Elecciones EE.UU.

EDITORIAL Leyes anti-latinos/as

12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite!

workers.org

Oct. 25, 2012

Vol. 54, No. 42

$1

With labor & community support

Low-wage workers take on Walmart

By Kris Hamel From Illinois to southern California, Walmart workers are fighting back against one of the most notorious unionbusting corporations in the United States. They are walking out against unfair labor practices and protesting the working conditions and low pay foisted upon them by the largest retail corporation in the world. These courageous workers, not members of any union, are organizing for dignity, respect and better working conditions for themselves and their coworkers, families and communities. They are gaining the support and solidarity of working people and the oppressed throughout the U.S. First, a two-week strike of Walmart warehouse workers began in southern California on Sept. 12. The workers and their allies then marched 50 miles demanding Walmart pay them stolen wages, rectify health and safety violations, and deal with discrimination and sexual assaults on the job. They won their strike when Walmart agreed to address health and safety issues, hold inspections and take responsibility for working conditions. Just a few days after that strike began, warehouse workers at Walmarts largest distribution center in North America, in Elwood, Ill., went out Sept. 15 on an unfair labor practice strike. These workers toil under brutal conditions, as temps, often earning less than $200 per week. On Oct. 1 the striking workers were joined by trade union activists, religious leaders and community activists who marched on the distribution center and shut it down for the day. Seventeen people were arrested for obstructing a roadway by police in full riot gear. They were eventually released. (Chicagoist.com, Oct. 2) After a three-week strike in Elwood, the warehouse work stoppage came to an end when Walmart agreed to stop illegal retaliation against workers who speak out against bad working conditions. The victorious workers returned to work with full pay for all days they were out on strike. One-day walkout in Los Angeles area, an historic rst In an historic first, workers from nine Walmart stores in the Los Angeles area staged a one-day walkout on Oct. 4. Hundreds of Walmart workers and their supporters picketed outside the Pico Rivera, Calif., store with signs reading, On Strike for the Freedom to Speak Out and Walmart Strike Against Retaliation. Walmart store workers are called associates by the company in an obvious attempt to obviate their status as workers who deserve rights and decent wages and conditions. While Walmart workers in other parts of the world are unionized the company first relented in 2006 to a union-organizing effort in China workers at Walmart at U.S. warehouses and stores labor under venomous anti-union rules and practices. For over a year, Walmart retail workers have been coming together to call for change at Walmart, said Venanzi Luna, a Walmart worker and member of OUR Walmart who took part in the walkout. Through our worker-led Organization United for Respect at Walmart, workers like myself have been calling on the company to address issues with scheduling, benefits, wages and above all, respect in the workplace. But instead of being responsive, Luna asserted, Walmart has lashed out at us for speaking up. The company is trying to silence and intimidate us through unfair disciplinary actions, cutbacks in hours and even firings. Were on strike to protest these illegal attempts to silence us. (forrespect.org, Oct. 4) The Los Angeles walkout and Pico Rivera protest were organized by OUR Walmart, which is backed by the Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW). Unionized Walmart workers from Africa, Great Britain, Latin America and Canada have met with Los Angeles Walmart workers to coordinate support for the international struggle against Walmart. Energy around the calls for Walmart to change its treatment of workers and communities has been building, according to OUR Walmarts website, forrespect. org. In just one year, OUR Walmart, the unique workContinued page 4

STOP RACIST TERROR!

New York City East Baltimore Chula Vista & Oakland, Calif.

ORGANIZE THE SOUTH!

No KKK monument Solidarity with immigrants
3 5

FREE CECE MCDONALD

2, 3

U.N. TROOPS OUT OF HAITI!

SUBSCRIBE TO WORKERS WORLD

4 weeks trial $4 1 year subscription $30
Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program. For information: workers.org/supporters/

212.627.2994 www.workers.org
Name _______________________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________ City / State / Zip _______________________________________________ Email _____________________________ Phone ____________________

Top, NYC protest, Oct. 12.

WW PHOTO: G. DUNKEL

Above, Port-au-Prince, Haiti demonstration, Sept. 30.

PHOTO: LIONEL FORTUN/IPS

Workers World Newspaper 55 W. 17th St. #5C, NY, NY 10011

PAKISTAN

The shooting of Malala

SYRIA more war threats 8 PUERTO RICO peoples victory 9 LIBYA & SOUTH AFRICA 11

Page 2

Oct. 25, 2012

workers.org

Summer

WORKERS WORLD

this week ...

A youth in the struggle

Summer is an activist with the Revolutionary Students Union in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she lives with her partner Wilden and their daughter. Along with student organizing, Summer and Wilden have worked in support of workers rights and in the anti-war movement. I grew up Mormon in the very conservative state of Utah. It was taboo to even talk about politics around my family because it would somehow ruin our family relationships. Despite this, towards the end of high school I was exposed to radical left-wing politics through some friends of mine and started my journey to activism. I came to political activism in college by becoming involved in an anti-Walmart campaign that was going on in Salt Lake City. Our goal was to provide the public with information about the exploitation of workers and union busting by this giant capitalist corporation. During this campaign, for the first time in my life, I began to recognize that life under capitalism is a constant struggle between people who work for a living and those that get rich off exploiting them. The Marxist term for this is the class struggle the working class struggling against the capitalist class. One point that really resonated with me at this time was the conclusion that the capitalist system always puts profit before people. My partner Wilden and I soon became involved in the growing anti-war movement that was forming around the time of the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. We traveled to a huge anti-war rally in San Francisco in January 2003, where 100,000 people came out to oppose the U.S. threats of war!

In the U.S.
Low-wage workers take on Walmart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Summer: A youth in the struggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Prosecution fears support for CeCe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Community protests monument to KKK leader. . . . . . . . . . .3 Curfew law put on hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Hundreds join trans march . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Grain Handlers to lock out longshore workers. . . . . . . . . . . .4 Mic check solidarity with grocery workers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Support for Walmart union organizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Anti-Latino/a laws ignite the South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Border Patrol guns down mother of ve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Victory for anti-stop & frisk activist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Heated debate on racist police abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 NYC transit o ers higher fares, more racism . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Justice for Anthony Anderson Sr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Cop killer of Alan Blueford wont be charged . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Paul Ryans lies: The truth about central planning . . . . . . 10

less and less satisfied with the analysis of mainstream media. Wilden and I began attending a revolutionary book club and discussion group in Salt Lake PHOTO: ASHLEY ANDERSON City. We also started working Summer with a local peace coalition, helping to organize anti-war events in our area. We took a little time off from political work to have a little girl named Violet, and after a couple of years we became politically active doing immigrant rights work and fighting against repressive Arizona-style legislation in Utah. Wilden and I contacted many left-wing groups, but the one that impressed us the most was Workers World Party. WWP has a long history of working with workingclass and oppressed people to build community power and fight for our collective interests against the capitalist class. We believe that the only way to have real liberation and equality is to overthrow capitalism, and that the only way to overthrow capitalism is through solidarity and organizing in the working-class and oppressed communities. This outlook is directly tied to our understanding of Marxism and the application of Marxist analysis to the world today. We hope you join us in the streets and in our communities to see what we mean by putting Marxism into action!

Around the world

Whats happening in Ecuador?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 U.S.-NATO driven to wage war on Syria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Whats really behind the attack on Malala Yousafzai . . . . . .8 Haiti: Cholera & hunger meet militant resistance . . . . . . . . .9 People win battle with Puerto Rico Power Authority. . . . . .9 Libya becomes focus of U.S. election. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 South African truckers end strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Editorial
Another war prize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

With our political consciousness growing, we were

Noticias En Espaol
Elecciones EE.UU.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Leyes anti-latinos/as. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Prosecution fears support for CeCe

The following was written by Leslie Feinberg on Oct. 7. For more on the struggle to free CeCe McDonald, visit workers.org. January to begin a new year of struggle on the activist calendar. A recent show of force at the St. Cloud, Minn., prison on Sept. 15 dramatically demonstrated In this message, I report my trial date and the that the 1%, and the criminally unjust system details of the plea deal that the Minneapolis city that maintains its rule, wants to thwart the attorneys office has put on the table. growing support that CeCe McDonalds struggle At my pretrial hearing on Sept. 28, the date is inspiring. of the opening of my jury trial on a third-degree Free CeCe McDonald Supporters rode together in a group motorcymisdemeanor charge was set for Dec. 12. cle ride from Minneapolis to St. Cloud to visit McDonald That is not a speedy jury trial! I am ready to stand trial that day. When they arrived, St. Cloud officials had locked today. But the court has declined to schedule my trial in down all the prisoners. SWAT teams were posted at evOctober, LGBTQ/+ History Month, or in November, the ery entrance, and all those who traveled to visit their loves month of Trans Remembrance events in the U.S. ones were barred from spending precious time together. The scheduling of my trial for mid-December serves to bury publicity about the prosecution of an act of solidar- Message to prosecution: No deal! ity with CeCe McDonald. I thank Bruce Nestor and the National Lawyers Guild A new year of struggle for your legal support. The Minneapolis city attorney has put a plea bargain In the U.S., the last two weeks of December are a time when students, teachers and school staffs are busily on the pretrial negotiating table. Here are the details as I working and then schools close down for winter breaks. understand them: If I would plead guilty my sentence will be stayed Workplaces and government offices shut down for winter holidays and New Years Day on the Gregorian calen- no jail time beyond the three days I already spent in dar. Many people travel and communications via work lockup; one year probation; three to five days of community service. I would have to pay financial restitution and social media often slow down. I am pressing to reschedule my trial date for midContinued on page 3

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. 42 Oct. 25, 2012 Closing date: Oct. 16, 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, 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 2012 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

National O ce Workers World Party 55 W. 17 St., 5th Fl. (WWP) ghts for New York, NY 10011 socialism and engages 212.627.2994 wwp@workers.org in struggles on all the issues that face Atlanta P.O. Box 5565 the working class & Atlanta, GA 30307 oppressed peoples Black & white, Latino/a, 404.627.0185 Asian, Arab and Native atlanta@workers.org peoples, women & men, Baltimore c/o Solidarity Center young & old, lesbian, 2011 N. Charles St. gay, bi, straight, trans, Baltimore, MD 21218 disabled, working, 443.909.8964 unemployed, undocubaltimore@workers.org mented & students. Boston If you would like to 284 Amory St. know more about WWP, Boston, MA 02130 or to join us in these 617.522.6626 Fax 617.983.3836 struggles, contact the boston@workers.org branch nearest you.

joi n join us

Bu alo, N.Y. 367 Delaware Ave. Bu alo, NY 14202 716.883.2534 bu alo@workers.org Chicago 27 N. Wacker Dr. #138 Chicago, IL 60606 chicago@workers.org 312.229.0161 Cleveland P.O. Box 5963 Cleveland, OH 44101 216.738.0320 cleveland@workers.org Denver denver@workers.org Detroit 5920 Second Ave. Detroit, MI 48202 313.459.0777 detroit@workers.org

Durham, N.C. 331 W. Main St., Ste. 408 Durham, NC 27701 919.322.9970 durham@workers.org Houston P.O. Box 3454 Houston, TX 77253-3454 713.503.2633 houston@workers.org Los Angeles 5278 W Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90019 la@workers.org 323.306.6240 Milwaukee milwaukee@workers.org Philadelphia P.O. Box 34249 Philadelphia, PA 19101 610.931.2615 phila@workers.org

Pittsburgh pittsburgh@workers.org Rochester, N.Y. 585.436.6458 rochester@workers.org San Diego P.O. Box 33447 San Diego, CA 92163 619.692.0355 sandiego@workers.org San Francisco 2940 16th St., #207 San Francisco CA 94103 415.738.4739 sf@workers.org Tucson, Ariz. tucson@workers.org Washington, D.C. P.O. Box 57300 Washington, DC 20037 dc@workers.org

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10011.

