· SWEDEN KR15 · UK £1.00 · U.S. $1.50 INSIDE Speech by Raul Castro on Cuba's role in Africa THE -PAGES8-9 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 66/NO. 9 MARCH 4, 2002 Capitalists Post-9/11, Bush builds in Venezuela case for new war moves step up drive With earlier momentum exhausted, U.S. rulers shift course to topple

BY JACK WILLEY With the momentum of September 11 government exhausted for the U.S. imperialist rulers, the March of 1,000 backs Bush administration has begun building a BY JACK WILLEY case for a new round of military aggression AND ROGER CALERO in the world. striking nurses in New York The capitalist class in Venezuela is pre­ The U.S. president took his campaign paring to attempt to overthrow the govern­ against north Korea, Iran, and Iraq as the ment of Hugo Chavez and deal blows to the "axis of evil'; in the world on the road last working class and the peasantry in the pro­ week, with a tour of Asia. The administra­ cess. This drive is setting the stage for a tion, searching for a way to justify a renewed possible civil war in the South American course toward war, is trying to raise a scare country. around the ability, or potential ability, of The employers' offensive takes place in those countries to build and deploy weap­ the midst of a deepening economic crisis ons of mass destruction. aggravated by a drop in oil prices, a world In Japan, Bush said at a press conference recession that has hit semi colonial countries that "there are some nations in the world particularly hard, especially in Latin which want to develop weapons that will America, and a massive flight of capital that hurt the United States and/or our friends and has shaken the confidence of the capitalist allies, and we've got to stop them from do­ rulers. ing so." Another purpose of the U.S. On February 18, in open defiance of the president's trip was to pressure the Japanese Chavez government, Vice ~dmiral Carlos rulers to carry out major economic reforms Molina, the country's ambassador-designate to try to head off a collapse of the country's to Greece, called on the "armed forces and banking system. • the people to publicly show their opposi­ "Make no mistake about it," said Bush, tion to Chavez's unpatriotic stand," and for "we will defend our interests and I will de­ the Venezuelan president to step down. fend the American people." He later said Molina is the fourth high-ranking officer in Washington is "more committed than ever two weeks to publicly call for Chavez's res­ to a forward presence in this region," speak­ ignation. ing of the massive U.S. military forces Echoing the condemnation of Chavez's armed with nuclear and other weapons of "authoritarian" style of government, the mass destruction that are stationed in Japan, military officers are attempting to discredit south Korea, and on warships in the Pacific. him and present themselves as true defend­ "We will continue to show American power Nurses lead march in New York, February 16, to protest mandatory overtime. ers ofVenezuela's "democratic system" and and purpose in support of the Philippines, Continued on Page 5 Australia, and Thailand,." and "will press on with an effective program of missile de­ BY SUSAN ARMSTRONG from all over the New York area took part, fenses," he said. SMITHTOWN, New York-Striking as well as a broad array of union locals. The walkout by the 475 nurses is di­ Bush also aimed his fire at remarks by nurses here mobilized 1,000 people in a 'Defense of several leaders of imperialist governments spirited march and rally February 16, rected at St. Catherine's of Siena Medi­ Continued on Page 5 in Europe who have questioned Wash­ their 83rd day on the picket lines. Nurses Continued on Page 2 workers' rights is crucial,' says Havana book fair celebrates two titles fired socialist BY STEVEN WARSHELL on struggle for women's liberation HOUSTON-As part of a nationwide tour in his fight to be reinstated at his job as BY BRIAN TAYLOR Equality and the Social Participation of rican Freedom Struggle, a March 1987 a sewing machine operator at Goodwill In­ AND YONATAN MOSQUERA Mozambican Women, published by speeeh by Thomas Sankara, leader of the dustries in Miami, socialist worker Michael HAVANA-A meeting to celebrate the Tricontinental Editions, was presented by 1983-87 revolutionary government in the Italie spoke to a meeting of 40 people here publication of two Spanish-language books author Vi tori a Afonso Langa de Jesus. Mary­ WestAfrican country ofBurkina Faso. Ulises February 9. Goodwill CEO Dennis Pastrana on the struggle for the liberation of women Alice Waters, president of Pathfinder Press, Estrada, director of Tricontinental Editions, says the nonprofit company fired Italie last in Africa was one of the features of the 11th introduced Women's Liberation and the Af- Continued on Page 10 Havana International Book Fair, held here February 7-17. Socialist garment worker Michael Italie fights You are invited to another political firing in Miami Red Weekend special event

Sat. February 23 October for political views he expressed at a televised candidates forum. Italie ran for Dinner: 6:00 p.m. mayor of Miami on the Socialist Workers Program: 7:00 p.m. Party ticket and was on the ballot in the at the Pathfinder Building November elections. Italie is encouraging his supporters to 165 Charles St. focus their efforts on informing co-workers (one block north of 1 Oth@West St.) about the case and winning their backing Translation to Spanish and French for the fight. "We want to sign up thousands of workers for this fight. Defending work­ Sponsored by the New York and Newark ers rights against employer and government branches of the Socialist Workers Party assault is crucial for the labor movement and and the Young Socialists. Call numbers Joyce all working people. It is the only way to listed on page 12 for more information. From left to right, author Vito ria Afonso; Ulises Estrada, director ofTricontental Edi­ defend our ability to organize, discuss, de­ tions; and Mary-Alice Waters, president of Pathfinder Press speak at Cuba event. Continued on Page 4 Communists respond to political openings- page 6 Bush builds case for new war moves Continued from front page One of the unspoken differences between ington's new campaign. He told them not Paris and Washington is the debt that the to fear "a state of war tomorrow," and in the Iraqi government owes to France. Paris also same breath, added; "Let's not swoon." At sees the country as a potential source for the same event Prime Minister Junichiro investment of tremendous exploitable Koizumi endorsed the "axis of evil" cam­ wealth. paign, even though Japan has formal rela­ After Christopher Patten, the European tions with Iran. Union's foreign affairs commissioner, ac­ Vice President Dick Cheney voiced with cused Bush of taking an "absolutist" ap­ particular clarity and arrogance the strength proach to the world, Powell retorted, "I shall ofU.S. imperialism vis-a-vis its rivals across have a word with him, as they say in Brit­ theAtlantic. During a February 15luncheon ain." of the Council of Foreign Affairs he said, The German foreign minister accused "America has friends and allies in this case, Washington of treating "coalition partners" but only we can lead it. Only we can rally like "satellites," implicitly comparing it to the world in a task of this complexity against the former Soviet Union and the Eastern an enemy so elusive and so resourceful. The Bloc countries. United States and only the United States can The governments in the workers states of China and Russia have also raised concern. see this effort through to victory." U.S. and south Korean troops conduct military exercise on floating bridge in 1997. While administration officials have Four days later, Cheney appeared at the Washington maintains 37,000 heavily armed soldiers in the south alongside the 650,000- matched their arrogant tone with sugar coat­ Richard Nixon Presidential Library and on man south Korean army-a sign of its aggressive intentions toward north Korea, whose ing by making offers to negotiate with the the Jay Leno show as part of a tour through army helped to deal U.S. forces their first major defeat in the 1950-53 Korean war. California. "A few of our friends in Europe governments of Iran, Iraq, and north Ko­ are hesitant to join in condemning what the rea-but under conditions that would vio­ president has called the 'axis of evil' states late their sovereignty and dictate what they overhaul regulations of the banking sector, Economist reports that many companies will and terrorist allies arming to threaten the can use to defend themselves-the admin­ and address deflation, the spiral of falling never make a profit, but the banks continue peace in the world. But evidence is compel­ istration is seeking to build bipartisan sup­ prices and falling wages. to prop them up to avoid bankruptcies, pray­ ling," he said. He had earlier made the point port for an assault on Iraq. The Japanese economy-facing its fourth ing that one day they will see some of the that once Washington starts military action Several big-business commentators have recession in a decade-is in the midst of an money and accompanying interest on bil­ somewhere, the "friends" will have little pointed to the 1980 raid by Israeli forces accelerating deflationary spiral, a contrac­ lions of dollars in loans. More than 19,000 choice but to go along. against a nuclear power plant being built by tion that will not be fundamentally reversed companies went belly-up last year and cor­ In one speech Cheney claimed that the Iraqi government as an example for by the regular ups and downs of the busi­ porate giants like Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Saddam Hussein's regime "harbors terror­ Washington. ness cycle. In face of declining profit rates Toshiba are carrying out massive layoffs as ist groups, including Abu Nidal and the Pal­ To bolster the longer-term course ofU.S. and overcapacity in construction and other their profits sag. estine Liberation Front." He repeated simi­ imperialism in the world, the administration industries, capitalists in Japan are forced to "As they [banks] continue to cling on, lar claims against Iran, calling the govern­ announced it was making permanent an of­ drive down the price of. their commodities meanwhile, the walking dead drive down ment the "world's leading exporter of ter­ fice it set up to provide positive news and to try to undercut domestic and foreign com­ prices and capture business from healthier ror, directly supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, information about the United States. The petition and in order to stay afloat. In an rivals .... The corporate zombies are perpetu­ and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist Pentagon is developing plans to provide attempt to shore up profits, they are laying ating the deflationary spiral," the Economist groups." He also accused the Iranian regime false news items to foreign media organiza­ off workers, attacking health and safety on reported. to being "committed to everything it can do tions as part of the latest effort to advance the job, and speeding up production. to destroy the process for peace in the U.S. political interests in countries it con­ Japan's official public debt has risen to Unemployment at record levels Middle East." siders allies and enemies. Although Wash­ 130 percent of the gross domestic product, Official unemployment now stands at 5.6 ington has carried out disruptive actions and Koizumi's proposed budget will drive percent, the highest since World War II, and 'Pound on Iraq' both inside the United States and abroad for that ratio above 140 percent within a year. workers face ongoing layoffs and wage cuts. When France's foreign minister, Hubert decades, the defense department wants to The Japanese government expects to accu­ Consumer prices have fallen for more than Vedrine, called the "axis of evil" threats legitimize its right to carry these measures mulate $5.2 trillion in long-term debt, and two years, cutting deep into the capitalists' "simplistic," Secretary of State Colin Powell out in the open. banks are already holding billions of dol­ profit rates. Japan has faced declining retail shot back that Vedrine was "getting the va­ lars in bad loans. Moody's Investors Ser­ sales for more than three years straight in pors." His remark was later repeated by Japan on verge of banking collapse vice warned that it may downgrade the spite of companies driving down commod­ Bush. Powell said, "My European col­ Reuters reported that during his meetings world's second-largest economy's debt rat­ ity prices. Working people and the middle leagues should be pounding on Iraq as with Japanese prime minister Koizumi, ing to "single-A" status, the same rating as class have cut back on spending as the fear quickly as they pound on us when the presi­ Bush called for the Japanese government to Botswana, Chile, Latvia, Poland, and South of an economic free-fall is spreading and dent makes a strong, principled speech." "clean up its billions of dollars in bad loans, Africa. the social wage is declining. The country's stock market prices and the The rulers admit they plan to squeeze estimated market value of real estate make working people substantially more. The up the bulk of Japanese banks' money re­ union bureaucracy ofRengo, the main Japa­ serves that are supposed to serve as a buffer nese trade union federation, has said that for against defaults on loans.Land prices, which the first time since World War II it will ac­ TH£MILITANT shot through the roof in the 1980s, have cept wage cuts in exchange for promises of come tumbling down, falling by more than some "job security" in negotiations this 75 percent by 1999. The Nikkei stock mar­ spring. British troops out of Northern Ireland ket, which peeked at 40,000 points in 1989, Japan's rulers, however, face another now languishes at around I 0,000. Banks great challenge-an aging workforce, dwin­ Recently 30,000 people have built up more debt from loan defaults dling population, and a small percentage of than they can cover from their declining re­ immigrant workers. The bosses have a more marched in Northern Ireland to serves. As a result, the potential for a bank­ difficult time pushing through assembly line demand justice for the 14 ing collapse and financial meltdown in Ja­ speedup, cutting comers on safety, and sup­ peQple gunned down by British pan is growing b)' the day. pressing wages to increase productivity. Japan has faced a sharp decline in indus­ Unlike the imperialist countries in Europe paratroopers in 1972. Read the trial production and capital investment in and North America, which have encouraged 'Militant' to get a working-class building new factories and machinery. The Continued on Page 7 view ofthe struggle for a united ·Ireland and the fight to end British military occupation in above address. 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2 The Militant March 4, 2002 Lynching exhibit highlights barbarism of capitalist society Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood is that of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory super­ on the leaves and blood at the root. Black visor framed up and hung in 1915 on bodies swinging in the southern breeze, charges of killing a female worker. The sig­ strange fruit hangingfrom the poplar trees. nificance of this lynching was that it marked -Billie Holliday the KKK as being not only anti-Black, but anti-Semitic as well. Frank was posthu­ BY OMARI MUSA mously pardoned in 1985. PITTSBURGH-This is the first stanza of the song made famous by Billie Holliday. Black land loss and the 'lynching trail' She first sang it in 1939 at the Cafe Society Lynchings were a common weapon used in New York City. This "strange fruit" was by racists to drive Blacks off the land. A the theme of "Without Sanctuary: Lynch­ study published last December by the As­ ing Photography in America," an exhibition sociated Press documented 107 "land tak­ of photographs and postcards at the Andy ings" in 13 southern states during the years Burning corpse of William Brown in Omaha, Nebraska, Sept. 28, 1919. Lynchings Warhol Museum from September through portrayed in the exhibit. Some of the "tak­ were public rituals of barbarism often promoted by the capitalist rulers in newspa­ the Martin Luther King Holiday January 21. ings" were against individual Blacks, while pers. "Without Sanctuary" exhibition helps tell the story of the extent of violence The display is a collection of nearly 100 others targeted whole Black communities against Blacks in the United States and the reasons for the racist system of Jim Crow. photographs and postcards from 1870 to and towns. TheAP investigation listed mur­ 1960 put together by James Allen and John ders, house-burnings, theft, and officially slaveowners and divide the land among Communist leader Farrell Dobbs wrote Spencer Littlefield. The museum said that sanctioned mob-ruled intimidation ofBlack freed slaves and other small rural produc­ in Revolutionary Continuity that this "de­ 31,400 people visited the exhibit with more farmers and landowners. "If you are look­ ers. "Forty acres and a mule'' became their feat was engineered by the dominant sec­ than 1,000 attending the last day. The total ing for stolen Black land just follow the slogan. tors of the industrial ruling class, who were attendance was the largest ever for an exhi­ lynching trail," explained Raymond While the federal government refused to incapable of carrying through a radical land bition at the Warhol museum. Winbush, director of Fisk University's Race institute a far-reaching agrarian reform, reform in the old Confederacy and rightly The photos and cards show in gruesome Relations Institute. Blacks did acquire some land. Elections feared the rise of a united working class in detail the extent of the ex~ralegal violence This was the case with the 1916 lynching were held in which Black men voted, ran which Black and white artisans and indus­ carried out against Blacks all over the United of Anthony Crawford in South Carolina. for office, and took their places in new "re­ trial workers would come together in a pow­ States during those years. The majority took Crawford was a successful cotton farmer. constructed" governments. These state and erful oppositional force, allied with free place in the deep South and southern bor­ He was arrested for cursing a white busi­ local bodies began to pass laws in the inter­ working farmers." der states. A large percentage occurred be­ nessman in a dispute over the sale price of ests of the ex-slaves and ruined small white The reign of terror by the Ku Klux Klan, tween 1880 and 1920. his cotton. After being released from jail he farmers. Free public education and commu­ the Knights of the White Camelia, and other During those years thousands of Black was cornered by a mob, knifed, beaten, and nity services were set up. The Freedmen's racist gangs was needed to roll back gains men and women were tortured and muti­ lynched. His family fought to keep the land Bureau was established to provide relief and made by freed slaves, break the possibili­ lated, including sharecroppers, farmers, but were eventually foreclosed on by the assume custody of confiscated lands. Re­ ties of an alliance of the toilers, and impose store owners, miners, railroaders, and other banks. strictions were placed on child labor. South a brutal second-class status on Blacks. The laborers. There is no way to know the exact Violence meted out against Blacks after Carolina and Mississippi adopted progres- capitalist rulers put in place the Jim Crow number since disappearances of Blacks emancipation in 1865, including mob ex­ . sive income tax laws that fell on the rich. system of legalized segregation as the rural were common. ecutions, was designed to undermine the Civil rights laws barring racial discrimina­ poor and working class were forcibly di­ "The quality of the racial violence that gains of their new freedom. In the years tion were enacted and universal suffrage for vided along racial lines. gripped the South made it distinctive in this immediately following the Civil War, the males regardless of race was instituted. nation's history," wrote Leon Litwack, au­ victorious northern capitalists vacillated in But the Radical Reconstruction govern­ Public rituals of dehumanization thor of the introduction to the book Without carrying out measures to crush the power ments did not expropriate the land of the One of the most striking components of Sanctuary, which contains all the photos in and authority of the southern planter class. big plantation owners and distribute it to the the exhibit "Without Sanctuary" is the fact the exhibit. "In the 1890s," he continued, Facing uprisings against its control, the fed­ ex-slaves or poor white farmers. This fail­ that lynchings were not spontaneous. In fact, "lynchings claimed an average of 139lives eral government was forced to end all post­ ure allowed the exploiting classes in the the racist rulers often publicized them in each year, 75 percent of them black .... Be­ Civil War governments and carry through South, in alliance with their northern back­ newspapers and circulars. The advertising tween 1882 and 1968, an estimated 4,742 what became Radical Reconstruction in ers, to launch a campaign of legal and ex­ and selling of tickets to view these barbaric blacks met their deaths at the hands of lynch 1867. The South was occupied by federal tralegal terror against Blacks. acts was also common. Many photographs mobs. As many, if not more, were victims troops, while ex-slaves waged a struggle for By 1877 the Radical Reconstruction re­ and postcards show crowds of smiling white of legal lynching, private white violence, a radical agrarian reform that would break gimes were overthrown thJ'ough a bloody men, women, and children attending the and 'nigger hunts."' up the old plantations of the former counterrevolution. Continued on Page 14 Often leaders or potential leaders of the Black community were lynched if for no other reason than to "teach them a lesson." Several photos show victims who defended N.Y. mayor'S budget will give 'pain 'to workers themselves and their families from cops and racist mobs. William Brooks, a coal miner, BY BRIAN WILLIAMS cent. This includes eliminating the week­ she needs the meal program because her was lynched on July 22, 1901, in Elkins, Claiming city residents must "share the end meal now available to 12,000 elderly Social Security check each month has to go West Virginia, for killing a cop who tried to pain," the billionaire mayor of New York, men and women, closing seven city centers to housing and medical expenses. arrest him. A mob of 500 carried out this Michael Bloomberg, revealed his $41.4 bil­ that cater to the elderly and eliminating four Those making use of this program pay lynching. Another photo shows Laura lion budget plan, which takes aim at social others that were to open shortly, and curtail just 50 cent for a decent meal that a number Nelson and her son hanging from a bridge programs most vital to working people and their prescription drug reimbursements. of elderly people make last through the in Okemah, Oklahoma. Nelson's son was heaps a series of new and increased fees The mayor is seeking to eliminate $225 weekend, noted a recent New York Times accused of killing a deputy who claimed upon them. million in pension and health benefits owed article. they had stolen meat. Forty night riders par­ His plan includes cutting funds for the to city employees and reschedule the. pen­ The mayor is also planning to increase ticipated in this lynching. Administration for Children's Services by sion funding schedule to the tune of another charges by l 0 cents for breakfasts and The exhibit also includes photos of nearly 18 percent, homeless services by 17 $275 million. lunches served at these centers, as well as Castengo Ficcarotta and Angelo Albano, percent, libraries by $39 million or 15 per­ Other highlights of the budget include: for meals delivered to homebound people. Italian immigrant workers lynched after an cent, cultural affairs by 15 percent and sani­ • Funding for the public schools would be Cutbacks in education have propelled outbreak of violence between striking work­ tation by 12 percent. cut by $354 million. Capital construction even middle-class parents into the streets to ers and strikebreakers at a cigar factory in The budget also projects cutting programs projects like building new schools would be demand restoration of funding. Tampa, Florida, in 1910. Another depiction for the elderly by $26 million, or 16 per- scaled back by 20 percent. Although the state added $82 per pupil • Legal services to help people fight evic­ to city schools last year, the city cut $167 tions from their homes would be chopped. per pupil. In some schools the entire budget •The city tax on cigarettes would increase allotted for classroom expenses goes to pay Machinists union reaches tentative from 8 cents to $1.50 per pack. Coming on teachers, leaving little or nothing for books top of a 39-cent state tax increase, the cost or other items. agreement with United Airlines of a pack of cigarettes could rise to nearly Meanwhile, recent figures released by the $7 by July. Coalition for the Homeless, show that the BY MAURICE WILLIAMS be deferred and paid in eight quarterly in­ •The mayor is also floating the idea of number of homeless children sleeping in The International Association ofMachin­ stallments starting in April 2003. placing tolls on bridges coming into Man­ New York City shelters rose by 29 percent ists (lAM) District 141M, representing The airline workers took deep wage cuts hattan over the East River from Brooklyn last year, to a record 13,088 each night. 