Students say no to military

Recruiters faceresistance

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By LeiLani DowellNew York

Young people from New York to California, in colleges andhigh schools, are stepping up their efforts to stop the Pentagonfrom using the economic draft to lure their fellow students intothe war machine.

Police assaulted and arrested three students at the City Collegeof New York March 9 for peacefully protesting the presence ofmilitary recruiters at the school’s career fair. Hospital records oftwo of the protesters, Nick Bergreen and Justino Rodriguez,show that they suffered multiple contusions and post-concus-sion syndrome from the incident.

Two days later, the third protester, senior HadasThier, received notice that she had been suspendedfrom CCNY and barred from setting foot on campusfor “posing a continuing danger.”

That same day, CCNY police charged into the office of a CCNYstaff member, Carol Lang, and arrested her on the charge of sec-ond-degree assault, as well as disorderly conduct and obstruct-ing governmental administration, in connection with theprotest. She was held in jail overnight.

CCNY Psychology Professor Bill Crain said of Lang’s arrest:“The arrest of a staff member in his or her office is almostunheard of ... . The security forces are out of control, creating anatmosphere of fear and intimidation. Rational discussion withthe administration has become very difficult.”

In an effort to increase that same fear and intimidation of dis-

MARCH 24, 2005 VOL. 47, NO. 11 50¢

LÍBANOHAITÍ

Inmigrantes protestan16

workers.org Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite!

sent, the college president sent an email to the entire faculty andstudent body listing unfounded allegations against the students.

The incident at CCNY follows the March 3 arrest of a studentat William Paterson University for handing out leaflets oppos-ing military recruitment. Both incidents indicate the despera-tion of military recruiters at a time of heightened resistance—inIraq and on campuses and communities in the United States—as well as school administrators’ collusion with the state to pre-vent such counter-recruiting.

A statement by protest organizers at CCNY reads, “Together,the actions of the security guards, the City of New York, and theCCNY administration have served to stifle dissent and create aclimate of intimidation.”

FIST, No Draft No Way call March 31 actions

The youth organization FIST-Fight Imperialism, StandTogether—issued a statement the day of the initial CCNY arrests:“As the U.S. military faces shortages in new recruits-due to theresistance of youth to become cannon fodder for an imperialistwar of conquest—it is stepping up its efforts to entrap youth inthe military machine.... This only makes our work as counter-recruiters all the more necessary.

“FIST vows to continue fighting to end the military-industrialcomplex in its entirety, and applauds all involved in the effort.In addition, we will continue to fight the repression of politicaldissent on our campuses and on the streets.”

With recruiting levels in serious decline, the armed forces’

Continued on page 8

Solidarity is the secretweapon of the oppressed, theexploited and the disenfran-chised. In order to turn back theruthless drive of the military-industrial-banking complex toextend its empire from Iraq toZimbabwe to Korea to Haiti, theanti-war movement must developthe broadest solidarity—at homeand internationally.The labor movement here wasbuilt not on lobbying or publicrelations campaigns but on mili-tant solidarity—in the plants andon the picket lines. With solidar-ity it was able to demand, not begfor, better wages and workingconditions.On March 19, the union of long-shore workers in California will be

A message to the March 19 anti-war

protests from the National Committee

of Workers World Party:

Continued on page 2

Venezuelanworkers seizepaper industry

11

President Hugo Chávez meetswith paper workers who took

over their plant.PHOTO: INVEPAL

WORLDWIDE FIGHTBACKStalls Bush Offensive 9

BASIS FOR UNITYBlack liberation& the class struggle 5

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY• Brenda Stokely:

‘Women workers fight’ 6• Protests circle the globe 7

IMMOKALEES BEAT TACO BELLA blow to farmworker slavery 3

Workers World55 West 17 StreetNew York, N.Y. 10011Phone: (212) 627-2994 Fax: (212) 675-7869E-mail: editor@workers.org Web: www.workers.orgVol. 47, No. 11 • March 24, 2005Closing date: March 16, 2005

Editor: Deirdre Griswold

Technical Editor: Lal Roohk

Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, Leslie Feinberg, MonicaMoorehead, Gary Wilson

West Coast Editor: John Parker

Contributing Editors: Greg Butterfield, Pat Chin, Fred Goldstein,Teresa Gutierrez, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Milt Neidenberg

Technical Staff: LeiLani Dowell, Shelley Ettinger, Adrian Garcia,Maggie Vascassenno

Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Carlos Vargas

Internet: Janet Mayes

Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly except thefirst week of January by WW Publishers, 55 W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y.10011. Phone: (212) 627-2994. Subscriptions: One year: $25; foreignand institutions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed andedited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to WorkersWorld, 55 W. 17 St., New York, NY 10011. Back issues and individualarticles are available on microfilm and/or photocopy fromUniversity Microfilms International, 300 Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor,Mich. 48106. A searchable archive is available on the Web atwww.workers.org.

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WW CALENDAR

LOS ANGELES .

Sat., March 19Troops Out Now Car Caravan toSave King Drew & Stop the War.Join this feeder caravan to theHollywood anti-war demo. Meet at10AM at King/Drew Hospital, pro-ceed to the Hollywood demo.

NEW YORK.

Sat., March 19U.S. troops out now. rally inCentral Park, East Meadow, noon.Sponsored by Troops Out NowCoalition. For info (212) 633-6646or www.TroopsOutNow.org.

Fri., March 25Workers World Party meeting.What’s next in the struggle

against war, racism and capital-ism? Hear Joyce Chediac; LarryHolmes, co-director of theInternational Action Center; andCarl Webb, member of ArmyNational Guard who refused to goto Iraq. 7 p.m. Dinner at 6:30 pm.At 55 W. 17th St., 5 fl.,Manhattan. For info 212-627-2994.

SAN DIEGO.

Every FridayInt’l Action Center weekly meet-ings. 7 p.m. At 3930 OregonStreet #230. For info emailbob2046mcc@cox.net. or phone(619) 692-4422.

Page 2 March 24, 2005 www.workers.org

NationalRecruiters face resistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1The key is solidarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Immolakee victory at Taco Bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Reparations demanded by survivors of racist terror . . 3HIV activists organize fight back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Congress rejects minimum-wage hike . . . . . . . . . . . . 4On the picket line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4The basis for unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Brenda Stokely, stickin’ to the union . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Kansas lesbian, gay victory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6‘Stop U.S. war on women, at home and abroad’ . . . . 7Anti-war coalition looks to March 19 and May Day . . . 8Music, minds & movement for peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8‘Save the hospital, stop the war’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9'Free the Cuban 5' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Internat ionalKenya's Mau Mau, Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Women in struggle around the world . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Bush offensive stalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Solidarity movement asserts right to visit Cuba . . . . 10Venezuelan workers take over paper plant . . . . . . . . 11Latin American roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11U.S. sabotages Iran's nuclear program . . . . . . . . . . 13General strike in France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Editor ia lsDon’t blame China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Notic ias En Español

Libaneses rechazan intervención de los EEUU . . . . . . 16

L@s haitian@s desafían la 'democracia' . . . . . . . . . . 16

Inmigrantes protestan por la licencia de manejar . . . 16

The key is solidarity demonstrating solidarity with the anti-war demonstratorsmarching that day to mark two years since the U.S. startedits assault on Iraq. The workers will lay down their toolsand demand that the U.S. government bring the troopshome. That’s language that the super-rich corporatebosses who control Washington can understand.

Civil rights were won through solidarity at the lunchcounters, in the bus stations, in the streets resisting policedogs and fire hoses, and in countless acts of every-daycourage and mutual defense that pushed back the racistsegregationists, the terrorist KKK and their powerfulpatrons.

In New York on March 19, demonstrators will gatherin Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem before marching toCentral Park. The multinational crowd of Black, Latin@,Arab, Asian, Native and white will be declaring their sol-idarity against the war makers. Gathering in Harlem isespecially important as the Bush administration cuts edu-cation, housing, healthcare and even veterans’ benefits inorder to divert hundreds of billions of dollars into wars ofconquest.

The demonstration has been organized by a rainbowcoalition, Troops Out Now. The communities who feel thepain of the budget cuts the most and whose youth areunder the greatest economic pressure to join the militarywill lead the march. This is what real democracy looks like.Get used to it.

Some figures in the anti-war movement have failed torecognize the significance of this demonstration or addtheir solidarity. They say they cannot support the resist-ance in Iraq. However, that is not one of the demands ofthe demonstration. Therefore, they must mean that theywill not even share a platform with someone who mightsupport the resistance. They qualify any demand for thewithdrawal of U.S. troops by insisting that a “multilateral”occupation force be in place first.

This is shortsighted and a violation of the right of self-determination. What gives U.S. imperialism the right toinvade and then keep its troops in Iraq even one more daywhen the overwhelming sentiment of the Iraqi people,expressed constantly through their heroic resistance, is toget them out?

The Iraqi people don’t want MORE countries sendingtroops to occupy them and control their natural resources.They want to run their own country, free of outside inter-ference. They are demanding national sovereignty, which

has come to be recognized as a right in international lawonly because tens of millions of people have fought anddied in anti-colonial wars to achieve it.

To put conditions on the withdrawal of U.S. troops isto support the occupation.

This same political struggle in the anti-war movementcame up during the Vietnam War, when some counteredthe slogan “Bring the troops home now” with “Negotiatenow.” To demand that the Vietnamese negotiate with theU.S. was to demand that they make concessions to animperialist power which had invaded their country, killedmillions of people and poisoned their land and water withtoxic chemicals.

It came up again during the first Gulf War, when theslogan “Sanctions, not war” was counterpoised to “Endthe war.” But sanctions are a form of war—and a most hor-rible form that killed over a million Iraqi civilians, a hugeportion of them children.

The anti-war movement will go forward despite thesedifferences, just as it did in the 1960s and 1970s. Thereturning troops as well as youth worried about a reneweddraft will have little patience for demands that prolong theoccupation, the tortures and the killing. Communitiesdevastated by school and hospital closings, transportationcuts and higher energy bills will increasingly add theirvoices to the call to bring the troops home now.

In the process, let’s build a spirit of international soli-darity with all those who have been demonized by thisimperialist government because they refuse to becomesubjects in a global empire ruled by Washington and WallStreet.

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www.workers.org March 24, 2005 Page 3

By Minnie Bruce Pratt and Sue Davis

The Coalition of Immokalee Workersannounced a historic victory on March8: its agreement with Yum! Brands, theowner of Taco Bell and the biggestrestaurant company in the world.

This followed the CIW’s four-yearnational boycott of the giant Taco Bellcorporation. The fast-food restaurantchain serves more than 35 million cus-tomers each week in over 6,500 loca-tions in the United States.

CIW is led by Florida agricultural work-ers, mostly immigrants. The group organ-izes for justice for farm workers anddemands that growers meet U.S. andinternational labor standards. (www.ciw-online.org)

The CIW campaign focused on the 10million pounds of Florida tomatoes farm

workers picked in 2004 for supplierswho then sold them to Taco Bell.

These workers make 40 cents for each32-pound bucket of tomatoes-the samewages as 30 years ago. To earn $50, aworker has to pick two tons of tomatoes.

Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum!Brands, agreed to buy only from suppli-ers who up payment for the tomatoes bya penny per pound. This arrangement isprecedent-setting as the increase willpass through the local Florida suppliersand go directly into workers’ wages.

Around 1,500 workers will benefitimmediately.

In a joint news release Taco Bell Pre-sident Emil Brolick said: “We pledge tomake this commitment real by buyingonly from Florida growers who pass thispenny-per-pound payment entirely onto the farm workers, and by working

jointly with the CIW and our suppliers tomonitor the pass-through for compli-ance. We hope others in the restaurantindustry and supermarket retail tradewill follow our leadership.”

No to slavery

The CIW campaign also forced Yum!Brands to add language to its suppliercode of conduct to require that “inden-tured servitude by suppliers is strictly for-bidden.” Employers keep many immi-grant workers in slavery-like conditions,sometimes incarcerating them behindbarbed-wire fences. If the workers seek toleave, they are threatened and subjectedto violence that includes beatings, shoot-ings and pistol-whippings.

In a March 10 interview with Demo-cracy Now! radio, Gerardo Reyes Chavez,a farm worker and member of CIW, said:“Slavery is something that is still happen-ing in agriculture. ... We don’t have anykind of benefits or protections. We don’thave the right to organize in most of thestates in this country, so basically the con-ditions that we face are conditions likesweatshops but in the fields, and here inthe United States.”

The CIW helped prosecute five slaveryoperations, and won decisions against thegrowers that liberated over 1,000 workers.

Victory!

In early March, during the struggle’sfinal weeks, the CIW sponsored a “Taco Bell

Truth Tour.” Participants traveledfrom Florida to meetings in 15 statesincluding Georgia, Alabama,

Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky.In Atlanta and in Montgomery, Ala.,

participants in the tour visited churcheswhere Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hadserved as pastor. They drew connectionsbetween the Black civil-rights movementand the farm workers’ campaign today forjust wages.

In Memphis, Tenn., the tour memberspaid their respects to Dr. King’s memoryby visiting the Lorraine Motel, the site ofhis assassination. They honored his com-ing to the city to support striking sanita-tion workers in their struggle for economicjustice.

In Chicago, they joined local membersof UNITE HERE in a picket outside theCongress Plaza Hotel. Workers at thehotel have been protesting for 18 monthsin a struggle for a fair contract.

Finally, the “Truth Tour” ended inLouisville, Ky., with a jubilant March 12demonstration celebrating the farm work-ers’ victory in their ongoing journey “fromslavery to freedom.”

The win was far from easy. It took arelentless nationwide struggle, led by thepredominantly immigrant tomato pickersin CIW and supported by United StudentsAgainst Sweatshops and various religiousgroups.

A USAS news release noted, “This unpre-cedented victory ... would not have beenpossible without the hard work of USASmembers booting the Bell from collegeand university campuses nationwide!”

HIV activists organize fightback By Gerry ScoppettuoloBoston

People living with HIV/AIDS and theirsupporters gathered March 5 at theArlington Street Church in Boston todeclare war, not on the people of Iraq orAfghanistan, but on the high prices fordrugs and government censorship ofeffective HIV-prevention programs.

Call to Action, a grassroots group ofactivists, organized the event to initiate arenewed, militant response to the contin-ual under-funding of HIV programs andthe criminal redistribution of money tothe war in Iraq. Speakers and participantsat the conference came from the Cam-bridge Health Alliance, the MulticulturalAIDS Coalition, the Southern New Hamp-shire HIV/AIDS Task Force, the FenwayCommunity Health Center, Local 26 HotelWorkers Union, the International ActionCenter from both Providence and Boston,and GayLab.

Glenn Williams, an African Americangay man living with HIV, struck the keynote of the meeting: “ I have had tremen-dous support to be alive today. When Isee these resources being cut, I see peo-ple where I was at 10 years ago and Iworry about them. We can’t allow fundsto be cut. Immigration policies make ithard for some people to take an HIV test.

If people are deported, they are getting adeath sentence.”

Ed Childs, chief shop steward of Local26 Hotel Workers, expressed greetingsfrom the union president, Janice Loux,and also spoke out against HIV immigra-tion policies. “Our members are immi-grants that have come from countries thathave been colonized and occupied and aredeeply affected by AIDS. “

These sentiments were echoed by GailBeverley, longtime HIV-preventionworker at Boston’s Fenway CommunityHealth Center, who runs a group for peo-ple newly-diagnosed with HIV. “For peo-ple with HIV,” she said, “it’s a struggleevery day to pay the rent and put food onthe table”.

By Monica Moorehead

“The morning that the riot started weheard the shooting... just a couple ofblocks from the end of Greenwood onArcher. After we heard the shooting, I came to... Jackson’s Funeral Home. It was also right on the end ofGreenwood, a few doors down. He(Samuel Jackson) had not been longpurchasing a new ambulance... we wentto the undertaker... one of the youngmen that drove during the funeral ses-sions was also going out to the garageto get the ambulance. There was a oldmill right across the tracks, right onGreenwood. You could look out of themill, they could look right over and seeus. While the boy was trying to unlockthe door to get the ambulance... some-body white shot out... They were up inthat mill which was prob-ably four or five storieshigh, and they shot out ofthat mill and hit the boyon the hand... Blood shotout his hand. I’m standingright behind him. Hedropped the keys and weran to the back part of thefuneral home by the deadfolk.”

—Otis Clark(tulsareparations.org)

The year was 1921. The place wasOklahoma. And the incident—the Tulsarace riot. This event got next to no noticewhen it happened almost 84 years ago, butfor the survivors, like 102-year-old Clark,it’s like it happened yesterday.

On May 31, 1921, racist whites carriedout a brutal attack against what was thenknown as “Black Wall Street,” a segregated

section of Tulsa where the Black popula-tion established prosperous businesses.These racists killed and maimed hundredsif not thousands of Black women, men andchildren, and burned almost all of theirbusinesses and homes to the ground.

None of the survivors received any kindof apology, compensation or any publicrecognition that this massacre happened.

It was 80 years later that the OklahomaState Legislature offered an official apologyto the survivors based on a three-year studyon the massacre performed by a Tulsa RaceRiot Commission that began in 1997.

Lawyers, law students, members of theCongressional Black Caucus, survivors ofthe massacre and other supporters held anews conference and rally March 9 on thesteps of the U.S. Supreme Court inWashington, D.C., to file a petition withthe court to demand long overdue repara-

tions denied to the survivorsin the lower courts. Those inattendance included Clark,historian John Hope Frank-lin and CongresswomanMaxine Waters.

