Elecciones en Guatemala 12 Manifestación de emergencia 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 61 No. 28 July 11, 2019 $1 Acts of solidarity with migrants grow

By Mirinda Crissman permanent protections for all undocu- Houston mented immigrants. This act of solidarity in New Jersey resulted in 37 protesters The United States government is wag- arrested in support of those oppressed at ing a white-supremacist, imperialist, neo- the border. colonial war on multiple fronts. While Other expressions of solidarity have this war on oppressed people rages on, come from workers and folks abroad. people across the country and the world Wayfair workers walked out of the job on are taking a stand against state violence. June 26 in Boston to protest their CEO’s Violence abroad can take many forms like refusal to stop furnishing detention cen- resource extraction, economic sanctions ters with Wayfair products. and regime change. An Arizona teacher, Scott Warren, is These forms, including intensifying cli- facing 10 years in jail if convicted of two mate catastrophe, are forcing folks to flee felonies for the so-called crime of leaving their homelands from all over the planet jugs of water and providing shelter for and move toward increasingly militarized migrants in the desert. borders. Migration has been happening On June 29, a German ship captain, on this continent for thousands of years Carola Rackete, after docking in the before it was colonized. Italian island port of Lampedusa, was Militarized borders are an affront arrested for rescuing over two dozen to humanity. The drowning deaths of Libyan migrants. Matteo Salvini, Deputy the Salvadoran father, Óscar Alberto Prime Minister of Italy and member of Martínez Ramírez, and his 23-month-old WW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE the right-wing League Party, has moved daughter, Valeria, attempting to cross the July 4 protest, Philadelphia. Read more on pages 6-7. to close off all Italian ports of entry to Rio Grande River are tragic examples of migrants. these heinous crimes against humanity. im/migrants and refugees in this current were able to draw outraged people to over Thirty thousand people came out in Yet even in the face of this violence we period. There are reports about abhorrent 175 protests in 40 states. One demon- Berlin on July 6 to support the efforts of are seeing folks coming together against sanitary conditions and overcrowding as stration in Elizabeth, N.J., on June 30 Sea Watch 3. Meanwhile, Rackete has been these atrocities. well as reports of sexual abuse and even had 200 Jewish people blockading an released from jail but is still held in Italy. A collective consciousness has surged fatalities due to medical neglect. Immigration and Customs Enforcement around migrants in detention. While All this consciousness raising has led detention center. This protest was part Candidates ill-equipped to working to see that all oppressed peoples to a promising anger. Last week, a wave of a larger Jewish group called Never challenge the crisis in cages swallowed by mass incarcera- of national demonstrations called for Again Action. Their demands included Along with the public outcry, some tion are included in this discussion, peo- closing these camps. Organizers like defunding ICE and U.S. Customs Border so-called “democratic” U.S. institutions MoveOn and immigrant rights groups Protection, closing border camps and ple are invigorated by those fighting for Continued on page 6

Driving while Latinx 3 Im/migrants & state ‘Policing the womb’ in Alabama 6 repression editorial 10 Gerrymandering, the census The road to reparations 10 and SCOTUS 8 Global capitalist crisis deepens 9

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City / State / Zip ______Workers World Weekly Newspaper workers.org 11 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011 212.627.2994 Venezuela Page 2 July 11, 2019 workers.org ‘Decriminalize sex work now!’

Sawyer Eason is an artist and organizer working with this week Peoples Power Assemblies NYC, Decrim NY and Brooklyn Transcore. She plays bass in the do-it-yourself sludge metal act, MANDY. This is a slightly edited version of Sawyer’s talk at the 2019 May Day rally on Wall Street ◆ In the U.S. in New York City. Acts of solidarity with migrants grow ...... 1 ‘Decriminalize sex work now!’ ...... 2 I'm Sawyer, and I am here with Peoples Power Assemblies. I'm very grateful to be speaking on May Day for the first Cops’ racism exposes driving while Latinx . . . . 3 time. I wanna take a moment and talk about sex workers Concentration camps for the poor in Pennsylvania . 3 and how we relate to the revolutionary movement. ‘Shut down our hospital? Hell, No!’ ...... 4 We have been a part of the workers' struggle for as long Legislators attack treatment for opioid use . . . .4 as there has been a workers' struggle. Our work has dig- nity. We perform a service people want. We work just like Capitalism means working class is working poor . 5 everyone else does. But often times, on days like these, our Pickets ‘declare independence from poverty wages’ 5 labor isn’t praised. People's discomfort with us keeps us ‘Policing the womb’ in Alabama ...... 6 out of the struggle. Hundreds protest ICE raids ...... 6 Some people in the labor movement don't wanna rec- ognize the radical work we do. But sex workers are at the Buffalo: Stonewall, LGBTQ2S+ movement turn 50 7 forefront of the movement now, and our history is strong. Actions accelerate to close immigrant camps . . . 7 Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson are the moth- Sawyer Eason. Philadelphia: Solidarity with migrants ...... 7 ers of Gay Pride. They were two trans women of color Gerrymandering, census and Supreme Court . . .8 who survived off sex work. Marsha was believed to have providers used to work safely. These laws have not pro- thrown the first brick during the Stonewall Rebellion. tected sex workers, and they've conflated sex work with Philly refinery fire: demand reparations . . . . . 8 Marsha and Sylvia created the Street Transvestite Action human trafficking. Growing signs of global capitalist crisis, Part 1 . . .9 Revolutionaries—​STAR—​in the 1970s. They used sex I wanna say that if you wanna protect sex workers, you How real reparations can be won ...... 10 work to pay for a building on the Lower East Side to house need to listen to sex workers. We do not want SESTA. We queer youth who were experiencing homelessness. do not need this law or any law that interferes with sex ◆ Around the world Sex workers are revolutionaries. Sex workers are people workers. We need full decriminalization now! Let us do Solidarity in the fight against white supremacy . . 9 who live at a variety of intersections. Sex workers are often what we do! Get the government out of our lives! people of color and often lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen- If we wanna say we care about human trafficking, then Venezuela slams U.N. over human rights report . .11 der and queer people. Many sex workers are migrants. The we should pay more attention to labor trafficking. Migrant Algeria: Massive protests for sweeping reforms . . 11 people most affected by anti-sex worker legislation are the labor is being exploited all over the world. people who live at a variety of interesections. We have to Trans women of color walking down the street in Queens ◆ Editorial defend Black and Brown and trans sex workers! are being profiled and arrested for wearing heels and car- Im/migrants and the repressive state ...... 10 But anti-sex worker legislation has affected all sex work- rying condoms. Our sisters are in jail and prison. Some of ers. Safer avenues of work posted on the internet have them are sex workers. Some were arrested for just walking ◆ Noticias en Español disappeared throughout the last year. SESTA/FOSTA while being trans. The only way forward is to defund the Elecciones en Guatemala ...... 12 [Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Fight Online Sex police who arrest us, fully decriminalize sex work, destig- Trafficking Act], a series of laws passed in the last year with matize the practice of sex work and decarcerate the people ‘Recontratar a las trabajadoras ahora’ ...... 12 the stated intention of protecting sex trafficking victims, who are in prison due to bogus laws. have resulted in the closure of most of the online platform Decriminalize sex work now! ☐ Workers World 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. New York, NY 10011 Join us in the fight Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] for socialism! Web: www.workers.org Vol. 61, No. 28 • July 11, 2019 Workers World Party is a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist people are gunned down by cops and bigots on a regular Closing date: July 10, 2019 party inside the belly of the imperialist beast. We are a basis. multinational, multigenerational and multigendered orga- The ruthless ruling class today seeks to wipe out Editor: Deirdre Griswold nization that not only aims to abolish capitalism, but to decades of gains and benefits won by hard-fought strug- Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, build a socialist society because it’s the only way forward! gles by people’s movements. The super-rich and their Martha Grevatt, Monica Moorehead, Minnie Bruce Capitalism and imperialism threaten the peoples of the political representatives have intensified their attacks on Pratt world and the planet itself in the neverending quest for the multinational, multigender and multigenerational Web Editors: Ben Carroll, John Steffin ever-greater profits. working class. It is time to point the blame at—and chal- Capitalism means war and austerity, racism and repres- lenge—the capitalist system. Production & Design Editors: Gery Armsby, Sasha sion, attacks on im/migrants, misogyny, LGBTQ oppres- WWP fights for socialism because the working class Mazumder, Scott Williams sion and mistreatment of people with disabilities. It means produces all wealth in society, and this wealth should Copyediting and Proofreading: Paddy Colligan, joblessness, increasing homelessness and impoverishment remain in their hands, not be stolen in the form of capi- Sue Davis, S. Hedgecoke and lack of hope for the future. No social problems can be talist profits. The wealth workers create should be socially Contributing Editors: G. Dunkel, K. Durkin, Fred solved under capitalism. owned and its distribution planned to satisfy and guaran- Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Betsey Piette, Gloria Rubac The U.S. is the richest country in the world, yet no one tee basic human needs. has a guaranteed right to shelter, food, water, health care, Since 1959, Workers World Party has been out in the Mundo Obero: Alberto García, Teresa Gutierrez, education or anything else—unless they can pay for it. streets defending the workers and oppressed here and Carlos Vargas Wages are lower than ever, and youth are saddled with worldwide. If you’re interested in Marxism, socialism Supporter Program: Coordinator Sue Davis seemingly insurmountable student debt, if they even make and fighting for a socialist future, please contact a WWP it to college. Black, Brown and Indigenous youth and trans branch near you. ☐ Copyright © 2019 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium Contact a Workers World Party branch near you: workers.org/wwp without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly National Office Bay Area Durham, N.C. Philadelphia except the last week of December by WW Publishers, P.O. Box 22947 804 Old Fayetteville St. P.O. Box 34249 147 W. 24th St., 2nd floor 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10011. Phone: New York, NY 10011 Oakland, CA 94609 Durham, NC 27701 Philadelphia, PA 19101 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $30; institu­ 212.627.2994 510.394.2207 919. 322 .9 970 610.931.2615 tions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to Atlanta Buffalo, N.Y. 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By Betsey Piette but randomly—​as they had a smoke Philadelphia before a night shift outside a shipping company warehouse or bought a soda On May 10, 2018, Rebecca Castro’s inside his own police barracks in Carlisle.” car was stopped by a Pennsylvania State (Inquirer, June 27) trooper who first inquired about her The Supreme Court ruled in Rodriguez immigration status instead of asking for v. United States April 21, 2015, that absent her license and registration. Castro is a reasonable suspicion, unnecessarily pro- U.S. citizen. The trooper then asked about longing a traffic stop beyond the time it the status of her two passengers; one was takes to address the traffic violation can her fiancé Carlos Amaya-Castellanos. constitute unreasonable seizure. The high They were held for three hours until court had also written in another ruling Immigration Custom and Enforcement that “detaining individuals solely to ver- agents arrived and placed Castro’s pas- ify their immigration status would raise sengers into deportation proceedings. constitutional concerns,” as noncitizens The American Civil Liberties Union as well as citizens are protected from ille- filed a federal lawsuit this June 28 gal search and seizure under the Fourth against the Pennsylvania State Police on Amendment. (propublica.org, Feb. 5) behalf of 10 Latinx plaintiffs, who had Plaintiffs in the ACLU suit are seek- been illegally stopped, including Castro. ing both damages and vindication of Rebecca Castro and Carlos Amaya-Castellanos. The suit challenges what the ACLU says is their constitutional rights to be free from “a pattern of police misconduct that fol- unlawful detention. They also hope their lows a common script. Latinx motorists who were illegally acting as ICE agents. president. The record of trooper Luke legal action will lead to improved training were pulled over by troopers, who imme- The suit concluded: “Pennsylvania Macke, who stopped and subsequently and supervision of state police. Whether diately sought to ascertain the immi- State troopers have routinely violated the detained Castro and her passengers, was that will happen remains in question. gration status of the car’s occupants.” law by stopping and holding people based particularly nefarious. Although officers are now required to file (propublica.org, June 28) solely on their Latino appearance, terrify- Three years of data obtained in the joint a report when they call federal agencies, Vanessa Stine, ACLU immigrants’ ing drivers and passengers while usurping investigation showed that in each year trooper Macke continues to detain and rights legal fellow, explained in the arti- federal authority to investigate supposed between 2015 and 2017, Macke not only hold immigrants for ICE. cle that the ACLU examined 30 incidents immigration violations.” In some cases increased the number of tickets he wrote Castro and her now-spouse, Carlos of traffic stops, involving 200 individuals, similar to Castro’s, the trooper asked first but also upped the percentage to Latinx Amaya-Castellanos, are both plaintiffs in including Castro. Stone noted that some if the driver was a U.S. citizen before even drivers, issuing 33 citations to them in the ACLU lawsuit. Although a U.S. citizen victims chose not to be part of the law- requesting their driver’s license. 2015. By 2017, that number had tripled born and raised in Idaho, Castro ques- suit out of fear “that asserting or exercis- to over 113. Macke turned over 19 undoc- tions her safety: “Right now, I’m scared ing their rights might actually cause them Wrongful stops rise after Trump elected umented immigrants to ICE officers in to go out driving just because of my more harm.” Defendants in the suit include the 2017 after interrogating them about their skin color. They think I’m from Mexico The lawsuit stemmed from a joint 2018 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the legal status and detaining them without or another foreign country. It’s harass- investigative series by the Philadelphia State Police department and six indi- warrants. (April 12, 2018) ment. We’re not safe.” (propublica.org, Inquirer and ProPublica, which ques- vidual troopers found complicit in the “None of the migrants had criminal June 28) ☐ tioned racial profiling and unlawful pattern of wrongful stops going back to records. Macke encountered some of arrests of immigrants by state troopers, early 2017 after Donald Trump became them not in cars on the roads he patrols,