13,000 mechanics and cleaners, reached a in 1994, and over the following years United and Queens-the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, "The increase in children lodging nightly tentative contract agreement with United Airlines bosses made record profits. Wages Manhattan, and Queensboro bridges---,--as with their families in the city's shelter sys­ Airlines February 18. The settlement came were restored to 1994 levels in July 2000 well as raising tolls on the nine other cross­ tem," noted the Times, "is part of the largest two days before the union's strike deadline. when the contract came up for renewal. ings into the city for which commuters have one-year rise in homeless people recorded A ratification vote by union members is Over the past two years the company had already been paying hefty fees. in the city since its modern shelter system scheduled for March 5. stalled negotiations with the lAM, then • Parking ticket fines would increase from began in the early 1980s. The overall in­ About one week earlier some 68 percent jumped in line to declare financial disaster $55 to the $80 to $100 range. Towing fees crease, about 22 percent, is probably the of the workers voted to reject a contract pro­ when two of its planes crashed on Septem­ would increase, as well as additional taxes largest since the Great Depression." posal recommended by a White House-ap­ ber 11. The bosses have threatened bank­ on telephone and cell phone use. Linda Gibbs, commissioner of the city's pointed federal panel. ruptcy ever since. "He's got some nerve!" stated 82-year­ Department of Homeless Services, agreed One of the provisions in the rejected pact United also is involved in a contract im­ old Margaret Robinson, upon hearing of with these figures, saying that in January included accepting a pay cut if United passe with 30,000 baggage handlers and Bloomberg's proposed cuts to the weekend more than 31,000 people slept at city shel­ bosses could squeeze other employees to customer service workers who are repre­ meal program for the elderly. "He has plenty ters. A figure far below the actual number make such a concession as part of a "finan­ sented by the lAM. to eat in his house, I'm sure. I wish I could of homeless persons in the city, who stay cial recovery plan." That deal also proposed staple his mouth shut so he couldn't eat. away from these overcrowded and unsani­ that wage increases retroactive to July 2000 Kathleen Denny contributed to this article. Then he might understand." She added that tary facilities. March 4, 2002 The Militant 3 'Defense of workerS' UNITE workers come to Cincinnati rights is crucial,' says from South, Midwest to picket Fingerhut fired socialist fighter Continued from front page rights of us all." bate politics, and stand up for our own class The former socialist candidate pointed to interests. It is how we defend and extend all measures such as the USA Patriot Act, political and democratic rights won through which extends the length of time the cops earlier struggles," he said. can hold immigrants without filing charges The socialist worker said those who have against them, and the Aviation and Trans­ come back to this fight can circulate peti­ portation Security Act, which bans all but tions on the job, get workers to send letters U.S. citizens from holding jobs as baggage to the mayor of Miami, help host a tour stop screeners at airports. of Italie in their city, and encourage contri­ "But the bosses are facing resistance to butions, large and small from working these attacks on our ·rights," he said. "In San people. Francisco Filipino workers are taking the In his talk to the meeting Italie addressed lead in protesting this ban on immigrants' the Bush administration's just-released rights to hold screeners jobs, and in San Jose White House memorandum outlining an I met with activists who have been organiz­ "Absconder Apprehension Initiative" which ing ongoing rallies to demand drivers' li­ calls for rounding up thousands of immi­ censes for immigrants." These workers are Some 175 workers at mail-order firm Fingerhut picket the headquarters of Feder­ grants of Middle Eastern background on the being prevented from getting or renewing ated Department Stores-Fingerhut's parent company-in downtown Cincinnati basis that they have overstayed their visas their drivers' licenses because of state re­ on February 11. The workers, organized by the Union ofNeedletrades, Industrial and are "dangerous." The measure, stated quirements for a Social Security number. and Textile Employees (UNITE), had traveled from Minnesota and Tennessee to Italie, "is one of a continuing series of at­ Their protests, he said, are an important part protest the bosses' actions in winding down Fingerhut's operations in prepara­ tacks on immigrant rights. The rulers ofthis of opposing Washington's moves to insti­ tions for its sale. Many ofthe company's 6,000 workers have been idled or laid off. country target immigrants as the leading tute a national ID card. edge in their assault on workers' rights. They ltalie presented videotaped television hope that native-born workers and farmers coverage of his fight in Miami and said he will be slow in rallying to their defense. had spoken out against the U.S. war in Af­ eluded Donna Huanca, who works at an art my family and my studies at the University "By making special targets of people ghanistan and in defense of the Cuban Revo­ car museum where she gives tours to the of Houston and wanted me to explain all from the Middle East," ltalie explained, "the lution during the candidates debate. Good­ public. She explained that she had been in­ the exhibits to them. I was terrified." Huanca capitalists are engaging in classic racial pro­ will CEO Pastrana told the Miami Herald terrogated by two FBI agents who came to said the museum officials have made a point filing, but the real targets are the rights of that he dismissed Italie because "we cannot the private museum an hour before opening of opening the facilities to events around the all working people. The rulers are trying to have anyone who is attempting to subvert and demanded a tour. fight for social justice and progress such as set a precedent with an assault on the rights the United States of America" work at the "They said they had reports of anti­ that of Michael Italie. of those considered most vulnerable. If they plant. American activity in the museum," Huanca Jay Dooling, host of Irish Aires radio get away with it they will soon go after the Other speakers at the meeting here in- said. "Then they asked me questions about show and leader of the Houston chapter of Irish Northern Aid, voiced-his support for Italie 's fight and said that Goodwill's actions were "probably a violation of federal law." Dooling ·also noted that the Houston Irish Socialist candidate protests office break-in Northern Aid is working to organize a com­ memoration of Bloody Sunday and a speak­ BY JACQUIEHENDERSON Friday night weekly free speech forum and other defenders of workers' rights hosted a ing tour of a group of mothers of Holy Cross HOUSTON-"Yesterday my campaign to respond to the attack by continuing to tour of Michael Italie, the party's candidate keep the bookstore open for business. "I also for mayor ofMiami in last November's elec­ school students from Northern Ireland who offices were broken into," said Anthony are. standing up to attacks by pro-British Dutrow, Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. invite you to an open house here at the Path­ tion, who was fired from his job as a gar­ finder bookstore on the afternoon of March ment worker because of his political views. vigilantes in Belfast today. Congress in District 18, in a radio interview During his visit here ltalie was inter­ here February 14. 3 in celebration of the publication of the ltalie spoke with the media and at public book From the Escambray to the Congo: In meetings in Houston and Brownsville, viewed for a 30-minute segment of the Pro­ KPFT interviewer Bob Buzanco asked gressive Forum radio program on KPFT. about the incident. "Malicious damage was the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution," Texas. Duzinski announced. "With your help we On February 9 he spoke at the art car Participants in the meeting contributed done to the campaign's computer, furniture, more than $1,100 to the Miami-based Com­ and to the storefront of the Pathfinder book­ will continue to reach out into this work­ museum in the Heights area near Houston's ing-class neighborhood." Pathfinder bookstore. The museum had been mittee to Defend Freedom of Speech and store where the Socialist Workers offices are the Bill of Rights, established by support­ located," Dutrow explained. "The fax ma­ In the days-previous to the break-in, sup­ visited by the FBI following September 11 porters of the socialist campaign along with. to see if it contained "terrorist art." ers of Italie to organize the fight for rein­ chine and part of the printer were taken. A statement. · cabinet containing files was opened but no money was missing. An alert neighbor no­ tified the police of the break-in at 4:50a.m." Buzanco asked Dutrow if he thought the SupreiDe Court justice says judges who view break-in was politically motivated. Dutrow replied that there was evidence that points to that "A poster advertising tomorrow's capital punishiDent as iiDIDoral should resign Militant Labor Forum in defense of the Pal­ estinians' struggle against Israeli aggression BY MAURICE WILLIAMS on the bench in all jurisdictions imposing scared you're a justice." was removed from the window ofthe Path­ During a symposium on "Religion, Poli­ the death penalty," or if they "were subject Scalia acknowledged being "part of the finder bookstore, which houses the weekly tics, and the Death Penalty" held last month to recusal when called for jury duty in capi­ criminal law machinery that imposes death." free speech forum as well as the party of­ at the University of Chicago, Supreme Court tal cases." He said that executing or imprisoning inno­ fices," he explained. "It was defaced, with a Justice Antonio Scalia, a Catholic, opined During the question-and-answer period cent people are among "the risks of living knife slit across the picture of a Palestinian that any judge who believes that capital pun­ at the conference Scalia was confronted by in organized human society.... It's better than child in front of a wall sign saying, 'We fight ishment is immoral should resign. The a Black man who said he was a victim of the alternative, which is to be subjected to Israel because they occupy our land.' The judge, who had also spoken along those cop brutality and had wrongly spent 10 years constant crime." poster was then stepped on and subsequently lines at Georgetown University, reiterated in an Illinois prison. "You have innocent · For the "believing Christian," he asserted, folded tightly and again stepped on." his support for the constitutionality of the people on death row,"' the mari stated. "I'm "death is no big deal." "The government's increased attacks on death penalty, while claiming to take no workers' rights-rounding up and impris­ position on imposing death sentences. oning immigrants, increasing FBI, CIA, bor­ "The choice for the judge who believes der cop and other police agency powers, that the death penalty is immoral is resigna­ Cuban paper: U.S. senator discusses harassing workers, including members of tion rather than simply ignoring duly enacted my party-have encouraged violent attacks constitutional laws and sabotaging the death some 'interrogation' techniques and harassment of working people as sus­ penalty," Scalia said. "He has taken an oath pected 'terrorists,"' the socialist candidate to apply those laws, and has been given no The following item appeared in Later soldiers wrapped the Muslim rebels and Houston-area meat packer explained. power to supplant them with rules of his Granma International, a weekly newspa­ in funeral shrouds made of pigskin and bur­ "This attack on my campaign office has own." He added that if a judge "feels strongly per published in Cuba. The news report ied them face down, so they could not see arisen in this climate," he said. "We strongly enough" against state-sanctioned murde:r, he it refers to was printed in. the October 28 Mecca. Then they poured pig entrails over protest this attempt to disrupt our ability to or she can "lead a political campaign" to abol­ Los Angeles Times. the bodies-. The other six were forced to reach working people and youth with our ish it, "and if that fails, lead a revolution. But watch. And that was the end of the insur­ socialist program. We demand that we be rewrite the laws he cannot do." After the September 11 disaster, linguis­ rection on Mindanao, Graham noted. afforded the right to function freely with our While claiming to be "judicially neutral" tic excesses have been boundless within In his article, the journalist pointed out socialist election campaign and that the po­ on capital punishment, Scalia rejected a Washington's intelligence circles. The chair­ that, in fact, the Mindanao insurrection con­ lice prosecute those responsible." 1995 letter by the pope that declared the man of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tinues to this day and is allegedly aided by Dutrow concluded by encouraging the death penalty should only be used "when it Bob Graham (D-Fla.), told the Los Angeles Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization. radio listeners to attend the free speech fo­ would not be possible otherwise to defend Times an anecdote he had heard at a dinner Graham stressed that he was not advo­ rum the following night and protest the at­ society." The letter, he states "effectively party with intelligence experts. cating the use of such methods. However, tack. Interviewer Buzanco asked the social­ urges the retirement of Catholics from pub­ Graham described how a U.S. army officer he added that when terrorists are not moti­ ist candidate to keep the program abreast of lic life" since it instructs those "running for known as "Black Jack" Pershing had put an vated by political ideology or money, U.S. further developments. legislative office ... to oppose the death pen­ end to a Muslim insurgency on the Philip­ intelligence can prey on other weak points, Supporters are appealing for help in re­ alty. pine island of Mindanao during the Span­ including families, relations, religious be­ pairing the damage to the bookstore and "Most of them would not be elected," the ish-American War in the late 19th century. liefs, etc. campaign offices. Speaking at the February Supreme Court justice said, adding that "I Graham explained that at one point U.S. A charming mentality, especially coming 15 Militant Labor Forirm, Phil Duzinski in­ do not think it would be a good thing if soldiers captured 12 Muslims, killing six of from the Capitol's number one intelligence vited participants to continue to support the American Catholics were ineligible to go them with bullets dipped in hogfat. man. 4 The Militant March 4, 2002 March backs nurses on strike in New York Continued from·front page but we have a right to a life." cal Center and the main unresolved issue is Concern for patient care is central to the mandatory overtime. Nurses say they are nurses' fight against forced overtime. often forced to work 16 hours straight if the "Think if it were your loved one in that bed," bosses have not scheduled another nurse for striker Theresa Floccari said, "and the nurse the second shift. They demand contract lan­ administering lifesaving medication was guage to restrict overtime and to institute working 16 hours." double-time pay as an economic disincen­ Erin Laden, president of this year's RN tive for the hospital to impose forced over­ class at Suffolk Community College. came time. to the rally together with 14 nursing students The New York State Nurses Association and professors. "We see going into our (NYSNA) float, serving as the rally stage, clinicals how mandatory overtime-will af­ was hung with signs demanding "No forced fect us," Laden said. "It's not safe for pa­ O.T.," "Patient Safety," and "Safe Care #I." tient care. That's why you get into nursing, Most strikers wore red NYSNA sweatshirts. because you care about the patients." Winnie Kennedy, a registered nurse (RN) The bosses at the hospital say they have at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, came to schedule overtime because of a shortage to back the strikers. "You should not be a of nurses. Striker Ellen Florio, a nurse for prisoner in the hospital," she said. "You can'.t 37 years, said, referring to the hospital's go to work every day and not know when hiring of replacement nurses during the Militant/Bill Estrada you'll return." strike: "If they can bring 100 nurses in to Nurses, leading the march, are fighting against mandatory overtime and 16-hour days. John Franzese, a teacher for 30 years and staff while we're not there, they can do it a member of United Federation ofTeachers when we are there." "Every day of the strike brings a new Laundry in the Bronx came to the march. Local 2 in New York City, said, "This is a - Nurses reported that in March 2000 the challenge and we get more respect," said Elsa Perez said, "It's a help for all of us to cause. Hospitals should not use mandatory current owners bought out the hospital. nurse Maryann DeNappoli. "This strike support each other." Juana Gonzales cap­ overtime to staffhospitals." His wife, a nurse Employees lost thousands of dollars in ac­ gives us a sense of independence," said an­ tured the mood of the action, ~aying, "This for 30 years, is on strike. . crued personal and vacation time, as well other striker. rally is beautiful. The people are very happy. Katherine Stovall, an RN at New Island as overtime incentives, in the deal. "We gave Six members of the Union of Mucha gente!" The UNITE strikers were Hospital in Bethpage, explained, "Their win back, gave back, gave back," said striker Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Em­ recognized at the rally by Barbara Crane, would be for all nurses. We love our work, Diane Shalhoub. ployees who are on strike at the Flex-0-Tex president of the NYSNA at St. Catherine. Musicians from Local 802 added to the spirit of the day with both union and popu­ lar songs such as "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" and the Banana Boat Song, with its refrain, "Day­ Coal miners in Kemmerer, Wyoming, o, day-o, daylight come and I wan' go home." Among the unions represented at the give 'Militant' sellers a warm welcome march were the United Food and Commer­ cial Workers; United Auto Workers; United BY JACK PARKER Workers a letter from the local endorsing percent of its workforce is also comprised Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners; KEMMERER, Wyoming-Socialist the ltalie case and signed an endorser card of Native Americans. Peabody, the owner Laborers' International Union; Motion Pic­ workers sold 53 copies of the Militant fea­ himself. of these mines, slurries coal 275 miles to ture Workers; American Postal Workers, turing recent developments in the fight of Oliver is also the president of the Nal­ Mohave using massive amounts of water. National Maritime Union; Sheet Metal coal miners for better working conditions nishii, the Federation of Labor on the Na­ In June of 1999, the Navajo Nation sued Workers and Painters; and State County and at two mine portals this past month. Ten vajo Nation. One of the projects the Nal­ Peabody for $600 million in damages, Municipal Employees. papers were sold at the Kemmerer mine in nishii is working on concerns a company claiming they received royalties that were Anne Converso, a nurse for 29 years at Kemmerer, Wyoming, and 43 copies were threat to close the Mohave Generating Sta­ far below the market value for the high­ the Veterans Administration Hospital in Buf­ sold at the McKinley mine in Tse Bonito, tion in Laughlin, Nevada, Oliver said, not­ BTU, low-sulfur coal that is mined at Black falo, presented a check for $10,000 from the New Mexico. ing the miners at Black Mesa and Kayenta Mesa and Kayenta. United American Nurses. "Every nurse I Both McKinley and Kemmerer are owned would be directly affected by this since they "We want to make sure that our govern­ come in contact with is proud of you," she by Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co. (P&M). supply all the coal that goes to Mohave. ment leaders are aware of the overall impli­ said. Ending the rally, NYSNA official Two years ago the United Mine Workers of The Black Mesa and Kayenta mines are cations of