterned after the Roman Legion. Josephus1, the Jewish historian, gave reasons why the Roman Legions were able to win against larger armies. He pointed out that the Roman soldiers were trained in obedience, were in the army for life, did not go home to plant in the spring and fought and died for The Empire, which was their religion;

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 71 leaders in the Democratic Party, plus ning—our peoples assemblies, town the Jews (c. 94). The Jewish War recounts the the academic liberals. Some of them meetings, etc. These must be our own Jewish revolt against Roman occupation (66– will have some understanding, but it working-class organizations, indepen- 70). Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an will be difficult for them to help the dent of the Democrat or Republican ostensibly Roman audience. http://en.wikipe- capitalists, as they want to. Events are parties, or any parties representing the dia.org/wiki/Josephus moving too swiftly for them to educate capitalist class—they are uninvited. their supporters. But all groups fighting the police So what is to be done? The police and government are invited. The cor- need to be completely defeated, politi- ruption and weakness of capitalism Dear Editors, cally and militarily. This can only be that is becoming apparent in the police A popular song in the 1950s by the done if we are united and consciously is but a reflection of the corruption and Andrew Sisters was, “Drinking Rum do the job of defeating them. We need weakness of capitalism as a whole. and Coca Cola—Both Mother and to understand how corrupt and dis- I am confident we will win. And if Daughter Working for the Yankee jointed they are, that they are over we fight in a unified and organized Dollar.” At that time it described the centralized, with people in the Military way, there will be less blood on the situation in Cuba; for the women of ultimately in control. snow! Cuba. The men were mostly unemployed except when cutting sugarcane. Depending on the federal govern- With warm comradely greetings, ment or the court system will not The women of Cuba didn’t get defeat the police—they can only be Joe Johnson much for their Yankee Dollar. At the defeated by our own organizations. time, Cuba had one of the highest We must remain in the streets 1 Josephus recorded Jewish history, infant mortality rates in the world and with special emphasis on the first century AD actively fighting the police, but we almost no education for the children and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the who did live. need to also be developing our own Siege of Masada. His most important works organizations of deliberation and plan- were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of Living in a shack with no running water, plumbing, etc., a shack that would be blown over come the next hurricane. They got little for their work except a sip of Rum and Coca Cola. Now, after the revolution, they are not working for the Yankee Dollar but, in large numbers, are in the Cuban parliament and are leaders in the nation. Currently Cuba’s infant mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world, lower than in the U.S. The Cuban population—including the women—is extremely literate. They have free education including university. It is not likely they will want to go back to working for the Yankee Dollar and a sip of Rum and Coca Cola! Rather, with more travel to Cuba, the women of the U.S. will want to have what the Cuban women have. I was talking to a young nurse who said she was thinking of going to Cuba. She said she was having a hard time paying for her daughter’s education— she also wants to become a nurse. In

72 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1

Nat Weinstein—An Oral History Cuba, it would be quite possible for her under the brutal apartheid state in the This either means Americans are the daughter to get her education, and as early 1970’s I know this for a fact. most criminally minded of all nations good a one, if not better, than here in Nelson Mandela didn’t later negotiate or there is something terribly wrong the U.S. the dismantling of this oppressive sys- with our criminal justice system. It’s very likely that Cuba will influ- tem in a vacuum. A lot of people who We all know the answer to this ence people in the U.S. very positively. went before him and protested whilst question and it doesn’t matter where he was in jail had to get their hands you stand on the political spectrum. With warmest comradely greetings dirty, not to say even bloody, in order in the spirit of Crazy Horse, Where is the justice when a youth’s life for him to ultimately succeed. can be destroyed and sent to jail for Joe Johnson, Chippewa Falls, WI People who think that the normal years for dealing in a little dope, or lose default reaction to a crisis will work as their homes through foreclosures, but usual, by keeping their heads down and a bankster can loot the economy for hoping the problem goes away, are billions, make millions, destroy com- Dear Editors, deluding themselves. We have reached panies, and gamble with workers’ life On Friday evening, December 5, a tipping point. savings and yet only receive a slap on 2014, I attended a vigil in Fountain There are calls to blame the police the wrist and a fine—all preceded by a Square in the center of my community and retrain them. Considering the tax-payer funded bailout? A nation of Chestertown, Maryland. The meet- police are entirely recruited from the where corporations can pollute the ing, to “pay respect and raise awareness wider population, which they must environment, destroy habitats, and of the recent events in Ferguson, naturally reflect, means such panaceas poison water but only get fined money Missouri,” was organized by the local are somewhat naïve and unlikely to which they are then allowed to write Diversity Dialog Group. succeed. off against their taxes? I have to admit I went more out of Racism and the killing of young This isn’t justice—it’s a corporate curiosity than actual conviction. Even Black men and youth by the police is criminal racket perpetuated by an eco- so, there were nearly a hundred people only the tip of the criminal justice ice- nomic system that sees the planet as a at the beginning which slowly whittled berg which has been deliberately huge refuse dump and prisoners as a down to a hard core of about seventy, ignored by our useless “lamestream cash crop to be farmed—all for the who stood outside in the cool, damp media,” President, Congress, and other benefit of a small minority. darkness for almost an hour—lighting so-called national leaders who have Police killings and racism are not candles, listening to prayers, motions betrayed their constituents for a quiet the cause of our problems they are only of solidarity, and calls for justice and life under their true paymasters—cor- symptoms of a dysfunctional and dialog between the races. porate America. unsustainable economic system. For a December evening spotting The criminal justice system is an —Ted Newcomen, Chestertown, with rain and nothing special on the oxymoron, much like the United States MD television I guess it wasn’t a bad turn- of America—it isn’t and we aren’t! The out for a town of little more than 5,000. USA now has The usual suspects were there—about more people its a quarter were Black, another quarter prison system than looked like students from the local col- Stalin had at the lege, and the rest were like me—geriat- zenith of the Soviet ric former hippies, lefties, Pinkos, etc., Gulags. We only with a scattering of the religious. Many have about five were leftovers from a bygone age when percent of the conviction meant something more planet’s popula- than being determined to get a bargain tion but hold on Cyber Monday. about 25 percent Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s of the earth’s pris- wonderful that even this small group oners and a dis- turned up but the reality is that dialog proportionate is actually only part of the process. As number of those someone who lived in South Africa are non-white.