workers.org

Oct. 25, 2012

Page 3

SELMA, ALA

Community protests monument to KKK leader

By Dianne Mathiowetz The struggle to stop the construction of a monument to Nathan Bedford Forrest, first grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan and the man credited with building the white supremacist group into a national force, has put a spotlight on Selma, Ala., largely known today for its role in the Civil Rights movement. Forrest made his fortune as a slave trader before the Civil War and led the establishment of the violent hate group which has terrorized Black communities and others for decades. As a Confederate general, he ordered the outright murder of hundreds of surrendering Black federal troops and women at Fort Pillow. In 2000, Cecil Williamson, a life-long segregationist and current City Council president, co-founded Friends of Forrest and oversaw the erection of a statue dedicated to Forrest in a city park. The statue was put in place five days after the first Black mayor of Selma, James Perkins Jr., took office. Public protest forced the removal of the statue to the city cemetery, where some Confederate war dead are buried. Following the disappearance of the statue this summer, Friends of Forrest planned to replace it with a 12-foot monument surrounded by an iron fence, night lighting and 24-hour security. The cemetery is in the Black community of Selma. On Sept. 25, Selma residents, led by Malika Sanders-Fortier, marched from the Edmund Pettus Bridge to a City Council meeting. They presented a petition with more than 325,000 signers from across the country denouncing the construction of a statue in honor of a wellknown killer of Black people. By a vote of 4 to 0 with two abstentions, the Council stopped work on the monument, pending a decision on the ownership of the land. Williamson continues to subvert the will of Selmas Black community, now alleging the plot of land is privately owned by the Daughters of the Confederacy. Legacy of struggle During the Civil War, Selma was a center of munitions manufacturing critical to the secessionist confederacy. Like much of the South, which was under Jim Crow segregation for decades, a small but entrenched political and economic white elite governed with a harsh hand, backed up by the violence of groups like the KKK. Selmas Black residents were subjected to night raids by robe-wearing Klansmen, beatings, lynchings, arson, rapes and the ever-present threat of job loss and home eviction. Nevertheless, a movement for voting rights emerged led by the Dallas County Voters League, which struggled against the literacy tests and poll taxes that kept 99 percent of the citys Black residents from voting. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizers came to Selma in early 1963, and by 1965, 3,000 people had been arrested in protests and attempts to register to vote. On Feb. 26, 1965, Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed by an Alabama state trooper following a Civil Rights protest. Days later, 600 people set off on a march from Selma to Montgomery, determined to end the racist segregation that ruled their lives. After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for a Confederate brigadier general, they were met by an army of police and state troopers who tear-gassed and beat the crowd. That day, March 7, 1965, has come to be known as Bloody Sunday. Four days later, Rev. James Reeb, a Boston minister who came to support the struggle, was beaten to death on a downtown Selma street in broad daylight. Undeterred, two weeks later on March 21, some 3,200 marchers started to Montgomery, their numbers swelling to more than 25,000 upon arrival at the state capitol four days later. That night Viola Liuzzo, a Michigan mother drawn to the Civil Rights movement, was murdered by Klansmen as she was shuttling marchers back to Selma. For more information on the current struggle in Selma, visit grassrootsdemocracy.net.

RHODE ISLAND

Curfew law put on hold

WW PHOTO: BILL BATEMAN

By Workers World Rhode Island bureau Joined by constituents and community organizations, the 11th Ward city councilman, Davian Sanchez, announced on Oct. 4 that he has placed his proposal for a youth curfew in Providence, R.I., on hold. Instead, Sanchez said he will introduce ordinances to improve youth employment and recreation, and ban practices that can lead to racial profiling. The goal of the curfew ordinance was to reduce violence in the city and make the city safer for our youth, Sanchez stated. However, after meeting with youth, parents and community groups, I have decided that the best way to achieve this goal is to work toward bettering relations between police and youth, and creating more positive spaces and activities for youth in the evenings. When you see how a curfew works, and how much it costs, it doesnt make sense, said Joseph Buchanan of Rhode Island Black PAC, one of the groups that has been meeting with Sanchez. Wed rather spend the money on programs for youth, instead of police overtime, lost wages, courts and lawyers. Bill Bateman of the Rhode Island Unemployed Council said, Dont tell us theres no money! Over the last 10 years, Providence was robbed of $680 million

Continued from page 2 for property damage. After my arrest, I was held without bail for three days on a felony charge, which threatened five years behind bars. After mass outcry, the felony charge was dropped. Now Im being threatened with one year in jail. But the prosecution is willing to make more time in jail go away if Ill just confess my guilt. My message to the prosecution is: No deal! I want a speedy jury trial in which I can declare not plead that I am not guilty of any wrongdoing. The action in which I delivered the peoples verdict writing Free CeCe Now! on the county jail wall that held her that was my community service. I was demonstrating my responsibility to CeCe and to many communities to take action against injustice. One thing is clear: The repressive forces have the strength to hold me incommunicado behind bars, but they dont have the power to stop the support for CeCe McDonald from widening and deepening. Organizing solidarity As I write, transwomen of color are being lynched in cities across the U.S. and tortured in the prison-industrial complex. CeCe McDonald is surviving this war. In honor of her ongoing struggle, Im making an open call for photographs for a slide show dedicated to Free CeCe in the no-cost author edition of Stone Butch Blues. The slide show is titled, This is what solidarity looks like. Please consider making Free CeCe

group photographs at October LGBTQ/+ and November Trans Remembrance events with a sign or other message of support for CeCe McDonald. Every day between now and the opening of my trial I will try to post at least a photo a day from the Free CeCe slide show on social media, to build solidarity with CeCes struggle and to thank the photographers for their permissions. I will also post photos in search of the photographer/s in order to give full photo credit. Download permission forms at iacenter.org/lgbt/cecemcdonaldpictures. Send photos/permissions to transgenderwarrior@gmail.com or via social media. Ill write more, when I can. Free CeCe now!

by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and $500 million by the Bush tax cut. Be honest and say, Theres no money for you. Sheila Wilhem, a parent and Direct Action for Rights and Equality member said, My kids have suffered from constant racial profiling and police harassment. A curfew would only make things worse for them and all of our youth. They need jobs and recreation, not [hand]cuffs and curfews. Franny Choi of the Providence Youth Student Movement told Sanchez that youth diversions would be more effective and less expensive. With real community support, she said, youth can pull themselves out of the cycle of violence even lead the charge to end it. Labeling them as criminals only fuels the problem. Rochelle Lee of the RI Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee added that racial profiling and criminalization of youth are a part of a new Jim Crow we are fighting to abolish. Those in attendance at the press conference included members of the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee, the Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, the SOS Save Our Schools Coalition, the Rhode Island Peoples Assembly and the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union.

Hundreds join trans march

The second annual Philly Trans March Oct. 6 was dedicated to Kyra (Kruz) Cordova, a 27-year-old Philadelphia transgender woman who was active in the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative. Cordova was found shot in the head on Sept. 3. A $25,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for her murder. Several family members also spoke about the unsolved murder of Stacey Blahnik, a 31-year-old African-American trans woman murdered in 2010. Speakers raised the case of Cece McDonald, a young African-American transgender woman incarcerated for manslaughter after an incident in Minneapolis that began when she was violently attacked be-

cause of her race and gender. Well-known author and revolutionary, Leslie Feinberg, has dedicated the 20th-anniversary edi-

tion of her book, Stone Butch Blues, to McDonald and the struggle to free her. Report and photo by Joe Piette

Page 4

Oct. 25, 2012

workers.org

Grain Handlers to lock out longshore workers

By Clarence Thomas This lightly edited article was written for the Port Workers United newsletter in Oakland, Calif. Thomas is a thirdgeneration member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10, and co-chair of the Million Worker March movement, who actively supported ILWU Local 21 in their battle with the new high-tech grain export terminal in Longview, Wash. As a consequence of the January 2012 negotiated Export Grain Terminal contract for International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 in Longview, Wash., dockworkers and the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association negotiations are headed for a showdown. In fact, the Grain Handlers are expected to lock out longshore workers on October 24 at six Northwest grain terminals in Portland, Ore.; Seattle, Tacoma, and Vancouver, Wash. These grain negotiations are setting the stage for the 2014 longshore contract negotiations, which will impact big money issues like pension and welfare. The Northwest grain terminal employers are demanding EGT concessions like the 12-hour shift, bypassing the union hiring hall, ability to fire any longshore worker without cause, and more than 700 other union busting demands. The employers have rethe grain negotiations in the Patained JRG Services Inc., a cific Northwest. Their aim is to cut division of Gettier Security, a costs and increase production at replacement workforce and the expense of hard fought longspecial operations firm. This shore working conditions. is not the first time Gettier Nearly half of the grain in the has been used against ILWU U.S. expected to be exported members. In the 2010 Bo including wheat, corn and ron, Calif., three-and-a-halfsoybeans will be handled by month lockout of more than PHOTO: DELORES THOMAS Northwest terminals. 500 ILWU Local 30 borate Clarence Thomas To win this struggle, it will take miners, Gettier provided secuILWU rank-and-file unity along rity and transported scabs for the inter- with an unprecedented alliance such as nationally notorious Rio Tinto corpora- that which was formed during the ILWU tion, a global mining and metals giant. struggle against EGT. That alliance inThe Grain Handlers include some of cluded Occupy, labor, community and the largest agribusinesses in the world, grassroots social justice movements. such as Cargill and Louis Dreyfus ComPlans are underway to organize boat modities Inc. They control and monopo- pickets on the Columbia and Willamette lize the worlds food supply chain. They rivers during the lockout. have a global strategy which is driving

Mic check solidarity with grocery workers

Support for Walmart union organizing

Philadelphia

No business as usual at Golden Farm Grocery.

On Oct. 13, a 13-person multinational group from 99-Pickets with Labor Occupy Wall Street and Brooklyns Kensington OWS took action to support Golden Farm Grocery workers in New York City. They delayed lines of store shoppers, customers who declined to boycott the store as the picketers requested. The boycott will continue until the boss negotiates the union contract and gives back pay minimum wage and overtime to these immigrant workers. The workers supporters offered payments in pennies to buy groceries, then couldnt decide on purchases, and changed them at the last minute or stalled on paying. Others handed shoppers fliers about the workers plight. John Dennie

and this writer insisted that seniors pay lower rates and offered pennies as payment. The irritated managers took their baskets off the cashiers counters. Finally, activists gathered near the cash registers for a mic check! They left chanting, Well be back and well be stronger! We wont take it any longer! The 99-Pickets members loudly explained why everyone should support the grocery workers struggle which is getting daily support from Communities for Change and the union they voted to join: Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 238. Reportedly, owner Sonny Kim and the union will meet within days. Report and photo by Anne Pruden

Close to 50 Food and Commercial Workers union members, Occupy Philly and other labor activists assembled at the front doors of Walmart, off Aramingo Avenue in Philadelphia, on Oct. 10. They handed out fliers in support of OUR Walmart, the worker-led organization of the giant retailers associates. Most shoppers were enthusiastic in taking fliers, some saying its about time the workers there were unionized, with some even signing petitions. After leafleting for 45 minutes, a group

of a dozen activists entered the store to give the manager a letter addressed to Walmarts chairman of the Board of Directors, Rob Walton. Signed by some of the community activists who had been leafleting outside, the letter asked the most profitable chain store in the world to cease trying to silence and intimidate those who speak out through unfair disciplinary actions, cutbacks in hours and even firings. The manager took the letter, promising to give it to his superiors. Report and photo by Joe Piette

Low-wage workers take on Walmart

Continued from page 1 ers organization founded by Walmart Associates, has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers to an army of thousands of Associates in hundreds of stores across 43 states. The organization notes that as Walmart workers face many horrible conditions, the company is raking in almost $16 billion a year in profits, executives made more than $10 million each in compensation last year. Meanwhile, the Walton Family heirs to the Walmart fortune [is] the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42 percent of [U.S.] families combined. Strikes, protests spread further Soon after the southern California walkout and mass protest, Walmart workers walked out on strike Oct. 9 in at least a dozen cities and surrounding areas, including Dallas and Austin, Texas; Seattle; Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, Calif.; Miami and Orlando, Fla.; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago, according to Dan Schlademan, director of the UFCWs Making Change At Walmart campaign. Walmart workers also walked off the job in parts of Kentucky, Missouri and Minnesota. (huffingtonpost.com, Oct. 9) On Oct. 10, hundreds of workers and their supporters gathered outside the Bentonville, Ark., Walmart headquarters where the annual investors meeting was taking place. The company has acknowledged the workers legal right to strike over unfair labor practices, but says it will only talk to associates on an individual basis, not as a group. (ABC News) Now Walmart worker-organizers are beginning plans for a strike on the busiest shopping day of the year, so-called Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when Walmart cash registers ring up 4,000 sales per second. A walkout on this day could potentially have severe financial repercussions for the company. The fear that this grassroots, worker-led organizing might spread further seems to have struck a deep chord in the capitalist ruling class in the United States. Major big business media like the New York Times and ABC News and other news outlets were forced to report on these developments. The opening salvo began in February 2011 when workers under attack in Wisconsin occupied their State Capitol to try to save public sector jobs and unions. Their struggle electrified workers and community members everywhere. Then in September 2011 the Occupy Wall Street movement started when youth, with no prospects and no future other than lowwage slavery and high debts, began to