current litigation and that the in­ Lorraine Seidel said that the strike is "not just America (UMWA) waged successful, coor­ located on the Navajo and Hopi Nations. terests of the Black Mesa and Kayenta min­ about ending mandatory overtime, but about dinated 12-week strikes at both these loca­ Organized by the UMWA, more than 90 ers are protected," Oliver said. quality of life for you and your patients." tions to defend the eight-hour day. "These sales were part of our ongoing effort to keep in touch with UMWA mem­ bers at Kemmerer and McKinley," Alyson Kennedy, a socialist miner from Western Venezuelan bosses step up anti-Chavez drive. Colorado explained. "During their strikes the Militant earned a lot of respect by oor Continued from front page countryside, yet land ownership remains in on the world market. coverage of their fight." "the rule of law." the hands ofjust a few landlords. TheEcono­ In the week after the Central Bank aban­ Braving subzero weather and intermittent On February 7, thousands of anti-govern­ mistreports that 250,000 farms occupy only doned the fixed currency exchange setup snow showers, the sales team was warmly ment demonstrators rallied in central 1.'6 percent of the arable land. At the same and floated the bolivar, the currency fell 17 received in Wyoming. "You must be really Caracas, the country's capital, banging pots time, 1 percent of the farms incorporate percent against the dollar. From November dedicated," a Kemmerer miner said as she and pans and chanting, "Chavez is on his nearly half the arable land. According to the Venezuelan government had spent' more stopped to buy the paper. way out." In response, government support­ Fedenaga, the Venezuelan cattle ranchers' than $3 billion from the treasury in an un­ Another woman miner pulled her truck ers gathered in front of the presidential pal­ federation, some 139 farms have been taken successful attempt to prop up the bolivar and over to .talk. She had been a leader in the ace, calling for the defense of "the over by landless peasants. avoid such a currency devaluation. Coal Employment Project (CEP) in the Bolivarian revolution." The Venezuelan ruling class has received 1980s and 1990s. The CEP had been set up The International Herald Tribune re­ the support of Washington and Madrid in Cuba-Venezuela trade ties to help women get hired in the mines and to ported that Molina said "the combative their criticisms of Chavez. U.S. secretary of Sections of the capitalist class are also fight to keep their jobs once they got there. style" of the Chavez government, which has state Colin Powell claimed that he was con­ opposed to the increasing trade ties between This miner wanted to talk about conditions organized its supporters in neighborhood cerned with the actions of the Venezuelan Cuba and Venezuela. A recent bilateral co­ in the mines today. committees, "could provoke unnecessary president and "his understanding of what a operation pact, which includes a major oil "Be sure to call me next time before you bloodshed between Chavez defenders and democratic system is all about." The for­ supply deal for the island, has made Ven­ come up," she said. "You just show up. Ifl an increasingly potent opposition." eign minister of Spain, Jo!)ep Pique, said that ezuela Cuba ls biggest trading partner. Two­ have some advance notice we can spend "All this is carrying us to the cliff edge," he hopes Venezuela "recovers its political way trade rose from $461 million in 1999 more time together." The team gave her lit­ said National Guard captain Pedro Flores, stability within the framework ofdemocratic to $912 million in 2000, and reached $541. erature on the fight by Michael Italie in one of the dissenting officers, in anticipa­ institutions." million in the first half of this year. Miami. Ita1iewas the Socialist Workers Party tion of further polarization. Chavez's government has strongly de­ candidate for mayor in that city and was Chavez and top military commanders Economy wracked by falling.oil prices fended its right to establish closer relations fired from his job at Goodwill Industries for have insisted that the military remains loyal Big-business groups have put great pres­ with several governments that have been la­ the political views he expressed in a tele­ to the government and that the officers' sure on the regime to let the national cur­ beled "terrorist" by Washington, from C~ba vised candidates debate. statements do not reflect the sentiment rency-the bolivar-fall in order to lower to _Iran, Iraq, and Libya. "We're not against Many of the 43 miners at McKinley al­ within the armed forces. Since their decla­ the cost ofgoods they export. The country's anything or anyone," Chavez has said. "We're ready had money out of their pockets when rations, Soto and Flores have turned them­ economy has been slammed by the decline defending Venezuela's interests." they stopped to buy the Militant. This was selves in for questioning by the high mili­ in world oil prices, on top of a world reces­ The bourgeoisie, with its backers in the the fifth sale that had been organized at the tary command. sion, and by the fears of the ruling rich of military and trade union bureaucracy, is pre­ New Mexico mine since the end of the P&M impending political turmoil in the country. paring for a showdown with the Chavez-led strike. Between 35 to 50 papers have been Rulers see limited land reform as threat Oil sales account for more than half of government. The same capitalist spokes­ sold at each effort. Since he came to power in 1998, Chavez, Venezuela's income and three-quarters ofits people who demanded that Chavez imple­ The McKinley mine is on the Navajo res­ a bourgeois nationalist, has implemented a total exports. Since the beginning of Febru­ ment austerity measures and devalue the ervation. Due to an affirmative action pro­ series of measures that have included a land ary when individuals in the military brass currency are now blaming the government gram enforced by the UMWA, more than reform act. The legislation allows the gov­ began calling for Chavez's resignation, do­ for the economic downturn. 90 percent of~he miners are Native Ameri­ ernment to take over the idle lands of mestic and foreign capitalists have pulled Carlos Ortega, the head of the pro-capi­ cans. wealthy landlords and hand it over to peas­ millions of dollars in investments out of the talist Confederation ofVenezuelan Workers, Sales team members shook hands and ants. This measure has raised the expecta­ country. called for an anti-government march ofpub­ chatted with a number of the workers who tions of workers and peasants for better On February 12, Chavez announced a 22 lic sector workers February 27. He also an­ bought the Militant, discussed working con­ working and living conditions, a develop­ percent cut in government spending. He nounced that the union plans to hold a one­ ditions at the mine, and were filled in on ment viewed as a threat by the capitalist stated the budget cuts would not affect or two-day nationwide work stoppage in how the leaders of the strike are doing. rulers. Chavez has also placed a steep tax spending on health, education, and social March as part of the rulers' efforts to desta­ Following the sale, Lawrence Oliver, on oil exports to keep more of the national programs and presented the government as bilize and weaken the government. The president ofUMWA Local 1332 that orga­ patrimony in the country, and has expanded a "friend of the poor." That same day, as the officialdom of the confederation also sup­ nizes the McKinley miners, had a meeting educational programs. bolivar was declining in value, he reported ported a recent strike and march organized with the team. Oliver gave the Socialist Twelve percent ofVenezuelans live in the the Central Bank would float the currency by the capitalist class. March 4, 2002 The Militant 5 Communists respond to political openings Set course to deepen proletarian character and international scope of movement BY GREG McCARTAN Both the Young Socialists in New York NEW YORK-Setting a course to deepen and the local membership meeting approved the proletarian character and international a proposal to fuse the forces of the SWP scope of the communist movement in the and YS in the city in order to tum toward United States was at the center of discus­ the openings to deepen the proletarian char­ sions at meetings of the SWP National Com­ acter and composition of the communist mittee and of the membership of the party movement and to increase its disciplined and Young Socialists in New York City here functioning and integration with workers February 9-10. resisting the onslaught of capitalism. · "We put the banner of communism be­ YS-age members in New York remain fore everyone who fights," said Socialist members of the international Young Social­ Workers Party national secretary Jack ists, which has chapters and individual mem­ Barnes at the party's National Committee bers in a number of other cities in the United meeting. "We join in all struggles against States and elsewhere. They will participate the brutalities and injustices of the existing in national and intemationalYS gatherings, social order. We tell those involved: 'We're and in its activities here and around the communists, and you are a communist too-­ world. And the YS National Executive Com­ you just don't know it yet.' And we let them mittee will continue directing the work. of know that only by forging a communist Above: Irma Montiel; Left: Militant/Romina Green the organization. cadre capable ofleading tens of millions in The impact of capitalism's world disorder Sandler pointed to a number of concrete revolutionary struggle is it possible to around the world is producing groups of pro­ ways to advance along the political course change who .is the ruling class and open up letarian fighters everywhere. They are not "" presented in the opening report to the city the possibility for workers and farmers to part of a political current, but make up a rela­ meeting, and to the party leadership meet­ fight effectively and win." tively atomized resistance in the cities and ing earlier in the day. This is not a matter of telling those bat­ countryside. Above: state employees in Ar­ One is through the party's participation tling for Black equality, women's freedom, gentina pour into the streets of the city of in social protest actions, such as rallies against brutal speedup on the job, against Cordoba December 20 to protest then-presi­ against police brutality and in defense of assaults on safety and the environment, or dent Fernando de Ia Rua's declaration of a immigrant rights. Party members join in to forge an alliance of workers and farmers state of siege. Left: workers in Neuquen prov­ these actions, set up literature tables, sell the that "socialism is the only solution," the ince march January 7 to protest the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, and find SWP leader said. "What we offer them is government's antilabor policies. individuals who are looking for fundamen­ the chance to begin to fight and win through tal political answers and can be won to a the battle to take political power," he said. proletarian party. By taking power out of the hands of a Barnes said. "Their treatment is parallel to an international communist movement. Another is to advance the work of the tiny group of capitalists and establishing a that being meted out to those kidnapped and Party branches across the country have fractions of socialist workers in the garment workers and farmers government, Barnes taken by U.S. authorities to Washington's registered progress in establishing fractions and meatpacking industries and unions. said, the socialist revolution "opens the door, naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba. This is of socialist workers that carry out commu­ They become part of the life and struggles for the first time in history, for working imperialist democracy today," he said. nist work on the job in the garment, auto, not only among workers on the job, but of people to organize the battles to win an end Barnes pointed out that during World War meatpacking, and coal mining industries. the connections of these workers to "sim­ to all the forms of exploitation, oppression, II the U.S. government allowed leaders of They have taken strides in establishing mering social struggles breaking out today." and degradation perpetuated and reproduced the SWP framed-up and imprisqned under branches in workers districts and getting to A third is by restarting and organizing by capitalist rule." the thought-control Smith Act to remain to­ know layers of working people through every member into weekly shift-change Political explosions, such as that in Ar­ gether in the same federal penitentiary, with regular street tables, Militant Labor Forums, sales at garment and meatpacking plant gentina against the impact of the capitalist the exception of Grace Carlson, who was and communist election campaigns. gates in and around the city to reinforce the collapse there, don't in and of themselves sent to a prison for women. Even under the This course of action in response to resis­ political work of the fractions, build the in­ feed into a broader political challenge to the czar of Russia, or under the totalitarian re­ tance by workers and farmers around the fluence of communism among that section domination and prerogatives of capital. gime of Joseph Stalin, opponents of the world to the imperialist assault on working of the working class, and get to know a This patt~m will continue-with the im- governments were not separated and iso­ people has made the YS and party more at- broader layer ofworkers who can be brought . perialists and capitalist rulers in the end al­ lated from each other, as U.S. authorities are around party activities . ways restabilizing their rule and coming out doing with the five Cuban revolutionaries. Building the weekly Militant Labor Fo­ on top-until a communist cadre is forged One meeting participant pointed out that rum as the most important meeting of the into a disciplined proletarian revolutionary political prisoners were allowed to stay to­ week, where workers can get together to dis­ party that can lead working people and chart gether in jail in Iran under the Khomeini cuss key questions and developments in a road forward for humanity. government in the early 1980s. world politics, is essential to carrying out The events in Argentina help us see that this proletarian course, Sandler said. there are cores of proletarian fighters every­ Proletarianization of the party The fourth is setting up street-comer where, Barnes said. These workers are en­ As the meetings took place in New York, tables of revolutionary literature and orga­ gaged in defensive struggles against an international team of communists was in nizing other ways to get out the socialist capital's unrelenting assaults on the rights Cuba, working together with communists press and Pathfinder books in the workers and conditions of the toilers, while the trade in that country at the Havana International districts where the branches are located. union bureaucracy tries to sit on top of and Book Fair (see articles in the current and divert these fights and battles. February 25 issues of the Militant). Reports Proletarian, international, and political But such obstacles don't stop workers and on the success of the launchings of three In his summary report to the SWP leader­ farmers from coming forwllrd who belong Pathfinder titles and the extent of political ship meeting late in the day Sunday, Barnes in the communist movement. In their great discussions at the book fair reinforced the pointed out that the concrete step of fusing majority today these working people are not political assessment of the openings for the the communist movement's forces in New part of any current in the workers move­ communist movement in the world today. York City was completed with the actions by ment, Barnes said, but of a relatively atom­ Both the SWP leadership meeting and the city membership meeting earlier that day. ized resistance in city and countryside that New York membership meeting assessed the The task in New York City now, he said, is deep and proletarian. steps forward the party and Young Social­ is the same concretely facing every branch ists have made in the United States that are of the SWP and other communist organiza­ Political space leading to possibilities to recruit more work­ tions: to become more proletarian in com­ This resistance is not the product of a ers to the party. position, activity, and norms of functioning, generalized new rise of the class struggle, Building on these strengths means a fur­ as well as more international in their reach. but is bred by capitalism's growing world ther proletarianization of the party. At the Socialist Workers staff table loaded with That requires branches that put politics at disorder, he said. The political space for same time, it means taking on the challenge Pathfinder books, socialist periodicals in the center of their meetings each week and working people to discuss, take action, and and responsibility of rebuilding the world Brooklyn's Sunset Park. that discuss ways to integrate their activity organize independently in their own inter­ communist movement. This course is more and more deeply into that of the work­ ests is real and growing today. neededin order to recruit, hold, and train tractive to proletarian fighters who are in­ ing class and the social struggles working At the same time, the U.S. ruling class is new generations of communist workers. It volved in and connected to a range of social people are part of. No militant worker who making it rougher on the edges for fighting requires a shift in the functioning of the struggles: Socialist workers and youth are joins a communist organization will stay very workers and farmers. Political firings by the branches of the party, participants in the two more a part of the life and conditions of a long in a party that operates any other way. employers, cop harassment of literature meetings concluded. large section of the working class most af­ Adding to points made by Sandler at the tables and protests, actions by the govern­ The work of the YS as part of an interna­ fected by the employer and government at­ city meeting, Barnes pointed to other useful ment working with shippers to disrupt the tional organization ·has had its biggest im­ tacks, including among immigrant workers. ways party branches can meet and work with ability of communists to get books around pact in New York, said Norton Sandler, or­ At the same time, both in the United people new to the communist movement that the world and with telephone companies to ganizer of the New York Local Executive States and in Communist Leagues around will help bring them closer to joining. interfere with phone calls, and other such Committee, in his report to the city mem­ the world there has been a lag in the ability These include building support for the measures are facts of life for revolutionary bership meeting. of the parties to deepen their proletarian fight against the political firing of socialist workers today. Over the last year YS members carried character by recruiting and training work­ worker Michael Italie by Goodwill Indus­ The employers' offensive is also marked out work together with students and young ers who are interested in the movement. tries in Miami. Explaining the case and win­ by frame-ups, such as that of five Cuban workers in the area to build delegations to a What steps to take to meet these opportuni­ ning support from co-workers and those revolutionaries convicted in federal court in U.S.-Cuba youth gathering in Cuba and the ties was the focus of the meetings. involved in strikes, union organizing drives, Florida this fall on charges of conspiracy to 15th World Festival ofYouth and Students and social protest actions is one powerful commit espionage and, in one case, to com­ in Algiers, Algeria. Public events and cam­ Weekly work ofthe party way to reach out to proletarian fighters. mit murder. A week before the socialists' pus meetings leading up to and coming out At the New York membership meeting, Another way, Barnes said, is participa­ meeting began, federal authorities shackled of the two international gatherings became to which members of the National Commit­ tion in the struggle to expose the frame-up and handcuffed Gerardo Hernandez, Rene important political events in the city. tee were invited as observers, Sandler re­ of the five Cuban revolutionaries. This in­ Gonzalez, Ramon Labafiino, Antonio Through this work YS members had po­ ported on the rich opportunities with anum­ volves using the Militant and other infor­ Guerrero, and F emando Gonzalez and sent litical discussions with hundreds of young ber of workers fromAfrica, Mexico, and the mation on the case, building meetings to win them to five separate prisons across the people in the United States and from Africa, Caribbean who have found themselves in backing for these fighters, and explaining United States. Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America and the United States and who are looking for the stakes involved in the U.S. government's ~'The purpose of this brutal treatment was the Caribbean. Young Socialists explained revolutionary organizations to join to ad­ assault to co-workers and other unionists. to degrade and force them to their knees," their perspectives of being part of building vance the battle against imperialism. This kind of weekly rhythm of rounded 6 The Militant March 4, 2002 communist work will not only lead the party and young socialists to meet and collabo­ rate with other proletarian fighters, but pro­ vide the basis for the political integration of workers who join the party. Sandler said that an education in Marx­ ism and the history of the Socialist Workers Party is also essential for workers who de­ cide to join the movement. Each branch in Militant, top right/Linda Joyce; bottorn/Cappy Kidd New York can begin now to organize new Joining social protest actions, restarting members classes and the.party's candidate weekly plant gate sales, building the party's for membership program to facilitate work­ industrial union fractions, and organizing the ers being able to learn about the party, go weekly Militant Labor Forum series are ways through a systematic education program on to help strengthen the proletarian character the history and program of the communist and internationalist scope of the communist movement, and get a grounding in the or­ movement. Above, rally by Marriott work­ ganizational norms and principles of a revo­ ers demanding jobs in New York City. Right, lutionary workers party, he said. meat packers in Chicago. Top right, protest This course is part and parcel of advanc­ against cuts in bus service in Atlanta. ing the building of a new international of the communist movement, Sandler said. It is the course to advance common work with country set out to find communist organi­ communists and revolutionary-minded zations they could collaborate with and workers and youth elsewhere in the Ameri­ share experiences with in building a prole­ cas and the world over. tarian party. Several of them first met mem­ Some who join the Communist Leagues bers of the Young Socialists at a conference and Socialist Workers Party will return to in Cuba a couple of years ago, then again at their countries of origin, armed with the the youth festival in Algiers this summer. experience, knowledge, and possibilities to They purchased Pathfinder titles and issues The model for U.S. imperialism in plan­ climbs amidst continued recession and de­ collaborate in building revolutionary work­ of New International in Algeria and formed ning its attacks on Iraq may well become flation. The price of gold is climbing, as ers parties around the globe, he said. As a YS group upon their return. They are build­ the airstrikes by the Israeli regime in 1980 millions in Japan take their money out of · during the Communist International in the ing toward the launching of a communist against a nuclear power plant the govern­ accounts in savings banks, which the gov­ 1920s, revolutionary fighters from other organization later this year and encouraged ment of Iraq had begun to build. ernment says it soon will no longer stand countries will meet and join the party and participation from abroad. Barnes also pointed out that Washington behind. return better able to build a communist or­ In these and other cases, the collabora­ also stands behind the reactionary drive by The resistance to the inevitable brutalities ganization where they are from. tion by party members and members of the · t~e capitalist rulers in Venezuela to topple of capitalism's world disorder will continue, international Young Socialists is deepening the Hugo Chavez government, opening up Barnes said. The law of value determined the International perspectives the involvement of the communist move­ the possibility of a civil war there whose crisis that led the Argentine government to Leaders of Communist Leagues and the ment in struggles by workers and farmers, outcome cannot be determined beforehand. devalue the peso, he said, but the response of international Young Socialists in Canada, as well as youth attracted to these fights, As the crisis ofcapitalism unfolds, Barnes wor~ers and farmers in the country to the Haiti, Iceland, Sweden, and the United both in those countries and worldwide. said, the main danger of a world economic capitalist crisis was not settled beforehand. Kingdom participated in the meetings and catastrophe remains the vulnerability of the Communists have before them "precious time explained the variety of ways in which each Post-9/11 shift by U.S. rulers banking system, the mounting bubble of to transform this resistance" and to build a is carrying out a proletarianization of the In his report to the National Committee debt, and the prospect of a trade war that revolutionary proletarian leadership. movement; there is no formula. This par­ meeting, Barnes presented a number of ele­ could unleash retaliatory measures and a Joel Britton, a party leader from Chicago ticipation in the discussion was an essential ments of the evolution of world politics that sharp dive in world trade. and a packinghouse worker there, said in contribution to the political concreteness of underpi~]. and justify these moves by com­ The bankruptcy of Enron, "one-time" the discussion that he spoke at a Militant the New York meeting. munists. charges being taken by a number of large Labor Forum in Des Moines, Iowa, recently Over the past several months leaders of The January 22 State of the Union address corporations, and the slide in the stock prices as part of a panel with workers involved in the SWP and YS in the United States have by U.S. president George Bush marked a of others are signs that world finance capi­ struggles in the meatpacking industry. collaborated closely with Communist definitive shift away from the political axis tal is finding out what values and assump­ Among the participants were I 0 meat pack­ Leagues and YS members abroad to work of the U.S. rulers' actions since September tions underlie the credit worthiness of many ers involved in a union-organizing drive at through how, in each of the countries, the II. Gone were demands for revenge or jus­ big corporations and banks. several plants in Omaha, Nebraska. communist movement can better orient and tice, or tracking down those responsible for These factors have political ramifications Britton said he opened his remarks at the organize themselves to meet, collaborate the attacks on the Pentagon and World.Trade for the expectations of masses of people, meeting by reading from a article reporting with, and recruit proletarian fighters. Center. The momentum from the September further destabilizing the world capitalist on a socialist meeting in New York the pre­ In Iceland this has taken the form of mem­ 11 events, and the U.S. rulers' ability to use economy. From the mid-1990s into 2000, vious week. "There are proletarian and van­ bers of the international Young Socialists in them to rationalize wars abroad and assaults the middle class expected the stock market guard leaders in countries all over the world. that country joining forces with longtime com­ ·on workers' rights at home, have been spent. balloon to continue. When the psychology We need to let them know that they are com­ munist workers there to build a Communist Leading up to and during the brutal war of millions shift, reaching into layers of the munists, but they just don't know it yet," League. Hilde Andra explained that members against the people ofAfghanistan, the SWP working class and small farmers as well, a the article quoted Barnes as saying. "Only of the organization have begun building frac­ said that in order for Washington to build a collapse in confidence can have a devastat­ by knowing it, and banding together with tions in the fish processing industry and are war fervor and parlay the assault into fur­ ing effect on stock prices, on buying goods others in a proletarian party, can we orga­ looking to expand their numbers in the alumi­ ther imperialist attacks against working on credit, and even whether people put their nize to fight and win." num industry as well. people, they needed a lot of blood ofAmeri­ money in the bank-as was the case in the The response to these remarks from many Tom Harris reported that in the United can Gis to be spilled. Great Depression. workers present who are new to the com­ Kingdom, communist workers and YS The U.S. rulers toppled the government In Japan there is the potential for a wave munist movement was positive, he said, and members have both taken the step of set­ in Afghanistan without that happening. a bank failures, as the load of bad debt Continued on Page 14 ting up an organizing committee in Scot­ Lacking a bloody flag to wave, they are-now land-expanding from a single base in Lon­ trying to build a case for new military ag- · don-and beginning to build fractions in the gression by asserting the right of Washing­ Bush builds case for new war moves garment and meatpacking industries. They ton to stop governments that don't simply are learning about entire sections of the bend to its will from defending themselves Continued from Page 2 1980s. There is a consensus among the im­ working class they had little or no contact against the U.S. war machine-including by an explosion of immig_ration of workers and perialist powers that Japan is on the verge of · with beforehand, he said. In the process, producing and deploying what U.S. officials peasants who are forced to come to metro­ a bartking collapse and they are uncertain they are meeting workers and youth at­ describe as weapons of mass destruction. politan centers to eke out a living and send whether Tokyo is capable of buying some tracted to the YS and Communist League. Washington is the only government ever money back home, only about 1 percent of more time. Lars Jansson, a member of the Commu­ to use nuclear weapons in a war and against Japan's population are foreign-born. The Yoshihiko Miyauchi, chairman of a Japa­ nist League in Sweden, explained that the a civilian population, and can blow up the other imperialist powers have.driven down nese government deregulation pa_nel, pessi­ YS and the league decided to fuse their world many times over. But revolutionists working conditions and extended working mistically told reporters, "In the last five forces into a common organization, estab­ must say more than that, Barnes said. Com­ hours as they treat immigrant workers as sec­ years, Japan's best contribution has been to lish a branch organizing committee in munist workers defend the right of north ond-class citizens with little or no rights, la­ not have collapsed." Gothenburg, and to get jobs in meatpacking Korea, Iraq, Iran, and other countries tar­ boring in the lowest paid and most danger­ Japan's national currency, the yen, has and garment or textile. geted by imperialism to build and deploy ous jobs. fallen 25 percent against the dollar over the These steps, he said, have "transformed whatever weapons they deem necessary to Many bourgeois economists and politi­ last five years. The government announced the atmosphere and character of the party, stay imperialism's hand. cians have called on the Japanese govern­ it will faze out insurance on bank deposits as well as how we act. Younger members The Bush administration is carrying on a ment to bail out the banks through a mas­ over the next year. haven't been part of the social movements. fight in the U.S. ruling class to head toward sive infusion of cash. Others call for a gov­ Many fear that this move and the impend­ We want to be communists and build the a renewed attempt to topple the government ernment takeover of the banks that would ing financial crisis will threaten their sav­ communist movement. of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. As that course demand companies pay on their debts, a step ings accounts. A growing number of people 'That is why we need to work with gen­ unfolds, the most immediate practical effect that would drive many companies under. are cashing in their yen and buying gold to erations who have more experience. We are is Washington's deeper convergence with Prime Minister Koizumi is pushing for cuts try to protect their wealth. If these fears turn working jobs we didn't know existed be­ Israel's war against the Palestinian people. in the budget-a move that will include cuts into a panic, millions could rush to banks to fore and can see right before our eyes how Washington has placed the Lebanese­ in. the social wage-raising taxes, and withdraw their money, bleeding many banks the 'Swedish model' is changing." based Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic privatizing state-owned corporations. of their cash reserves and sparking Andre Roux, a member of the Commu­ Jihad on its terrorist list, even though both hyperinflation. nist League and Young Socialists from are fighting the Israeli government and have Growing threat of panic The playing out of Tokyo's crisis-what­ Montreal, said four workers had joined there no record of actions against the United States. Less than four years ago the government ever the outcome in this round-will imme­ recently. He stressed the importance of the And Vice President Richard Cheney spoke injected $79 billion into the banking system, diately affect the economies of semicolonial league and the YS collaborating together to out forcefully this week against the support a move that only postponed the crisis that countries in Asia, many of which carry out recruit more workers and integrate them into Iraq and Iran have given the two organiza­ finance capital faces today. This time around, the majority of their trade with Japan. Bush, the movement. tions, as well as the Palestine Liberation bad bank loans are estimated at double to during his recent visit to Japan, also voiced A leader of the Young Socialists from Front, objectively backingthe Israeli regime's quadruple the level that set off the savings­ concern over the effects on the U.S. economy Haiti described how he and others in the pretexts for its military actions. and-loan crisis in the United States in the if there is a financial meltdown. March 4, 2002 The Militant 7 FROM THE ESCAMBRAY TO THE CONGO RaUl Castro addresses role of Cuba's Volunteers are 'keeping aloft the beautiful banner of proletarian intemati The following speech was given by Raul Castro, minister of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, at a meeting commemorat­ ing the 20th anniversary of two Cuban in­ ternationalist contingents to the Congo. It was held in Havana, Nov. 7, 1985. One contingent was led by Che Guevara in the Republic of the Congo, with its capi­ tal city in Leopoldville, later named Kinshasa. That mission is detailed in Guevara's Episodes of the Revolutionary War: Congo and in From the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution, consisting of an interview with Victor Dreke, the column's second-in-com­ mand. The other contingent was led by Jorge Risquet and Rolando Kindehin, based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with its capital in Brazzaville. "The experience we gained," says Dreke in From the Escambray to the Congo, "made it possible for us to do what we did . to aid the liberation struggles in Guinea­ Bissau, Angola, and other places." The 13-year Angolan operation, in which more than 300,000 Cuban volunteers par­ ticipated in helping to defeat several Left: Juventud Rebelde; right: National Institute of Agrarian Reform South African invasions of that country, cul­ Left: Cuban internationalist troops in Angola, 1981. Right, Raul Castro speaks at January 1960 ceremony that handed over the minated in the decisive defeat of the apart­ Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba to the Ministry of Education for use as a school. heid army in the battle of Cui to Cuanavale in 1988. That defeat not only drove the apartheid army out of Angola, but played a Sending these contingents was an expres­ Lumumbist patriots took the road of armed been uprooted from their lands took up major role in forcing the apartheid regime sion of the great strategic importance our resistance, but they lacked experience, machetes, joined the mambi army to fight to grant independence to Namibia and party and commander in chief have placed unity, and a developed consciousness. Che for Cuba's freedom, and helped forge the opened the door to the final defeat of apart­ ever since in the African revolutionary thought they needed the help they were re­ Cuban nation. 1 heid itself inside South Africa. movements' struggle against imperialism questing, to be supplied by a handful of Toward the middle of this century, the As Nelson Mandela stated in 1991, "The and of our identification with their just seasoned Cuban revolutionary combatants. exploitation of the African continent came defeat of the apartheid army was an inspi­ cause. Also in early 1965 Che met in under a new guise. The end ofWorld War I ration to the struggling people inside South The historical dimension of that expres­ Brazzaville with the leadership of the signified the transfer of African colonial Africa! Without the defeat of Cuito sion of solidarity by our people is greatly MPLA, headed by Agostinho Neto. Out of possessions from the vanquished to the vic­ Cuanavale our organizations would not enlarged by the fact that one of those col­ that historic meeting came another com­ tors, like luscious spoils of war. have been unbanned!. .. Cuito Cuanavale umns was commanded by the individual mitment requested by the Angolan patri­ Following the Second World War, how· has been a turning point in the struggle to who has become a universal symbol of the ots.: to help that guerrilla movement in its ever, the situation became qualitatively dif­ free the continent and our country from the purest and most legitimate sentiments of fight against Portuguese colonialism. ferent: the emergence of the socialist com­ scourge of apartheid!" internationalism: the Heroic Guerrilla, The leadership of our party approved munity as a result of the glorious Red Translation and subheads are by the Mili­ Ernesto Che Guevara. both expressions of solidarity to the brother Army's decisive victory over German fas­ tant. During an extensive tour of many Afri­ peoples of Angola and Zaire. cism, as well as the collapse of Japanese can countries and through direct contact But that historic decision by Che to de­ militarism, created an international rela­ As we come to the twentieth anniversary with the most outstanding progressive and part for other parts of the world that were tionship of forces favorable to struggles for of the formation of the columns of Cuban revolutionary figures on the continent, Che calling for his valuable efforts of assistance national independence and social progress. internationalist fighters that carried out observed with his exceptional grasp the would nevertheless have a deeper motive This situation was expressed historically by missions in the Congo-Leopoldville and ferment of emancipation brewing in most rooted in time and distance, involving the the triumph of the revolutions in China, Congo-Brazzaville-known today as the of the newly independent countries and destinies of the African continent and our Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and Algeria, and Republic of Zaire and the People's Repub­ even more so in those countries still under America. was manifested in the breakup of the colo­ lic of the Congo respectively-it is my the colonial boot. nial system, with the vast majority of coun­ honor, on behalf of the party leadership, Che conceived the idea of supporting this The colonial plunder of Africa tries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean the Council of State, and Commander in revolutionary upsurge on the African con­ The colonial plunder of Africa had be­ obtaining formal independence. Chief Fidel Castro, to award the Ernesto tinent. For this endeavor he chose Zaire, gun even before the first Europeans arrived Che Guevara Order and the International­ an enormous and rich country whose people in the Americas. Long before the native Context of ferment in Africa ist Combatant Medal to the members of had broken the chains of Belgian colonial­ inhabitants of the Antilles were extermi­ It was precisely in this context of politi­ those detachments. These compafieros had ism but which, under the leadership of nated by the fire and lash of the conquista­ cal ferment and the African peoples' ac­ the historical privilege of being the precur­ Lumumba, would not be quietly dors, Portuguese and Spaniards had already tive projection onto the world stage that Che sors of the joint struggle of the people of neocolonized. The former colonialists and introduced the notorious slave trade, appro­ Guevara saw the need to lend his solidarity Cuba and the peoples of Black Africa their NATO partners decided to assassinate priating not only marble, rubber, and other to prevent Zaire's recolonization and con­ against colonial and neocolonial oppres­ the famous patriot by using puppets of the natural resources, but above all the richest tribute to tl).e armed struggle of the peoples sion, for national independence, and for the ilk of Tshombe, Mobutu, and Kasavubu, resource of all, the African himself. of the Portuguese colonies. For him this was triumph and consolidation of socialism. as well as white mercenaries. The In barely three centuries, more than fifty a starting point for the great final battle: million Africans were uprooted from theirs the liberation of the South African people lands to be sent to the Americas, reduced from the ignominious boot of apartheid and FRoM Pathfinder to the status of slaves, with many dying in the independence of Namibia, occupied by the capture or passage. More than five cen­ the white racists of Pretoria. From the Escambray to the Congo turies of plunder by the European powers, Each of us still remembers the emotion joined by the United States this past cen­ of those defining moments of our interna­ In the Whirlwind of the Cuban 'Revolution tury, have witnessed the building of opu­ tionalist calling, when a battle-tested con­ lent capitalist societies, developed and tingent of Cuban combatants was first pre­ Interview with Victor Dreke erected largely on the suffering, poverty, paring to leave for. Black Africa to fulfill In his account of how easy it be­ hunger, and death of the peoples of Africa. not only a duty of solidarity but a histori­ came after the 1959 victory of the What could be more eloquent, as an il­ cal imperative of gratitude toward one of Cuban Revolution to "take down the lustration of the colonizers' absolute scorn the continents from which our ancestors rope" that for decades had segre­ for the personality and future of these came. Just as three decades earlier Cubans gated blacks from whites at dances peoples, than the repugnant Berlin Confer­ fought for the freedom of Spain, also a ~n town squares, yet how enormous ence of 1885, exactly one century ago this cradle of our forefathers. was the battle to transform the social year, where representatives of the leading That conviction prevailed throughout the relations underlying this and all the capitalist powers, with a sharp sense of arduous training period. Not only did this other "ropes" inherited from colo­ geometry but without the slightest respect training provide each of you with the mili­ nialism~ capitalism, and Yankee for human dignity and rights, distributed tary training necessary to carry out fully domination, VIctor Dreke captures the entire continent among themselves, di­ such an honorable assignment. It also the historical challenge of our epoch. viding up as they pleased nations, peoples, forged a deep sense of brotherhood and At the heart of this book lies the ethnic groups, and families. collectivity, which was deepened in the dif­ willingness, determination, and cre­ This process of colonization and plun­ ficult subsistence conditions of the mission_ ative joy with which Cuba's working Infantry battalion of Rebel Army after climb­ der, which bled the African continent dry and in the rigors of battle, and was further people have, for more than forty ing highest mountain in Pinar del Rio, 1959. and snatched away millions of its sons and developed through all these years of dedi­ years, defended their revolutionary daughters, was not without a fierce, tena­ cation to the tasks of building socialism. Available from bookstores, including course against the imperialist bastion cious, and heroic resistance that laid the Faithful to the confidence placed in them those listed on page 12; write Path­ to the north. In English and Spanish, basis for the rich patriotic ~nd combative by the party and by Fidel, in the course of finder, 410 West St., New York, NY $17.00. traditions of the African peoples. These tra­ a mere few months both columns waged, 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690, or visit ditions enriched our own history of struggle in their respective areas, intense combat www.pathfinderpress.com. Please Special offer: $13 when those very men whose ancestors had actions characterized by the commitment include $3 for shipping and handling.

