Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org MAY 22, 2008 VOL. 50, NO. 20 50¢ Myanmar cyclone Los oligarcas contra Bolivia La tasa de desempleo sube 12 U.S. hostility IMMIGRANT hampers relief RAIDS Missing from the media’s lecturing Bay Area resistance 3 By Sara Flounders is mention of the disastrous Is the Bush administration really trying to help the people of Myanmar recover from the natural disaster that struck there? U.S. record in Hurricane Katrina. Then why is it insisting that the Pentagon be in charge of its aid? And why did it impose sanctions on the country when it knew plies. There is outrage and shock that Myanmar will not permit the cyclone was about to hit? U.S. military planes to land or Navy ships to dock. The charge One of the severest storms of the century slammed into the that the Myanmar government cannot possibly be trusted to low-lying, densely farmed Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar on deliver the supplies is repeated again and again. the Gulf of Bengal on May 2. It is a fertile but underdeveloped What is not reported is that the Bush administration, with region, especially susceptible to fl ooding. The Delta is home to criminal calculation and planning, consciously made the relief one fourth of Myanmar’s 57 million people. The last tropical efforts far more diffi cult. The day before Cyclone Nargis actu- cyclone to make coastal landfall was 40 years ago. ally hit Myanmar, but when the approach of the monster storm Meteorologists had been following Tropical Cyclone Nargis had already being announced and tracked for a week, President for a week. But when the cyclone hit land it brought with it an George W. Bush signed a harsh new level of economic sanc- PHILA COPS unpredicted tidal wave of epic proportions. A wall of water 12 tions on Myanmar. Sanctions are an act of aggression, a form of feet high surged seven miles inland. economic warfare that specifi cally targets the poorest and most 5 Another racist beating Over a million people have been left homeless and tens of desperate. thousands are missing. The estimates of deaths range from 20,000 to 100,000. Yangon, the former capital and major com- Sanctions imposed as cyclone hit mercial port city, was left in shambles. With all its spy satellites, Washington was far more aware The U.S. corporate media are full of stories on the scale of than the people of Myanmar of what was coming. The sanc- SADR CITY the disaster and the inability of the government to cope with tions made direct U.S. and international donations of emer- the relief effort. Completely omitted is any mention of the U.S. gency funds and aid almost impossible. Xinhua News on May Still resisting 8 government’s own abysmal track record in providing disaster 2 reported that Bush’s executive order was worded to “block all relief. property and interests in property of designated individuals and Each news article repeats the demand that Washington be entities determined to be owned or controlled by the govern- given full military access to Myanmar to deliver emergency sup- Continued on page 10 WW in 1967 On U.S.-Israeli aggression 9 FOOD CRISIS Latin American summit 11 PRIDE & PROTEST—centerfold • NYC shut down for Sean Bell • Mumia on the second slaying of Bell • RAPPER JASIRI X ON SEAN BELL Subscribe to Workers World Four weeks trial: $1 One year: $25 NAME PHONE EMAIL ADDRESS CITY/STATE/ZIP WW PHOTO: MONICA MOOREHEAD WORKERS WORLD Thousands of Black workers took over New York's bridges and tunnels May 7 in protest over racist verdict. 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 www.workers.org Here, women face arrest at 1 Police Plaza near Brooklyn Bridge. Page 2 May 22, 2008 www.workers.org War protesters invite troops to Fort Drum fete By John Catalinotto reception for them. The next day is Armed Forces Day, H In the U.S. and the Fort Drum military plans to hold its parade right War protesters invite troops to Fort Drum fete . 2 Anti-war activists in northern New York State are join- in the center of town. The reviewing stand will be right We live in a world of fake news . 2 ing with the organizers of the Different Drummer cafe in in front of the John Foster and Allan Dulles State Office Watertown and members of Iraq Veterans Against the Building here. That’s right, the two leading cold warriors Police make life hell for youth of color . 3 War (IVAW) for a new kind of war protest this May 17, of another era were actually from Watertown and have a ICE raids spark community resistance . 