PHOTO: ORGANIZATION UNITED FOR RESPECT

organize, occupy and fight back around the U.S. Now, more low-wage workers of many nationalities, many of them women workers, are taking the lead, organizing, speaking out and fighting back against the largest retail corporation in the world. For more information, photos and videos on this growing struggle, join the Organization United for Respect page on Facebook. Chris Fry contributed to this article.

workers.org

Oct. 25, 2012

Page 5

Anti-Latino/a laws ignite the South

By Lamont Lilly In its original format, Alabamas Beason-Hammon Act, HB 56, granted school resource officers the right to badger fifth graders on the basis of their immigration status. The Alabama Legislature, which passed HB 56 in June 2011, made Alabama the only state in the country requiring public school administrators to verify immigration data for new K-12 students. However, in August of this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the student provision of HB 56, declaring it unconstitutional and a legal breach of Plyer vs. Doe, which mandates that states provide an education to all children regardless of their immigration status. The court also struck down Georgias HB 87, a state proposal to criminalize the transporting and harboring of illegal immigrants. The statute, a proposal with no parallel within U.S. federal law, had anti-Latino/a written all over it. When initially proposed, HB 56 and HB 87 were sold as valuable pieces of legislation that would boost local economies by cracking down on the presence of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. Conservatives billed such bigotry as a quick fix to unemployment and poorly performing schools. Instead, such rogue policies were a complete setback to civil rights and due process. In Alabama, children of all ages were deterred from attending school and pursuing their education. Many withdrew out of fear that their families could be deported if questioned about their immigration status. According to the U.S. Justice Department, more than 13 percent of Latino/a children withdrew in the one year that HB 56 operated, before federal intervention. Instead of teaching geometry, classroom instructors were forced to fish for birth certificates. As for those local economies and decreasing unemployment rates, Alabamas number-one industry, agriculture, was decimated. Were talking about an agricultural sector accustomed to generating more than $5.5 billion per year. Industries dependent upon migrant labor, precedents for states like South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas. In response to this yearlong battle, immigrant rights activists have stayed the course. Protesters have deployed an array of tactics, such as rallies and community forums, teach-ins and street blockades. DREAM activists and immigrant youth have conducted walkouts. Workers and adult cooperatives have organized major strikes. Latino/a customers have chosen to boycott local businesses, while tens of thousands have convened in solidarity. Organizations such as the Steel Workers union, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Immigrant Justice League have joined forces. The NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center are also on board. The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., the same church bombed by racists in 1963 has served as a rest haven and planning headquarters. The bottom line is that HB 56 is a law that continues to ostracize and divide, conjuring fear and heightening the level of innocent victims and false arrests perpetuating a complete violation of civil liberties. These anti-Latino/a acts arent merely a matter of disenfranchisement. Latino/a immigrants are being denied the right to even exist in some states, to barely breathe without some officer of the law riding their backs with an iron boot. True, the recent rulings by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals represent some progress, but there should be no compromise with laws that encourage hate. For those of us who are abreast of such racist regulations, let us spread the word and continue to organize. For those of you who are learning of such injustice for the first time, join the movements noble cause. We the People say, Freedom for all! and Down with HB 56! Lamont Lilly is a contributing editor with the Triangle Free Press, columnist for the African American Voice and local organizer with Workers World Party. He resides in Durham, N.C.

Border Patrol guns Whats happening in Ecuador? down mother of ve

By Carl Muhammad Chula Vista, Calif. Approximately 300 people gathered in the city of Chula Vista, seven miles from the Mexican border, on Oct. 1 to mourn the killing of Valeria Munique Tachiquin Alvarado by a plainclothes Border Patrol agent. Munique, as friends and family called her, died on Sept. 28 under a hail of bullets from the thus far unidentified agent. The vigil for Munique was held near the murder scene, where a memorial was erected. The event was organized by the American Friends Service Committee and lasted about two hours. Mourners lit candles and chanted, What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! and El pueblo unido, jams ser vencido! Family members spoke to the crowd, thanking them for their support. Maria Puga, the widow of Anastacio Rojas, attended the vigil and spoke in support of the Tachiquin and Alvarado families. Forty-two-year-old Rojas was brutally beaten and tasered to death by Border Patrol agents at the San Ysidro, Calif., border crossing in 2010. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials claim an agent was serving a search warrant on an unidentified male when Munique intentionally ran him down with her car, striking the agent hard enough to cause him to flip onto the hood and windshield. The agent claims he was dragged several hundred yards on the hood before firing six to 10 bullets into the windshield. Eyewitnesses gave an entirely di erent account. As the car was backing up, the officer was on the street walking towards the car and discharging [his weapon], said eyewitness Prince Watson. Other witnesses say they observed the car movingly slowly in reverse away from the plainclothes agent. Witnesses also said he was not displaying his badge, nor did he identify himself as a Border Patrol agent. Gilbert Alvarado, the husband of the slain mother of five, demanded answers. My wife got killed for no reason, he said during an interview with local media. Where is the evidence my wife threatened a trained officer? I want justice. Muniques father, Valentin Tachiquin, said the community support meant a great deal to him and his family. It gives me power to continue on, seeing such a lovely outpouring of love for our family and for Munique.

like Alabamas poultry operations, were devastated. Small farming operations were brought to a halt, as valuable workers were scared indoors. Others simply migrated for the purpose of mere safety. Such complications have also been used as justification for not paying temporary workers hired and then fired a month later, and with no pay to show for it. Many Latinos/as, documented and undocumented, have refused to report crimes, as any potential scrutiny by local law enforcement could initiate an Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation. Though portions of these bills were repealed, human rights supporters have continued to sound the alarm, for this branding of social control affects all poor and oppressed people by creating fear and frustration through alienation. Recently, the state of Alabama has challenged the ruling of the 11th Circuits three-judge panel and has asked for a new hearing. Though particular provisions were found to be outright unconstitutional, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, state officials are arguing that federal courts overstepped state jurisdiction. Unfortunately, it seems that, like Arizona, Alabama is positioning itself to take its immigration law all the way to the Supreme Court.

For those of us who are U.S. history buffs, one cant help but draw a direct correlation to Gov. George Wallaces stand against federal authorities in the 1960s. His hard-line stance for segregation against the U.S. Supreme Court aroused racists nationwide. In addition to federal judges, HB 56 has also caught the attention of President Barack Obama. Even he has gone on record stating that its a bad law. But then again, the Obama administration deported 396,000 immigrants last year. While members of Congress, federal judges and state legislators continue to debate, human rights defenders welcome the progress, limited though it may be, that has been made. We know, however, that those of us who despise such racist bigotry must continue to raise our voices. Deleting a few provisions isnt going to be enough here, not while racial profiling still runs rampant. When traffic stops and roadblocks become immigrant obstacle courses, ethics become a serious matter of legal concern. If justice fails to prevail in this case, such structural hate could begin to blanket the entire southern Black Belt, setting new

WW PHOTO: JOHN CATALINOTTO

Latin American immigrants and other activists attended a meeting at the Solidarity Center in New York City on the revolutionary process unfolding in Ecuador. The International Action Centers Latin America-Caribbean Solidarity Committee hosted the Oct. 13 bilingual meeting. Members of the Alianza PAIS (Patria Altiva I Soberana; Proud and Sovereign Nation Alliance) de Ecuador used powerpoint projections and videos to support their talks. They explained the history of the struggle in Ecuador, recent advances and plans for the future. President Ra-

fael Correa founded the Alianza PAIS in 2006; its stated goal is to transform Ecuador so it represents socialism of the 21st century and is in harmony with nature and protective of this Amazonian countrys unique biodiversity. In the spirit of Latin American solidarity, the meeting was chaired by a member of Honduras USA Resistencia, and an update on the recent reelection of Pres. Hugo Chavez was given by a member of the New York Bolivarian Circle Alberto Lovera. The photo shows the speakers and part of the audience. Michael Kramer

Page 6

Oct. 25, 2012

workers.org

Jazz Hayden

Victory for anti-stop & frisk activist

By Dolores Cox New York Joseph Jazz Hayden no longer faces fourteen years of imprisonment for bogus weapons charges in his arrest last December. Hayden has been filming the New York Police Departments illegal stopand-frisks in his Harlem community. To date this year, there have been more than 600,000 young Black and Latino men stopped, questioned and frisked for just walking, standing, sitting, driving or entering residential buildings because of their skin color, and not in the commission of a crime. Dozens of supporters representing several social justice organizations rallied in front of Manhattan Criminal Court on Oct. 11 to stand by this Black activist at his hearing and fill the courtroom. They held signs saying Innocent. Pressure had also been put on District Attorney Cyrus Vances office nationally and internationally. Thousands of people organized and fought to keep Jazz free and won! Haydens case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. He will be on probation for six months and was ordered to do five days of community service. He sound basis for Haydens case. It was a racist setup, an attempt to silence Jazz and intimidate others who may be exercising their First Amendment right to dissent and film so-called public servants on the job. The D.A. admitted that he had insufficient evidence to support the charges. And it became evident in court that his arrest was retaliatory. After the hearing, supporters chanted, This is what victory looks like! Hayden stated he intends to continue his community activism, exposing the NYPD, and to speak out against police brutality, illegal stop-and-frisks and racial profiling in Harlem and elsewhere. Hayden repeatedly thanked everyone for their continued support, saying it has helped inspire him to do what hes been doing. We must continue to apply pressure to correct the entire system. This is to be our focus. Without a demand and organizing, there will be no justice, no fairness, no change, he stated. He added, parenthetically, that he witnessed three stopand-frisks on his way to court. And that he stopped and spoke to the victims, giving them support, and showing them that someone cares. He urged everyone to do the same whenever they witness injustice. For more info, go to allthingsharlem.com.

WW PHOTO: ANNE PRUDEN

Jazz Hayden, giving victory sign, and supporters Oct. 11.

agreed to plead guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct/reckless driving. He was ordered to pay a $125 surcharge for the violation, which he paid upon leaving the courthouse. Ironically, having already performed

community service for years via his cop watch beat, Hayden will be relegated to stuffing envelopes for five days. The reason for Hayden being stopped and arrested by the cops proved to be highly questionable. The NYPD had no

In NYC council meeting

By Kathy Durkin Racist police practices were the focus of a struggle within the New York City Council on Oct. 10. A six-hour public hearing took place that day in the bodys Public Safety Committee on the Community Safety Act introduced by Brooklyn Council member Jumaane Williams. Its four bills aim to curtail rampant, often brutal NYC police stop-and-frisk practices, barring illegal searches; allowing people to refuse searches; banning racial and other profiling; requiring police to produce IDs and justify the stops; and instituting independent oversight of the police. Williams, who is an African American,

Heated debate on racist police abuse

was wrongfully arrested at the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn last year. Police shoved and hit him at Occupy Wall Streets anniversary rally in September, even though he identified himself as a Council member. Community leaders, advocates and residents testified on stop-and-frisk policing. Djibril Toure, from the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, recounted his search by Brooklyn police for no reason, and told of others, beaten while frisked. Robert Jackson, Harlem Council member, emphasized the growing anger of African-American and Latino/a communities at these police actions. He cited an audiotape of police racially slurring a youth, and then demonstrated a police frisk. As the crowd applauded, he said, Its not working and it needs to be totally reformed. People are suffering. (New York Times, Oct. 11) Council member Peter Vallone, the hearings chairperson, assailed the bills. He attempted to stifle the righteous outrage at police behavior by Jackson and other African-American Council members, their allies and the audience, by banning outbursts. He declared, This isnt a forum to make speeches. Bronx Council member Helen Foster courageously countered, That should apply to the chair, who has made his speeches and made clear how he feels. I dont work for you. I am not one of your boys. You will not talk to me like that. If [Vallones] father were an 88-year-old, whos being pulled over and called boy and fitting a description, then it would be different. For two hours, amid supporters cheers, speakers challenged Michael Best, who represented absent Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Unsurprisingly, they vehemently reject any restrictions on the police. Last year, NYC police conducted 685,724 stop-and-frisks; 87 percent targeted African Americans and Latinos/as. Half were youth. The New York Civil Liberties Union website reports stop-and-frisks have increased 600 percent during the Bloomberg administration, with discriminatory profiling of people of color, immigrants, the LGBT community [public housing] residents, young people, the homeless and others.