Concentration camps for the poor in Pennsylvania Part 2

By Ted Kelly prisoners say these aggressive and puni- certain the polyps arose from the toxic Frackville, Pa. tive searches constitute sexual harass- conditions in the prison, specifically the ment and sexual assault and are meant poisonous state of the drinking water. The lockdown policy is just the latest to keep prisoners isolated and discourage In a recent broadcast for Prison Radio, in a string of abuses perpetrated against them from scheduling visits with loved political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal the inmates at SCI Frackville. There are ones. Staff euphemistically refer to this spoke of an article he had written for still no educational programs specifically practice as “unclothed searches” and deny Workers World about Bryant Arroyo, for inmates with long-term or life sen- that making inmates take off all their whom he dubbed the world’s first “jail- tences like Bryant. There is still no ESL clothes and submit to cavity searches is house environmentalist.” He describes program, even after Arroyo successfully at all sexual or harassing. the multiple battles now being waged by lobbied for an ESL program on behalf Incidentally, despite these increased inmates against the environmental crimes Bryant Arroyo with WWP members Joe Piette (left) and Ted Kelly. of his fellow Spanish-speaking inmate security measures, the trafficking of of the mass incarceration industry. Rafael Rodriguez. synthetic drugs inside prisons is report- Arroyo concluded his own Prison Radio Staff agreed that in a facility with a edly at an all-time high. It is common talk by addressing environmental racism billionaire club! I just don’t get to collect sizeable Spanish-speaking population, knowledge that guards and prison staff, in prisons. “Class is the most important it myself. But I’ll tell you, I feel like a very they must have at least one ESL instruc- not inmates, are the ones who are smug- thing in society. But race is not any less rich man. Donald Trump can’t prove that tor on hand, but the facility has failed to gling the drugs into facilities to be sold. important.” he’s a billionaire, but I can.” hire anyone after the decision was made Addiction is wreaking havoc on the com- Prisons, like military bases, are poi- nearly a year ago. munity. “Guys on synthetics—​they’re sonous sites that are often built on land Prisons: ‘places of mass pollution’ During Ramadan, Muslim prisoners just getting high,” Arroyo says. “It’s like that has already been ravaged by capital- “The globe is under constant assault,” who were fasting and placed on lockdown that’s all they’re looking forward to.” ism. Arroyo led a campaign that success- says Arroyo, a deeply faithful and com- had no rescheduled meal time and either Inmates have also been denied the right fully shut down a coal gassification plant mitted environmentalist. “Our oceans are had to break their own fast knowing to wear safety collars to prevent expo- scheduled to be built near a Pennsylvania filled with plastic. It’s an abomination.” they’d be restricted to their cells or wait sure to radiation when being made to go state correctional facility, a scheme that Mumia asks, “What are prisons except until nightfall to eat an ice cold “iftar” through full x-ray body-scanners before would have cost hundreds of millions of sinks of negativity? What are they except meal [specially prepared meal to break a and after visits. There is still insufficient dollars. places of mass pollution of the spirit, the fast]. Months ago, many Muslim prison- research regarding the safety of body Arroyo also helped organize his fellow mind, the psyche? The environment of ers filed grievances because the visiting scanners; the technology is similar to that state prisoners to lobby on behalf of fed- prisons is one of oppression. We cannot room vending machines were dispropor- employed at airport security checkpoints. eral prisoners—​a historic act of solidar- ignore this truth. How can any good come tionately stocked with pork products, and But prisoners’ concerns have been cate- ity across prison walls—​to shut down from it?” neither inmates nor their families were gorically dismissed. the construction of a federal facility in Bryant Arroyo and Mumia Abu-Jamal able to share a meal together on visits. Kentucky that would have been built next are two of Workers World’s most tireless “White supremacy? That’s policy,” says Environmental dangers in prison to an active coal mine. With this federal advocates on the inside, fighting against Arroyo. “But the change here is inevita- Arroyo recently had to undergo surgery prison plan now shut down, over $500 censorship of the paper within the prison ble. Because this is torture.” after suffering from precancerous polyps million set aside for its construction will system and fighting on behalf of their fel- After a manufactured scare about in his throat. Initially told by staff that he now be reallocated. low inmates. In a nation where prisons prison staff being sickened after exposure was just suffering from acid reflux, Arroyo Bryant brags that he’s now taken over are concentration camps for the poor, all to synthetic drugs, prisoners are now sub- fought for an examination by an otolaryn- a billion dollars out of the pockets of the prisoners are political prisoners. jected to strip searches before and after gologist who immediately discovered the “corporate raiders” he has dedicated There are no walls in the workers strug- visitation with families. Arroyo and other advanced state of his affliction. Arroyo is his life to fighting against. “I’m in the gle! Tear them down! ☐ Page 4 July 11, 2019 workers.org Philly workers, community say ‘Shut down our hospital? Hell, No!’

By Joe Piette came out to a PASNAP rally on July 2. Windows and Doors Philadelphia PASNAP President May announced the factory occupation in state would appoint a temporary hospital Chicago in 2008 to the In a classic case of capitalism not manager. May stated, “We now have to famous Flint Sit-Down caring about the needs of the commu- fight for a long-term solution that keeps Strike against General nity, Hahnemann University Hospital’s Hahnemann and St. Chris open, and Motors in 1936. hedge fund owners announced June stops Joel Freedman from treating them A hospital is so much June 27 protest. WW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE 26 they would close down the historic as real estate commodities.” more obviously a com- Philadelphia medical facility on Sept. 6, At the rally, City Council member Helen munity institution that deserves to be under slavery. eliminating up to 3,000 jobs. Gym said this is a fight against “corpo- defended. Hahnemann’s buildings do not exist in On June 28, the Pennsylvania rate capitalization.” Nicolas O’Rourke a virtual world. The hedge fund managers ‘Health care is a right!’ Department of Health ordered Hahnemann of POWER (Philadelphians Organized have no natural right to seize the brick- owners to “cease and desist” closure plans, to Witness, Empower and Rebuild) said The struggle to save Hahnemann and-mortar structures for corporate gains and Gov. Tom Wolf offered $19 million in that fight is against the “sins and evils of should be seen as part of a broader cam- to the disadvantage of thousands of lives. exemptions for taxes and fees. capitalism.” paign for universal health care, since clos- If eminent domain can be used by gov- Two days later, investment banker Joel A vigil was held on July 9, and an infor- ing Hahnemann only decreases access to ernment bodies to put up skyscrapers and Freedman responded for the owners by mational picket line is planned for July 11 medical care in the city. bridges, it should be possible to use emi- filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for both in front of the hospital. From Canada to Cuba, nations around nent domain to prevent the destruction Hahnemann (496 beds) and the other the world recognize that health care is a of critically necessary community assets. Philadelphia medical facility the hedge Capitalist closure means health crisis right. Getting rich off people’s injuries “Health care before profits!” is a popu- fund owns, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Hahnemann University Hospital’s clo- and illnesses, or by denying health care to lar slogan. A new and imaginative labor/ Children (188 beds). sure would result in a public health crisis people who cannot afford to pay, is con- community fightback to the proposed A July 2 flier issued by the Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The Vine Street hospital sidered inhumane everywhere but in the shutdown can save Hahnemann. Workers Association of Staff Nurses and Allied is the only location in the city that offers U.S. The right to profit off people’s mis- and community must fight back for health Professionals (PASNAP) revealed that special nursing assistance for sexual ery is as wrong under capitalism as it was care as a right for all! ☐ Freedman’s hedge fund backers are assault victims. Hahnemann’s two-year old Apollo ($32 billion in assets) and Colliers Transgender Fellowship Training Program ($26 billion in assets). provides training and education in major WW Commentary Hahnemann’s workers provide services reconstructive cases, including pre- and for over 40,000 patients annually. post-operative care—​the first of its kind in The workers are represented by PASNAP the city and the second in the nation. Legislators attack treatment (Penn. Association of Staff Nurses and After nurses at Hahnemann reported Allied Professionals) and District 1199C of they lacked basic supplies necessary to the National Union of Hospital and Health provide quality patient care, hospital for opioid use disorder Care Employees provide services for over owners announced the end of emergency 40,000 patients annually. room trauma care, which was the city’s By Princess Harmony treatment, this diversion is so severe that “Hahnemann is a safety-net hospital designated-Level I Trauma Center for Philadelphia they must put up these barriers. that for decades has provided care to an adults. Studies have shown communities ‘Buprenorphine saved my life’ underserved community,” said PASNAP suffer an immediate 21 percent increase in Buprenorphine, the main active ingre- President Maureen May, RN. “We cannot trauma mortality when drive time to the dient in the products Suboxone, Subutex, We have to examine why people divert allow predatory, for-profit companies to nearest trauma center is increased imme- Sublocade, Zubsolv and Bunavail, is con- buprenorphine to others because it isn’t a plunder such a valuable public good. It is diately after a trauma center closes, with a sidered one of the gold-standard methods drug that can actually get an opioid-toler- incumbent upon the state and city to step 29 percent increase during the following of treatment of opioid-use disorder, com- ant person high. As a partial opioid ago- in and guarantee that the poor and work- two years. (tinyurl.com/y3whvdqv) monly referred to as opioid addiction. Yet nist, it imperfectly fits the opioid receptors ing people who depend upon this hospital Every single Philadelphia hospi- the Pennsylvania Senate is considering in the brain and therefore does not provide to continue to receive the care that they tal currently has emergency room wait two bills that would act as barriers to that the traditional opioid effects of euphoria. need.” (F3News, June 27) times well above the national average. treatment. Instead, it’s a drug that staves off the Without Hahnemann, which has more Bill SB 675 would establish state-level withdrawal and the cravings associated Fightback begins against than 40,000 ER visits a year, the stress certification for buprenorphine mainte- with long-term opioid use disorder. ‘corporate capitalization’ placed on other area hospitals serving nance therapy providers requiring fees People are using it to keep themselves Significantly, the bankruptcy filing low-income patients would be disastrous. of up to $500 per provider and between from having to go back to heroin, which did not include the real estate occupied Almost two-thirds of Hahnemann’s vol- 8 and 24 hours of training on the medica- has largely become tainted with the syn- by Hahnemann, which was founded in ume are Medicaid and Medicare patients. tion and on opioid use disorder. thetic opioids fentanyl and carfentanil. the center of the city in 1848. In 1995, In addition to the hospital’s workers and The fee would be paid for each provider On this basis alone, diversion of Hahnemann merged with Woman’s patients, the closure will also have a ripple that prescribes the medication. Because buprenorphine serves a positive purpose. Medical College of Pennsylvania, founded effect on the surrounding economy, costing many clinics have multiple prescribers, Even non-opioids now contain fentanyl in 1850 and the first medical college to the jobs of hundreds of other workers in these fees would stack up to create an and the highly deadly carfentanil, lead- award women a medical degree. The hos- hospital supply and service businesses. insurmountable barrier for smaller clin- ing to more people becoming dependent pital is now the main teaching facility of ics, especially those serving rural areas in on opioids than ever before. Drexel University College of Medicine. ‘Blood, sweat and tears equity’ the state where the opioid epidemic has We’re at a moment when so many die Many critics charge the hedge fund with Of course capitalists believe they alone largely burned communities in silence. of overdoses every single day, yet the planning to replace the hospital’s seven have the power to decide how property The proposed requirements are state wishes to make it harder for peo- medical buildings and its parking garage can be exploited for their profit—​a belief also redundant, as the Drug Addiction ple to get on life-saving medications. We with more profitable commercial and res- Hahnemann’s workers and its surround- Treatment Act of 2000 already requires need more buprenorphine in the hands of idential structures. The six acres of prime ing communities are going up against. special registration and training for pre- people who need it. Center City land is located along the Vine An illogical capitalist system that scribers of buprenorphine products. In a workers' world, buprenorphine (and Street Expressway, adjacent to the busy rewards Wall Street profits before health DATA 2000 itself already creates barriers methadone!) would be treated as another Pennsylvania Convention Center and near care could put an end to 171 years of med- to care, as it limits the number of patients tool in the anti-addiction toolbox. It would many popular cultural institutions. ical service to the ill and injured of this who providers are able to treat. be pushed as hard or harder than Vivitrol A protest on June 27, the day after the city. Thousands of workers would be put The second bill, still in committee in and ReVia (generic name: naltrexone); it closing announcement, drew 200 hos- out of work. Community residents would the House, would require 2.5 hours of would be seen as a life-saving medication pital workers and community activists lose a medical facility that provided them therapy at a state-licensed treatment like Narcan (generic name: naloxone); and, who listened to nurse, labor and political with critical health care. facility for a year. It would also require most importantly, its use would snowball leaders outside City Hall asking for the In a humane society, Hahnemann’s the prescribers and clinics to eventually and greatly undercut the opioid epidemic. state to intervene. Labor unions present workers and staff, alongside their neigh- wean people off the medication, with Some argue that buprenorphine main- included Electrical Union Local 98, the bors who have depended on them for some patients being permitted to stay on tenance treatment is an addiction in Philadelphia Council of the AFL-CIO, the generations, would have more right to longer if they obtain a waiver. itself, despite all the evidence that shows News Guild, Communications Workers control the Hahnemann property than Using diversion—the​ illicit trade, sale otherwise. House Representative Kerry (CWA), the Service Employees, UNITE wealthy financiers who have never even or gifting to other people—​of buprenor- Benninghoff said, “All you’re doing is trad- HERE, PASNAP and District 1199C. stepped foot in the buildings. phine was their reasoning for the two ing one drug for another.” This is a perva- On June 28, several dozen nurses gath- The decades of blood, sweat and tears bills. Meanwhile politicians have decided sive myth that has only served to scare ered outside the Rittenhouse Square apart- at Hahnemann should count for some to ignore the overwhelming evidence people away from getting treatment that ment of banker Freedman, chairman and equity in determining its future, even if it that comes from the medical and scien- could very well save their lives. CEO of Hahnemann’s parent company, takes a worker/community occupation to tific community. They argue that while Being dependent on a medication and American Academic Health System, to prove that point. they understand buprenorphine has being addicted to a drug are two very dif- demand that he keep the hospital open. Workers' takeovers of workplaces have positive medical uses and has positive ferent things. We don’t say that a diabetic Another 100 Hahnemann supporters happened before, from the Republic use in addiction/substance use disorder Continued on page 10 workers.org July 11, 2019 Page 5 Capitalism means the working class is working poor On the

