People Before Profit blog

Cubas revolutionary doctors

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 08:07:00 +0000

Cuba this year graduated 1,905 new doctors. They pledged, in part, the following: “True medicine is not that which cures, but that which prevents, whether in an isolated community on our island or in any sister country of the world, where we will always be the standard bearers of solidarity and internationalism.”

Cuban doctors have long been putting that resolve into practice. On more than 10 occasions over three decades, Cuban medical teams gone to other Latin American nations to help out after earthquakes and disastrous hurricanes.

This year the Cuban doctors have had ample opportunity to practice international solidarity. And they were prepared. In September a group of 1,500 physicians had been organized to fly to Houston, Texas, to care for people injured or sick after Hurricane Katrina. Washington turned down the offer of assistance.

But the group has stayed together and now, three months later, it includes 3,000 volunteer physicians. They’ve all received special training in the care of people victimized by natural disasters or epidemics. They have a name: the Henry Reeve Brigade.

Born in Brooklyn, Henry Reeve fought in the U.S. Civil War and went to Cuba in May 1869 to join the rebel side fighting for independence from Spain. He fought in 400 battles and died in combat.

The first 1,500 physician members of the brigade averaged 32 years of age and 10 years of medical experience. They were 857women and 729 men, and 699 of them had already worked overseas, collectively in 43 countries. The first contingent included 1,100 family medicine doctors, plus surgeons, pediatricians, internists and epidemiologists. They speak two or more languages.

Cuba was ready when Hurricane Stan hit Central America in early October, killing 670 persons in Guatemala and leaving 844 missing persons, plus 32,807 homes destroyed. Agricultural losses totaled $400 million. On Oct. 8, an earthquake killed an estimated 73,000 people in Pakistan, where 3 million were left homeless, 1 million displaced, and 70,000 seriously injured.

Six hundred Brigade members went to Guatemala to care for victims of Hurricane Stan. They provide emergency health care, also specialty care, heath education and prevention. Altogether they have contacted or cared for 144,816 people. The Brigade brought tons of medical supplies with them to Guatemala, where they joined 200 Cuban doctors already there on permanent assignment.

Cuba has sent 900 Brigade doctors to earthquake ravaged Pakistan. They brought 250 tons of medical supplies and medicines with them and are working in 17 tent hospitals, with 13 more being prepared.

The Cuban doctors do this as part of Cuba’s “battle of ideas.” Deputy Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez illustrated what that means. He had been in Pakistan for three weeks and on Nov. 19 was speaking in Islamabad at a conference of international donors. He highlighted the contrast, drew the battle lines, between the example of the Cuban doctors and the priorities of rich nations.

“On behalf of the heroic and modest Cuban doctors who are carrying out a truly humanitarian feat and from the deepest pole of my experience obtained during three weeks, I issue this urgent call.” Rodriguez spoke out in support of a UN request for $5.2 billion to keep its relief effort going. This shortfall, he pointed out, was occurring in a world that spends $1 trillion each year on weapons, $1 trillion for advertising, $400 billion for illegal drugs, $105 billion for alcohol, $17 billion for pet food and $13 billion for perfume.

What impels the Cuban doctors to transform their graduation pledge of solidarity into the gritty reality of revolutionary internationalism? Victor Dreke, Cuba’s ambassador in Equatorial Guinea, suggested recently that it’s a matter of the heart. Speaking there at a book fair, he recalled his time in Africa with Che Guevera: “Here is Cuba’s modest contribution. Cuba’s experience is at your disposal. … No matter where in the world we find ourselves, we are always compañeros. I am part of Africa.”

Writer and political activist Tariq Ali came down to specifics. He had returned to his native Pakistan after the earthquake. “It’s not just a matter of numbers. It’s also one of sensitivity and dedication. … The gesture of the Cuban doctors will go down in the history of internationalism. Many of my compatriots have learned a new word for love: Cuba.”

Wish me a Merry Christmas or Ill kill you

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 09:16:00 +0000

Commentary

Christian friends and relatives complain about how Christmas is commercialized. Every year, one of the most sacred events in Christianity is used as a mechanism to sell everything from jewelry to SUVs. To the dismay of sincere believers, the ascetic, self-sacrificing religious message is washed away by a tsunami of tacky hucksterism. As Tom Lehrer put it: “Angels we have heard on high, Telling us to go out and BUY!”

Now, the Christian right is actually demanding more commercialization of Christmas, not less. They are angry this year as last because some commercial establishments, such as the Target chain, give their seasonal commercial campaigns a sort of generalized “holiday” aspect rather than a specific “Christmas” one.

Last year, there was contrived anger because some shopping center had a display of a Hanukkah menorah and not a nativity crèche. The “scandal” became muddled with the separation of church and state issue.