8 The Militant March 4, 2002 FROM THE ESCAMBRAY TO THE CONGO missions· to Africa onalism,' says Cuban leader and discipline oftheir members. some of our troops, whose brotherhood-in­ The column that went to the Congo un­ arms with the MPLA-which began pre­ der the name Patrice Lumumba Battalion cisely in 1965-has become a factor of had a number of missions. It was, first of considerable importance in preserving the all, a reserve force for Che's column, and sovereignty and territorial integrity of the was to join them if necessary and at the People's Republic of Angola. appropriate time. Stated more clearly, the history. of the It also had the task of helping the pro­ last twenty years has demonstrated the va­ gressive government of the Congo, threat­ lidity of that mission. It became one of the ened with· attack by the regime in models for our internationalist calling­ Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). For this task which we will never give·up-and was a the battalion was not only ready to fight contribution in helping to clear the road of alongside the Congolese army against a struggle for the peoples of Africa. The foreign attack from the other side of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba have Congo River, but its assignment included made their own resolute contribution to this forming several militia battalions. struggle. No less important was the mission of In the· next few days we will celebrate participating with a group of Angolan ad­ the tenth anniversary of Angola's indepen­ viser-combatants in the MPLA:s Second dence and the victory over the mercenary Front in Cabinda, training Angolan com­ bands and invaders from Zaire and South batants, equipping them, and helping them Africa, who tried, without success, to fore­ head toward the interior of Angola, toward stall the triumph of the FAPLA and the Cuban fighters in the Congo, 1965, with Che Guevara on right. In the "context of the the First Front north of Luanda. MPLA. Since that time, we have contrib­ African people's active projection on the world stage," says Raul Castro, Cuban revo­ Compafieros [Jorge] Risquet and uted all we could to strengthening the Popu­ lutionaries volunteered to prevent the recolonization of the Congo, contribute to the [Rolando] Kindehin were in charge of this lar Armed Forces for the Liberation of anti-Portuguese struggle, and pave the way for the defeat of the apartheid regime. many-sided mission. Angola to the process of national recon­ The heroic actions by Che's Column 1 struction in that sister country. Since its lib­ the shameful apartheid regime has Qever stance finds expression in the more than continued for a number of months. They eration, Angola has enjoyed not one single been more certain. Its elimination would 120 of you who have carried out at least overcame dangerous obstacles to get to the day of peace due to the. attacks from the · definitively guarantee the independence of one other internationalist mission. Dozens interior of Zaire, where they took part in racist regime of SouthAfrica and the armed Namibia, the security of the Front Line of you have carried out three, four, even states, and peace and progress for southern five in the course of these twenty years. Africa. Our internationalist contingent in Right now ten compafieros are not here Angola is part of this process through the at this event because they are far away from sovereign will of our two sovereign gov­ our homeland, keeping aloft the beautiful ernments. This is a role that has fallen to banner of proletarian internationalism. And Cuba because of what our internationalist there is another fact no less eloquent: more support will continue to mean, in the next than 90 percent of the members of both years, for the consolidation and strength­ columns are militants of our glorious party ening of the People's Republic of Angola, and the rest are also revolutionaries, patri­ bastion of the revolutionary cause in ots, and internationalists. Africa's southern cone. The example all of you have set con­ Compafieros: stantly renews our certainty in the justice Several members of Che's column died of our ideas and our confidence in the ca­ gloriously like Che himself did in Bolivia, pacity of human beings to grow in the face giving his life as did his compafieros who of adversity, and to give the best of them­ left their heroic bones in Zairian soil. One, selves for the sake of their people and hu­ of Haitian origin, died later at the hands of manity. the thugs of the tyranny that has soaked Allow me then, on behalf of the party Haiti in blood. Combatants from one or leadership and Commander in Chief Fidel another column died fighting alongside the Castro, to say thank you from the bottom Cuban women's antiaircraft and antitank unit in Angola, 1988. people of Guinea-Bissau against the Por­ of our hearts, and to give you a fraternal tuguese yoke, alongside the Angolan people embrace. many clashes in which they were outnum­ bands organized, armed, and financed by confronting the SouthAfrican invasion, and bered. them and their allies, the U.S. imperialists. alongside the Ethiopian people fighting So­ The service record of Che 's column More than 200,000 Cubans have served mali expansionism. More than thirty 'Mambi refers to fighters in Cuba's wars of counts more than fifty combat actions. Us­ on internationalist missions in the .sister compafieros from your columns selflessly independence from Spain, many of them freed ing the pseudonym "Tatu," Che carried nation of Angola over the past ten years. gave their lives fighting in Africa and the slaves or agricultural workers. These wars took these out with the mastery of tactics and· That fact alone tells us a lot, not only about Americas. place during 1868-78 and 1895-98. The term strategy that made him a true artist of guer­ the historical significance of the mission In their memory, we lower our flags in "mambi" originated in the 1840s during the fight rilla warfare. entrusted to you twenty years ago, but also admiration and respect, for independence from Spain in the nearby is­ about how much the relationship of forces And before all of you, we offer the trib­ land of Santo Domingo. After a Black Spanish Faced with adverse circumstances officer named Juan Ethninius Marnby joined the on· a world scale has evolved in favor of ute of our people and our party, not only Dominican independence fighters, Spanish forces But it was not possible to unite and con­ the causes ofliberation and social progress, for your participation twenty years ago in began referring to the guerrillas by the deroga­ solidate the Lumumbist forces. There came and how much our internationalist con­ the missions to Zaire and the Congo, but tory term "mambies." Later the related term a time when the internationalist column sciousness has matured. also for the exemplary stance with which "mambises" was applied to the freedom fighters fought alone, in an unknown land. Faced you have honored that great action. This in Cuba, who adopted it as a badge of honor. with these adverse circumstances, the col­ Campaign was precursor umn was forced to leave the country. It was Twenty years ago more than 300 men not defeated in battle by the enemy, but the made up the two columns we are honor­ objective of its mission became impossible ing. The highest praise we can pay to that Hear reports on the to accomplish given the absence of a struc­ campaign, which was a precursor, is to say tured patriotic movement with which to that every one of you has been multiplied HAVANA BOOK FAIR collaborate. a thousandfold in your pledge to pay back The Patrice Lumumba Battalion had with one's very life, if necessary, our debt and launchings of more favorable conditions. Its support to of gratitude to humanity. . "From the Est:ambray to the Congo: the progressive Congolese government There are still two colonies in Africa: the In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution' against foreign threats was firm, and at a Saharan Arab Democratic Republic and certain·point decisive. Namibia. The Saharan people are carrying ·ATlANTA - March 16-17 The Congolese youth militia battalions on, under the most difficult conditions, an were organized, trained, and armed, exemplary struggle against the Moroccan LOS ANGELES - March 23-24 strengthening popular support for the occupation supported by the U.S. govern­ •. democratic regime. This consolidated the ment. . We are completely confident in the CHICAGO - April 6-7 MPLA's rear guard, enabling it to increase victory of their just cause. · guerrilla actions in the Second Front in In Namibia, illegally occupied by the Sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party branches and Young Socialists chap­ Cabinda. Two columns, trained and South African racists, the people's rebel­ ters in each region. Call Atlanta: (404) 762-2900; Los Angeles: (3'l3) equipped by Cubans, marched toward the lion is growing under the leadership of its 233-9372; Chicago: (773) 342-1780. · First Front, toward the far-off region of sole and legitimate representative, SWJ\PO. The events will coincide with meetings of socialist workers who are members Luanda. One of these columns bore the glo­ Today, Namibian territory is used by of several industrial unions. United Mine Workers members will meetin At­ rious title, Camilo Cienfuegos Squadron. Pretoria as a jumping-off point in its war This history of internationalist collabo­ against Angola. The day is not far off when lanta; members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Emplpyees ration with the peoples of the Congo and Namibia's heroic and long-suffering will meet in Los Angeles; and members of the United Food and Commercial Angola formed a solid base for a new and people, arms in hand, will settle accounts Workers and the United Auto Workers will meet in Chicago. greater Cuban solidarity act toward the with their oppressors. The battle will be peoples of southern Africa in their fight for long and hard, closely tied historically to LONDON - March 30-3·1 liberation. the selfless struggle of the popular masses Sponsored by the Communist League mid YS inthe UK. Tel: 020-7928-7993. Thus, in the difficult opening moments of South Africa, above all, the Black people of the second Angolan war of liberation, led by the ANC. MONTREAL -April-13-14 Brazzaville served as a secure rear area for But the possibility ofputting an end to Sp<)nsored by the Communist League and YS in Canada. Tel: (514) 284-736

The following is the presentation by most intransigent defenders of the fight for Mary-Alice Waters at the Havana Inter­ women's equality the world has known, was national Book Fair meeting February 13 among the first to point to the social status to celebrate Equality and the Social Par­ of women as a measure of the degree of ticipation of Mozambican Women by progress of any society. It is one of the most Vitoria Afonso Langa de Jesus, and powerful demonstrations of the uneven and Women's Liberation and the African Free­ combined development of history that in the dom Struggle, by Thomas Sankara. mid-1980s, Burkina Faso, one of the most oppressed nations in the world, suddenly BY MARY-ALICE WATERS took its place within the revolutionary van­ Thank you for the opportunity to be with guard on a world scale. you here, this afternoon, not only to present This small book is not about the fight for Pathfinder's new booklet containing Tho­ women's equality. in Africa alone, impor­ mas Sankara's 1987 speech on Women's tant as that objective may be. The perspec­ Liberation and the African Freedom tives offered by Thomas Sankara belong to Struggle, but to join in the celebration of those fighting f01: human dignity every­ Tricontinental 's new book on women in where, including in ·the most industrially Mozambique. developed countries such as the United In October 1983, almost twenty years States, and the most politically advanced ago. Thomas Sankara, then leader of such as Cuba. Burkina Faso's popular revolutionary gov­ One confinnation of this is the reception ernment, in outlining the goals of the new this booklet has received since it was first revolutionary power said, published in English by Pathfinder Press ov~r Joyce The women and men of our society are all a decade ago. Well over 7,000 copies have been sold, in addition to another 6,000 cop­ Mary-Alice Waters, speaks at meeting to celebrate titles on Burkina Faso and victims of imperialist oppression and domi­ Mozambique. To her right are Ulises Estrada andVitoriaAfonso. Inset: women in Burkina nation. That is why they wage the same ies of Thomas Sankara Speaks, a broad se­ struggle. The revolution and women's lib­ lection of speeches and interviews by Sankara Faso work in anti-erosion project in 1986, during period of revolutionary government. eration go together. We do not talk of that contains the talk on women's emancipa­ women's emancipation as an act of charity tion as one of its most important pieces. Most tries across Africa increasingly find them­ possible the books, pamphlets, and maga­ or because of a surge of human compas­ of these have been sold in the United States selves obliged to emigrate by the inhuman zines necessary to advance the struggle for sion. It is a basic necessity for the triumph and other imperialist countries. consequences of the lawful workings of fi­ national liberation and socialism. of the revolution. And that is in English alone. With the nance capital-we have found that Thomas Along this road, we strive to allow revo­ In one of the poorest countries of imperi­ publication of the booklet in French and Sankara, together with titles like Che lutionary leaders the world over to speak for alist-ravaged West Africa, with the highest Spanish this year as well, its reach, its im­ Guevara Talks to Young People and the Com­ themselves, in their own name. And these infant mortality rate in the world, where il­ pact will be much greater. munist Manifesto, are among the most words by Sankara are a fine expression of literacy among women stood at 99 percent, Young Socialists from many countrie's sought-after books. What better indication the line of march we work to advance. Sankara confidently raised the banner of who brought this pamphlet as well as other of the fresh winds that are blowing among It seems particularly appropriate to be women's emancipation, put forward a sci­ revolutionary literature from Pathfinder with new generations in Africa and elsewhere presenting this Spanish e"dition here in Cuba. entific, materialist explanation of the social them to the World Festival ofYouth and Stu­ today? where so many hundreds of thousands of and economic roots of women's oppression dents in Algiers last summer were able to To end, I would like to say a few words compaiieros and compaiieras have such within class society, and pledged the sup­ register this growing impact in a very im­ about Pathfinder Press itself, which may be deep and lasting ties to the struggles of the port of the National Revolutionary Council ~ mediate way. As word spread among the new to some of you here today. We like to people ofAfrica.As Sankara said, Cuba sets to organize and mobilize women to fight to delegations-from Africa especially-many say that Pathfinder was born with the Octo­ an example "of courage, determination, and change their conditions of life, and the con­ sought out the literature tables where they ber Revolution, because that is when our the constant involvement of the people" for ditions of life of all Burkinabe. More than a could get copies. forerunners began publishing the speeches Africa and the world. pledge, this was a course of revolutionary Likewise, from Pathfinder's bookstores and writings by Lenin and others who led We would like to express our apprecia­ action that over the next four years set an and street tables in working-class neighbor­ the first socialist revolution and remained tion to our brothers and sisters of example not only for all of Africa but also hoods of cities throughout the imperialist true to its proletarian internationalist course. Tricontinental for making this joint presen­ far beyond. metropolitan centers-where tens of thou­ For 85 years we have had one single objec­ tation possible and look forward to more Karl Marx, the founder of the modem sands of students and workers from coun- tive, to publish and distribute as broadly as such opportunities in the future. working-class movement, and one of the Book fair celebrates two titles on women's liberation Militant readers are encouraged to Congolese liberation fighters. Today he contribute to the Books for Cuba Fund, is the director of Tricontinental, the which helps make it possible for Path­ magazine of the Organization of Solidar­ finder books to reach workiog people ity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and and youth in Cuba. Latin America (OSPAAAL), an interna­ Like their brothers and sisters around tional anti-imperialist organization the world, Cuban working people find whose headquarters is in Havana. the titles published by Pathfinder to be Afonso, a member of the staff of effective revolutionary political weapons, Mozambique's Center for African Stud­ including in the defense of the Cuban ies, told the audience that in Mozam­ Revolution. bique, "women fought alongside men for Through the fund, Pathfinder is able liberation from colonialism." She said the to send books and pamphlets to Cuban victory against Portuguese colonial rule organizations and institutions that re­ also pushed forward in a new way the quest them. During book fairs, the titles fight for women's equality. are made available to Cubans in pesos, While women in Mozambique have at prices they can afford. made modest advances over the past de­ Among other initiatives, the fund also cades, they suffer disproportionately the makes it possible to respond to the po­ consequences of imperialist domination, litical interest in the books in Cuba with Afonso noted. For example, while special donations to libraries and other women represent half the population of cultural institutions. Mozambique, they constitute more than two-thirds of those who cannot read or Contributions, large or small, are write. "Traditions are elements of our welcome. Please send checks or Militant/Linda Joyce identity," she said, "but we have to elimi- money orders made out to the Mili­ Nearly 60 people attended the February 13 celebration of two new titles nate those elements that perpetuate the tant and earmarked "Books for Cuba exploitation of women." Fund" to the Militant, 410 West Afonso applauded the example revolu­ Street, New York, NY 10014. Continued from front page bans have lived in Africa and we have seen opened the meeting and chaired it. some of the painful conditions faced by tionary Cuba has set by offering more than Nearly 60 people attended the February women there. But we have also seen how 3,000 Mozambican youth, since the 1970s, 13 book presentation. Among those present African women have fought for their eman­ the opportunity to study in Cuba and take were half a dozen women from Nigeria, cipation and have been advancing their par­ those skills back home for the betterment Benin, Kenya, and Mozambique, members ticipation in society." of society. Afonso herself is among those of the Association of African Women in In the early 1960s Estrada, assigned to who went to school here. Cuba, a group of women from African coun­ the Technical Vice-Ministry of Cuba's Min­ Estrada introduced Waters, congratulat­ tries on diplomatic assignment in Cuba. A istry of the Interior, was responsible for ing Pathfinder Press on its long publishing good number of young people participated helping train members of the advance team record in accurately presenting the voices in the event, both Cubans as well as youth of Cuban revolutionary fighters who went of the Cuban Revolution. He hailed from Angola and several Latin American to Bolivia to prepare the way for the guer­ Pathfinder's publication of Women's Libera­ nations who are studying in Cuba. rilla front led by Emesto Che Guevara in tion and the Afhcan Freedom Struggle, "Women in Africa. as throughout the that country in 1966-67. In 1965, during which for the first time makes available in Spanish the words of revolutionary Militant/Linda Joyce Third World, face oppression and exploita­ preparations for the Bolivia mission, he went tion, a consequence of the legacy of colo­ to the Congo as part of a leadership team at Burkinabe leader Thomas Sankara. Pathfinder stall at this year's book fair Estrada pointed to the 1983 insurrection attracted lively discussion. nialism and the result of capitalism," said the time that Guevara was leading a column Ulises Estrada. He added that "many Cu- of Cuban internationalists fighting alongside Continued on next page 10 The Militant March 4, 2002 A visit to.two garment plants in Havana

