FILE COpy Biology-as-destiny credo Bosses in Australia revived in Bell Curve now betting on and Moral Animal "free trade" miracle Page 6 PageS ~ Freedom Socialist Wice 1? /2e¥r;/ffil1tll'l 'fd,tiltl";M. A ril-June 1995 Volume 16, Number 1 ($1.00 outside U.S.) 75q. Bipartisan "Contract on America" takes aim at all labor and civil rights gains BY LINDA AVERILL from the wages and benefits of public sector employ­ ees to help offset the city's budget deficit. ontract on America" has become the As U.S. corporate giants fight to keep their competi­ II popular description for the Republican tive edge in a world glutted by overproduction, their legislative agenda. And if you look" con- high profits depend on giving less and less compensa­ Ctract" up in the thesaurus, you'll find tion to workers for their labor. Both parties are facili­ the word covenant there as a mate - as in our tating this goal by eradicating the social programs and Democratic president's "New Covenant" with America. legislation that the unions and civil rights movements This is fitting because, nuances aside, both parties spent the last century struggling for. are proposing the same thing: a broadside on poor and working folk. Divided we fall, united we win. The good news To hear Bill Clinton or Newt Gingrich tell it, U.S. is that this bipartisan assault has generated protest. problems aren't economic in nature, but moral. The In Massachusetts, poor mothers stormed the state­ breakdown of "family values" is causing social de­ house in February to oppose the dismantling of wel­ cline, not runaway shops or downsizing corporations. ~ fare. In Washington state, the capitol has become the Their 5capegoating rhetoric against~ngs-:Iike wel-. ~ site of daily rallies as different groups demonstrate fare, immigration,and affirmative action is supposed against everything froth tm destruction of prevailing­ to justify an austerity plan, one like those the Interna­ wage laws in the construction industry to attacks on tional Monetary Fund has force-fed the Third World abortion rights and gay parenting. and Eastern Europe; it is meant to revive capitalist But no one group can single-handedly save itself profits by devastating people. from the twin-party onslaught. The only way to stop ~ 'E them is to join forces in a labor/civil rights united A tsunami of reaction. In 100 days, the 104th =<'" . front that can mobilize everyone at risk - the orga­ Congress has created a poisonous package of pull- t:iiiii!!!!!~~ nized and unorganized, retired and unemployed. yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps tonics. Among them: Boston, May 1994. Targets of proposed welfare Capitalism is well beyond its prime, and the older the dismantlement of "welfare as we know it" (with no cuts In Massachusetts make their voices heard. it gets the more reactionary it becomes. An indepen­ raise in the minimum wage); slashing of social pro­ dent labor party that offers workingclass political grams, like free breakfasts for schoolkids and pOSSibly Meanwhile, California, where the viciously anti­ leadership and solutions is the best protection against social security, in order to payoff the national debt to immigrant PropOSition 187 was just passed, is now the it until a system can be fashioned in which those who bankers; privatization of public services; gutting of launching pad for a grotesquely misnamed "Civil produce the wealth control its distribution. consumer and environmental protection laws; and Rights Initiative." lf approved, it will outlaw affirma­ Building a comprehensive, cohesive movement to construction of more prisons, and maybe orphanages, tive action in employment and education. And in New fight the immediate battles that labor faces will take us to warehouse the poor. York City, Mayor Giuliani plans to cut $600 million closer to that day. [] How to stop anti-abortion terror? Armed self-defense of clinics! might still be on the rampage, except The Democrats, who were supposed Some saviors of the unborn say they that when he shot up Preterm Health to get tough with fetus fetishists, encou­ abhor the violence. If they are sincere, Services, a security guard fired back. rage them by joining Republicans in they should get out of the fetus-rescue As Salvi fled, he dropped a satchel politically bashing "immoral" women. bUSiness and find a new cause - like whose contents - including another On the one hand, the politicians helping to feed those who are already gun and 700 rounds of ammunition may see to it that poor mothers lose born and starving in U.S. ghettoes. - allowed police to identify him. their children to orphanages. But if They need to recognize that their those same women seek an abortion, movement is hopelessly infested with ter_organize State emboldens far right. To they could be shot! The unmistakable Klan types, Nazi skinheads, anti­ ctivists coun organize anned self-defense ... or to bipartisan message: It's open hunting Semites, and racists, and its goal of Minnesota a don Rescue. return to the days of forced moth­ season on women and women's rights. inst opera to next page aga __--~ erhood or coat hangers and back-alley abortions. That is the "choice" that New Freeway Hall anti-choicers offer women. 