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Momentum builds
SOUTH AFRICA
Wall Street, Sept. 17
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elected members representing all work sites, to decide to spend a proposed two days talking to members each delegate represents, while the strike continues. CTU President Karen Lewis said, This union is a democratic institution, which values the opportunity for all members to make decisions together. The officers of this union follow the lead of our members. The issues raised Continued on page 7
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dardized testing to evaluate teachers. Under some proposals for this testing, it would consume 20 to 25 instruction days a year. The deal also doesnt put enough limits on the power of principals to hire whomever they want. Important issues, with national implications These are some of issues that led the CTU Delegate Assembly, with 800
MIDDLE EAST U.S. Marines in Libya Oct. 5-7 anti-war protests 9 Two parties, one response
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In the U.S.
Class war on Wall Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chicago teachers suspend heroic strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Stop incarcerations & torture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Bene t held for anti-racist Tinley Park 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Leslie Feinberg les for speedy jury trial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Unity in struggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Activists demonstrate: You can ght City Hall! . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Solitary con nement protested. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Midwest protests Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Corporate welfare, NO! Human welfare, YES!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 On the picket line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Autoworkers speak out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Saving the auto industry: Behind the political spin. . . . . . 5 Teachers, communities stand strong on strike. . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chicago & Philadelphia teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Palermo Workers Union in solidarity with teachers . . . . . . . 6 Pizza workers hold informational picket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Judge strikes down anti-union bill in Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . 7 Jim-Crow-era voting law protested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
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Editorial
Republicans, Democrats & Benghazi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Noticias En Espaol
Colombia: Negociaciones de paz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Mercaderes de la muerte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Workers World 55 West 17 Street New York, N.Y. 10011 Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: ww@workers.org Web: www.workers.org Vol. 54, No. 38 Sept. 27, 2012 Closing date: Sept. 18, 2012 Editor: Deirdre Griswold Technical Editor: Lal Roohk Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Leslie Feinberg, Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead, Gary Wilson West Coast Editor: John Parker Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, Greg Butterfield, Jaimeson Champion, G. Dunkel, Fred Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Cheryl LaBash, Milt Neidenberg, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac Technical Staff: Sue Davis, Shelley Ettinger, Bob McCubbin, Maggie Vascassenno Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Teresa Gutierrez, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Michael Martnez, Carlos Vargas Supporter Program: Sue Davis, coordinator Copyright 2011 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 55 W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011. Phone: 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $30; institutions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., New York, NY 10011. Back issues and individual articles are available on microfilm and/or photocopy from University Microfilms International, 300 Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. A searchable archive is available on the Web at www.workers.org. A headline digest is available via e-mail subscription. Subscription information is at workers.org/email.php. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
mass incarceration.
GOVERNOR CUOMO,
Forty-one years a er the massacre of 1971, conditions at Attica remain largely unchanged. We join the Correctional Association of New York in calling for the closing of this internationally known dungeon as a rst step toward ending
demand the Shutting Down of Attica e prison-sanctioned brutality at Attica against the incarWHEN?New York State maximum-security prisons are horri cally1 PM WED., SEPT 26, NOON simily, several other lar. We focus on Attica as a symbol of the brutality of this system that must end. WHERE? 42nd Street and 3rd Avenue
cerated men represents the worst of the prison-industrial complex. Unfortunate-
WHAT? Delivery of letters to Gov. Cuomo Sponsored by: SEPT 14 to demand the Shutting Down of Attica End Mass Incarceration / Close Attica Coalition WHEN? information: Call 212.330.8029 For more WED., SEPT 26, NOON 1 PM WHERE? 42nd Street and 3rd Avenue
National O ce 55 W. 17 St., 5th Fl. New York, NY 10011 212.627.2994 wwp@workers.org Atlanta P.O. Box 5565 Atlanta, GA 30307 404.627.0185 atlanta@workers.org Baltimore c/o Solidarity Center 2011 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218 443.909.8964 baltimore@workers.org Boston If you would like to 284 Amory St. know more about WWP, Boston, MA 02130 or to join us in these 617.522.6626 Fax 617.983.3836 struggles, contact the boston@workers.org branch nearest you. Workers World Party (WWP) ghts for socialism and engages in struggles on all the issues that face the working class & oppressed peoples Black & white, Latino/a, Asian, Arab and Native peoples, women & men, young & old, lesbian, gay, bi, straight, trans, disabled, working, unemployed, undocumented & students.
