Nuevo edicto racista en Arizona Ecuador y WikiLeaks 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite!

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Sept. 20, 2012

Vol. 54, No. 37

$1

Chicago teachers on strike

By Monica Moorehead Sept. 10 The Chicago Teachers Union, in a just struggle for a fair contract, went out on strike during the early morning today following an impasse with the Chicago Board of Education. The union announced picket lines at 675 schools and the Board of Education. (ctunet.com, Sept. 9) The 29,000 union members, comprised of teachers and support staff, had voted overwhelmingly this summer to go out on strike if their demands for better pay and working conditions were not met. Chicago has the third-largest school district in the U.S., behind New York City and Los Angeles, with an estimated 350,000 students. The last strike by Chicago teachers took place 25 years ago. At 5:30 p.m., the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign made an announcement on social media about the afternoons solidarity march on the first day of the strike: Right now downtown Chicago is a red sea that cannot be divided as thousands of teachers and their allies march through the streets in front of and near the Board of Education. The teachers really want one thing, to deliver quality education for fair compensation. Its really that simple, Mr. Mayor. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was President Barack Obamas former chief of staff. CTU president Karen Lewis stated in a press release why the teachers were prepared to strike against the Chicago Public Schools: CPS seems determined to have a toxic relationship with its employees. They denied us our 4 percent raises when there was money in the budget to honor our agreement; they attempted to ram a poorly thought-out longer school day down our throats; and, on top of that, they want us to teach a new curriculum and be ready to be evaluated based on how well our students do on a standardized test. It has been insult after insult after insult. Enough is enough. (ctunet.com, Aug. 29)

Students, community allies ALL support

CUBAN 5 SOLIDARITY at Wall Street South OBAMA, DEMOCRATS & WORKERS

The CTU is also demanding smaller class sizes, air conditioning for students and workers, job security and retention of health-care benefits. Teachers & community are one Lewis and other union leaders have made it clear that the union was forced to go on strike and that it is not a strike of choice, as Rahm has stated. The teachers demands, says Lewis, are tied to broader social concerns for those students who live in poverty, especially Black and Latino/a students. We have communities that have been neglected for decades, and all of a sudden were expecting something to happen in a vacuum. I Continued on page 5
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION LOCAL 1

Chicago teachers rally at Labor Day Sept. 3. Sign reads: Parents and teachers united for our children.

CAPITALIST ELECTORAL POLITICS

POLITICAL PRISONERS & REPRESSION

Mumia Abu Jamal Troy Davis CeCe McDonald 3
WWW.FREEMUMIA.COM

Graphic of Mumia and Troy Davis.

Photo taken by Leslie Feinberg during a recent visit with CeCe MacDonald.

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By Dante Strobino Charlotte, N.C. Over 300 Southern workers, trade unionists and community allies gathered for the Southern Workers Assembly on Sept. 3, Labor Day, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention. The Wedgewood Baptist Church was packed and supporters had to stand beside the pews. There was a feeling in the air that Southern labor was uniting to forge a his-

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toric new direction, towards rank-andfile-led social justice trade unionism, particularly to challenge right-to-work (for less) laws and combat racism. Southern workers cannot wait for the Democratic Party and certainly not the Republican Party, to enact some progressive labor laws before we can begin a serious effort to organize ourselves into a labor movement, stated Saladin Muhammad, director of the United Electrical Workers Unions Southern International

Worker Justice Campaign, in his opening remarks. Unfortunately, this has been a serious error on the part of the U.S. labor movement for too many years. Donna Dewitt, retired former president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, also helped co-host the meeting and added some remarks. The Democratic National Convention was being held in North Carolina, the least unionized state in the country, Continued on page 6

SOUTH AFRICAN Miners 9 COLOMBIA Peace talks 11 DPRK 10 QUEBEC 10

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Sept. 20, 2012

workers.org

Demonstrate against racism in Wyandotte schools

By Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire A picket line went up in front of the Wyandotte Public Schools headquarters right outside the city of Detroit on Aug. 30 in response to a series of allegations regarding blatant racial discrimination, intimidation and violence carried out against students and their parents. The action was called by Team for Justice in conjunction with the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice. Joe Hudson, who has a 13-year-old daughter in the district, is the spokesperson for the civil rights organization TfJ. He said that African-American students and their white friends have been harassed and stalked by a contractual service employee at the Wilson Middle School. Even after two personal protection orders were taken out to restrain the behavior of the employee, the same activity continued without any effort by the school district to remove the employee. Hudson has been attacked before in Wyandotte. After he complained to police about the harassment of him and his daughter, a white man who lived next door to his home continued to walk pass the house shouting racial slurs. He would say, You people should not be living here, Hudson recalled. Wyandotte is a majority white community. Eventually the man was arrested but the attempts to intimidate the family continue. Keith Tims, a colleague and friend of Hudson, who also has a 13-year-old at Wilson, said during the demonstration that he has witnessed firsthand the racism and violence against people who are residents of Wyandotte. Tims, a UAW member, expressed his appreciation to MECAWI for supporting TfJs efforts to expose and eradicate racism in Wyandotte. Hudson told the demonstration that if the situation with the school had not been resolved before the next board meeting, he would put a call out for Wyandotte residents and others to attend that Sept. 18 meeting.

WORKERS WORLD

this week ...

In the U.S.
Chicago teachers on strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Southern labor hosts assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Demonstrate against racism in Wyandotte schools . . . . . . . 2 Fred Hampton Srs life commemorated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Mumia ghts life imprisonment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Leslie Feinberg: Free CeCe McDonald. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Atlanta remembers Troy Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 DNC protests demand freedom for Cuban Five. . . . . . . . . . . 4 West Virginia rally backs steelworkers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 U.S. tops worlds arms sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Obama, Democratic Party and working class . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Muhammad: What is our charge as Southern workers? . . 7 Capitalist electoral politics and class struggle . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Around the world

South African workers stoppages spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Quebec student struggle stops tuition hikes . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Canada rightists persecute activists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Socialist Korea looks ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Colombian revolutionaries announce peace talks . . . . . . . 11 Colombian hunger strike comes to GMs home. . . . . . . . . . 11

CHICAGO

Fred Hampton Srs 1969 assassination commemorated

By Eric Struch Chicago This year as every year, Comrade Mother Akua Njeri, the Prisoners of Conscience Committee, the Black Panther Party Cubs and their allies held a vigil for the martyred revolutionary, Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. on his birthday, Aug. 30, at Ground Zero, the site of his assassination by a cop death squad on Dec. 4, 1969. Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. would have been 64 this year. They call this location Ground Zero because it was the 9/11 of the proletarian revolutionary movement in Chicagos Black community, where the cops assassinated the Twin Towers of the Illinois Black Panther Party, Chairman Fred and Defense Captain Mark Clark. Supporters and allies from all over the city and the rest of the country came here to the West Side to show their respect. The residents of 2337 W. Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. Way (Monroe) even have a picture of Chairman Fred Sr. taped up in the second floor window. Comrade Mother Akua gave a harrowing account of how the Chicago Police Department/Illinois State Attorneys Office/FBI death squad used machine guns and pump shotguns in the terrorist attack in 1969 and how Chairman Fred Sr. was murdered execution-style after having already been hit by several shots in his bloodsoaked bed. The cops even put a gun to Comrade Mother Akuas (then known as Deborah Johnson) pregnant belly and threatened to kill her and her unborn son. Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. described the two components of the FBIs Counterintelligence Program: military and psychological. The psychological aspect was the attempt to wipe out the historical legacy of the Black liberation movement, especially the most advanced, revolutionary proletarian expression of it: the Black Panther Party. He spoke about the need for revolutionary organizations to have discipline and structure in order to minimize the damage state agents can do. Chairman Fred Jr. has plenty of his own experience with state repression. As a young revolutionary, he was framed up in 1992 by the cops for an alleged arson that never actually even took place, and railroaded into prison until he was paroled in 2001. The state made two attempts to assassinate him in 2002 after he was released, which he described in detail in an interview with hip-hop journalist Davey D. Despite the threats, he continues his organizing efforts with the POCC, an organization dedicated to upholding and defending the Panther legacy, and fighting for proletarian revolution and the national liberation of the Black internal colony in the U.S. He says the counterinsurgency has not let up but has, instead, continued to harass them. After the vigil at Ground Zero, Chairman Fred Jr. and Comrade Mother Akua took questions from the crowd and received messages of solidarity from Workers World Party and Occupy Chicago. Everyone then made their way down to The Wall, which is a giant mural of Chairman Fred Sr. at the corner of Madison and California, for the 2012 Streetz Party birthday celebration. Among those there were Reginald Akkeem Berry Sr. of Saving Our Sons Ministries with a large group from his organization, and others from the Nation of Islam, Occupy Chicago, Radicals Against Discrimination and the Revolutionary Communist Party. A DJ spun hip-hop and dusties [classic R&B and soul music] for the crowd. Throwing large events like this can strain the resources of grassroots revolutionary organizations like the POCC/ BPPC. Those who wish to can send donations to Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., P.O. Box 368255, Chicago, IL 60636

Editorial
Football & gay rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Noticias En Espaol
Nuevo edicto racista en Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Ecuador y WikiLeaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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. 37 Sept. 20, 2012 Closing date: Sept. 11, 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

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Sept. 20, 2012

Page 3

Mumia Abu-Jamal ghts life imprisonment

By LeiLani Dowell As activists gear up for a Sept. 14 event in New York promoting the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the state of Philadelphia has lodged another attack against him. On Aug. 15, this internationally revered political prisoner was illegally sentenced to life imprisonment. Abu-Jamal, a MOVE Organization supporter and a former Black Panther Party member, is known as the voice of the voiceless for his continued anti-racist, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist journalism. After being framed and convicted for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer, Abu-Jamal spent decades in solitary confinement, as a worldwide movement coalesced to free him. In December Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced that the state was no longer seeking a death sentence for Abu-Jamal, and he was released into the general prison population. While the state backed off in the face of continued activism in support of AbuJamal and perhaps in the hope that the movement for his freedom would dissipate it resumed its assault on Abu-Jamals life nine months later. Without any notice to Abu-Jamal or to his lawyers, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole on Aug. 15. A press statement from the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) notes that all sentences require a formal proceeding allowing the person to be sentenced the right to be heard and to challenge his sentence. (Aug. 21) The sentencing is therefore illegal and, as with many of the states maneuverings in this decades-long case, in violation of Abu-Jamals rights. Dembe had shown her willingness to deny Abu-Jamal justice in the past. In 2001, she refused to hear a legal challenge regarding the racist bias of convicting Judge Albert Sabo, who was overheard by a stenographer saying that he was going to help them fry the n- before AbuJamals trial. Abu-Jamal filed a Post-Sentencing Motion on Aug. 23. Rachel Wolkenstein, Abu-Jamals attorney, reports: Mumias motion not only attacks his own sentence to slow death row, but makes the constitutional challenge to life imprisonment without parole, solitary confinement for death-row inmates and solitary confinement in general. Mumia is fighting with and for the entirety of incarceration nation. (Aug. 24 email) In addition to the demand to free AbuJamal and all U.S. political prisoners, the Sept. 14 event will focus on ending mass incarceration and solitary confinement and on closing New Yorks infamous Attica prison. Speakers will include ICFFMAJ leader Pam Africa; Michelle Alexander, author of the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness; activist and former political prisoner Angela Davis; attorney Soffiyah Elijah; Jazz Hayden, a community cop-watch activist who is currently being framed by the New York Police Department; Marc Lamont Hill, who with Abu-Jamal co-authored the book The Classroom and the Cell; and Princeton University Professor Cornel West, who has been active in the campaign against the NYPDs racist stop-and-frisk policies. For more information, tickets and to sign a petition supporting the closing of Attica, visit freemumia.com.