By Arielle Robinson

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics picket line By Alex Bolchi and Sue Davis released its most recent jobs report July 5, citing 224,000 “new jobs” added, with “notable” gains in professional and business services, transportation Wabtec workers ratify hard- and warehousing, and health care. (tinyurl.com/yyy3bk5x) fought contract The New York Times touted the About 1,700 workers, represented by Electrical Workers (UE) Locals 506 report as “good news for workers,” and and 618, ratified a four-year contract with Wabtec (Westinghouse Airbrake the Boston Herald celebrated: “Trump Technologies) in Erie, Pa., on June 12. After a historic nine-day strike in March economy continues to roll.” But those (WW, March 6 and 15), UE continued to rally solidarity in Erie and Pittsburgh newspapers are mouthpieces for dif- communities while negotiating the agreement the membership approved. ferent currents of the capitalist owning When Wabtec took control of the GE Transportation division in February, class. Ironically, the BLS has recently it refused to honor 70-years of bargaining history with UE. The company stopped reporting printing produc- stopped offering a pension and retiree health care to the highly skilled tion jobs, such as those in newspapers. WORKERS WORLD PHOTO workforce and demanded mandatory overtime, including that 20 percent (tinyurl.com/y66nuowx) At the Days of Grace Mass March against racism and for of the workforce be non-union temps and starting wages be $16.75 for a Other research—​from the Urban economic justice in Charleston, S.C., Sept. 5, 2017. permanent second tier with an 18-year progression before those workers Institute, the Organization for Economic could reach parity with current workers. Co-operation and Development and elsewhere—​ to have recovered. When the company threatened to move the work out of Erie if UE refused reveals the truly dire situation of the working Furthermore, the BLS report shows that a two-tier workforce, UE threatened another strike. The workers won a class in the U.S., which capitalism is pushing almost 6 million workers have either quit modified victory: They agreed to a two-tier wage structure over 10 years deeper and deeper into economic crisis. searching for a job, are unable to find one or before parity, with starting pay at $20.47. (Existing workers in the lowest Despite an official economic expansion cannot secure full-time work. job classification currently earn $31.49.) Not only does the agreement keep across the U.S. that surpassed the 1990s The unemployment rate, at about 3.6 existing jobs, but Wabtec guarantees 100 new positions by the end of the boom, 40 percent of U.S. working-class resi- percent, does not include people who have contract. It also agreed to give preferential treatment (but at lower pay dents say they find it difficult to pay their bills. searched extensively for work and failed to scale) to 460 previously laid-off GE workers when jobs open up. (tinyurl.com/yxppvsfd) find a job, or those who have quit searching “The 10-year progression is not something that people wanted to happen, Their costs for health care, education and altogether due to various factors. And the gov- but the company would not let that go,” UE General President Peter Knowlton housing are increasing, while their wages look ernment’s rates do not include those who do told Labor Notes. (June 30) If the union had called another strike, he believes to take a turn for the worst. Their debts have not receive unemployment insurance or mil- it would have been “self-defeating” with the loss of community support. been increasing. Renting homes is now a more itary enlistees. “We’ve managed to preserve a lot of what we had,” asserted UE Local affordable option than owning a house—​not The current “low” unemployment rate is 506 President Scott Slawson, “Not only did UE maintain the right to strike only in urban areas. not a true portrait of the crisis in the working based on transfer, subcontracting resulting in permanent layoffs, or the Some, who make up this 40 percent, report class. For instance, unemployment rates for company’s failure to resolve grievances in a timely manner,” but “there’s barely being able to scrape by. When a trag- Black people are nearly double the rates for relief in the community.” edy hits, like the death of a loved one, daily life white people. In 2018, it was reported that the becomes unaffordable, and the working poor unemployment rate for disabled workers was fall behind on their bills. more than twice that of nondisabled workers. The present economic expansion in the U.S. Workers who are part of the LGBTQ2S+ 9-hour UAW strike leads to has been weaker than previous ones, with community do not have protection from dis- its “benefits” distributed far more unevenly. crimination in workplaces across 28 states. contract Roughly half of gross domestic product growth These workers, especially trans and gen- from 2009 to 2015 went to the top 1 percent der-nonconforming people, are more likely to After auto parts company Faurecia and the United Auto Workers failed of households. (Emmanuel Saez, “Striking it be unemployed than straight and/or cisgender to reach a new contract by midnight June 21, 1,900 workers went on strike Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the people. in Saline, Mich. United States”) The number of working-class people living Represented by UAW Local 892, the workers build instrument panels, The Great Recession of 2008 is still impact- paycheck to paycheck, the number of workers center consoles and interior parts for Fiat, Ford, Chrysler and Lincoln vehi- ing people. One reason many cannot pay their who can’t find full-time work or any job at all, cles; those plants depend on Faurecia parts. After Local 892 posted the bills now is because they have never been able the super-high unemployment rates in com- strike on Facebook, UAW talks with company bigwigs in the Paris suburbs to recover from that economic crisis. Families munities of color—​all expose the true state of extended into the early hours of the morning. The strike ended nine hours of color and households that earn less than working people in the U.S. far more reliably later when the two sides reached a tentative agreement. $60,000 annually are the groups least likely that the recent BLS report. ☐ Less than a week later, the membership passed the four-year contract by 83 percent. The contract will raise pay each year and create a job for a union health and safety representative. (UAW.org, July 2) When management resists paying union scale wages and benefits, workers have to persuade Union pickets ‘declare independence them with the strike weapon! from poverty wages’ BoJack Horseman animators Service Employees Local 1199 (SEIU) picketed outside ‘draw’ union cards the Key Bank building July 3 in downtown Cleveland to “declare After years of struggle, animation workers at the popular Netflix cartoon independence from poverty “BoJack Horseman” voted overwhelmingly June 21 to ratify their first union wages.” The 1199 district rep- contract. The crew, including storyboard and background artists, designers, resenting Ohio, Kentucky and character and prop designers, compositors and supervisors at Shadowmachine West Virginia was “calling on in Los Angeles, produces the show through Animal Head animation. (Cartoon Key Bank CEO and Chair of Brew, June 21) The Animation Guild-International Alliance of Theatrical the Cleveland Clinic Board Stage Employees Local 839 (TAG-IATSE) represents the workers. of Directors Beth Mooney to The crew, now in its sixth season, has struggled for a union since its first stand with workers at the clinic season. But the bosses ignored them, though Bojack writers and voice-ac- who struggle under the weight tors had been unionized from the start. The separate tier made the work- of poverty wages.” (SEIU release, July 2) Over and other companies where she is on the board ers feel the bosses valued some talents over others. After Shadowmachine 100 workers at the clinic were promised a pay of directors. refused to acknowledge that 75 percent of the crew had signed cards for increase, up from $13.85 an hour, but were then SEIU Local 1 recently won wage increases representation by TAG-IATSE, the crew staged a 10-minute walkout on denied it. to $15 an hour in four years, along with health Friday, March 29. Studio owners began negotiations the following Monday. Cleveland Clinic, with over 32,000 workers, insurance, for 500 janitors who service down- Once the union fight reached social media — with photographs of the is the largest employer in Cuyahoga County, but town buildings, including Key Bank. The fight crew sporting TAG T-shirts—well-known voice actors, as well as the Screen remains nonunion. KeyCorp is the ninth largest for $15 and a union continues. As the workers Actors Guild and BoJack writers, posted support. The workers won wage employer, with net profits of $1.8 billion in 2018. chanted, “If we don’t get it, shut it down! All the minimums as well as employer-paid health and retirement benefits. They CEO Mooney earned over $9 million in compen- way down! Way, way down!” will proudly join workers at more than 50 Netflix animated series repre- sation last year from KeyCorp alone, not includ- sented by Local 839. (Animation World Network, June 21) ☐ ing what she was paid by Cleveland Clinic, AT&T ­— Story and photo by Martha Grevatt PHOTO: WHITE, ARNOLD AND DOWD