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 73 Nat Weinstein—An Oral History Part VII: Expulsion from the Socialist Workers Party

Edited by Sophie Hagen, Based on Barnes agreed. He supported it. He socialist revolution will not come up.” an interview with Nat Weinstein said, “Okay, talk to these kids and tell The ruling class understands what in November 2007 by Conor Casey them how to approach the subject.” the politics of communists and social- They followed my advice on how to ists are. It’s not as if they don’t under- Jack Barnes, SWP National Leader deal with it. They heard what I said in stand it! They understand it better than The SWP branch in San Francisco discussion. Of course, Barnes was a some socialists! They know what is was a good branch, considering the tactician; first class. A stellar tactician. dangerous and what isn’t. quality of the party membership. I Good tacticians, often, are also what rubbed Jack Barnes, national secretary we used to call “operators.” You have So, anyway, I gave that example as of the SWP, the wrong way and he to be an operator to be a good tacti- one of the examples. He may be a priest rubbed me the wrong way from the cian. I’m not a good tactician because and he’s not a prominent figure, but beginning. It put me on guard against I’m not an operator. I’m good when it he’s a defender of capitalism. That’s him and at the same time I recognized comes to the politics, the tactics, but in why they have him. He could be a sup- his talent. He was a very talented guy, dealing with opponents, I’m not as porter, but why in government? He and I saw him in action at one of the good as he was. doesn’t play any governmental role, first big antiwar conferences in but the Sandinistas had control. And of For example, during the antiwar course, they were for land to the peas- Washington, DC—in 1965, I believe. movement, I sat in on all the planning The leaders of the dominant group ants until they took power, and the day of the leadership caucus of our inter- they took power, they abandoned the were Stalinists: young Stalinist kids, vention in the demonstration. I saw red diaper babies like my kids. Two slogan of “land to the peasants.” That Barnes in action: He was a very talent- was my argument. were sons of the lawyer from the ed guy. I was impressed. He did things International Longshore and that I considered to reflect his method- A member of the SWP majority was Warehouse Union here in San ology, which I didn’t agree with, which a very talented intellectual kid by the Francisco, Vincent Hallinan. One of led to what he did later to us. name of Steve Clark. He wrote several them is district attorney in San polemics against me (and I against the Francisco. He was one of the leaders of Permanent revolution position of the SWP majority). I think the Stalinist faction that nominated the The question of permanent revolu- the title of his response to me was antiwar convention. We opposed it. tion came up in debate in the SWP “Why Nat Weinstein Doesn’t Barnes organized the party’s interven- over Nicaragua. The party leadership Understand Permanent Revolution.” tion. He was a smartass son of a bitch maintained that the Nicaraguan gov- He was “defending” permanent revo- and he knew how to do it. I played a ernment was a workers’ and farmers’ lution against me. key role at one point, because they had government. We rejected that notion This took place in a pre-convention gone off from the central positions that because they included bourgeois fig- discussion, which was three months we were advancing (for mass, indepen- ures in their government. They were long. The convention was at Oberlin, dent, non-exclusive, street demonstra- minor figures, but I gave the example and that’s where they trashed perma- tions not aligned with the Democratic in Trotsky’s writings on the Spanish nent revolution, rejected it. Two days or any bourgeois Party) and they got Revolution, when there were only two after the convention, they had an into secondary and tertiary questions bourgeois, relatively unknown bour- expanded political committee meeting. of organizational things where the geois lawyers who were part of the I was on the national committee and political thing was central. popular front. Trotsky said, “You say was invited to that meeting, but I had I said, “You’re missing out. The way they’re unimportant, they’re two rela- to return; there was a plane strike, so to win over these people is on the poli- tively unknown figures, it’s mostly we went home by car. We wouldn’t tics, not on various organizational workers or farmers that are in this cross the picket line, even though it was maneuvers. That’s the way to win them Popular Front. Well, then, why do you an emergency. We couldn’t do it, espe- over. Hit them hard on politics! They have these two figures? The only reason cially in a convention. don’t agree with us and we’ll be very you have them is telling the ruling class That was the majority’s way of unpopular at first, but we can win that this is a democratic revolution breaking from Trotskyism. But they them over.” against fascism and the question of can’t break because they own the prop-