joi n join us
Sponsored by: Durham, N.C. Pittsburgh Bu alo, N.Y. SEPT 14 END MASS INCARCERATION/CLOSE ATTICA COALITION 331 W. Main St., Ste. 408 pittsburgh@workers.org 367 Delaware Ave. For more information: Call 212.330.8029 Durham, NC 27701 Bu alo, NY 14202 Rochester, N.Y. 919.322.9970 716.883.2534 585.436.6458 durham@workers.org bu alo@workers.org rochester@workers.org Houston Chicago San Diego P.O. Box 3454 27 N. Wacker Dr. #138 P.O. Box 33447 Houston, TX 77253-3454 San Diego, CA 92163 Chicago, IL 60606 713.503.2633 chicago@workers.org 619.692.0355 houston@workers.org 312.229.0161 sandiego@workers.org Los Angeles Cleveland San Francisco 5278 W Pico Blvd. P.O. Box 5963 2940 16th St., #207 Los Angeles, CA 90019 Cleveland, OH 44101 San Francisco la@workers.org 216.738.0320 CA 94103 323.306.6240 cleveland@workers.org 415.738.4739 sf@workers.org Milwaukee Denver milwaukee@workers.org Tucson, Ariz. denver@workers.org tucson@workers.org Philadelphia Detroit Washington, D.C. P.O. Box 34249 5920 Second Ave. P.O. Box 57300 Philadelphia, PA 19101 Detroit, MI 48202 Washington, DC 610.931.2615 313.459.0777 20037c@workers.org phila@workers.org detroit@workers.org
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Unity in struggle
Minneapolis Leslie Feinberg, center, with activists who drove from Anoka, Minn., on Sept. 13 to demonstrate their ongoing solidarity with CeCe McDonald, to show support for Feinberg in the courtroom that morning and to confront state repression against Minneapolis activists at this lunchtime City Hall protest. The Anoka activists work to defend LGBTQ/+
youths in struggle in their community. A Feb. 2 rollingstone.com article, One Towns War on Gay Teens, summarized that local struggle: In Michele Bachmanns home district, evangelicals have created an extreme anti-gay climate. After a rash of suicides, the kids are fighting back. Report & photo by Minnie Bruce Pratt
Minneapolis
familys home, now face charges of thirddegree riot, a gross misdemeanor, along with four other misdemeanors, which carry a total sentence of up to 2 years in prison and a $7,000 fine. Occupy Homes MNs defense of the Cruz home made headlines around the country this spring after protesters repeatedly fended off sheriffs and police who came to evict the home; the Cruz family traveled to PNC Bank headquarters in Pittsburgh to renegotiate their loan in person; the city of Minneapolis spent over $42,000 on police forces at the Cruz home; and 37 people were arrested in acts of civil disobedience, including hip-hop artist Brother Ali. Activists demand the dropping of all charges, and that all police who used violence in the course of these evictions, including Chief Tim Dolan, who was photographed stepping on peaceful protesters, be formally disciplined; and that no more Continued on page 11
A Sept. 17 Philadelphia protest to abolish solitary con nement in Pennsylvania drew more than 100 people, who listened to former prisoners and their family members describe the Department of Corrections use of long-term solitary and other forms of torture. Organized
by the Human Rights Coalition, the featured speakers were Robert King, of the Angola 3; Hakeem Shaeed (formerly Robert Molley); and Theresa Shoatz, daughter of political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoats.
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Warehouse workers on strike in Calif., Ill.
Workers at warehouses in major Walmart distribution centers in California and Illinois have been organizing against horrendous conditions for more than a year. Lack of access to clean water, basic health care, regular breaks and properly functioning equipment, on top of exposure to pollutants, improper ventilation in high heat, frequent workplace injuries (boxes can weigh up to 250 lbs.) and retaliation if workers protest, are common. Such basic labor violations have forced the workers to file unfair labor practice suits against their employers, who are subcontractors of Walmart, the largest, wealthiest, greediest retailer in the U.S. and the world. Workers wages are low $8 per hour and $250 a week, or $12,000 per year, according to Warehouse Workers for Justice. Even though the 85,000 workers in this industry do not yet have union representation, they dared to strike going out first in Mira Loma, Calif., on Sept. 12, followed on Sept. 15 in Ellwood, Ill. On Sept. 13, organizers in Ontario, Calif., began a WalMarch, a 50-mile, six-day protest to demand that Walmart take responsibility and live up to its own Standards for Suppliers. To learn more about WalMarch (follow it on Twitter #WalMarch) and sign a petition supporting the workers demands, visit warehouseworkersunited. org. For more information about the struggle in Illinois, visit www.warehouseworker.org.