Page 6 July 11, 2019 workers.org ‘Policing the womb’ in Alabama

By Minnie Bruce Pratt laws now defining and attacking people autonomy of poor women of color. who are pregnant as mere vessels or carri- Those advocating the laws do not The intensified attack on women, the ers of a fetus. In Alabama hundreds have openly state or admit their prejudiced gender-oppressed and reproductive jus- been prosecuted with a state “chemical intent, instead camouflaging hateful rac- tice, denounced as “policing the womb” endangerment of a child” statute for sup- ism under the pretext of defending the by reproductive rights advocate and activ- posedly exposing their embryo or fetus to “right to life.” ist Michelle Goodwin, has reached a new controlled substances. level of violence in Alabama. According to Lynn Paltrow, founder Aimed at poor women of color On July 3, Marshae Jones, a young and executive director of National The hypocrisy of that position was pregnant African-American woman, Advocates for Pregnant Women, Alabama unmasked, once again, through infor- was arrested after being indicted by an leads the U.S. in charging women for mation explored at length in a July 3 Alabama grand jury for manslaughter—​ crimes related to pregnancy. She also Birmingham News column, “The Marshae Jones PHOTO: WHITE, ARNOLD AND DOWD because she miscarried her fetus after noted women across the country have Reckon”: Black mothers are nearly four being shot in the stomach by an attacker. been prosecuted for manslaughter or times more likely to die in childbirth and women of their same class. The shooter, another woman known to murder for having an abortion or experi- pregnancy than white mothers. This is the Obviously, if proponents of the reac- Jones, was not indicted and was set free. encing a miscarriage. widest racial disparity in women’s health tionary anti-abortion and anti-mis- The indictment against Jones was On May 15, Alabama’s governor signed in the U.S. carriage laws currently being passed based on the statement of the arrest- into law the most repressive anti-abor- The reasons range from structural rac- sincerely cared about mothers and chil- ing Pleasant Grove, Ala., police, whose tion law in recent U.S. history, which ism to individual prejudice, from refusal dren, they would be pressing above all spokesperson said, “[T]he only true prohibited abortions in cases of rape or of states to expand Medicaid coverage for for a more responsive, accessible and victim” was the fetus, dependent on incest. Other states, including Georgia, poor people, to such unprovable but real income-affordable maternal health care its mother to keep it from any “harm.” Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, medical racism as that experienced by Myra system. They would be facing and fighting (Washington Post, June 28) Missouri and Ohio, have passed legisla- Powell in Montgomery, Ala. Miscarrying the racism that causes disproportionate The law firm representing Jones filed tion nearly as punitive in efforts to crimi- twin fetuses at 26 weeks, drenched in blood deaths in communities of color—​from a motion to dismiss the charges, but their nalize and police reproductive rights. and in pain, she was taken to the hospital lack of health care to police brutality, to argument was based on legal grounds There has been a lot of focus on inter- by ambulance drivers who never turned on immigrant prison concentration camps. related to manslaughter, not a challenge preting these reactionary laws as a right- the emergency siren or lights, sat at every With careful examination, the indict- to the concept of personhood assigned to a wing attempt to get an argument before stop sign and red light and never exceeded ment of Marshae Jones shows instead fetus that the grand jury had used to indict. the Supreme Court that could enable the the speed limits. that the pushers of reactionary laws tied After an international and U.S. outcry, end of access to abortion in the U.S. She was accompanied by a paramedic to reproduction are seeking the criminal- including a demonstration at the Bessemer In fact, these laws are only the latest who kept checking his phone during the ization of poor women, women of color, Justice Center, as well as support from the initiative developed and deployed against excruciatingly slow trip and then refused sexually independent people. They are Yellowhammer Fund, an Alabama abor- reproductive rights won over the last 46 to authorize her transfer to a hospital seeking to continue the dominance of tion rights organization, the local district years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe with a neonatal unit. white supremacy and capitalist patriarchy. attorney announced on July 4 she had v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. The state of Texas’ assessment of its Marshae Jones was freed only through decided “not to prosecute” Jones. There have been an unrelenting maternal deaths showed the risk for Black local, national and international organiz- onslaught of “right-to-life” laws at the mothers was high regardless of marital ing. That is the response that will end the Criminalization of abortion/miscarriage state level, based on religious and non- status, education level or access to pri- “policing of wombs” and assert reproduc- The original police statement reflects scientific beliefs. These disproportion- vate insurance. Financially well-off Black tive justice instead. ☐ the anti-woman, anti-poor, racist wave of ately punish and attempt to control the women die at higher rates than white Acts of solidarity with migrants grow Continued from page 1 these colonial borders were devised to violence interact on their inflict in the first place. For example, look jobs and with people they have responded to this border migrant at law enforcement agencies. supposedly serve. Rather crisis. A federal judge responded to a law- than trying to reform these suit regarding facilities in the Texas Rio Racist, sexist arm of the state institutions that are rooted Grande Valley, which includes a noto- Agents of law enforcement, from the in oppression, people must rious El Paso concentration camp. The federal CBP agency to local and state abolish them. judge demanded that health experts be police officers, have been found to be In discussions, folks allowed to examine children and investi- exchanging actively harmful opinions in often raise that for all gate the detention centers. Facebook groups. ProPublica reported these hateful law enforce- WW PHOTO: MINNIE BRUCE PRATT Democratic congressional members that nearly 9,500 current and former bor- ment agents, there are Over 100 people gathered in Syracuse, N.Y., on and even presidential candidates have der patrol agents were sharing a myriad also agents who are good. July 2 to demand "Close the Camps." been visiting some centers across the of abhorrent, xenophobic, sexist memes But community organizer country. While there may be some gen- and conversations that often times called Vienna Rye counters that by asking in One group looking to bridge these uine outrage from these representatives, for credible threats of violence against her artist piece, “What does it mean to struggles is Fight for Im/migrants and many get the feeling that 2020 candidates migrants and sexual violence against be good at your job, when your job is to Refugees Everywhere, or FIRE, which in particular are using the trauma of ref- public officials like New York Democratic enforce racist, sexist, unjust laws?” calls for no more concentration camps, ugee detention for personal and politi- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Reporter Tanvi Misra pointed out how immediate asylum for all refugees, end- cal gain. Presidential candidate “Beto” On June 14, Reveal News reported border militarization evolved hand-in- ing mass incarceration and an end to U.S. O’Rourke held a June 29 protest outside that hundreds of current and former hand with the rise of military-style policing imperialist intervention abroad. a Southwest Key facility near downtown police officers and sheriffs were sharing in segregated U.S. cities. This connection is If you agree with these demands, Houston. His team reached out to a cou- racist memes, conspiracy theories and crucial for our understanding of the repres- join FIRE for national demonstrations ple of local organizers prior to the event Islamophobia on the same social media sion we’re up against. Divide-and-conquer against war abroad and at home in cit- and ignored the women of the Carnalismo platform. is a core tactic of colonial and capital- ies throughout the country the week of Brown Berets once the event began. At home and on the border, people in ist oppression. So, at the same time, it is July 12-16; Global Strike Against Climate Conventional institutional interventions positions of real power face no repercus- important to connect the border migrant Change at the U.N. in New York City the seem ill-equipped to face the scale of terror sions for actively producing and spread- crisis to prison abolition, the climate cri- week of Sept 21-28; and a rally against and violence of the border migrant crisis in ing hateful material online. The ideas sis and the anti-war movement. There colonialism in Puerto Rico at the U.N. an expedient manner. In many cases, such and images expressed on social media no are no borders in the workers' struggle. on Sept. 22. You can find out more at institutions only reinforce the violence doubt inform the way these agents of state (Citylab.com, Nov. 29, 2018) fightformigrants.org. ☐

Just a few days after President Trump announced and then Hundreds protest ICE in Philly postponed his pledge to deport millions of immigrants, about 200 people protested at Philadelphia's Immigration and Customs Enforcement center on June 24. "Show Up: When Trump Cracks Down, Community Fights Back!" was called by the New Sanctuary Movement/Nuevo Movimiento Santuario, Juntos, CAIR (Philadelphia Chapter), Philadelphia Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, and Make the Road Pennsylvania. Miguel Andrade of Juntos explained, "This crowd is mostly white. That's because Trump's threats of mass deportations are creating terror in my community." After hearing several other speakers, organizers led the participants in a march. — Report and photos by Joe Piette PHOTO: WHITE, ARNOLD AND DOWD

workers.org July 11, 2019 Page 7 Buffalo celebrates Stonewall and local LGBTQ2S+ movement turn 50

By Workers World Buffalo, N.Y., bureau She noted in the interview: “It was ‘69 when I joined the anti-war movement, and it just sort of flowed from This year marks 50 years since the legendary Stonewall my ideas about struggle and oppression. It was intersec- Rebellion and also 50 years since the birth of Buffalo’s tionality before it had a word. organized LGBTQ2S+ movement. “I was beginning to have an inkling that I was des- In celebration, the Buffalo-Niagara Falls LGBTQ tined to struggle, and so I joined Workers World Party, History Project sponsored a “Gay Liberation Reunion because they were, at the time, the only socialist party Panel” on June 27. Five of the many founders of the local to have both a women’s caucus and a lesbian and gay Buffalo movement explained, to a standing-room-only caucus, both fully functional. I could be active in the gay crowd of over 100 people, what life was like for them in community, and I could be active in the workers’ strug- the city in the early 1970s. gles. It just sort of worked beautifully.” Panelists included Bill Gardner, Greg Bodekor, Don PHOTO: LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER HISTORY ARCHIVE Maloney also gave more recent liberation history, Licht and Rodney Hensel, now a LGBTQ2S+ senior Buffalo’s Mattachine Society at the Gay Liberation March in recounting the joining of pro-choice and LGBTQ2S+ issues activist; Madeline D. Davis, co-author of the his- Albany, N.Y., in 1971. communities in the late 1990s to form Buffalo United for tory of the Buffalo lesbian community, “Boots of Leather, Choice, when anti-abortion forces descended on the city. Slippers of Gold”; and Marge Maloney, an active mem- the community fought back by founding its own organi- She noted that the earlier gay liberation struggle built the ber of Workers World Party since 1969. zations. That was a very brave thing to do at that time foundation for community self-defense when anti-abor- The panel emphasized that the LGBTQ2S+ movement because if anyone was arrested, not only their names but tion forces came back to Buffalo in 2001 and targeted both in Buffalo was different from those in bigger cities like Los their home addresses were published in local newspapers. women’s clinics and the LGBTQ2S+ community. Rainbow Angeles and New York, primarily due to Buffalo being a Panel members stressed that the struggles in Buffalo, Peacekeepers, a group of about 100 people, came together midsize, working-class, blue-collar city, which had a closely as elsewhere, were linked to and inspired by the paral- to send groups of people out on the weekends to defend linked, complex and thriving, if closeted, community. lel women's liberation movement, the Black and Latinx LGBTQ bars and clubs threatened by right-wing bigots. The panelists recounted the founding in the late 1960s movements, and other struggles for liberation taking In a video link at the Qween City blog, Mahoney of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier and place during the same years, including the anti-war recounts how participating in both those mobiliza- the Sisters of Sappho, as well as the opening of what movement. In the discussion, it was mentioned that tions was another LGBTQ2S+ activist and WWP com- was the third largest LGBTQ2S+ center in the country. Workers World Party was the only left party to have an rade, Leslie Feinberg, who grew up and came out in This space provided a social area for people to meet and active lesbian and gay caucus. Buffalo’s gay community, and whose now-classic trans hang out, as well as providing a suicide hot line, coun- There was so much more that needed to be said about novel “Stone Butch Blues” was set in the city. Feinberg’s seling service and activities. The Fifth Freedom, an early the history of justice struggles in Buffalo, but the panel ground-breaking Marxist history of transgender oppres- LGBTQ2S+newspaper, was published in Buffalo for the ran out of time. However, in a separate June 27 inter- sion and struggle, “Transgender Warriors” (1996), Western New York region from 1970 into the early 1980s. view in the Qween City blog, WWP comrade Marge details Feinberg’s coming to political consciousness and Members of the audience asked: “What prompted this Maloney filled out some of the connections among strug- activism within the dynamic movements in Buffalo. community to be so bold?” The answer was: “We were gles. Maloney, a lifelong workers’ and LGBTQ2S+ rights tired of being harassed, beat up and arrested by the cops activist, was born in 1947 on the West Side of Buffalo to “Stone Butch Blues” is now available as a free and other anti-gay people.” In response to the repression, an Irish-Catholic working-class family. download at lesliefeinberg.net. Actions accelerate to close immigrant concentration camps