74 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 erty rights! By capturing the SWP, they They postponed the convention in was not very strong anywhere. They captured the heritage of the SWP, 1983. They rejected permanent revolu- had a proletarianization policy of the which was all the Trotsky publications tion at the one in late 1981, so the only student youth, the new recruits, by that we had a copyright to. My copy- time we could debate them was in the sending them all mechanically into the right became theirs. Well, that’s demo- 1983 convention, which they post- union. Not: “Go get a job, try to get a cratic centralism. You can’t say any- poned by a year—not a month, not job in this union or that union.” They thing about that except to point out two months—one year. Now, that was picked five unions, five industrial that they’re in a contradiction, a politi- an indication that something was afoot. unions in the country and asked all cal contradiction. They never said Why are they postponing the conven- members of the party to join these five Trotsky was a criminal, that he was tion? Maybe we’re not going to be unions even though they already had counterrevolutionary. They just said around in 1984—and we weren’t, as it jobs. It was a crash campaign to get the his theory of permanent revolution turned out. We were expelled. So, on party into the unions. I was for the idea was wrong, was proven wrong, and what basis did they do this? of getting comrades into the unions, they gave the example of Cuba to prove Well, we raised the question. We but I was not in favor of the way they it. You know, I don’t think they ever formed a bloc, the two tendencies. were doing it. They went into the even tried to prove it, come to think of Ours was called the Trotskyist union like they were going into a cam- it. Just before they had rejected perma- Tendency. The other was called the pus! They organized around socialist nent revolution they made a big thing Fourth Internationalist Tendency principles. They had a policy that they about the “Three Giants”—Nicaragua, (FIT). That tendency broke strictly called “Talking Socialism.” In other Grenada, and Cuba. They weren’t three around the question of permanent rev- words, the idea being that we get giants. Grenada went down and so did olution—they defended permanent known in the unions as advocating Nicaragua. They gave up: no more revolution, as we did. They were close socialism, not participating in the socialism, even now. to Barnes and disagreed with us on our struggles of workers at their level of consciousness! That was a rejection of Factions and tendencies forming criticism of Barnes’ trade union policy. They supported his policy on the the transitional program. You have a right to form factions in unions, which we rejected—it was very The strength of our politics is that the SWP, tendencies and factions. A sectarian. Frank Lovell, who was a they’re easy to understand. The work- tendency is a group that has a differ- good friend of mine, was part of that ers have to be prepared psychological- ence over a theoretical question. It tendency, as was George Breitman, ly; their level of consciousness has to could have a difference over the per- who was also a pretty important figure reach the point where certain propos- manent revolution, for example, and in the SWP. Steve Bloom was their tac- als seem credible and other proposals not form a faction. That is, it’s just an tical leader, the youth leader. Breitman do not. The Transitional Method ideological difference that they wanted was their ideological leader: He’d lay means that you have to recognize and to discuss and discuss it in an orga- down the ideological and political line. assess the level of consciousness of nized way with the party at the appro- workers and decide what slogans can priate times. You could discuss any Tom Kerry supported our position; mobilize workers for action and lead question if you’re on a committee—a he was a member of our tendency, the them to a higher level of understand- national committee, or a political com- Trotskyist Tendency. The other ing. mittee. National Committee member was Lynn Henderson who’s still a close So that is the proposal, for example, You have to be on the national com- friend of mine, a comrade. Lynn of the slogan of “shorter hours with no mittee to be on the political commit- Henderson and I debated the leaders of reduction in pay,” to meet the problem tee. You could discuss any question the SWP at a convention on the ques- of unemployment. At another stage, a there, including party positions, but tion. He took up the trade union ques- higher level of understanding of the you can’t have an organized discussion tion; I took up the question of perma- masses would make applicable the slo- in between conventions except during nent revolution. gan of “nationalize the factories under the three-month period prior to a con- workers’ control;” they would just vention. Conventions are every two The transitional program occupy the factories and operate them years. They could be earlier; you can We broke originally over the ques- under workers’ control whether the have special conventions. We had a tion of the policies in unions. They government liked it or not. Part of the convention from the beginning every were for forming labor party clubs all proposal is nationalization, running an two years. Sometimes we were a little over the country, wherever we had a election campaign and proposing, “If earlier, sometimes a little later. strong presence in the unions—which we get elected, that’s what we’ll do.”