BY HILDUR MAGNUSDOTTIR because of this situation. There aren't any HAVANA-During a break in the Havana layoffs in Cuba in this kind of situation, he International Book Fair, four socialist work­ explained, nor in the case of technical im­ ers and Young Socialists from Iceland, New provements that are made at the plant. The Zealand, and the United Kingdom were able trade unions won't agree to layoffs, and it to visit two garment factories here. is also part of the law and the Cuban consti­ The first, called Fabrica de TrajesAntonio tution. Maceo, is in Cerro, an industrial part of Ha­ · If there is no work for a worker d9ing a vana. It makes suits, caps, and uniforms for particular job, Alvarez said, plant managers waiters, mainly for the tourist sector-"what­ try to find another job for him or her. First ever the market demands," the manager said. they see if there is a job available inside the It's part of a group of three plants, one of factory. If not, they look into openings in which produces the fabric used at the Fabrica other plants that are part of the jurisdiction de Trajes Antonio Maceo. They have their of the Ministry of Light Industry, which, · own trucks for transporting finished articles. among other things, covers garment facto­ The conditions in this factory are good. It ries. If the worker gets less pay in her new is spacious, well-ventilated, and equipped job, she is guaranteed at least 80 percent of with modem machinery purchased a year what she was paid at the other place, for ago. The workers are proud that the factory life. is clean and pointed out that consequently We then had the chance to walk around the plant on our own and talk to a number of workers. We introduced ourselves as re­ porters for the Militant newspaper and the Workers in Confecciones Gala garment shop in Havana during visit by international REPORTERS' Spanish-language monthly, Perspectiva delegation of garment workers and other unionists from the United States. Mundial, as well as fellow workers-gar­ ment workers from New Zealand and the sick, they don't get paid for the first three workers spent two years working at other NOTEBOOK United Kingdom, a fishhouse worker from days they are off, then they receive 60 per- _ plants. Iceland, and an immigrant worker from cent of their wage. She said that the work The third worker we talked to was Maria Colombia living in the United Kingdom. hours for most workers in this industry are EugeniaAruet. She had been working there they have no mosquito problem, a source of They were interested to hear about condi­ usually 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m Monday · for less than a year and is a presser. The infectious diseases. A doctor and a nurse are tions of workers in the imperialist coun­ through Friday, and 7:30a.m. to 12:30 p.m. workers are all cross-trained, so she does on hand to address medical needs of work­ tries-in particular the assaults on workers' on Saturdays. In this factory workers made other jobs-although not sewing or cut­ ers at the three plants. The workers are pro­ rights, the place of immigrant workers, and an agreement that instead of working Sat­ ting-when there is no pressing to I:ie done. vided with overalls at a nominal charge. working-class resistance. We also explained urdays, they would take a shortened, half­ She told us that it is not hard to get a job at We were met at the factory by a repre­ that we are militants in our respective Com­ hour lunch break Monday to Friday. that factory; you just have to bring your sentative of the Central Organization of munist Leagues and Young Socialists, as We asked her if her wages were sufficient. papers and have an interview. The trainees Cuban Workers (CTC), Rene Alvarez, well as volunteers at the Pathfinder booth at She said that she was getting by on them; get 150 pesos a month. deputy general secretary of the Light Indus­ the Havana International Book Fair. there are difficulties, but it has gotten a little When she found out we were volunteers try union. He introduced us to the manager A young sewing machine operator, Miriam bit better in the last few years. for Pathfinder at the book fair, she said she as well as Beatriz Perdona, the union secre­ Solis, explained that her living standard is enjoys reading and was sad she hadn't been tary at Antonio Maceo. They showed us quite good. She has worked there for a year Voluntary work brigades able to come to the book fair yet. She said around the plant. and gets 250 pesos every two weeks, plus Workers at the plant get two weeks vaca­ she still was going to try to get there. Talking to them we found out that this her hard currency bonus. Her husband, a con­ tion twice a year. They organize voluntary She told us that she can speak Russian, company was founded 40 years ago and is struction worker, earns about 600 pesos per brigades to come in some Saturdays for spe­ and had learned a little English in the "Uni­ a 100 percent Cuban enterprise. It currently month and also gets a hard currency bonus. cial projects, such as cleaning the machines. versity for All" program. The school is tele­ has a daily turnover of $10,000. The work­ They have no children. Miriam said she al­ There is no overtime, but sometimes work­ vised and broadcast at 7:00a.m., 2:00p.m., ers are paid in pesos but get an incentive, or ways eats in the factory canteen where "the ers do voluntary overtime if they are behind and 11 :00 p.m. each daY: The University for bonus, in "pesos convertibles," a U.S. dol­ food is good-rice and beans, meat, salad." in production. All is scheduled to start teaching Italian lar equivalent. If a worker comes late three A meal costs 50 centavos. The second worker we talked to was 61 soon, which she is planning to study. times in one month or does badly at his or Asked if prices have risen over the last years old and did not plan to retire in the The three main victories of the revolu­ her job, the worker loses the whole bonus year, Miriam replied they had but that this near future. She had been working there tion, she told us, are the liberation of women, for that month. The average wage is around had been more than compensated for by her since 197 4. Before the revolution she health care, and education. When we asked 21 0 pesos every two weeks, but there are improved income since working in this couldn't find any job at all. She said that her what she thought about the prisoners the seven different wage grades: four for cut­ plant. She anticipated that her wage would the Special Period had been terrible. That's U.S. government is holding at its naval base ters and three for machine operators. continue to rise. the name Cubans give to the economic cri­ in Guantanamo, she said, "It isn't a prob­ They work towards the goal of complet­ We talked to a few women who cut away sis in the 1990s after the collapse in trade lem of the Cubans, but of the Yankees, be­ ing 100 pieces of clothing a day. There is the threads on the inside of clothes. One and aid from the Soviet Union. During the cause the military base is here against the one eight-hour shift, five days a week. The explained that if a worker at the plant gets worst period the factory had closed. The Continued on Page 12 total workforce is 208, the great majority women. The minimum age to work in the factory is 17 years, and, in some cases, 16. The retirement age for women is 55 years Two titles on Africa launched at book fair and for men 60 years, but retirement is not Continued from previous page Spanish was appreciated by many in the After the presentations by Afonso and mandatory. Workers can keep on working. that brought to power a popular revolution­ audience who had heard of Sankara before Waters, dozens of people lined up to pur­ Alvarez told us that after September 11 ary government led by Sankara in the West but had not been able to read a translation chase copies of both books and get them tourism to Cuba had declined and the gov­ African country of Burkina Faso, a former ofhis own words. autographed. ernment has been cutting back orders. The French colony. The English-language edition of the plant has had to look for other customers. "Sankara was a truly revolutionary leader booklet was originally produced a decade Brian Taylor is a member of United Mine We asked if there had been any layoffs in Africa," he emphasized. ago. Since then, some 7,000 copies of Workers ofAmerica Local 213 3 in Alabama. From 1983 to 1987, the revolutionary lead­ Women 's Liberation and the African Free­ Yonatan Mosquera is a member ofthe Young ership in Burkina began tapping the capaci­ dom Struggle have been sold. Socialists in the United Kingdom. From Pathfinder ties of peasants and workers to carry through a land reform, take steps to combat hunger, By Thomas Sankara and prioritize education and health care. Sankara was assassinated in a 1987 coup that Thomas overthrew the revolutionary government. Sankara "In one of the poorest countries of impe­ Speaks rialist-ravaged West Africa, with the high­ est infant mortality rate in the world, where The Burkina literacy among women stood at 99 percent," Faso Revolu..:. Mary-Alice Waters said, "Sankara confi­ tion, 1983-87 dently unfurled the banner of women's $19.95 emancipation, presented a scientific, mate­ rialist explanation of the social and eco­ Women's nomic roots of women's oppression within Liberation class society, and pledged the support of the and the National Council of the Revolution to orga­ African nize and mobilize women to fight to change their conditions of life, and the conditions Fl'ee:dolll·struagle of life of all" in that country. Also in French andSpanish. $3.00. "More than a pledge," she continued, "this was a course of revolutionary action Available in French:· that over the next four years set an example Oser inventer l'avenir not only for all of Africa but also far be­ yond." LaparoledeSankara. $35,95 "This small book is not about the fight Nons sommes les heritiers for women's equality in Africa alone," Wa­ ters said. It "belongs to those fighting for des revolutions du monde. human dignity everywhere, including in the $7.00 most industrially developed countries such as the United States, and the most politi­ Available from bookstores, including cally advanced such as. Cuba." Militant/Linda Joyce those listed on page 12, or from Pathfinder also publishes Women's Lib­ Mary-Alice Waters, president of Pathfinder Press, autographs copies of Women's Lib­ pathfinderpress.com. eration and the African Freedom Struggle eration and the African Freedom Struggle after the February 13 event. Dozens of par­ in English and French. Its publication in ticipants bought copies of both books featured at the celebration. March 4, 2002 The Militant 11 A visit to two garment shops in Havana Continued from Page 11 are 36 Aniristas at the plant and said that quota. They said that this is because they will of the people." they have a campaign-part of "Ia mujer We then went to the -other factory along want to preserve the quality of the clothes creadora" (the creative woman)-to raise with Rene. It is smaller-It has 89 workers­ and the traditions in making them. On aver­ We also spoke with six cutters, four of the number of women Aniristas. and makes traditional Cuban clothing. It's age, take-home pay is lower at Quitrin than whom are women. The machinery is mod­ Xiomara Zambrana has worked in the called Centro DesarrolloArtesanal "Quitrin" at Antonio Maceo. em, and the techniques, as in other parts of plant since leaving school 20 years ago. We and is located in Obispo, Old Havana. The plant has a canteen that opens out to the plant, are identical to those the garment asked if there is a library at Antonio Maceo. We were greeted there by Lidia a beautiful Spanish colonial-style garden. workers from New Zealand and Britain are "No, but we need one," she said. She then Betancourt, the plant director, and Fernando Lunch costs 85 centavos. accustomed to. The wages of the cutters are quoted Cuban revolutionary hero Jose Marti, Hulsa, union secretary. The Federation of We talked to some women who teach tra­ slightly higher than those of the sewing who said that "to be cultured is to be free." Cuban Women (FMC) started this workshop ditional sewing to a number of home work­ machine operators and pressers. There is We took the opportunity to donate the first with financial backing from a United Na­ ers linked to Quitrin. Those who work at also a cleaning crew. book for their library-From the Escambray tions agency. Again almost all the workers home do so because of transportation prob­ Zion era Vedoz, the secretary of the Com­ to the Congo: In the Whirlwind ofthe Cuban are women; 11 are male. Fourteen are mem­ lems. Unlike the other workers at the plant, munist Party of Cuba at the plant, said that Revolution, by Victor Qreke-a copy of the bers of the Cuban Communist Party and two they get paid for the amount they produce. there is a party nucleus there of 21, and a Militant, a couple of copies of Perspectiva are UJC members. Most of Quitrin 's produce is sold at a shop nucleus of six members of the Union of Mundial, and a Pathfinder catalog. At this factory there is no production on Obispo; the plant also sends products to Young Communists (UJC). We asked ifwork­ Varadero. It takes around three months to ers had discussed in factory assemblies the learn each skill. case ofthe five Cuban revolutionaries framed and the- Coming American Workers who take the bus to work told us up and imprisoned in the Untied States. She JacK Barnes that at peak hours the bus comes every 10 said no, as that was taken care of by the me­ Revolution by minutes, and to lower the cost of taking the sas redondas (Round Tables, a popular show bus they have developed a transfer ticket sys­ featuring news and political discussion) and tem. The workers work from 7:30 a.m. to other events outside the factory. There will be a victorious revolution in the United 3: 15 p.m. and take only 15 minutes for lunch. States before a victorious counterrevolution in At one of the assemblies the workers decided Movement to encourage inventions to cut the breaks so that they could get home There are efficiency assemblies every three Cuba - rud awir~ 11fnrch. 1961 earlier due to transportation problems. months, she told us, but since the CTC con­ Betancourt said that the older generation gress last year, they've decided on monthly Cuba and the Coming American Revolution is about the knew what life was like under capitalism­ assemblies. These are held "as necessary and struggles of working people in the imperialist heartland, the their parents and grandparents often were when necessary," the union secretary said. youth who are attracted to them, and the example set by the peasants. Some of the younger workers had never lived under those conditions, she said. Anton Jimenez is head of the National people of Cuba that revolution is not only necessary-it can Association of Innovators and Rationaliz­ So, during the worst crisis of the Special ers (ANIR), a national movement to encour­ be made. Preface by Mary-Alice Waters. In English, Spanish, Period they retreated a bit. But conditions age inventions and ways to rationalize the and French. $13.00 are now better. work, at the plant. He's a mechanic and has We presented this workshop with gifts of Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 12, worked in the industry for 34 years, the last the Spanish-language editions of Cuba and five at Antonio Maceo. He told us that there or from pathfinderpress.com. the Coming American Revolution, and Path­ finder was Born with the October Revolu­ tion, as well as the Militant, Perspectiva ----MILITANT LABOR FORUMS---- Mundial, and a Pathfinder catalog. CALIFORNIA Marino Morel, organizer of Union of Somalia: A Working-Class Answer to Black Los Angeles Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees; Hawk Down. Speaker: Doug Cooper, Commu­ Bill Estrada, Socialist Workers Party and mem­ nist League. Sun., Mar. 3, 4:00 p.m. 1st Flam; Steel bosses seek bailout · Celebrate the New Pathfinder Book: From the ber of United Food and Commercial Workers. 31281-287 Beamish St., Campsie. Donation: $4. Escambray to the Congo-In the Whirlwind of Fri., Feb. 22, 7:30p.m. 599 W 187th Street, 2nd Tel: (02) 9718-9698. Continued from Page 13 the Cuban Revolution. Fri. Mar. I, 7:30p.m. Floor. Donation: $5. Tel: (212) 740-4611. dollar bailout for domestic steel producers, 4229 S. Central Avenue. Tel: (323) 233-9372. Washington's trade representatives, who are San Francisco WASHINGTON, D.C. attending meetings set up in February by What the Enron Collapse Reveals about the An Introduction to From the Escambray to the NEW ZEALAND the Organization for Economic Cooperation Crisis of Capitalism. Speaker: Peter Buch, So­ Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revo­ Auckland and Development, are railing against assis­ cialist Workers Party. Fri. Mar. 1, 7:30p.m. lution. Speaker: Sam Manuel, Socialist Workers The U.S. Invasion of Somalia in 1993: the tance given by governments in other coun­ The Truth Behind the U.S. Invasion of Soma­ Party. Sat., Mar. 2, 7:30p.m. Dinner_at 6:30p.m. Truth Behind the Movie Black Hawk Down. tries to their steel industry. At these talks, lia-and the Continued Resistance to 3437 14th St., NW Donation: $4 program, $5 Fri., Mar. 1, 7:00 p.m. 7 Mason Ave., Otahuhu. an article in the Financial Times reported, Imperialism's Wars Today. Speaker: Bill dinner. Tel: (202) 387-1590. Donation: $3. Tel: (09) 276-8885. Kalman, Socialist Workers Party, meat packer. U.S. officials are proposing that "govern­ Fri. Mar. 8, 7:30p.m. Both events at 3926 Mis­ Christchurch ments agree in the new round ofWorld Trade sion St. Donation: $5. Tel: (415) 584-2135. AUSTRALIA U.S. Out of the Philippines. Sat., Mar. 2, 7:00 Organization talks to eliminate subsidies to Sydney p.m. Gloucester Arcade, 129 Gloucester St. Do­ the steel industry, putting a major new issue NEW JERSEY The Truth About the 1993 U.S. Invasion of nation: $3. Tel: (03) 365-6055. on the WTO agenda." Newark Cuba's Proletarian Internationalism and its Impact in Africa. Speaker: Luis Madrid, Social­ -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP ist Workers Party, helped to interview Victor Dreke for Pathfinder's From the Escambray to the Where to find Pathfinder books and Zip: 48244. Tel: (313) 554-0504. Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing address: P.O. Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolu­ distributors of the Militant, Perspectiva E-mail: 104127 [email protected] Box K879, Haymarket, NSW 1240. Tel: (02) tion. Fri. Feb. 22, 7:30p.m. 506 Springfield Ave., Mundial, New International, Nouvelle 9718 9698. 3rd Floor. Donation: $4. Tel: (973) 643-3341. MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 113 Bernard St., E-mail: [email protected] Internationale, Nueva Internacional and West St. Paul. Zip:· 55118. Tel: (651) 644- OHIO Ny International. 6325. E-mail: [email protected] BRITAIN Cleveland UNITED STATES NEW JERSEY: Newark: 506 Springfield London: 4 7 The Cut. Postal code: SE 1 8LL. Bloody Sunday and the Fight for Irish Free­ Ave. 3rd floor. Zip: 07103. Mailing address: Tel: 020-7928-7993. dom Today. Speakers: Neil Garrity, activist in ALABAMA: Birmingham: 3029A Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box 200117. Zip: E-mail: 10 [email protected] support of Irish freedom struggle; Mike Bessemer Road. Zip: 35208. Tel: (205) 780- 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643-3341. Fitszimmons, Socialist Workers Party, member, 0021. E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] CANADA Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 S. Montreal: 4613 St. Laurent. Postal code: Employees. Sun., Mar. 3, 1:00p.m.11018 Lorain NEW YORK: Brooklyn: 372A 53rd St. H2T 1R2. Tel: (514) 284-7369. E-mail: Ave. Te{ (216) 688-1190. Central Ave. Zip: 90011. Tel: (323) 233-9372. (at 4thAve.) Mailing address: PMB 106.4814 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] 4th Ave. Zip: 11220. Tel: (718) 567-8014. E­ Toronto: 2761 Dundas St. West, Postal NEW YORK San Francisco: 3926 Mission St. Zip: 94.112. mail: [email protected] Garment Brooklyn Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail:sfswp code: M6P 1Y4. Tel: (416) 767-3705. District, 545 8th Ave. Mailing address: P.O. E-mail: [email protected] Behind Bush's' Axis of Evil' Speech. Speaker: @hotmail.com Box 30. Zip:10018. Tel: (212) 695-7358. Vancouver: #202D-4806 Main St. Postal Angel Lariscy, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Feb. E-mail:[email protected]; COLORADO: Craig: 6 West Victory Way. code: V5V 3R8. Tel: (604) 872-8343. E-mail: 22. 7:30p.m. 372A 53rd St. (at 4th Ave.) Dona­ Upper Manhattan: 599 W. 187 St. #lA Zip: 81625. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1539. [email protected] tion: $5. Tel: (718) 567-8014. Zip: 81626. Tel: (970) 826-0289.E-mail: Zip: 10033. Tel: (212) 740-4611. E-mail: Garment District [email protected] [email protected]; FRANCE Communism and the Explosion of Popular FLORIDA: Miami: 8365 NE 2nd Ave. OHIO: Cleveland: 11018 Lorain Ave. Zip: Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. Resistance in Argentina. An Eyewitness Re­ #206 Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 751-7076. E-mail: port. Speaker: Romina Green, participant in re­ 44111. Tel: (216) 688-1190. E-mail: Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47-26-58-21. E­ [email protected] Tampa: P.O. ~ox cent Militant reporting trip to Argentina. Fri., Feb. [email protected] mail: [email protected] 22, 7:30p.m. 545 8th Avenue 14th Floor. Dona- 16002. Zip: 33687. E-mail: TOC [email protected] PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 5237N. ICELAND tion: $4. (212) 695-7358. 5th St. Zip: 19120. Tel: (215) 324-7020. E­ Reykjavik: Skolavordustig 6B. Mailing GEORGIA: Atlanta: 2791 LakewoodAve. mail: [email protected] Upper Manhattan Zip: 30315. Mailing address: P.O. Box address: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: Pittsburgh: 5907 Penn Ave. Suite 225. Zip. 552 5502. E-mail: [email protected] Labor Resistance Today: A Speakout. Speak­ 162515. Zip 30321. Tel: (404) 763-2900. 15206. Tel: (412) 365-1090. ers: A representative of the Flex-0-Tex strikers; E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: 103122. [email protected] NEW ZEALAND ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1212 N. Ashland TEXAS: Houston: 619 West 8th St. Zip: Auckland: Suite 3, 7 MasonAve., Otahuhu. Suite 201. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. 77007. Tel: (713) 869-6550. E-mail: Postal address: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 276- E-mail: [email protected] swphouston@ev 1.net 8885. -CALENDAR- E-mail: [email protected] IOWA: Des Moines: 3720 6th Ave. Zip: WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3437 14th St. NW 50313. Tel: (515) 288-2970. E-mail: Christchurch: Gloucester Arcade, 129 PENNSYLVANIA Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) 387-1590. E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Gloucester St. Postal address: P.O. Box 13- 969. Tel: (3) 365-6055. Philadelphia MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 12 WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier E-mail: [email protected] Class series on From the Escambray to the Bennington St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 702. Avenue South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) Congo-In the Whirlwind ofthe Cuban Revo­ Zip: 02124. Tel: (617) 569-9169. E-mail: lution by Victor Dreke. Sponsored by the Young 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] SWEDEN Socialists and the Socialist Workers Party. Wed., [email protected] Stockholm: Domargrand 16. (T-bana. Feb. 27, March 6, 13.5237 N. 5th St. Tel: (215) MICHIGAN: Detroit: 4208W. Vernor St. AUSTRALIA Vastertorp) Postal code: S-129 04. Tel: (08) 31 324-7020. Mailing address: P.O. Box 441580 Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish St., 69 33.E-mail: [email protected] 12 The Militant MarcJt 4, 2002 -GREAT SOCIETY------Best joke of the week-"Enron rated February 15. A $100,000 bash have become self-sufficient, even excesses may spur salary re­ is being funded by private donors. Just breathe shallow-Califor­ Try canceling the debts-A though seven family heads in 10 forms"-Headline, Los Angeles nia has a fleet of 24, 190 school New York-area collection agency have jobs. Their average wage is Tzmes. Further education-Since buses, half of them more than 10 has run into a crisis of overexpan­ under $7 an hour and most have no 1990, tuition and other fees jumped years old. Each of these, in a year, sion. Its dossier of bad debts has medical insurance. Again, they're 80 percent at community (two­ spew out more noxious particulates tripled in the past three years and forced to turn to welfare. year) colleges in New York State. than 170 cars. The air resources it's now suffering a shortage of col­ A student research project reported board says not to worry~they're lection heavies. Defining 'nothing'-In the im­ that next year the tuition hike could going to start "improving" or re­ mediate post-World War II period, be even greater. placing them. Shades of Plato--For two years, ex-Gis listened as politicians de­ Enron ran a sports media ad: claimed, "Nothing is too good for A sturdy lot?