Some 75 housing rights activists from Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis demonstrated in front of the Chicago regional office of Fannie Mae on Sept. 10, demanding an end to foreclosures, a reduction of mortgages to current market values, and
the return of foreclosed properties to families who were evicted. Demonstrators then marched to Freddie Macs office, repeating the same demands. They then joined striking Chicago teachers at a massive march through downtown Chicago. Similar
demonstrations took place at the offices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in Atlanta on Sept. 10 and in Los Angeles and New York on Sept. 12. For a more detailed report, visit moratorium-mi.org. Report & photo by Mike Shane
By Joe Piette Gov. [Tom] Corbett, blood is on your hands, charged Jeffrey Jordan, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, on Sept. 13. He was criticizing Pennsylvanias elimination of general assistance payments to 61,000 unemployed single adults, couples without children and disabled people. A crowd of more than 100 people, some breathing with the aid of small
oxygen tanks and several in wheelchairs, took over the street in front of the governors Philadelphia office. The cuts, which were put into effect on Aug. 1, mean many former recipients have no funds to pay for medicine, shelter, clothing and other items needed to live. Corbetts office had previously promised to meet with ACT UP, an AIDS and HIV advocacy organization, to discuss what was being done
to compensate for the states GA cuts. ACT UP organized the Sept. 13 rally to ask, Where is the meeting you promised us? When a governors representative addressed the crowd, repeating the administrations intention to meet with a few people, Waheedah Shabazz-El, of the U.S. Positive Womens Network, took the mic to demand a meeting with all of us in the convention center.
It took only six months of organizing by the Department Store Union (RWDSU) for workers at Astoria Car Wash and Hi-Tek Car Wash and Lube in Queens, N.Y., to vote to join the union. In the process, the mostly immigrant workers faced great risks, including deportation. Yet the conditions are so bad in the industry that they felt they didnt have much to lose by standing up, said RWDSU President Stuart Applebaum. (New York Times, Sept. 9) In July, the workers, with the help of Make the Road New York and New York Communities for Change, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that for at least six years they have been paid less than the minimum wage, received no overtime and
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Picket line
By Sue Davis
suffered unhealthy working conditions. In fact, a 2008 New York State investigation of 84 car washes in the city revealed that 1,380 workers were underpaid by $6.5 million. However, nothing was done to change conditions until the workers stepped forward. Though organizing in the city is difficult, with 5,000 workers at 200 individually owned locations, the workers are inspired by a similar campaign in Los Angeles that won collective bargaining agreements with higher wages and better working conditions at several car wash companies earlier this year.
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commentary
And what about that second-class treatment of the bondholders? Almost all of Chryslers debt was held by four entities: JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. A much smaller amount of the original $10 billion debt borrowed by the investment fund Cerberus in 2007 after it bought the company from Daimler was shared by a few dozen hedge funds. About $3.1 billion of the principal had already been paid, along with hundreds of millions, if not billions, in servicing fees and interest. All four banks and all but three funds agreed to loan terms which give them around 30 cents on each dollar of the remaining $6.9 billion in debt. At the time, Chrysler debt was selling for only 15 cents on the dollar on the bond market. So these financiers got twice the value of their investment hardly unfair treatment! Bipartisan attack on labor movement What really happened was a bipartisan attack on the UAW and, by extension, the whole labor movement. The celebrated rebound of Chrysler is based on fewer workers making more vehicles at substantially lower pay. That was our precondition for saving the auto industry. If there is any difference between the two political parties, it is that the Republicans think the attack should have gone further that the transfer of wealth from labor to capital wasnt big enough. Autoworkers need to be independent of both capitalist parties and part of a movement committed to advancing the common interest of workers and oppressed people worldwide. Based on a talk given by Grevatt at the Sept. 9 Autoworker Speakout in Detroit.