Leslie Feinberg stays rm:

Free CeCe McDonald!

By Kris Hamel This article uses the gender-neutral pronouns hir and ze. Leslie Feinberg, an internationally known and widely respected author, editor and transgender liberation warrior, has been recharged by the Minneapolis attorneys office for hir June 4 act of solidarity with Chrishaun CeCe McDonald. Feinberg was arrested and jailed for three nights without bond for hir participation in the actions outside the jail. Mass pressure on the county attorney resulted in Feinbergs release and the dropping of felony charges. McDonald, a young African-American transgender woman, was brutally attacked by bigots exactly one year before, yet was the only person arrested, charged and convicted in the incident. Facing two felony charges of second-degree murder, McDonald understandably accepted a plea offer for a reduced charge and 41 months in prison. After McDonalds sentencing on June 4 her punishment by the state for self-defense against a racist, anti-gay, anti-transgender attack by neo-fascists hundreds protested in the streets outside the jail. Feinberg, who struggles with late stage Lyme disease, traveled from New York state to be in Minneapolis at the sentencing and protest. Feinberg traveled in April to visit McDonald in jail, after which ze announced the rededication of hir groundbreaking novel, Stone Butch Blues, to McDonald for its 20th anniversary edition next year. Feinberg has been ordered to appear on Sept. 13 at 8:30 a.m. at the Hennepin County District Court, 401 S. Fourth Street, in Minneapolis. The charge, which is classified as a gross misdemeanor, carries with it a possible 1-year prison term plus a $1,000 fine. Supporters are urged to attend and wear purple in solidarity with McDonald. In the meantime, a national campaign has been initiated to demand the Minneapolis city attorney as well as Mayor R.T. Rybak immediately drop the charges against Feinberg. Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal: email: minneapolis311@ ci.minneapolis.mn.us; phone: 612-6732010; fax: 612-673-2189. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak: email: rt@minneapolis.org; phone: 612-673-2100 twitter: @ MayorRTRybak; fax: 612-673-2305. I am not intimidated Feinberg told Workers World ze would not plead guilty. Ive asked the National Lawyers Guild to help me fight this charge politically. On Sept. 4, Minnie Bruce Pratt posted on social media the following message from Feinberg to activists: I travel to South Minneapolis gladly. I wrote the peoples verdict on the jail house wall FREE CECE NOW! on June 4 the day CeCe McDonald was sentenced to prison, and on the last night she would spend in that county jail. My action in demonstration of solidarity on the one-year anniversary of the attack on CeCe and her loved ones,
Baltimore Pride, 2012

and CeCes arrest, almost to the hour was not furtive. The prosecution is aggressively defending the value, the personhood of the jailhouse wall property! My action demonstrates my solidarity with the lives of oppressed people struggling behind the walls of the jails, prisons and detention centers in mass, racist concentration camps known as the PrisonIndustrial Complex. The charge of Gross Misdemeanor, like the felony charge, is meant to intimidate to discourage actions of solidarity

in struggle. I am not intimidated. As an anti-racist, I stand my ground alongside warriors who are rolling forward towards liberation, and who are double-clicking forward to freedom while confined to bed. To those who ask how they can help me: Please help keep the focus of my courtordered appearances on these struggles against oppressions and injustice! FREE CECE NOW!! Visit supportcece.wordpress.com for more information on the struggle to free CeCe McDonald.

Atlanta remembers Troy Davis on Sept. 21

By Dianne Mathiowetz Atlanta of New York in defiance of the police, people raised chants and signs for Troy Davis. We need to dismantle A section of Atlanta youth this unjust system was deeply impacted by Davis Troy Davis had written shortly fight for justice. This last year before his execution by the state has seen these youth protest of Georgia on Sept. 21, 2011. the mass incarceration, police Hundreds of thousands of WW PHOTO: STEVE KIRSCHBAUM brutality and killings throughpeople around the world had Boston, Sept 2011 out the metro area and support signed petitions asking for clemency. Doz- prisoners held in deplorable conditions in ens of well-known political and religious Georgias prisons and jails. figures had written letters. People held demonstrations in countless cities and Georgias prison work stoppage towns and chanted, I Am Troy Davis! They have organized protests and ralThe horrific crime of capital punishment lies in support of prisoners at Jackson Diin the United States was made real to mil- agnostic and Classification Center the lions in the person of Troy Anthony Davis, same prison where Davis was executed. who could be executed for a murder with These prisoners conducted a 45-day hunno physical evidence or forensics, no weap- ger strike this summer, demanding an on or fingerprints and where most trial end to extended isolation, access to mediwitnesses recanted their testimony against cal care and personal hygiene products, him, charging the police with coercion. family visits and phone calls, and an end Many who joined the struggle to stop to guard abuse and brutality. his state-sponsored murder were conMany of these imprisoned men parvinced of his innocence by the particular ticipated in the historic Georgia prisoners facts of his case. The coldly calculated ac- work stoppage in December 2010. Since tions of the justice system then revealed then they have been held in solitary confinea deeper truth to them about the systems ment, suffered physical abuse at the hands inherent racism and class bias. of guards and ongoing retribution for their Just days before Daviss execution, on alleged leadership of the strike action. Sept. 17, 2011, Occupy Wall Street began To carry out this work, several orgaits historic emergence as a burgeoning nizations and individuals have formed new movement of the 99%, those devas- Georgians for Prison Abolition. They tated by the economic crisis, unemploy- have called for a National Day of Action ment, foreclosures, debt, discrimination against Mass Incarceration on Friday, and lack of opportunity. At one of its Sept. 21, to never forget Troy Davis and earliest marches that took to the streets to meet his last request. In Atlanta, people will assemble at 9 p.m. at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. grave site and march to the park on Peachtree Street at Auburn. The site of the Occupy Atlanta encampment, this parks name was changed from Woodruff to Troy Davis Park by hundreds of youth, homeless people, and peace and justice activists who occupied the downtown space for weeks in October 2011. At the minute of Troys execution, 11:08 p.m., his call for unrelenting action to never stop fighting for justice will ring out over the crowd. According to Courtney Hansen of Georgians for Prison Abolition, Organizers intend the event to not just remember Troy Davis but to build active resistance to the system that killed him and imprisons millions more behind bars and in poverty. As of Sept. 9, prisoners families reported that at least 21 men have resumed a hunger strike since the prison administration has failed to address any of their grievances as promised and guards have beaten a number of them. For the complete wording of the call, go to the facebook page for Georgians for Prison Abolition. That same weekend in Savannah, Troys hometown, there will be a three-day conference entitled From Troy to Trayvon: Empowering Communities to Change Criminal Justice Policies, sponsored by Community Organized Legal Advocacy or COLA, of Savannah, and Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. For more information, go to www.gfadp.org.

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Sept. 20, 2012

workers.org

DNC street protests hit corporate polluter, demand freedom for Cuban Five
By Workers World Charlotte, N.C., bureau Downtown Charlotte, N.C., home to the national headquarters of Bank of America and regional headquarters of Wells Fargo, was buzzing with delegates and supporters of the Democratic National Convention and Democratic Party, one of the two big capitalist electoral parties in the United States. This show did not go uninterrupted. A protest called by Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace crashed the party on Sept. 5. Hundreds of protesters rallied at the offices of Duke Energy, one of the biggest polluters in the country, according to many environmentalists. Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers co-chaired the Charlotte in 2012 convention host committee. DNC delegates looked on as Occupy Wall Street activists, radical environmentalists, anarchists, socialists and communists chanted into bullhorns. The march was led by a piece of Astroturf shaped like a dollar bill with Rogers picture in the center, symbolizing that corporate money, not human needs, defines the politicians agenda. As the rally ended, protesters took to the streets in defiance of police orders to remain on the sidewalk. The march continued through the streets, escorted by scores of police on bicycles. An announcement during the march called on people to assemble at 5th Street and College Street at 5 p.m. in defense of streets! the crowd soon descended a steep hill leading to the heart of Wall Street South, where thousands of DNC delegates crowded the sidewalks. Next: Free the Cuban Five! Traffic stopped at the 5th Street and College Street intersection. Surprised delegates heard calls for President Barack Obama to free the five Cuban heroes held unjustly in U.S. jails. A mic check educational on the facts of their case was broadcast to the public from the middle of WW PHOTO: SARA FLOUNDERS the street, where protesters Protest in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 6 builds campaign to were surrounded by police. Free the Five. Occupy Charlotte activpolitical prisoners held in U.S. jails. These ists and organizers who mobilized for include the Cuban Five, five Cuban men the March on Wall Street South on Sept. who infiltrated Miami-based paramilitary 2 used social media to organize the 5 groups that have carried out terrorist at- oclock gathering highlighting the case of the Cuban Five. The event was part of the tacks on Cuban civilians. The police told demonstrators they international call to action on the fifth day would be required to walk on the side- of every month until all Five are released walk. However, when protesters arrived and allowed to return to their homeland. Dante Strobino, a North Carolinaat 5th Street, the rules were ignored as the marchers stayed in the street. Sheriffs based union organizer, began the rally by deputies and police officers tried unsuc- explaining who the Cuban Five are and cessfully to shove the crowd of nearly 300 how they came to be in prison for opposing terrorism. Caleb Maupin, a youth oronto the sidewalks. With chants of Whose streets? Our ganizer of Workers World Party, spoke in defense of socialist Cuba and why socialism is needed in the U.S. A banner with the faces of the Cuban Five was unfurled, and placards with the slogan Obama: Give Me Five were distributed. Though the police pushed for the demonstrators to move, they remained in the intersection. During this time, Yen Ancala of Occupy Charlotte fired everyone up when he pointed to the Bank of America headquarters and expressed the crowds anger at this symbol of the global 1%. When the rally finished, everyone marched down the center of the street chanting Free the Cuban Five!behind a banner with pictures of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guererro, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez. Other chants were in support of political prisoners Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier and others trapped within the U.S. prison system. The march ended at Marshall Park, where Occupy Wall Street activists had renewed the Charlotte encampment days earlier. No one was arrested. The 14th anniversary of the Cuban Fives arrest in Miami is Sept. 12. A concert featuring Vicente Feliu, who sings in the nueva trova style made famous by Silvio Rodriguez, will be held Sept. 12. A public meeting on Sept. 14 will emphasize the international campaign for justice for the Five. Both events are in Washington, D.C. Caleb Maupin and Cheryl LaBash contributed to this article.