-In England, a Grr, burp--Cops in South Bend, "Sometimes it's the things you our boys." Today "nothing" is still study indicated, the average student Indiana, are very angry and one don't see that have the biggest im­ the key word. For instance, at the is $6,300 in debt and 40 percent detective declared he was sick to his pact." The ad has since been iced. veterans' medical center in Chey­ need to take part-time jobs. Asser­ stomach. A lawyer was slated to enne, Wyoming, a vet with a rou­ It does educat~Lee Todd, who tively, they spend $30 a week on give a library talk on the rights of Welfare 'reform'-Since a tine illness will wait months for an took office as president of the Uni­ alcohol. Bow they attend classes, those being arrested. The cop with Montana drive to force families off appointment. Meanwhile, case-. versity of Kentucky last summer, study, hold a part-time job, and the bellyache assessed the legal welfare opened five years ago, only loads have outpaced budget in­ was slated to be formally inaugu- drink that much, was not explained. rights discussion as antipolice. one family in 10 of those affected creases nearly five times. Steel strikers stand up to union busting in Quebec BY JOANNE PRITCHARD VARENNES, Quebec-About 75 people gathered in bitterly cold weather February 7 to demonstrate that the three-month strike against Mometal, a structural steel fabrica­ tion plant located 25 miles from Montreal, is alive and well. The company had caught wind that there was to be an action at 3:00p.m. and had sent everyone home an hour earlier. "We were discouraged on Monday morning when three strikers decided to cross the picket line but today when we saw the company send people home early, we realized we're still strong," said striker Jorge Barahona. Mariano Ariete, the president of the lo­ cal, explained that a union meeting had been organized right after the three had decided to cross to discuss the situation. The strikers are members of the Metal­ lurgy Federation of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN). After a seven-month strike from October 1999 to May 2000 that defeated company conces­ sion demands, the company embarked on a Militant/Yannick Duguay series of provocative attacks. Jose Bara­ Unionists on picket line January 21 at Mometal structural steel plant in Quebec. Workers walked out of the plant in November to hona's opinion was that Mometal organized defend their union. The company subsequently fired the 128 workers who went on strike. to push union members "in order to get rid of the union." They suspendedAriete with­ strike. tive picketing. . couraged by the closing, she explained, out pay and then the entire executive com­ Despite the Quebec "anti-scab" law, the At the demonstration, delegations from "Maybe we've lost our jobs, but the boss mittee. Workers then walked out November plant is operating with scabs at greatly re­ other CSN-organized workplaces came to lost his company." 6 to defend their union. Mometal subse­ duced capacity. The strike has been declared support the strikers. These included repre­ In good spirits and resolved to continue quently fired the 128 workers who went on "illegal" and an injunction prevents effec- sentatives of truckers who are fighting to their fight, strikers and their supporters went get their union recognized, members of for a supper organized by the union after Nova Metal, and workers who have been the demonstration. locked out for three years by an IGA gro­ Reflecting the determination of workers, U.S. steel bosses seek huge bailout cery store in St. Hyacinthe. The store re­ striker Eric Turcotte explained, "Even if I cently announced it was officially closing. end up working elsewhere, I want to par­ and tariffs to restrict steel imports France Turcotte explained that of the 49 ticipate in any actions against Mometal." workers that originally had been locked out, BY BRIAN WILLIAMS panies with the union, these benefits were 42 were still doing picket duty. Affirming Joanne Pritchard is a member of United As part of their attempt to forge a tighter supposed to be guaranteed for workers who that the locked-out workers were not dis- Food and Commercial Workers Local 500. and profit-making steel monopoly in the retired after decades of laboring in the steel United States, the largest steel trusts are seek­ mills. The idea that the companies were set­ ing to offload onto the U.S. government what ting aside funds to cover pensions has they call the "burden" of pensions and health proved to be a cruel illusion. Even care for 600,000 retired steelworkers. Indus­ Bethlehem Steel, which recently filed for -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--­ try bosses are also pressing Washington to bankruptcy protection, says it went from 2J(;EM$ restrict imports for four years with up to 40 having a fully funded pension plan to a $2 percent tariffs, enabling them to sharply raise billion shortfall last year because of losses TH£ MILITANT prices in the huge domestic market. incurred in stock market speculation. THE MILITANT PU&LISHED IN THE INTERESTS Of THE WORKING PEOPLE The push for imposition of tariffs on steel U.S. Steel issued a statement in mid-Feb­ A tiOC:IM.ts:f NEWSWEEII:LY/NatiSHE:O IN tHE IN1'EIESt$ OF lNf WOIIKING non( NEW YORK, KY. FIVE (5) C:ENTS imports will likely lead to retaliatory trade ruary stating that it would "probably not go March 4, 1977 March 4, 1952 moves by European steel producers and oth­ forward" with its plan to consolidate the ers. U.S. president George Bush is expected steel industry if the Bush administration In a sensational new disclosure of sub­ LOS ANGELES, Feb. 22-In a dramatic to issue his ruling by March 6. does not impose the full 40 percent tariffs version by the CIA, a front-page article in united outpouring here last night, 5,000 "The huge burden of retirees faced by demanded by industry executives. the February 18 Washington Post revealed people of all races and creeds massed at the most integrated steelmakers has been the The proposed merger-which will in­ that King Hussein of Jordan has been on . Shrine auditorium to protest the ruthless ter­ biggest obstacle to consolidation in the in­ volve further plant closures, job elimina­ the spy agency's payroll for twenty years. ror that has swept Florida. dustry, which is seen as necessary to reduce tions, and attacks on union rights-is the The first major spy scandal of the new ad­ In the largest demonstration in Los Ange­ costs and close uncompetitive steel mills," steel bosses' response to declining profits ministration comes less than a month after les since World War II, the powerful labor the Financial Times stated bluntly, placing and what they describe as a worldwide Carter assumed office, elected on a platform movement, Jewish, civic, liberal and religious the blame for the state of the capitalists' "overcapacity" of steel production. By some that promised to "halt" abuses by the CIA. groups, demonstrated by their presence that enterprises on union members. estimates this reaches as high as 200 mil­ Within a day, the names of more than a the Negroes are not alone in their fight against U.S. government officials announced this lion tons. In capitalist terms, overcapacity dozen other prominent foreign political fig­ discrimination and intimidation. week that the cost of such a bailout would means too much steel is being produced for ures said to be recipients of CIA money were The demonstration was profoundly signifi­ be around $21 billion over the next decade, the steel barons to sell at a profit, not that published in the press. These included Willy cant. The meeting was far away in time and a figure more than 50 percent higher than there is no need for this amount of steel in Brandt of West Germany, Luis Echeverria distance from the events that called it into that floated by the steel bosses. The United the world. Alvarez of Mexico, Carlos Andres Perez of being. It was held two months after the bomb­ Steelworkers ofAmerica estimated that the Steel prices have been hovering at 20-year Venezuela, and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya. ing murders of the Florida NAACP leader, amount owed by all 38 U.S. integrated lows, while nearly 30 U.S. steel companies According to Washington Post reporter Harry T. Moore, and his wife, Harriet, which steelmakers to their retirees comes closer to have declared bankruptcy over the past four Bob Woodward, the subsidy to Hussein was climaxed the floggings, cross-burnings, $17.5 billion. years. one of the most closely held and sensitive bombings and murders that have flared un­ The U.S. Steel Corp. announced in De­ Nucor, the second-largest U.S. of all CIA secret operations. Hussein first checked throughout Florida. And Florida is cember that it was interested in purchasing steelmaker, also announced that itplans to received CIA money in 1957, the same year 3,000 miles from Los Angeles. some of the other largest integrated steel step up the filing of trade cases to block the U.S. Sixth Fleet rushed to his aid to help The National Association for the Ad­ producers in the country if Washington imports if the import duties are not imple­ him survive a coup attempt. vancement of Colored People took the ini­ would take responsibility for the benefits mented. "Steelmakers already file far more At one point the payments reached $2 tiative. It recognized that the labor move­ program. Together with U.S. Steel, the six trade cases than in any other industry," noted million a year, according to a CIA source ment and other minority groups would share companies involved-LTV, Bethlehem, a Wall Street Journal article. In a further cited in the February 19 New York Daily their opposition to the bloody events occur­ National, Inland, Wheeling-Pittsburgh, and consolidation move, Nucor has put in a bid News. In 1976 the amount was reduced to ring at the other end of the nation, if only Weirton-account for about 85 percent of to buy rival Birmingham Steel's assets. $750,000. Under the code WQ.fd "No Beef," they were informed of what is taking place. U.S. integrated steel production. While considering a record multibillion the money was usually delivered to Hussein Their appeal for support did not go un­ Under contracts signed by the steel com- Continued on Page 12 in cash by the CIA station chief in Amman. answered. March 4, 2002 · The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------Lynching exhibition Coup threat in Venezuela Continued from Page 3 "Negro barbecue." The victims were burned at the stake, The capitalist class in Venezuela is accelerating its drive ties with the Cuban Revolution and demanded an end to mutilated, and shot and stabbed repeatedly. Body parts to topple the Hugo Chavez-led government. The rulers oil exports to the socialist country at the preferential rates were cut off for souvenirs. Litwack noted that "lynchings are seeking to draw layers of the military, middle class, extended to other Caribbean nations. They fear the dan­ and sadistic torture became exclusive public rituals ofthe and trade union bureaucracy into their reactionary cam­ gerous example of the Cuban Revolution and that it will South." paign. Recent bosses' strikes, statements by a few offic­ infect working people in Venezuela in their fight against He added, "The ordinary modes of execution and pun­ ers in the military, and pot-banging actions in the streets the brutalities of the imperialist system. ishment no longer satisfied the emotional appetite of the are all aimed at gaining enough strength to remove the In their drive against the government, the capitalists will crowd. To kill the victim was not enough; the execution current government. try to take advantage of the worsening economic situation became public theater, a participatory ritual of torture and This drive-possibly somewhat premature and over­ in the country to try to win over layers of working people. death, a voyeuristic spectacle prolonged as long as pos­ confident-could spark a civil war in the country if Chavez In this they have the backing of the bureaucracy of one the sible (once for seven hours) for the benefit ofthe crowd." and his supporters refuse to heed the demands of the main· trade union federations in the country, whoseleaders And a lesson for every Black person who saw or heard wealthy elite. While opinion polls show popular backing have historically backed the capitalist parties. about it. of the government hitting new lows, this is not the same They dare not say that the devaluation of the national "If it is necessary, every Negro in the state will be as allowing a reactionary coup--one that would set back currency, falling national income due to low oil prices, lynched, declared James Vardaman while he was gover­ the interests of working people-to take place without and other pressures on the economy are a result of the nor of Mississippi (1904-1908). "It will be done to main­ resistance. unequal terms .of trade and dependency forced on tain white supremacy." In spite of their hypocritical pretensions of defending semicolonial countries by the imperialist powers. The ruling class sought to portray Blacks as subhu­ democracy, the bosses' real fury is aimed at government The effort to replace the government with one that will man brutes alongside the faithful Sambo retainer. Part of measures that begin to address social questions. These be more subservient to its imperialist master in Washing­ the racist ideology was that the "Black beast" lusted after include land ownership for peasants--even if modest, tax­ ton and extract more surplus value out of the hides of white women. This was depicted in the movie "Birth of a ing oil exports to keep more of the national patrimony in working people must be rejected. Militant readers should Nation" in 1915. The film was a important piece ofwhite the country, expansion of schooling, and some other mea­ denounce these moves by pro-imperialist forces who, in supremacist ideology. It made Blacks the oppressors and sures that address pressing needs of working people. targeting the Chavez government, are taking aim at work­ whites the victims. The KKK was glorified as the savior The wealthy rulers have also railed against Venezuela.'s ing people in the country. ofcivilization and "white womanhood." However, Litwack points out that "of the nearly 3,000 blacks known to have been lynched between 1889 and 1918, only 19 percent were accused of rape." · But neither Jim Crow laws nor lynching completely Canada actions defend social wage cowed Blacks. By the late 1930s, as African Americans fled the South in search of jobs "up north," and with the Tens of thousands of working people in Canada, with shown since then, however, that it will take more than a rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), they gained more confidence to fight back. The indepen­ teachers, students, and health-care workers in the prov­ stroke of the pen to force them off~he picket lines and out ince of British Columbia in the forefront, are taking ac­ of the streets. In resisting layoffs and budget cutbacks they dence struggles in Africa and Asia coming out of World tion to defend working people's social entitlements and and many others are acting to defend essential social rights War II gathered strength and bolstered this confidence. union rights. Their actions merit the solidarity of the la­ won through historic struggles. The March on Washington Movement to end discrimina­ bor movement across North America and beyond. The fight to defend the social wage has broad implica­ tion in the armed forces and defense industries in the 1940s February 23 rallies outside theBritish Columbia (B.C.) tions for workers, farmers, and the oppressed. As Jack began dealing blows to legalized segregation. The mobi­ legislature and in a dozen other cities and towns through­ Barnes writes in Capitalism 's World Disorder in reference lizations and battles of Blacks in the 1950s and '60s from out the province are the latest focus of this deepening so­ to the U.S. system of Social Security, the "broader his­ one end of the South to the other battered down Jim Crow. cial resistance. The actions' organizers demand, in the torical struggle for Social Security is about whether work­ Legal segregation was overthrown and lynchings became words of the B.C. Federation of Labour's publicity, "jobs, ers have a lifetime .right to medical care" and other ben­ •seen as an outrage by the overwhelming majority of work­ public services, health care, and education." The rallies efits. The struggle, he says, "is part and parcel of the fight ing people and others in the United States. build on the impact of a range of strikes and protests that for affirmative action to combat racist and anti-woman Altho_ugh the use of lynchings against those displayed have already helped to educate and galvanize broader lay­ discrimination, so we can unite our class and strengthen in "Without Sanctuary" has been pushed back, violence ers of working people. the labor movement. It is about the fight to ensure jobs against' the oppressed in this country-including execu­ These union fighters and youth are responding to a for all; to raise the wages and shorten the hours of the tions on the streets-is still meted out by the courts, cops, wide-ranging assault on working people's social wage­ working class; and to defend health and safety on and off and employers. The question today is what strategy do the public provision of hospitals, schools, and other es­ the job. It is a fight to keep the capitalists from tearing the we need to eliminate the lynching system, that is, capital­ sential services-by federal and provincial capitalist gov­ working class apart." ism, and open the way for the development of the full ernments across Canada. The Liberal Party administra­ Capitalism 's World Disorder and other Pathfinder titles, potential of Blacks and working people in general. Today tion in British Columbia has aimed its attacks on the so­ including Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, the objective conditions exist for alliances between work­ cial wage, first and foremost at workers in the schools place these battles in their historic and international con­ ers and farmers. Black workers are part of the working­ and hospitals. text. Many of the workers and youth who are mobilizing class vanguard that will transform the unions into fight­ In preparation for these assaults, new leg-irons have in British Columbia and elsewhere will want to buy and ing instruments of struggle, lead the battles of Blacks been placed on workers' right to withdraw their labor. read these political weapons, along with the Militant and against racial oppression, and build a proletarian. party The rulers have reduced the say of the health-care union Perspectiva Mundial. Through study, discussion, and ac­ capable of leading workers in revolutionary struggle to over severance pay and seniority issues. By declaring edu­ tion they can come to see their struggle and themselves in take power out of the hands of the capitalists. For the first cation an essential service, the government eliminated the a different light, as part of the historic fight by working time the road will be opened to fight to transform social teachers' right to strike last August. people to overthrow capitalist rule and establish a gov­ relations and build a society that is free of racism and is Teachers, students, health-care workers and others have ernment of workers and fanners. based on human needs and not profits. "Without Sanctuary" will next be shown in Atlanta be­ ginning May 1, 2002. The venue will be the Martin Luther King National Historic Site on Auburn Avenue. We en­ courage everyone to see it. Communist movement Continued from Page 7 legislation requiring baggage screeners to be U.S. citizens. it helped put the discussion at the meeting in a different An example of the kind of social movements that are 1~~.;.-+>~ political framework. developing in areas of the country, Betty Franks, a coal Daniel Reed from Omaha came with a co-worker who miner in Pennsylvania, pointed to a march being organized In New lntert~ational no. 4 · is a leader of the struggle to organize meat packers to the by widows of coal miners who contracted black lung. They Des Moines forum. After hearing the forum speakers and plan to walk from West Virginia to Washington in April to • The Fight for a Workers and farmers Govern­ returning to Omaha, this worker told others in the plant build support for full funding of the black lung program. ment in the United States by Jack Barnes • The that she had a lot of new ideas to discuss with them. Reed Crisis Facing Working Farmers by Douglenness also reported that a couple of co-workers have started sell­ Tasks before every branch ing Pathfinder books to other workers. The concrete step decided on by the SWP and YS in • Land Reform and Farm John Perry, a meat packer in New York, told a story New York City is not posed anywhere else in the United· Cooperatives in Cuba, two about a co-worker who continually raises that the prob­ States in the foreseeable future, Barnes said in his sum­ speeches by Fidel Castro lem with the attacks on September II was that his boss mary report to the party leadership meeting. $9.00 remained unscathed. The fellow worker says he would But the strategic course confronting the communist like to join the Taliban in order to take on the boss and movement in order to meet the opportunities before it is ReVOlutionary Conti..-, address long-held grievances. the same. .Marxist Leadership in -the Laura Garza from Boston said she has been struck by The party will deepen its work with the Young Social­ United States the number of workers from Latin America who approach ists around the country to build and recruit to the YS, as the party's literature tables and pick up titles by Lenin worker-bolsheviks advance the construction of a prole­ Farrell Dobbs right off the bat. She said the branch there has begun to tarian party more. deeply rooted in workers districts, an~ How successive genera­ work with a leader of a struggle by janitors in neighbor­ with trade union fractions in the UFCW, UMWA, and tions of fighters took part ing Cambridge. The union fighter has been encouraging UNITE, that are increasingly alert to becoming part of in the struggles ofthe US fellow workers to check out the local Pathfinder book­ the social resistance of working people. store and alerting party members to protests they may have Rapidly upgrading work by teams of socialists who sell labor movement, seeking otherwise not known about. the revolutionary press and Pathfinder literature at fac­ to build a leadership that Deborah Liatos, from San Francisco, explained that there tory gates each week is central to this perspective, Barnes could advance the class have been several protests in that city against the U.S. said. interests of workers and small farmers and link government's deployment of troops to the Philippines. Fili­ Only by making progress along these lines can the party up with fellow toilers around the world. VoL 1 pino groups responded quickly to this move by Washing­ can win our newest members to becoming communists $16.95, Vol. 2 $18.95 · ton, and a number of those involved have decided to sup­ and continue to attract young people from the shop floor port the fight by Michael Italie as well. These actions are to those we meet on workers district tables or on campus Available from bookstores, including those listed on taking place at the same time the largely immigrant to being interested in learning about what it means to be a pa~ i2. or visit www.pathfinc!erpress.com workforce at the San Francisco airport, many of whom are communist and to join the Young Socialists and the So­ Filipino, have been organizing to condemn the new federal cialist Workers Party. 14 The Militant March 4, 2002 Role of Marxism in fight for women's liberation