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 75 We’d try to lead the masses in the Expulsion and therefore we can’t have any more direction of socialist revolution; it’s a The Fourth Internationalist splits. That’s absurd, because it pro- simple as that. It’s not complicated, Tendency and our tendency were about duced a split! See? They expelled us: really. The slogans were all there in the equal in size. The majority of the San That’s a split! transitional program written by Francisco branch supported our They expelled us. Why? Because we Trotsky [The Death Agony of Capitalism Trotskyist Tendency. They had a wouldn’t tell them why we formed the and the Tasks of the Fourth minority in San Francisco with an old- faction! We were asked at the meeting 1 International , 1938], but it’s just a timer, and a couple of comrades in of the National Committee, at the consolidation of the politics of the Oakland and Berkeley. Educational Conference, at the very Bolsheviks. Everything that Trotsky We had a joint meeting. We formed end. At the plenum, the first question wrote in what is called the transitional a bloc. They wouldn’t unite with us. point on the agenda was about dissolu- program is the politics advocated by We proposed a common tendency. At tion of the bloc, and we were asked to the Bolsheviks in the course of the this point, when the SWP cancelled the explain it. The FIT wouldn’t tell them. Russian Revolution. It worked! The convention, I said, “What we need is a Saying that we proposed a faction and revolution was made using the transi- faction. This is not a postponement.” that they dissolved it meant that the tional method. It makes sense. The FIT said it was a postponement to National Committee and Barnes would We don’t write about nationalization the convention. expel us and then they would be the of industry, although, when industries I said, “It’s not the postponement. ones who fingered us and got us are marching and shutting down, that’s It’s the cancellation of the convention. expelled. See? So they couldn’t do that. a logical demand. But the workers are We may not be here in 1984 for the Had we said that it was because we not ready for that yet—you raise that convention.” formed a faction, that we proposed now and you look like you’re off the I don’t think they even set a time at forming a faction, the FIT would have wall. A more transitional slogan like a first, but they postponed it and they been expelled for not reporting. So you “class struggle” strategy as against “class said in ’83 they were going to have an could have argued that we should be collaboration” is better. Understanding educational conference, not a conven- principled, but you see that doesn’t that the interests of workers and tion. It was at the educational confer- stand up. We’d go down in history as employers are opposed. What’s good ence that we were expelled, and we having helped the majority with the for workers is bad for employers, and were expelled for this. expulsion of a tendency with whom we what’s good for employers is bad for closely agreed. workers. It’s as simple as that. I proposed that the two tendencies in the bloc form a faction. Between us I said, “Let them expel us! They can’t You’ve got to lead the workers to we had maybe 125 to 150 people. Steve do it, because there’s nothing in the raise a slogan that meets the task that’s Bloom reported to the convention that constitution that says you can’t form a before the workers at the moment, that he had dissolved the bloc. They asked faction!” The “new norms” doesn’t has a logic of its own. If they accept him: “Why did you dissolve the bloc?” change the constitution! That’s just a that slogan, then that leads to a higher He wouldn’t tell them, because he fig- document that’s passed by the majority; slogan. Then they get to see that that’s ured if he told them, they would expel that’s not a constitution. The constitu- not enough. They have to go further. us because we proposed forming a faction says you have a right to form fac- That’s the way it works. tion. Factions were legal in the SWP tion—tendencies and factions are legal. What you do in the unions depends constitution. You can form a faction at You don’t need anybody’s permission. on what the problems of the unions any time. You don’t need anybody’s Of course, once you form a faction, you are. Like if we were in the United Auto permission. have to report it. But if you didn’t Workers union, now, we would have So they were afraid, because Barnes, report it, then they have a case. But we been part of the Soldiers of Solidarity, the SWP National Secretary, intro- didn’t form a faction, because the other the grouping of rank-and-file trade duced what became known as the tendency split. They voted against it. I unionists that were opposed to the “New Norm.” It was an eight-dollar think the meeting was in my house. I contract and had a class struggle poli- bulletin, spelled out “Re-Establish the could hear it in another room, and we cy! They were quoted in the New York Norm.” Of course, it’s not mimeo- could hear them arguing with Steve, Times using the terms “class” and “class graphed. He printed it on a big print- trying to convince him that we should struggle” and so on. But you know, we ing press. It raised the question about form a faction, but he was adamant. He tried to talk to workers in the language making factions illegal—because they wouldn’t do that. He came there with- workers understand. always lead to splits, was the rationale, out any intention of listening to us.