A federal district court dis-missed the Oklahoma lawsuitin 2004, stating that the inci-dent happened too long agofor compensation to begranted.

Odinga Harrington fromthe National Coalition of Blacks forReparations in America told why sheattended the rally. “Reparations are longoverdue for the victims of the Tulsa riots,and reparations are long overdue for thedescendants of slaves throughout thecountry.” (Amsterdam News)

Go to www.workers.org/ww/1999/tulsa0610.php for moreinformation.

1921: Racist terror in Tulsa

Black survivorsdemand reparations

Continued on page 4

PHOTO: JOHN KEATING

Fom left to right: James Adams, GayLab;Gerry Scoppettuolo, IAC; John Powell,So. NH AIDS Task Force, Gail Beverley,Fenway Community Health Center.

Immolakee victory at Taco Bell:

Ending farmworker slavery

African Americandetainees being

led by armedguard.

PHOTO: OKLAHOMAHISTORICAL

SOCIETY

Otis Clark

Page 4 March 24, 2005 www.workers.org

By Milt Neidenberg

In one of the more despicable displaysof capitalist cynicism and indifferencetoward low-wage workers, the U.S.Senate, accurately known as a “million-aires’ club,” refused in early March toraise the $5.15-hour minimum wage.

The anti-war and draft-resistancemovements, along with other progres-sive groups and community organiza-tions, should be sensitive to the poten-tial for struggle arising from this refusal.

A look at the history of the battle for aminimum wage can give insight in thisarea today.

March 6 was the 75th anniversary ofthe unprecedented nationwide protestagainst unemployment and poverty thatbrought over 1 million demonstratorsinto the streets in 1930. It was a day toremember.

The protest came soon after theOctober 1929 stock market crash whichled to the Great Depression of the 1930s.It was a militant response to the 1920s,when empires of wealth arose at theexpense of the workers and oppressed.Under flowing banners emblazoned“Work or Wages,” over 110,000 poor andunemployed workers protested in NewYork City’s Union Square.

An estimated 100,000 demonstratorsgathered in Detroit, over 50,000 inChicago. A like number filled the streetsof Pittsburgh and there were hugecrowds of the unemployed in Milwaukee,Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Francisco,Denver, Seattle and Philadelphia.

“In New York City, the rally wasattacked by 25,000 cops. Hundreds werebeaten to the ground with nightsticks,trampled by the charge of mountedpolice. ... A New York World reporterdescribing the assault at Union Squaretold of ... detectives, some wearingreporters’ cards in hat bands, manywearing no badge, running wildlythrough the crowd, screaming as theybeat those who looked like communists... men with blood streaming down theirfaces dragged into the temporary policeheadquarters and flung down to awaitthe patrol wagons to cart them away.”(Boyer and Morais, “Labor’s UntoldStory”)

Working-class history: guide to action

In spite of these vicious, unprovokedattacks that also occurred in other cities,a new stage in the history of the classstruggle was in the making. It led to rev-olutionary working-class gains and pro-gressive legislation—the Social SecurityAct and National Labor Relations Act,among many others.

From Unemployment Councils, orga-nized by communists, socialists and mil-itant class-conscious workers, Black andwhite, the Congress of Industrial Org-anization (CIO) ultimately came intoexistence. Millions of workers rushed tojoin, following the general strikes andplant seizures of the mid-1930s. Theyfought for union recognition and wonunprecedented contracts from a resist-ant, anti-union industrial sector ofCorporate America. An army of indus-trial union workers was born, ready tobattle for additional social gains.

In 1938, they won the Fair LaborStandards Act (FLSA). It lifted the stan-

dard of living of the poorer and mostoppressed workers, unprecedented forthose days. Child labor, which had flour-ished among unscrupulous employers,was outlawed. The minimum age was 16for work in most non-farm jobs and 18for work in hazardous jobs. For studentsbetween 14 and 15, the law allowed max-imums of three hours on a school day,eight hours on a non-school day, or 40hours in a non-school week.

A minimum wage was set. Time-and-a-half pay was mandated for hours over40, and other benefits and protections.The FLSA was the result of a decade ofclass struggle.

Today all these social and economicgains are under attack.

Since the recession of 2000-2001,real wages have continued to fall aswages have failed to keep up with infla-tion. The median wage for 2004 was$13.62, or $8.47 above the $5.15 mini-mum wage, which has been the samesince Sept. 1, 1997.

At minimum wage, even at 40 hoursper week, the annual wage is only$10,500—well below the poverty level ofover $16,000 for a family of three.

In a phony debate this year theDemocrats proposed a minimum wageincrease in three steps of 70 cents eachover the next 26 months, to $7.25.Republicans countered with two steps of55 cents to $6.25 and with several pro-business provisions designed to increasepoverty.

While the Republican proposals weremore threatening, the Democratic provi-sions, even if they passed, would not slowthe impoverishment of the working poorand the oppressed.

A September 2003 Merrill Lynchreport compared the minimum wage tothe rate of growth of CEO’s salaries: “Ifthe minimum wage, which stood at$3.80 an hour in 1990, had grown at thesame rate as CEO pay, it would have been$21.41, rather than the current $5.15 anhour.” Whatever the reasons this WallStreet Goliath made this comparison, itdoes expose the outrageous gap betweenrich and poor. And the 2005 figures areeven more shameful.

In proposing a piddling increase in theminimum wage, both the Bush adminis-tration and the Democrats are actingfrom political expediency. But they maybe playing with fire. Putting a few morebucks in the pocket of the working poormay have been the wiser thing to do.

Repression breeds resistance!

Over the years, as the service-orientedsector of the economy surpassed theindustrial sector, there were more suitsfiled under the FLSA than any otheragency of government. There are reportsof child labor abuse, overtime and min-imum-wage violations, lack of health andsafety training and on-site injuries due todangerous working conditions.

Today, the FLSA is a sham—anappendage to the anti-worker, anti-union policies of the Bush administra-tion. Led by Secretary of Labor ElaineChao, most of the protective language forthe lower paid, service-oriented workingpoor is ignored by the agency.

In a survey entitled “Behind theKitchen Door: Pervasive Inequality inNew York City’s Thriving RestaurantIndustry,” a broad gathering of academ-

Congress rejects minimum-wage hike

History shows potentialfor mass struggle

ics, community economic developmentorganizations, policy analysts and policymakers, immigration advocates, workerorganizations, unions and industryemployers signed on to an overview ofworkplace conditions in the New YorkCity restaurant industry.

The study provides compelling exam-ples of employer trespasses against min-imum-wage earners. The violationsinclude non-payment for overtime(almost a majority worked more thaneight hours a day). Some worked morethan 50 hours a week and others com-plained of 60-hour work weeks. Manyreported they were paid below the min-imum wage and others claimed manage-ment demanded to share their tips.

They had no union. The overwhelm-ing majority had no health insurance, nosick leave, no vacation pay, and wereforced to work while sick. Many reportedhealth and safety violations: overheatedkitchens, slippery floors, lack of safetyguards on cutting machines and otherdangerous working conditions.

Their complaints ended up in theshredding machines and waste basketsof the FLSA. The violations go far beyondthe restaurant industry to other service-oriented workplaces: hotels, supermar-kets, fast-food chains and retail stores,sub-contractors and temp agencies. Wal-Mart, a frequent violator of the law, oper-ates with impunity.

Drawing on their bitter experiences,minimum-wage workers, overwhelm-ingly immigrant, undocumented,women and youth of color, coming out ofhigh schools and colleges and those thatdrop out, may be running out ofpatience.

There is a large turnover among theseworkers, but there will be more stabilityas jobs become even more difficult tofind. Spontaneous angry protests canbreak out at any time, particularly byyouth, representing many nationalitiesin these industries.

The AFL-CIO has the potential to be acatalyst for unorganized workers. It iscritical for the growth of the union move-ment that union leaders break out oftheir morass of debates and begin tobuild a class-wide, independent move-ment to deepen their roots in this impor-tant sector of the working class.

Deeds are more eloquent than words.History has confirmed, especially fromthe class struggles of the 1930s, that a ris-ing tide lifts all boats.

Longshore workers toshut ports March 19

Members of International Longshore &Warehouse Union Local 10 will honor theInternational Day of Protest Against theU.S. War and Occupation in Iraq on March19 by not moving any cargo in Bay Areaports.

Instead the ILWU Drill Team will leadthe labor continent in the San Franciscoprotest under the slogan, “Don’t starve ourcommunities to feed the war machine.”

A labor contingent is also being organ-ized for the March 19 protest in New YorkCity.

Cingular strike avertedThreatening to strike proved decisive in

winning a decent contract for 5,300Cingular Wireless workers. On March 7 theCommunications Workers announced anagreement with an 11-percent pay increaseover four years and strengthened job secu-rity. The latter was a huge issue givenCingular’s recent buyout of AT&T Wireless.

SF Labor Council defends Venezuela

The San Francisco Labor Council raiseda fist for international labor solidarity at itsFeb. 28 delegates meeting. It unanimouslypassed a resolution opposing “the com-plaint initiated by the Venezuelan employ-ers association, FEDECAMARAS, beforethe ILO [International Labor Organizationmeeting in Geneva on March 16] recom-mending a Commission of Inquiry intotrade union freedoms in Venezuela. ThisComplaint has been endorsed and sup-ported by employers’ associations in 23countries, including the United States.

“It is our view that the convening of anILO Commission of Inquiry is designed toundermine the very progress of the labormovement within present-day Venezuela.”

The 9-million-member Unified WorkersConfederation of Brazil issued a similarstatement in February.

The resolution also called upon theCalifornia Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO,to follow up on its resolution passed lastsummer opposing funding by the nationalAFL-CIO supporting U.S. government pol-icy in Venezuela.

The SFLC resolution noted, “Oppositionto the ILO Commission of Inquiry onVenezuela by the U.S. labor movement ispart of the same struggle to promote a newforeign policy by labor that is independentfrom U.S. State Department objectives.”

ON TTHHEEpickeTLINE

by Sue Davis

Continued from page 3

The Boston region received an 8.1-per-cent cutback in critical federal RyanWhite Title I funding just days before Callto Action’s event. This amounted to over$1.2 million. The Boston Living Center,which provides the most direct servicesto people with HIV in greater Boston hashad to endure cutbacks to its basic serv-ices, as have other AIDS Service organi-zations. Bush’s Fiscal Year 2006 budgetalso calls for a $14 million cut in the AIDSHousing Program (HOPWA).

Many speakers at the conferencepledged to carry the Stonewall Warrior’s“Money for AIDS, not For War” bannerto the March 19 anti-war demonstration

in New York City. Call to Action explicitlycondemns the Iraq war and the $10 millionper hour it steals from necessary human-needs funding. One of the workshops at theconference documented that Merck, Abbott,Glaxo-Smith-Kline and several other phar-maceutical manufacturers of HIV antiviralshad after-tax, after-investment, after-research and development net profits of $63billion in just two years (2003 and 2003).

The conference concluded with planningto organize militant and visible opposition tothe current crisis in the next few weeks start-ing with a contingent at the March 19 Anti-War March in New York City. For more info:Gerry Scoppettuolo (781) 273-1689, deb-sian@yahoo.com

HIV activists organize

www.workers.org March 24, 2005 Page 5

By Monica Moorehead

The following is excerpted from a talkat a Feb. 25 Black History Month forumin New York.

It is certainly true that Black people inthe U.S. as a whole are not in the same eco-nomic and political situationtoday com-pared to a half-century ago. But can westill say that Black people in general havefull equality?

Facts and figures don’t lie.According to a Jan. 17 New York Times

article: “Black middle-class families onaverage had one-fourth of the wealth ofsimilarly educated, similarly employedwhite middle-class families. ... Black fam-ilies as a whole had only 10 cents in wealthfor every dollar white families had, accord-ing to government figures. ... less than halfof Black households own their homes,while 75 percent of white households do.”

Here are statistics issued by the UrbanLeague in 2004: “The 2000 census foundthat 91.8 percent of white students grad-uated from high school, compared with83.7 percent of Black students. ... On aver-age, Blacks are twice as likely to die fromdisease, accident and homicide as whites;the life expectancy for Blacks is 72 years,or six years less than that of whites. Theaverage prison sentence for a Black personis six months longer than that for whites.”

There were more young Black men inprison in 2002 than in universities andcolleges. (Justice Policy Institute, 2000)

Lynchings, by and large, have beenreplaced with rampant police brutality.

Black people are “officially” 12 percentof the overall U.S. population. So whereare the 12 African American senators?

Right now there is only one Black sen-ator. There are only 39 Black members ofthe House of Representatives which num-bers 435 members overall. We are allaware of the gross disenfranchisement ofBlack voters.

These facts prove that political and eco-nomic equality is still being denied toBlack people as an oppressed nationalityin disproportionate numbers.

What is the root cause of this inequalityfor Black people in the United States?

Racism is endemic to capitalism. It goesback to the days when Native nations wereforced off of their lands through massextermination, slavery and the legacy ofslavery, the theft of two-thirds of Mexico,wars of colonial expansion in Puerto Rico,the Philippines and much more.

Workers on the whole are exploited bythe bosses. But a vast majority of the work-ers are super-exploited and super-oppressed—if they belong to a particularnationality, if they are a woman, if they areattracted to the same sex or have a “differ-ent” gender expression.

Despite a range of social strata that con-tinues to narrow as living standards,including real wages, drop, there are stilltwo fundamental classes: the workingclass, the overwhelming majority of theworld who own nothing but their ability tolabor, and the tiny ruling class which ownseverything. Therefore the strugglebetween these two classes is inevitable andirreconcilable.

Within this general framework racismis the main weapon that the bosses use,not only to super-exploit and super-oppress whole peoples based on theirnationality, but to divide and conquer the

The main lesson is that disagreeing withthe nationalism of peoples of color shouldnot become a barrier to building classunity against a common oppressor.

Uniting the struggles is key

Recently, President George W. Bushintroduced his 2006 budget, amounting to$2.57 trillion. More than 150 social pro-grams are on the chopping block in orderto make the war makers and super-richvery happy while cities and rural areasdeteriorate.

These cuts will have a great impact onMedicaid, educational programs like HeadStart, Pell student grants, the Environ-mental Protection Agency and much more.

At that same time, on top of the $200billion that Democrats and Republicanshave already spent on the Iraq War andthe so-called war on terrorism, Bush plansto ask Congress for an additional $80 bil-lion. This war budget represents class war-fare here and abroad.

There is no doubt that Black people andother people of color will suffer from thesecuts in disproportionate numbers.

The working class here is sufferingfrom low wages, declining benefits, speed-ups, outsourcing and budget cuts. Thebosses are trying to take back all the gainsthat were won in the 1930s and 1960sthrough mass, militant struggle.

The flip side is that the high-tech, low-pay restructuring of the economy is layingthe material basis for forging political sol-idarity within the working class to carryout the struggle for human needs.

For March 19, the second anniversary ofthe Iraq War, there is a worldwide call forprotests. Many of these demonstrations

multi-national working class to keep usfrom uniting against all of the injustices.

The current movement must try veryhard not to repeat mistakes made in thepast on the importance of building solidar-ity, especially with the most oppressed.During the 1920s, the Universal NegroImprovement Association or the Back toAfrica movement was the largest massmovement of Black people at that time andof the 20th century as a whole. It was aninternational movement of Black people,with a strong base in the United States,who were organizing to go back to theirAfrican homeland.

Their movement was led by the charis-matic Jamaican leader Marcus Garvey,who was a nationalist. The U.S. govern-ment attempted to repress this movementby demonizing its leadership. Instead ofdefending Garvey against racist govern-ment repression, many white socialistsand communists in the United Statesattacked him. Why? Because they dis-agreed with his view of putting the aspira-tions of Black people before the aspira-tions of the entire working class.

This white chauvinist behavior was atremendous setback in the struggleagainst racism and national oppression,which is part and parcel of strengtheningclass unity. These particular communistsand socialists forgot the significant prin-ciple that Lenin stressed: that Marxistsmust defend the right to self-determina-tion for oppressed nations. Faced withmore isolation by the broader movementand intensified government attacks,Garvey was eventually deported to Eng-land, where he passed away and eventu-ally so did the movement he helped build.

will demand that the money going to sus-tain war and occupation be spent insteadon human needs.

This merging of demands is comingfrom strong working-class leadership—like those who initiated the MillionWorker March. The MWM leadership isplaying a leading role in building theMarch 19 protests.

The Million Worker March was initi-ated by the Black leadership of Local 10 ofthe International Longshore WorkersUnion in San Francisco along with BrendaStokely and others. It signals the birth ofa new, independent workers’ movement towin real justice and equality especially forthe most oppressed workers, includingimmigrant workers.

So let’s win more activists to helpadvance the cause of liberating our classfrom the shackles of all forms of oppres-sion and exploitation. They are out there,and the only way that we can attract themand win them to our ranks is to organize,organize and organize.

Long live the struggle for Black libera-tion! Long live the struggle for class eman-cipation! Build a workers’ world!

The basis for unity

Anti-racist solidarity and the class struggle

Book review: “Imperial Reckoning” byCaroline Elkins and “Histories of theHanged” by David Anderson

By Stephen Millies

In 1947 in Murang’a, women led a revoltagainst being forced to build thousands ofmiles of terraces that often washed awayin the rain.

Kenyan African Union leaders went tothe countryside. Jomo Kenyatta spoke to30,000 people in Nyeri, 60 miles north ofNairobi, on July 26, 1952.

Oath-taking campaigns united peoplein demanding land and freedom. Most his-torians have smeared the so-called “MauMau oaths” as “savage” and “barbaric.”What was barbaric was colonial occupation.

