workers.org Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! FEB. 16, 2006 VOL. 48, NO. 6 50¢ Worldwide protests Las mujeres y la Revolución Islam bashing part of Bolivariana 12 racist war for empire BUSH’S By Leslie Feinberg Rasmussen—who Bush has referred to as a “steadfast ally”— refused to meet with ambassadors from 11 countries with large BUDGET Feb. 8—Islam bashing has ignited a firestorm of Muslim Muslim populations on Oct. 21. War vs. people’s needs 7 protest. The vicious mockery of Mohammad in a Danish news- In December, a delegation from 21 Muslim organizations in paper last September first lit the fuse. The conflagration now Denmark traveled to Cairo for support. They prepared a 43-page circles the planet. dossier to back their assertion: “There is currently a climate [in “We are now facing a growing global crisis,” Danish Prime Denmark] that is contributing to an increase in racism.” The Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a Feb. 7 media confer- group met with Muslim leaders, including Egypt’s foreign min- PRISON ence. Rather than apologize, which Muslims around the world ister and the general secretary of the Arab League. demand, Rasmussen urged “dialogue.” He said President The Danish government and Jyllands-Postens still refused to VIOLENCE George W. Bush had called him that day and agreed that was back down. In January, the Danish High Court rejected the case Rampant overcrowding 5 the way to go. brought to its bench by 21 Muslim organizations. Too little, too late. Yet until protests turned up the heat, And in a Jan. 23 telephone interview, Jyllands-Postens’s cul- Rasmussen had refused to talk with Muslim leaders. tural editor, Fleming Rose, made clear, “An apology would imply Last September, after the center-right publication Jyllands- we regret what we’ve done, which we don’t.” Posen—a major Danish daily newspaper—published the “car- toons,” Muslims protested to the editor. But they were ignored. Oppressor vs. oppressed On Oct. 12, the ambassadors of Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Indo- According to the big-business media, “free speech” is the core nesia, Libya, Morocco, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen, issue. In reality, this is a battle between oppressor and oppressed the Palestinian Authority—and even Bosnia and Herzegovina, nations. EMMETT an imperialist puppet after the destruction of socialist With the exception of Bosnia, in the Balkans, all the nations Yugoslavia—wrote Rasmussen, characterizing the depictions as where the predominant religion is Muslim are in Africa and Asia TILL & part of a smear campaign against Muslims. KATRINA Continued on page 8 ‘Ugly face people will march against the war all over the world. of racism’ 3 ON SAT•MARCH 18 Let's join them and make the 3rd anniversary of this criminal war & occupation the last one. FROM NEW ORLEANS TO BAGHDAD . STOP the War Abroad & HERE at HOME! Money for jobs, healthcare, housing & schools – NOT WAR! BUILD LEVEES, NOT BOMBS Support the struggle THE of Katrina evacuees BLUES Stop the illegal surveillance Overturn the ‘Patriot Act’ MUSIC & LIBERATION 3 B E S S I E S M I T H NO WAR FOR OIL & EMPIRE Hands off Iran LAVENDER Keep the Heat in the Street! Let's unite & shut down & RED 2 the recruiters from Impact of Black movement coast to coast Find out what you can do to help build March 18: www.TroopsOutNow.org SUBSCRIBE TO WORKERS MARCH 18 & 19 • GLOBAL SOLIDARITY AGAINST THE WAR WORLD NYC • BOSTON • WASH. DC • DENVER • SAN FRANCISCO • LOS ANGELES Trial subscription: $2 for 8 weeks • DETROIT • ATLANTA • BALTIMORE • and dozens of cities across the country One year subscription: $25 NAME EMAIL ADDRESS PHONE PENTAGON COVER-UP VENEZUELA’S NGOs IN CITY/STATE/ZIP Women soldiers fear SOCIAL GAINS RUSSIA WORKERS WORLD NEWSPAPER 55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994 assault Chavez repels U.S. threats U.S.-backed puppets www.workers.org 9 11 6 Page 2 Feb. 16, 2006 www.workers.org 1955 : Black movement raised In the U.S. Lavender & red, part 53. 2 Emmett Till’s murder & Katrina . 3 hopes of all downtrodden Powerful music for Black liberation . 3 Health care system is crumbling for many . 4 By Leslie Feinberg who longed for social and economic justice. On the picket line . 4 Lesbians and gay men of many nationalities were Katrina survivors, supporters target FEMA . 4 Although the 1955 founding of the Daughters of Bilitis inspired by the struggle and played an important role in National caravan for migrants sets out . 4 in San Francisco-a group of predominantly white profes- the movement against Jim Crow segregation and other Prison fatality exposes inhumane conditions . 5 sional and middle-class women—was the first time les- forms of national oppression. California ‘time-out’ on executions is stalled. 