Rally backs steelworkers

By Jeremy B. People rallied Sept. 8 in solidarity with members of Steel Workers Local 5668 of Ravenswood, W.Va., who have been on strike since Aug. 5. The aluminum company, Constellium Rolled Products, offered an unreasonable health care, wage and pension plan, which was rejected by over 95 percent of the workers. Among other issues, the union is objecting to changes the company wants to make to health care coverage that will significantly increase costs to employees and their families. The changes could more than wipe out any wage increases the company has proposed. The rally featured speakers such as Leo Gerard, international president of the USW, as well as local leaders from other unions such as the Mine Workers, the Communication Workers and the Service Employees. Speakers were followed up with live music from rock, folk, blues and bluegrass performers. People traveled from other parts of the state, as well as Kentucky and Ohio, to donate food and water. Members of Students for Appalachian Socialism of Marshall University also attended and made a large donation. Strikers carried banners and wore T-shirts with the slogan, One Day Longer Again, a reminiscent reference to the lockout USW Local 5668 faced from November 1991 until June 1992, when the aluminum plant was known as the Ravenswood Aluminum Corp. Inc., owned by a robber baron named Marc Rich, Continued on page 5

WEST VIRGINIA

WW PHOTO: BRYAN G.. PFEIFER

U.S. merchants of death top worlds arms sales

By Gene Clancy The United States military-industrial complex tripled its arms sales last year as it sold $66.3 billion in weapons overseas in that 12-month period. This accounted for nearly 78 percent of all global arms sales in the world, which rose to a record $85.3 billion in 2011. The U.S. clearly remained the worlds leading arms supplier, with nearly all other major suppliers seeing declines in 2011, according to the Congressional Research Services annual report to Congress. These other suppliers are barely significant in comparison with the U.S. Russia, which was second highest, had only $4.8 billion in sales. U.S. weapons dealers also continued to dominate in terms of supplying spare parts and training, and in negotiating deals for future deliveries. Washington generates a steady stream of orders for upgrades, spare parts, and ammunition and support services from year to year, even when it does not conclude big deals for new weapons systems, the report said. The U.S. often likes to pose as an arsenal of democracy, but the opposite is true. In 2011, over $33.4 billion in sales or 50 percent went to Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, which has one of the most reactionary, repressive regimes in the world. Bahrain, which has carried out a vicious campaign against its own citizens, was another of the larger buyers. So was Taiwan, reflecting the Pentagon and State Departments Asian pivot, which is designed to put increased military pressure on China. All of this is nothing new. The U.S. has long been the dominant arms supplier in the world, even as many of its leaders accepted Nobel peace prizes. Richard Nixons secretary of state, Henry Kissinger; former President Jimmy Carter; and more recently, President Barack Obama, have all been recipients. Each administration not only sent the U.S. into wars and interventions, but also presided over huge arms sales overseas. These arms exports are an important part of the military-industrial complex, which combines U.S. corporations, the U.S. economy, and the U.S. military and political system together into a noxious brew. Key U.S. weapons sales in 2011 included: $33.4 billion with Saudi Arabia for 84 Boeing Co. F-15 fighter jets and dozens of helicopters built by Boeing and Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. $3.49 billion for Lockheed Martin Corp.s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced missile shield, to the United Arab Emirates, and $940 million for 16 Chinook helicopters built by Boeing $1.4 billion for 18 F-16 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin $4.1 billion agreement with India for 10 Boeing C-17 transport planes $2 billion order by Taiwan for Patriot anti-missile batteries. These companies are also among the largest contributors to both capitalist political parties in the U.S. The five biggest U.S. arms manufacturers donated a combined $7.1 million to the presidential and congressional races by the middle of July, according to data analyzed by U.S. News & World Report. Of that amount, $6.8 million went to congressional candidates, with $4.2 million donated to Republicans. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon have given $156,182 to Obamas re-election bid, and $116,101 to Mitt Romneys campaign, reports the Center for Responsive Politics. General Dynamics and Raytheon were the lone two of the so-called Big Five that donated more to Romneys campaign. Raytheon is headquartered in Romneys home state of Massachusetts. Poor and working people who live in the U.S. and those who reside in the countries which receive U.S. arms shipments, have nothing to gain by allowing their governments to divert socially needed resources to these merchants of death.

workers.org

Sept. 20, 2012

Page 5

Some hard truths:

Obama, the Democratic Party and the working class

By Larry Holmes The Republican Party is so blatantly reactionary, so racist, so anti-immigrant, so openly hostile to women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, and so enthusiastic about waging war on the workers and oppressed peoples at home and abroad that its not hard to understand why so many feel they have no choice but to vote for the Democratic Party. This is a big problem because no matter how different the two parties appear to be (and they do appear to be different), they both represent the interests of U.S capitalism and imperialism. This problem is not new. But there is something new that makes the problem even more complicated. The incumbent president, whos running for a second term, is not only a Democrat but the first African-American president. Does Barack Obamas race matter? Well, it wouldnt if racism and national oppression did not exist. Obamas race has not altered in any way how he has dutifully acted in the interests of U.S. imperialism. Moreover, it is precisely because of Obamas race that a section of the ruling class helped Obama get elected in order to put a new face on U.S. imperialisms declining empire. Underneath that new face theres been a continuation of misery, exploitation, oppression and war. Under Obama, deportations and foreclosures have skyrocketed. On almost every issue, Obama has accommodated the capitalist assault on the working class. Under Obama, the Pentagons deadly drone war against Arab, Asian and African peoples is 500 percent wider than under George W. Bush. However, these things dont change the fact that Obamas race matters, not just to the capitalist ruling class, but also to the masses. No doubt, many are deeply disappointed in Obamas failure to rescue them from all the terrible things the capitalist crisis has visited upon them. Still, the overwhelming majority of African Americans, and many others regardless of their race, will vote for Obama. They will vote for Obama for many different reasons, but especially out of fear of Romney, Ryan and the Republicans. But another big reason that people will vote for Obama is the feeling that the outcome of the upcoming presidential election will represent either progress for or a stinging setback to the struggle against racism. And theres a significant percentage of the electorate who will vote against Obama on the basis of pure and simple racism. the struggle against racism and national oppression. It is not necessary to refrain from criticizing or exposing President Obama from the left. But generally we are not at the point where progressive white activists in this country can carry pictures or effigies attacking Obama without being mistaken for Tea Party bigots. Such requisite anti-racist consciousness in no way inhibits the development of class consciousness, anticapitalist consciousness or revolutionary socialist consciousness. Neither does such consciousness lend one iota of validation to the Democratic Party. Such consciousness does require thoughtfulness, care and tact. How the outcome of the 2012 presidential elections will affect the course of the class struggle is something that will need to be assessed in due time. But its not necessary to wait for that Tactful skill needed to build unity assessment to appreciate the painful lesExposing and fighting the two capital- sons for the working-class movement ist parties when the Democrats are led by since Obamas election four years ago. the first African-American president is a Back then, some hoped that Obamas complicated challenge for the working- election would embolden the working class movement. class and abet the resurgence of class It is a challenge especially for the more struggle. Perhaps such was the case in revolutionary forces in the movement some instances. who understand the need for the workHowever, overall, it would be hard to ing class to liberate itself from the trap of make the argument that the last presirelying on the Democratic Party. But its dential election helped the working class a challenge that is possible, and all the wake up and fight back. more critical, to rise to. There were some notable exceptions. To be effective under such circumSix months before the Occupy Wall stances requires what the working-class Street movement emerged last Septemmovement should always aspire to no ber, the occupation of the Capitol buildmatter what the race of the figurehead ing in Madison, Wis., by thousands of of U.S. imperialism is. And thats a high workers and students opened a new page level of consciousness in relationship to in the struggle against union busting and austerity that awakened and electrified the entire working-class movement. Eventually, it was Democratic Party politicians and their operatives in the labor movement who truncated this tremendous struggle and channeled it back into nonstruggle, capitalist-party-dominated electoral politics. Before Wisconsin, the labor and civil rights movements major response to the corporate-financed surge of the Tea Party was the large but passive, DemocraticParty-controlled One Nation rally in Washington, D.C., in October 2010. That event was hardly mentioned in the capitalist media. Of course there have been many good local protests and struggles fueled by depression-level unemployment, austerity, union busting and foreclosures. But taken together, the fightback has not measured up to the magnitude of the attacks on the working class and the poor. One of the factors that made the Occupy movement so important was that it filled the palpable vacuum in the struggle created by the relatively weak response of the labor movement. No matter who is in the White House next January, the number one task of the working-class movement must be to break free of the restraints that the Democratic Party has purposely imposed on its ability to fight back. Otherwise, the working-class movement will be defenseless against the growing storm of capitalist crisis, cutbacks, unemployment and privations that is wreaking social havoc and destruction from Athens, Greece, to Atlanta, Georgia. Holmes is the First Secretary of Workers World Party.

Steel workers
Continued from page 4 a convicted criminal who later received a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton. Now, just as during that strike 20 years ago, the strikers have had to physically defend themselves against attacks from company goons and provocative scabs. Talks between the company and the union are scheduled to occur this week. The strikers have made it clear they are determined to fight until they win a contract. The union has held various rallies and other solidarity events at Fort Unity, the latest one being a benefit concert on Sept. 8. Bryan G. Pfeifer, an organizer of the Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement, stopped by the Local 5668 union hall called Fort Unity and the picket lines on Sept. 4 on his way home from Charlotte, N.C. He had spent the summer as a volunteer organizer with the March on Wall Street South and the Southern Workers Assembly. Pfeifer dropped off donations and United Electrical Workers union signs and buttons gathered in Charlotte. He told WW, It is inspiring to see the Steel Worker sisters and brothers and their families standing up to corporate greed and the bankers. They are standing firm but still need lots of support to win their justified demands. For more information and how to support Local 5668: fort-unity.sctp.us/ or call 304-273-9319.