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dents showed up at these schools displays the parents complete mistrust for the CPS board of education and CPS ability to provide a safe place for the children of Chicago. (fightbacknews.org, Sept. 11) Saving public education vs charter schools The United Neighborhood Organization has used the strike to try to boost enrollment in their nonunion, publicly funded charter schools. The UNO portrays itself as a grassroots community organization, but it has been in league with the administration of the notoriously corrupt former mayor, Richard Daley (and now Emanuel), virtually since its inception, causing many genuine grassroots organizers to label it an astroturf organization. (http://tinyurl. com/8rgp6mt) The UNO has a racist history of keeping Black children out of its schools, and now its CEO, Juan Rangel, is trying to further his own union-busting scab career by parroting the mayors line on the strike. Meanwhile, on the picket lines, spirits remain high. Kenyatta Forbes, a young teacher at Fiske Elementary School on the South Continued on page 11
paraprofessionals of the Chicago Public Schools. The Chicago Teachers Union is calling for a better school day and adequate resources for students, as well as fair compensation and improved job security and training for teachers. SEIU supports the CTU in their strike. Strong public schools are critical for working families in Chicago. SEIU Illinois calls on Chicago Public Schools to give our students, schools and teachers the resources
they need to succeed. (seiu1.org, Sept. 8) Emanuel had a contingency plan of scab schools lined up. According to FightBack! News, One parent said the contingency school in his area was supposed to receive 1,000 students, but instead only 60 showed up. According to Sarah Chambers, a member of the CTU bargaining committee, The contingency plan schools were a colossal failure. The fact that almost no stu-
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lic education system. We hope the strike is resolved as quickly as possible. In the meantime the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is sending $10,000 to support teachers as they continue to fight for public education. (ctunet.com, Sept. 13) The CTU held a large, Wisconsin-style support rally in Union Park on Sept. 15, which drew over 30,000 people, not only parents and members of other Chicago unions but also busloads of teachers from Madison and Milwaukee, Wis. After the rally, the protest marched through the West Side communities of Chicago. Bob Peterson, president of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, started his speech with Greetings from the state where teachers lived to fight Governor Walker to the city where teachers are standing up against Rahm Emanuel. He went on: At the time [of the Wisconsin protests in 2011] visiting teachers from Chicago came up to me and said, You teachers in Wisconsin are our heroes. And today I come to say to you, You teachers in Chicago are our heroes. You demanded that public education be a priority for the city, not privatized charters, not private voucher schools, not turn-
around schools but public schools. (examiner.com, Sept. 15) Lewis gave the final speech. Obviously tired and angry, she said, I am tired of billionaires telling us what we need to do for our children as if they love our children more than we do. One of the most prominent members of Emanuels school board is the extremely wealthy, hotel heiress Penny Pritzker. Lewis challenged the school board and City Hall along with the Bill Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation, which push business-administration graduates with no teaching experience into education leadership to turn off their air conditioners and face the same environment as teachers when theyre working in Chicago schools. She asked, I want to know why when we ask for textbooks and materials on the first day, on the first day when children walk into a building, that somehow we are being unreasonable. I want someone to tell me why that is. (examiner.com, Sept. 15) Lewis reminded the audience that the CTU was still on strike and that the agreement they had with the CPS was just a framework.
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track record under his leadership. He also sought to build support for the governments efforts to bring stability to the mining industry. Zuma acknowledged that R4.5 billion ($548 million) was lost in the recent wildcat strikes at several platinum and gold mines. Zuma also spoke to the indirect impact of the strikes on other sectors of the national economy: We cannot afford to go into recession and revert to the 2008 and 2009 period where the country lost close to one million jobs, which we are still battling to recover. We have to find a way to restore workplace stability and labor peace. Violence cannot become the culture of labor relations. (Financial Times, Sept. 17) A rival but smaller union, the Association of Miners and Construction Workers, has sought to compete with COSATUs largest affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers, for the workers loyalty. NUM expelled several AMCU leaders more than a decade ago, and this animosity continues in the present crisis. COSATU President Dlamini recognized the challenges facing the federation. He pointed out, We cannot hide the fact that the plight of workers is being used by some to weaken strategic components of the alliance seen as a threat towards Mangaung. The ANC along with COSATU and the South African Communist Party have maintained a close working alliance since the days of the former white minority apartheid regime. Debates over the handling of the current economic crisis have brought about strains within the relationship among the organizations.
across the Middle East and beyond. Perhaps so. But it is occupation by foreign troops that obviously stokes the fire of resistance. Washington and the rest of NATO have failed to break this resistance. It has only grown stronger. The war in Afghanistan benefits not one worker in the United States. This failed conquest of a poor country is only for the sake of the billionaires and their minions in government who have created so much misery here. It is long past time that it is stopped and the troops brought home.