Because government entities are forbidden from putting up specifically religious displays, it is claimed that “liberals” are also taking away Christmas symbolism from commercial establishments, even though private businesses can, in fact, do what they please. We are told that this is a LIBERAL CONSPIRACY to abolish Christmas.

Yet there is Christmas stuff everywhere. All churches are open for business, and the businesses are got up like churches. True, the Christmas displays show more of Santa than of Jesus, but still, it’s Christmas stuff. Personally, I would rather listen to Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” than “Jingle Bells,” and I’m not even religious, but live and let live.

What is really going on here? First, the “liberals are stealing Christmas” campaign is just another thing for the right-wing media to yell about, like Teri Schiavo or Natalie Holloway who disappeared in Aruba, or “our broken borders.” The motive is to get people to watch your program and buy the sponsors’ products.

But I also think there is some genuine bigotry going on. Not everybody in the country is a Christian. For many, Christmas is indeed important, but for others the key thing toward the end of the year is Hanukkah, or Ramadan, or Kwanzaa, or even simply New Year.

People who are not practicing Christians don’t mind having their own symbols recognized now and then, be it a Hanukkah menorah among all the Santa Clauses, or whatever.

In order to get some of the dollars of non-Christians, or even of Christians who don’t like to see their religion commercialized, businesses tone the specific confessional message down to “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings.” The ACLU did not tell them to do this, their marketing consultants did. They know that it would be offensive to most Christians to depict Jesus saying “The Prince of Peace says buy a brand new Jeep Cherokee today,” so they just put up a sign saying “take advantage of our holiday special on brand-new Jeep Cherokees.”

This drives the fanatics wild; they give the impression that THEY ACTUALLY WOULD LIKE IT if a depiction of Jesus Christ were used to sell cars, even though Jesus always rode on eco-friendly donkeys. Like their soul mate Grigori Rasputin, they have trouble distinguishing piety from blasphemy sometimes.

To the rest of us the Christian right says, “How dare you, infidels! America is a Christian nation, and you will bow to Christian religious symbols, and like it!” Nut jobs like Pat Robertson state that trends in Christianity more liberal than their own, such as Presbyterians and Methodists, are the voice of the Antichrist. Jews are (temporarily) needed because Revelations says their return to Israel is necessary for the longed for end-of-the-world scenario (in which most of them get killed off or converted to Christianity), but where the Hell did all these other heathens come from?

Like the other hobbyhorses of the cable TV lunatics, the “liberals are stealing Christmas” campaign is also a political red herring, meant to distract our attention from what is really being stolen from the people — namely, our tax dollars in an illegal war, and our public services as Congress cuts the budget for essential social programs while giving obscene tax cuts to the rich. And they will steal our democratic rights, including religious freedom too, if we let them.

Letters

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 03:26:00 +0000

Juan Torres, presente

Thank you for the award given to my father, Juan D. Torres. I will always be grateful for PWW for allowing people to hear our story.

Veronica Santiago

Via e-mail

Santiago’s brother, Juan M. Torres, was killed in Afghanistan under mysterious circumstances in 2004. See PWW 2/26-3/4/05.

Brainwashed

I sent this letter to the Atlantic City Press in response to letters from soldiers returning from Iraq supporting the Bush line:

War-profiteers are having their heyday with billion-dollar no-bid contracts. But when the well runs dry, the war will end. The chickenhawks will crawl back into their rat holes. The veterans who fought the war will be out on the street begging for their benefits.

Why don’t we talk about getting Bin Laden? He is the one who takes responsibility for 9/11.

Serving in the Korean War, our unit was occasionally visited by people from Intelligence. They came to perform a brainwashing session about the war. I did not buy any of that crap. I am a firm believer that “truth is the first casualty of war.”

I believe that with the sanctions, the constant bombings year in and year out, the no-fly zone, UN inspectors roaming the country looking for WMDs that were more scarce then Bush’s National Guard records, we had Saddam Hussein contained. No American GIs were being killed. No way was Saddam Hussein going to come over here and “liberate” our country.

The returning soldiers from the war against the people of Iraq, I say to them: Save your criticism and energy to fight the chickenhawks who sent you to war. These chickenhawks are already cutting back on veterans’ benefits. As a disabled veteran and antiwar protester I will be at your side fighting to preserve your benefits.

Richard Neill

Cape May Court House NJ

False promises

It is excellent that the Solomon Amendment, which mandates that colleges and universities allow military recruiters access to students on the same basis as other potential employers, is being challenged as discriminatory against gay, lesbian and transgendered people.

There are also other bases on which campus administrators, if they have the nerve, can challenge the presence of military recruiters. The most important is that these recruiters peddle a false picture of what the “job” they are offering is like.