Dominated by the banks

NYC transit o ers higher fares, more racism

By Tony Murphy New York On Oct. 15, New Yorks Metropolitan Transit Authority announced the fourth round of fare hikes in four years. During that time the MTA has also been on a cutback frenzy. Dozens of station booths have been demolished. The transit agency has made it harder for people with disabilities to qualify for Access-A-Ride. Charged with running public transportation, the bank-owned MTA has become a poster child for how drastically capitalism is unable to provide people with the most basic services. One of the things making a fightback campaign on this issue difficult is that after four years, the fare hikes and cuts seem inevitable, an impression the MTA and its allies in the New York media are only too happy to promote. At fare hike public hearings in 2009, politicians lined up to take the microphone and denounce the hardship that increased fares would impose on people. At the last round of fare hike public hearings in late 2010, the politicians were gone. And while this gave activists and transit workers the ability to dominate the hearings, the fare hikes and cuts went through anyway. Fightback campaign exposes MTAs racist politics However, a fightback campaign against the MTA has already begun against the racist ads targeting Muslim people that the MTA ran on behalf of arch-racist Pamela Geller. The deliberateness with which the MTA promoted war and racism highlights how thoroughly public transportation has been hijacked by the 1%. And it obliterates its spokespeoples protestations that their hands were tied by a court decision ordering the ads to be run. That order gave the MTA board 30 days to do two things: one, review its appellate options, meaning decide whether it would appeal the ruling; and two, revise its own guidelines governing noncommercial, that is, political ads. The board of bankers and real estate players refused to do both. The MTAs hands were not tied but sat on. Thus the ads went up in the New York subway system on Sept. 24, during the second week the U.N. was in session and at the height of the media hysteria against Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads visit to New York. The placement of the ads begat another media flurry in which the racist language of the ads was repeated over and over. By the end of that week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held up a cartoon of a ticking Iranian bomb before the U.N. General Assembly. The MTA boards complicity in the prowar, anti-Muslim media campaign was then underscored by the new steps it adopted for future noncommercial ads. At its Sept. 27 board meeting, the board adopted new guidelines which would untie the MTAs hands in prohibiting speech. But the new guidelines did not prohibit speech of the Geller variety on the basis of being racist and/or offensive. The new guidelines prohibited ads that would imminently incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace. In other words, in the wake of the rebellions against U.S. embassies sparked by the crude anti-Muslim YouTube trailer, the MTA used, as the basis for future prohibitions, the medias racist caricature of the Muslim community as volatile. The MTA has long played a role in the bogus war on terror, as SWAT teams armed with submachine guns and accompanied by attack dogs regularly patrol the

workers.org

Oct. 25, 2012

Page 7

East Baltimore Peoples Assembly

Justice for Anthony Anderson Sr.

By Betsey Piette Baltimore On Oct. 13, community activists along with friends and families of victims of police brutality gathered for the East Baltimore Peoples Assembly for Justice for Anthony Anderson Sr. The outdoor assembly took place on the vacant lot by a makeshift memorial marking the spot where Anderson was brutally killed in front of family members by three Baltimore undercover police officers on Sept. 21. The police claim that Anderson choked and died after trying to swallow a bag of drugs was exposed as a lie on Oct. 2 with the release of an official autopsy showing Anderson died from a ruptured spleen caused by blunt force trauma that broke as many as ten ribs. No drugs were found in his system. The Baltimore Peoples Assembly, organized earlier this year in response to growing police terror, conducted its own investigation of witnesses who described how the police ran up behind Anderson, grabbed him around the knees, hoisted him in the air and brutally slammed him to the ground. Anderson was the thirteenth person killed by Baltimore police since January 2012. The city has paid out nearly $17 million over the last two years in police brutality settlements. It spent another $10.4 million defending lawsuits in court. Meanwhile, much needed recreation centers are being closed because the city claims it lacks funds. Gathering participants from as far away as Virginia and Pennsylvania, the East Baltimore Peoples Assembly was the second such community gathering this year to address the growing epidemic of police abuse in Baltimore. As with the first Assembly in June, the moving testimony from community members was a clarion call to action. The Rev. Cortly C.D. Witherspoon, a BPA organizer and president of the Baltimore chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, opened the rally in what he called the Anthony Anderson Field. Witherspoon told those gathered, We know why we are here. Black women are being strip searched on the streets; drug dealers are being robbed by members of the Baltimore Police Department. Every single month weve been at a vigil or a rally for someone killed by the police. Our communities are under assault and we wont take it anymore! Marcella Holloman described the killing of her son, Maurice Donald Johnson, by Baltimore police at her home on May 19. Holloman called the police when her mentally ill son began to exhibit erratic behavior. Since Johnsons episodic illness was registered in the police data base she expected they would take him to the hospital for treatment. But rather than waiting for an ambulance, the two responding officers entered Hollomans home where Johnson was sequestered and shot him three times. Renee Washington, whose fiance was brutally beaten and killed by three Baltimore police officers in 2001, told the crowd, The police are not in our neighborhoods to protect us. They are here to take us out, one by one, the men first. Members and friends of the Anderson family were at the EBPA. Andersons younger brother, Leon Anderson, described his own experience with police harassment while drivingwhile-Black. It doesnt matter where I am in Baltimore. Every time I turn around the same police officer is giving me a traffic ticket. We need to come together and put an end to this madness. Sharon Black, a BPA organizer, urged people to come out on Oct. 17 when BPA activists will confront the Police Department over the confirmation of Anthony Batts as Baltimores new police commissioner. As chief of police in Oakland, Calif., Batts presided over numerous problems of police bruWW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE tality and abuse. In January, U.S. East Baltimore, Oct. 13. District Judge Thelton HenderNakia Washington, whose boyfriend son warned that the Oakland Police Dewas killed in March by police who shot partment would be placed under federal him six times in the chest, condemned control unless the Department sped up the BPDs practice of giving paid leave to the pace of its reforms. Black told those officers under investigation for brutality. assembled, We need to give Batts the The cops kill a Black man and they get a kind of welcome that hell know that popaid vacation what kind of message is lice brutality and terrorism will not be that? Washington said. She urged people tolerated in Baltimore City. to speak up about whats happening in She urged people to carry cameras as their communities. It wont stop happen- they patrol their communities to record ing unless you stand up. police harassment and terrorism. We The outraged community has called for have the power to take back our commuthe jailing of the three Baltimore police nities, to get the occupiers out from the officers Todd A. Strohman, Gregg Boyd rich running things in City Hall to the pit and Michael Vodarick who killed An- bull police theyve put out in our streets. derson and then lied about it. We demand community control now!

Travesty of justice

Cop killer of Alan Blueford wont be charged

By Terri Kay Oakland, Calif. In an Oct. 3 letter written to Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley announced her findings that the evidence does not justify criminal charges against Oakland Police Officer Masso. Masso is the Oakland Police Department officer who killed 18-year-old Alan Blueford, an African American, on May 6, just before he was scheduled to graduate from Skyline High School. The shoddy DA report, published online at tinyurl.com/cvb7j23, fails to question many disturbing aspects of the case, including why Alan and his friends were stopped in the first place. The police report was finally released to the Blueford family at the Oakland City Council meeting on Oct. 2, after months of demands for its release. In it, the excuse for stop- vestigations by the California Attorney ping the youths comes down to loose General, the United States Attorney and baggy pants and one of the young men the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. In addition, as a community response reaching to his hip as if to check for a weapon or could it have been to pull to the widespread practice of racial profilup his pants, as Alans mother, Jeralynn ing, which targeted Alan Blueford and his friends in the first place, J4AB is organizBlueford, said her son frequently did. In the DA report, Officer Massos state- ing a Bay Area Families March Against ment that he fired at Alan while Alan was Racial Profiling on Saturday, Nov. 10, standing is taken for fact, but accord- beginning at noon at 14th and Broadway ing to the Oakland Police report, 11 out in downtown Oakland to bring together of 12 witnesses said that Officer Masso families of victims of police brutality and first fired at Alan when he was lying on murder as a call to end the racial profiling the ground. This important discrepancy which criminalizes Black and Brown men. isnt even mentioned in the DAs report. As a matter of fact, the angle of bullets, as reported in the coroners report, also only released after months of demands, has strong indications that w it h th e Alan was already lying on the s ground when he was shot. The t h e ir f a m il ie v ic t im s a n d claim, which the DA supports, SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS: that Masso was in fear for his or Jeralynn Blueford and Adam Blueford parents of 18-year-old, Alan Blueford Jr., unarmed and fatally shot by others lives is not substantiatthe police May 6 in Oakland, Calif. On Sept. 18, these parents, ed by the facts. The DAs report other family members and supporters shut down an Oakland City Council meeting demanding Justice for Alan Blueford. also makes no attempt to ratio Jack Bryson,, father of two sons who nalize the scatter of shell casings Alan Blueford Jr. were with 22-year-old, unarmed Oscar Grant when he was fatally shot and the report that a gun was by a BART officer on Jan. 1, 2009 in Oakland; activist with Oscar G Grant found 20 feet from his body. Movement, Occupy Oakland and Justice for Alan Blueford campaign lan campaign. There are clearly enough Ramarley Graham, unarmed 18-yearOpen floor discussion to follow n unanswered questions to demold killed in the presentations bathroom of his onstrate that the DA had no Bronx home Feb. 2 by the NYPd. intent to conduct a fair and impartial investigation. The Justice 2 pm 4 pm SHARP Join these speakers & other victims of police violence Africa, survivor the 1985 MOVE for Alan Blueford Coalition will 55 W. 17th St., 5th floor, Manhattan including Ramona Philadelphia, at aofpublic forum, house bombing in Refreshments at 1:30 pm SUN OCT. 28 4 p.m. 8 p.m. be holding a press conference Read more on these RiVERSidE CHuRCH, 490 RiVERSidE dR. important struggles this week. J4AB is considering at workers.org. For information, call Sandy Jones at 302.545.7023 or Jack Bryson at 510.355.6046 or go to Call 212-627-2994 the possibility of asking for in- for more information. www.facebook.com/events/368722873209314/

This shows the domisubway. Since 2001, the New RESIST ANOTHER WAR nation of the MTA by the York Police Department, rebanks. The new stadium cently joined by the airline is named after the scanindustrys Transportation dal-ridden Barclays Bank, Security Administration, has which financed it through conducted racist-profiling Forest City Ratner Compaspot checks of peoples bags nies, run by real estate deand backpacks. veloper Bruce Ratner, who And when the anti-war razed peoples homes so he International Action Center Wethe 99%need could build 16 skyscrapers. recently attempted to buy Unity & Solidarity! If Barclays can finance ad space for anti-war mesa new station, Wells Fargo sages of solidarity, the MTA www.iacenter.org/ad can finance a reduction in reneged on the agreement it fares. Citibank can finance made, pushing back the date several times and insisting on ridiculously the expansion of services for the disabled, large disclaimers. The MTAs stance could and Chase Manhattan Bank can finance the rebuilding of station booths. not be more consciously political. As the Republic Windows and Doors Make banks pay for public transportation workers did in 2008 when they got Another factor helping the new struggle Bank of America, the true power beagainst fare hikes could be the new subhind their bosses, to cough up the cash way station the MTA opened at Barclays they were owed New York riders can Center, Brooklyns new basketball arena. demand that the banks, the true power After closing stations all over New York, behind the MTA, pay to rebuild public somehow a new $76 million station was transportation. The MTA is not cashopened by what the media refer to as the strapped. The money is there. cash-strapped MTA.

& Anti-Muslim
Tool of 1% Rule
Help place more anti-racism messages in public places by donating at:

NO to Racism
BIGOTRY

FIGHT ALL
POLICE TERROR!

S o l idar it y

This is a paid advertisement sponsored by International Action Center. The display of this advertisement does not imply MTAs endorsement of any views expressed.