Throughout history oppressed peoplehave taken oaths to fortify themselves. The“Tolpuddle Martyrs”—English farm work-ers who dared to form a union—were ban-ished to Australia in 1834 for taking anoath.

Kenyans boycotted buses in Nairobi.Preparations were made for armed strug-gle. People’s justice got rid of the biggestcollaborator of the white settlers, British-appointed “Senior Chief” Waruhiu, onOct. 9, 1952.

Eleven days later Kenya’s colonial gov-ernor, Evelyn Baring, declared a state ofemergency. His family controlled BaringsBank, founded in 1762 by the slave dealerFrancis Baring. His father wasLord Cromer, the British dic-tator of Egypt and India.

A battalion of LancashireFusiliers was flown in from theBritish-occupied Suez Canal. Authoritiesrounded up more than 80 Kenyan politi-cal leaders, trade unionists and schooladministrators. Most of the independentschools were shut down.

Jomo Kenyatta, Bildad Kaggia, FredKubai and three other defendants wereput on trial for allegedly leading the MauMau. There was no jury. Their convictionwas guaranteed. Judge Ransley Thackerreceived a bribe of 20,000 British pounds,worth several hundred thousand dollarstoday.

The London Daily Telegraph calledKenyatta “a small-scale African Hitler.”

Baring hoped Kenyatta’s frame-upwould demoralize Africans. Instead, itignited years of guerilla warfare.

Mau Mau fighters stole weapons andammunition from settlers’ farms and mil-itary depots. Kenyan blacksmiths made

hundreds of guns in the liberated areas.Ten more British battalions had to be

rushed to Kenya. The Royal Air Forcebombed guerilla strongholds in

Aberdares Forest and on MountKirinyaga (Mount Kenya).

A total of 55,000 soldiersand cops, including thousands of

British draftees, were mobilized tofight the Mau Mau.

Mass beatings, hangings

The British hanged 1,090 “Mau Maususpects.” As with Kenyatta, none of thesemartyrs had a jury trial.

Like those tortured in Baghdad’s AbuGhraib prison, captured Mau Mau sol-diers were not protected by the GenevaConvention. Being found in possession ofa single bullet brought a death sentence.

Some 54 people were executed just foradministering oaths. Supplying food toguerilla fighters—labeled “consorting” byBritish justice—sent 207 to the gallows.

By this time, the Conservatives were inoffice in Britain. Prime Minister WinstonChurchill was Adolf Hitler to the peopleof Kenya.

Elkins estimates as many as 300,000

Kenya’s Mau Mau, Part II

Freedom by any meansnecessary

Marcus Garvey

bookreview

Continued on page 14

Page 6 March 24, 2005 www.workers.org

Brenda Stokely stickin’ to the union:

Women workers fight for jobsand communitiesBy Heather Cottin

Brenda Stokely is president of AFSMCEDistrict Council 1707 in New York, whichrepresents 23,000 day-care and home-care workers. Her fierce pride in the rankand file of her union is embodied in theSouth African saying, “When you havestruck a woman, you have struck a rock.”

“Our union represents the lowest-paidpublic-service workers in the serviceindustry, the day-care workers and homehealth aides,” she told Workers World.“The major source of funding for theirwork is the federal government. Themajority of the workers in these jobs arewomen, women of color and immigrantwomen.”

Now these workers face a vicious cam-paign of privatization and union busting.

Democrats and Republicansattack services

Stokely began organizing in the 1960swhen working women and the civil-rightsmovement demanded day care for chil-dren. Organized protests forced the fed-eral government to respond with pro-grams such as Head Start, while publicagencies had to open public child-carefacilities.

Until the Carter years, said Stokely, daycare was expanding. Then, underDemocratic President Jimmy Carter, cut-backs to Section 8 housing and foodstamps began the attack on the poor andended the expansion of social services.

Cutbacks under Republican PresidentsRonald Reagan and George H.W. Bushwere serious, she said, but it was Demo-cratic President Bill Clinton who in 1996“ended welfare as we know it.”

Clinton signed the law that createdTemporary Assistance for Needy Families,to replace Aid to Families with DependentChildren. TANF is a monthly cash assis-tance program for poor families with chil-dren under age 18. TANF demolishedmost of the welfare “safety net” provisionswon 60 years before through the strugglesof the 1930s.

TANF includes a four-year lifetime limiton assistance. Many families reached that

limit by 2000.(state.ga.us)Now, President George W. Bush is

mounting a full-court press to scale backor eliminate public programs such as daycare, health care and even what’s left ofwelfare. The government works in tandemwith capitalists devouring the public sec-tor in the mad rush toward privatizationand profit.

Brenda Stokely notes that the “movetoward privatization of home health carebegan with the privatization of the agen-cies, making this a profit-making sector.The same thing has happened with pris-ons. And now Lockheed is bidding for thefood stamp program.”

Labor unions under siege

To guarantee that they can make prof-its from previously public services, thecapitalist privatizers are simultaneouslyattacking the unions that represent pub-lic-service workers.

37.5 percent of public-sector workersare union members. That’s compared to9.5 percent of private-sector workers.(migrationint.com)

Unionized public-service workers gethigher wages and better benefits. So bigbusiness has taken aim at public-employee unions and benefits.

Stokely pointed out that three states—Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri—haverecently abolished collective bargainingfor public-service employees. She addedthat California Gov. Arnold Schwarzen-egger has called for a state constitutionalamendment abolishing union dues collec-tion and ending the pension system forCalifornia public workers.

Reactionaries claim that the benefits tothese unionized workers are “too rich.”(www.acera.org)

Stokely sees these attacks on labor as an“assault on the right to organize, the rightto collective bargaining, the right to pen-sions.” The state and the capitalist classare coordinating a violent campaignagainst workers that “allows for a rampageof layoffs. Collective bargaining narrowsthe arbitrary and capricious behavior ofthe bosses, and allows more equitable payand workers’ right to due process. That is

why the states are going after unions.”In New York City, Mayor Michael

Bloomberg has refused to negotiate withpublic-sector workers, ignoring collec-tive-bargaining agreements.

In a contract yet to be formally ratifiedwith District Council 1707, the mayor hasfrozen wages for day-care workers. Thesewomen make $10,000 to $30,000 less peryear than other public employees. Theylive below the poverty line.

Stokely points out: “The average day-care worker makes $26,000 a year or less.They make about $6.48 an hour comparedto the $12 million spent an hour for war.If this same day-care worker is asking foronly a 4-percent raise on their $26,000annual salary, they would get only 25 centsmore added to their hourly wage.”

New York City has simultaneously setup a two-tiered wage system for day-careteachers, with new hires to receive 11 per-cent less than the current workers. Thecity made a 2-percent wage increase afterApril 1, contingent upon worker give-backs. The city is offering nothing toretirees except denial of health care.

Dangerous cutbacks

Stokely said that New York City is clos-ing 67 of 90 day-care centers. The city isnot enforcing the teacher-child ratiobecause of cutbacks. And after-schoolprograms for school-age children havebeen cut.

The city refuses to pay for the buildingleases of after-school programs. Bloom-berg is putting all these programs out tobid to private companies.

Stokely warns that these policies willcost a lot. Understaffed facilities are dan-gerous to workers and deprive children ofproper care. She noted that some of thewomen in her union work with childrenwho have serious emotional problems. Atroubled teenaged girl severely burnedone worker, who was unable to get help ina crisis situation.

“When TANF was cut, mothers receiv-ing public assistance were forced to go towork. Now, if they get wage increases of aslittle as $2 a month, they are denied daycare. What are they to do?”

Stokely continued, “These cutbacks rep-resent tremendous losses for the commu-nities.”

A day-care teacher on Long Island toldWorkers World that 30 children have beencut from a school that services over 200children. The teacher said that “the par-ents and children were in tears when theylearned they were no longer eligible forday care.” An assistant teacher who makes$7 an hour added, “Many of our class-rooms are understaffed since we can’t findqualified people to work for these wages.”

Child care can cost parents $4,000 to$12,000 a year—more than public collegetuition. The co-payments poor familieshave to pay are over $400 a month in moststates. (tompaine.com)

Stokely concluded: “1707 workersbelieve day care is a right, as do the par-ents of their students. The activists in thecommunities are forming groups. There isa groundswell calling for day care to beexpanded, not destroyed.

“When the bosses try to separate us byrace or nationality, workers see how thetwo-tier system hurts them, how they aredivided so that the bosses can take awaypension rights and health care. Theyunderstand that they have to be unifiedand make alliances with the communitiesthey work in.”

Last June in New York it was the womenof District Council 1707, the only publicemployees working without a contract atthe time, who struck. Their three-day workstoppage demonstrated their militancy.And when 1707 walked, the children, par-ents and grandparents did too-walking thepicket lines alongside their day-care teach-ers and staffers.

Stokely criticized union leaders who callfor “class peace” when conditions facingpublic workers call for militancy and strug-gle.

A leading organizer for the MillionWorker March, which ties the U.S. war onIraq to the cutbacks in social spending,Stokely says: “While this government does-n’t blink an eye as it spends $300 milliona day in its quest to subjugate another peo-ple and their resources, it turns a deaf earto the cries of the day-care workers andother working families in need of a livablewage.

“It is therefore necessary for workingpeople to connect the attacks on their rightto just wages and to organize with the cut-backs in government spending for educa-tion, health care, and safe and affordablehousing.”

KANSAS ..

Lesbian-gay victory over bigotry By Minnie Bruce Pratt

Voters in Topeka, Kan., beat back aMarch 1 attempt to repeal two city ordi-nances protecting lesbians and gay men.One prohibited discrimination in munici-pal hiring. The other banned hate crimescommitted because of a victim’s sexualorientation.

The victory is a stunning rebuke to arch-bigot Rev. Fred Phelps, Sr., who runs anational anti-gay campaign from hisWestboro Baptist Church in the city.

Voters rejected the repeal, called the“Phelps Amendment” locally, by a count of14,285 to 12,795. Phelps is notorious forhis 1998 protest at the funeral of MatthewShepard, a Wyoming gay college studentbrutally beaten to death. Phelps also pick-eted a Birmingham, Ala., vigil for BillyJack Gaither, a gay white man also beatento death in 1999.

Phelps’ group travels across the U.S.demonstrating at gay-related events,including funerals of people who havedied of AIDS. Its members picket withsigns bearing anti-homosexual hatespeech.

Underlining the victory was the same-day defeat of Phelps’ granddaughter, JaelPhelps, who ran for Topeka city council,but drew only 202 votes. In contrast, openlesbian Tiffany Muller got 1,329 votes anda place on the April general election bal-lot. (New York Blade)

The election outcome is an encouragingsign in Kansas, where right-wing forceshave also pressed to limit women’s abor-tion rights. Kansas Attorney General PhilKline is attempting to scapegoat womenwho have had late-term abortions, and theclinics and doctors who performed theprocedures. Kline has subpoenaedwomen’s personal records, with the chill-

ing implication that state officials, ratherthan physicians, will decide whether theprocedures were “medically necessary.”

Kansas was the site of the “OperationRescue” anti-abortion attacks on women’sclinics in 1991, a campaign that moved toBuffalo, N.Y., in 1992. A coalition ofwomen activists and allies in WorkersWorld Party, ACT-UP, Women’s HealthAction and Mobilization (WHAM), NOW,and the ProChoice Network formedBuffalo United for Choice, which stoppedthe right-wing cold in pitched street bat-tles in April of that year.

It was also a broad Topeka coalition thatdefeated this year’s Phelps amendment. Ata local election party of hundreds, thecrowd cheered the defeat. Lawyer PedroIrigonegaray celebrated the victory: “Onbehalf of Topekans for equality, justice,” asthe group shouted together, “Freedom!”(Topeka Capitol Journal, March 1)

Brenda Stokely in near zero degrees inNew York City speaks at pressconference for the Troops Out Nowrally. WW PHOTO: JOHN CATALINOTTO

www.workers.org March 24, 2005 Page 7

Women in struggle around the worldBy Kathy Durkin

If you glance at newspaper headlines orat internet news sites, you might get theidea that International Women’s Day is allabout Laura Bush speaking at a round-table discussion about “equality in theMiddle East.”

Nothing could be further from the truth.Women the world over despise the Bushadministration and its whole program,which harms women in Asia, Africa, LatinAmerica, the Caribbean, the Middle East-in fact, everywhere.

Internationally, women have fordecades fought back against the imperi-alist governments’ programs and actions.The current Bush regime is no exception.

The U.S. government lied about inter-vening in Afghanistan to “protect women’srights.” In fact, after U.S. bombing andoccupation, Afghan women now live interrible conditions, in poverty, wanting forhealth care and housing, with a 14- percentilliteracy rate and “a maternal mortalityrate 60 times more than in industrializedcountries.” (IRIN News)

Washington may cry crocodile tearsabout women’s rights in Iraq. But the warand occupation have killed and injuredtens of thousands of Iraqi women andtheir children, destroyed much of the priorquality of life, and led to impoverishment,homelessness and lack of medical care.

Palestinian women and their familieshave faced U.S.-backed Israeli attacks andrepression resulting in many deaths andinjuries, imprisonment, house demolitionsand land theft. Yet they continue to boldlyparticipate in the struggle in all areas.

International Women’s Day is a yearlycommemoration synonymous with strug-gle. Since its founding in 1910 by socialistwomen, this day has been marked by cre-ative, militant actions: strikes, prisonbreakouts, and sit-ins and marchesagainst imperialist war, globalization,poverty, exploitation and all forms ofinequality.

Here are some high-lights of this year’sprotests on InternationalWomen’s Day.

Ten thousand Haitianwomen and their sup-porters marched in aLavalas-led InternationalWomen’s Day protest inBel-Air in Port-au-Prince.They demanded releaseof their loved onesimprisoned in the National Penitentiary,reinstatement of democratically electedPresident Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whowas ousted in a February 2004 U.S.-backed coup, and respect for their rights.Women clad in white carried photographsof their family members who’d been mur-dered for supporting Aristide’s return.(Haiti News)

Philippine women held varied actions.Some with faces covered with masks ofU.S. President George W. Bush andPhilippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and others with fists raised, theymarched at Manila’s Malacanang Palacefor equal rights in all spheres.

Pilakk, Makalaya and Likhaan, centersfor women’s health and urban poorwomen and youth, led a march to theHouse of Representatives in Quezon Cityto demand passage of a critically neededreproductive-rights bill that the reac-tionary Catholic Church hierarchy isimpeding. (news.inq7.net)

This struggle has become a rallying cryfor many sectors, but it especially affectspoor women. Gabriela and Woman Rage!members joined the protest in QuezonCity on this issue while KPML, Zoto andKasama Ka went to Manila City Hall.

With purple and red flags blazing, 500women and their families gathered at theWelcome Rotunda in Quezon City todenounce President Macapagal-Arroyo’ssales tax hike and higher prices. As theycalled for her ouster, the Gabriela-NCR-led protesters called for higher wages, bet-

ter conditions formigrant workers and forreal “Woman Power.”

Indonesian womenmarked the day all overthe country. Some inSolo, Central Java, ral-lied to protest rising fuelprices. A 29-percent risein those necessities hadsparked student andworker protests in 10

cities on March 1. (Jakarta Post)Kurdish women—carrying Turkish-

language banners reading “No to War”and “We Are Women against Violence”—joined in a march of some 5,000 Turkishwomen in central Istanbul to mark thisspecial day. It was a far cry from March6, when police brutally attacked a pre-International Women’s Day protest inIstanbul, provoking international out-rage.

Demonstrators in Bangladesh, India,Pakistan and elsewhere in Asia called forwomen’s equal rights, including for work-ers, and an end to all repressive laws andphysical and sexual violence againstwomen.

Throughout Latin America, womenmarched and rallied to mark this historicday.

In Asunción, Paraguay, they demon-strated for improved education, healthcare and housing. In Panama City, Pana-ma, they objected to government plans to“reform” Social Security. And theymarched for their rights in Ecuador,Mexico, and El Salvador.

Thousands of Brazilian women ralliedon March 8. On the streets of Rio deJaneiro they chanted, “We want peace.”Indigenous women marched in São Paulo.Women in the Landless Movementdemanded agrarian reform at the doors ofthe Ministry of Economy in Brasília.

Chile’s International Women’s Day wasdedicated to the Communist Party leaderGladys Marin. Tens of thousands paid

tribute at her funeral. Marin, whose lifepartner was “disappeared” during theearly days of the Pinochet regime, hadbeen forced to flee Chile. She joined theunderground resistance in 1978 when shereturned, and until 1990 organized oppo-sition to the brutal U.S.-backed dictator-ship. Marin was a strong fighter forwomen’s rights.

On March 8, the Federation of CubanWomen (FMC) stated that it “will alwayskeep alive the Chilean leader’s struggle forjustice, human integrity and faith for thefuture.”

Women’s equality is codified into thelaw in socialist Cuba. The government,with the leadership of the FMC, strivesconstantly to improve women’s lives andopportunities in all areas.

A Havana rally marked InternationalWomen’s Day. Officiating were FMC’sNational Secretariat and its NationalCommittee, led by President Vilma Espin,“Heroine of the Republic” MelbaHernandez, the mothers and wives of theCuban Five political prisoners jailed in theUnited States, and leaders of theCommunist Party, the government, andmass and student organizations.