Printed below is an excerpt from Femi­ banner of socialism, or who supported it in nism and the Marxist Movement by Mary­ words but refused to fight for it in practice. Alice Waters. This is one of Pathfinder's This is very important. Our opponents Books of the Month for February. The · often try to saddle us with responsibility for pamphlet is based on a speech by the au­ the positions taken, not by the revolutionar­ thor presented at the SocialistActivists and ies within the working-class movement, but Educational Conference held in Oberlin, by the reformists-by the right wing of the Ohio, in August 1972. Copyright © 1972 pre-World War I American Socialist Party, by Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permis­ by the Stalinists, or else by the sectarians sion. Subheadings are by the Militant. and ultralefts who refused to recognize the complexity of the class struggle or the need BY MARY-ALICE WATERS to fight for democratic rights. But those ten­ I want to begin by stating what I consider dencies do not represent our tradition. It is to be the most important generalization we precisely against such forces that revolution­ must draw from the record of revolutionary ary Marxists have battled over the decades. Marxism in relation to the struggle against The first dividing line came as early as the oppression of women. It is this: From the founding of the Marxist movement it­ the inception of the Marxist ll}Ovement to self. The Communist Manifesto in 1848 today, for nearly 125 years, revolutionary boldly proclaimed: Supporters of a woman's right to choose abortion rally in Trenton, New Jersey, in Marxists have waged an unremitting "On what foundation is the present fam­ June 1999 to protest a parental-notification bill. The struggle for women's liberation struggle within the broad working-class ily, the bourgeois family, based? On capi­ is a "social task in the interests of all humanity," wrote Waters. movement in order to establish a revolution­ tal, on private gain.... The bourgeois sees ary attitude toward the struggle for women's in his wife a mere instrument of production. vate property and a society divided between pian yearning by proving that capitalism it­ liberation. They have fought to place it on a He hears that the instruments of production a class that owned the wealth and a class selfproduces a forc~-the working class­ sound historical and materialist basis; and are to be exploited in common, and, natu­ that produced it. Marxism explained the role strong enough to destroy it, capable of car­ to educate the entire vanguard of the work- rally, can come to no other conclusion than of the family within class society, and the rying through the momentous task of abol­ that the lot of being common to all will like­ function of the family in perpetuating the ishing the tyranny of the possessing few over wise fall to the women. oppression of women. the overwhelming majority of humankind. "He has not even a suspicion that the real More than that, Marxism pointed out the For the first time, socialists could stop wish­ BOOKS OF point aimed at is to do away with the status road to achieving women's liberation. It ing for the new and better society and begin of women as mere instruments of produc­ explained how the abolition of private prop­ to organize to bring it about. tion." erty would provide a material basis for trans­ The struggle for women's liberation was THE MONTH ferring to society as a whole all those oner­ thus lifted out of the realm of the personal, A scientific materialist foundation ous social responsibilities today borne by the "impossible dream," and unbreakably The line of division established here and the individual family-the care of the old linked to the victory of the progressive forces ing class to an understanding of the signifi­ in all the subsequent writings of Marx and and sick; the feeding, clothing, and educat­ of our epoch. It became a social task in the cance of the struggles by women for full Engels on this subject was that between uto­ ing of the young. Relieved of these burdens, interests of all humanity. Thus, Marxism pro­ equality and for liberation from the centu­ pian and scientific socialism. The pre­ Marx pointed out, the masses of women vided a materialist analysis and a scientific ries-old degradation of domestic slavery. Marxian utopian socialists-such as Fou­ would be able to break the bonds of domes­ perspective for women's liberation. • This battle has always been one of the di­ rier and Owen-were also fervent champi­ tic servitude, they would be able to exercise Those women ... who charge that Marxism viding lines between revolutionary and re­ ons of the emancipation of women. But their their full capacities as creative and produc­ does not have an adequate place in its theory formist currents within the working-class socialism, as well as their theories on the tive-not just reproductive-members of for women are being dishonest. It is not the movement; between those committed to a family and women, rested on moral prin­ society. Freed from the economic compul­ degree of adequacy in Marxism's theory that class-struggle perspective and those follow­ ciples and abstract desires-not on an un­ sion on which it necessarily rests, the bour­ they really question. They fundamentally ing a line of class collaboration. Women's derstanding of the laws of history and the geois family would disappear. Human rela­ disagree with its materialist analysis of oppression and how to struggle against it has class struggle rooted in the growth of tionships themselves would be transformed women's oppression and all that flows from been an issue at every turning point in the humanity's productive capacities. Marxism into free relations of free people. it, including the need for a revolutionary history of the revolutionary movement. Our for the first time provided a scientific mate­ And finally, Marxism took socialism and Marxist party to lead the working class and ideological and political forebears, the revo­ rialist foundation, not only for socialism but women's liberation out of the sphere ofuto- its allies to power. lutionary Marxists, both male and female, also for women's liberation. It laid bare the have led the fight against all those who re­ roots of women's oppression; its relation­ fused to inscribe women's liberation on the ship to a system of production based on pri- -LETTERS Censorship in prison Williams was the president of the Mon­ I'm writing you to request help in the fight roe chapter of the NAACP, but his advocacy against the censorship in this prison. On for armed self defense put him at odds with January 18 a staff member removed numer­ the officials of that organization. Although ous periodicals from the leisure library that Williams was suspended by the NAACP, his tactics had a clear effect on the African Pathfinder Readers Club SPECIALS were donated by the inmates. All of these * * * * had come through the censors in the American community in Monroe. Malcolm X Talks to Young People 25% mailroom and were regularly requested pub­ Robert F. Williams was one of the first DISCOUNT lications. I have started an appeal process African Americans to visit Cuba and went Speeches in the U.S., Britain and Africa but so far no action to stop this censorship on a national tour for the Fair Play for Cuba "1 for one will join in with anyone, I don't care what color you has taken place, and nothing will happen Committee. After he was framed up on are, as long as you want to change this miserable condition without some outside help. Please urge this charges of kidnapping, Williams lived in that exists on this earth" -Malcolm X, Britain, December 1964. censorship be ended by writing: R.L. Cuba and broadcast his program Radio Free $10.95, special price: $8.00 Morrison, Warden, and Philip Geistfeld, Dixie which reached an audience spreading Education Supervisor, c/o FCI Elkton, P.O. throughout North America. Williams also Feminism and the Marxist Movement Box 89, Elkton, Ohio 44415. spoke to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and lived in China. MARY-ALICE WATERS A prisoner Lisbon, Ohio Steven Halpern Since the founding of the modern revolutionary workers move­ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ment 150 years ago, Marxists have championed the struggle Rally in Israel for women's rights and explained the economic roots in class . Buried among the news briefs in the Feb­ Abortion rights action society of women's oppression. $3.50, special price: $2.50 ruary 10 Haaretz was the following item: Some 400 spirited supporters of women's "About 10,000 demonstrators rallied for a right to choose abortion demonstrated in War and Crisis in the Americas, 1984-85 pro-peace protest last night in Tel Aviv. The front of the Supreme Court January 22, the FIDEL CASTRO $19.95, special price: $15.00 protesters marched under the slogan, 'The 29th anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade occupation is killing us.' They included vet­ decision decriminalizing abortion. . Problems of Everyday Life eran Jewish andArab activists, writers, aca­ Earlier in the day, opponents of women's Creating the Foundations for a New Society demics, and artists. Also present were mem­ right to abortion held their annual rally and march to protest the Roe v. Wade decision. in Revolutionary Russia bers for the group of Israeli Defense Forces reservists who refuse to serve in the territo­ The tens of thousands, including many stu­ LEON TROTSKY ries. Protesters carried signs saying: 'The dents bused in by their private religious Articles from the early Soviet press on social and cultural is­ occupation is terror,' 'We don't want to die schools and churches, were encouraged by sues in the struggle to forge new socialist women and men. in the next war,' and 'Enough of this gov­ President Bush, who addressed them from $27.95, special price: $21.00 ernment of occupation and killing."' West Virginia by a live telephone hookup. Kathleen Dennv On January 19, supporters of abortion Polemics in Marxist Philosophy San Francisco: California rights defending several Washington-area GEORGE NOVACK clirrics far outnumbered rightists who did Robert F. Williams not even get close to shutting the clinics Novack defends scientific socialism-the generalization of the down as they hoped. historic line of march of the working class, first advanced by Radio Free Dixie-Robert F Williams & The Roots of Black Power, by Timothy B. Lea Sherman Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. He answers those in the twen­ Tyson, is a book well worth reading. Will­ Washington. D. C. tieth century, who, parading as the true interpreters of Marx, iams was born in Monroe, North Carolina, have provided a "philosophical" veneer for the anti-working­ in 1925 and witnessed the systematic and class political course of Stalinist and social democratic brutal discrimination which took place The letters column is an open forum for misleaderships around the world. $20.95, special price: $16.00 throughout his life. all viewpoints on subjects of interest to Williams used the skills he learned in the working people. Letters can be submitted Un programa de accion An Action Program to military to organize defense of the African at themilitant.com, sent to themilitant@ Confront the Coming Economic Crisis. $5.00, special price: $4.00 American community against Ku Klux Klan compuserve.com, or to 410West St., New attacks in Monroe. Although the Black com­ York, NY 10014. munity had used arms to defend itself since Please keep your letters brief. Where Join the Pathfinder Readers Club for $1 0 the Civil War, Monroe became the most fa­ necessary they will be abridged. Please and receive discounts all year long mous place where the Klan became afraid indicate if you prefer that your initials of carrying out their nightly terrorist raids. be used rather than your full name. March 4, 2002 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Rally in Australia denounces brutality against immigrants

BY ALASDAIR MACDONALD test," said Sharon Burrow, president of the AND JOANNE POULSEN Australian Council of Trade Unions. "No CANBERRA, Australia-Some 2,000 other nation locks up asylum seekers like people rallied here at the opening of federal Australia does. No other nation raids ships parliament February 12 to demand an end at sea to enforce domestic poUcy. The unions to the Australian govenhnent's brutal policy oppose mandatory detention and oppose the of imprisoning in detention camps all im­ so-called Pacific solution." migrants seeking asylum. The national pro­ test included participants from across the Issue is at center of politics country with the majority coming from New The issue of mandatory detention of asy­ South Wales and Victoria. lum seekers has been at the center of poli­ The protest was one more signal that re­ tics here for the· past six months since the sistance to the treatment of refugees by Norwegian merchant vessel Tampa was re­ Prime Minister John Howard's conservative fused permission to dock on Australian ter­ government is growing. Working people and ritory after rescuing 438 refugees from a others who have been locked up in inhu­ sinking boat. man conditions in these camps have staged Canberra sent 50 troops from the Special protests, including hunger strikes, to force Air Services unit of the Australian armed a change in government policy. With this forces to board the Tampa August 29. After courageous stand they have begun to force this military show of force and a weeklong debate in the opposition Australian Labour standoff, the' Australian government trans­ Party (ALP) over the government's intran­ ported the majority of the asylum seekers sigent stance and, to a lesser degree, in the to the Pacific Island nation of Nauru, with ruling Liberal Party. 150 sent to New Zealand. The "Pacific so­ Some 2,000 people protested in Canberra February 12 to demand th,eAustralian gov­ They have also gained support within lution" refers to the Howard government's ernment end its policy of throwing immigrants seeking asylum into detention camps. broader layers of the working class and from plan to send boat people intercepted at sea defenders of democratic rights. On Febru­ to refugee camps now set up in Papua New .nent politicians. Within the ALP, divisions litical purposes." ary 2, for example, thousands rallied in Guinea and Nauru. over refugee policy following the federal The crowd included a number of high Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne to oppose the The federal election last November cen­ elections are increasingly visible. Tanya school students who took the day off to par­ mandatory detentions. tered around the refugee issue, with both Plibersek, an ALP Member of Parliament ticipate. Brendan Mcgloin, who is 18 and To welcome the crowd to Aboriginal land, the incumbent Liberal-National party coa­ from Sydney, spoke at the rally represent­ attends Canberra College, was there with a delegation from the Aboriginal Tent Em­ lition government and the opposition ALP ing the newly formed Labour for Refugees. three friends. He said that he had handed bassy marched to the platform holding high calling for tougher border protection and which has gathered support in a number of out leaflets at school for a few weeks be­ their land rights flags. In her welcome, maintaining mandatory detention of refu­ party branches. cause "I'm appalled at the government's Wadjularbinna, anAboriginal elder, said that gees. A message was sent to the rally by Greg policy. It makes me ashamed to be Austra­ everyone at the rally was "standing on Ab­ At the rally, speakers from the Australian. Barns, a former senior ministerial staff per­ lian." Sarah, who came with two classmates original land. Racism did not start with the Democrats, the Greens, and the ALP all con­ son in the Howard government, whose en­ from a high school in the Blue Mountains, refugees" but with the British settler inva­ demned the policy, which currently sees dorsement as a candidate by the Tasmanian said, "This is an important day to show sup­ sion in 1788. "I understand the plight of thousands of refugees imprisoned behind Liberal Party has been withdrawn becalli>e port. More people inAustralia support refu­ refugees. I've been there myself," she said. razor-wire fences at detention centers in re­ of his criticism of the government's refu­ gees than people realize." "We are .refugees in our own land, put in mote places. The dozen Labour MPs who gee policy. He called mandatory detention compounds surrounded by barbed wire. My attended the rally included Carm~n "inexcusable" and accused the government Alasdair Macdonald is a member of the law and my land would not allow this treat­ Lawrence, Duncan Kerr, and other promi- of "using desperate people for its own po- Young Socialists in Sydney. ment of refugees if we were in charge."

'Free all asylum seekers' Refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq ad­ Farmers in South press fight for land dressed the crowd. Ahmad Reze Wakil, who fled Afghanistan in 1999, explained that he BY KARL BUTTS percent of the original claims have been Congress, pointed out that "the county com­ has become active in the Free the Refugee AND BILL ARTH thrown out. mittees are [still] not accountable to the sec­ Campaign in Sydney after spending nine ALBANY, Georgia-The Federation of Stephen Carpenter, senior counsel for the retary of agriculture and no restructuring of months in the Curtin detention center in Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance monitor's office, admitted that "most peti­ the USDA has occurred to prevent discrimi­ Western Australia. Ahmad rebutted the Fund's 19th annual Trade Show Conference tions haven't been decided yet." He reported nation." Howard government's claim that it is now drew dozens of farmers and their families. that only 600 claims have been sent back to One elderly Black farmer caught the sen­ safe to return to Afghanistan-the pretext They came from Alabama, Florida, Geor­ the federal adjudicator for reconsideration. timents of the crowd at the end of the used in the suspension of the processing of gia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, swell­ Under a court order, farmers who missed monitor's report when he said: "I just won­ Afghan refugees' applications for asylum ing attendance on the second day of the con­ the initial deadline set out in the consent de­ der if the playing field is going to be level that sparked the January hunger strike at the ference to more than 200. cree to file a claim were able to submit evi~ when my grandchildren come along. Where Woomera detention center. . Most came to hear an update on Pigford dence as to the discrimination they faced as is the justice? I hope the day will come when "The problem in Afghanistan was not v. Glickman, the lawsuit by farmers against well as the "extraordinary circumstances" America will get its priorities straight." His only due to the Taliban," he said. "The new the U.S. Department ofAgriculture (USDA) necessitating a late filing. remarks drew applause from the audience. ruling group put in power by U.S. interven­ for discriminatory practices. During the More than 60,000 farmers submitted late Since 1960, the amount of land owned by tion has a brutal history. They are war crimi­ February 8-9 conference, claimants in the claims to the office of the arbitrator, Michael Black farmers in the South has been reduced nals from the Mujahadeen government in suit also had an opportunity for individual Lewis, who will determine if the required by 80 percent. power before the Taliban. We cannot rest meetings with representatives of the office proof is sufficient. Arthur Newsom, who grows vegetables until all asylum seekers and refugees are ofthe court-appointed monitor, established According to Carpenter, Lewis's office on a 40-acre farm in Prentiss, Mississippi, freed." to oversee the implemel).tation of the con­ has "said yes to a few while saying no to a that has been owned by his family for more Speakers addressed the rally from a vari­ sent decree that settled the lawsuit. lot." In reference to the latter category, John than 150 years, described his experience to ety of groups, including Amnesty Interna­ . There were conference sessions on the Zipper, Federation of Southern Coopera­ the Militant. He said he filed a claim in 1999, tional; Rural Australians for Refugees; the outlook for the peanut crop, on alternative tives/Land Assistance Fund staff person, which was rejected. "They never gave a · Federation of Ethnic Community Councils marketing strategies for farmers, and asked, "Why does Lewis's office send out good reason why it was denied in the first of Australia; Free the Refugee Campaign; . speeches by various politicians, mainly on mass mailings oflate-claim rejections? They place," he said. He filed an appeal, and since Refugee Action Campaign; and the United the 2002 Farm BilL In various ways, all re­ make it hard for farmer advocates to assist has waited for a response. Nations Association of Australia. flected the continuing crisis facing work­ the many farmers who all at once need help Newsom said word of what is happening Rural Australians for Refugees gathered ing farmers today. in submitting appeals within the 60-day "needs to be spread around, to see if it will under a banner that read, "Put yourself in A standing-room only crowd filled the limit" help the situation and get things going. The their shoes. When you know the facts you room to hear a report from the monitor's At the meeting Carpenter admitted noth­ farmer is due what he can get to help him will open your heart." Groups held hand­ office. Many expressed frustration with the ing has been done to address the racist prac­ farm. They're not giving anything to us." made signs from more than half a dozen slow pace of the settlement, the number of tices at the USDA. He urged farmers with He pointed out that the Minneapolis law firm country towns, mainly in New South Wales. claims that have been turned down, and con­ successful claims to take advantage of the representing the monitor's office is "1,200 The scattered banners carried by union­ tinued discrimination at the hands of local consent decree's injunctive relief entitling miles from us and the only way you can get ists included the Australian Manufacturing USDA field representatives. them to one-time priority consideration in to them is by phone." Workers Union; New South Wales Teachers The monitor is responsible for, among application for a new loan. "The people in Federation; Australian Education Union; and other things, reviewing at least 6,000 appeals Washington believe you are not interested Karl Butts is a farmer from Plant City, the Trades and Labour Council of the ACT by farmers whose claims to qualify under in injunctive relief," Carpenter said, because Florida. Bil!Arth is a meat packer and mem­ (Australian Capital Territory). the terms of the settlement have been re­ so few have requested it so far. ber of the United Fooa and Commercial "Human rights are not a popularity con- jected by a federal adjudicator. Nearly 40 Sanford Bishop, a Georgia member of Workers union in Atlanta. ·

16 The Militant March 4, 2002