SAT OCT 27 A AT

Page 8

Oct. 25, 2012

workers.org

U.S.-NATO driven to wage war on Syria

By Ray Duprey Turkeys war jets forced down a civilian airliner flying from Moscow to Damascus. Thirty-five Russians and Syrians were passengers on the Oct. 10 flight, endangered by the action. U.S. spokesperson Victoria Nuland immediately supported Turkeys act of air piracy. Also, some 150 U.S. special troops moved into Syrias southern neighbor, Jordan. NATO and the major European NATO powers, Britain, France and Germany, have supported Turkey against Syria despite Turkeys aggressive moves. It is apparent that NATO is edging toward direct military intervention against Syria. Turkey, which had also moved 250 tanks to the Syria border, is spearheading the intervention. A week earlier, the Turkish parliament voted to approve military operations across the Turkish-Syrian border, and soon after began return fire in the form of mortar-shelling of Syria. There has been no proof that Syrian troops fired the first missiles, and even a Turkish newspaper, Yurt, reported that the mortar round that hit Akcakale was of NATO design and was given to the Syrian rebels by the Turkish government, according to the Oct. 9 Russia Times. Turkey has been supplying and sheltering these rebels. It is easy for them to later turn around and incite reaction by using NATO-made weapons on NATO countries. Any rational-minded person would reconsider shelling a neighboring country a knee-jerk reaction for six days straight even as the facts begin to appear and the speculation decays in front of our very eyes. If these actions appear irrational, they must be driven by powerful forces. In his 2012 book, Capitalism at a Dead End, Fred Goldstein analyzes with perfection the current economic issues that are the cause of military adventurism. Since World War II, the U.S has used war and the military budget to stimulate its economy, and also to expand capitalist plunder and exploitation of cheap labor. The capitalist hunt for the highest profit was the driving force behind wars in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Haiti and, perhaps soon, Syria. In 2011, the CIA funded and trained Libyan opposition forces, and NATO bombed Libya. This brought about a bloody civil war that is still to this day not resolved fully, and caused a widespread ripple effect of instability throughout Northern Africa. Even now, European countries are preparing to intervene directly in Mali in northwest Africa. Under present conditions, the pervading motive to chase the highest rate of profit drives the individual NATO ruling classes interests, leading to aggressive actions by the state apparatus of each NATO country, that is, its army. It is obvious, with the growing capitalist crisis in Europe and the downturn of the United States own economy, that the imperialists have targeted Syria as the next step in a long line of steps they have taken since the fall of the Soviet Union eliminated the imperialists most powerful opponent. The goal of this aggression is capitalist domination of the planet. On Oct. 10, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed the deployment of U.S. troops in Jordan for alleged humanitarian needs. Recently, 12,000 troops from various NATO nations conducted military drills in Jordan. Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria The dominoes are falling into place, much as they did in Libya and in Yugoslavia. The imperialists are using the same pretext humanitarian needs once again. NATO is driven to conduct military operations, in other words, to wage war on Syria, all in the name of democracy for the Syrian people. Even with the facts against them and continuing to mount against them as the conflict continues, NATO moves closer to the point of openly marching into Syria. What makes this drive unavoidable, as Goldstein points out, can be found in Karl Marxs explanation of the law concerning the declining rate of profit and capitalist accumulation. Unable to regenerate capitalist profits by peaceful means, the U.S. and European imperialist powers seek plunder through war. Conquest of Syria opens another door, they believe, to seizing the natural resources of the Middle East, that is, oil. It is of the utmost importance that we stand in opposition to these imperialist wars, which devastate the nations that are the targets of the interventions. We must stand against both the military interventions and the economic warfare through sanctions. No more Imperialist wars! The writer is a revolutionary youth activist in Detroit.

Whats really behind the attack on Malala Yousafzai

By Deirdre Griswold The horrible, near-fatal shooting of a young Pakistani schoolgirl, reportedly by members of the Taliban, has focused world attention on the conflict between the armed Islamic group and Pakistani advocates of education for women. Malala Yousafzai, 14 years old, was shot in the head and neck while on a school bus, according to her classmates. She has been flown to Britain to receive medical attention for severe damage to her skull. The daughter of a teacher, Yousafzai has been an outspoken advocate of schooling for girls since she was only 11, producing a blog and giving many interviews. She has gained worldwide attention and praise, especially from Western politicians and public figures. This is reportedly why she was singled out for attack. Her family lives in the Swat valley area of Pakistan, a beautiful mountainous area that attracts many tourists. However, most of the people living there are very poor. Many sympathize with the Taliban, which has been resisting foreign intervention in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Until very recently, the Swat valley had a higher rate of literacy than the rest of Pakistan and there were many schools for girls. What has happened there to strengthen the influence of the Taliban, which takes an extremely reactionary position on womens rights? Factors behind Talibans in uence The poor people of the Swat valley in particular have suffered greatly in recent years. In 2009, the Pentagon, fighting a fullscale war against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan, pushed the Pakistani Army to carry out an offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley that resulted in the displacement of 2 million residents. Many wealthy Pakistanis moved out of the valley temporarily while the fighting was going on, leaving the poor to suffer the brunt of it. (Guardian, May 11, 2011) Farmers in the valley were among the 3.5 million Pakistanis who had already been made homeless by a disastrous earthquake in 2005. Then, in 2010, the worst floods in history swept through the river valleys of the northwest, causing more than a thousand deaths and widespread homelessness. The pain of those suffering turned to anger when government assistance failed to arrive. The anger of the flood victims poses a danger to the already struggling government, now competing with Islamist movements to deliver aid in a region with strong Taliban influence, CBS News reported on Aug. 3, 2010. Thus, even after being targeted by a major military campaign just a year earlier, the Taliban were strong enough to provide assistance to flood victims who had received nothing from the government, thus earning them greater popularity. Meanwhile, the U.S. had begun targeting the valley for its drone attacks on suspected members of the Taliban. The pilotless planes carried out devastating missile strikes on what often turned out to be family gatherings weddings, birthday celebrations killing children, women and men. All these factors the natural disasters, the U.S. war in Afghanistan and its impact on Pakistan, the government corruption that is so glaring when citizens are homeless and starving while relief funds fail to materialize have combined to actually strengthen the political influence of a movement that is socially reactionary but is also self-sacrificing and relentless in its resistance to foreign domination. Stop imperialist intervention The Pakistani bourgeoisie and military have long been important allies of U.S.Anglo imperialism. For decades during the Cold War, the military ruled Pakistan outright, receiving billions of dollars in U.S. aid while crushing any opposition, especially from the left and the working class. In neighboring Afghanistan, however, a leftist revolution in 1978 brought to power a secular, democratic government that attempted to institute land reform, canceled the debts of the peasants, and championed womens rights, ending the bride-price and opening up schools and medical care to all. One of its leaders was Anahita Ratebzad, a Marxist and founder of the Democratic Organization of Women of Afghanistan. After the revolution, women became 70 percent of the teachers, 50 percent of the civil servants and 40 percent of the doctors in Kabul. (Journal of the American Medical Association, 1998) What happened to this great achievement for women? The Carter administration, reeling from the revolution in Iran that toppled the Western-backed Shah and also closed a strategic U.S. base there, began looking for other countries in the region from which to launch its high-altitude spy planes over the Soviet Union. It settled on Afghanistan. The CIA spent billions of dollars pulling together a counter-revolutionary army that launched a clandestine war against the progressive regime, which then had to turn to the Soviets for support. In the long war that followed, the U.S. bankrolled, armed and trained the most reactionary, anti-woman, pro-landlord forces in Afghanistan in order to bring down the leftist government, overturn its many reforms and use the country as a military base in the region. Among those on the CIAs payroll were Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. No one disputes this. It is not the imperialist West that is going to rescue young women like Malala Yousafzai from oppression. And it is not Islam, even in its fundamentalist form, that is responsible for her shooting. Neighboring Iran, an Islamic state, today has the highest female-to-male ratio of primary school students in the world, according to UNESCO. And women make up more than 60 percent of Irans university students. Yet it is under Western sanctions and war threats because of the popular 1979 revolution that broke the neocolonial grip of U.S. and British oil companies. To support the women of Pakistan and Afghanistan, we must demand: U.S. out! No war, no drone attacks stop imperialist intervention!

A book of articles from WW, edited by Joyce Chediac The story of how Gazans withstood blockade and bombardment only to stand tall, refusing to give up the right to determine their own lives and to choose their own government; how Gazas courage inspired a worldwide solidarity movement determined to break the blockade and deliver aid; exposes the forces behind the punishment of Gaza, and how a growing peoples media is breaking the mainstream medias information blockade. Available on amazon.com and other bookstores http://gazaresistancebook.com
Joyce Chediac

GAZA: Symbol of Resistance

WITHOUT VICTORY
Sara Flounders By revealing the underbelly of the empire, Flounders sheds insight on how to stand up to the imperialist war machine and, in so doing, save ourselves and humanity.
Miguel dEscoto Brockmann, Pres. of U.N. Gen. Ass., 2008-2009, Foreign Min. of Nicaraguas Sandinista gov. 1979-1990

WAR

Available on amazon.com and other bookstores pentagonachillesheel.com

workers.org

Oct. 25, 2012

Page 9

HAITI

Cholera & hunger meet militant resistance

By G. Dunkel New York As famine lurks throughout Haiti and cholera daily kills the weak, the very young and the old, the response of the Haitian people has been growing militancy. In massive numbers they have taken to the streets to demand an end to the corrupt regime of President Michel Martelly. The Haitian people want an end to the U.N. occupation force, called Minustah, which brought cholera to Haiti less than two years ago. The cholera epidemic has been traced to Minustahs infectious waste deposited in Haitis largest river, Artibonite. Minustah a smokescreen for the imperialist powers, especially the United States, Canada and France operates like any other occupying army. Under the direction of its U.N. commander, Major General Fernando Rodrigues Goulart from Brazil, Minustah engages in rape, pillage and arbitrary arrests, detentions and murders, with nothing stopping them. Minustahs troops are all soldiers from oppressed countries, who get paid far less than their colleagues in the imperialist armies. The U.N. occupation of Haiti and its unwillingness to acknowledge its responsibility for the cholera epidemic, which has killed nearly 8,000 Haitians and sickened over half a million, remains a hidden issue in the United States. The racist demonization of the Haitian people in the big-business press is a contributing factor. Outside of the Haitian community, in Latin America and the Caribbean, there is growing mass resistance to their countries participation in Minustah. A significant delegation of Latin American trade union leaders asked the U.N. not to extend Minustahs mandate. The delegation included Pablo Micheli, General Secretary, Argentine Trade Union Confederation; Julio Turra, National Executive Committee representative of United Trade Union Central of Brazil; David Abdulah, Secretary General of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union of Trinidad; and Fignol St. Cyr, of the Centrale Autonome des Travailleurs Haitiens. This delegation met with U.N. leaders on Oct. 11, the day before the U.N. Security Council was scheduled to vote on the extension. They also addressed a protest rally, organized by a coalition of Haitian community and political groups in New York, on the day of the vote. Micheli noted in his talk that during the same day thousands of workers were protesting the presence of Argentinian soldiers in Minustah in front of the Argentinian parliament. Turra said there were also a number of smaller demonstrations in Brazil. Haitians, participating in the demonstration, were visibly heartened by the international support their struggle had obtained. However, the Security Council did extend the occupation for another year. Famine due to capitalist market Even workers in Haiti with a stable job covered by minimum wage laws a minority since most workers, especially women, are in the informal sector have trouble covering the rising cost of food. According to the governments Haitian Institute of Statistics and Data Processing, inflation was 1 percent just for the month of August. These official figures dont reveal the real costs for poor people, who can afford to buy only small quantities of food. The World Bank reports that the price of rice, the main staple Haitian food, was up 1.31 percent in September. A 2009 bill raising the minimum wage from $1.69 a day to $4.82 a day went into effect Oct. 1 this year, according to Haitis Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Josefa Gauthier. For a family of four to just survive in Haiti, it is generally accepted that $12.50 a day is needed. The Martelly government has announced that it intends to buy 300,000 sacks of rice from Japan and dump them on the market. The government decision to subsidize rice dumping is a direct consequence of the protests of people who have seen their cost of living rise, rice farmer and peasant leader Nesly Voltaire in the Artibonite told IPS. (ipsnews.net, Oct. 1) The government could also have given the money to Haitis rice farmers to produce locally, which would mean the masses would have easier access to rice. In the meantime, the Japanese rice is yet to be seen. The 80 percent of Haitians who live on less than $2 a day are hungry because they dont have enough money to buy food, which is sold for a profit, not based on need. If you dont get enough calories, it is practically impossible to do a full day of hard work without collapsing. The demand for food was a constant refrain in the massive, militant demonstrations held throughout the country in September, which were only intensified by Martellys pro-imperialist policies. The demonstrations in October have been just as militant and more harshly repressed. On Oct. 5, when Martelly and the U.S. ambassador were en route to inaugurate a new road (of less than a mile) that the U.S. Agency for International Development had funded in the port city of Petit Goave, a small group of motorcyclists recognized them and began shouting slogans like Down with Martelly! Down with corruption! Martelly must go! Bodyguards fired large amounts of teargas, beat some protesters, burned their motorcycles, and killed some of the farmers animals. Facilia Hyppolite, 80, was asphyxiated by the tear gas. On Oct. 7, in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and Gonaves, Haitis third largest city, thousands of protesters came out, waving the red cards soccer referees give to players who have committed a foul and must leave the game. They intended to give these cards to Martelly. There were also major protests in the southern city of Les Cayes, where Sen. Mose Jean-Charles, a leader in the protests in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, spoke. On Oct. 8, in Fort Libert, a port in northeast Haiti, One person was shot dead, three others injured, and a police substation burned. This is the final toll of a demonstration. Jean-Baptiste BienAime, Department du Sud-Est senator elected from [former President Prevals] Inite party, who is on the spot, says the police shot at the demonstrators and used teargas to disperse them because they had blocked the National Road. (Radio Kiskeya, recorded by BBC Monitoring Service, Oct. 8) Bien-Aime explained that the whole population of Fort Libert, both proponents and opponents of Martelly, were opposed to the governments decision not to build port facilities there, a devastating blow to its economy. Demonstrators were also outraged that the cops shot and killed Georges Delius, who happened to be passing by the demonstration on his way to work with a shovel in his hands. The presence of Minustah exists to protect Martelly from the righteous anger and heroic determination of the Haitian people. The way the Haiti press is reporting the current protests appears to be an extension of a similar period when no amount of repression stopped the Haitian masses from forcing the brutal former Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier, out of power in 1986. The Defend.ht website covered the incident at Petit Goave, along with a number of other news services from Haiti. Defend.ht also has extensive videos, in Creole and French, focused on the protests.

