Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org FEB. 28, 2008 VOL. 50, NO. 8 50¢ More fallout from capitalist downturn • El presupuesto de Bush • Venezuela contra Exxon 12 Towns, cities face MICHIGAN Fighting bank foreclosures 3 drastic service cuts By Jaimeson Champion revenue and municipal bond issuances. Tax revenue is declin- ing as plummeting property values mean less money in prop- YOUTH JOBS Crises of overproduction have occurred with destructive regu- erty taxes and slowing economic activity results in less sales tax Implode with service larity throughout the history of capitalism. During these cyclical revenue. At the same time, the market for municipal bonds is slump 3 crises, the ruling class systematically tries to force the working rapidly deteriorating. class to bear the brunt of the fallout. In the current crisis, the systematic attacks on the working Now insurers are defaulting MUMIA RULING class and oppressed are painfully clear. Millions of families are Historically, investors have been more than willing to buy being forced from their homes by foreclosures. Massive layoffs municipal bonds issued by U.S. cities, states and towns because 4 Leaves one more appeal have begun across all sectors of the economy. most of them have been insured against default by financial It is the workers who are being forced to pay the toll for a cri- institutions known as monoline bond insurers. sis that the bankers and bosses caused. This crisis has brought But currently, these monoline bond insurers, such as MBIA RESISTERS to the forefront class antagonisms that the superrich have long and Ambac Financial Group, have balance sheets soaked in red TO WAR sought to obscure. ink and are under default pressure themselves as bad bets on Book reviews 5 Now come the latest attacks: plans for even more drastic cuts mortgage-backed securities come home to roost. Cities looking in city and town services across the U.S. Programs that were nev- to sell bonds in order to raise cash are finding that the number er adequately funded during the so-called “boom” times are now of buyers is rapidly dwindling. faced with devastating funding cuts during the economic bust. The municipal bond market is just one of the latest sections of POLITICAL These intensifying cuts are threatened in areas ranging from finance capital to succumb to the financial contagion that is ema- infrastructure development in poor rural communities to social nating from the U.S. and quickly spreading around the globe. CONVENTIONS service programs in poverty-stricken major cities. The cuts are It is hard to believe that as recently as last summer, the Protesters map plans 6 being targeted at services that many workers and oppressed masters of finance capital were proclaiming that growth in the populations depend on for survival, whether in rural towns or financial alchemy of securities, derivatives and other instru- urban areas. ments had made the global capitalist system more stable and Intensifying cuts in services such as HIV/AIDS programs, less prone to crisis. BLACK outreach to the homeless, meal delivery programs for home- Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as new markets HISTORY bound elderly, community health clinics that serve the unin- have been opened up to imperialist exploitation, global financial sured—all will have an increasingly deadly impact on oppressed markets have grown by leaps and bounds. Financial instruments MONTH communities. have been invented to package and sell all kinds of debt to a grow- Detail from Globalization, contemporary These criminal cuts in needed services are part of the ruling ing pool of institutional investors. The mistaken belief was that Zimbabwe economy sculpture class’s intensifying war against the working class during this by spreading risk out among many players, it would neutralize and Obama 6 time of crisis. They are likely to be further exacerbated in the the damage from defaults and make the financial system less coming months as capitalist politicians of both parties seek to prone to collapse. Continued on page 4 address ever widening budget shortfalls by taking more away from the workers, especially those who have already fallen into KOSOVO deep poverty. ’INDEPENDENCE’ Most of the money in city and state budgets comes from tax Washington's new colony 9 IntErnational WomEn’s Day WW 1965 MALCOLM X A Salute to Women’s Resistance 2 Forces behind the assassination 10 SATURDAY EDITORIAL: March 8 FIDEL’s 12 Noon rally MESSAGE 10 Union Square 14th St. & Broadway 1 p.m. March Subscribe to Workers World 3:30 p.m. 4 weeks trial subscription: $1 One year: $25 Ending Ceremony triangle shirtwaist NAME Fire memorial PHonE EMAil Site of 1911 fire that killed 146 women workers ADDRESS Corner of Washington Sq. Place and Greene St. CITY/STATE/ZIP Sponsored by International Women’s Day ‘08 Coalition, WORKERS WORLD c/o Solidarity Center , 55 W. 17th St., 5th Fl, NY, NY 10011 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 www.workers.org For information and leaflets call 212.633.6646 Page 2 Feb. 28, 2008 www.workers.org International Women’s Day A salute to women’s resistance The following statement was put out by In the U.S. the International Women’s Day ’08 Coalition Towns, cities face drastic service cuts . 