Students, community allies all support

Continued from page 1 would like to see a commitment to bringing jobs and grocery stores back into the communities that our children live in. (New York Times, Sept. 10) In typical divide-and-conquer style, the big-business-owned press is attempting to drive a wedge between the teachers and staff and the communities they serve. These dangerous tactics try to give the false impression that the teachers are isolated from the community, when in fact they are an integral part of it. The Sept. 3 Chicago Labor Day march and rally for Jobs, Dignity and a Fair Contract brought out organized labor in the thousands, along with community members and students, mainly in solidarity with the teachers union. Many signs in both English and Spanish had slogans such as More school nurses, more counselors, more services, Teachers make all other professions possible, I support teachers because they work hard, and If you disrespect my teachers, you disrespect me. The protest was a strong display of multinational unity among African-American, Latino/a and white workers. This strike exposes the lie that teachers are middle-class professionals. Teachers are among the most underpaid public sector workers. They, like all workers, deserve a living wage, decent working con-

Chicago teachers on strike

WW PHOTO: G. DUNKEL .

Labor Day Parade, NYC, Sept. 8. CUNY unionists show solidarity with Chicago teachers.

ditions and excellent benefits. Instead, teachers and all workers and their families are suffering amidst the most severe capitalist economic crisis since the Great Depression. Though it may be a defensive one, the Chicago teachers strike involves a strong union that has taken a heroic stance against decades-long givebacks, wage cuts and intolerable working conditions. Workers World pledges its wholeheart-

ed solidarity with the CTU and encourages the entire U.S. labor movement, along with community groups and progressive organizations, to do the same in every way possible. The CTU struggle exemplifies the powerful saying: An injury to one is an injury to all! Their struggle is all of ours. Moorehead is a former kindergarten teacher and past member of the Virginia Education Association.

Page 6

Southern labor hosts assembly:

Sept. 20, 2012

workers.org

Continued from page 1 and one of only two states that outright denies public workers the right to collectively bargain. Many in the union movement, particularly those from northern and more unionized states, have been saying that the convention should have never been held in a right-to-work state. In return, labor did not invest the millions of dollars of funds that they typically make available for the DNC. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the AFL-CIO organized a major counter rally in Philadelphia in August, yet there was little to no discussion about a strategy to unionize the vastly unorganized Southern region. Ashaki Binta, who organizes public workers with the United Electrical Workers union in North Carolina, and Justin Flores, organizer with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, gave opening presentations. They focused on four main obstacles that work to impede the struggle against racism, sexism and working-class exploitation in the South and that also severely inhibit the growth of unions: 1) the Taft-Hartley Act, which directly undermines the growth and consolidation of unions, 2) the fact of the U.S. South being the number one region in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), 3) the prohibition of collective bargaining rights for public sector workers and 4) the unjust Immigration policies targeting undocumented workers. They pointed out that 32 million workers in the U.S. do not have collective bargaining rights. Additionally, they noted that the Southern states incentive packages offer companies, domestic and foreign, a nonunion environment. The Southeast has received the highest dollar amount of foreign investment of any region. The Southern states tax policies have changed within recent years to impact FDI decisions. A clarion call for solidarity The powerful lineup of speakers included three panels. The panel of workers who represent labor forma-

Ashaki Binta

WW PHOTOS: BRYAN G. PFEIFER

Donna Dewitt and Justin Flores

Jaribu Hill

Tom Smith and Eleanor Bailey

tions excluded by the National Labor Relations Act included Baldemar Velazquez, president of FLOC; Victor Alvarez, with the National Day Labor Organizing Network currently on a cross-country tour with the Undocubus; and a formerly incarcerated man from All of Us or None, speaking on ex-felons having the right to a job. The panel addressing private sector workers included Lisa Cline, a food service worker and president of UNITE-HERE Local 23 at the Charlotte airport; Jim Wrenn, an autoworker and president of Carolina Auto and Aerospace Workers Union, UE Local 150, from Rocky Mount, N.C.; Leonard Riley, a longshore worker and member of the International Longshoremens Association Local 1422, Charleston, S.C.; Harry Whitaker Sr., a meatpacking worker at a Smithfield plant and shop steward, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1208, Tar Heel, N.C. During the open discussion following this panel, Clarence Thomas, an executive board member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union Local 10 from Oakland, Calif., made very stirring comments referencing Harry Bridges, an Australian-born leader of the ILWU and notable as a leader in the fight against racism on the docks. Thomas also asked panel member Riley about the ILAs East Coastwide contract negotiations, which are currently taking place. It appears that the negotiations may be reaching a standstill around the technology questions relating to automation that could eliminate thousands of jobs on the ports. Thomas called for support for the ILA brothers and sisters. Saladin Muhammad then stood up and addressed the crowd, calling for a resolution to be passed to support the ILA. The assembly adopted the proposal unanimously. The final panel, which addressed conditions faced by public sector workers, included Angaza Laughinghouse, a state government worker and president of UE Local 150, N.C. Public Service Workers Union; Tom Anderson, a university worker and president of Campus Workers United Communication Workers of America, from Tennessee; Nathanette Mayo, a city waste water treatment worker and recording secretary of the Durham City Workers Union, UE150; Donna Morgan, UE Local 170, West Virginia Public Service Workers Union; and Eleanor Bailey, retired American Postal Workers Union member and a leader of the 1970s postal workers strike that resulted in collective bargaining for postal workers. During the intermission and during dinner, cultural performances by Jaribu Hill from the Mississippi Workers Center; the Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble; the band from the Undocubus; and Sergio Sanchez, son of a farmworker, helped keep energy high. The UFCW brought a powerful delegation of between 20 and 30 workers from the Smithfield plant, who brightened the room with their yellow shirts. UE also

brought about 20 workers from North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Earlier in the day before the assembly, a few dozen FLOC supporters went as a delegation to a Kangaroo gas station that sells RJ Reynolds-produced cigarettes. This action was to continue to keep public pressure on the company. FLOC is currently engaged in organizing a major campaign to win collective bargaining for migrant farmworkers who pick tobacco for the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company across North Carolina. After the panels, workers convened breakout sessions to discuss how to concretely build towards a Southern Labor Alliance. One of the tactics discussed was using a Rank-and-File Workers Bill of Rights to help unite certain sectors and win better working conditions. UE150 has done this in North Carolina and was able to unite state mental health workers into a major campaign that drew in many allies over the last three years and got a bill introduced to the state Legislature. The Mental Health Workers Bill of Rights gives a core of standards to provide us a safe working condition, benefits and all things that impact us as workers, stated Larsene Taylor, a healthcare technician at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, N.C. and Vice President of UE local 150. It is like a binding contract without collective bargaining. UE150 is also fighting for the passage of a Municipal Workers Bill of Rights for city workers across the state. This most recently has helped tie together Charlotte city workers that have struggled for union recognition for the past six years and have been leading a weekly picket, the last four weeks, in the buildup to the DNC. The United Campus Workers-CWA have also recently followed suit and created a Campus Workers Bill of Rights that has helped them to establish a political fightback program for their members, even without a union contract. Workers vowed to meet again at the Southern Human Rights Organizing Conference at the ILA union hall in Charleston, S.C. on Dec. 7-9 to continue to develop the Southern Labor Alliance. Additionally, workers have vowed to publish a quarterly newsletter to help report on campaigns and struggles of Southern workers to help develop consciousness and tie struggles together. To learn more, visit http://southernworker.org These states were represented at the Assembly: Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia. The writer is a UE150 organizer and facilitator of the Southern Workers in the Private Sector panel.

What the new globalized high-tech imperialism means for the class struggle in the U.S. By Fred Goldstein An easy-to-read analysis of the roots of the current global economic crisis, its implications for workers and oppressed peoples, and the strategy needed for future struggle. The author is available for lectures & interviews.

LOW-WAGE CAPITALISM

MARXISM, REPARATIONS & the Black

HIGH TECH, LOW PAY A Marxist analysis of the changing character of the working class by Sam Marcy, with introduction by Fred Goldstein workers.org/Marcy/HighTech/ www.LowWageCapitalism.com Books available at Amazon & bookstores around the country

Anthology of writings from Workers World newspaper. Edited by Monica Moorehea Racism, National Oppression & Self-Determination Larry Holmes Black Labor from Chattel Slavery to Wage Slavery Sam Marcy Black Youth: Repression & Resistance LeiLani Dowell The Struggle for Socialism Is Key Monica Moorehead Domestic Workers United Demand Passage of a Bill of Rights Imani Henry Black & Brown Unity: A Pillar of Struggle for Human Rights and Global Justice! Saladin Muhammad Alabamas Black Belt: Legacy of Slavery, a Sharecropping & Segregation Consuela Lee

Available at Amazon.com & bookstores around the country www.workers

Build a workers alliance!

Rank-and- le labor leader Saladin Muhammad:

workers.org

Sept. 20, 2012

Page 7

What is our charge as Southern workers?

The following excerpts are from opening remarks made by Saladin Muhammad, coordinator of the Southern International Worker Justice Campaign and retired United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) international representative, at the Southern Workers Assembly, Sept. 3, in Charlotte, N.C. Read the entire talk at workers.org. he Southern Workers Assembly is a call to action by rank-and-file workers to unite, organize the South and speak in our own name. We want the Southern Workers Assembly to be a launching pad that begins a process of building a Southwide social movement to organize labor. A social movement to organize labor in the South must become a major part of the human rights movement, and must be organized with the same energy and sacrifice of the Civil Rights Movement that helped to bring about some progressive reforms for Black and working people. However, a human rights labor movement must also be a transformative movement that seeks to reorganize the economic, social and political relationships that determine the value of labor, the distribution of the wealth created by labor and technology, and that protects the lives of the people and sustainability of the planet. Capitalist globalization and its impacts require that our labor movement have a basic vision of transformation as we organize to build power. History has also shown that the failure of the U.S. national labor movement to make a concerted and coordinated effort to organize labor in the South has been a major factor allowing the most conservative political base within the U.S. from being effectively challenged by the organized power of Southern workers. This has affected the class consciousness and confidence of Southern workers about our power to challenge corporate power, which clearly dominates and dictates the decisions and policies of the state and local governments throughout the South. Corporate power has not only superexploited the labor of Southern workers, it is also responsible for the underdevelopment and negative environmental impacts on many working-class communities, especially African American, Latina and Latino, Native American and poor white, because of the billions in incentives and tax breaks that were diverted from community development to give to the corporations to locate in the South. The massive disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina in parts of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005 is an example of what happens when corporate wants are prioritized over the infrastructure and human needs of the people. Now that the South has re-emerged as a major region in the global economy, where U.S. manufacturing, foreign direct investment and finance capital are becoming concentrated a Wall Street South the South will be a major force in the shaping of U.S. labor and social policies. Efforts to pass anti-immigration laws are developing rapidly in the South, to create another source of superexploitation that is based on the race and ethnicity of the working class.

The U.S. labor movement must not see the independent, worker-led organizations and initiatives of the oppressed peoples as something that divides the working class.

