Fight for a Workers' Program to Save Jobs, Homes!
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MUNDO OBRERO • La burbuja expansionista de la OTAN 12 Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org OCT. 9, 2008 VOL. 50, NO. 40 50¢ Handout to the rich ignites people’s anger Fight for a workers’ program to save jobs, homes! By Fred Goldstein from below has for the moment overcome are only against government intervention Paulson, Bernanke and company. that might put restraints on the unbridled WHERE’S Sept. 30—The political and financial profit-seeking activity of big business. establishment of U.S. capitalism has been Capitalism’s faithful parties It is hard to tell whether these right- OUR BAILOUT? stunned by the failure of its initial attempt gripped by fear wingers voted “no” out of concerns of to get Congress to pass a $700-billion The growing economic crisis produced ideology or pragmatic protection of their handout to the banks. a political crisis in the two faithful par- seats in the House or both. Whatever their Protests Against a background of bank failures ties of capitalism. On the one hand, the motives, their political rhetoric against across in the U.S. and Europe and appeals from Democratic Party leadership was unable “big government,” which used to be the the White House and the Treasury sec- to force some 40 percent of its members applauded on Wall Street, has suddenly country retary, the House of Representatives on to sign on to this gigantic giveaway to been made obsolete by the present crisis. Sept. 29 defeated the bailout bill, 228 to billionaires this time around, especially The once high-and-mighty tycoons of 205. Following the vote, all three U.S. in the face of mounting foreclosures and Wall Street used to get their assistance qui- stock markets had historic drops, glob- layoffs. It was particularly noticeable that etly, behind the scenes, from the Federal al stock markets initially plunged, and a majority of the Congressional Black Reserve. In the present crisis they sud- credit markets tightened up as fear struck Caucus and Congressional Hispanic denly find themselves in desperate need 6-7 Wall Street. Caucus refused to sign on. of openly and directly getting their hands Sept. 28 protest on Wall St. The vote was a defeat for a triple alliance: On the other hand, the Republican on the entire U.S. Treasury. The bankers the bankers, represented by Secretary of right wing tried to pose as advocates for behind the present crisis now need to rid the Treasury Henry Paulson and Federal the people, spouting hypocritical dema- themselves of trillions of dollars in toxic Pentagon Budget Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke; the Bush gogy against “big government” and greedy debts that they acquired by swindling the Another huge handout administration; and the Democratic Party bankers. But in actuality, their proposals workers and then swindling the rest of the Editorial 10 leadership. They all had labored mightily were to further deregulate the banking world into buying these bad mortgages. to sell the bailout. industry to allow hedge fund gamblers The “no big government” right-wingers, It is highly likely that another round and private equity billionaires to enter the once praised by Wall Street, are com- of political pressure from above will lead bailout racket. pletely out of sync with the needs of their STOP STATE REPRESSION to the banks getting their way in the long Of course, the right-wing opposition masters in the present crisis. run. Already the new line coming from to “big government” does not extend Whatever the ultimate fate of the bail- • Police Holocaust 2 the corporate media is to threaten work- to the growth of the Pentagon and its out bill, two important things stand out. ers that there will be no paychecks unless trillion-dollar war in Iraq, the growth of First, the working class, the oppressed, • Jersey Four 3 some version of the bill is passed. But the repressive apparatus of Homeland everyone who is suffering foreclosure, job 5 with e-mails and phone calls to politicians Security to persecute immigrants and layoffs, lack of health care and other hard- • RNC Eight running against the bill by 100 and 200 undocumented workers, the growth of the ships, must formulate their own program • Harlem 5 5 to 1 before the vote, the political pressure FBI, the CIA and so on. These ideologues Continued on page 4 ‘ Money for people’s needs, not bankers’ greed’— Activists march through the streets of New York on Sept. 27 to protest the proposed $700 billion bailout of the banks by Congress and also endless war. Street meetings were organized at Times Square and Union Square by the Stop War on Iran campaign as part of a nationally coordinated day of actions. WW PHOTOS: JOHN CATALINOTTO Subscribe to Workers World Four weeks trial: $1 One year: $25 NAME PHONE ADDRESS EMAIL CITY/STATE/ZIP WORKERS WORLD 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 www.workers.org ‘NEW DAY IN NEPAL’ Prime minister meets U.S. activists 8U .S. SOMALIA Occupiers under attack 9 Page 2 Oct. 9, 2008 www.workers.org Philadelphia: Police holocaust Workers World is reprinting archival articles during our 50th anniversary. The following article appeared H In the U.S. on the front page of the May 23, 1985, issue. Death-row Handout to the rich ignites people’s anger . 