76 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 So they dissolved and we won the International solidarity going to be a transient one—a big majority at the founding convention of You can’t get the understanding of flood of workers leaving and new Socialist Action afterwards. They were internationalism just by reading books, workers they hired at half-wages, at forced to reestablish a relationship with as well as observing events in the world. non-union wages. us because we were expelled. It’s easy for educated workers—what They call their standard of living What do we do? Well, we propose a we call the “vanguard” or “advanced “middle class standard of living.” That convention. workers,” “thinking workers”—to doesn’t come from the workers. That They had no choice but to go along understand what’s happening in the comes from the bourgeoisie. It comes with it, but they didn’t send their com- world because they just extrapolate from the mass media. They talk about rades. We made a concession to them. from their own experience. Solidarity higher-paid workers as “middle class.” We gave them equal numbers of dele- is something that you learn from prac- How much you earn doesn’t determine gates. That was a concession on my tical experience: It’s not just an idea your class. The role that you play in the part. Otherwise, they wouldn’t come to that you get from reading a book. It process of production determines your the convention. We wanted them to just makes sense. class, not how much money you get formally be there and with a vote rep- There’s the examples of American paid. So if workers have a strong union resenting the comrades that left. But history: “We all hang together or we’ll and you get double the pay that the non- they lost some of their own comrades. all hang separately.” You’ve got that union workers make, does that mean So we won them over! We said, “We’ve and you’ve got Tom Paine and you’ve they’re middle class? That’s absurd! got Thomas Jefferson and all of the got to form a public faction of the Trotsky and Lenin SWP.” Then we said: “That wouldn’t wonderful words of every revolution- There are things I’ve changed my work; you’re in the United States. ary document, including the American Revolution, the Civil War, and so on. mind about in my life. I think that we Abraham Lincoln and all that—So all were a little too rigid, I think, and I was The current state of things those things are a part of it and my too rigid. I was very rigid on the organizational principles. As soon as I If we had the kind of party that we internationalism doesn’t come from detected a divergence, I was quick to had before the split in the SWP and my experience. What experience did I catch it and to respond to it critically. I before Barnes, if we had the party we have? Well, everybody who goes abroad “had a nose” for it, as they say; I could had in the days of Cannon and Farrell learns something. Everything that we smell it. My comments were introduc- Dobbs and Tom Kerry, when they were are is a result of a life experience; it’s ing a subtle variation in our political the leadership of the party, they’d be not just this, that, or the other thing. orientation; it was more than a subtle- right in the middle of these Soldiers of It’s all of it put together. Of course, ty. It was a break from our understand- Solidarity in the United Auto Workers. there’s a focus to everybody’s life. ing, the accepted understanding. Some The Soldiers of Solidarity, and the The bourgeois mindset breaks are justified, like Lenin’s con- Future of the Union, and Factory Rats What makes people do what they cept of the organizational principles of are the three main groups that were do? It’s not easy to figure out. There’s the party, of the revolutionary party, formed during this UAW fight. They lots of variables that make him do it. I democratic centralism, a disciplined got at least a third of the vote in oppo- get all twisted up trying to explain in organization. sition to the contract. That’s a consid- my article why workers voted for a cut Trotsky’s concept of permanent erable force! in wages during the UAW strike, when revolution was similar to Lenin’s, but This crisis is just the beginning of it’s against their class interests. There’s was different in some important the next Great Depression and this a number of explanations, one of the respects. Rather than permanent revo- one’s going to be far more intense and most important being: They were tak- lution, Lenin’s view was summed up in severe and widespread and wide-ranging the buy-out. A lot of workers took the phrase “the democratic dictator- ing. It’s going to combine financial, the buy-out. Probably more than a ship of workers and peasants,” in which monetary (the dollar is sinking), and a third of the UAW membership took he saw a connection between the peas- crisis of oil production— all three at the buy-out. They’re not the same ants, the revolutionary aspirations of the same time. That’s how you get a people that they were. They’ve got a lot the peasants for land. That’s the essence formula for revolution; that’s what it more to lose than they had to lose in of a democratic revolution, which is, once it gets going. I can’t see any 1934, or even in 1956. breaks the power of the old feudal way the capitalist class can stop it; that Of course, it’s not over. Now that class, the landlord class, and the role of they can save themselves. they’ve established a new contract, it’s the workers. Trotsky’s view was slightly