President Fidel Castro praised Cubanwomen. He stressed the “extraordinaryrole that women have played in theRevolution” and noted that “women dig-nified the Revolution, which they havetaken to the highest planes that anyprocess has reached.” He called attentionto women’s role in the troops, militias and“all forms of organization that will defendthe country in case of attack or inva-sion.”(Granma)

A celebration the same day at theLeonor Perez Maternity Home in OldHavana illuminated Cuba’s excellenthealth-care system that has led to infantand maternal mortality rates rate that are“the lowest in the continent,” according toDr. Lea Guido, Cuban representative ofthe Pan American Health Organization(periodico26.cu)

‘Stop U.S. war on women, at home and abroad’ By Phebe EckfeldtBoston

“Stop the U.S. war on women at homeand abroad. Money for human needs, notwar!”

This was the theme of an InternationalWomen’s Day celebration hosted by theWomen’s Fightback Network here onMarch 12.

“International” aptly described the par-ticipants and speakers who came to sharetheir struggles. They included women fromLatin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Indiaand the African-American community.

The program was moving, strengthen-ing and uplifting. It was a celebration ofthe lives of poor and working women.

Speakers, poets, musicians and artistsaddressed the crowd through their voicesand their works about the ongoing strug-gles against sexism, racism, poverty, les-bian/bi/trans oppression, for human needsand human rights and against war.

Dorothea Peacock of the WFN put it thisway: “Is there really a war going on herein the U.S. against women? We don’t seeany bombs or fighter jets, do we? Butmany poor and working women feel undersiege, under attack by Bush’s cuts in hous-ing, health care, child care and education.

“The devastation is felt when we can’t

find a job, or there is no food in the fridgeat the end of the week, or not enoughmoney to pay for our child’s asthma med-ication, or we want to go to college butthere are no funds.

“Instead, the Bush administration’spolicy is to give huge bailouts to mega-cor-porations and billions for an ‘endless war’in Iraq. Many women of color live underwarlike conditions, with police occupyingtheir communities, murdering and brutal-izing at will. Immigrant women arebesieged by Homeland Security, whichcan round them up and deport them on amoment’s notice.

“But we won’t shut up,” Peacock vowed.We’ll keep on fighting.”

Kim Rosario’s 19-year-old son is in themilitary in Iraq. An organizer for the anti-war GI support group SNAFU, Rosariotold the crowd: “Women bear the burdenof war and budget cuts when our men aresent off to war or incarcerated. Grand-mothers are left raising their grandchil-

dren. Military recruiters prey on our sonsand daughters. They are stealing our chil-dren’s futures.

“But you do have a voice and you dohave a choice...don’t give up the struggle.Keep marching, keep organizing, keepfighting.” She called on everyone to attendthe March 19 anti-war demonstration inNew York City.

Other speakers included LeiLaniDowell of New York’s Queers for Peaceand Justice and the youth group FIST—

Fight Imperialism-Stand Together; DianeDujon of Survivors Inc. and the Mas-sachusetts Welfare Rights Union; JennyRodriguez and her two daughters whospoke on racial profiling; Oslyn Brumant,a shop steward with the Boston schoolbus drivers’ union, Steel Workers Local8751; and a representative from theHaitian Women’s Association.

Cultural performers included poetsMargaret Campbell, Sharel’le Campbell,Jennifer Badot and Elizabeth Doran, andmusician Lisa Doyle. Women artists dis-played their work at tables set up in theroom.

The meeting was co-chaired by CarolBrown of Dorchester People for Peaceand the International Action Center andMaureen Skehan, a leader of the WFNand a Section 8 housing advocate.

WW PHOTO: RACHEL NASCAKim Rosario: 'Keep marching, keep organizing, keep fighting.'

CENTURY OF STRUGGLE AND PRIDE

Series on Lesbian, gay, bi, trans struggle history by Leslie Feinberg.Read the last 28 segments online at workers.org.

And get a subscription to read the rest in upcoming issues of Workers World!

Page 8 March 24, 2005 www.workers.org

Students increasing inability to meet their quotasthrough the economic draft, and an impe-rialist policy that threatens more wars ofaggression to come, the threat of an “invol-untary” draft looms. However, a move-ment is steadily growing to stop the draftbefore it starts.

FIST and the anti-draft group No DraftNo Way have both issued calls for localactions across the country on March 31.On that day, the Selective Service Systemis to report to President George W. Bushthat it is ready to implement the draftwithin 75 days.

According to the No Draft No Way call:“Right now, the SSS is staffing local draftboards, training volunteer registrars towork on high school and college cam-puses, and streamlining its inductionprocess. They have also gained access tothe Department of Education’s computerfiles, to ensure maximum registration. Itis clear that the Bush administration ispreparing for a draft.”

Connecting the lack of options for work-ing-class youths in the United States withmilitary recruitment, the statement con-tinues: “The same young people that Bushwants to use to fight his wars are findingit harder to pay for their education, findjobs that pay a living wage, or obtain thebasic necessities, like health care or afford-able housing. It is time for young people,who are already under attack from theBush administration, to take a stand.”

Knowing that the return of a draft willresult in an even greater outcry of resist-ance, members of Congress are scram-bling to introduce bills to entice and keepmore recruits in the military. A bill intro-duced March 14 would increase educationbenefits under the GI Bill, and would elim-inate the $1,200 contribution troops nowhave to pay to sign up for the program.

Another bill, dubbed the “MilitaryReadiness Enhancement Act,” seeks to do

Origins of May Day

Many workers in this country do notknow about the origins of May Day. Thisis because of the capitalists’ largely suc-cessful effort to erase working-class his-tory and disassociate today’s workers fromtheir legacy of militant struggle inside thiscountry.

May Day has its origins in the strugglefor better working conditions in theUnited States. The first May Day proteststook place in 1886 when the AmericanFederation of Labor called for a nationalstrike to demand an eight-hour workday.Over 350,000 workers answered the calland participated in the strike.

Cities around the country were para-lyzed as railroads and manufacturingplants were forced to close. Chicago wasparticularly affected by the strike. Aftertwo days of protest, police attacked strik-ing workers, killing six. When workersprotested in Chicago’s Haymarket Squareon May 4, 1886, and 180 cops attacked, abomb was thrown. One cop was killed.Police then fired on the crowd. Two hun-dred people were wounded and seven copslater died, probably from friendly fire.

Eight radical labor leaders wererounded up and framed on charges of con-spiracy. All were found guilty. Seven weresentenced to death.

Albert Parsons, August Spies, George

ished people living in the United States arewomen and their children. (CBS News,“Victims of Minimum Wage”, March 13)

The Bush administration’s agenda hasintensified the conflict between the work-ing class and the ruling class, whose inter-ests are represented by the government.This heightened conflict shows in thegrowing number of desertions from themilitary by working class-soldiers, and inthe increasing number of daylight protestsat and even nocturnal attacks on militaryrecruiting centers around the country.

As the Troops Out Now Coalition looksbeyond the weekend’s demonstrations itwill continue the struggle to integrate theclass war at home within the context of thewar abroad. Black, Latin@, Asian, Arab,Native and white people—members of themultinational working class—make up theleadership of this anti-war coalition andcontribute to its progressive character.

The Million Worker March has madereviving May Day one of its principal aims.The MWM-NYC, a key member of theanti-war coalition, is already working onMay Day here. There is much discussionabout how to revive May Day as a revolu-tionary day of resistance for workers.During its March 9 coalition meeting, theTroops Out Now Coalition decided to jointhis effort to revive May Day.

Anti-war coalition looks to March 19 and May DayBy David HoskinsNew York

Hundreds of thousands of protesterswill hit the streets the weekend of March19-20 to mark the second anniversary ofthe U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The March19 “Troops Out Now” demonstration inNew York City will be at the center of theseprotests.

Protesters will gather in Central Park atnoon for a rally. They will march alongFifth Avenue to billionaire Mayor MichaelBloomberg’s house to demand money torebuild cities instead of for imperialistoccupation. They will be joined by demon-strators marching from the 10 a.m. rally atHarlem’s Marcus Garvey Park.

The Troops Out Now Coalition, meetingevery Wednesday night in Manhattan, hasworked hard to involve in the war resist-ance effort those in this country mostaffected by the occupation of Iraq: theworking class and the oppressed commu-nities of color. Linking the war againstIraq to the struggle for jobs, health careand education inside the United States hasbeen a large part of this effort.

The combined cost of the Iraqi andAfghani occupations is almost $6 billion amonth. Meanwhile, poverty and home-lessness skyrocket inside the UnitedStates. Most of the 40 million impover-

Engle and Adolph Fischer were executed.One defendant committed suicide andthree others were eventually pardoned.

In 1889, the communist SecondInternational declared May 1 an interna-tional working-class holiday in commem-oration of the Haymarket martyrs. MayDay has lived on for more than a centuryas an international day of protest for themost class-conscious workers around theworld.

What better way to call attention to theinternational class struggle and demandthat U.S. imperialism stop its assault onworkers at home and abroad than to usethis year’s May Day to highlight the con-nection between domestic class struggleand foreign occupation?

As protesters around the country gearup for the March 19 actions, anti-warorganizers are saying it is important tolook ahead. They say the struggle to rein-vigorate May Day will help the workingclass get back in touch with its militant his-tory, and strengthen it for the struggles to

By Usavior

“Men and women of all ages and races have come togetherto say in one voice, that we want Troops Out Now and forever, not only from the war in Iraq, but from futurewars that will oppress the poor.”

So say the artists and activists who lent their voices tothe phenomenal Troops Out Now CD project.

The CD’s release was timed to coincide with the March 19Troops Out Now demonstration, which will start in Harlem,and proceed down Fifth Avenue to Central Park. This“soundtrack for the movement” sports an impressive rosterof musicians: Nana Soul, Spiritchild, Fifth Column, SparlhaSwa, Pam Parker & Jobari, Latisha Divine, Kahlil Khan,Goldie Braun and Rochester’s Raging Grannies, as well asveteran activists like Larry Holmes, Sara Flounders, TeresaGutierrez, Nellie Hester-Bailey, Brenda Stokely, Julie Fry,Charlotte Kates, Erik-Anders Nilsson, Narciso Castillo,Seth Tobocman (who was responsible for the cover art) andlast but certainly not least Mumia Abu-Jamal.

“We wanted to take music to a new level,” says NanaSoul, spokesperson for Artists and Activists United forPeace and a recording artist on Black Waxx Records. “ It’stime to re-politicize art…[trying to achieve and maintainfreedom]… there’s nothing else I’d rather sing about.”

The CD took three weeks to produce which is unheard of“unless you have a level of commitment from everyone soprofound that everything just flows,” says Shawna Gloverof Black Waxx Records and Artists and Activists United forPeace. “In the music industry you can’t get anything donewithout eighteen signatures. But for this project, we tookcare of business—fast.”

Though grassroots in sentiment, the presentation is any-thing but. The CD project showcases some of the hottestmusic and arrangements in professional music today. “Themovement just kicked it up a notch,” says Bob Law of thefamed radio show Night Talk. “Now we’ve got to get thismusic on the radio. Mainstream media is not allowing

these voices to be heard, and this music is ten times betterthan anything they’re playing today.”

The Troops Out Now CD Project is educational as well asentertaining, containing statistics on the cost of this war inmoney and lives, the wars’ origins, and the lies surrounding it.

Visit www.blackwaxx.com or www.troopsoutnow.org. formore information or to get the CD.

Tylon “Usavior” Washington is the producer of the TroopsOut Now CD Project.

Continuation from page 1

BLACK WAXX CD PROJECT .

Music, minds & movement for peace

Friday, MARCH 18. . .Hip Hop concert at the Oberia Dempsey Centerat 127 W. 127th St. in Harlem from 7 p.m. to 12 midnight.Featuring Nana Soul, Hicoup and Haasan, Mental Notes,Afi, Bomani, Head Roc, Verses, Komplex, and Tylibah. $10 suggested donation....Benefit for the Troops OUT NOW Coalition

Saturday MARCH 19. . . Troops Out NowReception After the rally – 5 to 9 p.m., The New School, 55 W. 13th St. Between 5th & 6th Aves

Featuring Piano virtuoso Consuela Lee, Social Justice Singer/Activist Pam Parker, Black WaxxRecording Artist Nana Soul, Spirit Child and Kahlil Khan of the Artist and Activist Collective Movement in Motionand many more. . . Free of charge!

www.workers.org March 24, 2005 Page 9

away with the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policyinstituted during the Clinton administra-tion - not because it discriminates againstgays and lesbians, but because it wastesmoney and the skills of those recruits whoare kicked out.

Yet these stopgap solutions won’t solvethe Pentagon’s crisis. According to a studyby a group called Gfk Custom Research,the risks of military services “are perceivedto far outweigh the rewards for the vastmajority of youth.” And the chair of theHouse Armed Services Committee’s mili-tary personnel panel has said he sees therecruiting problem “getting progressivelyworse before it gets better.” (ArmyTimes.com)

Counter-recruiters win some

Meanwhile, counter-recruiters con-tinue to successfully win battles againstrecruiters on their campuses. In SanFrancisco, protesters with StudentsAgainst War were able to force recruitersto leave an hour early from that school’scareer fair. A protester told the schoolpaper, “They realized that we weren’tgoing anywhere and they weren’t going torecruit anyone, so they left.”

Other organizations, whose recruit-ment efforts were also hampered by theprotest, said they would “ask more ques-tions” before paying to attend the job fairagain. If enough organizations end upcomplaining about the protests, it mightmake the administration think againabout having the recruiters at futurecareer fairs.

In Bloomington, Minn., students atKennedy High School won the right to setup a counter-recruitment table next to themilitary recruiters’ table, despite threatsby the American Legion to pull fundingfrom the school. In a commentary postedon the Pulse of the Twin Cities website,students Brandon Madsen and MattJohnson described their first action: “Therecruiters’ table was abandoned.

‘Save the hospital, stop the war’

Meanwhile, our table was mobbed by hun-dreds of interested students who askedquestions, signed petitions, took fliers andpamphlets, and discussed politics. By theend of the day we collected 120 signaturesfor the petition against recruiters beingallowed to invade our school. Over 100more signed in the following days.”

The students explained: “It is essentialthat we stand up and take action againstmilitary recruiters. The entire U.S. war

By John ParkerLos Angeles

In keeping with the spirit of the “TroopsOut Now” coalition, the Los AngelesInternational Action Center is organizinga Troops Out Now Caravan for March 19.It will feature decorated cars and a soundsystem to amplify the theme of “Moneyfor Health Care, Not War, Save KingDrew.”

The caravan will begin at the King-Drew Medical Center in South LosAngeles, and proceed to the anti-war rallyin Hollywood called by the ANSWERCoalition.

Why King-Drew? Organizers say thisfacility is located in a community that isalready underserved, with fewer health-care facilities per resident than the stateaverage. This community has organizedin defiance of the threat of closure, hold-ing demonstrations of thousands.

“We in the progressive and anti-warmovement need to do more to link upwith their efforts since the struggle forhealth care involves all of us, especially asit relates to the war and its life-drainingbudget,” reads an IAC statement on theaction.

Organizers say the planning of this

event is going well, with promised partic-ipation from representatives of ServiceEmployees Local 660, including the shopsteward at King-Drew and members of theSave the King Drew Committee. Endor-

Growing world resistance stallsBush offensive Bush never dreamed that two years after his brutal,

unprovoked aggression he would be bogged down facing

a determined resistance and worldwide demonstrations

demanding: 'TROOPS OUT NOW!'

By Fred Goldstein

Two years ago, on March 20, 2003, inthe middle of the night, a barrage of thou-sands of tons of U.S. bombs and missilescoming from land and sea rained down onthe banks of the Euphrates River in asneak attack which destroyed dozens ofgovernment buildings and numerouscivilian facilities.

The flashes of the exploding bombscrashing into Baghdad were played overand over on television in the U.S. asWashington military pundits and “embed-ded” journalists touted the so-called“shock and awe” strategy of overwhelmingforce which was calculated to paralyze theIraqi government into a quick surrenderand subdue the people without a fight. Butin the end it was only the big-businessjournalists who were “awed” by the attack.

The Iraqi government never surren-dered. The army and the guerrilla forcesresisted heroically for several weeks. Thenthey all melted away to regroup as the FirstInfantry Division occupied Baghdad. TheU.S. military high command was pho-tographed smiling triumphantly in theRepublican Palace, gloating over their“lightning” dash from Kuwait. But thismood was short-lived.

The Bush administration never dreamed

that two years after its brutal, unprovokedwar of aggression it would be bogged downin a guerrilla war facing a determinedresistance and worldwide demonstrationsdemanding “Troops out now!”

The advance of the world’s greatest so-called “super-power” towards total worlddomination has ground to a halt under theblows of the Iraqi resistance. A deter-mined section of the masses of people,without any governmental leadership, andwith the behind-the-scenes support of amuch broader section of the population,has organized itself into multiple fightingforces capable of cooperation and coordi-nation against an enemy with vastly supe-rior firepower and unspeakable brutality.

And Washington’s problems are multi-plying rapidly. It was six weeks ago thatthe media and the White House hailed theelections in Iraq as the “beginning ofdemocracy.” But there is still no puppetgovernment because the opportunistpoliticians, clerics and so-called nationalleaders are consumed with infighting overthe division of influence. When theyfinally sort it out, they will discover thatthey are a government in name only, with-out a state, and that they are a public coverfor the real state—which is the U.S. mili-tary occupation.

In addition, Washington has grown

more isolated each month. Its so-called“coalition of the willing” is getting smallerand smaller. The Italian, Dutch andUkrainian governments have allannounced they are pulling out. TheSpanish government already pulled out itstroops, as did the Portuguese.