PUERTO RICO

People win battle with Power Authority

By Berta Joubert-Ceci Puerto Ricos people won a vital environmental struggle when acting President of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Josu Coln publicly withdrew a request for a permit to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct a 92-mile-long gas pipeline. Puerto Rico is barely 106 miles long and 37 wide. Since right-wing, pro-business and pro-statehood Gov. Luis Fortuo raised the proposal two years ago, strong voices opposing the project immediately began organizing to defeat the project. The tube of death PREPA provides electricity, mainly generated by oil-fired units, for the whole island. One gas-producing plant owned by the foreign transnational, Ecoelctrica, and located in the southern city of Peuelas, provides 13 percent of Puerto Ricos gas. In 2010, Gov. Fortuo declared an energy crisis in the island to pressure for his pipeline proposal, which he called the Green Way. It would have taken gas from Peuelas, crossing to the north through the Central Mountain range and end in three generating plants along the northern coast, ending in San Juan. Green Way is an outrageous name considering the tremendous environmental destruction the pipeline would have provoked as it was to cross important aquifers that provide water to the south, rivers, protected forests areas with biodiversity, etc. It would have affected the climate and exacerbated risks from tsunamis, corrosion, floods, fires, earthquakes and landslides, affecting directly more than 200,000 people. Additionally, it would have required the expropriation of at least 400 parcelas (plots of land) (See casapueblo.org) Studies also showed that the project, which was proposed as low-cost alternative green energy, would not lower utility bills to the consumer. Some $80 million of the $800 million public-money budget have already been spent. Even before the project was approved, Fortuo had already spent several millions in advertising and consultants, paid to his business allies. Since Puerto Rico is a U.S. colony, any struggle on the island is also for independence and self determination. Washingtons and U.S.-based corporations role is all over this project, and USACE was an accomplice. In an article last June, Casa Pueblo the environmental organization that initiated the struggle said, Gov. Luis Fortuo told a newspaper this week that his administration will not withdraw the application for a permit for the pipeline because USACE has recommended not to stop obtaining such approval. (pr. indymedia.org) The project has also underscored the corruption that has plagued the Fortuo administration since its beginning, including payments to lobbyists and contractors. Peoples struggle In spite of the millions wasted by the government on publicity and consultants, however, the unity and perseverance of the people finally won. Casa Pueblo, a 25-year-old environmental activists organization located in the center of Puerto Rico, did an outstanding job in researching, exposing and organizing the people around the island. With the help of local and foreign scientists, engineers and environmentalists, Casa Pueblo published thorough investigations and promoted popular participation. It mobilized throughout the country with full participation of all social progressive organizations and parties, unions, community, women and students groups. It reminded many of the peoples struggle against the Navy bombing in Vieques. This mobilization was a significant step forward for the class struggle. The militant UTIER union represents PREPAs workers and was an important part of the resistance; its public position on the energy crisis reflected a deep political understanding of the situation. In his presentation during a pipeline hearing, UTIER President ngel Figueroa Jaramillo placed the situation within the context of the global capitalist crisis and climate change. Stressing that in Puerto Rico, The current government has decided to deal with the challenges posed by this crisis by implementing neoliberal measures that not only do not serve the fundamental problems but that put all the weight and cost of the solution on those who have the least, increasing the gap between the economic sectors of the country. Both Casa Pueblo and UTIER call for the involvement of the people in the design of a new direction for the environmental policies and sustainable energy production.

Page 10

Oct. 25, 2012

workers.org

editorial

Paul Ryans lies:

t has always been problematic that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded from the legacy of a Swedish industrialist whose millions came from munitions that made the late 19th and 20th century wars the most deadly in human history. In 1973 the prize was awarded jointly to Vietnam War criminal Henry Kissinger and Vietnamese resistance leader Le Duc Tho. Tho turned it down. The Nobel committee did it again in 1993, awarding the prize jointly to apartheids Frederik Willem de Klerk and the long-imprisoned African leader Nelson Mandela. Now comes news that the Nobel committee has awarded the prize this year to, of all things, the European Union. The EU has come to be despised and hated not only by the 500 million people who live in the 27 nations that belong to the organization, but by additional millions who have been on the receiving end of the imperialism and militarism wielded by its most powerful capitalist states. Panos Skourletis, spokesperson for Syriza, the main opposition party in Greece, spoke for the majority of opinion around the world: I just cannot understand what the reasoning would be behind [the decision of the Nobel committee]. In many parts of Europe but especially in Greece, we are experiencing what really is a war situation on a daily basis, albeit a war that has not been formally declared. There is nothing peaceful about it. (Guardian, Oct. 12) The EU has been the driving force behind moves to rescue the giant European banks from the economic crisis of 2008 by forcing draconian austerity measures on the working masses of Europe. Member nations such as Ireland, which were reluctant to rescue their banks, were forced to accept high-interest bailouts. In other cases, the local national ruling classes have temporized, but ended up accepting the EUs help. This always came at a price: cuts in

Another war prize

social programs, higher taxes on poor and working people, massive layoffs and wage cuts. Sovereign countries were forced to accept EU dictates. As a result, most of the smaller countries of Europe are mired in recession with no hope of recovery. The Nobel prize itself has been reduced to $1.2 million from $1.5 million. The Nobel Foundation has said its investment capital took a sharp hit in the 2008 financial crisis. When the masses of people have protested, they have been met by parliamentary huckstering, and when that didnt work, naked police repression was used. But it doesnt stop there. After the downfall of many of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, the EU leaders pursued an aggressive economic imperialism in these now free countries. Where there had been stable planned economies, rampant unemployment, economic insecurity and the rise of criminal enterprises such as human trafficking accompanied the theft of state property on a monumental scale. Many formerly public enterprises were not only privatized, but ownership was transferred to large financial institutions located in the leading countries of the EU, such as Germany and France. The European Union has always been considered to be the not so hidden stepchild of NATO the military partnership between the U.S. and European capitalists whose crimes and interventions, many of them far from Europe, are well known. The dropping of tens of thousands of bombs on the former Yugoslavia, the brutal war against Libya, and the bloody invasion and occupation of Afghanistan are only a few examples. Most recently, the EU has been an important source of war fever whipped up against Syria. Threats, intimidation and secret armed intervention have been accompanied by increasingly shrill calls for outright war. Alfred Nobels munitions seem to have more influence than his peace prize.

The truth about central planning

By Caleb T. Maupin During his speech at the Republican National Convention, Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan at one point referred to the Obama administration as central planners. In doing so, he insinuated that President Obama was implementing economic policies similar to those of the Tremendous gains in Cuba, north Korea Cuba stands as a shining example of Soviet Union, Peoples Korea, Cuba and other countries engaged in socialist con- the superiority of central planning. Immediately after the 1959 revolution, struction. This accusation is, of course, outra- the Cuban government mobilized a mass geous. Obama has in no way altered the campaign against illiteracy. By 1962, capitalist economic setup of the United even before Cuba had nationalized all the States. The banks, industries and media vital industries of the country, which had of the U.S. economy remain under pri- largely been owned by U.S. capitalists, illiteracy had been abolished. vate, for-profit ownership. Jonathon Kozol, the worldEven health care, which A revolutionary Obama campaigned for on YOUTHS VIEW famous educator and activist, wrote a glowing book entitled a reform platform and addressed in the Affordable Care Act, re- Children of the Revolution that documains squarely in the hands of insurance ments the amazing results of Cubas cencompanies, pharmaceutical cartels and trally planned educational system. Cubas centrally planned health care for-profit hospital corporations. Ryans accusation is also based on system provides Cubans with the highest a false premise, namely, that central life expectancy in Latin America. They planning as implemented in the USSR also have a lower infant mortality rate and other socialist countries rendered than in the United States. (CIA World Factbook) negative results. In addition to providing for the health Central planning enabled USSR care needs of its own people, Cuba also to defeat Nazis exports more medical aid around the The Soviet Union, which inherited a world than any other country. Cuba also huge, underdeveloped, agrarian society sends many teachers abroad as part of a after the 1917 revolution, was the first world literacy program. During the Korean War, the U.S. killed country to implement central planning. The Soviet Union had socialist goals, and millions of Koreans and destroyed every the commanding heights of the econ- building above one story in the north. omy were held under state ownership With some Soviet aid, the north Koand control. In 1928, the Soviet Union rean government rebuilt the country by implementing central planning. Korea launched the first of its five-year plans. Unlike in capitalism, where the profit tripled its gross domestic product from motive guides management decisions, 1953 to 1956. Such rapid economic rethese five-year plans involved labor covery astounded world economists. unions, Communist Party leaders, tech- (Korea: Division, Reunification, and nicians and workers councils, who came U.S. Foreign Policy by Martin Harttogether to rationally plan economic ac- Landsberg, Monthly Review Press, 1998) During the arduous march period in tivity. Maurice Dobb, an economics lecturer the mid-1990s, there was great suffering at the University of Cambridge, exten- in Peoples Korea due to flooding and sively documented the results of the five- the loss of trade with the former Soviet year plans in his work entitled Soviet Union. But even during this period the Economic Development Since 1917. (In- socialist government made sure no person was ever homeless. ternational Publishers, 1948) In contrast, the U.S. calls itself the He showed that by 1938, having built the worlds largest hydroelectrical power richest country in the world, yet it has plant at the Dnieper dam, the amount of millions of homeless people, something electrical power in the Soviet Union was Peoples Korea never had, even when seven times what it had been 10 years drought followed by floods brought earlier. Coal production had also mul- widespread crop failure. (North Korea, tiplied by three and a half times during Another Country by Dr. Bruce Cummings, New Press, 2003) that period. If Obama were indeed implementIn 1938, the Soviet Union was producing more tractors than any other country ing central planning in the U.S., as the on earth. The Soviet Union also led the right-wing contends, things would undoubtedly have improved for working world in locomotive production. In capitalist countries, huge increas- people here. To create a planned economy, capitales in production mean more profits for capitalists. But this huge industrial ex- ism must be replaced by socialism. The pansion rendered great results for the result would include full employment for USSRs people. During this period 20 all, with health care and education availnew tramway systems were built in Sovi- able at no cost. The ultra-rich owners et cities, along with 80 new bus systems. of the means of production who are The number of hospital beds per capita much fewer even than the 1% would in rural areas doubled as millions gained be overthrown, and the 99% would hold access to medical care for the first time all economic and political power. Paul Ryan is greatly mistaken in his in their lives. Central planning in the USSR led to accusations. Change of this kind has the creation of thousands of new high never come about as the result of an schools, trade schools and universities election, especially an election of a party that provided free education. Soviet in- the Democratic Party that itself updustry, along with enormous human sac- holds and defends capitalism. It always rifice, enabled the USSR to defeat Nazi requires a revolution. Germany in World War II. The USSR survived for another 45 years, trying to recover from that horrendous war, while keeping up with a U.S. arms race that threatened it with nuclear annihilation, before imperialism succeeded in pulling down the planned economy.