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 77 different and Lenin, I think, came clos- It’s a very profound thought, and a lot Sylvia also ran for the San Francisco er to Trotsky’s view in the April Thesis, of profound thoughts can be simplified School Board. She had ten thousand when he didn’t call for a democratic like that and that’s a skill that I don’t votes or something like that. We never dictatorship, but called for the dicta- have and some people have. got that many votes for mayor. I ran for torship of the proletariat. See, that was mayor, once, but I didn’t get many votes, the essence of Lenin’s April Theses, in My wife, Sylvia probably less than two thousand. I April 1917. Sylvia was like that. Sylvia was a debated former San Francisco mayor wonderful woman, and I didn’t really That’s why Trotsky joined the Dianne Feinstein, who won the election. understand how wonderful she was Bolsheviks, in addition to other things. She was the president of the City Council. until she died, unfortunately. I mean I The Bolsheviks were playing a dynamic I like to talk about Sylvia every knew she was great, but I didn’t realize role, a leading role, and of course chance I get. She was something spe- how great she was. A very modest, unas- Trotsky was a leader of the 1905 cial. She was a fighter! I found out that suming person: Not like me. A good Revolution, which was based on sovi- when she was young, she told me she writer: Much better than I’ll ever be. ets. So here you have two great thinkers was sort of a tomboy. She played base- coming together based upon experi- She was the one who popularized ball and so on. I once got into a fight ence. Trotsky saw the value and he the slogan “It will be a great day when with my landlord. He was a young rejected Lenin’s organizational princi- the schools get all the money they need Italian guy. We rented the apartment ples, but he saw it in action and he and the Navy has to hold a bake sale to immediately after the war, in a three- became convinced. Lenin saw in action buy a ship.” She was one of the most story building. The landlord, on the that the workers in their soviets were articulate spokespersons for the wom- ground floor, was originally an old playing the decisive role and he was the en’s movement. There was a rally in Irish woman who was a sweet old lady. source of the inspiration for the slogan Golden Gate Park organized by the Then he bought it—a young man “All Power to the Soviets.” Of course, National Organization for Women— about my age and his wife—and they the soviets were workers’ councils. But our comrades in NOW were in the thought that they were barons. He then, as an expression of Lenin’s view, NOW leadership—and Sylvia was tried to order us around. I went down there were peasant soviets. The peas- scheduled to speak, as was Mayor to pay the rent—I think the rent was ants followed the example, in the rural Willie Brown. Sylvia had just started something like twenty-five dollars a areas, of workers in the cities and they her speech and he walked up and month, and I gave him thirty dollars formed what were really democratic pushed her aside, gently. He said, and I expected him to give me five dol- local organizations representing the “Sylvia, dear, I have to leave. Would lars change. you let me speak now?”—and cut her interests of poor farmers. Poor and I said, “I don’t have change.” In off. Just a few minutes after she started, landless farmers. They called their for- those days, we didn’t have a checking she had the crowd cheering, and he mation a “soviet.” account. He wouldn’t give it to me! He came in and cut her off and stopped It shows the predominant influence said, “Well, I fixed something and I’m her. That was calculated. That’s why he of the working class because of their taking the five dollars.” He never said was there. That’s my opinion. role in society. Not because they’re anything to me about it before. Well, our line was “Down with the smarter. Of course, you have to be a I said, “Hey! What do you think Democratic Party; they’re the enemy.” little more trained in writing and the you’re doing?” His wife started pushing Of course, most of our opponents in formal educational skills, to be a work- me, and I pushed her back, and he said, NOW were Democrats. The leadership er. A mechanic has to know how to use “You struck my wife!”—and he leaped of NOW, the national leadership, was a ruler. The peasants don’t need to use at me. He was a big guy! I’m pretty good Democrats. The SWP and Barnes a ruler; they can “step off” to measure. with my fists, and I was fighting and the wouldn’t help our fraction in NOW They don’t need to use a ruler as a rule, two of them were trying to get at me. when they were redbaited and expelled using the two meanings of the same Sylvia heard the commotion, and she from NOW by the national leadership, word. So that’s another manifestation came running down from the apartment who moved in on San Francisco of the dialectic. Of course, dialectic was upstairs and she leaped from around the through their agents because we were in originated by an idealist. Georg fifth step from the ground onto the leadership of the San Francisco chapter. Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel thought that landlord’s wife’s back and pulled her off Not formally, but we had leadership the idea was the source of all reality of me. And she got into the fight with positions on the executive committee, and that concrete reality was only a me! That was Sylvia! That was a com- so everybody looked to Sylvia and reflection. Marx “turned Hegel onto rade; that was somebody special. his feet.” It’s not just a cute expression. Carole Seligman as their leaders.