Demonstration of vulnerability

The Iraq War was supposed to demon-strate the might of U.S. imperialism.Instead it has demonstrated its extremevulnerability to organized, mass resist-ance. Washington has to relearn the les-son that you cannot conquer a people fromthe air. It takes troops on the ground totake territory from a people determined tofight and a government which will not sur-render.

But putting troops on the ground in aforeign country whose people have foughtagainst colonialism brings only resistance.This is the lesson of Vietnam and this is thelesson of Iraq.

The intimidation tactics of the Bushadministration worldwide have only fur-

ther revealed the limitations of Wash-ington. Bush began his second term bythreatening Iran and even floating reportsabout having attack plans, U.S. spies onthe ground and unleashing Israel’s ArielSharon government to bomb nuclear facil-ities if the Iranians refused to renouncenuclear research.

The Iranian government has refused tobow down to Bush’s threats. Instead theTehran government has restated its rightto carry on nuclear research as a matter ofsustainable development for the country.It vowed never to give it up and has toldBush and the Europeans that attacks orsanctions will lead to resistance.

With 150,000 U.S. troops bogged downin Iraq, Washington had to back off itsimmediate military threat to Iran. Insteadit decided to zero in on Syria. Iran has 70million people, oil reserves, vast territory,including mountains, and a large army. Itsrevolution against the hated U.S.-backedShah, who handed Iranian oil over to U.S.

machine relies on the willingness of youngpeople to join the military and carry outthe imperialist policies ordered by corruptpoliticians. If we build a mass movementof young people against the war thatexposes the lies of Bush and the militaryrecruiters, the military will be unable toguarantee a stable supply of youth to useas cannon fodder.

“We can’t count on the government orour school administrators to stop military

Continuation on page 12

sers include UNITE Here Local 11 Pre-sident Maria Elena Durazo, CISPES-LA,Puerto Rican Alliance, Bayan-USA, KRSTUnity Center for African Spirituality andLatinos Against the War.

recruiters from spreading their lies. Weneed to take it upon ourselves to educateand organize our fellow students, and tomake our schools off-limits to recruiters.If every time they show up we provide anoverwhelmingly unwelcome environ-ment, they will simply stop coming.Already at Kennedy, in stark contrast tothe six to 10 recruiters who usually showup, only one came this time.”

International Women’s History Month 2005

“WOMENINSTRUGGLE”Film Screening

THURSDAY

March 24 7 pm5274 W Pico Blvd. #203, Los Angeles 323-936-7266 • www.iacenterla.org

Hear: Filmmaker Buthina Canaan Khour y

"Women in Struggle" is a documentary film that interviews four Palestinian women who telltheir stories of withstanding unimaginable tortureand long years of imprisonment by Israel for the“crime” of wanting to free their people and theirland from the U.S.-backed Israeli state.

Sponsored: Al-Awda - Palestine Right to Return Coalition & International Action Center

resist military recruitment

Page 10 March 24, 2005 www.workers.org

By Teresa GutierrezNew York

Cuba solidarity activists who have beenat the forefront of defying the U.S. travelban are now aiming to ratchet up thestruggle against those decades-longrestrictions.

On March 5 in New York City over 120people took part in a Cuba TravelConference organized by IFCO/Pastorsfor Peace, Venceremos Brigade and Centerfor Cuban Studies. It was endorsed by sev-eral other organizations.

Not only Cuba-solidarity activists but allU.S. residents face a new period with regardto travel to Cuba. The conference urged theprogressive movement to consider inten-sifying the campaign to defy the ban.

In the last two years, the Bush admin-istration has carried out several ominousmeasures that threaten Cuba and curtailU.S. residents’ civil rights.

The U.S. travel ban on Cuba is nothingnew. But neither is the struggle to defy thatban. Bob Guild, director of Marazul Tours,explained that travel to Cuba is not a priv-ilege but a right.

In 1958, in the case Kent v. Dulles, free-dom to travel anywhere was established asa Fifth Amendment guarantee. And underthe Helsinki agreements of 1975, the U.S.agreed to “commit to the free flow of peo-ple and ideas.”

But when Cuban revolutionaries tookdestiny in their own hands on Jan. 1, 1959,Cuba forever earned the ire of U.S. impe-rialism. Travel to Cuba from then onbecame a very political issue.

Since 1961, both Democratic andRepublican administrations—with a briefexception under the Carter administra-tion, which lifted controls in 1977—havedone everything in their power to preventU.S. residents from traveling to Cuba.

Beginning in 1961, the U.S. restrictedtravel to Cuba via passport controls. AnAfrican American journalist, WilliamWorthy, challenged the passport controls,much as Paul Robeson did regarding hispersonal travel ban. Worthy won his fightagainst the government in 1964.

The government then restricted travelto Cuba via currency controls under theregulations of the illegal 1963 blockadeagainst Cuba. The blockade against Cubais the longest such policy in U.S. history.

Supreme Court Justice William O.Douglas stated in 1964: “Freedom ofmovement is the very essence of our freesociety.” Yet since 1963 the U.S. has triedto prevent the people of this country fromtraveling to Cuba.

But not a single year since the triumphof the revolution goes by that thousands

of people travel to revolutionary Cuba indefiance of the travel ban.

In 1962 student and progressiveactivists began to defy the ban. Starting in1969, thousands went to cut sugar cane orparticipate in construction brigades.

Not even U.S.-sponsored terroristattacks could prevent travel to Cuba. In1973 the Center for Cuban Studies, forexample, was bombed for organizingtravel to Cuba. The Local 1199 hall wasbombed, injuring a union worker, after theunion hosted the ExpoCuba exhibition.Nonetheless, for over thirty years Local1199 has warmly and enthusiastically wel-comed Cuba events.

Travel agents have been assassinated inthe U.S. and in Puerto Rico for arrangingtravel to Cuba, Guild detailed. In 1976,throughout Latin America, Cubana Airlineoffices were bombed.

But none of these efforts—-from pass-port restrictions to terrorist attacks—-have stopped people from the U.S. fromtraveling to Cuba.

Sandra Levinson, director of the Centerfor Cuban Studies, stated at the confer-ence, “We need to take back the right towhat we have always done.”

U.S. imperialism desperate

In 2004 the Bush administration car-ried out measures against Cuba that rep-resent a gathering storm against the island.

Ominous declarations from Secretary ofState Condoleezza Rice and UnitedNations Ambassador John Boltonthreaten “regime change” in Cuba. TheState Department continues to place Cubaon the list of terrorist nations, stating thatCuba poses a security threat to the U.S.

The measures also target CubanAmericans. Travel to Cuba by CubanAmericans was restricted to one trip everythree years. The family was re-defined andthe Bush administration said aunts or closefriends no longer had the right to visitCuba. This was a slap to Cuban Americanswhose concept of family is very differentthan mainstream culture in the U.S.

Under the “people to people” exchangeexpanded by President Bill Clinton in1999, as many as 100,000 U.S. citizenswere allowed to visit Cuba legally. Tripswere organized by a broad array of groups—- from the American Museum of NaturalHistory to the Stanford Alumni to univer-sity Latin American studies departments.

Some analysts described this “people topeople” policy as Track II: try to overturnthe Cuban Revolution from the inside,with waves of North Americans who couldpossibly create an unstable situationinside the country. These efforts had someresults.

The U.S. InterestsSection in Havanawas able to galvanizea group of counter-revolutionary Cubans who were enticedwith money and other ploys. The Cubangovernment was forced to check thesecounter-revolutionary efforts by arresting75 right-wingers in 2003.

But for every North American whomight have prodded counter-revolution-ary behavior, many others became loyaldefenders of the Cuban Revolution.Furthermore, it forced many to ponder:why is life in the U.S. so very different?

U.S. imperialism’s Track II approach—subversion by encouraging contact—clearly was not working.

Track I is the approach to try to sabo-tage the revolution from the outside, withexternal hostile acts such as the blockadeand terrorism.

The Bush administration has severelyslashed licensed trips to Cuba. Now fewereducational institutions or faith-basedgroups can get licenses to travel.

What is it about Cuba?

From the very beginning of the revolu-tion, Cuba attracted the attention and sol-idarity of revolutionary and progressivepeople around the world. Somethingabout Cuba created a powerful magnetthat drew people to it despite the bestefforts of U.S. imperialism.

That something was the revolutionarysocialist character of Cuba. Many people,once they travel to Cuba, will do every-thing in their power to return.

They feel that way because Cuba repre-sents revolutionary hope. Cuba representsthe aspirations of billions. It especiallyrepresents the aspirations of the oppres-sed that yearn to break free of the choke-hold of oppression that imperialism hasimposed on so many.

In Cuba, one can walk the streets andfeel solidarity, not alienation, free of fearfrom racist killer police or the violence thatmarks life under capitalism. For those whofall ill, health care is totally free. They don’thave to worry about having “insurance.”

Cuba shows that a society diametricallyopposed to capitalism and imperialismcan be built. A popular chant at anti-wardemonstrations says it well: “Cuba sends

doctors, Bush sends bombs.”

Time to pay Cuba back

The Rev. Lucius Walker, executivedirector of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, poseda challenge not only those present at theconference but to everyone who is con-cerned with justice.

“Nothing has been gained without astruggle,” Walker declared. Things wouldbe so different today, he stated, if RosaParks had continued to sit in the back ofthe bus.

“What if Fannie Lou Hamer had notgotten tired of being tired?” he asked.“What about the actions of Dr. MartinLuther King or what if SNCC had notdecided to take to the streets to use cre-ative means to challenge Jim Crow?”

Walker clarified that we the movementis in a similar position today with regardsto U.S. policy towards Cuba.

“If people refuse to obey the law, it can-not be enforced,” he said. On the table isthe challenge to travel to Cuba withoutlicenses, and to do it in large numbers, inorder to break the ban on travel to Cuba.

This summer progressives, anti-warand student activists, labor, youths andeveryone are urged to participate in travelchallenges to Cuba. You can organize yourown travel challenge. Or people can signonto the travel challenges already beingorganized by good friends of Cuba such asPastors for Peace and the VenceremosBrigade.

To get information on these trips, visitwww.ifconews.org or www.venceremos.org. Readers can also call the InternationalAction Center at (212) 633-6646. ThePastors for Peace trip will take place fromJuly 5 to Aug. 1, and the VB from July 21to Aug. 1.

Walker concluded: “We have the powerto make change if we care to use thispower. If we use it the way the civil rightsmovement used it to challenge Jim Crowand racism, we can change things.Frederick Douglass said without strugglethere is no progress.”

Now is the time to break the ban ontravel to Cuba.

‘Free theCuban 5’

WW PHOTO: SHARON DANANN

Martha Grevatt speaks on Cuban 5.

Activists from all over Cleveland packedthe ACLU headquarters March 13 for thecity’s premier showing of “MissionAgainst Terror,” a film telling the story offive Cuban heroes who gathered intelli-gence against Miami-based anti-commu-nist Cuban exiles who plotted terroristattacks against Cuba. The Five are nowimprisoned as spies in the U.S.

The Rev. Joan Campbell, former headof the National Council of Churches, whotravels to Cuba regularly and has met thefamilies of the Cuban Five, moved theaudience to tears with her remarks.

Many expressed interest in furtheractivity locally to support the Five, and$300 was collected for their defense.

—Martha Grevatt

‘Bush says no, we say go!’

Solidarity movement asserts right to visit Cuba

Rev. LuciusWalker, front rightchallenges travel

ban. Walker onone of his many

trips to Cuba.

GeradoHernández

RamonLabañino

Antonio Guerrero

FernandoGonzález

René González

www.workers.org March 24, 2005 Page 11

Step forward for the Bolivarian Revolution

Venezuelan workers take overpaper-production plant

gle for the endogenous development of thehomeland begins, which means workingin equal conditions, the workers alongwith the revolutionary government, forthe benefit of the community and for allthe Venezuelan people rather than for theindividual’s benefit.”

On Feb. 6, in the “Aló Presidente” pro-gram, President Chávez hosted the Vene-pal workers, now called the VenezuelanIndustry of Pulp and Paper or Invernal,SA, created Jan. 19. There it wasannounced that the state will own 51 per-cent and the workers’ coop the remaining49 percent of the enterprise. This modelcould also be repeated in other paperplants, particularly those in Maracay.

On Dec. 2, 2004, the Banking Tribunalruled for Venepal bankruptcy. This pro-voked an increase of workers’ mobilizations.

Then on Jan. 7, 2005, the VenezuelanNational Assembly ruled that the Venepalestate is a public utility. As such, it is sub-ject to state action, aimed to protect theindustry as important for Venezuela’spaper production and as a source of jobs.

Ten days later, on Jan. 17, the govern-ment confirmed the expropriation of allVenepal’s assets including the processingplant, the 5,600-hectare forest, the elec-tric plant, etc.

This decree also stated the right of theworkers to co-administer the plant. At themoment the workers are organizing acooperative to manage the plant in con-junction with the state. In two to threeyears, the plant should be in the hands ofthe workers as their collective property.

Venezuela now imports more than 60percent of the materials used for paperproduction. The educational missions orprograms that the Bolivarian Revolutionhas been implementing require massiveamounts of paper products for books,notebooks and other materials.

A leap forward

Colmenarez said the seizure is a quali-tative leap that not only will allow the pro-duction of educational material but willalso mean a political advance. It will markthe beginning of what is called “co-admin-istration,” an effort between the 352 work-ers who remained in the plant and thestate, where both will share the responsi-bility of running the industry.

On Jan. 31 Labor Minister MaríaCristina Iglesias said, “Now the new strug-

Chávez said that this is “the year of theeconomy and of a lot of politics.” He saidthat much effort will be placed in develop-ing a productive economy, in the frame-work of the “leap forward” (advancementboth political and economically) of therevolution.

He warned owners of idle businesses:“If an entrepreneur abandons his ship, wewill take it over.”

To direct the cooperative enterpriseaway from the capitalist model, Chávezhas said, “The revolutionary cooperativemust be developed within 21st-centurysocialism.”

Along with the Cuban government,

By Berta Joubert-Ceci

Faced with death threats to BolivarianRepublic President Hugo Chávez and not-so-veiled pressure from the United States,the youthful Venezuelan Revolution istenaciously pushing ahead new anti-capi-talist measures for the benefit of its work-ing-class population. One of these is thenew Invepal, SA, enterprise.

During the last World Social Forumheld in Porto Alegre, Brazil, WorkersWorld interviewed Elio Colmenarez, exec-utive assistant to Venezuelan Minister ofLabor María Cristina Iglesias, who hadbeen working closely with the workers inthe Venepal (now Invepal) paper industry.The following background of the develop-ing enterprise is based on that conversa-tion with Colmenarez.

Venepal or Venezuelan paper is anindustry that for 50 years milled paperproducts, and one of the two major papercompanies in the country that was finan-cially successful until 1996. Due to produc-tion cutbacks and abandonment of mar-kets, it then closed some of its operations.

Two years ago Venepal filed for bank-ruptcy and 18 months ago it closed theplant, laying off its workers. Venepal work-ers refused this closure and remained inthe plant. They continued operations asbest they could until last August when thecompany completely ceased to buy rawmaterials.

Since then, workers have stayed in theplant, preventing management fromtransporting raw material or machineryout. At the same time workers organizedstreet mobilizations demanding the gov-ernment expropriate the plant.

LATIN AMERICAN ROUNDUP By Berta Joubert-Ceci

BOLIVIAHistoric unity of social movements

In October 2003, Bolivian PresidentGonzalo “Goni” Sánchez de Lozada wasforced out of office by massive demonstra-tions of the poor and Indigenous popula-tion. The people firmly and militantlyopposed his neoliberal measures, particu-larly the privatization and takeover bytransnational corporations of the country’swater, gas and other natural resources.

Carlos Mesa, who took Sánchez deLozada’s place on a program againstneoliberalism, has clearly aligned himselfwith the wealthy and the transnationalcorporations. At the same time PresidentMesa vowed to penalize the massive socialmovement that helped put him in office.

On March 6 Mesa announced he wasresigning. He said the country wasungovernable due to massive protests inthe form of widespread militant road-blocks. His resignation had to be approvedby Congress. Many suspected it was a ployto mobilize support for himself. Threedays later the Congress made it knownthat it would refuse his resignation.

In a theatrical pronunciation, Mesathen summoned his wealthy allies to stagedemonstrations against the roadblocks.This reminded many of the tactics of theVenezuelan opposition.

The rich mobilized the middle classes tofollow Mesa’s orders. They poured into thestreets waving white handkerchiefs,

shouting viciously racist slogans againstthe Indigenous leaders of the social move-ment, particularly Evo Morales, who isAymara.

The result has been a profound polar-ization of Bolivian society.

This crisis has produced an historicunity among the social movements thathad been divided until now. The BolivianWorkers Central of mine worker JaimeSolares, Felipe Quispe’s Bolivian WorkersConfederation, the coca growers federa-tions and Movement Towards Socialism(MAS) led by Evo Morales, Coordinationfor the Defense of Gas, Federation ofNeighborhood Boards of El Alto, andmany other organizations of peasants, thelandless, students, teachers, unemployedand small businesses joined to sign a“Revolutionary Pact of Unity.”

The new front will meet to deepen thestruggle for dignity and sovereignty thatthey had been carrying on as independententities.

URUGUAYVictory of left-center front

On March 1 Uruguay inaugurated a newpresident, Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, an oncol-ogist from a poor family, born in the work-ing-class barrio of La Teja.

Vázquez is the first Uruguayan presi-dent from the left. He won the electionsthrough a Broad Front representing thevarious progressive forces, from theTupamaro guerrillas to some of the left-

center parties. His victory put an end to a succession

of administrations of the conservativeparties of Blancos (Whites) and Colorados(Reds).