1. Publication Title: Workers World 2. Publication Number: 053-990 3. Filing Date: October 25, 2012 4. Issue Frequency: Weekly except rst week of January 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 51 6. Annual Subscription Price: $30.00 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known O ce of Publication (Not printer): (Street, City, County, State, and ZIP+4) 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Contact Person: R. Neidenberg; Telephone: 212-255-0352 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business O ce of Publisher (Not printer): 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor (Do not leave blank): Publisher (Name and Complete Mailing Address): WW Publishers, Inc., 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Editor (Name and Complete Mailing Address): Deirdre Griswold, 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Managing Editor (Name and Complete Mailing Address): Gary Wilson, 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513 10. Owner (Do not leave blank. If the publication is owned by a corporation, give the name and address of the corporation immediately followed by the names and addresses of all stockholders owning or holding 1 percent or more of the total amount of stock. If not owned by a corporation, give the names and addresses of the individual owners. If owned by a partnership or other unincorporated rm, give its name and address as well as that of each individual. If the publication is published by a nonpro t organization, give its name and address.): WW Publishers, Inc., 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513; Gary Wilson, 55 West 17 Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5513 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities. If none, check box: None 12. Tax Status (For completion by nonpro t organizations authorized to mail at special rates.) (Check One) The purpose, function, and nonpro t status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes: (Check one): Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months 13. Publication Title: Workers World 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: October 25, 2012 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Average No. of Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months: a. Total Number Copies (Net Press Run): 4189. b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertisers proof copies and exchange copies) 1586. (2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertisers proof copies, and exchange copies) 97. (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales and other Paid Distribution Outside USPS 62. (4) Paid Distribution by other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 1925. c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4) 3670. d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included PS Form 3541 0. (2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 33541 0. (3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 16. (4) Free of Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (carriers or other means) 284. e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3), and (4) 300. f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) 3970. g. Copies not Distributed 30. h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) 4000. i. Percent Paid (15c divided by 15f times 100) 91% No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date. a. Total Number Copies (Net Press Run): 4000. b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (include advertisers proof and exchange copies): 1675;. (2) Mailed in-County Paid Subscriptions (include advertisers proof and exchange copies): 89. (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution. Outside USPS 0. (4) Paid Distribution by other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 1815. c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and(4) 3579. d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail). (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 0. (2) Free Nominal Rate In-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 0. (3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) 1. (4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means) 383. e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means) 384. f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) 3963. g. Copies not Distributed 37. h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) 4000. i. Percent Paid (15c divided by 15f times 100) 90% . 16. Publication of Statement of Ownership. Publication will be printed in the October 25, 2012, issue of this publication. 17. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager or Owner: Deirdre Griswold, Editor, October 25, 2012 I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including nes and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties.)

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION

workers.org

Oct. 25, 2012

Page 11

One year after Gadha assassination

By Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire One year since the brutal assassination of former Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi, the Republican Party is using Libyas political crisis in an attempt to defeat President Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 election. Both U.S. ruling-class parties backed the 2011 war against this oilproducing nation that had maintained the highest standard of living in Africa. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. personnel died in an assault on U.S. government buildings in Benghazi, which was the birthplace of the counterrevolutionary war against Libya in February 2011. The Obama administration sought to link this assault with protests of the vicious Innocence of Muslims film. Information soon reached the public that there was no such demonstration outside the U.S. buildings. On Face the Nation, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham charged the administration which had repeated the story for a few days with trying to sell a narrative, that in the Middle East, the wars are receding and al Qaeda has been dismantled and the embassy attack undercuts the narrative. (cbsnews.com, Oct. 14) U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on the same CBS program said the Republican criticism was designed to damage Obamas reelection prospects. Obama has refrained from making additional comments on the Libyan attacks leading up to the Oct. 16 debate. After passage of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973, the U.S., NATO and its allies in the region began a seven-month bombing campaign on March 19, 2011. By late October, NATO had flown 26,000 sorties and dropped at least 9,600 bombs on this country of approximately 6 million people. Millions of Libyans were impacted by the war through the deliberate destruction of the nations infrastructure. Along with a naval blockade imposed against the Gadhafi government, Western banks seized over $160 billion in Libyas foreign assets. News reports have estimated that from 50,000 to 100,000 people were killed during the war. Thousands of Libyans and foreign nationals were imprisoned by the rebel forces, and many remain imprisoned today. The war has left the country without an effective political, legal, economic and security system. Armed militias roam the streets of the cities and towns as well as the outlying areas. The initial National Transitional Council regime that the imperialists imposed failed to control the militias. Since Julys sham elections, the General National Congress has been unable to appoint a government due to infighting and political intrigue. Corruption is rampant. The U.S.-backed regime has targeted select militias and requested and sometimes forced them to disarm.

Libya becomes focus of U.S. election

Today both the Republican and Democratic parties maintain their commitments to turn Libya into an outpost for the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency, transnational oil firms and international bankers. The current dispute between the two ruling class parties stems from imperialisms incapacity to subdue Libya and fear within Pentagon, CIA and State Department circles that the entire operation will soon unravel. Bani Walid under siege One of the regions never subdued in 2011 was the city of Bani Walid in Libyas west. People there maintain a strong opposition to the rebel regime, and were credited with arresting a counterrevolutionary charged with fingering Gadhafi for liquidation on Oct. 20, 2011. The military forces have laid siege to Bani Walid and are shelling the city. The U.S. State Department, which last year claimed its intervention was based on concern for Libyan civilians, has said nothing about the looming humanitarian crisis there. In Gadhafis home city Sirte, which NATO bombs destroyed in 2011 in an effort to drive out and assassinate the Libyan leader, the current rebel regime has imposed a curfew. Several gun battles have taken place in Sirte since Sept. 25, and there is tremendous solidarity with the people of Bani Walid. Even the Saudi Gazette reported, Sirte has a reputation for being home to a significant number of pro-Gadhafi loyalists. (Oct. 15) The current regime is holding thousands of political prisoners from the Black population, namely, Africans from other parts of the continent. It has also detained several leading members of the previous government under extremely harsh conditions. Gadhafis son, Seif al-Islam, is being illegally imprisoned inside the country. Seif, whose trial was recently postponed, is still under indictment by the International Criminal Court on false charges filed during the 2011 bombing campaign. The ICC appears to be satisfied to allow the continuation of his detention in Libya and eventual staging of a trial where no viable judicial institutions exist. One year after the proclaimed imperialist victory, and that of their puppets in the region, the masses of Libyas people are far worse off than they have ever been since the Italian colonial era. This follows the same pattern of U.S. intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Somalia and it is developing in Syria. Imperialism has nothing to offer the oppressed nations and the international working class as a whole except underdevelopment, political repression, economic exploitation and impoverishment. Whether in the so-called developing states and regions or within the industrial countries, capitalism is in terminal decline. The only solution to this crisis lies outside the existence of this exploitative system.

Labor actions spread as

By Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire The 43,000-strong truckers strike ended on Oct. 11. An agreement with the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, a Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) affiliate, resulted in 27 percent pay increases over three years. This was announced by the Road Freight Employers Association, which had already reached an agreement with three smaller unions, which claimed to represent 15,000 workers. The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) was elated the strike had concluded. General Secretary Dennis George noted, While we are mindful of the cost to the economy and the lives lost in this strike, we are convinced that the sector will now rebuild itself to the advantage of the greater South African economy. (fedusa.org.za, Oct. 12) Meanwhile, labor unrest is continuing in other sectors of the work force. Tahir Sema, spokesperson for the South African Municipal Workers Union, said, The congress and the central executive committee have agreed on a strike. We are waiting for the provinces to decide on a date and a strategy to be used during the strike. Guateng [Province] is preparing a meeting. It will come out last because of its sheer size. (thenewage.co.za, Oct. 15) The national strike began in North West Province, when on Oct. 12, 3,000 workers took to the streets in the Bonjala Region. Municipal workers in Limpopo Province also walked off the job. In North West Province, SAMWU is demanding the resignation of several political appointees and municipal managers and the prosecution of some managers for corruption. COSATU, the nations largest

South African truckers end strike

labor federation, with which SAMWU is affiliated, issued a statement charging unacceptable favoritism, nepotism, political interference in administrative matters and rampant corruption in municipalities in the North West Province. (cosatu.org.za, Oct. 12) SAMWU wants the South African Local Government Association to implement a wage curve that would create salaries more equitable for all workers. The union says that up to 300,000 workers could be involved in the national strike; this would paralyze municipal services throughout the country. Mining strikes & terminations continue Gold Fields halted all production on Oct. 15 when 8,500 workers refused to go into the mines. The corporation reported that nearly 20,000 of its 26,700 employees at the KDC West and East gold mines were involved in wildcat strikes throughout the industry. (Reuters, Oct. 15) Gold Fields says it has lost 65,000 ounces since the strike began, while AngloGold reports weekly losses of 32,000 ounces, and Harmony says it is daily losing 20-25 kg of gold at its Kusasalethu mine. Meanwhile, striking workers have rejected another pay increase offer by mine owners. According to Swiss News, Since August, 75,000 miners have downed tools in often illegal and violent walkouts that are hitting economic growth and investor confidence and raising questions about President Jacob Zumas leadership shortly before a leadership election in the ruling African National Congress (ANC). (swissinfo.ch, Oct. 15) In retaliation for the wildcat strikes, Anglo American Platinum dismissed 12,000 workers earlier in October. The Gold One, Atlatsa Resources and other mining corporations have also dismissed employees for their involvement in unprotected strike actions those not authorized by officially recognized labor organizations. Bond rating agencies Moodys and Standard & Poors cut South Africas credit worthiness on Sept. 27 and Oct. 12, respectively. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said that the ratings downgrade came as a surprise, since the strikes have yet to strongly influence the governments revenue and budget plans. There is no evidence that this will throw us off course, Gordhan said on Talk Radio 702. Despite independent worker actions outside of COSATU and other unions, COSATUs Mpumalanga branch and the National Union of Mineworkers issued a joint statement on Oct. 12 defending the movements many gains. It pointed to a well planned, highly funded campaign by some mine bosses and counter-revolutionaries to destabilize and reverse all the revolutionary gains achieved by NUM and COSATU over the past thirty years. NUM has brought unity, defeated apartheid laws, and tribalism in the mining, construction and energy sector. The NUM has improved the working conditions of workers in the industry from conditions close to slavery to conditions where workers have the power to bargain through their unions. (cosatu.org.za)

WORKERS WORLD PARTY CONFERENCE

Conferencia del Partido WW/Mundo Obrero

OCCUPY OCUPAR
PARA LA REVOLUCIN SOCIALISTA Learn about Workers World Party
Conozca al Partido WW/Mundo Obrero Save the date Nov 17-18
Reserve la fecha 17-18 de noviembre
New York City venue TBA El lugar se anunciar prximamente Cuidad de Nueva York

FOR SOCIALIST REVOLUTION

A conference of communists & revolutionary forces

Una conferencia de fuerzas comunistas y revolucionarias

A Marxist discussion of the way forward in the class struggle Una discusin marxista sobre cmo avanzar en la lucha de clases Evaluate the capitalist elections Evaluacin de las elecciones capitalistas Discuss the Occupy Movement, racism and police repression, liberation & revolution Discusin sobre el Movimiento Ocupar, el racismo y brutalidad policial, liberacin y revolucin To register email: Para registrarse enve email a:

wwp@workers.org

212.627.2994

If Workers World is essential to your political life if youve come to rely on the paper then please take the next step and support us nancially.
Our readers can forge a special relationship with the paper by joining the Workers World Supporter Program. WW Supporters who contribute $75 a year receive a years subscription to the newspaper, a monthly letter with new publications, petitions and brochures and ve free trial subscriptions to give to friends. For $100 you also get a book published by World View Forum. And for $300 or more (as little as $25 a month) you also get your choice of ve books or Peoples Video Network videos. To become a WW Supporter Program mail a check made out to Workers World with your name, address, phone number and email to Workers World to WWP, 55 W. 17th St., 5th Fl., New York, NY 10011.

Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios!

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

POSTURA PARTIDO

WW-MO sobre elecciones

l Partido Workers World-Mundo Obrero expone que no miremos a las elecciones capitalistas para propiciar los cambios que los/as trabajadores/as, los pueblos oprimidos, las mujeres, la comunidad LGBT, jvenes, ancianos/as e inmigrantes necesitamos tan desesperadamente en este pas. Las elecciones presidenciales intentan obliterar el hecho de que esta es una sociedad de clases altamente estratificada, con la mayor brecha en riquezas de cualquier pas desarrollado. A pesar de tanta habladura sobre la clase media, es la clase capitalista un minsculo porcentaje de la poblacin quien posee y controla la enorme riqueza. En el otro polo est la clase trabajadora, la gran mayora de la poblacin, cuyas destrezas y esfuerzos construyeron la economa pero quienes estn bajo ataque en todos los frentes. El proceso electoral, tan dominado por el dinero de la clase dirigente, no permite ni un susurro de esta monumental verdad entrar en los llamados debates. La discusin sobre el capitalismo est fuera de la mesa con ambos republicanos y demcratas, an cuando el desastre social causado por la crisis econmica capitalista tritura las vidas de decenas de millones. Las elecciones en Estados Unidos son altamente antidemocrticas, incluso comparadas con las de otros pases capitalistas donde los partidos ganan escaos en parlamentos segn una base proporcional. Aqu en EE.UU. el ganador lo toma todo, lo que significa que los partidos polticos progresistas que no reciben financiamiento corporativo no tienen ninguna posibilidad de tener candidatos electos. Con menos de un mes hasta el da de las elecciones, una campaa de propaganda enormemente cara y omnipresente est en marcha para convencer al pueblo de que la forma en que vote determinar el curso de los acontecimientos en los aos venideros. Se trata de responsabilizar a las masas de los ataques que vendrn sobre cada beneficio social ganado durante aos de lucha. Aunque no proveen soluciones concretas a las cuestiones vitales de puestos de trabajo, cuidado universal de la salud, educacin, encarcelamiento masivo y brutalidad policial, y la influencia del complejo militar-industrial-financiero sobre la poltica exterior y el presupuesto, los candidatos de los dos partidos capitalistas hacen parecer que todo depende de quin sea elegido. Nunca mencionan el papel central que han tenido los movimientos de lucha de masas en cambiar la historia. Al mismo tiempo, mucha gente crey genuinamente que dieron un paso progresista cuando eligieron a Barack Obama como presidente en 2008. Para los/as blancos/as que votaron para l, fue una medida sin precedentes no solo de apoyar la igualdad en general, sino de aceptar el liderazgo afroamericano en el pas. Para los/as afroamericanos/as, la esperanza se elev sobre lo que aparentemente era la culminacin de la larga lucha contra el racismo y la opresin nacional con una votacin histrica por el primer presidente afroamericano a pesar de la supresin siempre presente del derecho a votar. Desafortunadamente, las elecciones del 2008 no cumplieron con ninguna de estas cosas. Contina el mismo establecimiento racista. Las crceles an estn llenas con 2,5 millones de reclusos, casi todos/as gente de color y blancos/as pobres. Los jvenes negros y latinos en barrios empobrecidos son detenidos, arrestados y cada vez ms son ejecutados donde viven por la polica. Los/as inmigrantes indocumentados/ as son deportados/as a un nivel sin precedentes. Las mujeres pierden terreno por la reduccin de puestos de trabajo en el sector pblico, otro efecto del declive capitalista y aumentan los ataques contra la anticoncepcin y el derecho al aborto. Y la guerra contra los sindicatos se hace cada vez ms fea, ya que tanto las empresas privadas como los organismos gubernamentales trituran los contratos en los que los/as trabajadores/ as y sus familias han dependido. Fue la esperanza y el deseo de unidad lo que impuls a Obama a la Casa Blanca. Los lderes del Partido Demcrata despertaron esta esperanza y luego la destruyeron al llevar a cabo los dictados de los grandes bancos y corporaciones. Pero el sentimiento progresista de las masas no est muerto. Ocupar Wall Street es un reflejo de eso. Puede ser renovado con una verdadera lucha fuera de la arena electoral. No importa quin salga electo; sern los/as trabajadores/as construyendo alianzas con sus comunidades, tal como hicieron los sindicatos en Wisconsin y ms recientemente los/as maestros/as en Chicago no siguiendo como de costumbre, que se movern hacia adelante nuestras luchas. Para llegar all debemos romper con los dirigentes capitalistas y sus partidos polticos y tratar de construir rganos de poder popular independientes.

Leyes contra latinos/as indignan al sur

Por Lamont Lilly En su formato original, la Ley Beason-Hammon Alabama HB 56 otorgaba a los oficiales de recursos escolares el derecho de acosar a los/as estudiantes de quinto grado por su estatus migratorio. La Legislatura de Alabama que aprob la ley HB 56 en junio del 2011, convirti a Alabama en el nico estado del pas en que los administradores de las escuelas pblicas verificarn los datos de inmigracin de los/as nuevos/as estudiantes desde los grados infantiles hasta el grado 12. Sin embargo, en agosto de este ao la Corte de Apelaciones del 11 Circuito revoc la disposicin estudiantil de la HB 56, declarndola inconstitucional y una violacin judicial de Plyer vs Doe, que establece que los estados proporcionen una educacin a todos/ as los/as nios/as, independientemente de su estado migratorio. Asimismo, el tribunal revoc la propuesta HB 87 de Georgia. Una propuesta de este Estado para criminalizar el transportar y refugiar a inmigrantes ilegales. El estatuto, una propuesta sin paralelo dentro de la ley federal estadounidense, tena palpables designios contra la poblacin latina. Cuando inicialmente fueron propuestas, las HB 56 y HB 87 fueron presentadas como valiosas piezas de legislacin que podran impulsar las economas locales al tomar medidas enrgicas contra la presencia de inmigrantes indocumentados/as que entraran a Estados Unidos. Los conservadores estadounidenses formularon tal ley racista como una solucin rpida al desempleo y al bajo rendimiento de las escuelas. En su lugar, estas horribles polticas fueron un completo revs a los derechos civiles y al debido proceso judicial. En Alabama, los/as nios/as de todas las edades fueron disuadidos/as de asistir a la escuela y continuar su educacin. Muchos/as dejaron de asistir por temor a que sus familias pudieran ser deportadas si se les interrogaban sobre su estatus migratorio. Segn el Departamento de Justicia de EE.UU., ms del 13 por ciento de nios/as latinos/ as se retiraron en el ao que la HB 56 estuvo vigente, antes de la intervencin federal. En lugar de ensear geometra, los/as instructores/as en el aula se vieron obligados/as a encontrar certificados de nacimiento. En cuanto a las economas locales y la disminucin de las tasas de desempleo, la industria nmero uno de Alabama, la agricultura, fue diezmada. Estamos hablando de un sector agrcola acostumbrado a generar ms de $ 5,5 mil millones al ao. Las industrias que dependen de la mano de obra inmigrante, al igual que las operaciones avcolas de Alabama, quedaron devastadas. Las operaciones pequeas de cultivo cesaron, ya que los/as valiosos/as trabajadores/ as se quedaban en sus casas atemorizados/as. Otros/as simplemente emigraron simplemente por seguridad. Estas complicaciones tambin se han utilizado como justificacin para no pagar a los/as trabajadores/as temporales/as contratados/as y despedidos al mes siguiente sin remuneracin alguna. Muchos/ as latinos/as, documentados/as e indocumentados/as, se han negado a denunciar los delitos, ya que cualquier escrutinio por la ley local puede iniciar una investigacin de Inmigracin y Control de Aduanas. Aunque partes de estos proyectos de ley fueron derogadas, los/as defensores de derechos humanos han seguido sonando la alarma, ya que esta marca de control social afecta a todos/as los/as pobres y oprimidos/as, creando miedo y frustracin a travs de la alienacin. Recientemente, el estado de Alabama ha impugnado la decisin del panel de tres jueces del 11 Circuito y ha pedido una nueva audiencia. A pesar de que unas disposiciones en particular resultaron ser abiertamente inconstitucionales en violacin de la clusula de Igual Proteccin de la Enmienda 14, las autoridades estatales estn argumentando que los tribunales federales sobrepasaron la jurisdiccin estatal. Por desgracia, parece que como Arizona, Alabama se est posicionando para llevar su ley migratoria hasta la Corte Suprema. Para aquellos de nosotros/as que somos aficionados/as a la historia de Estados Unidos, no podemos dejar de establecer una correlacin directa con la postura del Gobernador George Wallace en contra de las autoridades federales en la dcada de 1960. Su postura de lnea dura en pro de la segregacin y en contra de la Corte Suprema de EE.UU. estimul a los racistas en todo el pas. Adems de los jueces federales, el HB 56 tambin ha llamado la atencin del presidente Barack Obama. Hasta l ha hecho constar que es una mala ley. Sin embargo, la administracin de Obama deport a 396.000 inmigrantes el ao pasado. Mientras que miembros del Congreso, jueces federales y legisladores/as continan debatiendo, los/ as defensores/as de derechos humanos agradecen el avance, por limitado que sea. Sin embargo, sabemos que quienes despreciamos tal intolerancia racista, debemos continuar protestando. Eliminar algunas disposiciones no va a ser suficiente, siempre que la discriminacin racial siga desenfrenada. Cuando las paradas de trfico y los bloqueos de carreteras se convierten en cursos de obstculos para inmigrantes, la tica se convierte en un asunto de gran preocupacin jurdica. Si la justicia no puede prevalecer en este caso, el odio estructural podra empezar a cubrir todo el sur, estableciendo nuevos precedentes para los estados como Carolina del Sur, Georgia y Arkansas. En respuesta a esta batalla que ha durado un ao, los/as activistas pro derechos de inmigrantes se han mantenido firmes. Los/as manifestantes han implementado una serie de tcticas, como manifestaciones y foros de la comunidad, seminarios y bloqueos callejeros. Activistas que apoyan el propsito de ley DREAM, los/as SOADORES, y jvenes inmigrantes han realizado paros. Trabajadores y cooperativas para adultos han organizado importantes huelgas. Los/as clientes/as latinos/as han decidido boicotear a las empresas locales, mientras que decenas de miles han respondido con solidaridad. Organizaciones como la Unin de Trabajadores del Acero, la Unin Americana de Libertades Civiles y la Liga de la Justicia para Inmigrantes han unido sus fuerzas. La NAACP y el Southern Poverty Law Center tambin se encuentran a bordo. La iglesia Bautista de la Calle 16 en Birmingham, Ala., la misma iglesia bombardeada por racistas en 1963 ha servido como un refugio de descanso y planificacin de la sede. La conclusin es que la HB 56 es una ley que estimula el ostracismo y la divisin, conjurando el miedo e incrementando la cantidad de vctimas inocentes y falsos arrestos, perpetuando una completa violacin de las libertades civiles. Estos actos anti-latinos/as no son una simple cuestin de privacin de derechos civiles. A los/as inmigrantes latinos/as se les niega hasta el derecho a existir en algunos estados, a apenas respirar sin que algn oficial de la ley est a sus espaldas atemorizndole. Es cierto que las recientes sentencias de la Corte de Apelaciones del Circuito 11 representan algunos progresos, pero no debe haber ningn compromiso con las leyes que fomentan el odio. Para aquellos/as de nosotros/as que estamos al corriente de tales reglamentos racistas, no dejemos de correr la voz y seguir organizando. Para aquellos/as de ustedes que estn aprendiendo sobre tal injusticia por primera vez, nanse a la causa noble del movimiento. Nosotros el pueblo decimos, Libertad para todos/as! y abajo con la HB 56! Lamont Lilly es un redactor colaborador de la Triangle Free Press, columnista de la African American Voice y organizador local del Partido Workers World/Mundo Obrero. Reside en Durham, Carolina del Norte.