78 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 I never really told her how much I after split! And then: splinters! Splits of http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/sepoct_14/ loved her. I feel bad about that. splits, and so on.” That happens. It sepoct_14_38.html happens. It’s life; that’s the way it is. “Nat Weinstein—An Oral History,” parts IV, I don’t know what that has to do V and VI can be found in Socialist Viewpoint, with politics, but it gave me a chance to This is the end of the 2007 interview Vol. 14, No. 6 talk about Sylvia. We were “a perfect with Nat. Nat went on in his political life http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/novdec_14/ union,” as the founding fathers said after 1983 to help form and lead Socialist novdec_14_36.html about the United States. Almost per- Action and then to edit and write for fect—she was perfect, I wasn’t. Socialist Viewpoint. He remained a Understanding that the committed revolutionary socialist until interests of workers and Intellectual debate within the the end of his life May 9, 2014. He was employers are opposed. party 89-years-old.2 There’s a caliber, a quality, of the What’s good for workers is members of the SWP that I knew. I bad for employers, and 1 http://www.marxists.org/archive/ knew mostly the working class mem- trotsky/1938/tp/ what’s good for employers is bers, the trade unionists. They were 2 “Nat Weinstein—An Oral History,” parts I, bad for workers. all—almost all of them—what you II, and III can be found in Socialist Viewpoint, could call “worker intellectuals.” They Vol. 14, No. 5 It’s as simple as that. were people who liked to talk about poetry, liked to argue politics. It was also that they were very interested in ideas, not only ideas about socialism, but all ideas: science, poetry, culture, art, everything. They talked about everything, argued about everything, but the kind of argument that is fruit- ful and not necessarily antagonistic. To the extent that I can be called an intellectual, I’m a worker who became what Lenin called an advanced worker. I didn’t go to school, so that qualifies me as a worker who is not an intellectual, no formal education. There’s always a stage in the discussion where it’s civil relations, but then when the differences sharpen, the discussion becomes more serious, the moods change on both sides, and that’s the nature of human beings. It’s part of the promise and the curse of human nature. We’re animals, and we have self-preservation as a fundamental instinct, and but we’re also social animals, which means that we can’t survive as a species without a high degree of social consciousness. We are stronger because we work together and col- laborate instead of fighting all the time, but we also fight all the time. They like to say about socialists—especially cyn- ics who have been through the movement and see everything negatively— “You just have split after split after split

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT 79 S o c i a l i s t V i e w p o i n t Where to find us: www.socialistviewpoint.org [email protected] (415) 824-8730