SOUTH AFRICA
Order from Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., 5C, www.workers.org/ebooks/SouthAfricaMM.pdf NY, NY 10011 Enclose $2 (plus $1 shipping)
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On11th anniverary of the invasion of Afghanistan: from across the U.S. and Canada to London actions demand
by John catalinotto Sept. 17 As of today, organizations in nearly 20 cities in North America have called demonstrations, meetings, vigils or other actions for the weekend of Oct. 5-7, along with a solidarity action in London, to mark the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. The demonstrations, which were called and coordinated by the United National Antiwar Coalition and others, have highlighted three issues: ending the occupation of Afghanistan, demanding hands off Syria, and no war on Iran. UNAC is also protesting the war at home, meaning both the persecution of Muslims and the stop-and-frisk laws in the U.S. The killing of the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi, Libya, has sharpened the international crisis. U.S. militarists may press for even more intervention, while the Pentagon is sending warships to Libya and posting Marines at U.S. embassies. The proxy war against Syria continues, as do the threats against Iran. This all makes anti-war protests even more necessary. Here are some. In Los Angeles, a rally will be held Oct. 6 at Pershing Square, 532 S. Olive St., at 2 p.m. The broad coalition sponsoring the protest includes the International Action Center, School of the Americas WatchL.A., Arab Americans for Syria, Latinos Against the War, and Union of Progressive Iranians. For more information and to endorse the protest, call 323-306-6240. Also in Los Angeles, a march to shut down the military recruitment center is set for the same day at noon at Hollywood and Highland. In New York, UNAC has called for a march on Oct. 7 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. centered at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building Plaza at 163 West 125th St. in Harlem. A UNAC press release says they were able to win a permit after a fight and a lot of work by Nellie Bailey, of the Harlem Tenants Council and Black Agenda Report, and Imam Talib, president of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metro N.Y. The march is timed specifically to avoid conflict with an important Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which is taking place in New York, that same weekend but ending before the protest is scheduled to begin. In Chicago, protesters will march to Boeing headquarters at 435 N. Michigan Ave. at 3 p.m. on Oct. 7. For more information, call 773-301-0109. A particularly broad coalition has set a protest in Minneapolis on Oct. 7 at 1
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PHILADELPHIA
he crisis spawned by the killing of the U.S. ambassador, two ex-Navy Seals and another U.S. official in Benghazi has its roots in the U.S.-NATO takeover of Libya and its oil fields from the former sovereign Libyan government. That the crisis exploded during the presidential elections has led to verbal battles between the two capitalist political parties, the Republicans and Democrats. These parties are both avid supporters of U.S. imperialist foreign policies and all the Pentagons wars. In times of war crisis, they usually close ranks behind whatever militaristic moves the administration pursues. Thus the immediate attacks on the Obama administration from Sen. John McCain, Rep. Paul Ryan, former Gov. Mitt Romney and others might leave the impression that there are substantial and serious differences in strategy, tactics and perhaps even goals of the two parties regarding aggressive U.S. foreign policy. That would be a false impression. Both parties express the interests of the U.S. imperialist ruling class. And this class has grown more belligerent and desperate for conquest as the economic crisis drags on and deepens. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was a counterbalance to imperialist power from 1945 to 1990, the U.S. and its NATO allies have been trying to reconquer those countries that had won some sovereignty during the USSRs existence. Washington has waged these wars under both Democratic and Republican administrations using diverse but equally fraudulent banners and justified them by equally fraudulent pretexts, from humanitarian rescues to weapons of mass destruction. Republican administrations invaded Afghanistan and have invaded Iraq twice, wreaking havoc on millions of
people. Democratic administrations bombed Yugoslavia and Libya, destroying those states. The Obama administration uses pilotless drones to bomb Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other African targets while continuing the war against the Afghan people; most casualties are civilians. Both parties have promoted antiMuslim ideology inside the U.S. by imprisoning Muslims in the Guantnamo concentration camp without trial, and by using the FBI and local police to frame up Muslim youth for alleged plots that paid agent provocateurs incited in the first place. There are differences. The Republicans have spoken with more bluster, rattling rockets and threatening to send troops. The Democrats speak softer and maneuver more with local forces, avoiding mass troop casualties if possible. Both pursue an equally militarist, interventionist foreign policy in general that creates a catastrophe for the peoples involved. Right now both want intervention against Syria and threaten war on Iran. In Libya, the irony is that Washingtons strategy of supporting the most retrograde forces to overthrow and murder Col. Moammar Gadhafi has resulted in the death of the U.S. ambassador. Let this event not be used by either imperialist party as a pretext for further intervention and war. For anti-war and anti-imperialist forces inside the U.S., the only option is to oppose both parties and to oppose whatever the Pentagon plans. The next opportunity to do so will be on the weekend of Oct. 5-7 when the United National Antiwar Coalition (nationalpeaceconference.org) has called actions in cities around the U.S. with protests also scheduled in Canada to say no to U.S. intervention against Syria and Iran and to get NATO out of Afghanistan.