1 based in New York City. International Women’s Day . 2 To sign on to this statement, go to the www.troopsoutnow.org Web site. Activists intensify efforts to stop foreclosures . 3 Jobs for youth implode . 3 No war on women at home and worldwide Volvo workers on strike . 4 Unite to win our liberation Phila. court rejects a Mumia appeal . 4 On March 8, 1908, working women in the needle trade industry took to the streets of New York City demanding On the picket line . 4 better working conditions, higher wages, shorter work- Refusing to commit war crimes–and testifying . 5 days and the overall improvement of women’s lives in Protests at Republican, Democratic conventions . 6 this country. These women marched through New York City Holmes: Globalization, economic crisis and Obama . 6 demanding justice for women workers and immigrant March 25, 1911, people crowd the streets to protest Battle for reparations . 8 the senseless death of their daughters, mothers, sisters workers; they were in fact working immigrant women. Free Rev. Pinkney! . 8 The message and militancy of these women were so and lovers, trapped in the Triangle fire. inspiring to women around the world that in 1910 the Workers World in 1965 . 10 International Socialist Congress, meeting in Copenhagen, The conditions for women worldwide have greatly Around the world Denmark, officially declared March 8 International deteriorated as a result of war, occupation and ruthless Japanese protest U.S. nuclear warships . 5 Women’s Day. U.S. foreign policy. This year, on the 100th anniversary of that historic The military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, cost- Washington gets new colony in the Balkans . 9 march, we call on you to join us in commemoration of ing trillions of our tax dollars, has caused a backward P.R. teachers demand contract . 9 International Women’s Day 2008 to honor all the wom- movement in women’s rights and freedoms in those Thousands mourn Hezbollah military leader . 11 en who have fought for our liberation by continuing the countries, including a decrease in educational opportu- fi ght for freedom today. nities. Women in those countries are losing family mem- New Australian prime minister says 'Sorry' . 11 We are in the midst of a rise in attacks on women— bers to murders and illegal detentions and are being including Black, Latina, Asian, Indigenous, Arab and sexually assaulted, killed and detained themselves. Editorials white here in the U.S.—as well as women who originate The people of Palestine are under a violent and geno- Fidel's message . 10 or currently live in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, cidal occupation by the U.S.-funded state of Israel. Asia, the Middle East, Pacifi c Islands, Australia and Women in the West Bank are seeing the demolition of Noticias En Español Europe. their homes, the murder of their children and the impris- El presupuesto de Bush . 12 The attacks inside the U.S. include legal and extrale- onment of Palestinian men and are being imprisoned Venezuela contra Exxon . 12 gal attacks on our reproductive self-determination; an and killed themselves. The women of Gaza are starving, escalation of sexual assaults and rapes, like those against dying of thirst and watching their children and loved ones Megan Williams and Crystal Mangum; violence toward die from lack of health care, water, food and income—all lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, like the perse- of this forced on them by the U.S. and Israeli blockade. cution of the Jersey 4; and the detention and deportation In the most recent revolt against U.S. imperialism and Workers World of immigrant women and their families. Israeli apartheid, the women of Gaza played a key role 55 West 17 Street Artists worldwide are using their creativity to combat in breaking through the Egyptian wall in order to obtain New York, N.Y. 10011 the anti-Black and anti-woman images we see in today’s food, water and life necessities. Phone: (212) 627-2994 corporate media machines. The media conglomerates Women in Sudan and other areas of Africa are dying Fax: (212) 675-7869 peddle destructive mind-poison that hatefully twists and from U.S. sanctions; women in the Philippines are E-mail: [email protected] manipulates the images of women of all nationalities being rounded up and killed or imprisoned for resisting Web: www.workers.org and backgrounds.