EDITORIAL BOARD Carole Seligman, Bonnie Weinstein

GRAPHIC & WEB DESIGN BUSINESS MANAGER Mykael Carole Seligman

The Socialist Viewpoint Publishing Association publish- Note to Readers: es Socialist Viewpoint in the interests of the working class. Socialist Viewpoint magazine has been edited and distrib- The editors take positions consistent with revolutionary uted by a group of revolutionaries who share a common Marxism. Within this context the editors will consider for publication articles, reviews or comments. The editors may political outlook stemming from the old Socialist Workers publish comments to accompany these articles. Photographs Party of James P. Cannon, and Socialist Action from 1984 and cartoons will be appreciated. through 1999. Socialist Viewpoint reprints articles circulated on the After being expelled from Socialist Action in 1999, we Internet when we deem them of interest to our readers. Such formed Socialist Workers Organization in an attempt to articles are reprinted exactly as they appeared in the original carry on the project of building a nucleus of a revolutionary source, without any editorial or stylistic changes by us. party true to the historic teachings and program of Marx, No limitation will be placed on the author(s) use of their Engels, Lenin and Trotsky. material in their subsequent work provided acknowledgment is made of its publication in Socialist Viewpoint. The What we have found is that our numbers are insufficient Socialist Viewpoint Publishing Association retains for itself for this crucial project of party building. This problem is rights to reprint articles as collections, educational bulletins, not ours alone; it is a problem flowing from the division and and similar uses. With the inclusion of an acknowledgment fragmentation that has plagued the revolutionary move- and a notice of the copyright ownership, permission is ment in capitalist America and the world since the 1980s. hereby given educators to duplicate essays for distribution gratis or for use in the classroom at cost. The author(s) What we intend to do is to continue to promote the idea retain all other rights. of building a revolutionary Marxist working class political Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of party through the pages of Socialist Viewpoint magazine. We Socialist Viewpoint. These views are expressed in editorials. continue to have an optimistic outlook about the revolutionary potential of the world working class to rule society Socialist Viewpoint is printed by members of Local 583, Allied Printing Trades Council, San Francisco, California. in its own name—socialism. We are optimistic that the working class, united across borders, and acting in its own class interests can solve the devastating crises of war, pov- Special Introductory Subscription Offer! erty, oppression, and environmental destruction that capi- One year of Socialist Viewpoint for $20.00, talism is responsible for. Bargain rate: $35.00 for two years; We expect that revolutionaries from many different (Regular rate: $30.00/International Rate: $50.00) organizations, traditions, and backgrounds will respond to Make your check payable to: Socialist Viewpoint, & mail to: the opportunities that will arise, as workers resist the attacks S o c i a l i s t V i e w p o i n t of the capitalist system and government, to build a new 60 29th Street, #429 revolutionary political party. Just as we join with others to San Francisco, CA 94110 build every response to war and oppression, we look for- Please include your name, address, city and zip code. ward to joining with others in the most important work of To help us know who our subscribers are, please tell us your occupation, union, school, building a new mass revolutionary socialist workers’ party or organization. as it becomes possible to do so.

80 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT Vol. 15, No. 1 No Matter What They Say or Do, We Die By Kevin Cooper

and while we have patience, we still die. inal justice system, which they own, President Obama says that times have run and control. Despite what some of changed, and that things aren’t as bad as them claim, this is not about “a few they used to be. Times may have bad apples.” These inhumane things changed, but we are still dying! have been going on far too long within They say that they are fighting a war this country for it to be just a few bad on drugs, yet we die. They say that they people doing these inhumane things to are fighting a war on terrorism, yet we their fellow citizens. This is institu- die. It appears that no matter what kind tional racism and classism within of war that they claim to fight, we die! America. This can no longer be business as usual, not in these times. When they seek justice for their kind, we die. As long as it stays the same and doesn’t change, we will continue to die, When they stand their ground, we die. here in the “land of the free” where When they claim to be protecting “we” are said to be equal. What kind of their 2nd Amendment right to the equality is this where only the poor and United States Constitution, we die. minorities get death by any reason? When they enforce the law, we die. —freekevincooper.org When they think, we die. http://savekevincooper.org/pages/ Kevin Cooper When they get scared, we get dead. essays_content.html?ID=375 When they chase us, we die. Write to Kevin Cooper at: Kevin Cooper is an innocent man on Kevin Cooper C-65304, 4 EB 82 San Quentin’s Death Row in California. When they protect and serve, we die. San Quentin State Prison He continues to struggle for exoneration Certain people in positions of power San Quentin, CA 94974 and to abolish the death penalty in the within this country often speak about whole U.S. the importance of peace and the rule of They elect the first African American law. Yet when we peacefully protest, we President of the United States, and we die by the hands of the law. When we still die. They say that we now live in a protest against their violence towards post-racial America, yet we still die. and against us, we die. When we vote, we President Obama says to the youth to die and when we don’t vote we still die! be patient, because change takes time, Who are “We?” We are the poor and minority peoples of this country. Continued from inside front cover The “have nots” within the land of the “haves.” We are Black, and Latino and rent rules at military confinement Native American, and Asian and poor facilities, it is very unlikely that I will white. We are Gay, Lesbian, have any photos taken until I am Transgender and Queer. We are the released—which, parole and clemency “other” Americans, but we are notwithstanding, might not be for Americans. But most importantly, we another two decades. are all human beings. —Reader Supported News, It’s an historical truth, no matter December 16, 2014 what they say or do, we die! http://readersupportednews.org/ Who are “They?” They are the pow- news-section2/318-66/27526-why- ers that be, the status quo, the law speaking-out-is-worth-the-risk enforcers and makers, the unjust crim-

Vol. 15, No. 1 SOCIALIST VIEWPOINT $4 at Newsstands and Bookstores SocialistViewpoint

H The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it. —Karl Marx H JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 VOL. 15 NO. 1

Like high prison walls, the separation wall dividing Israel and Palestine. (UPI Photo/UPI/Debbie Hill). Read Turning Gaza Into a Super-Max Prison on page 55.

On the Front Cover: s Artwork by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson depicting recent police murders of unarmed Black and brown men.