• AUSTRALIA $2.00 • BELGIUM BF60 • CANADA $2.00 • FRANCE FF1 0 • ICELAND Kr150 • NEW ZEALAND $2.50 • SWEDEN Kr12 • UK £1 .00 • U.S. $1 .50 h.·:;; INSIDE , • ~Mllita.nt~. .subscri .ption .dthte ends in success! THE ~- . <·. A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 59 'N0. 45 DECEMBER 4, 1995 Machinists After seven-year fight, turn down Boeing pact Mark Curtis wins parole BY LISA AHLBERG Worldwipe support is key in victory for framed-up unionist AND BOB BRUNEAU SEATILE- Cheers of"Strike! Strike! BY NAOMI CRAINE Strike!" erupted as the tellers marched out FORT MADISON, Iowa of the ballot counting room and into the - "This is a tremendous press conference. International Associa­ victory," said Mark Curtis tion of Machinists District 751 president following the decision by the Bill Johnson announced, "We still have a Iowa Board of Parole to re­ labor dispute going on." lease him from prison. "I al­ The November 21 press conference was ways knew this day would interrupted repeatedly by chants of "As come, but it wouldn't have long as it takes," "Where's our share?" happened without all the and "No more lies." people who wrote letters, Johnson announced the voting tally. showed up for parole hear­ The company's contract proposal was re­ ings, sold pamphlets about jected by 61 percent of the membership. my case, and campaigned for Some 23,000 members of the International my release." Association of Machinists (lAM) voted in Curtis has been impris­ Wichita, Kansas; Portland, Oregon; and oned for more than seven throughout the Puget Sound in Washing- years on frame-up charges of Continued on Page 10 rape and burglary. In a hear­ ing at the Iowa State Peniten­ tiary here November 21, the parole board announced that Washil)gton Curtis will finally be re­ leased. The board set De­ cember 7 to begin the paper­ MiiJitanlt/Naomi Craine gears up to work for his parole; Curtis Supporters celebrate in Ft. Madison, Iowa, after parole board decision to release Mark Curtis. will be released from jail From left, Kitty Loepker, Frankie Travis, Kate Kaku, Suzanne Curtis, Hazel Zimmerman, Jane some weeks later. Curtis, Dannen Vance, John Studer, Norton Sandler, Natalie Bombaro, and Nick Castle. send troops The frame-up of Mark Curtis began in March 1988. In the midst weeks leading up to the hearing, some 500 his behalf," said Mark Curtis Defense of a fight against the arrest of 17 immi­ letters urging the parole board to release Committee coordinator John Studer to a to Bosnia grant workers at the meatpacking plant Curtis poured into the office of the Mark meeting of more than 20 supporters in Des where he worked, Curtis was arrested by Curtis Defense Committee in Des Moines. Moines following the hearing. BY LAURA GARZA the Des Moines, Iowa, police. A longtime The Des Moines Register called the case A small delegation of Curtis's support­ The Clinton administration is gearing union activist and member of the Socialist an "international cause celebre." Excerpts ers was permitted by prison authorities to up a major campaign to justify the largest Workers Party, Curtis was beaten and from a few of the letters appear on page 7. attend the hearing. This included his deployment of U.S. troops overseas since falsely accused of attempting to rape a "This decision by the parole board re­ mother, Jane Curtis; his wife, Kate Kaku, the Gulf War. The massive intervention in Black teenager. He was railroaded to jail flects the pressure generated by the length who works as a steelworker in Chicago; Bosnia of troops from imperialist in a September 1988 trial. of time Mark has served, his continued po­ his attorney William Kutrnus; Hollywood nations- primarily the United Kingdom, Curtis has won broad support during the litical activity behind bars and refusal to director Nick Castle; Kitty Loepker, a France, and the United States - is needed years among unionists, farmers, fighters buckle to the attacks of prison authorities, member of United Steelworkers of Amer- to enforce the "peace," according to for social justice, and many others. In the and the international campaign waged on Continued on Page 6 Washington. An agreement between the warring par­ ties in the former Yugoslavia was reached in Dayton, Ohio, November 21, under U.S., Japan ties under growing strain heavy U.S. pressure. It was initialed at the Wright-Patterson Air Force base by Alija BY GEOFF MIRELOWITZ firmed Washington's determination to where they set up bases abroad. Izetbegovic, president of Bosnia­ SEATTLE - Despite growing protests keep 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in that Macke's statement was clearly unten­ Herzegovina; Croatian president Franjo in Japan demanding "Yankee go home," Asian country. Gore was in the city of Os­ able for Washington at this juncture in its Tudjman; and Serbian president Slobodan U.S. vice-president AI Gore, while