By Gloria Rubac people who have lived in what is now Texas and Mexico Houston for centuries, spoke: “Our people have historically lived on both sides of the river, moved around the area, and Since im/migrant families began to be torn apart at now they are making us aliens. They are building a wall the border in 2018, there have been dozens and doz- on our ancestors’ graves.” ens of Houston protests, marches and rallies against The leader of Black Lives Matter, Ashton Woods, got Trump’s racist border policies. the crowd’s energy flowing as he led chants and spoke: But now that brutal conditions within the immigrant “I stand here as a descendant of a slave, a LGBTQIA per- concentration camps have finally been widely exposed son with AIDS. People like me are in those concentra- to the world, people have become even more outraged. tion camps. These people are fleeing violence created by Events to shut down the detention centers are taking this government. What do we have to celebrate today? place at a rapid pace. Mass incarceration, the Thirteenth Amendment, con- Houston FIRE (Fight for Im/migrants and Refugees centration camps and trans women being murdered Everywhere) has recently protested at the office of U.S. and brutalized? Be angry about this!” [The Thirteenth Sen. John Cornyn, participated in an anti-Fourth-of- Amendment to the U.S. Constitution included legaliza- July speakout against the camps and rallied at a down- tion of slavery in prisons.] town federal detention center. July 2, Houston. WW PHOTO: GLORIA RUBAC Sema Hernandez, activist and challenger to Sen. The July 2 protest at Cornyn’s office was part of a Cornyn, told the crowd: “We need to dismantle this national campaign to “Close the Camps” called by MoveOn. of Honduras, putting in his place a vicious dictator imperialist system based on capitalism and white org at the home offices of congresspeople returning from who allowed protesting students to be gunned down supremacy. We have to ramp up our work to abolish Washington, D.C., for the July 4 holiday. Ten of thousands and murders of Indigenous activists and organizers. ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and shut across the country came to these protests. Before that, in the 1980s, the Sandinista government down these concentration camps.” Some of the Democrats running for president have in Nicaragua was attacked by U.S.-backed contras who Houston FIRE’s banner and bright yellow signs were appeared in Houston to protest. On June 29, candidate committed horrific crimes—​murders, rapes and terror. very well received. Outcry about the concentration “Beto” O’Rourke called a rally at detention center Casa The number of U.S. military invasions and “interven- camps has reignited the outrage that began last summer Sunzul, which houses unaccompanied minors. Casa tions” in Central America is too long to list here. when families were first separated. FIRE intends to keep Sunzul is run by Southwest Key, a notorious nonprofit Ed E SomiSek, a member of the Esto’k Gna Indigenous that fire burning! ☐ that received hundreds of violation notices from state regulators during inspections over the last three years. But the palpable outrage of Houston demonstrators at the July 2 protest went far beyond Democratic politics. All Solidarity with migrants in Philadelphia four corners of a street intersection were filled with people Several hundred people mobilized for a demonstration linked arms, blocking the parade route while leading chanting, “Close the camps down!” Hundreds came—fam​ - at the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement chants in solidarity with migrants. ilies, veteran activists, religious groups, peace activists and in Philadelphia July 4 to demand the immediate closure — Report by Ben Carroll many who had never protested before. of migrant concentration camps and for an end of the Then, on July 4, as some people were ready to barbe- U.S. war on migrant workers. que or thinking about the later fireworks, the Carnalismo The action was part of the growing Brown Berets of Houston held “A Fourth of U Lie” event. #NeverAgainMeansNow protests and direct As organizer Elizabeth Lozano said, “We have children in actions being led by Jewish people, migrants, concentration camps. What is there to celebrate?” and workers and community members who have One of the first speakers reminded people: “Central shut down ICE facilities over the past few weeks. America has been colonized and pillaged by the U.S. Following a rally outside ICE, the demonstra- Now people are fleeing the horrible conditions that have tion snaked through oncoming traffic and headed been created. They will slaughter these refugees in the toward the July 4 parade outside Independence concentration camps if we don’t fight for them.” Hall in Center City. A line of cops prevented the Instances cited of U.S. colonizing actions included its march from reaching the parade, but a group of 2009 overthrow of the democratically elected president 33 activists was arrested as they sat down and WW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE Page 8 July 11, 2019 workers.org Gerrymandering, census and role of Supreme Court By Martha Grevatt written by Thomas Hofeller, the GOP’s longtime gerry- Voters sued, charging their legislators with “packing mandering mastermind. and cracking.” Under this scheme, voters for the oppo- The U.S. Supreme Court handed down two important “In a 2015 study, Hofeller wrote that adding a citi- sition party are “packed” into a small number of districts decisions on June 27, with major ramifications for the zenship question to the 2020 census would be ‘advan- that the majority party—​Republicans in North Carolina, working class, especially the most oppressed peoples. tageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites’ and Democrats in Maryland—​is unlikely to win. The rest are SCOTUS ruled 5-4 against Trump-appointed Secretary ‘a disadvantage to the Democrats.’” The late Hofeller’s “cracked” into districts where they are decidedly a minority. of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who sought a requirement estranged daughter revealed emails on June 14 between The court did not determine if the state legislatures were that all residents who fill out the 2020 census state if him and census official Christa Jones which explained guilty or not. Their 5-4 decision, addressing both cases, they are U.S. citizens or not. In a separate decision, the “how the question would benefit white voters and dis- was based on the premise that drawing district maps was justices voted 5-4 to allow gerrymandered congressional advantage non-white ones” and discussed collusion with up to states and therefore outside its jurisdiction. district maps in North Carolina and Maryland to remain the racist, xenophobic Center of Immigration Studies. Thus five conservative justices who are appointed for in place. (Slate, June 15) life, two by Trump, invoked the old segregationist fall- Im/migrant rights and Latinx groups and their allies Roberts sent this matter back to the Commerce back position of “states’ rights.” had filed lawsuits to block the citizenship question from Department, but the top court may rehear the case if While the cases heard involve both Democrats and appearing on the 2020 census form because it would dis- Ross and Trump come up with a new pretext for the cit- Republicans, the ruling is a gift to the GOP, which con- courage im/migrants from participating in the census. izenship question. trols a majority of state legislatures. It immediately Plaintiffs argued that adding this question would lead The reason Trump rushed the case to the high court, impacts Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan, whose cases the to an undercount, especially of the Latinx population, bypassing federal circuit courts, was purportedly that Supreme Court put on hold pending the outcome of the due to the fear that if they answered these questions, the it had to be decided before the census forms went to North Carolina and Maryland lawsuits. The gerryman- information could be used against them. print June 30. Now he is seeking to delay the start of dered district maps there will remain in place, and won’t This would have negative consequences for African- the census to allow a new, still undisclosed pretext to be be redrawn until after the 2020 election. American, Latinx and other oppressed communities. considered. Trump may also attempt to force the racist As Michigan’s grassroots organization Voters Not Federal grants for social services could be cut if reports question onto the form via executive order. Politicians explained after the decision came down: falsely show declining populations. States could end up For now, census forms are being printed without the “This ruling will allow politicians across the country with fewer congressional districts. Underrepresented citizenship question, a relief to im/migrant communi- to continue gerrymandering our election district maps communities of color would have even less political clout ties. That this court, with its conservative majority, unex- for their own personal and political gain.” Voters in in Washington. pectedly ruled as it did is a testament to the strength of Michigan overwhelmingly passed ballot measures in The high court’s majority did not reject all of Ross’s the im/migrant rights movement. This movement has 2018 creating independent commissions to redraw dis- arguments, but ruled 5-4 against his duplicitous pretext: demonstrated its strength with massive numbers of peo- trict maps, but not until 2021. that the citizenship question was needed to uphold the ple countrywide demanding: “Close the camps!” Voting Rights Act. In his decision, however, Chief Justice Tools of racist voter suppression John Roberts did not challenge its fallacious content, Right-wing court upholds gerrymandering While SCOTUS distinguished between “partisan” and writing only that Ross “adopted the Voting Rights Act The Supreme Court also decided two lawsuits based “racial” gerrymandering—​the latter being within its rationale late in the process.” (New York Times, June 27) on “partisan gerrymandering” in North Carolina and jurisdiction—​boosting white voting strength is a key Ross and his Republican cohorts have no intention Maryland. Gerrymandering occurs when a state legis- component of both. Called “Ohio’s poll tax,” political ger- of upholding voting rights. Plaintiffs’ attorneys dis- lature draws voting district maps to benefit the state’s rymandering is used to disenfranchise African-American covered on May 30: “A central portion of the Justice majority party. Lower courts ruled that such maps were and Latinx communities. Department’s rationale for the question was apparently unconstitutional. Continued on page 11 Philly refinery fire and closure Workers, community activists demand reparations By Betsey Piette negotiations, seeking concessions ahead of the expira- clean up decades of soil and water contamination. tion of the current contract in September. In announcing plans to close, PES officials say they Less than a week after devastating explosions Union President Ryan O’Callaghan said USW is inves- plan to sell the complex for continued use as a petro- caused a major fire on June 21, injuring five workers tigating whether the company’s insurance covered the chemical plant. Some city officials and developers see it at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South destroyed alkylation unit and resulting business losses, as a potential site for expanding the marine terminal in Philadelphia, the company announced June 27 that it estimated by industry experts at over $100 million. “It South Philadelphia. But area residents and environmen- was closing the plant, impacting over 1,000 workers. appears they’re cashing the check and heading for the tal activists have different ideas. Residents in neighboring communities, whose health doors,” he said. (post-gazette.com, June 26) and safety have been threatened for generations by the O’Callaghan stressed that the company had not noti- Hold owners responsible 150-year-old industrial facility, welcomed the news. fied him of plans for closure or layoffs before leaking Neighborhood residents want the site repurposed as “This has been genocide,” said Rodney Everett, South the news to the media. “This is what they do to us after a park. Some environmentalists have suggested the site Philadelphia resident and a member of the environmen- we safely shut down the plant while fighting a fire,” could become a giant wind or solar facility, which would tal group Philly Thrive, which has been campaigning O’Callaghan pointed out. still provide jobs and energy. to close the refinery. “They’ve been killing people, and Because of the nature of the blaze, Philadelphia fire- But it remains uncertain if PES or Sunoco will assume we’ve been paying for it.” fighters were not allowed onto the refinery to directly responsibility for cleanup of the massive 1,400-acre The community group also made it clear they stand combat the fire. USW workers, all skilled refinery emer- plant, which is responsible for over 72 percent of toxic with the workers, noting: “The June 21 explosion was gency workers and operators now facing job and possibly air emissions and pollution in Philadelphia. There are a direct result of longtime corporate mismanagement, pension losses, worked through the blasts on June 21, also issues of heavy groundwater and land contamina- and we continue to applaud the workers for ensuring got the fire under control and kept the city from a major tion. (tinyurl.com/y3vqu4bg) the accident was not the catastrophe it could have been.” catastrophe. Toxins released by the refinery include ammonia, The 335,000-barrel-a-day refinery is the largest on hydrogen cyanide, benzene and sulfuric acid, which the East Coast. Situated along the eastern bank of the Management at fault for maintenance problems cause everything from headaches to cancers. Other con- Schuylkill River, adjacent to I-76, the complex bor- As of June 28, the cause of the fire has yet to be deter- taminants on the site and in groundwater include petro- ders the Point Breeze neighborhood, heavily targeted mined, as federal emergency investigators found the site leum hydrocarbons, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene. for gentrification, and the Navy Yard, a former military too risky to enter. However, workers point out that PES, A major danger exposed as a result of the June 21 fire base that has been converted into an office complex and which is supposed to be responsible for safety manage- was the presence of tanks of hydrofluoric acid (HF) at industrial park. Of the 45,000 residents living within a ment systems in the refinery, had scaled back a test of the refinery. HF is capable of killing millions of people mile of the refinery, 71 percent are people of color and the maintenance system scheduled for January. if accidentally released. An HF cloud can travel 7 miles 32 percent live below the poverty level. Over the last five years, PES has been fined $649,417 within 10 minutes. At room temperature it can form Meanwhile, workers at the plant who were terminated for violations of air and water protections. (Philly.com, a toxic cloud, and exposure can lead to severe health because of the closure filed a class action lawsuit against June 22) problems and even death. Since it destroys nerve tissue, the company on June 28. They say PES violated the fed- In 2018 PES declared bankruptcy, and Wall Street burns may initially be painless; in higher concentrations, eral Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act hedge fund investors, Bardin Hill Investment Partners, HF causes cardiac arrest. of 1988 by not providing them with a 60-day advance took control of the refinery’s debt, estimated at $755 mil- The union credits a female employee with averting a notice. The United Steelworkers Local 10-1 contract also lion, and assumed ownership. catastrophe by quickly removing an HF tank when the requires a 60-day notice of layoffs. A 25 percent share of the ownership, derived through explosions took place. Around 100 non-union employees were dismissed the previous owner, Sunoco, is retained by its par- Philly Thrive is calling on the city of Philadelphia and within hours of the closure announcement with no sever- ent company, Carlyle Group LP and Energy Transfer the state of Pennsylvania to hold present owners Bardin ance pay. Local 10-1, which represents 614 refinery work- Partners LP. Sunoco still has responsibility for pre- Hill, and past owners Sunoco and its parent company the ers, were told they would remain on payroll until July 12. 2012 environmental liabilities estimated at $207 Carlyle Group and Energy Transfer Partners, responsible Earlier this year the company shuffled its manage- million through its subsidiary Evergreen Resources for the cleanup. They note that Carlyle took more than ment team, froze employee bonuses, and told employees Management Operations. (Philly.com, June 27) $500 million out of PES when it owned the company. it was deferring matching payments to their retirement In 2012 Sunoco received $25 million in public funds, Thrive wants this money returned to pay for workers’ accounts until 2020. Nearly half of the union workers tax breaks and environmental liability waivers in pensions and health care, severance pay and retraining are older than 50. PES also tried to reopen contract exchange for keeping the refinery open and agreeing to assistance and for the complete remediation of the site. ☐ workers.org July 11, 2019 Page 9