5 bians organized on a national level to win some political The late Coretta Scott King widow of Dr. Martin Luther rights, it was not the first time same-sex loving, bisexual King, Jr., later recalled, “Gays and lesbians stood up for Bush’s budget plan . 7 and/or cross-dressing women had raised their voices civil rights in Montgomery, Selma; in Albany, Ga.; and Free Leonard Peltier . 9 loud enough to be heard in the United States. St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Baltimore’s deplorable housing . 10 No voices could have been sweeter or clearer than Civil Rights Movement. Many of these courageous men Help free the Cuban 5 . 10 those of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Gladys Bentley, and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when FIST organizes anti-imperialist youth workshop . 11 Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter and many other powerful they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their Black women performers and authors. Their prominence contributions.” (Chicago Tribune, April 1, 1998) Around the world did not offer them sanctuary. Cops busted into Ma Rainey’s home while she was ‘Thank you sister Rosa Parks’ Islam bashing part of racist war for empire . 1 holding a women’s party. Bessie Smith had to bail her out 1955—the year that Daughters of Bilitis formed the 450,000 NGOs in Russia. 6 of jail the next morning. Later ads for Rainey’s recording first national network for lesbian rights—the African- Hamas statement . 8 of “Prove It on Me Blues” showed a Black woman in a American civil rights movement shook up the whole U.S. in Iraq: brutal and corrupt. 9 “man’s” hat, tie and suit coat, chatting with two feminine country. Black working women, visible in the leadership, Pentagon covers up widespread sexual abuse. 9 women. Behind them, watching them, is a cop. showed that oppression could be fought. Chávez presses ahead with social gains. 11 It was the Harlem Renaissance that lifted That was the summer that 14-year-old up these voices, along with the strong and Emmett Till was dragged from his bed and African & Indian workers in struggle . 11 poetic articulation of Black gay and bisexual lynched by white supremacists while he was men like Richard Bruce Nugent, Alaine visiting in Mississippi. His mutilated body Editorials Locke, Claude McKay and Wallace was found in the Tallahatchie River. His Letting Alito in . 10 Thurman. murder was the third lynching of an African- The rent parties, buffet flats and other American male that year. Noticias En Español forms of community social and economic Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, with Las mujeres y la Revolución Bolivariana . 12 organization, from Chicago to Baltimore, courageous resolve, demanded an open cas- Detroit to D.C. and throughout the South ket with full publicity at his funeral in WW CALENDAR helped create a political network for those Chicago. “I think everybody needed to know Part 53 LOS ANGELES. Manhattan. For info phone who were “in the life.” what had happened to Emmett Till,” she (212) 627-2994. Harlem’s drag balls, which dated back to said. More than 50,000 people lined up to Sat., Feb. 11 Lavender & Red Black History Month Forum. Sat., Feb. 11 the late 19th century and continued during view his body, left unrecognizable by torture Studying Marxism for today’s focuses on the relation- Katrina: The Struggle for Justice the early Harlem Renaissance, drew many and mutilation. Newspapers across the Five Months Later. Featuring: struggles. “What is Materialist ship over more than a Larry Holmes, co-founder, Katrina Dialectics. Part 2.” Taught by Hillel thousands, rivaling those held at Madison country carried photos. Cohen.3-5 p.m. At 55 W. 17 St., century between the Solidarity Network, and secretariat Square Garden. Ebony magazine later wrote that the deci- member, Workers World Party. 4-6 5th Fl., Manhattan. For info phone liberation of oppressed (212) 627-2994. African-American scholar and historian sion by Mamie Till Mobley to open the cas- p.m. At 5274 W. Pico Blvd #203. sexualities, genders and For info (323) 936-7266. Henry Louis Gates concludes that the ket “helped mobilize a fighting spirit in Black Fri., Feb. 10 sexes, and the commu- Workers World Party Forum: The Harlem Renaissance “was surely as gay as it people nationally that helped spark and fuel Sat., Feb. 18 nist movement. You can Eyewitness report and video from State of Black Youth in the United was black.” the Civil Rights Movement.” the World Social Forum held in States. Speaker: LeiLani Dowell, read the entire, ongoing FIST/Fight Imperialism, Stand In 1949, James Baldwin tried to spark a One hundred days after Till was lynched, Caracas, Venezuela by John Workers World news- Parker, West Coast coordinator of Together youth group.