WW PHOTOS: BRYAN G. PFEIFER

Saladin Muhammad

The U.S. prison-industrial complex, in addition to jailing mainly the unemployed from the Black and Latina/ Latino working-class communities, provides a superexploited labor for major corporations. The so-called legal status and stigma permanently branding the formerly incarcerated, forces many to have to work for little or nothing if they can get hired at all. This is a major reason forcing many back into crime, and the high rates of recidivism. Dividing the working class and the oppressed peoples in every way possible is the main strategy of corporate power. The U.S. labor movement must not see the independent, worker-led organizations and initiatives of the oppressed peoples as something that divides the working class. They exist to take up the struggles against the special forms of oppression and exploitation that impact our lives, and that have not been taken up effectively within and by many of the trade unions. The struggle to respect the right of these organizations to exist as part of the labor movement while they are also leading the fight for self-determination as oppressed peoples, must be a main aspect of the struggle against racism to be waged within the U.S. labor movement and

the working class, if we are to build a powerful and transformative labor movement inside of the U.S. Of the 100 million people living in the South, the largest region of the U.S., African American and Latina/Latino together make up close to 40 percent of the South. Fifty-seven percent or more than 20 million Black people, and 40 percent or more than 18 million Latinas and Latinos live in the South. Black and Brown unity is therefore critical to forging and anchoring the unity of a strong Southern labor and working-class movement. The crisis impacting labor over the past 30 years from the restructuring and globalization of the economy and the attacks on unions resulting in a loss of membership by many unions, has led to an unhealthy competition between unions, which have divided the working class by fights over union jurisdictions, raiding and splits in federations and national unions. A Southern labor movement must build structures that unite workers within the same sectors regardless of the national unions or organizations they are affiliated with to democratically work out an independent plan for concentration and organizing within those sectors. It is from this base of organizing that we must win the support from national and international unions for organizing labor in the South. Organizing in the South greatly needs the support of a strong rank-and-file movement within the national unions that works to build support from their local and national unions for the development and sustaining of a Southern Labor Alliance, including actions of national labor solidarity as we saw with the Charleston, South Carolina, dock workers struggle, and the Wisconsin public-sector struggle that closed down the state Capitol. Organizing the South must become a clarion call for the U.S. labor movement to go on the offensive. Lets get to work here today in our brief period at the Southern Workers Assembly. Onward toward a Southern Labor Alliance!

Freedom Struggle
Harriet Tubman, Woman Warrior Mumia Abu-Jamal Are Conditions Ripe Again Today? Anniversary of the Watts Rebellion John Parker Racism & Poverty in the Delta Larry Hales Haiti Needs Reparations, Not Sanctions Pat Chin
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Undocubus musicians.

WW PHOTOS: MONICA MOOREHEAD

Page 8

Sept. 20, 2012

workers.org

Capitalist electoral politics and class struggle

Two big-business parties do the bosses bidding

By Fred Goldstein Adapted from a talk given at the Sept. 7 New York City meeting of Workers World Party. At the moment of this writing, the Chicago Teachers Union has set a splendid example for the working class during this presidential electoral season. They have refused to be swept away by the electoral tide, in which both parties are financed by hundreds of millions of dollars of corporate money, and are on strike against the Chicago school administration to defend their own rights and the rights of the poor and oppressed communities of the city. Whatever the politics of the union leadership, what makes this action so politically significant is that it flies in the face of the stampede to the polls. This is, after all, a city whose mayor, Rahm Emanuel, is Barack Obamas former chief of staff. And this is a time when the president is engaged in a fierce electoral battle against the right-wing Romney-Ryan ticket. The Chicago teachers represent a sector of the organized working class that has been under severe attack in recent years. In particular, they have experienced first hand the futility of relying on elections. They have faced the so-called Race to the Top initiated by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who was formerly superintendent of the Chicago schools. This program is nothing but a big bribe to local officials and school boards, costing $4 billion, that is aimed at fostering charter schools, privatization of the public school system, abandoning the mass of school districts that are disproportionately Black and Latino/a, and undermining the union rights of teachers. It is no accident that it was teachers facing similar attacks, along with students in Madison, Wis., who started the heroic two-week occupation of the state Capitol there. This strike is a healthy antidote to the obsession with electoral politics that is being drummed up by all quarters of bourgeois society. The lesser evil dynamic The traditional dynamic of capitalist politics is taking hold in an atmosphere in which the election is cast as a matter of life and death for the masses. They are being told to drop everything and throw themselves into stopping the Republican right-wing ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. To be sure, the Romney-Ryan team is thoroughly reactionary. But by focusing on this alone, the broader picture is obscured namely, that the presidential election is at bottom a struggle between different factions in the ruling class to get their hands on the capitalist state with its $3 trillion budget and win the right to parcel out the spoils to their corporate and financial cronies. While there are important policy differences on the surface between the two parties, there is no daylight between the parties from a fundamental point of view. Both enforce capitalist rule, wage slavery, exploitation and oppression and foster imperialist conquest and intervention abroad. Karl Marx grasped this essence of capitalist democracy splendidly when, in analyzing the experience of the Paris Commune, he said that the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in government. The parties do look very different socially and economically, however. Comparing the Republican National Convention to the Democratic National Convention makes the parties seem as different as night and day. The RNC was probably 99.9 percent white, with delegates ranging from prosperous to rich, filled with business people and Chamber of Commerce types. The Republicans flaunted a reactionary program, promising to cut programs and services for the masses and reward the rich. The convention marked a continued shift to the right. It seems ages ago now, but even a reactionary like George W. Bush was compelled to run in 2000 as a compassionate conservative and to pay lip service to immigrants, the poor communities and their failing school systems, among other deceptions. The present ticket, however, is running with an extreme anti-abortion and antilesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights platform as its standard, in addition to threatened budget cuts and openly anti-immigrant and anti-labor policies. In his speech, Ryan even redbaited the Obama administration as being central planners, evoking images of socialism and the USSR. Would that the charges were true! The DNC, on the other hand, was populated by large numbers of Black and Latino/a delegates and unionists, along with liberal public figures and celebrities. The speakers included people from these communities, as well as a Dreamer, an undocumented young Latino. Speakers made progressive statements in favor of a womans right to choose, same-sex marriage, immigrant rights, taxes on millionaires and billionaires, and so on. The contrast with the RNC could hardly have been greater. Di erences & similarities But this contrast is deceiving. Consider that in his speech President Obama pledged to carry out Wall Streets austerity plan of cutting $4 trillion from the budget, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. If his cuts are not quite as drastic as those that the Republicans call for, they are still drastic and a huge attack upon the masses. On bellicose war talk, of course, the two parties converged. Obamas greatest booster at the convention was former President Bill Clinton. This is the Clinton who threw millions of

The Occupy Wall Street South protest on Sept. 2 in Charlotte, N.C.

WW PHOTOS : BRYAN G. PFIEFER

Capitalism at a Dead End

Job destruction, Overproduction and crisis in the High-Tech Era
will be available soon at Amazon.com and other bookstores.

mainly single mothers, disproportionately African-Americans and Latinas, off the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program welfare and forced them to compete for scarce low-paid jobs to earn benefits, even as they struggled to raise children. This is the Clinton who initiated the Effective Death Penalty Act, which drastically cut down the appeals process for deathrow prisoners. To make the point that he was in favor of the death penalty, Clinton even left the campaign trail in 1992 to travel to Arkansas to witness the execution of a mentally disabled Black prisoner. Clinton also initiated anti-terrorist laws that were later used by the Bush administration. He teamed up with Newt Gingrich to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement, which caused a full-scale agricultural depression in Mexico, forcing millions to leave their land as the country was flooded with cheap corn and other products from U.S. agribusiness. Finally, Clinton had the hypocrisy to accuse Romney of wanting to deregulate financial firms and give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. But it was Clinton and his two Treasury secretaries, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, who did away with the Depression-era GlassSteagall Act, which had been enacted to limit financial speculation. The Clinton speech, perhaps more than anything else, highlighted the deception behind capitalist electoral politics. The openly reactionary proclamations and threats by the Republicans have set up a stampede to the camp of the Democratic Party. But this party is no less controlled by Wall Street, the giant monopolies and financiers than the Republican Party. The difference between the two parties is that the Republican base is made up of actual business owners and bosses, while the Democrats have the progressive masses and middle-class liberals as their base. In the end, however, both parties will do the bidding of the bosses. As an example, Ronald Reagan is often denounced as the initiator of the sharp shift to the right in capitalist politics. But it must not be forgotten that it was Jimmy Carter who began the deregulation process in transportation and other spheres that was used to break unions. And it was Carter who planned the operation, carried out by Reagan, that broke the Professional Air Traffic Control-

lers Organization. That was the beginning of the anti-labor campaign. It was also Carter who callously declared that Life isnt fair as he signed the Hyde Amendment, denying poor women the right to federal funds for abortion. And it was Carter who began a massive military build-up that was continued by Reagan. Carter did not do all these things because he suddenly got the ideas, but because they expressed the right turn in the ruling class, in the same way that the austerity programs of both Romney and Obama express the consensus on Wall Street today. The bankers and bosses are feeling the stress of the world economic crisis, and they want to take it out of the hides of the masses. Shift to the right: Its not money alone The current wisdom is that the Republicans and the right wing are gaining ground because of the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United that corporations are people and can contribute unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns. This argument defies historical analysis. The bosses in the U.S. have dominated the political parties and legislatures as far back as the founding of the republic. George Washington was the richest man and the largest slave owner in the U.S. at that time. In the 19th century, legislatures, presidents and judges were bought and sold by the giant railroad barons, the cattle barons and the mining companies, who were granted millions of acres of land stolen from the Native people. It was all done through corruption and bribery. Any study of the relationship among money, politics and capitalist interests, from the booming 1920s on, shows the further fusion at the top between the political machine and big business. If there was a modification of this at all, it was during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, when sections of the ruling class had to be pushed back by Roosevelt so he could avoid a brewing revolutionary upsurge during the Great Depression in the mid-1930s. To be sure, the Citizens United ruling further widened the gap between the labor movement, womens and civil rights groups, and LGBTQ organizations, on the one hand, and the corporations on the other. But the strength of the mass movement has never been lodged in financial resources that could influence the politi-