Growing signs of deepening global capitalist crisis Part 1

By Ben Carroll gas, a carton of milk, a college degree, a below expectations. Unemployment claims on government short-term bonds are now visit to the doctor and nearly every other in May also spiked. Although the official greater than those on longer-term bonds. The capitalist media have recently been good or service has risen substantially U.S. employment rate remains below 4 This has happened before, when there filled with competing headlines—​some since that time, leading many to take on percent, the unemployment rate for Black was pessimism about the longer-term issuing stark warnings of an impending increasing amounts of debt. Many work- and Latinx workers, as well as women prospects for the economy. And it has pre- economic slowdown, others dismissing ers, particularly the most oppressed, live workers, is nearly double that—​by official ceded every U.S. economic crisis. Banks this prediction outright. But a look past paycheck to paycheck. counts. These official statistics artificially and major corporations are the primary the blaring headlines reveals growing signs conceal the reality for many U.S. work- purchasers of U.S. Treasury bonds. The that a worldwide contraction of the capi- Signs point to impending downturn ers, who have been forced to take on two curve inverted briefly in March and has talist economy could soon tip the U.S. and The bankers’ bank—​the U.S. Federal or three low-wage, part-time or gig jobs or once again been inverted since late May. other major economies into recession. Reserve—has​ pumped trillions upon tril- work in informal sectors of the economy Newly released data also show that This is in spite of the fact that the lions of dollars into the economy to keep it just to make ends meet—​or have given up consumer debt in the U.S.—​on things super-casino for the rich known as the afloat, from direct handovers to the banks looking for work altogether. like student loans, credit cards, car loans, stock market has once again reached during the bailouts in 2008, to interest The first quarter of the 2019 gross etc.—​has ballooned to over $14 trillion, record highs. The time since the last rate cuts that make it easier for bankers domestic product was officially reported as surpassing levels that preceded the 2008 major financial collapse is nearing the and other large capitalist corporations to having grown by 3.2 percent. However, a financial collapse. Student debt alone has longest in recent history. These two borrow money. The central banks of many deeper look reveals that the core metrics of risen to nearly $1.5 trillion, compared to things, of course, do not reflect the real- of the major capitalist powers across the the economy—spending​ and investment—​ $611 billion in 2008. ity of the lives of the vast majority of soci- world have taken similar interventions to grew only 1.1 percent. (Forbes, April 30) Manufacturing data in the U.S. have ety—the​ workers and the oppressed. prevent their economies from contracting Several indicators, considered bench- shown a steep decline in recent months. A survey released June 14 by Bankrate. and entering a recession. This is on top of marks showing the direction that the econ- The Empire State Manufacturing Index com found that nearly a quarter of U.S. the massive handouts to the super-rich via omy is heading, also revealed an impending in June registered its largest one-month workers reported they were worse off since Trump’s tax cuts in 2017. financial crisis. The Cass Freight Index, decline in its 18-year history. A simi- the 2007 economic crash. Surely, this tells The effectiveness of this strategy to which measures the volume of movement lar index measured by the Philadelphia only part of the story of the profound ways resuscitate the capitalist economy by the of commodities, showed negative growth Federal Reserve also reflected a steep in which the lives of many workers across cabal of central bankers who exercise a year over year for the past five months. decline. Meanwhile, as jobs are being cut the globe were impacted by the capitalist considerable amount of control over the This echoes similar statistics showing and production slows in manufacturing, financial crisis of 2007, which wiped out global economy appears to be reaching its that air freight at many of the global cap- the trucking industry is reporting a pro- workers’ savings and pensions, led to a conclusion. italist economies’ most important ports—​ nounced slowdown, and there have also massive wave of foreclosures and layoffs, On June 13, Morgan Stanley reported from London to Singapore, Memphis to been a series of bankruptcies of shipping introduced punishing austerity, invigo- that its Business Conditions Index, which Frankfurt—​were all flat or in negative companies. rated attacks on workers’ ability to organize reflects sentiment about economic condi- territory compared with this time in 2018, We have no crystal ball, but these are and fight and gave rise to the gig economy tions, fell by 32 points—​a record decline some by significant margins. Orders for just a few of the many signs that point to and greater insecurity for wider sections of month to month—​reaching its lowest new aircraft also declined. an impending contraction of the capital- the working class. level since December 2008. A topic of much discussion in the cap- ist economy, not just in the U.S., but on a The same survey found that the median The May report by the Bureau of Labor italist media has been the inverted yield worldwide basis. ☐ family income in 2016 was nearly the Statistics showed that the U.S. economy curve on government bonds, or debt. This same as in 2000. The price of a gallon of added only 75,000 jobs that month, far refers to the fact that interest rates paid Next: Global developments Solidarity in the fight against white supremacy The Sixth International South is the least the months that followed. either building an army of surplus labor Assembly of the International unionized region We often find the South characterized by holding oppressed people in cages or League of Peoples' Struggles of the country, as inherently backward, but on a very is building a literal army of surplus labor took place in Hong Kong June where most states subjective basis. The material reality fac- tasked with bombing and killing people in 23-26. Founded in 2001, ILPS have made union- ing workers and oppressed people in the the Global South. It is often both. is a coalition of more than 200 izing illegal. Still, South includes public institutions that It would be remiss of me not to speak anti-imperialist mass organi- many workers are have been severely disinvested in, leav- briefly to the questions surrounding zations from around the world able to organize ing working-class communities with little white workers and the growing debate that “promotes, supports and through workers’ or no access to education, job programs, within the revolutionary movement develops the struggles of the Loan Tran WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN assemblies—​such health care and more. regarding whether or not any revolution- peoples of the world, including as the Southern Racism and reactionary movements ary potential exists in the U.S. The argu- the workers, peasants, women, youth, Workers Assembly—​and “social unions” didn’t originate in the South because ment is often made that, no, this is not professionals and other sectors of soci- in order to lift up demands for workers workers and oppressed people are less possible because all workers in the U.S. ety against the ideological, political, and oppressed people. educated or inherently bigots; racism and are settlers. At a very preliminary starting military, economic, social and cultural The South is also home to at least one- reactionary movements get seeded in the point, I want to argue that we must ques- domination and attacks of imperialism third of the population of LGBTQ peo- South because it is an effective staging tion this, considering Indigenous people and reaction.” Loan Tran, who attended ple in the country, a majority of whom and containment ground for the ruling are still fighting for their land, more and as a representative of the International are also Black, Brown and Indigenous. class in the U.S. and around the globe. more people from the Global South are Action Center, spoke at the assembly. LGBTQ people of color and LGBTQ work- North Carolina, for example, is home being forced north by U.S. imperialism, Part 1 of Tran’s remarks, slightly edited, ers face additional layers of challenges, to Fort Bragg, one of the largest military and Black people continue to be subject are presented below. Read the entire talk not just in the workplace—​if we are able bases in the world. All along the southern to slave-like conditions in the U.S. at workers.org. For more information to find work—but​ also within the move- coast, working people live with military This is just one of many contradictions about ILPS, see ilps.info. ment, where marginalization of LGBTQ bases right in their backyards and are that exist for the working-class movement people often continues. That indicates the surrounded by military propaganda and in the U.S., and we must continue to seek Part 1: The U.S. South continued need to update whom we see as recruitment efforts that largely target poor, out the best line that allows more class sol- I would like to focus specifically on the “working class.” working-class Black and Brown people. idarity within the U.S. and with anti-impe- the context of the U.S. South, with the In 2016, in North Carolina, a state law The military is presented as a viable rialist struggles across the globe. understanding that the United States of was passed criminalizing transgender option for economic security when the As materialists, we are tasked with AmeriKKKa is a prison house of nations. people’s ability to access public facilities. reality is that we have young people—​ organizing within the conditions as The whole of the U.S. is stolen and colo- The law also included preemptive mea- new workers—​who are left with very few they exist. A key feature of the struggle nized Indigenous land. The South in par- sures preventing local city governments options. The capitalist ruling class is then in the U.S. is that we are contending ticular was where the land was then toiled from setting minimum with a multinational working and developed for ruling-class profit by wage standards for contract class whose histories have stolen, enslaved Africans at the start of workers; the law also made developed side by side and the 17th century and Black sharecroppers the process more difficult often been a target of divide- by the mid-19th century. for workers to file lawsuits and-conquer strategies—​ Today, Black workers, along with charging discrimination, separating white workers from more and more migrant workers from without having to take it Black and migrant workers, Latin America and the Caribbean, make to the state level. The mar- and so on. There is much up a significant portion of the labor force rying of transphobia and work to be done to clarify the in the South as low-wage farm workers, homophobia to the attacks common enemy and to build fast food workers, domestic workers, on labor and workers’ the organizing skills of the city workers and incarcerated workers—​ rights is a classic divide- oppressed masses in order whom we can also consider as part of and-conquer strategy. We for there to be a movement what has developed as “surplus labor.” saw this strategy duplicated capable of defeating racism