(R-Butler), who sponsored the bill, has attempted to pass other legislation that adversely affects Muslims, African Americans, immigrants and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities. The real motivation behind the law was revealed by Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Mike Turzai. He told the Republican State Committee that the law would allow Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to carry Pennsylvania in this years election. Organizations participating in the rally included the Pennsylvania NAACP, Action United, Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition, National Action Network-Philadelphia Chapter, The Advancement Project, Fight for Philly, Occupy Philly and the following unions: Steelworkers, Communication Workers, Transit Workers, and Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776. Speakers promised to continue the fight to stop the racist repression of voting rights, regardless of the outcome of the court hearing. The TWU, CWA and NAACP announced the formation of a coalition to protect voting rights. From Sept. 17 until the Oct. 9 registration deadline, all three organizations will mobilize members to hit the streets with registration forms and information on voter ID requirements.
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doned in the face of mass opposition, face increasing exposure and resistance. Flounders points out that U.S. imperialism is especially dangerous when it is losing and emphasizes the need for an aware and militant anti-war movement to monitor and oppose the machinations of the Pentagon. She focuses on the interventions in Syria, Libya and the Palestinian struggle as areas of particular concern. Flounders also shows the role of advancing technology in the struggle of imperialism with the rest of the world. In a chapter entitled WikiLeaks, the Printing Press & the Bible, she shows how throughout history technological development has influenced social and political change. Although new technology has put more lethal power into the hands of the Pentagon in the form of drones, GPS guided bombs, computers and satellite communications, many of these developments have given the masses new avenues of struggle and undermined the strategic position of their oppressors. The U.S. military may have originally developed the Internet for its own emergency military communication in time of
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Above left, Manuel Ospina from the Association of Injured Workers and ex-Workers of General Motors Colombia (Astrecol).
PHOTO: KIT AASTRUP
The Latin America-Caribbean Solidarity Committee (LA-CSC) of the International Action Center held a Latin America in Resistance forum, with participants representing struggles in Colombia, Mexico and Honduras, on Sept. 13. Manuel Ospina from the Association of Injured Workers and ex-Workers of General Motors Colombia (ASOTRECOL) participated via Skype from Bogota. He discussed the heroic hunger strike that members of his organization have been conducting since Aug. 1 against GM, the giant, U.S.-based, transnational car manufacturer. Representatives from the Mexican protest movement Yo Soy 132 spoke about the fraudulent 2012 presidential election and the response from a wide and growing cross section of Mexican society who
will settle for nothing less than a new Mexican reality. Lastly, the LA-CSC screened a video of the July 1 launch of the Partido Libre campaign in Honduras, which is running Xiomara Castro de Zelaya for president and Juan Barahona for vice president. Lucy Pagoada from Honduras USA Resistencia introduced the video, in which candidate Castro de Zelaya called for a socialist Honduras. The elections will be held in November 2013, and the LA-CSC has already begun to organize a delegation of
election observers to travel to Honduras, at the request of the National Front of Popular Resistance there. The next forum of the LA-CSC, to be held on Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. at the Solidarity Center in New York City, will focus on the struggle of Ecuador to break free from both U.S. imperialism and economic models based on neoliberalism. For more information, call 212-633-6646 or visit iacenter.org.
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war. But the Internet has long since escaped those bounds. U.S. corporate power cannot shut down the Internet without totally disrupting their own businesses, production and marketing. The contradiction is that the immediate financial interests of the bourgeoisie make the Internet ever more accessible. Reflecting both Flounders esteem among anti-imperialists worldwide and the usefulness of the book, more than a dozen individuals with prestige in the progressive movement including Ramsey Clark, Cynthia McKinney, Sandinista leader Miguel DEscoto Brockmann, Michael Parenti and leading Black unionist Clarence Thomas have written statements praising Flounders book. U.S. imperialism is in decline and War Without Victory is an important and timely documentation of some of the important nails in its coffin. See pentagonachillesheel.com for endorsements and to download. The book is available on amazon.com and barnsandnoble.com. To order from the publisher, send $15.95 plus a $3 shipping charge to World View Forum, 55 W. 17th St., 5th floor, New York, NY 10011 with your name and address.
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