workers.org

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cal establishment, but in mobilization and militant struggle. The shift to the right in U.S. politics began in the late 1970s. It was accelerated a decade later by the collapse of the USSR and has been deepened with the retreat of the top leaders of the labor movement from the arena of class struggle. It is the present and temporary relationship of class forces that is responsible for the sharp shift to the right by the ruling class, not corporate money in politics which has always been there. Rely on resistance & struggle The way this situation will be reversed is to reverse the relationship of forces in favor of the workers and the oppressed. Social democrats and liberals like to bait the revolutionary forces and the left, who refuse to be dragged into the elections behind an imperialist party. They are accused of sitting on the sidelines and abstaining from the inevitable and inescapable game of capitalist politics. But this is a false accusation. In the first place, the game of capitalist politics played by the Democratic Party and the Republicans too is a shell game. The workers are shown a very small prize at election time but can never lay their hands on it. The promises are accompanied by a torrent of imperialist national chauvinism and social patriotism. But the social democrats tell us there is no real struggle, so therefore we are whistling in the dark and nothing can happen outside the framework of capitalist electoral politics. Revolutionaries, particularly Marxists, are not unconscious of the fact that the vast majority of the workers right now see the electoral arena as the primary, perhaps the only, arena in which they have any hope of getting their grievances redressed. But revolutionaries have answers to the social democrats and the liberals. First of all, we definitely are in the game. But it is a different game the game of resistance, the game of struggle, the game of fighting for our rights on the ground. Second, the task of the liberation of the multinational working class belongs to the class itself. No section of the bourgeoisie will ever do that for us. The bosses always try to take away the democratic rights of the masses when the opportunity arises. Our answer when they make the attempt through voter I.D. laws or anything else is to fight to defend those rights at all costs. But we do not hand over the keys to the political process to the very class enemy that wants to take away our rights in the first place. And finally, we know that the present acceptance of the capitalist electoral framework cannot forever contain the workers and the oppressed, who are being ground down on a daily basis under the class dictatorship of capital. The fraud of capitalist democracy will not be able to contain the people who are now suffering. Between 25 million and 30 million underemployed and unemployed are losing ground every day to debt collectors, landlords, greedy health care and insurance companies, and a thousand other capitalist bloodsuckers. The teachers, students and community activists on the picket line in Chicago are an early testament to this. The heroic workers, students and community activists who seized the Capitol in Wisconsin showed it even earlier. Capitalism is at a dead end, and sooner or later the masses will grasp this. In the meantime, the real game is to build a workers party of resistance and class struggle. Goldstein is the author of Low-Wage Capitalism and Capitalism at a Dead End. More information is available at www.lowwagecapitalism.com. The author can be reached at fgoldstein@ workers.org.

South African workers stoppages spread

By Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire The Lonmin Platinum PLC in Marikana, South Africa, has not restarted production at the facility where 44 workers died in August. On Sept. 10, the company reported that only 6 percent of employees came to work while thousands of rockdrill operators and others marched near the mine. Holding sticks, spears and machetes, the workers maintained a standoff with heavily armed police with armored vehicles. Miners chanted, The white men are shaking! and The police who shot us are shaking! (Reuters, Sept. 10) Four days earlier, workers demonstrated outside the Marikana mines and demanded more money in exchange for ending their wildcat strike. The rock-drill operators earn less than $500 per month for difficult and dangerous work. Lonmin executives, the National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity and the United Association of South Africa the designated stakeholders in the Marikana dispute signed a peace accord on Sept. 6. The South African Council of Churches mediated. Two key players in the dispute the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Workers Union, which NUM holds responsible for the Marikana wildcat strike, and the rock-drill operators representatives refused to sign it. AMCU leaders said they had no mandate to represent the workers since most were NUM members. Joseph Mathunjwa, AMCU president, said the peace accord flew in the face of fairness. Our position was never taken into account. [T]his has got nothing to do with workers going back to work or not this is about political power. [The strike was never sanctioned by AMCU. To hold us responsible for this is wrong. (Mail & Guardian, Sept. 9) AMCU was established in 1998 after some leading NUM members were expelled over a disagreement involving labor practices. The larger rival and parent organization, NUM, the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, condemned the violent atmosphere surrounding the mines. NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said, The level of intimidation is getting out of control. If needs be, Lonmin must deal with the workers threatening violence against those wanting to work. (Mail & Guardian, Sept. 9) Baleni, reflecting NUMs frustration, said its hands were tied if the strikers did not return to work. People must embrace this peace accord and engage; enough people have died and we cannot let this continue. We are really worried that this situation will spread and turn violent again. There are already reports of similar labor disputes at mines around the area and we need to normalize the situation as soon as possible. Zolisa Bodlwana, representing the striking miners, said of the talks prior to the peace accord signing, We felt as if we were in a wrong meeting because they kept on insisting on signing the accord. We left because an accord does not help us in any way. (Daily Maverick, Sept. 10) Another miner, Xolani Nzuza, stressed, We dont want to hear anything about a peace accord. We want R12,500 ($1,500) and the closing down of the (Karee K3) shaft. Unrest at Gold Fields Gold mining industry workers have recently gone on wildcat strikes. Gold Fields International resolved a 12,000-miner work stoppage at its KDC East facility in early September. On Sept. 10, 15,000 workers shut down the KDC West mines. Sven Lunsche, representing Gold Fields, said, We havent been given any demands but the pattern is the same as KDC East. It is intimidation. The strikers went around [Sept. 9] from hostel to hostel to prevent the others going to work. (Reuters, Sept. 10) These strikes are considered illegal because they contravene labor contracts signed between NUM and the mining companies. Lunsche stressed that the wildcat strikes and violence in the platinum and gold mines have created turmoil in South Africas most lucrative export industries. Lonmin, the worlds third-largest platinum producer, lost $524 million in market capitalization since the Marikana strike began in August. Government defends National Democratic Revolutions gains South Africas first nonracial democratic elections in April 1994 led to the first African National Congress government in the post-apartheid era. The ANC and its allies earned the overwhelming support of the working class, youth and the poor through decades of mass and armed struggle against European settler-colonialism. However, the class divisions sown by apartheid still run deep within South African society. The ANCs negotiated settlement with the now-defunct all-white Nationalist Party Party rulers who, represented finance capital, left the ownership of the means of production with the minority ruling class. Affirmative action programs and Black Economic Empowerment schemes brought African professionals and businesspeople into administrative and ownership arrangements with the public sector and major industries. COSATU and other unions won through negotiations and strikes better wages and working conditions for a larger section of the proletariat. However, these reforms were nowhere near enough to provide an adequate standard of living for the majority of African workers. Unemployment is officially 25 percent. The world economic crisis has caused a sharp rise in the cost of living and household debt among the working class. Conditions in many mining areas have not substantially improved. The paltry wages and environmental degradation around facilities such as Lonmin only fuel workers discontent and anger. President Jacob Zumas government sought to defend the ANC government at a recent national conference of the South African Local Government Association in Midrand. On Sept. 10, Zuma told the gathering, We have made substantial progress in improving service delivery and extending services to our people, especially the poor who were marginalized in the past. No country could have produced the delivery we have made in 18 years. There is a common tendency to look at government at all levels as if those who are governing have brought the problem, instead of deep seated challenges from the past. The reality of apartheid is that large parts of the country had never had any form of local government and, as a result, the backlogs are still glaring. (South African Government News, Tshwane) Zuma emphasized, Over two and half million houses have been built for the poor giving shelter to over ten million people. Six million households have gained access to clean water since 1994 and electricity has been connected to nearly five million homes. Yet Zuma acknowledged the tremendous amount of work to be done, especially in Eastern Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Northwest, Free State and Mpumalanga. He stressed, These should be communities where residents have water, electricity, sanitation and roads as well as recreational facilities [and] filled with the laughter of happy children. The ruling ANC will hold its national congress in December at Mangaung. There, Zuma and other top party leaders will face elections from the provincial branches and auxiliary wings. There may be leadership challenges to current party officials, many of whom hold high-level government positions. Internal critics say that resolutions passed at the last ANC congress have not been adhered to, which has led to growing factionalism within the organization. Unless there is a major shift away from post-apartheid political and economic arrangements, the ANC government wont be able to fulfill the mandate of its 1955 Freedom Charter and later documents that call for the equal distribution of wealth throughout the nation.

Which Road to Liberation?

by Monica Moorehead

SOUTH AFRICA

Articles by Abayomi Azikiwe from the pages of Workers World

n n

AFRICA & IMPERIALISM

Africa struggles against imperialism WikiLeaks on U.S. role in Africa n Tunisian masses rebel n South African workers strike n Famine in the Sahel n Women at forefront of liberation struggles n Africa increases trade with China Order from Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., 5C, NY, NY 10011 Enclose $2 (plus $1 shipping)

Written in 1993 after a trip to South Africa

How has the disintegation of the Soviet Union impacted on the struggle against apartheid? Has the bourgeois revolution been achieved in South Africa? How does this t with the worldwide revolution described by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the Communist Manifesto in 1848? www.workers.org/books/SouthAfricaMM.pdf

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Sept. 20, 2012

workers.org

ports training focuses on working together as a highly calibrated unit. If factors having nothing to do with ability damage that unity, the team suffers. Racism is such a factor. While it has not been eradicated in sports, theres no doubt U.S. teams have been enormously strengthened by diversity won through decades of struggle. Gay baiting has also been a fixture in many sports nowhere more than in football. But two leading players have stepped up and called it out. Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is African-American, went public on YouTube in support of same-sex marriage. This infuriated Maryland State Assembly Delegate Emmett Burns, who demanded the Ravens owner

Student struggle Football & gay rights stops tuition hikes

muzzle Ayanbadejo. Another NFL player, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, then posted an online reply to Burns that went viral. Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level, said Kluwe, who is white. He ended, Ive also been vocal as hell about the issue of gay marriage so you can take your I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing and shove it in your close-minded, totally lacking in empathy piehole and choke on it. Three cheers for two athletes who spoke out for progress and the rest of their unionized co-players who stood with them. By G. Dunkel The first official decree from Pauline Marois, the new Quebec premier and leader of the Parti Qubcois (PQ), at her victory party, rescinded the tuition increases the previous government had proposed and annulled the law forbidding demonstrations, especially near schools. All the major student confederations that had led a series of student strikes beginning in March applauded Marois decision during their interview by Radio Canada.The most radical of the three, CLASSE, the Broad Coalition of Students and Unions, now intends to raise the demand for free public higher education. These strikes shut down a number of Quebecs community and senior colleges and brought hundreds of thousands of students and their supporters into the streets in all of Quebecs cities, particularly Montreal. There were large illegal daytime demonstrations and more than 100 somewhat smaller, but also illegal, nighttime demonstrations. All of the student confederations said that their struggles against the tuition hikes played a part in defeating the Liberal Party (PLQ) in the Sept. 4 elections. However, there were other factors in the elections. The PLQ has been mired in a series of corruption scandals in the past three years. The party did a horrible job with the economy and sold off Quebecs resources at fire sale prices to foreign companies in the U.S. and Japan. Ever since the PQ was formed in the early 1960s to obtain Quebecs independence, it and the PLQ have alternated control of the Quebec government. This is comparable to how the Democrats and Republicans have alternated in the United States. This last election, which saw the PQ replace the PLQ, had a few new wrinkles. The Coalition for Quebecs Future, a center-right split from the PQ, formed in early 2011, got 27 percent of the vote. Qubec Solidaire, a party that raises many progressive issues from ecology to womens rights and which strongly supported the student protests, got 6 percent. Basically, Quebecs national assembly, its parliament, is split into a bloc of thirds. The coverage in the English-language Canadian and U.S. press concentrated on the right-wing assassination attempt against Marois, which she survived, but which killed a worker. The same media also mentioned the likelihood, which is probably not very high, of the PQ holding another referendum on independence. The powerful student struggle has gotten very little coverage outside of the French language press. However, the students are undaunted. They won a big victory, but they appear willing to struggle for more.

