AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Ethiopia war threatens wider conflict in Horn of Africa — PAGE 4 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE Vol. 84/no. 47 NOVEMbeR 30, 2020 Gag orders by Brutal gov’t Fight for gov’t public works ‘social media’ killing spurs program to create jobs now! bosses attack new protests political rights in Belarus BY BRIAN WILLIAMS BY RoY LANDERSEN Growing restrictions and monitor- Thousands gathered at Minsk’s ing of political views by censorship Square of Change and elsewhere officials at Facebook, Twitter and across Belarus Nov. 15 to demon- other “social media” are a danger to strate against the cop killing of Ro- political rights. Liberal thought-con- man Bondarenko. He had been one of trol overseers have interfered with or the hundreds of thousands protesting blocked comments and sites that run the regime of President Alexander the gamut from tweets by President Lukashenko and his Aug. 9 rigged Donald Trump to a Facebook page presidential elections. about a conference on solidarity with Bondarenko, a children’s art teach- the Cuban Revolution. er and former soldier, was beaten to “Social media,” which is supposed death four days earlier after he tried to be a neutral location where any- to prevent plainclothes cops from re- one can express an opinion or start moving the red-and-white emblems a conversation group, already poses of anti-government protests put up in Some 8,500 families, 17 times more than last year, waited up to 12 hours in huge lines to get a serious threat to working people. It a playground. turkey, canned goods and other food for Thanksgiving at North Texas Food Bank in Dallas. facilitates police and government spy- “We will not forget. We will not ing on individuals and groups. As the forgive!” chanted protesters. Many Working people need our Gov’t lockdowns deepen class struggle heats up, workers fight- held placards that read, “I’m go- own party, a labor party jobs, wages, health crisis ing to build and strengthen unions ing out,” the last words Bondarenko and for Black and women’s rights can wrote on an internet chat line before Working people need our own po- BY TERRY EVANS be targeted. going to the playground. Riot police litical party, a labor party, that we can Nine months into a deadly pandemic, Under the pressure of liberal and using tear gas, rubber bullets and use to defend our interests, indepen- workers, farmers and small proprietors middle-class radical organizations, stun grenades attacked crowds of dent from and politically opposed to of all kinds face a deep and intertwined the bosses at Twitter, Facebook and people protesting the killing. Over the Democrats and Republicans, the crisis of jobs, wages, safety and health. other sites — who make millions 1,200 demonstrators were arrested, Millions are without jobs. Food banks from running them — have put po- as well as 23 journalists. are overrun, especially heading into Continued on page 9 “Before, the deaths of protesters EDITORIAL Thanksgiving. The few remaining sup- were made to appear like accidents,” twin parties of the capitalist rulers. plemental government aid programs are Maryna Arabei, originally from Be- Alternating in office for decades, Continued on page 6 Fall Campaign to sell larus and now a graduate student at whoever is “out” claims to be the par- the New School in New York City, ty of “change.” Each exists to protect Militant subscriptions told the Militant Nov. 14. She was par- the interests of the exploiting ruling and books Continued on page 7 Continued on page 9 ‘Militant’ calls on Sept. 26 - Nov. 24 (week seven) Indiana officials Sub Subs Books Books Country quota sold quota sold Join push to go over quotas for UNITED STATES to overturn ban Albany 70 62 70 48 Atlanta 70 68 70 73 new readers of ‘Militant,’ books at Wabash prison Chicago 110 93 110 99 BY MAGGIE TROWE BY SETH GALINSKY Dallas 30 25 30 24 Members of the Socialist For the second time in a year, Indiana Lincoln 12 10 12 10 Workers Party and the Com- prison officials are preventing Kevin Los Angeles 90 81 90 83 munist Leagues in Austra- “Rashid” Johnson from getting his sub- Louisville 80 78 80 76 lia, Canada, New Zealand scription to the Militant. Johnson, who is Miami 25 20 25 15 and the United Kingdom are incarcerated at the Wabash Valley Cor- New Jersey 70 66 70 63 in the final stretch of the fall rectional Facility, informed the Militant New York 85 85 85 80 2020 international drive to he was given a notice that a recent issue Oakland * 85 73 95 90 expand the circulation of the Continued on