It should come as no surprise that the in states across the South in ILPS delegates in Hong Kong. PHOTO: REDLAMP.NET and winning socialism. ☐ Page 10 July 11, 2019 workers.org WW Commentary editorial How real reparations can be won By Makasi Motema at the year 1865. Give us reparations for Eric Garner. Give us reparations for the Im/migrants and the “If you stick a knife in my back nine Central Park 5. Give us reparations for inches and pull it out six inches, there's Stop-and-Frisk survivors and Freddie repressive state no progress. If you pull it all the way out Gray and Sandra Bland. Give us repara- that's not progress. Progress is healing tions for no-knock warrants, solitary con- A grassroots movement has been grow- has driven so many families to risk their the wound that the blow made. And they finement and Amadou Diallo. ing across the U.S. to counter the govern- lives and leave their poverty-stricken haven't even pulled the knife out much Justice is another key element of this ment’s brutal campaign targeting im/ lands in hope of finding work in the U.S. less healed the wound. They won't even discussion that is often ignored. True rep- migrants. As more people of all ages die This “internationalist” ruling class admit the knife is there.”—​Malcolm X arations are not just a payment for wages horrible deaths in the desert north of the at the same time promotes reactionary The topic of reparations has entered stolen in 1860 or a settlement for a family border, in the border rivers and in deten- nationalism to the masses of people here, the public discourse and made it all the who lost a loved one to police terror in tion camps—​including the hellholes set particularly to those whose ancestors way to a hearing before the U.S. House 2010. It is not enough. Reparation means up to warehouse small children and even emigrated from Europe. of Representatives. But a conversation on justice. It means treating the perpetra- babies cruelly separated from their par- Racist white nationalism is the essence reparations cannot be limited to the issue tors of white- supremacist violence as the ents—​protests are continuing, as well of Trumpism, even as it is a cover for a of chattel slavery in the 19th century. To do criminals they are. To do anything less is as solidarity actions to provide asylum ruling class that respects no national so would be to promote the lie that slavery to deny the humanity of their victims. for those who cross the border to escape boundaries in its drive for profits. was abolished. Slavery did not end. It was Why is it that when a police offi- repression and hunger. The border crisis is now so severe that dealt a severe blow with the capitulation of cer kills an unarmed Black person, it is At the same time, the racists and neo- even some employees of the state have the Confederacy, but the white-suprema- almost impossible to secure a criminal fascists who applaud the Trump adminis- begun to complain about the conditions cist system, which created slavery and used conviction, but almost inevitable that tration’s “America first” brand of vicious they are working under. Whether this it to siphon labor power from the masses of a civil settlement will be won? Why are nationalism are pushing back against this comes from genuine empathy with the Black Americans, remained and it adapted. U.S. municipalities so willing to pay mil- progressive movement. Not able to sum- suffering migrants of all ages, or exasper- Chameleonlike, it shifted into Jim Crow, lions to victims’ families but so unwilling mon sufficient forces in the streets to do ation at being tasked with handling an and Jim Crow shed its skin to reveal mass to punish the police? Part of this comes so openly, they resort to vigilante attacks impossible situation, it should not cloud incarceration. Over and over, the outer from the legacy of treating Black people on migrants and online posts that reveal an understanding of their role. form changed, but the repression remains. as property—​and by extension—​treat- their racist and misogynist nature, like Whether they are border police or jail- The knife remains. ing violence against Black people as mere those calling for sexual assault against ers at the concentration camps set up to Like 16th-century European imperial- property destruction. Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio- warehouse migrants, they are part of the ists did in Africa, modern-day prosecu- The necessary process of shifting away Cortez, a progressive Puerto Rican repressive apparatus of the capitalist state. tors have sent armed troops into the Black from this mentality—​of Black people woman from the Bronx, N.Y. The organizations that represent police community to steal people from their reclaiming our humanity—is​ the demand “America first” conceals the class char- and jailers may be called unions, but they homes and sell them into bondage, leaving that crimes against Black people be met acter of U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. rul- do not function as defenders of the work- extraordinary violence, poverty and suffer- with real punishment. Without this shift, ing class is thoroughly internationalist ing class against the bosses. In fact, these ing in their wake. And just like the slavers Black people may be free in name, but when it comes to how they have made employees of the state will break strikes of the early modern period, these prose- they will remain slaves in fact. their vast fortunes. and lock up workers if they are ordered cutors do this to feed an ever-expanding Finally, if we truly want reparations—​to They have been global exploiters since to do so. slavelike market driven by profit-hungry undo the destruction of white supremacy the late 1800s, when U.S. gunboats vio- Those whose function it is to jail and capitalist speculation. This is the context and repair the damage—​we first have to lently broke down the resistance of coun- warehouse immigrants don’t belong in of modern-day slavery. A world where identify the source of that destruction and tries around the world. From Korea and the union movement. Border guards and corporations profit from the building of dismantle it. Slavery came about because the Philippines to Cuba and Puerto Rico, Immigration and Customs Enforcement prisons and the warehousing of human the wealthy sought to increase their for- U.S. bankers and industrialists expanded agents are members of the American beings. Mass incarceration and its associ- tunes by plundering the resources of oth- their area of exploitation through war and Federation of Government Employees, ated police state represent white-suprem- ers. The fastest way to do this was to steal conquest. the largest federal workers union. For acist violence and economic exploitation the labor of a group of people who were It is the imperialists’ success in sucking AFGE to kick them out would be a great in its 21st-century form. In order to bring seen as different and disposable. It is this out the wealth of the countries of Central act of solidarity with im/migrant workers reparations to people of African descent in system, where the rich loot from the poor, America, pauperizing the population and and would strengthen the international the U.S., this system must be abolished. where the bosses feed off the workers, backing brutally repressive regimes, that working class as a whole. ☐ If we’re going to have reparations, the which drives white-supremacist violence. knife of racial oppression must be fully Everything else—​prisons, detention cen- removed. There must be a full account- ters, cops, judges and more—​all flow from Down with imperialism! ing of white-supremacist crimes—​an that original sin. True reparations would accounting that is not cut abruptly short mean an end to capitalism itself. ☐ Up with Workers World! The U.S. has been the origins of the genocidal, Marxism, Reparations & world’s No. 1 imperialist enslaving, white-suprem- bully for years. That fact acist capitalist U.S., while the Black Freedom Struggle has been carefully covered at the same time using up with self-righteous the U.S. Armed Forces to Edited by Monica Moorehead bourgeois language by the threaten Iran striving to An anthology of writings from Workers World newspaper. corporate media. Now, maintain its independence led by emperor-wannabe surrounded by global Available at major online booksellers. Trump, the soft-sell bul- capitalism. The corpo- Free PDF download at www.workers.org/books

lying has become in-your- WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN rate media are willing co-​ face ultimatums, with Reclaim Pride march, conspirators in covering Venezuela, Cuba and Iran June 30, NYC. up the real threat—​U.S. Treatment for opioid use disorder the latest targets. imperialism. for things which harm the most marginal- The New York Times and other big We know you read Workers World to Continued from page 4 ized. And make no mistake, people with business media are not reporting on crim- get the real story, free of imperialist lies who needs insulin is “addicted” to insulin. opioid use disorder are among the most inal U.S. sanctions as outright attempts at and crimes. But Workers World needs Patients in buprenorphine maintenance marginalized, experiencing alienation, iso- regime change via a ruling-class imposter your help to do our job. therapy are kept on a stable dose that does lation and poverty. in Venezuela. Rather, they are cheering Join the WW Supporter Program, not impair them or get them high; they I’m a person who struggles with addic- U.S. plots to take over Venezuela’s oil founded 42 years ago to help build the aren’t engaging in the behaviors typically tion, and I’m on buprenorphine and I know deposits, valued as the world’s largest. only revolutionary socialist weekly in the associated with “addiction.” it saved my life. I know that the hundreds Trump is using his bully pulpit U.S. that's printed, as well as on the web. The opposite is true. In many cases, of thousands of others who use or have against Cuba, this year celebrating 60 For a donation of at least $75 a year—​ patients on buprenorphine are not only used it probably don’t wish to be forced years of socialist power. Not only has much more if possible—​members recovering from opioid use disorder, but off of it by paternalistic, so-called public Trump set up tough restrictions on U.S. receive a year’s subscription, a monthly are leaving the addiction lifestyle behind servants who have outdated ideas on sub- visits to Cuba, he has authorized U.S. letter about timely issues and five free as well. No longer do they engage in the stance abuse and recovery. companies, whose imperialist holdings subscriptions to give to friends. Write destructive behaviors associated with opi- So what can we do? We can call atten- were nationalized after the revolution, checks, either monthly or once a year, oid use disorder. Multiple studies have tion to the issue by sharing stories and to sue Cuba for “reparations.” There’s to Workers World and mail them, with shown that the quality of life of patients elevating the voices of people in recov- no corporate media coverage of what your name and address, to 147 W. 24th improved on buprenorphine and that the ery on this subject. We can also sign onto socialist Cuba has accomplished to St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011. Or treatment helped subjects decrease all Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Coalition’s uplift its people in 60 years. sign up to donate online at workers.org. drug use, except for tobacco. letter to the Pennsylvania Senate against Trump ordered this year’s super-​ We’re grateful for your help in building As socialists, as people looking to create SB 675, at paharmreduction.org/oppose_ militarized July 4th celebration of the Workers World—sign up today! ☐ a better world, we must be on the lookout sb675. Lives depend on it. ☐ workers.org July 11, 2019 Page 11 Venezuela slams U.N. over human rights report

By Marco Teruggi report is incomprehensible, dominated by a selective he mention the mobilizations that he claimed would be Caracas and biased vision. It's a text lacking in scientific rigor, forthcoming. with serious errors in methodology, and seems like a Guaidó has demonstrated the paths for the plan with- Published in pagina12.org.ar July 6. Translation by carbon copy of previous reports. It ignores almost all out negotiations in recent weeks and months—​the Michael Otto. On June 28, President Nicolás Maduro the information provided by the state; it only takes into attempted military action at dawn on April 30 and the awarded Marco Teruggi the Simón Bolívar National account information obtained from opposition spokes- plots involving former soldiers, commissioners and mer- Prize for Journalism, with special mention for defend- people and press sources. Suffice it to say that out of cenaries that the government uncovered. ing Venezuela abroad. In addition to printing his articles 558 interviews conducted, 460 were conducted outside Video footage recorded by intelligence service infiltra- in Mundo Obrero, Workers World has been translating Venezuela, which represents 82 percent of the opinions tors revealed the very agents of the conspiracy as they Teruggi’s coverage since January for U.S. readers. expressed in the report.” (La Nación Dominicana, July 6) were brainstorming how to assassinate the president and the governing circle and carry out military assaults The existence of two governments in Venezuela is a fic- Bachelet’s U.N. report ignores causes at strategic military and political points. This is no new tion that has evaporated internationally. It is only main- Castillo also highlighted the report's omission of the thing in a conflict where, less than a year ago, opposition tained by the Donald Trump administration and some causes of the economic situation: “It ignores the serious sectors tried to assassinate the president at a military right-wing Latin American governments. impacts that the illegal, criminal and immoral economic parade in Caracas using drones loaded with explosives. Russian President Vladimir Putin, visiting the Vatican, blockade is having on the lives of our people. Venezuela recalled that Juan Guaidó had proclaimed himself “pres- does not deny its problems, but any serious effort to Conflict intensifies ident in charge” before God. Putin added, “But God did address them must consider the structural causes.” The fiction of two presidents no longer exists inter- not tell us what his reaction to this message was; he The celebration of the 208th anniversary of nationally. The conflict, however, intensifies with right- did not give us any sign; that's why I believe we should Independence Day was marked by an event in the wing preparations for new assaults. The right announced return to sinful earth and abide by democratic proce- National Constituent Assembly, with a speech by the that Bachelet's report—​which ignores any dimension dures.” Guaidó is no longer what he never was. commander of strategic operations of the Bolivarian of opposition violence, although they produced vic- In national terms, his theatrics never reached a level National Armed Forces (FANB), Admiral in Chief tims, like the mother of a young man accused of being a needed to even look like he ran the government—​in Remigio Ceballos, who explained the character of the Chavista who was burned alive—​validates breaking the almost six months, Guaidó has failed to gain authority, “multiform (war of) aggression” to which Venezuela is dialogue and is a springboard for seeking new actions command or territory. subjected and recognized Nicolás Maduro's leadership involving force. That doesn't mean the final curtain has fallen on his as Commander in Chief of the FANB. As for the blockade, which the report overlooks, the play: On July 5, the anniversary of the day the Declaration President Maduro, in turn, led the military parade in U.S. has announced that it will continue to increase its of Venezuelan Independence was signed, Guaidó fronted Caracas, where he reaffirmed the call for dialogue and attacks on both Venezuela and its allies. The latest uni- an event in the National Assembly, as if it were a gov- peace: “With goodwill, we can achieve the political abil- lateral measure of force took place July 3 with the sanc- ernment, and then a demonstration near the General ity to negotiate. We all have to cede something in order tion of the Cuban company Cubametales by the Office of Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM). to reach agreements, and I call for dialogue because I Foreign Assets Control for trading for oil with Venezuela. At dawn that same day in Geneva, Switzerland, United believe in and love Venezuela.” This measure is added to the long list of theft of assets, Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle The president's new call for dialogue took place in a blockades of accounts, sanctions against companies, Bachelet read her report on the situation in Venezuela. scenario where, publicly, the most visible factions of the etc., which began years ago and during 2019 increased Bachelet’s report concluded that Venezuela is ruled Venezuelan rightists have announced that they will not month-by-month, meeting only the silence of govern- by a single government, which, among other things, is resume any kind of contact with the government. Guaidó ments and international organizations. responsible for a crisis in health, food and migration, stated that at the end of Friday's protest in front of the The political climate in Venezuela is complex. Possible with serious shortcomings in access to justice and the DGCIM: “The debate is over, Bachelet’s report confirms types of resolution are not yet on the table, and this guarantee of human rights. that this is a dictatorship.” week’s events have once again set back what had been In Geneva, Venezuelan Deputy Minister of Foreign The self-appointed “president” gave no details about publicly achieved between the parties. ☐ Affairs William Castillo responded: “The content of this what an exit without dialogue would look like. Nor did Algeria Gerrymandering Massive protests demand sweeping Continued from page 8 The many forms of voter suppression are well-docu- mented. Polls in oppressed communities run out of vot- reforms ing forms or the voting machines are broken. Officials at polling places turn away some voters, allegedly due By G. Dunkel to long lines, while others cannot wait in line because of work, family and other obligations. Names are missing July 5, 1830, was the day the Turkish-appointed ruler from lists of registered voters. Many states bar former of Algiers surrendered to the invading French army. July prisoners from voting. 5, 1962, was the day Algeria declared independence from This has resulted in a disproportionate lack of repre- French imperialism. sentation for oppressed communities. Ohio has only two July 5, 2019, was the day that many hundreds of thou- Black congressional representatives, while Michigan and sands of Algerians came out in the streets in Algiers, as Wisconsin each have only one. well as in other cities — Constantine, Bouira, Annaba, The high court has once again upheld a centuries-old, Chlef, Oran, Mostaganem, Béjaïa, Tizi-Ouzou, Bordj Bou often-bloody tradition of racism at the polls. Algerian women protest, July 5, 2019. Arreridj, M’Sila, Batna, Djelfa and El Tarf — to demand an end to the corrupt system running Algeria with the Supreme Court: an anti-democratic body strong support of the army. The protests at times grew very militant and forced The court has remained almost all white and male What made the turnout more impressive was that July 5 cops to retreat when they tried to block marchers’ access since its founding in 1789, with only two African- was one of the hottest days in Africa's history, hitting to squares and streets. When the police used tear gas, American justices, one Latinx woman and three white 124˚F. people responded with empty glass water bottles. women for 230 years. This was the 20th successive Friday since February Elections had been scheduled for July 4, but had to be This is not accidental. Sam Marcy, the late Workers when there were protest demonstrations in Algeria. postponed when only two relatively unknown candidates World Party chairperson and founder, explained the They were sparked by then President Abdelaziz indicated they wanted to run. The political situation in undemocratic character of the Supreme Court when it Bouteflika announcing he intended to seek a fifth term. Algeria is still murky. upheld a Missouri law restricting reproductive rights in Even after Bouteflika resigned April 2, protests continued, Salah has decreed it illegal to carry an Amazigh 1989: “Over years of struggle the franchise has been won” fueled by blatant corruption of Algeria’s ruling elite and the (Berber) flag in demonstrations, claiming that promoting by oppressed nationalities and women. “However, along- dilapidation and mismanagement of its economy, which is the flag is an attempt to break the unity of the Algerian side this bourgeois democratization of the political pro- completely tied to the production of oil and natural gas. state. The Amazighen are the original Indigenous inhab- cess, there has been a simultaneous social and economic The unemployment of youth, officially at 26.4 percent, itants of Algeria and all of North Africa west of the Nile. process which is superior in strength. That is the process of was another burning issue. In 2016, an overwhelming vote in a referendum gave the concentration of power in undemocratic bodies. Given that July 5 was a national holiday, many pro- their language constitutional protection. “It comes from the concentration of the means of testers carried pictures and mementos of the martyrs Salah obviously wants to sow division and confusion production in the hands of a ruling class which holds of the Revolution and sang patriotic songs. A particular in the protest movement that has remained strong. the power and distributes it in areas most conducive to target of the protesters was General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, Another obvious maneuver by Salah was having them,” says Marcy. “So it’s not an accident that power head of the armed forces and considered to be the real Lakhdar Bouregaa, a revered veteran of Algeria’s 1954- should ultimately be exercised by the Supreme Court. power in the Algerian government. Chants about him 62 War of Independence from France, arrested for crit- That’s most reliable to them, most conservative, respon- ranged from “Gaïd Salah buzz off” to “The people and the icizing him. He claimed such criticism “undermined the sive only to those who have appointed them.” army are brothers, but Gaïd Salah is with the traitors.” morale of the army,” especially since Bouregaa is a leader Behind the erosion of voting rights lies the “concen- Basically the people demonstrating want the whole of the Front des Forces Socialistes (Front of Socialist tration of power in undemocratic bodies,” as Marcy coterie of officials connected with Bouteflika gone before Forces), the oldest opposition party in Algeria, which is explains. This exposes the lie that the capitalist U.S. is a elections for president take place. affiliated with the Socialist International. ☐ model of democracy. ☐ Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero El capitalismo en un pueden ser enviadas a: [email protected] callejón sin salida Fred Goldstein utiliza las leyes de la acumulación capitalista de Marx, y la tasa decreciente de ganancia, para demostrar por qué el capitalismo global ha llegado ¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios! workers.org Vol. 61 Núm. 28 11 de julio 2019 $1 finalmente a un punto de inflexión.