on an aka attending the Asia-Pacific Economic relations with Tokyo. By the end of the Continued on Page 3 official visit there November 19, reaf- Cooperation (APEC) forum in place of day, under orders from the White House, President Bill Clinton. he had "resigned." Gore and other U.S. officials were You are invited to ••• nonetheless scrambling to respond to the Washington dumps admiral latest shockwaves from the crisis involv­ Big-business circles in Japan were also ing the U.S. military presence in Japan. wary of the reaction Macke's remarks The latest controversy was sparked by were bound to provoke there. His resigna­ Admiral Richard Macke, commander of tion was initially reported by Japanese New Year's Weekend all U.S military forces in the Pacific, who television without mentioning his com­ Regional Socialist· declared that the three U.S. soldiers who ments about the rape. raped and brutalized a 12-year-old Oki­ Leading U.S. capitalist politicians Educational Conferences nawan girl September 4 should instead openly expressed concern about the im­ have paid for a prostitute. pact of this affair on U.S.-Japanese ties. December JO-January 1 At a breakfast meeting with reporters on "Can you imagine what this does for rela­ the morning of November 18, Macke, a tions between our countries now?" asked four-star admiral, remarked, "I think that it Senator Joseph Biden, a ranking Demo­ was absolutely stupid, I've said several crat. "If they were bad before, what do you Atlanta + Boston times," offered Macke. "For the price they think will happen now?" paid to rent the car they could have had a Biden and other U.S. political figures .Detroit + Seattle girl." had reason to be concerned. Gore's visit The rape has boosted the opposition fell short of Washington's goal of a joint Sponsored by throughout Japan to the U.S. military pres­ reaffirmation with Tokyo of the U.S.­ ence there, especially on the island of Oki­ lapan security treaty that allows U.S. the Young Socialists nawa. The vast majority of U.S. forces in bases to remain there. ~dSocialist Workers Patty Japan are stationed on Okinawa. The ad­ The Japanese government, responding miral's callous justification of sexual ex­ to public pressure and to some doubts in f1onnore information on classes, ploitation of women only reinforced the ruling circles over the arrangements that presentations, and travel to events deep hatred felt by many Japanese toward have been in place for decades, declined see listings on page 12. the U.S. military brass for their role in or­ to issue such a declaration. ganizing centers of prostitution every- Continued on Page 12 Gov't, rail bosses at fault in fatal Chicago crash - page 13 Meanwhile, supporters of Hamas in French gov't to cut welfare Gaza announced they will form a political A number of unions in France have party to participate in the elections. They called a one-day national strike on plan to call the party Salvation, or Na­ November 28 in response to government tional Islamic Party, which will run on a proposals to cut social welfare programs. platform centered on political opposition On November 15 the National Assembly to the Israel-PLO accords. approved measures proposed by Prime Minister Alain Juppe on spending cuts to Egyptian embassy bombed eliminate a $51 billion budget deficit, A suicide bomber drove an explosive­ which capitalist politicians attribute to so­ laden truck into the gate of the Egyptian cial programs. The government has cho­ embassy in Islamabad, the capital of Pak­ sen to attack social benefits as it tries to istan, on November 19. The explosion lower the public deficit below 3 percent of killed 15 people, including an Egyptian the gross domestic product, a precondition diplomat, and wounded 59 others. Three for joining the European Monetary Union, groups claimed responsibility, including planned for 1999. the Islamic Group, which, according to Included in the plans are major cuts in Cairo, has led a three-and-a-half-year social security and health-care spending, campaign of terrorist attacks to overturn taxes and means testing for health insur­ the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. ance, and an increase in the number of Press reports in Pakistan allege that a years workers must make pension contri­ number of Egyptians opposed to the butions. In addition, a one-half percent Mubarak regime live in that country. Last levy on nearly all income was put in place year, the two regimes signed an extradi­ for 13 years to cover previous debts. tion agreement. Since then, Islamabad has In addition to the union-called demon­ deported a number of Egyptian nationals. strations, student sit-ins and protests are occurring in a number of universities to Dock, mine strikes in Australia demand increased government financial A five-day national dockworkers' strike assistance and teachers.