page 6 Philadelphia 25 27 25 22 Militant. They are organizing Pittsburgh 40 33 40 36 to go over their goals of sell- Seattle 85 64 85 60 ing 1,200 subscriptions and Twin Cities * 30 30 25 22 the same number of books by Inside Washington * 60 50 60 53 SWP leaders and other revolu- Teachers union supports SWP Total U.S. 967 865 972 854 tionaries by the time the drive disclosure fight in Washington 2 ends Nov. 24. Prisoners 25 33 The interest among work- Thousands in Indonesia UNITED KINGDOM ing people in the Militant and protest new anti-labor law 3 London 40 38 40 36 books — as well as contribu- Manchester 35 36 35 34 tions to the SWP’s $120,000 Cliff Joseph, fighter for Black Total U.K. 75 74 75 70 Party-Building Fund, which is Militant/Lisa Potash artists, Pathfinder Mural 7 organized simultaneously with Rachele Fruit, SWP candidate for U.S. Senate, talks Canada 85 78 85 91 with Quinton Goolsby in Macon, Georgia, Oct. 10. the drive — reflects the grow- –On the picket line, p. 5– New Zealand 25 24 25 16 ing desire to learn more about this, quotas are higher than during the Pennsylvania nurses strike the roots of the capitalist economic Australia 25 22 25 17 party’s spring drive. over patient safety, wages and social crisis and what can be done With a week to go, the international Total 1,202 1,096 1,182 1,048 to defend our interests. Because of Continued on page 3 Dominion strikers in Canada SHOULD BE 1,200 1,050 1,200 1,050 ratify pact, end 12-week strike *Raised goal Teachers union supports SWP disclosure fight in Washington BY JOHN stuDer college authorities to turn over names, The Socialist Workers Party’s re- addresses, ages and other personal in- cent success in preventing disclosure formation of campus employees. They of the names and addresses of its pres- say they want the information to try and idential electors in Washington state get workers to quit the union. continues to hold. And additional sup- Government officials in Washington port for the fight to prevent disclosure state and in Seattle have a long history keeps coming in. of enacting and using campaign and On Nov. 9 Annette Stofer, president other disclosure laws against the So- of American Federation of Teachers cialist Workers Party, other third parties Seattle Community Colleges Local and political groups, as well as public 1789, wrote the SWP campaign ex- unions like the AFT. tending the union’s support. The SWP has fought to win exemp- “The Executive Board of AFT Seattle tion from having to disclose the names Local 1789 wishes to express our sup- and personal information of its cam- port for your efforts to get an exemp- paign supporters on the city, state and tion from disclosure of personal contact federal level. Through political and legal information for your 2020 candidates efforts, the party has amassed thousands and campaign personnel,” Stofer wrote. of pages of evidence of threats and at- Members of AFT Local 1789 organized a walkout in 2016 during contract negotiations at tacks against those who’ve signed peti- Seattle Central Colleges. The local’s executive board wrote to support Socialist Workers Party’s “We agree wholeheartedly that you fight to stop Washington state officials from publicly disclosing names and addresses of SWP have a right to protect the names and tions, made contributions, campaigned electors. The union has been fighting its own battle against attempts by a notorious anti-labor addresses of your members from those for or otherwise aided its candidates. group to use state disclosure laws to gain access to personal information on campus workers. who may wish to cause harm. We also During the SWP’s successful law- understand the necessity of upholding suit against the FBI in the 1970s and Washington state, long dominated by dent in Longview, Washington, dur- freedom of association and the right to ’80s, the spy agency was forced to ad- liberal Democrats, have fought relent- ing the union’s bitter struggle against a privacy in those choices. mit to having used some 1,300 inform- lessly against having to grant the party union-busting drive by megagrain ex- “We wish you success in your legal ers against the party, placing wiretaps exemption from disclosure, claiming porter EGT Development. case. That success is important to all of and carrying out more than 200 bur- it is necessary for “transparency,” re- “The government has no right to dis- us who might become the target of at- glaries into its offices, and organizing gardless of the attacks it might lead to close this information of these people,” tacks on personal freedoms.