Coming in the wake of Venezuela’sHugo Chavez, Vázquez’s election has cre-ated high expectations. On March 1 peo-ple greeted each other with salutations of“Happy New Year.” They are looking for-ward to the possibility of a Uruguay whoseyouth, long forced to emigrate in search ofjobs, might now have reason to come backand help create a new country.

Tabaré and Uruguay face a very difficultroad ahead, with high poverty, unemploy-ment and a dwindling economy. Extra-ordinary measures are needed to raise upthe masses and the country withoutbetraying the population who put theirtrust in a progressive candidate. At thesame time, the constant threat of imperi-alist intervention must be kept at bay.

COLOMBIARegime extradites revolutionaries to U.S.

The government of President ÁlvaroUribe Vélez has complied with Wash-ington’s demands that it extradite revolu-tionaries from Colombia to be tried inU.S. courts. This tactic sets a dangerousprecedent that goes against the interna-tional standard of respect for nationalsovereignty.

Last December, Colombia extraditedrevolutionary Ricardo Palmera, aliasSimón Trinidad, an international repre-sentative of the Revolutionary ArmedForces of Colombia-People’s Army(FARC-EP), to the U.S.

Now Uribe plans to extradite anotherhigh-ranking member of the same revolu-tionary group. This time it is a woman,known as Sonia, who Washington wantsto use as a witness against Palmera.

Sonia was taken from El Buen Pastorwomen’s prison in Bogotá under heavysecurity and is being kept under strict sur-veillance in the north of the country,awaiting extradition to the U.S.

Both the FARC-EP and the NationalLiberation Army (ELN) are popular revo-lutionary guerrilla organizations arisingfrom the extreme poverty caused by impe-rialism’s plunder of Colombia.

Peace- and justice-loving people allover the world should oppose this danger-ous move by the Bush administration andthe Colombian regime. The FARC and theELN have the right to fight for the con-struction of a new and just Colombia.

VENEZUELACoup plotters can be retried

A landmark pronouncement by theVenezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justiceon March 11 will allow four former militaryofficers aligned with the organizers of the

Continued on page 12

Venezuela President Hugo Chávez’s supporters protest U.S. threats toVenezuela's sovereignty March 12 in Caracas. Banner showing U.S. aircraftcarrier reads: 'Shark, what are you looking for on my shores.'

Continued on page 12

Page 12 March 24, 2005 www.workers.org

companies and tortured revolutionariesand progressives, is still very much alivein the country.

Syria is a much smaller and poorercountry with only 18 million people, aboutthe size of North Dakota. The U.S. militaryis now in Iraq, on the Syrian border. Buteven to go after Syria, Washington beganby trying to drive Syria out of an evensmaller country, neighboring Lebanon,with just 4 million people.

The U.S. attempted to use right-wingforces in Lebanon to undermine Hez-bollah and Syria. It has branded Hezbollahas a “terrorist” organization, even thoughit is regarded throughout Lebanon and theMiddle East as a national liberation move-ment responsible for driving the Israelisfrom southern Lebanon in 2000.

The U.S. campaign backfired whenHezbollah, the so-called “terrorist” group,organized the poor and the downtroddenof Lebanon, mostly Shiites, in a massiveanti-U.S. demonstration of a million peo-ple on March 8. And 300,000 demon-strated against the bullying of Syria in thesouthern Lebanese city of Nabariyeh a fewdays later. Thousands demonstratedMarch 15 against U.S. interference outsidethe U.S. embassy in Beirut. SoWashington’s struggle against Syria hasproduced a mushrooming of anti-U.S.sentiment in both Lebanon and Syria.

Included in Bush’s “axis of evil” isNorth Korea, officially known as theDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK). Bush has been threatening theDPRK since he took office, insulting andtrying to bully the leadership. Bush brokeup bilateral talks that had been takingplace between the U.S. and North Korea.He insisted on six-party talks as a way ofganging up on the DPRK and refusing torecognize it as an equal.

But the North Koreans first fought a waragainst Japanese imperialism and thenagainst a coalition headed by the U.S. inorder to gain socialism and independenceand were not about to be pushed around.When Bush refused to make any conces-sions in the talks, the DPRK representa-tives walked out and declared that theyhad nuclear weapons, leaving Washingtonwith only China to turn to.

But the Chinese government expressedsympathy with the DPRK, particularlywith its demand that Condoleezza Riceapologize for calling North Korea an “out-post of tyranny” during her confirmationhearings. China refused to do Wash-ington’s bidding.

Furthermore, China has just passed alaw declaring that it will go to war ifTaiwan declares independence. Taiwan isa province of China that was taken over bycounter-revolutionaries after the 1949revolution and put under the protection ofWashington.

One of Bush’s first acts was to giveadvanced destroyers to Taiwan and toplan a theater missile defense systemaimed at China.

China’s statement comes as a furtherblow to the aggressive Bush policy in Asia.

Bush has repeatedly denounced andthreatened Cuba and has recently initiateda campaign against Hugo Chávez, theleader of the Bolivarian Revolution inVenezuela which has broken with imperi-alism and begun nationalizing landbelonging to transnationals and big land-lords. Chávez has even recognized thetakeover of a major paper factory by theworkers.

Cuba has reacted to Bush’s threats byredoubling its preparations for combatwith island-wide military exercises for thewhole population. And Chávez has reactedto being branded a “negative influence inthe region” by pushing forward with therevolution, expanding trade with China,acquiring weapons from Russia, intensify-ing commercial relations with Cuba andIran, and promoting region-wide mutualaid.

On all fronts the Bush administrationhas been stymied by the willingness ofanti-imperialist governments to stand upto U.S. threats and by the willingness ofthe masses of people to resist.

‘Preemptive war,’ ‘regimechange’ phased out

Such a scenario was unimaginable tothe militarists and strategists in thePentagon and the White House. The Bushadministration has come a long way downsince it used the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks asa pretext for a campaign to vastly expand

U.S. power and domination.In the minds of Bush, Vice President

Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense DonaldRumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz andthe neo-con war makers in Washington,by now the hoped-for “cakewalk” into Iraqwould be long over. U.S. forces would begreeted as “liberators.” The Pentagon andthe giant oil companies would be sittingpretty, secure in their Iraqi military basesastride the Persian Gulf, raking in profitsfrom the second-largest oil reserve in theworld, and well on their way in the con-quest of the entire Middle East, includingIran and Syria and even, perhaps, the over-throw of the government of North Korea.

Instead, after two years the U.S. occu-pation authorities are hunkered down inthe Green Zone in Baghdad. Their forcescannot move about the country except atthe greatest peril. They can barely get anyoil out of the country and the oil compa-nies have yet to take possession of onedrop. More than 1,500 soldiers have beenkilled and thousands have been wounded.There is universal hatred for the occupiers.And the U.S. is running out troops.

The infamous Bush Doctrine is rarelyspoken of now. In the wake of growing

Venezuelan workers take over paper-production plant

Venezuela’s is now an example to theworld of one that works on behalf of itspeople and its workers and not on behalfof multinational companies.

And with Cuba, Venezuelans alsoexpect a hostile reaction from U.S. impe-rialism. Already the U.S. is mounting acampaign against the BolivarianRevolution with the participation of right-wing Colombians, Cuban exiles in Miamiand the Venezuelan opposition at home.

U.S. targets Venezuela

In the March 13 Financial Times ofLondon, Andy Webb-Vidal wrote: “Astrategy aimed at fencing in the govern-ment of the world’s fifth-largest oilexporter is being prepared at the requestof President George W. Bush andCondoleezza Rice, secretary of state, sen-ior U.S. officials say.”

The article quotes U.S. DefenseDepartment official Roger Pardo-Maurer:“Chávez is a problem because he is clearlyusing his oil money and influence to intro-duce his conflictive style into the politicsof other countries.”

U.S. corporations and the Pentagon aretroubled by Venezuela’s growing excellentinternational relations, not only withinLatin America and the Caribbean regionwhere the process of economic and socialintegration is going full speed, but in otherareas of the world as well.

During a recent trip to India, Chávezwas received very warmly. In the IndianExpress, reporters Bidyut Roy and AnindaSarda wrote: “Fourteen years after the fallof the Communist-ruled Soviet Union in1991, the Left’s search for an internationalfather figure seems to have ended. Kolkata

opened its arms wide as VenezuelanPresident Hugo Chávez arrived here thisevening. Left leaders displayed their ‘newinspiration’ as the Left Front governmentof Buddhadeb Bhattacharya felicitatedChavez.”

Iranian President Mohammad Khatamiirritated Washington by visitingVenezuela and signing more than 20agreements of trade and cooperation,among them deals for a tractor factory,housing, etc.

U.S. imperialism is working round theclock to find ways to destabilize the young

Bolivarian Revolution. Scores of CIA andIsraeli Mossad agents are deployed inVenezuela. The opposition, weakened byChávez’s growing popular support, isbeing regrouped by Washington.Assassination threats against Chávez con-tinue.

Colombian paramilitaries were caughtlast year in the center of Caracas trainingto kill the president. A few months agoDanilo Anderson, the prosecutor in chargeof the investigation of the CIA involve-ment in the 2002 coup, was assassinated.

Fidel Castro said the Cuban Revolutionis well grounded by now, but theVenezuelan Bolivarian Revolution is at acrucial juncture.

This revolution needs the unrelentingand total solidarity from the internationalcommunity. It is the hope not only for theVenezuelan people but the people in LatinAmerica, the Caribbean, and well beyondwho have suffered the misery andexploitation of imperialist domination.

More and more people feel, “It is ourrevolution, a beacon for the future of ourchildren, and we must defend it with allour means.”

infamous April 2002 coup againstPresident Hugo Chávez to be retried formilitary rebellion.

The pronouncement invalidated an ear-lier decision on Aug. 14, 2002, setting thefour officers free. At that time the chargesagainst Army Gen. Efrain VasquezVelasco, Air Force Gen. Pedro Pereira,Vice-Admiral Hector Ramirez Perez andRear Admiral Daniel Comisso Urdanetawere dismissed, prompting continuedprotests from the pro-Chávez population.

The Chávez administration viewed theearlier ruling as another assault by the rul-ing-class-backed opposition. VicePresident José Vicente Rangel called it a

“true assault on democratic legality, com-mitted by a group of judges who proceededto embarrassingly serve interests thatwere contrary to justice.”

One of the major problems affecting theBolivarian Revolution has been the legalimpunity of the opposition. When theywere apprehended and charged for theircrimes against the population and theBolivarian process, they were quicklyacquitted, since most judges were alignedwith the anti-Chávez forces.

During 2002, half of the 22 judges onthe Supreme Tribunal of Justice werefrom the opposition. Two pro-Chávezjudges were inappropriately recused orremoved from that decision, leading to avote of 11-9 in favor of dismissal of thecharges against the coup plotters.

Continued from page 11

Continued from page 11

LATIN AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Coup plotters can be retried

Iraqi and worldwide resistance to the bul-lying and threatening by Washington,many of the triumphalist catch words havebeen quietly dropped from the vernacularof bourgeois journalism and policy talk.

Rarely does one hear the arrogantphrases of “regime change,” “preemptivewar,” “you’re either with us or against us,”“the old Europe,” etc.

Washington has been reduced to its oldmethods of subversion, sanctions, dirtytricks, threats and intimidation used by allthe U.S. capitalist governments during theCold War. Its rhetoric grows and its ges-turing is menacing, but its military adven-turism has been pushed back for themoment by world resistance.

The anti-war movement in this countrymust be part of that growing resistance.The Pentagon’s frustration over being sti-fled in its military expansion can leadimperialism to even greater gambles.

As the Bush administration and thecapitalist class intensify their attacks uponthe people, the movement must expand itsefforts to merge the struggle against thewar with the fight for economic and socialjustice at home and stop the adventures ofthe ruling class.

Continuation from page

Growing world resistance stalls Bush offensive

WarinColombia Made in U.S.A.This book from the International Action Center covers the struggle in Colombia from the perspective of tradeunionists, human rights activists, and the FARC and ELNinsurgencies. Authors include: Fidel Castro, Ramsey Clark,Javier Correa, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Mumia Abu-Jamal,Gloria Gaitan, Raul Reyes, Manuel Marulanda, Stan Goff,Teresa Gutierrez, James Petras, Sen. Paul Wellstone, Roy Bourgeois, Garry Leech and others.

200 pages, indexed and referenced.

Order online at www. leftbooks.com. for a discount

www.workers.org March 24, 2005 Page 13

After overthrow of puppet shah

U.S. sabotages Iran’s nuclear programFollowing are excerpts from a talk byArdeshir Ommani, delivered at WESPACon March 5, entitled “U.S. ForeignPolicy Toward Iran and Iran’s NuclearProgram.” Ardeshir is co-founder of therecently-formed American-IranianFriendship Committee. The full talk ison the Workers World web site at www.workers.org.

Iran’s interest in nuclear energy,research and know-how began in the mid-1960s under the direct tutelage of the U.S.,within the framework of turning Iran theway of Israel, into a regional and nuclearpower for containing the movement ofArab Socialism and its orientationtowards the Soviet Union.

With the technical assistance of theU.S., the first nuclear research facility, theTehran Nuclear Research Center (TNRC),was built in Tehran University in 1967,and managed by the Atomic EnergyOrganization of Iran (AEOI), which wasfounded in 1974.

Immediately after the founding ofTNRC, the U.S. sold a five-megawattresearch reactor to Iran. It was installedat the Amirabad Technical College inTehran, and runs on 93-percent highly-enriched uranium. The reactor could pro-duce up to 600 grams of plutonium peryear in its spent fuel.

Simultaneously, the U.S. sold hot cellsto Iran which could be used for separatingplutonium from the spent fuel, and thenused for the production of atomic bombs.

The question that remains to be asked iswhy the U.S. sold the hot cells to the Shah.

Iran became a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on July 1, 1968,which went into effect on March 5, 1970.Article IV of the treaty states that “Nothingin the Treaty shall be interpreted as affect-ing the inalienable right of all the partiesto the Treaty to develop research, produc-tion and use of nuclear energy for peace-ful purposes without discrimination andin conformity with Articles I and II of thisTreaty.”

Furthermore, Article IV continues that“All the Parties to the Treaty undertake tofacilitate, and have the right to participatein, the fullest possible exchange of equip-ment, materials and scientific and techno-logical information for the peaceful uses ofnuclear energy...”

U.S. backs Shah’s nuclear plansAccording to declassified U.S. govern-

ment documents, cited extensively byMohammad Sahimi, professor and chairof Chemical and Petroleum Engineering atthe University of Southern California, inhis authoritative paper “Iran’s NuclearProgram,” Washington in the mid-1970’sadvised “Iran to expand her non-oilenergy base” by reasoning that “Iranneeded not one but several nuclear reac-tors to acquire the electrical capacity thatthe Stanford Research Institute” paper in1973 “had proposed, and expressing inter-est in U.S. companies’ participation inIran’s nuclear energy projects.”

Emboldened by Washington’s encour-agement, the Shah planned to build 23nuclear power plants throughout thecountry. No authority in the U.S., Franceor West Germany disputed the Shah’sextensive and expensive projects on thebasis of the fact that Iran was rich in oiland natural gas deposits, the reasoningthat [U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza]Rice recently provided for the redundancyof plans for nuclear energy in Iran.

At the time of the Shah, the only reasonthat the plan for the construction of such

a huge project could not be enacted wasthat the price of oil on the world marketfell considerably, and the Shah’s govern-ment was not financially capable of pay-ing for it.

However, in 1974, the Shah’s governmentsigned a contract with West Germany’sKraftwerk Union, a subsidiary of Siemens,to begin the construction of two 1,200-megawatt nuclear reactors at Bushehr, acity in the southwestern part of Iran. Soonthe Atomic Energy Organization of Iransigned a contract with the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology for training thefirst group of Iranian nuclear engineers.

Meanwhile, West Germany, France,Britain and the U.S. trained thousands ofnuclear specialists from around the world.Iranian nuclear personnel received theirtraining in Italy, Belgium and Canada, aswell as the U.S.

Mark D. Skootsky, in his June 1995research paper on U.S. Nuclear PolicyToward Iran, writes that “while these spe-cialists were being trained in the peacefuluses of nuclear energy in order to achievethe Shah’s plan for 23 nuclear power reac-tors, the knowledge they gained could alsohave been used for a secret nuclearweapons program,” as it was in India.

According to Mohamad Sahimi, theclassified documents mentioned abovecontained the information that in anaddress to an October 1977 symposiumcalled “The U.S. and Iran, an IncreasingPartnership,” Sydney Sober, a spokesper-son for the U.S. State Department,proudly announced that the Shah’s gov-ernment was about to purchase eightmore nuclear reactors from the U.S.

Revolution fuels U.S. hostility

By 1979, when the Iranian Revolutiontoppled the pro-U.S. regime, the Shah hadreached agreements for a total of sixnuclear power reactors from France, WestGermany and the U.S.

Two 1,200-megawatt German light-water power reactors at Bushehr werepartly finished. Reactor Number 1 was 90-percent complete and 60 percent of itsequipment was also installed, while Num-ber 2 was 50-percent complete.

During the 1980s, the Iran-Iraq warbrought heavy damage to the core areas ofboth reactors.

After the Iran-Iraq war, the IslamicRepublic of Iran under President Rafsan-jani re-initiated Iran’s nuclear energy pro-gram and immediately approached Kraft-werk Union to complete the Bushehr proj-ect or ship the reactor components andtechnical documents that Iran had paid for.