3 dubbed Armed Forces Day. building named after them. Cynthia McKinney supports fight for water . 4 Three feeder marchers started out on May 8 from the “So we’ll be holding our kind of protest, appropriately, On the picket line . 4 cities of Ithaca, Utica and Rochester to walk the many right in front of the Dulles Building. That will be early in Letters to the editors . 4 miles to Fort Drum, stopping at towns along the way the day, at 10 a.m. As you know, we are right near Fort Protesters file suit over DNC march permits . 5 before they all meet on May 16 north of Syracuse for the Drum, which is home to the 10th Mountain Division. last leg of the march. Brigades from this division have been the most heavily Fight-back wins $63M settlement . 5 Organizers have written reports on a blog at nys- used in the Army, some spending three tours in Iraq or Police declare ‘open season’ on Black community . 5 marchesforpeace.org, telling of the response from the Afghanistan. These tours are now 15 months.” Shutting down NYC for Sean Bell . 6 local communities—mostly supportive—to the few dozen Ensign, who is also the head of Citizen Soldier, then Mumia on Sean Bell’s second slaying . 6 people marching from each city. At a supporting dinner, told of the big event of the day. “At 1:00 in the after- Conscious hip-hop to revive ‘golden era’ . 7 one father spoke of his two sons who had been to war noon we start our festival at the Black Water River Park Mother's Day protest hits police murders . 7 and of his own transformation: “I never liked people like and Campgrounds. We’ve invited all the soldiers who you,” he said, “now I am one of you for life.” At the same would like to attend. All the speakers will be soldiers or dinner, a Native elder volunteered to do a sweat lodge for veterans. H Around the world the walkers. “But the attractions are also the musical groups. These U .S . hostility hampers Myanmar relief . 1 Leaflets for the march point out that the war has killed include Endangered Species, featuring Tommy Gunn; Asian-Pacific peoples hit U.S. occupation . 3 a million Iraqis along with more than 4,000 GIs killed Double Barrel Blues; Colleen Kattau, folk; S.O.N., hip Lebanese resistance turns back rightist offensive . 8 and 60,000 wounded, and that it costs the U.S. Treasury hop; and It Dies Today, indie rock. We’re hoping for a U.S.-backed assault fails to quell Sadr City . 8 $275 million each day. good turnout. We’ve seen that the Drummer has become WW of June 24, 1967: U.S. and Israeli puppets . 9 Tod Ensign, a Vietnam-era activist and an organizer of more acceptable among the troops. That evening we’ll the Different Drummer Cafe, told Workers World of the hold another reception at the cafe.” Free Palestine! . 9 group’s plan for the end of the march. For more information, see differentdrummercafe.org Latin American summit confronts hunger crisis . 11 “We expect the walkers to arrive in Watertown on or ivaw.org. Friday and that evening at the Drummer we’ll hold a E-mail: [email protected] H Editorials Clinton's barefaced racism . 10 We live in a world of fake news! Earthquake in China . 10 H Noticias En Español obs are disappearing, homes are being foreclosed, people are dying in bloody imperial- Los oligarcas contra Bolivia . 12 ist wars, racist police are murdering people and getting away with it. But the loud-mouths of talk radio and the snippy editorial writers of the corporate press either blame everything La tasa de desempleo sube . 12 Jon oppressed people or reassure us that it’s all okay. The corporations and big banks that own this so-called media plot overtime to make sure we Workers World don’t get the truth and fight back. 55 West 17 Street Workers World is a different kind of newspaper. Our voices are not those of the status quo or New York, N.Y. 10011 the system’s defenders. In WW, you find the voice of workers and oppressed people who strive Phone: (212) 627-2994 for a different world in which no one is held down by the chains of exploitation, racism, sexism or Fax: (212) 675-7869 anti-gay bigotry. E-mail: [email protected] The pages of Workers World will let you know about revolutionary movements abroad, the Web: www.workers.org treachery of those in power, and the struggle for justice here in the heart of the imperialist U.S. Vol. 50, No. 20 • May 22, 2008 empire. Closing date: May 14, 2008 If you cherish Workers World as a voice in the struggle, help us keep the presses running.