5018 Rainier Ave. S. BULK RATE ust ask any anti-abortion terrorist. For years, liberal feminists have U.S. POSTAGE They'll tell you that guns and vio­ begged the police, Democrats and fed­ Seattle. WA 98118 PAID lence work. What these brown­ eral marshals to defend women's clin­ SEATTLE, WA PERMIT NO. 1003 shirts won't say is that their ics, with little to show for their efforts. ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Jgoon tactics only succeed until the Just one of many examples: In 12 years, victim fights back and shows that she the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and too is willing to use guns. Firearms recorded 123 arsons, 37 bomb­ John Salvi murdered two women ings, and 1,500 cases of stalking, as­ and injured five people during a "pro­ sault, sabotage, and burglary against life" shooting spree in Brookline, Mas­ clinics and abortion providers - yet sachusetts on December 30, 1994. He BATF has prosecuted only 49 people. 2 Freedom Socialist April-June 1995 In This Issue First ruling is mixed Vol. 16, No. 1 April-June 1995 Under the axe in Canada 4 in Sandy Nelson lawsuit Spurred by NAFfA, the Liberal Party is slashing Coworkers buoy political-rights case social services and is BY NINA SEVERINI tion is clearly ongoing! signatures in a mall [for an ini­ privatizing everything in Hogan said this question tiative] if their employers can sight. But a student strike eporter/radical Sandy should be sent to trial, but Nel­ fire them for doing it?" He also signals more resistance Nelson started out her son hasn't given up trying to pOinted out exceptions that to come. new year in the court persuade the judge that the Tri­ have been made to the pattern room of judge Vicki bune so clearly lacks any case of exempting private owners Hogan,R who delivered some here that she should find against from safeguardS usually applied good news and some bad news them now. Otherwise, TNTwill only to public employers. to Nelson, her lawyers, and the be able to trample all over the But Hogan was unswayed. The audacious experiment 7 70 fans of free speech who gath­ rights of Nelson, and any other Nelson is preparing to ask an ered to cheer her on at a Janu­ employee whose political be­ appeals court to reinstate her Those people who see the demise ary 3 hearing in Tacoma, Wash. havior they disapprove of, for constitutional claims. of the USSR as the end of so­ Nelson is suing her boss, The another year and a half. cialism should look again, News Tribune, for yanking her Four of Nelson's coworkers Bring back the muck­ says columnist Clara Fraser. from reporting and exiling her have offered sworn declarations rakers! In Nelson's corner are The world's first workers state to a copy-editing job. The daily about how the treatment of an impressive range of support­ was only a dress rehearsal for paper claims that her activism Nelson is causing them to re­ ers internationally, including on behalf of a gay-rights initia­ strict their own involvement in many media colleagues, such great transformations ahead. tive threatened its "appearance the community. as syndicated columnist of objectiVity." Both sides had In one, Kathleen Merryman, Norman Solomon. Her defense asked Hogan, a Pierce County a feature writer and health re­ committee has launched a cam­ Superior Court judge, to find porter, describes the reaction of paign to broaden that support International u.s. on their behalf without having former manager Norm Bell even further. They aim to win Dateline Australia: Contract on America 1 to send the case on to trial. when she once told him she endorsements from celebrities, free trade 5 Abortion rights 1 Instead, Hogan's ruling was would like to donate to an orga'­ high-profile artists, renowned Dateline Canada 4 Sandy Nelson case 2 mixed. She rejected some of nization that provides food and civil rights lawyers and still Cuba conference and Activists of color each side's issues and set a trial shelter to the mentally ill. He more noted journalists. Friendshipment 8 gather 3 date of September 1996 for said it would compromise her The campaign comes at a thrashing out the rest. Nelson ability to report on agencies time when growing numbers of Features will appeal the issues she lost that serve the mentally ill! journalists are seeing through Book reviews 6 Editorials and is asking for the publishers' Letters 7 Mexico 6 reconsideration self-serving myth Clara Fraser 7 Baseball strike 6 of the decision of objectivity, not to summarily forcing the in­ order her return dustry to grudg­ Fund Drive a Smash Success! to reporting.