50¢ No. 812 ~X-523 24 October 2003 PennsJlvania Supreme Court Rules Innocence Is No Defense Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! mony of Arnold Beverly that he, not with the PDC. Yet it has been ruled out Statement by the Partisan Jamal, shot and ki1led police officer of order by both the Pennsylvania Daniel Faulkner on 9 December 1981- courts where Jamal has sought to over­ Delense Comminee blasts through all the cover-ups and lies turn his sentence under the state's Post used by the state to put Jamal on death Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), and The following statement was issued row for a crime he did not commit. the federal judiciary which has turned by the Partisan Defense Committee; a The testimony of Beverly, who has down Jamal's habeas corpus appeals legal and social defense organization allowed his confession to be recorded and slammed shut the courtroom doors associated with the Spartacist League, on video, is corroborated not merely by on evidence of Mumia's innocence. on October 19. a series of affidavits but as Jamal's The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is a On October 8, the Pennsylvania attorneys described, "a stack of memo­ textbook example of a racist frame-up. Supreme .Court yet again ruled that a randa approximately the size of a New A Black Panther Party spokesman at the court of law is no place for evidence of York City phonebook" written by PDC age of 15, an award-winning journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal's innocence. That counsel Rachel Wolkenstein and Jona­ and a supporter of the Philadelphia evidence--centered on the sworn testi- than Piper, another attorney associated continued on page 7 Victory to Supermarket, Transit Workers! • II II riKe I LOS ANGELES, October 21- workers have struck in St. Louis, Major strike battles have erupted , w?il~ ~,300 followed suit in W~st in Los Angeles and throughout .... Vlfglllla, Kentucky and OhIO. Southern California. Seven United Other major UFCW locals will Food and Commercial Workers have strike votes before month's (UFCW) locals, representing 70,000 end. These struggles underline the workers, are picketing the three common interests of the working supermarket giants Vons (Safeway), class as a whole-from Latino Ralphs (Kroger Co.) and Albert­ immigrants and urban ghetto resi­ sons. Two days after the grocery dents in the Southwest to impover­ strike began, over 2,000 mechan­ ished white workers in Appala­ ics and maintenance workers in chia-against the capitalist class Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) enemy. The fight for decent health Local 1277 downed their tools. Hon.:: care is a life-and-death issue facing oring the picket lines, which have workers and oppressed minorities shut down the Metropolitan Trans­ across the country. portationAuthority (MTA), are driv­ Historically an "open shop" anti­ ers organized by the United Trans­ union town, L.A. is a city of vast portation Union (UTU) and clerical, disparities of wealth, with millions custodial and tool room workers of low-paid immigrants and black organized by the Transportation workers. In recent years, there have Communications Union (TCU). been significant organizing efforts These strikes have struck a chord among the many Mexican and among workers throughout the L.A. Central American workers who area. Teamsters truckers have been are exploited in low-wage, back­ honoring UFCW picket lines out­ breaking jobs. These immigrant side supermarkets and distribution workers have brought with them centers. Teamsters members them­ traditions of militant labor struggle selves are engaged in a number of from their countries of origin and strikes in the area, including work­ have helped revitalize the L.A. ers at the Darigold· milk company Picket line of striking Albertsons grocery workers faces down scab truck in Brea. labor movement, as seen in the and the First Transit commuter "Justice for Janitors" organizing route as well as sanitation workers­ Orange County workers in ,Service dictated austerity. Workers with some efforts in the early 1990s and the organ­ whose strike has just ended victoriously Employees (SEIU) Local 660 have been social power are saying "Enough!" and ization of 90,000 home health care and by winning Teamsters representation at working without a contract since Septem­ fighting back with widespread popular other workers in 1999. This labor comba­ Norcal Waste Services in the South Bay, ber 30. Instead of the SEIU's lunchtime support. Victory to the grocery and transit tivity was evident in the 2000 transit which includes the airport, heavily black contract rallies, now is the time to