Para mas informacion ... LowWageCapitalism.com Elecciones en Guatemala Movimiento campesino se consolida

Por Sam Ordóñez “Pacto de Corruptos,” pero ahora enca- colapsado. FCN-Nación, partido del carácter progresista, solo el que más bezada por el bloque socialdemócrata. actual presidente que está formado por ex votos presidenciales recibió. Sumando Junio 19 - El dia 16 de junio se celebra- Tanto la UNE como Vamos han expre- militares y empresarios, no pudo alcan- los resultados de los cinco partidos que ron elecciones generales en Guatemala sado que no van a renovar el mandato de zar siquiera el 5 por ciento del voto, y fue se podrían caracterizar como progre- con algunos resultados sorprendentes. la CICIG, que hasta ahora había encabe- reducido a tres diputados. PAN-Podemos, sivos, que serían MLP, Winaq, URNG Además de ser la primera vuelta de elec- zado la lucha anticorrupción con el apoyo el otro partido de extrema derecha, creía Maiz, Libre, y Convergencia, da 19.56 ciones presidenciales, se eligieron tam- de las organizaciones internacionales. que iría a la segunda vuelta pero quedó por ciento del voto presidencial a los par- bién diputados congresionales y alcaldes. Entonces, por ahora la lucha progresista en quinto lugar y con solamente dos tidos progresistas, que lo hubiera puesto Irán a la segunda vuelta de las eleccio- contra la corrupción tendrá que librarse diputados. en segundo lugar y habría avanzado a la nes presidenciales los dos candidatos que en las calles y en oposición a los poderes Por otro lado el centro-derecha, prin- segunda vuelta. más votos recibieron, en este caso Sandra estatales. cipalmente representados por Vamos y Hay dos conclusiones importantes de Torres (Unidad Nacional de Esperanza) UCN que ahora son segunda y tercera estos datos. La primera es que el movi- con 25.74 por ciento del voto y Alejandro Falta de participación y fuerza congresional, ganó bastante. Esto miento social y progresista está en cre- Giammattei (Vamos) con 13.89 por acusaciones de fraude a pesar de que Mario Estrada, líder del cimiento, y se presenta la oportunidad ciento. En tercer lugar quedó Edmond El lunes 17, alrededor de medio dia, UCN fue descalificado después de que de abrir una etapa de lucha. La segunda Mulet del partido Humanista con 11.14 Thelma Cabrera desconoció pública- fue detenido en Miami por cargos de es que para ganar, estos partidos y los por ciento, candidato vinculado tanto a la mente los resultados de las elecciones, narcotráfico. movimientos sociales que representan política tradicional como a la ONU (cosas alegando un fraude que provenía del Sin tomar en cuenta la posibilidad de tienen que unirse y poder presentar una que no siempre coinciden). Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE). Llamó fraude por parte de los partidos oligarcas, sola frente ante el conservadurismo y el Thelma Cabrera (Movimiento para la a la movilización popular y a las autorida- el hecho de que en tres departamentos neoliberalismo. Liberación de los Pueblos) quedó cuarta des electorales a hacer un conteo trans- gano una mujer Maya Mam, que ade- La oligarquía tiembla ante el ascenso con 10.42 por ciento del voto, superando parente de los votos, y que se entregarán más venía de la lucha campesina, y que de Thelma Cabrera y el movimiento que las expectativas. El resultado obtenido es pruebas del conteo a nivel nacional. en otros siete quedó segunda, es quizás el ella encabeza, pero la lucha para terminar un golpe fuerte al poder de la oligarquía El comunicado del MLP afirma que “A resultado más importante. con la corrupción y la política tradicional que hasta ahora aseguraba que una mujer nivel nacional, hay evidencia de compra Detrás de esta victoria simbólica está sólo ha empezado. La transformación de Maya Mam proveniente de la lucha cam- de votos de partidos tradicionales, los el movimiento campesino e indígena que la sociedad guatemalteca no vendrá del pesina no podía ser una fuerza política. cuales fueron oportunamente denuncia- se niega a entrar en acuerdos corrup- Congreso o la presidencia, sino de la orga- De los otros 15 candidatos, cinco logra- dos ante el TSE, sin que hasta el momento tos entre políticos tradicionales y que nización popular, que con estos resulta- ron entre 4 por ciento y 6 por ciento de se haya tenido una respuesta.” responde al fraude con movilizaciones dos se ha consolidado como una amenaza los votos, y los diez candidatos con menos En varios municipios hubieron distur- populares. real al poder tradicional. ☐ votos sumaron un total de 14 por ciento. bios violentos relacionados con el trans- El MLP no era el único partido de En un sistema político dominado por porte de las boletas, el acarreo de votantes la oligarquía hay pocas posibilidades de por parte de los partidos tradiciona- generar cambio sistémico por la vía elec- les, y el conteo de votos. Por ejemplo, toral. En un país como Guatemala, con en Panzós, Alta Verapaz, fue asesinado altos niveles de corrupción, las posibili- Alejandro Coc Poou de varios impactos ‘Recontratar a las dades son aún menos. de bala cuando él y otras personas fue- Sin embargo, analizar los resultados ron atacados el lunes por partidarios de puede dar una vista importante del nivel la UNE mientras esperaban los resulta- trabajadoras ahora’ de conciencia política de los pueblos. La dos del conteo de votos. (tinyurl.com/ conclusión más importante es que, aun- y23np6p5/) La mayoría de estos inciden- Por Siddika Degia Sin embargo, la comunidad y los tra- que no llegaron a la segunda vuelta, el tes estaban relacionados con candidatos Brooklyn, N.Y. bajadores no guardan silencio sobre la movimiento campesino e indígena (repre- municipales. lavandería que despide a los trabajado- sentado por Thelma Cabrera y el MLP) se Si el TSE no cumple con la demanda del El Centro de Lavanderias de los res injustamente. Como dijo un portavoz ha consolidado como una fuerza política MLP será difícil saber si en realidad hubo Obreros, (Laundry Workers Center), de las Asambleas del Poder Popular en que ya no se puede descontar. fraude or no. Pero lo que sí se puede com- junto a grupos como People's Power el mitin: "Recontrata a los trabajadores, probar es un bajo nivel de participación. Assemblies, (Asamblea del Poder recontratalos ya o la comunidad te per- Resultados congresionales La participación en estas elecciones fue Popular), celebraron una línea de piquete seguirá". "Iremos a su casa, a cualquier En las elecciones congresionales la UNE de 60 por ciento, bastante menos que la el 22 de junio frente al Sunshine Shirt nueva lavandería que abra en el vecinda- “ganó” con 44 diputados, que lo sitúa participación de 70 por ciento en 2015. Laundry Center en Bay Ridge, Brooklyn rio, y continuaremos presionando hasta como el partido más grande de la legis- Según un análisis elaborado con el 94 en Nueva York. Esta manifestación de que vuelva a contratar a los trabajadores latura pero muy lejos de tener una mayo- por ciento de las mesas electorales escru- emergencia fue convocada después de y les dé lo que se les debe". ☐ ría (para eso se necesita como mínimo 81 tadas, el 9 por ciento de los votos fueron que la lavandería decidió despedir a los diputados). El segundo partido, consis- en blanco, y otros 4 por ciento fueron trabajadores luego de informarles esta- tente con los resultados presidenciales, votos nulos. Si el voto blanco fuera can- ban cerrando la tienda. Pero la lavan- fue Vamos que ganó 17 diputados. didato, hubiera quedado quinto. dería, de hecho, no estaba cerrando y Ningún otro partido logró más de diez Los conflictos entre ciudadanos y poli- todavía está recibiendo clientes. diputados, y por lo tanto para gobernar cía, las irregularidades denunciadas, y A las dos trabajadoras, Ricarda y Maria, probablemente será necesario formar el abstencionismo evidencian la falta de se les deben $200.000 en pagos atrasa- coalición con partidos de centro derecha confianza que tiene el pueblo en los pro- dos por quemaduras químicas, abuso y derecha. Por lo tanto las políticas social- cesos electorales. físico y robo de salarios. Los despidos son demócratas de Torres y la UNE podrían A la hora de escribir, se reportan mani- una forma obvia de represalias contra los verse debilitados. festaciones y bloqueos de carreteras trabajadores que hablaron y exigieron Entre los varios partidos progresistas en varios departamentos y municipios, salarios justos y condiciones de trabajo y anticorrupción se lograron un total de incluyendo la ciudad capital, en rechazo seguras, y porque los trabajadores y la 15 diputados, seis de las cuales repre- a los resultados de las elecciones. El TSE comunidad han estado presionando a la sentan el Movimiento Semilla, un par- mantiene que no hubo fraude, y se niega lavandería todas las semanas con deman- tido con plataforma anticorrupción cuya a entregar las actas electorales. das por el pago retroactivo. base social son los elementos relativa- La gerencia definitivamente ha estado mente progresistas de la clase profesio- Qué significan los resultados sintiendo la presión. Eso es lo que llevó nal urbana. para la lucha popular? a uno de los trabajadores, Ricarda, a ser En total los resultados significan que Lo primero que hay que notar es que el agredido físicamente por el propietario de los políticos tradicionales siguen con el apoyo a la extrema derecha, que ha gober- la lavandería mientras pasaba volantes en control del estado y seguirá intacto el nado los últimos años, parece haberse WW FOTO: TONI ARENSTEIN la comunidad. 22 de junio, Brooklyn, N.Y.