However, the German government andKraftwerk, under U.S. pressure, refused tohonor the contract or even return themoney. Left in the cold, Iran filed a lawsuitin 1996 with the International CommerceCommission (ICC) asking $5.4 billioncompensation. The case is still unsettled.

On May 5, 1987, Iran and Argentinasigned agreements concerning the deliv-ery of enriched uranium. The $5.5-milliondeal would have provided Iran with a newcore for its U.S.-purchased, five-megawattresearch reactor at Tehran University sothat the reactor would operate on 20 per-cent enriched uranium. The contract alsoincluded the Argentine export of the 20-percent enriched uranium to Iran.

In September 1980, the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency approved thetransfer of 115.8 kilograms of uranium,which was within the IAEA safeguards.

Although the U.S. was unsuccessful inblocking Argentina from selling the 20-percent enriched uranium to Iran, it suc-ceeded in preventing that country fromfulfilling other aspects of its contractualobligation with Iran in early 1992. Again,under heavy pressure from the U.S.,Argentina backed out of the deal by theend of that year.

As early as the mid-1980s, writes Sahimi,

“A consortium of companies from Argen-tina, Germany and Spain submitted a pro-posal to Iran to complete the Bushehr–Number 1 reactor, but huge pressure by theUnited States stopped the deal. The U.S.pressure also stopped in 1990 Spain’sNational Institute of Industry and NuclearEquipment [from completing] the Bushehrproject.”

After exhausting all avenues in theWest in search of finding a country or acompany that would not be intimidated bythe threats of the U.S. and begin the workon Bushehr’s nuclear energy project, Iranturned to the Soviet Union, and thenRussia, to finish the job.

As long as the Shah was a partner ofIsrael and a puppet of the United States,it could engage in developing all sorts ofnuclear energy and devices. But after therevolution, Iran does not deserve and can-not be trusted with any technological, eco-nomic and social advancement, accordingto Washington and Tel Aviv.

Furthermore, countries like Iran, Iraq,Venezuela and 80 percent of humanityhave to be kept backward so that they don’tever dream of independence, equality,social change and especially revolution.People engaged in such changes will bebranded by the U.S. empire as “terrorists,despots, dictators and rogue nations” to bedisposed of.

Ommani has been an activist in theanti-war and anti-imperialist strugglefor over 40 years, including against theVietnam War. He was a co-founder ofthe Iranian Students Association in the1960s, which contributed to the over-throw of the Shah, a U.S. puppet. Hedirectly participated in the movementsinside Iran that culminated in the 1979revolution. Ommani is still very activein the anti-war movement and has col-laborated with the International ActionCenter in the struggle against the U.S.war and occupation of Iraq.

General strike in France1.4 million workers march to defend benefits By G. Dunkel

The third general strike in France thisyear, on March 10, was the biggest so far.Some 1.4 million people took part in about150 demonstrations throughout France,according to the General Confederation ofWorkers (CGT), one of the trade unionconfederations involved. Hundreds ofstrikes occurred in both the private andthe public sector.

Most public transportation did not runor was extremely reduced. Banks, schools,daycare centers and post offices wereclosed. Only long-distance flights wereallowed to land since the air traffic con-trollers were on strike.

A headline of the right-wing newspaperLe Figaro summed it up: “France paralyzed.”

According to public opinion polls, 66percent of the French people supportedthe aims of the strike, even if the effectsinconvenienced their life to some degree.They told the pollsters that they felt thestrikers and demonstrators were protect-ing their interests— by defending Frenchworkers’ rights to retirement at age 62, a35-hour work week, six-weeks paid vaca-tion a year and affordable medical care.

A sign near the lead banner in Mar-seilles summed up the unions’ demands:“Less work, more pay.” This demand is indirect contradiction to the proposal ofFrench President Jacques Chirac: “Tomake more, work more.”

France has a number of national tradeunion confederations, most connected topolitical parties, and all but one partici-pated in the general strike. They had var-ious concerns, such as creating jobs, sinceFrance’s unemployment rate is over 10percent; preserving the 35-hour workweek, which French workers won in thelast major strike wave; protecting retire-ment at age 62 and medical insurance; andreversing the restructuring of education,which will mean the loss of 50,000 jobs.

But the unions came together over a sin-gle demand: preserve the purchasingpower of French workers. Trade unionleaders speaking to the media said thatwhat brought large numbers of privatesector workers out into the streets werethe extraordinary profits of French firms.

While profits are at record levels, hiringis flat, with a number of layoffs. In the pri-vate sector, starting salaries are hoveringaround the minimum wage and generallyspeaking, workers’ salaries are set as a mul-

tiple of the minimum wage. The bosseshave refused to come to the bargainingtable over wages, though it appears that thegovernment will apply some pressure.

For workers in the public sector, wageshave also stagnated. It appears that talkswill soon start.

France is used to “hot” springs—May1968, when the whole state tottered, wasthe hottest of recent memory. The currentsituation, while raising its specter, is so farnot nearly as tense. But a contentious win-ter often results in a hot spring.

The French political establishment hasscheduled a vote on the European Union’sconstitution May 29. The unions aredebating how to take advantage of thisvote, along with considering other tactics.

But everyone in France, both in the rul-ing class and the workers’ movement, con-siders March 10 a big success for labor.

Page 14 March 24, 2005 www.workers.org

Don’t blame ChinaKenyans were put through concentrationcamps to be “screened.” Prisoners had toconfess to taking the Mau Mau oath inorder to be released.

Author Elkins and her assistant, TerryWairimu, a researcher at the KenyanNational Archives, interviewed 300 sur-vivors. Every one of these heroes had beenbeaten and starved. Their harrowing tes-timony is reminiscent of “The Theory andPractice of Hell,” Eugen Kogon’s accountof surviving Buchenwald concentrationcamp.

Torture, including sexual mutilation,was routine. Detainees at the Manyanicamp were clubbed on arrival. Alsatiandogs mauled women inmates at the AthiRiver camp. Inmates could be killed justfor trying to smuggle a letter to the outside.

In Kamiti camp alone, 600 childrenwere confined. Almost none survived.

“Hard-core Mau Mau supporters”would be selected to bury them. “Theywould be tied in bundles of six babies,”recalled former camp inmate HelenMacharia.

The Githunguri Teachers’ TrainingCollege was turned into a concentrationcamp equipped with a pair of gallows.Some of the slaves who built a 37-mile irri-gation canal at the South Yatta camp wereburied alive.

The biggest of the 55 main camps waslocated outside Nairobi, where thousandsof inmates built a seven-square-mile air-port at Embakasi with their bare hands.U.S. “foreign aid” helped pay for thisatrocity.

British authorities burned almost alltheir records about these camps whenfinally forced to leave Kenya.

U.S. and British media alleged thatKenya’s Land and Freedom Army was justa “tribal struggle” conducted by theKikuyu—just as, 50 years later, PresidentGeorge W. Bush and Prime Minister TonyBlair claim the Iraqi resistance is confinedto the “Sunni Triangle.”

Concentration camps were set up forKamba and Maasai people, too. Ole Kisiodied in combat leading Maasai fighters. Luo

political leaders Tom Mboya and OgingaOdinga demanded Jomo Kenyatta’s release.Fitz de Souza and other lawyers of Asianorigin defended prisoners.

Stymied by their failed attempts todefeat the Mau Mau, the British militarydecided to starve them out, cutting off theirsupplies. This was real “ethnic cleansing.”

Over a million Kikuyu were forced outof their homes. They were driven into 800“emergency villages” built by their ownslave labor—a tactic also used by theBritish in Malaya and the Pentagon inVietnam. White settlers and Kenyan mer-cenaries called the “Home Guard” brutal-ized Kikuyu in these fenced-in areas.

“Operation Anvil” swept nearly half ofNairobi’s Kikuyu population into thecamps on April 24, 1954. Anyone foundwith a union card was picked up as well.

The world was shocked when 11 prison-ers were beaten to death in the Hola campon March 4, 1959. Colonial authoritiesclaimed at first that they had died fromdrinking “contaminated water.” TheUnited Nations did nothing.

“You had to knock the evil out of a per-son,” explained senior prison officer JohnCowan, in charge of Hola and other camps.Cowan later got a plush job with the Bankof England.

Cut off from its support network,Kenya’s Land and Freedom Army wasfinally overcome by British planes andtanks.

But 20,000 Mau Mau guerrillas didn’tdie in vain. Neither did hundreds of thou-sands of other Kenyans, whether mur-dered in concentration camps or killed byhunger and disease in the emergency vil-lages. An independent Kenya was born onDec. 12, 1963.

The last of the Mau Mau leaders—FieldMarshal Dedan Kimathi—had been cap-tured on Oct. 21, 1956. He was hanged onFeb. 18, 1957, in Kamiti Maximum SecurityPrison outside Nairobi.

Tony Blair and George W. Bush shedcrocodile tears for Africa, but Tony Blair’sgovernment refuses to even reveal whereKamathi’s body is buried. None of the bod-ies of the hanged Mau Mau martyrs wasreturned to their families. Oppressed peo-ple aren’t even supposed to mourn theirheroes.

But Africa remembers. The date ofKimathi’s execution is commemoratedannually. Streets are named for him. MauMau veterans have filed a lawsuit for repa-rations.

They are being avenged wherever peo-ple fight for land and freedom.

“Imperial Reckoning” and “Historiesof the Hanged” can be purchased fromLeftbooks.com.

Kenya’s Mau Mau

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retrain and place the workers in decent-paying jobs—with benefits—conditionsthat every worker deserves. This is theway it is done in socialist Cuba. Withthe U.S. $10 trillion economy, this isnot much too ask.

Above all, no one should be drawninto the false argument of blamingChina for the economic problems ofU.S. capitalism, either the problems ofthe workers or of the bosses. China wascarved up and held down by the colo-nial powers in a state of underdevelop-ment for close to two centuries. Withone fourth of the human race, Chinawas known as “the land of hunger” upuntil the middle of the last century.Only the socialist revolution of 1949 lib-erated it from colonial bondage andmade possible the conditions for eco-nomic development.

In its struggle to overcome underde-velopment and poverty, China hasshifted from its early emphasis onsocialist construction to an emphasis oncapitalist development and foreign con-cessions—but all under the control ofthe Chinese Communist Party. Chinahas every right as a formerly-oppressedcountry to use trade as a means ofdevelopment. While we have differ-ences with the orientation of this policy and believe it endangersChina’s development toward socialism,that is a different question.

U.S. capitalists thought it was fine forthem to take advantage of economicconcessions to invest in and profit fromChina. But as China develops andenters the world economic arena tochallenge the very profiteering powersthat once held China in colonialbondage, the anti-China undercurrentshere begin to rise to the surface. Theworking class in this country shouldknow that its enemy is not China butthe anti-labor, exploiting capitalist classthat runs this country and has sweat-shops here and all over the world.

here is a growing anti-Chinaundercurrent in the big-busi-ness media focusing on the

increase in Chinese exports to the U.S.These increases follow the removal of40-year-old textile quotas by the WorldTrade Organization at the end of 2004.This anti-China campaign aims to pitworkers in the U.S. against China,based upon the alleged concern over joblosses.

In the first place, the capitalistmedia’s expressed concern over U.S.textile job losses has nothing to do withconcern for workers. The primary con-cern is the loss of profitable marketsand the fear of growing Chinese eco-nomic strength that can challenge U.S.capitalists for global markets.

China has already begun to export itsown automobiles. It is signing tradeagreements on mutually favorableterms in Latin America, the MiddleEast, and other spheres that U.S. impe-rialism and the European and Japanesecapitalist powers regard as their terri-tory. This gives developing countries analternative to the harsh terms of tradethe imperialist powers impose.

In the second place, it is purehypocrisy for the U.S. capitalist estab-lishment to cover its profit-hungrygoals under cover of concern aboutworkers’ jobs. Every boss seeks to cutwages, reduce or eliminate benefits, usespeed up, enforce overtime or put work-ers on part time depending upon whatis best for the bottom line. And everycompany, large or small, always looksto introduce labor-saving devices thatthrow workers out of jobs.

If there were really concern forunemployed textile workers, the corpo-rations and the government would sim-ply continue to pay the salaries of thelaid-off workers. Meanwhile they would

TContinued from page 5

Edited by Monica Moorehead

Racism, national oppression & the right to self-determination Larry Holmes

Black labor from chattel slavery to wage slavery Sam Marcy

Reparations & Black Liberation Monica Moorehead

Harriet Tubman: woman warrior Mumia Abu-Jamal (Guest Commentary)

Black labor & the fight for reparations Bill Cecil

Alabama’s Black Belt: Legacy of slavery, share-cropping and segregationBy Consuela Lee (Guest commentary)

Black farmers demand justice Monica Moorehead

Greetings from Mumia Abu-Jamal to the 3rd UNWorld Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrim-ination, Xenophobia & Related Intolerance

Nigerian women take over Chevron TexacoMonica Moorehead

Nigerian women’s takeover ends in victoryMonica Moorehead

Causes of turmoil in Jamaica Pat Chin PART I PART II PART III

The driving force behind the land seizuresMonica Moorehead

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www.workers.org March 24, 2005 Page 15

Inmigrantes protestan por la licencia de manejarabril, activistas para los derechos de inmi-grantes tratarán de obligar a la corte a emi-tir un interdicto permanente contra la sus-pensión de licencias de manejar.

Consignas en español, coreano, bangla,urdu, hindi, cantonés, y otros idiomas res-onaron mientras l@s manifestantes mar-chaban lentamente por las aceras estre-chas después de que la policía les negó per-miso para desfilar por la calle. Por toda laruta, trabajadores y clientes se asomabana las vidrieras de peluquerías, salones debelleza, restaurantes y otras tiendas delbarrio—saludando a l@s manifestantes yabriendo las puertas para coger volantes.

La acción fue auspiciada por el CentroHispano Cuzcatlán, Desis Rising Up andMoving (DRUM), New Immigrant Com-munity Empowerment (NICE), y el NewYork Civic Participation Project (NYCPP),y respaldada por 40 sindicatos, gruposcomunitarios y defensores de los derechosde inmigrantes—incluyendo el New YorkTaxi Workers Alliance, UNITE-HERE

italista de Arabia Saudita y el régimen cap-italista y obediente de Hosni Mubarak enEgipto, lanzó una ofensiva para atacar yaislar a Siria después del asesinato del exprimer ministro del Líbano, Rafia al-Hariri, en febrero de este año. Los EEUUy las fuerzas reaccionarias del Líbanointentaron culpar a Siria por el asesinatoy tomaron la iniciativa política de deman-dar el retiro de las fuerzas sirias delLíbano.

Una ‘Revolución Gucci’

Los medios capitalistas han hecho delas demostraciones en la Plaza de losMártires una causa célebre, demostra-ciones que fueron organizadas al estilo delas manifestaciones proimperialistas enSerbia, Georgia y Ucrania llamadas la“Revolución Cedro”.

Estas demostraciones, minúsculas encomparación con la organizada porHizbolá, tenían un carácter tan obvia-mente reaccionario que eran unavergüenza hasta para los mismos medioscapitalistas que las cubrían.

Por ejemplo, la BBC en su noticiero del3 de marzo dijo que a “la RevoluciónCedro” se la estaba refiriendo como la“mini Ucrania”. La describieron de laforma siguiente: “Algunas personas aquíjocosamente llaman el fenómeno “laRevolución Gucci” – no porque rechacenlas demostraciones, sino porque muchosde los que ondean la bandera libanesa enlas calles no parecen manifestantes”.

“Hay mujeres jóvenes con faldas estre-chas y tacones altos, llevando carterascaras de piel, lo mismo que hombres vesti-dos con chalecos elegantes o con zapatostenis de marca.

“Y en una escena inolvidable, una mujerenvejeciente, con su pelo muy arreglado,estaba al lado de su ayudante doméstica deSri Lanka, diciéndole que ondeara la ban-dera, enseñándole las palabras árabes delas consignas…

“Pero lo que ha sido fascinante obser-var es cómo las clases medias y altaslibanesas han despertado de su acostum-brado letargo por el asesinato de Hariri”.

Un despacho de Reuters del 8 de marzotambién reportaba de igual manera.Describía a un campamento levantado enla Plaza de los Mártires de las fuerzas querepetían las demandas imperialistas delretiro de las tropas sirias, “como una casadonde l@s manifestantes, la mayoría conapariencia occidental, estudiantes declase media, estudiaban, comían, dor-mían e incluso trabajaban en sus laptops.”“Organizaciones extranjeras” les proveíanlas tiendas de campaña, frazadas, y aguamineral.

Estas organizaciones extranjeras sonmuy conocidas en Ucrania y en otroslugares donde ciertas ONG’s proveen unacubierta para la subversión imperialista.

Estas fuerzas reaccionarias han respon-didas a la ofensiva contra Siria y contraHizbolá lanzada por los carniceros ocu-pantes de Irak en Washington y los excolonialistas en París que anteriormentegobernaron el Líbano y Siria.

Su base social permanece principal-mente en las fuerzas políticas druces ycristianas maronitas. Estas fuerzasfueron descritas por Fadi Agha, el conse-jero internacional del presidente delLíbano Emil Lahoud, en una entrevista:“Yo agregaría que muchos de los líderes dela supuesta Revolución Cedro (términoinventado en Washington) son los quecondujeron al Líbano a 17 años de con-flicto civil. … Estos son las mismas cabe-cillas, señores sectarios y oportunistas quenos condujeron anteriormente a la ruina”.

rera a la agresión por parte del estado colo-nialista de Israel. Eso es a lo que se oponela administración de Bush.