1 political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, a MOVE sup- porter, praised WW’s coverage of this heinous act. WW in 1985: Philadelphia police holocaust . 2 To this day, not one Philadelphia official has been National campaign to raise bail for the Jersey 4 . 3 legally accused of mass murder or indicted for the Tookie Williams: A martyr for the struggle . 3 criminal bombing of this Black community. On the picket line . 4 By Monica Moorehead Cops attack Black activists at Harlem parade . 5 'Terrorism' charges levied against RNC protesters . 5 May 15–The smoke has now cleared within the devastated Black community of West Philadelphia, WW Boston eviction blockaders fight back . 6 terrorized by the police for the past two days. But in1985 Michigan emergency protests . 6 the shock and anger remain. Blaming Wall Street’s victims . 6 Ten charred bodies, including at least two children, N .Y .C . Central Labor Council takes on Wall St . 7 have been discovered so far in the carnage and destruc- Bailout plans spark nationwide protests . 7 tion reminiscent of a war zone. people. Four out of 10 adults are functionally illiterate. ‘Ziggy’ Klein presente! . 10 Clarence Mosley, the city’s Black assistant managing Philadelphia is becoming more and more a city of director, remarked while investigating the area in the homeless people, who number approximately 15,000 and Sept . 17 ‘special day of my life’ . 10 aftermath of the siege, “I’ve been to Korea and Viet Nam, are increasing every day. Hunger, poverty and gentrifica- Letter from a former Chrysler worker . 10 and I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s devastating. tion are becoming more acute for the poor and working Students denounce war criminals . 11 There’s nothing left.” class communities. More than 60 homes were leveled, leaving more than There is another side to Philadelphia. Since the days H Around the world 250 people homeless, with no place to go. The people of of ex-Mayor Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia has been and Ontario students support striking faculty . 4 Philadelphia, around the country, indeed around the world remains a police city. Wilson Goode may be the mayor Communist leader: ‘We will construct a New Nepal’ . 8 are asking: Why and how did such an atrocity happen? now, but Rizzo’s racist, repressive police force has not What possible reason could there have been for the changed in character. In fact, it was Police Commissioner Somalis resist U .S -backed. occupation . 9 bombing of a residential neighborhood? What justifica- Gregore J. Sambor, who is white, and not Mayor Goode, 10,000 in Germany protest Afghanistan war . 11 tion is there for this brazen exposition of force and vio- who is Black, who made the decision to drop the explo- Iran’s 'crimes'? . 11 lence by the police? sive bomb in the Black community, although Goode has Much ado about the U .S . blockade of Cuba . 11 defended the decision. No concern for community It was a former army general, Leo Brooks, now the H Editorials The racist bourgeois media play up that there were city’s managing director, who took responsibility for The Pentagon bailout . 10 complaints in the neighborhood about the unsanitary dropping the bomb, which did an estimated $5 million lifestyles of the members of MOVE, the group occupying damage to property. H the house. If that was the problem, why weren’t health The police are the controlling element in any city Noticias En Español officials called in to deal with it instead of an army of and are given the green light by the ruling class. In La burbuja expansionista de la OTAN . 12 police? Why couldn’t the house be quarantined instead Philadelphia, this is wealthy families like the Biddles, the of firebombed off the map? Pews, the Dicksons, Drexels and Dorrances, who live in When Union Carbide, a U.S.-owned multi-million- the exclusive suburbs on the Main Line outside the met- dollar chemical corporation, caused the deaths of 2,000 ropolitan area. innocent people in Bhopal, India, last year due to a toxic This is where the real power lies in Philadelphia. The Workers World gas leak, it was quarantined and the area sealed off. Why police are answerable to the wealthy ruling class, the 55 West 17 Street wasn’t the same consideration given to the people of West bankers, the real estate interests, not to the mayor or New York, N.Y.