editorial

QUEBEC

Socialist Korea looks ahead

By Deirdre Griswold The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea celebrated the 64th anniversary of the states founding on Sept. 9 with mass displays of gymnastics and flash cards at a Pyongyang stadium, in which 100,000 people participated. As acrobats and gymnasts by the thousands coordinated complex routines on the field, tens of thousands of students in the stands flipped poster-size cards to create colorful scenes in sync with the action. The training and intense discipline that make these spectacular displays possible is unparalleled in the world, and symbolizes the determination of the Korean people to work together in unison to build their nation and their socialist society. This was the first year that the DPRKs young new leader, Kim Jong Un, presided over the ceremonies. Kim has shown a firm hand in bolstering the nations defenses. In late August, the U.S. and Japan, the two big imperialist powers that have tried to dominate all of Korea for more than a century, carried out large-scale war exercises right off the southwest coast of the DPRK, together with puppet forces from south Korea. Kim went to the island closest to where a clash occurred during similar provocations last year and told the soldiers to be prepared to retaliate and defend it with their lives if even one shot were fired by the other side. At the same time, Kim has been stressing economic development to improve the lives of the people. Blocks of new modern apartment buildings in Pyongyang, the capital, were completed in time for the anniversary celebrations. Reports from Western visitors to the DPRK say the food situation there has much improved this year, despite several damaging storms and floods. Much work has been done over the last few years to reclaim land by both irrigation and flood control, as well as the planting of new orchards and the cultivation of crops suitable to the climate. The Korean press reports achievements over the past year in iron and steel production and the expansion of the vinalon industry. Vinalon is a uniquely Korean textile made from two resources abundant there: anthracite coal and granite. A Korean scientist found a way to create fibers from these materials that can be woven into a high-grade synthetic fabric similar in appearance to silk, but more durable and able to take color dyes well. Ingenuity, organization and the determination of the people to defend their social system while adapting modern technology to their needs continue to resonate from the DPRK. Griswold has visited both north and south Korea half a dozen times, beginning in the 1970s. dgriswold@workers.org

Canada rightists persecute activists

Most quotes are from a Sept. 4 Fire This Time news release sent to Workers World by the Mobilization Against War and Occupation in Vancouver, Canada. At Metrotown Skytrain Station near Vancouver, Canada, transit police officers and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police assaulted, handcuffed and removed three activists who were peacefully distributing the Fire This Time newspaper. Because FTT is a non-commercial, free, social justice newspaper, the officers had no legal ground to stop the distribution. It is clear that the aim of the assault was to intimidate and harass social justice activists, which is political targeting as FTT publishes many articles against war and in support of social justice struggles in Canada, from Indigenous rights to labour organizing. This was an attack on our fundamental civil and democratic rights, which include freedom of expression and the right to organize and demonstrate without violence and intimidation. It is also a case of police brutality, which is a disturbing trend growing in Canada. The activists were roughed up by the cops but were never issued a ticket or a written document. This assault on our democratic rights is happening in the context of the new era of war and occupation. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. and its imperialist allies including Canada have begun a new era of increasing war and occupation; from the continued occupation of Afghanistan to the bombing and war against Libya and now threats, sanctions and covert foreign intervention in Syria and Iran. Whenever imperialist governments like the U.S. and Canada wage brutal and devastating wars abroad, it is always accompanied by a crack-down against those who defend social justice and protest war at home. Workers World Secretariat member Deirdre Griswold commented on this repression in Vancouver: It is significant that following the Vancouver events, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, who hails from the oil-companydominated province of Alberta and has taken a hawkish stance on the Middle East, shocked and angered many Canadians on Sept. 7 when, without warning or explanation, he broke relations with Iran and demanded Iranian diplomats leave the country. The repression of Canadian progressive and anti-war activists is further evidence of this lurch even further to the right by one of U.S. imperialisms main allies. Since 2006, Harper has sent Canadians to die in Washingtons military offensives against anticolonial regimes across West Asia and North Africa. The Mobilization Against War and Occupation is participating in actions in North America called by the United National Antiwar Coalition on the weekend of Oct. 5-7 the anniversary of the occupation of Afghanistan to protest that war and threats against Syria and Iran.

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Sept. 20, 2012

Page 11

COLOMBIA

Revolutionaries announce peace talks

By Berta Joubert-Ceci The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Peoples Army (FARC-EP), held a press conference in La Havana, Cuba, on Sept. 6 to announce the beginning of peace negotiations with the Colombian government. Broadcast live almost entirely by CNNE (CNN in Spanish), the conference offered a unique opportunity to see and hear representatives of the FARC being treated for what they are a belligerent force that represents the oppressed masses of Colombia in their search for peace with social justice. There was no mention of words like terrorists or narcoguerrilla so pervasive in the commercial media. These are labels coined by the Pentagon to describe peoples armed movements. This concession on its own was a victory for the Colombian insurgency. Surely the verbal change was not because CNNE suddenly became progressive and altered its position, becoming respectful of the guerrilla army. What the coverage of the conference did was show the tireless work the insurgency has accomplished for decades, trying to bring peace to the country. The FARC, a Marxist-Leninist organization, was forced to open a guerrilla war in 1964 when the Colombian military, equipped by the United States, bombed Marquetalia, a liberated zone in the south where the communist group had taken refuge from the anticommunist attacks unleashed by the state. Commander Mauricio Jaramillo, the FARC delegations leader, was accompanied by Ricardo Tllez, Andrs Pars, Hermes Aguilar, Sandra Ramrez and Marco Len Calarc. They all had been in Cuba for six months in conversation with Colombian government representatives. Jaramillo started the press conference showing a video of Timolen Jimnez, also known as Timochenko, the highest commanding officer of the FARC. In his statement, Jimnez thanked the governments of Cuba, Norway, Venezuela and Chile for their support of the negotiations. He stressed the commitment of the FARC to the peace process, which he put in the context of continued persecution by the Colombian state. It is clear to us, Jimnez said, that despite the official statements of peace, the insurgency arrived at this new attempt at reconciliation besieged, not only by the same military onslaught unleashed a decade ago, but openly compelled by their effort to take our desire for political and social change [and exchange it for] a miserable surrender. Despite these signals, the FARC-EP keeps the sincere aspiration that the regime will not try to repeat the same pattern of the past. President Santos had stated that his government will continue military operations against the insurgency and no cease fire will be declared. He said that only with the completion of the negotiations will the confrontation end. After six months of initial intense Exploratory discussions, both parties signed the General Agreement for the termination of the conflict and the construction of a stable and lasting peace. The second phase will open fully in Oslo, Norway, on Oct. 8 and will continue in Cuba. Agenda for the talks The five points of discussion reached by both parties are: 1) comprehensive agricultural development policy, 2) political participation, 3) end of the conflict, 4) solution to the problem of illicit drugs and 5) the victims (human rights and search for the truth). These basic yet fundamental issues are at the roots of the conflict. The FARCEP has clearly stated that they have always tried to work toward peace, but one which will deal effectively with the problems that gave birth to the conflict. For example, in the first point, Agricultural Development raises possible agrarian reform, something crucial for the attainment of justice for the people of Colombia. There are many wealthy national and particularly transnational landowning interests that oppose serious agrarian reform that would help peasants and farm workers. In spite of all the verbal guarantees given by the Colombian government for the success of these negotiations, the talks are between enemies that are still in active war with each other. How much will does Santos government have to carry on the talks in a serious manner? How will foreign interests and imperialism respond? There are many enemies of this attempt at peace, including the neofascist former President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe. An important point made by the FARC was that these negotiations do not simply concern the interests of the government and the insurgency, but a much broader effort that must involve all the people and movements in Colombia. In fact, a task of the progressive movements all over the world should be to support this process, a debt that is owed to the people of Colombia. And the best first step to show support is to expose the real enemies of peace and to reestablish the proper name of the Colombian insurgency: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Peoples Army, FARC-EP and the National Liberation Army, ELN. Next: History of peace negotiations and context of current negotiation: Santos pro-business/economic interests and the Colombian progressive movement.

Colombian hunger strike comes to GMs home

By Martha Grevatt Working at breakneck speed under antiquated conditions at the General Motors Commodores plant in Bogot, Colombia, more than 200 workers have suffered debilitating injuries and illnesses. After being fired and left with no source of income, workers formed the Association of Injured Workers and Ex-workers of GM Colombia, known as Asotrecol. On Aug. 1, 2011, the Asotrecol workers set up an encampment outside the U.S. Embassy in Bogot. They chose that location because the U.S. government still owns 26 percent of GM. They want recognition of their injuries as work-related, and they want reintegration into the workforce for those who are able to work and pensions for those unable to work as well as paid health care. A key demand is recognition of Asotrecol as their union. On Aug. 1 of this year, 13 injured workers began a hunger strike, sewing their lips shut. The strike was ended when GM corporate representatives agreed to travel to Colombia for mediation. The company, however, offered only a paltry compensation sum and refused to give workers their jobs back. The insignificant funding they offered would have accomplished nothing but convert us into street food vendors, Asotrecol stated. Workers have sewn their lips shut again. The unions president, Jorge Parra, is conducting his hunger strike in Detroit, hoping to get a meeting with GM corporate representatives. This reporter, a 25-year Chrysler worker and United Auto Worker member, interviewed Parra on Sept. 7, near Detroits lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community center, called Affirmations. There, Parra had a warm exchange with LGBTQ activists, who are engaged in a rotating hunger strike to protest discrimination and bigotry in Michigan. Martha Grevatt: How big is the workforce at Colmotores? Jorge Parra: About 1,830 working two shifts. MG: What was its peak? JP: Three or four years ago there were 2,300 working three shifts. MG: Aside from about 200 who were injured and fired, how were the reductions accomplished? JP: The older workers are being fired. They make about 2 million pesos [$1,050] per month but newer workers make half that. For three years, they do not get a raise. Then it takes two years to reach top rate. MG: How many cars are produced each day and how much do they cost in Colombia? JP: One hundred and sixty per shift. The work process has one person doing what three or four workers in the U.S. would do. Cars cost from 18 million pesos to 45 million pesos [$10,000 to $24,000]. MG: Where are things now with your struggle? JP: We hope with this trip to Detroit Ill be able to talk directly with people in GM headquarters and try to find a solution that is just. My colleagues and their families are in a very desperate and critical situation. Three of them have lost their houses through mortgage foreclosure. One other is at risk of losing his home. Its hard for our families and for our kids. Those of us who felt the helplessness decided to enter a hunger strike and sew our mouths shut. This was the only way we thought we would be able to resist the violations committed against us, with the little that we still have. GM practically gave us one choice to die on a hunger strike or to die waiting for our indifferent governments to do something for us. It is unjust for the U.S. to demand human rights when it is financing human rights

Left, Jorge Parra of GM hunger strikers in Colombia with Martha Grevatt at Sept. 10 Detroit meeting.
WW PHOTO: ABAYOMI AZIKIWE

abuses by way of its ownership of GM. MG: How important is international solidarity? JP: The international support has been an enormous aid to us in making our struggle visible. GM is a multinational [corporation] and a large part of it belongs to the U.S. public. The support we have found in unions and organizations and from people has been invaluable. By making public statements and taking stances, they are increasing our profile. Im proud to be able to be here in the U.S. Im here because our situation has become so public. Im glad I can count on this continued support, as we keep demanding justice and our rights. MG: Can you comment on the Free Trade Agreement? JP: It is unjust to us that the U.S. ratified the FTA with Colombia. There is a

very difficult situation for unions and workers in Colombia. Colombia is not complying with the Labor Action Plan prerequisites of the FTA. When [President] Obama came to Cartagena and approved the FTA, it was like a slap in the face to me. MG: Is there anything else you would like to add? JP: We continue to ask for the enormous help of U.S. people and unions. We ask that they send letters and emails; that they engage in acts of protest and marches; and that they talk to their politicians, so that together we can demand that GM do the right thing and reach a prompt solution. Were coming to the end of our rope in Colombia. We urgently need the collaboration of the people of the U.S. Our lives and our families depend on it.

Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios!

Correspondencia sobre artculos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a: WW-MundoObrero@workers.org

Jvenes inmigrantes son blanco de nuevo edicto racista en Arizona

Por Paul Teitelbaum Tucson, Arizona La gobernadora de Arizona Jan Brewer promulg la Orden Ejecutiva 2012-06 el 15 de agosto, negando todo beneficio pblico estatal y local a los/as jvenes indocumentados/as que soliciten el proceso de la Accin Diferida para los Llegados durante su Niez (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA) anunciado por la administracin Obama en junio. La orden de Brewer fue emitida el mismo da en que comenz la elegibilidad de DACA. Esta orden racista y anti-inmigrante es el ltimo escndalo de Brewer, quien firm la ley SB1070 y prohibi la enseanza de estudios mexicano-americanos en Arizona. El proceso DACA es una concesin de la administracin Obama forzada por la lucha de la valiente juventud indocumentada que exiga la aprobacin de la propuesta de ley DREAM (soar) [Desarrollo, Alivio y Educacin para Menores Extranjeros], que otorgara la legalizacin a los/ as nios que vinieron a los EE.UU. antes de los 16 aos de edad. Bajo el lema, Sin papeles y sin miedo, estos/as jvenes se han dado a conocer como los/as soadores/as. Ellos/as han arriesgado que se les deporte, han realizado sentadas en las oficinas del Congreso e incluso se han infiltrado en los centros de detencin de la Agencia de Inmigracin y Aduanas de (ICE, la migra) para exponer la brutalidad y la humillacin a la que son sometidos/as los/as inmigrantes. Bajo DACA, a la persona se le permitira permanecer en los EE.UU. por lo cual tendra derecho a conseguir un permiso de trabajo. La orden de Brewer negara una licencia de conducir de Arizona o cualquier otra forma de identificacin emitida por el estado a los/as soadores/as. Incluso con un permiso de trabajo y un trabajo, estos/as jvenes todava no tendran derecho a indemnizacin por desempleo. Riqueza de Arizona: Producto de mano de obra inmigrante Arizona ha experimentado un enorme crecimiento de la poblacin en los ltimos 50 aos. En 1960, la poblacin del estado era de 1,3 millones de personas, pero en la actualidad supera los 6,3 millones, segn la Oficina del Censo de los EE.UU. Esta afluencia proporcion inmensos beneficios para los bancos y especuladores de tierras, quienes financiaron la urbanizacin y la construccin de viviendas necesarias durante este perodo. La tarea concreta de la construccin de las casas no la hicieron los banqueros, por supuesto, sino los/as trabajadores/as: albailes, carpinteros/as, instaladores/ as de techos y pisos, etc. Un informe publicado por la Universidad de Arizona en 2008 estima que los/as inmigrantes constaban entre el 27 al 41 por ciento de estas ocupaciones de bajos salarios de la construccin. (Udallcenter.arizona.edu) El mismo informe revela que los/as trabajadores/as inmigrantes componen el 59 por ciento de todos/as los/as trabajadores/ as agrcolas en Arizona. Cualquiera que est familiarizado/a con la historia del sindicato Trabajadores Agrcolas Unidos est muy consciente de las terribles condiciones a las que los/as trabajadores/as agrcolas en Arizona fueron sometidos/ as. Los/as trabajadores/as inmigrantes eran tambin un porcentaje importante de la industria manufacturera de textiles de Arizona y de sus industrias de servicios, como los servicios de limpieza, mantenimiento de edificios y terrenos y servicios de comida rpida. Las inmensas ganancias obtenidas por esta explotacin de mano de obra inmigrante residen en las manos de los capitalistas y en los bancos depredadores. Los/as trabajadores/as inmigrantes enfrentan el racismo alimentado por estos explotadores, sus medios de comuniDos de septiembre, en Carolina del Norte a la marcha contra Wall Street del sur.

cacin y sus agentes polticos como Brewer. Lideresa de derechos inmigrantes habla con WW/MO Isabel Garca, una abogada de Tucson, activista de derechos de los/as inmigrantes, y co-presidenta de la organizacin comunitaria, la Coalicin de Derechos Humanos, dijo a WW/Mundo Obrero, Las comunidades en Arizona y alrededor de la nacin estn indignadas por la decisin insensible, ignorante e irresponsable de la gobernadora Jan Brewer de emitir una orden ejecutiva para castigar a nuestros/as jvenes y futuros/as lderes en un da que debera haber sido celebrado por todos/as. Garca elogi a los/as Soadores/as: Llevados/as por la creencia de que la propuesta de ley DREAM iba a ser aprobada por ms de una dcada, despus de 2006, los/as jvenes indocumentados/as decidieron expresarse con su propia voz poltica y mostraron sus habilidades organizativas, demostrando valientemente su integridad, inteligencia, madurez y compromiso con una agenda completa de derechos humanos para todos/as. Ahora, luego de recibir una pequea concesin a sus justas demandas, los/ as jvenes de Arizona tienen que continuar enfrentndose a una gobernadora que est decidida a impulsar su carrera poltica demonizando y atacando a la generacin ms prometedora de la historia reciente. Desde la era de los Derechos Civiles y Vietnam, ninguna generacin de jvenes ha desatado la emocin de un movimiento por la justicia social, actuando como precursores del Movimiento Ocupar [Wall Street] en todo el pas.

MO FOTO: BRYAN G. PFEIFER

Latinoamericanos/as desafan EE.UU., respaldan Ecuador en materia de asilo WikiLeaks

Por John Catalinotto Ecuador, con el apoyo de gran parte de Latinoamrica, est en lo que podra ser un enfrentamiento a largo plazo con el imperialismo britnico sobre el destino del fundador de WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. En lo que fue una accin heroica, Ecuador le ofreci asilo poltico a Assange. El gobierno britnico, actuando como el viejo imperio, amenaz con violar la soberana del Ecuador y asaltar su embajada en Londres. Gran parte de Latinoamrica se puso del lado de Ecuador y oblig a Bretaa a retirar sus amenazas. Detrs de todo ello est el intento del gobierno de Barack Obama de perseguir a cualquier persona que exponga los crmenes del imperialismo estadounidense. Washington, con sus aliados de la OTAN, est tratando de conquistar las partes del antiguo mundo colonial que todava mantienen cierta independencia o que quieren controlar sus propios recursos. WikiLeaks expuso los crmenes de guerra de Estados Unidos en Irak y Afganistn, y muchas de las otras maquinaciones de la poltica exterior de EE.UU. La organizacin filtr cientos de miles de mensajes de embajadas estadounidenses en todo el mundo y public algunos videos de ataques militares en Irak. En agosto de 2010, la presin de EE.UU. llev a Suecia exigir que Assange fuera llevado de Bretaa para hacer frente a una investigacin por acusaciones de agresin sexual. Como dice en un comunicado la organizacin britnica, Women Against Rape (Mujeres contra la violacin sexual): Hay una larga tradicin del uso de la violacin y el asalto sexual para agendas polticas que nada tienen que ver con la seguridad de las mujeres. (Guardian, 9 de diciembre de 2010) Nadie puede creer que las autoridades suecas le habran dado seguimiento a las acusaciones de no haber sido por la presin de EE.UU. para perseguir a Assange y poner un alto a quienes denuncien los crmenes de guerra de Estados Unidos. Assange teme y la mayora de la gente cree que sus temores estn justificados que si va a Suecia para discutir las acusaciones, sera inmediatamente extraditado a Estados Unidos. Entonces EE.UU. lo acusara de traicin por revelar secretos de este pas. l enfrentara un encarcelamiento prolongado e incluso una posible pena de muerte. En vista de esto, Assange, un ciudadano australiano que no ha podido salir de Bretaa, pidi asilo en Ecuador el 19 de junio. El presidente de Ecuador Rafael Correa, en un valiente desafo a los deseos evidentes de Washington, le ofreci asilo basado en el riesgo de que se le imponga la pena capital si Assange es juzgado en EE.UU. Entonces, el gobierno britnico no solamente amenaz con que le impediran salir de Bretaa sino que, segn el Embajador de Ecuador, asaltaran la Embajada ecuatoriana. Como respuesta a este escandaloso desafo a la soberana del Ecuador, los pases de la Alianza Bolivariana para Amrica Latina y de UNASUR, que incluye a Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guyana, Nicaragua, Per, Surinam, Uruguay y Venezuela, se han puesto al lado del Ecuador y en contra de Bretaa que en este caso tambin significa desafiar al imperialismo estadounidense. En un comunicado desde el balcn de la embajada ecuatoriana el 19 de agosto, Assange dijo: Le pido al presidente Obama que haga lo correcto. Estados Unidos debe renunciar a su caza de brujas contra WikiLeaks. Estados Unidos debe abandonar su investigacin por el FBI. Estados Unidos debe prometer que no va a enjuiciar a nuestro personal ni a nuestros/as seguidores/as. Assange tambin elogi al Pfc. B. Manning, un analista de inteligencia del ejrcito estadounidense, a quien EE.UU. ha acusado de pasar documentos clasificados a WikiLieaks. Manning, que recientemente se identific como una persona trans-sexual, haba sido detenido por ms de un ao en aislamiento en prisiones militares de Estados Unidos, bajo condiciones que algunas organizaciones consideran equivalentes a la tortura. Assange dijo que Manning es uno de los prisioneros polticos principales del mundo y un hroe si hizo lo que le acusan de haber hecho. (Boston Globe, 20 de agosto).