De hecho, la demanda de la adminis-tración de Bush de que se retiren las tropasmilitares sirias bajo las condiciones de laresolución 1559 de la ONU, pasada en sep-tiembre de 2004, es parte del plan deWashington de desarmar a Hizbolá, dis-minuyendo así la resistencia a una inter-vención estadounidense en la región yabriendo la puerta a otra agresión de Israelcontra el Líbano.

Bush no ha pronunciado ni una sola pal-abra sobre la ocupación de los Altos delGolán de Siria por parte de Israel. Eseterritorio fue tomado en la agresión mili-tar de Israel en 1967 contra Egipto y Siria,apoyado por Washington. Bush no hapronunciado ni una sola palabra sobre elhacer cumplir el montón de resolucionesde la ONU condenando la ocupaciónisraelí de la Franja Oeste y Gaza.

Retiro de Siria y soberanía nacional

Pero Washington de súbito ha enfocadosu atención y se ha vuelto un partidariocomprometido de la resolución 1559 de laONU. Esto es porque esa es una copia,más moderada, de la Ley de Respon-sabilidad Siria y de la Restauración de laSoberanía del Líbano de 2003, en la cualel Congreso de los EEUU demandó nosolamente que Siria retire sus tropas delLíbano, sino que Hizbolá y todas las orga-nizaciones que sean parte de una luchaarmada por la liberación de Palestina y encontra de la agresión de Israel, seandesarmadas. Severas sanciones fueronimpuestas contra Siria por Washingtonpor medio de esta legislación.

Más débilmente, la resolución 1559pide el retiro de Siria y el desarme deHizbolá. Según el reporte de Reuters,“Nasrallah dijo que no tiene problemascon un retiro de Siria según el AcuerdoTaif de 1989 que terminó con la guerracivil de 1975 – 1990 en el Líbano, pero noquiere tener nada que ver con una resolu-ción adoptada en septiembre que pidió elretiro de Siria y el desarme de las milicias”.

El Acuerdo Taif es un acuerdo entre losdos gobiernos y pide el retiro militar even-tual de Siria que sería negociado entre ellos.

La manifestación masiva en Beirut fueorganizada frente a la oficina de la ONUpara establecer que el Líbano estáluchando por su soberanía y que cualquierretiro tiene que ser bajo un acuerdo fir-mado entre el gobierno del Líbano y el deSiria y no bajo el mandato y los términosdictados por Washington, Tel Aviv (silen-ciosamente), París u otros imperialistaseuropeos.

También deja claro que Hizbolá noaceptará desarmarse bajo órdenes de laONU. Se describe repetidamente a Hiz-bolá como una milicia terrorista. Pero noes ni milicia ni terrorista. Es un movi-miento armado de liberación nacionaldedicado a luchar contra el imperialismoy el sionismo.

La administración de Bush está inten-tando derrocar al gobierno del Líbano yhacerle firmar un pacto de paz por sepa-rado con Israel, preparando el escenariopara un “cambio de régimen” en Siria.Pero la multitudinaria manifestación enBeirut contra de la interferencia de losEEUU, Francia e Israel bajo el pretexto dela resolución de la ONU demuestra queWashington ha hecho el mismo monu-mental cálculo erróneo en el Líbano quehizo en Irak. Ignoró totalmente el papel delas masas anticolonialistas y su determi-nación y capacidad de resistencia.

Bush se engañó con las momentáneasvictorias políticas al obtener la ayuda de susocio imperialista menor en Francia y lacolaboración de elementos burgueses enIrak, Egipto y Arabia Saudita. Pero esofueron las capas más ricas de la sociedaddel Medio Oriente, las que tienen un interésmaterial en la colaboración de clase. Ahora,las capas pobres de la sociedad hanhablado en el Líbano, igual que estánhablando el idioma de la resistencia en Iraky Palestina. Bush y el Pentágono estánflirteando con un desastre aún mayor en laregión de Siria y Líbano si confunden losgobiernos con las masas populares.

El movimiento antiguerra debe agregarlas consignas de “Manos de EEUU fuerade Siria”, y “Manos fuera del Líbano” a lademanda de acabar con las ocupacionesde Irak y Palestina. Esa es la única man-era de proteger los intereses de l@s opri-mid@s y l@s trabajador@s en el MedioOriente y aquí en los EEUU también.

(CounterPunch 5/6 de marzo)

Tres elecciones, tres ocupaciones

En una declaración ultrajantementearrogante, el presidente de los EEUU,George W. Bush ha demandado que“Todas las fuerzas militares sirias y per-sonal de inteligencia deben salir antes delos comicios del Líbano [en mayo-F.G.]para que esos comicios sean justos ylibres”. (Reuters, 8 de marzo)

Pero un millón de personas ha rechaz-ado los sentimientos de Bush, votando consus pies al marchar en la Plaza Riyad Solh.Ell@s dejaron muy claro que estánopuest@s a los intentos imperialistas dedividir a los pueblos sirio y libanés ypreparar el escenario para una guerra civilen el Líbano, el derrocamiento del gob-ierno en Siria, o ambos escenarios.

La hipocresía de Bush de demandar unfin a la presencia de fuerzas extranjeraspara poder celebrar “elecciones libres yjustas”, es inconcebible. Los EEUU aca-ban de organizar una elección en Irak bajolos fusiles de 150.000 tropas, después dematar más de 100.000 civiles iraquíes,encarcelando y matando a miles de com-batientes de la resistencia, gobernando elpaís desde el cuartel militar y la embajadade los EEUU.

El año pasado, Washington condujouna elección en Afganistán después debombardear al país despiadadamente,enviando tropas de ocupación y presion-ando a Alemania y a otros poderes impe-rialistas de la OTAN para ocupar la capi-tal y las regiones circundantes. Las elec-ciones en la Franja Oeste y en Gaza se lle-varon a cabo bajo los fusiles del ejércitoisraelí en el fondo, armado hasta losdientes por el Pentágono.

Tres elecciones bajo tres ocupacionespor opresores imperialistas –y Bush lasquiere ignorar. Sea cual fueran los prob-lemas con la presencia militar de Siria enel Líbano, lo cierto es que Siria no es unopresor imperialista que obtiene súperganancias del Líbano. Cualquiera quesean las ventajas nacionales que Siriaquiera aprovechar por su presencia en elLíbano, también funciona como un defen-sor de Hizbolá y de las fuerzas de lib-eración nacional en el país y como una bar-

Continua de pagina 16

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Libaneses rechazan intervención de los EEUU

Local 100, SEIU-32BJ, y New York CityLabor Against War (NYC TrabajadoresContra la Guerra).

“La política del DVM, incluyendo sucolaboración con el Departamento deSeguridad de la Patria, para aprehender ainmigrantes, representa la parte local deuna tendencia nacional de atacar losmedios de vida de millones de traba-jadores,” declaró Kavitha Pawria, unaorganizadora de política y leyes de DRUM.

Repartidores, taxistas, y otros que nece-sitan una licencia para trabajar, y susfamilias, están sufriendo como resultadode la política del DVM. Durante la man-ifestación final, l@s manifestantesguardaron dos minutos de silencio paraMirza Panir, un taxista bangladeshi indoc-umentado que murió de un ataquecardíaco inducido por el estrés cuando fuedetenido por la seguridad en el AeropuertoLaGuardia hace dos semanas.

Uno de los organizadores de la protestano pudo asistir a la acción porque se lequitó la licencia, luego perdió su trabajo

como repartidor, y tuvo que mudarse esedía. Un niño pequeño llevaba un letrerohecho de una caja de pizza que decía:“Por favor, permita a mi papá llevarme ala escuela.”

“Gente de todos los grupos de inmi-grantes se están uniendo de una maneramuy histórica para decir que esta políticatiene un impacto negativo sobre las famil-ias de tod@s, sobre las vidas y comu-nidades dónde vivimos y trabajamos irre-spectivamente de la condición inmigrato-ria ni del país de procedencia,” dijo ZahidaPirani, una organizadora comunitaria delNYCPP.

Miguel Ramírez del Centro HispanoCuzcatlán estuvo de acuerdo: “Éste es unevento histórico porque gente de muchascomunidades inmigrantes en Queens sehan unido por primera vez en torno a unacuestión que tenemos en común.”

Shirley Lin de NICE demandó que lospolíticos elegidos, Gobernador Pataki y elDVM “implementen una solución quereconozca nuestros derechos”.

MUNDO OBRERO

Libaneses rechazan intervención de los EEUU

Manifestación gigantesca desaira la ‘Revolución Gucci’

Por Fred Goldstein

El pueblo libanés se concentró en Beirutviniendo desde todas las áreas pobres delpaís el 6 de marzo en una masivademostración antiimperialista y contra elsionismo. Dio un rechazo contundente alos intentos de la administración de Bushde aislar a Siria, atacar a Hizbolá ypreparar el terreno para extender suguerra de “cambio de regímenes” en elMedio Oriente hacia Damasco.

Los organizadores dijeron que un mil-lón de personas asistieron. Hasta el cál-culo aproximado más moderado de laprensa comercial fue de medio millón departicipantes. La toma de las videocá-maras en helicópteros mostró el desbor-damiento de la multitud en la Plaza RiadSolh en Beirut central tan lejos como podíaalcanzar la vista. La participación en lamanifestación incluyó cerca de la cuartaparte de la población entera del Líbano, lacual se estima en 4,4 millones de personas.

Una manifestación de tales propor-ciones en los EEUU sería de aproximada-mente 50 a 60 millones de personas.

Dos grúas enormes sostenían mantas

que decían: “Gracias a Siria” y “No a lainjerencia extranjera.” La manifestaciónfue una respuesta a las demandas de laadministración de Bush, de sus aliados ytíteres de que Siria saque sus tropas delLíbano y que se desarme a Hizbolá.

La agencia Reuters el 8 de marzo, refir-iéndose al discurso del líder del HizboláSheik Hassan Nasrallah, reportó que“Nasrallah dijo que nadie en el Líbanotenía miedo de los EEUU, cuyas tropas sefueron en 1984”, pocos meses después deque un carrobomba matara a 241 miem-bros de la infantería de marina en suscuarteles generales en Beirut. “Nosotroslos hemos derrotado en el pasado y sivienen de nuevo los derrotaremos otravez”, dijo, según reportes.

Otras pancartas en la manifestación,según Prensa Asociada, decían “Siria y elLíbano, hermanos para siempre”, “Amé-rica es la fuente del terrorismo”, “Todosnuestros desastres se originan en Amé-rica”, y “No a la intervención americana-sionista, Sí a la hermandad entre el Líbanoy Siria”.

Nasrallah contestó a la administraciónde Bush, la cual ha estado intentando

deshacerse del gobierno actual del Líbano,aduciendo que es un títere de Siria.Señalando a la multitud en la plaza dijo:“Pido a nuestros socios en el país o a aque-llos que nos están mirando desde lejos:¿Son estos cientos de miles de personastíteres y agentes a sueldo de los sirios y delas agencias de espionaje?” (PrensaAsociada, 8 de marzo)

Hizbolá, una organización deliberación nacional

Hizbolá es una organización de lapoblación chiíta, la cual es el sector máspobre de la sociedad libanesa y fue tradi-cionalmente excluida y víctima de dis-criminación. Provee servicios sociales,tiene diputados en el parlamento ymantiene su propia fuerza armada de20.000 efectivos.

Organizada en 1984 de grupos disper-sos que luchaban resistiendo a la ocu-pación israelí, creó una organizaciónarmada de resistencia nacional que com-batió la ocupación israelí del sur delLíbano y finalmente expulsó a los israeli-tas en 2000. Por esto es venerada no sola-mente en el Líbano sino a través del

mundo árabe.Es la fuerza política más grande, mejor

organizada y disciplinada en el Líbano yestá considerada popularmente como unaorganización de liberación nacional, esen-cial para mantener fuera a los ex ocu-pantes sionistas. Los EEUU le han dado laetiqueta de “organización terrorista” y handemandado que se desarme.

Siria ha apoyado al Hizbolá así como aotras organizaciones que luchan por la lib-eración de Palestina y en contra de la ocu-pación israelí. Siria envió tropas al Líbanoen 1976 a pedido del gobierno del Líbanopara separar los combatientes duranteuna guerra civil. Se volvió parte de unaFuerza de Disuasión autorizada enreuniones cumbres árabes ese año.

La guerra civil, fomentada por el impe-rialismo francés y estadounidense y porTel Aviv, duró hasta 1989, cuando fueresuelta bajo la protección de tropas sirias.Un acuerdo nacional fue creado, elAcuerdo Taif de 1989.

La actual administración de Bush, encombinación con el imperialismo francésy con el apoyo de la monarquía feudo-cap-

¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los países, uníos

MUND OBRERO

Mientras las noticias de televisión esta-dounidense proyectan interminablementelas nuevas iniciativas de PresidenteGeorge W. Bush de extender la democra-cia y la libertad en el mundo, el pueblohaitiano ya ha experimentado su frec-imiento y lo está rechazando.

Hace un año, Estados Unidos derrotó algobierno electo del Presidente Jean-Bertrand Aristide y lo secuestró con sufamilia, llevándolos fuera del país parainstalar al líder “democrático” nombradopor Bush, Gerard Latortue.

Miembros de escuadrones de muerteque regresaron a Haití fueron encumbra-dos junto a Latortue, así como a ex-miem-bros de la policía conocidos por su brutal-idad y horrible represión contra el pueblodurante la dictadura de Duvalier.

Hoy, miembros del gobierno deAristide languidecen en calabozos. L@smanifestantes son asesinad@s a balazospor la policía. La vida en el país más pobredel Hemisferio Occidental se ha hechoaún peor. Hay cadáveres amontonados enlas orillas de los caminos y la tasa de mor-talidad por todas causas es increíble-mente alta.

Pero según Washingon, Haití está ahoraen el camino a la democracia.

Cuando 2.000 simpatizantes desarma-dos de Aristide trataron de desfilar porPort au Prince el 28 de febrero, deman-dando el regreso de su presidente secu-estrado, fueron atacados a disparos por lapolicía. Por lo menos dos personas fueronasesinadas y 20 heridas. Las tropas de lasNaciones Unidas que estaban, dirigidas poroficiales brasileños, no hicieron nada paraimpedir la matanza, llevando a la conde-

nación inmediata desde muchas regiones. Quizás como respuesta a las severas

críticas por su papel en Haití, que fueronexpresadas por much@s brasileñ@sdurante el Foro Social Mundial en PortoAlegre el mes pasado, las tropas brasileñasacompañaron a otra manifestación pro-Aristide de 2.000 personas el 4 de marzo,por las calles de la capital haitiana. Estavez la policía no atacó a los manifestantes.La manifestación demandó el fin del gob-ierno “interino” respaldado por losEstados Unidos.

Más de 400 personas han muerto en lacapital desde que partidarios de Aristideempezaron a intensificar sus demandaspor su regreso hace cuatro meses. (AP, 4de marzo). La mayoría de las personas ase-sinadas son de la base social de Aristide:elsector más pobre que rechaza que el paíssea dirigido otra vez por títeres del impe-rialismo estadounidense y francés.

La representante Maxine Waters, fer-viente partidaria de Aristide que repre-senta la comunidad afro-americana de LosÁngeles en el Congreso de los EstadosUnidos, encabezó una delegación inves-tigativa a Haití a primeros de marzo. Visitóal ex-Primer Ministro Yves Neptune en laprisión done él lleva una huelga de ham-bre, y quien dijo que las condiciones allíson “deplorables”.

“Yo exhorto al gobierno interino deHaití a liberar al Primer Ministro Neptuney a todos los presos políticos en las pri-siones haitianas,” dijo Waters. “La repre-sión de disidentes como el Primer Mini-stro Neptune por el gobierno interino debeacabar inmediatamente. Los ojos delmundo están en Haití.”

Por Mary OwenJackson Heights, N.Y.

Un letrero hecho a mano que leía “ElDerecho a Manejar es un Derecho Civil yun Derecho de Trabajadores Inmigrantes”captó el mensaje de una protesta aquí el 5de marzo a la cual asistieron cientos deinmigrantes y sus partidari@s quevinieron de algunos de los barrios másétnicamente diversos de la ciudad deNueva York.

Gritando “¿Qué queremos? ¡Licencias!¿Cuándo las queremos? ¡Ahora!”, l@s mani-festantes desfilaron por tres horas por elbarrio multinacional de Jackson Heightsen Queens para demandar que el Gober-nador George Pataki y el Departamento de

Vehículos Motorizados (DVM) del estadode Nueva York dejen de portarse como sifueran los ejecutores de las leyes de inmi-gración, al negarles las licencias de mane-jar que necesitan para trabajar.

El 17 de febrero, una juez de la CorteSuprema del Estado de Nueva York, KarenS. Smith, temporalmente prohibió al DVMde tomar medidas que podrían resultar enla suspensión de casi 300.000 licencias ainmigrantes en el estado que no tienen tar-jeta de Seguro Social. Unas 7.000 licen-cias ya han sido suspendidas. La JuezaSmith dictaminó que l@s inmigrantessufrirían un serio e injurioso daño comoresultado de la injusta práctica del DVM.En una audiencia que tendrá lugar el 7 de

L@s haitian@s desafían la ‘democracia’ de escuadrones de muerte de Bush

Inmigrantes protestan porla licencia de manejar

L@s haitian@sdesfilan por Bel Air paraconmemorar elDía Internacionalde la Mujer, ypara apoyar aAristide.

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