strike strikes! strike, which came amid a series of other Compton and the posh Palos Verdes com­ alongside their class brothers and sisters! Coming only days after the recall elec­ strike battles and had wide popular sup­ munity. Meanwhile, 50,000 L.A. and The bosses' attempts to gut the unions tion, when the AFL-CIO tops squandered port among the Latino and black poor and drastically slash medical benefits­ millions of dollars in union dues in a who make up the bulk of the ridership as much as 50 percent in the case of the futile effort to keep the widely despised in the L.A. mass transit system. The 43 UFCW-are at the core of all these con­ Democratic governor Gray Davis in Los Angeles Times (29 September 2000) tract disputes. Union members are deter­ office, the current outbreak of strikes spoke at the time of "Striketown mined to defend their hard-won gains in Southern California offers a class­ USA" and noted that those strikes "have against employer demands that they sac­ struggle road to fight capitalist austerity been a great unifier across racial and rifice their health and livelihoods on the and union-busting. And it's not just a ethnic lines." 7111.25274118103011117 altar of company profits and government- West Coast phenomenon: 10,000 UFCW continued on page 5 Depraved Court Convicts Mother for Son's Suicide weak. So at school he was bullied, spit Judith on, kicked and punched. Everybody knew Scruggs Connecticut it and nobody did anything, because that's how things are supposed to go in the bru­ Healey/NY Times Everything bad that happens is your tal holding pens called public schools in their tiny illegal basement apartment in and day care working people urgently own fault if you're poor, they tell you at America. He was so scared of school he the early hours of Sunday, October 12. need. A pack of wolves shows more soli­ school. Small, weak kids get relentlessly stayed home 45 days in the months before When she got home from work, her chil­ darity and concern for its nursing females bullied so much they just shut down or he finally hanged himself in the bedroom dren were dead and Kim Brathwaite and young than the capitalist rulers do. actually kill themselves. It happens a lot: closet where he often hid, on 2 January was charged with "reckless endanger­ Viewed from the most basic stand­ suicide is the third leading cause of death 2002. When the cops came, they found ment" and "endangering the welfare of a point of any civilized society-how the for kids aged 10 to 14. If you do grow up, the house a mess. The state, incredibly, child," and placed on "suicide watch" by new generations are raised and edu­ and if you're lucky, you get to work at a filed felony charges against the grieving the judge who set her bail so high, at cated-U.S. society is an utter disaster. meaningless, deadening job that doesn't mother for an "unsafe" home that posed a $35,000, it was unlikely she'd be able to Poor women without husbands are being pay enough. If you're a working woman, "risk of injury." Judith Scruggs now faces get out to attend her babies' funeral. We hounded off welfare, told to get a job or there's even more trouble, because now up to ten years in prison. say all the charges should be dropped "find a man" any way they can. But then the government is out to put you in jail for This isn't just one backwoods prose­ against these innocent mothers! when they do successfully stay off wel­ "neglect" if anything bad should happen cutor running wild: only a few days later These stories are just the ones that fare and work to support themselves, like to your kids. And something bad is always in New York City a mother in Canarsie, made th~ newspapers. The daily terror Kim Brathwaite and Judith Scruggs did, waiting to happen when you're poor. Brooklyn was arrested and faces up to 16 and humiliation entailed in growing up they are still blamed for everything that In the old' blue-collar town of Meriden, years in prison because her two young impoverished or black in racist, capital­ goes wrong. These working women were Connecticut, Judith Scruggs, a 52-year­ children tragically died in a fire. Kim ist America takes its toll largely unre­ doing the best they could, and their chil­ old mother, worked 60 hours a week at Brathwaite, a single mother from Trini­ ported in the press, where dry statistics dren died because of the horrible cruel­ two jobs to provide for herself, her 12- dad, had to go to her 12-hour 3 p.m. to on packed prisons and cuts in educa­ ties of the capitalist system. year-old son and her 19-year-old daugh­ 3 a.m. shift at a downtown Brooklyn tion, welfare and social programs mask The capitalist politicians, Democrats ter.