Colleges can have, and perhaps some already do, a policy of excluding job recruiters who make false promises to student applicants. If a private corporation were to come onto campuses and continually make such false promises, would not university administrations eventually kick them off campus? For example, if a bank were to come and recruit business graduates, and then it turns out the bank expects them to engage in illegal money laundering (or simply does not deliver on promised salary and benefits), would not the university be on good legal grounds to exclude that bank’s recruiters in the future?

Emile Schepers

Northern Virginia

Hurricane relief

When the federal government drops the ball as it so often does when assisting poor minorities is its responsibility (read: FEMA), community groups must come to the rescue. One such is Sabathani Center, Minneapolis, which is providing for the needs of some 200 families who came to Minnesota after Hurricane Katrina.

I’m unsure how many of the evacuees lost loved ones, but many not only lost their homes and possessions but have been forced into a climate change beyond their worst nightmares. “Strangers in a Strange Land” might well describe their plight.

Anyone interested in learning more about this valiant inner-city social services agency and perhaps helping out with a contribution may contact project director Matthea Little Smith, matthea@sabathani.org, (612) 821-2396.

Willard B. Shapira

Minneapolis MN

Wrong priorities

I read with great interest your article in the 12/10-16 issue on how Citgo is supplying affordable home heating oil to poor folks here.

How ironic, that a developing country such as Venezuela is compelled to send aid to the poor in the richest nation in the world! This illustrates how our country’s current administration has got its priorities all wrong.

I run a residential program for people with mental illness and addiction problems. While we try to survive on a tiny budget that has been level-funded (same dollar amount) for a decade, Bush presses ahead with his expenditures of hundreds of billions of dollars to continue his butchery in Iraq. As a result, I sometimes have to choose between office supplies and food for my clients. This is utterly insane.

It is time that Americans unite and make a stand against both the Bush war crimes abroad and the inadequate funding of vital social programs at home.

Bruce Burleson

Boston MA

Al-Arian verdict

On all the many charges against Sami Al-Arian and the three other defendants, not a single guilty verdict was reached. The jurors were very courageous in the face of government pressure and extreme media-created bias in the community. They were not willing to convict on faith.

A government lawyer told the jury that if they started with the assumption that there was a secret terrorist cell in Tampa, everything would fall into place. (Trust me, he’s guilty?) The jury did not buy this, but instead insisted on evidence of guilt — and there was none.

There are many happy people in the Bay area. I too am happy, because I saw much of the trial and the evidence, and I know that Sami is innocent. And I am so proud of the jurors, who have renewed my faith in the goodness and fairness of the American people.

Yet in the midst of my happiness, I am sad. Al-Arian has spent almost three years in solitary confinement under very harsh conditions. He lost his tenured position at the University of South Florida, and the lives of his family have been devastated. If he is deported, my community will lose a very fine man. I have heard over $300 million was spent prosecuting this case, money that could better have been spent on low-income housing, or feeding the more 50,000 people that go hungry in Hillsborough County every year. If the prosecutors decide to re-try the case, millions more will be wasted.

Al-Arian was not found guilty, yet he remains in jail. The government lost this case, but do they still win?

Melva Underbakke

Temple Terrace FL

Communists confront global capitalism

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 03:10:00 +0000

ATHENS, Greece — Representatives of 73 communist and workers’ parties from 61 countries met here last month to review the current status of global capitalism and the role of communist parties.

The communists noted the new imperialist aggressiveness of capitalism and its global assault on social and democratic rights and living standards. Many emphasized the particularly dangerous role of the Bush administration in world affairs.

Communists from the Middle East stressed the aggressive, destabilizing role of the U.S. in their region.

“The orchestrated attack against the sovereignty and independence of countries is the main identifier of the current developments in the world,” Navid Shomali of the Tudeh Party of Iran said. The U.S. war on Iraq and efforts to control Iran are part of a plan to control the “Greater Middle East” because of its vast energy resources and strategic location bridging three continents, Shomali and others from the region noted.

Mohamad Bakri of the Communist Party of Israel called the U.S. policy “official state terrorism,” replacing international law with the “law of the jungle.”

John Foster of the Communist Party of Britain noted that the Bush administration’s policy of “unilateral, military solutions” to its problems has been costly not only to Americans but to the entire world.

Heinz Stehr of the German Communist Party said other imperialist countries pursue similar aims but lack “comparable instruments of power, which means they often resort to different tactics.” He said capitalism today is “characterized by common interests, antagonisms and rivalries between the imperialist centers of power.” With a different emphasis, Aleka Papariga of the Communist Party of Greece said, “The modern imperialist system, despite the sharp conflicts that split it, has a single strategy in defending the system, in attacking the labor movement, in attacking the peoples.”

Representatives from advanced capitalist countries and developing nations alike spoke of attacks on public services and privatization drives. Teuvo Junka of the Communist Party of Finland said unemployment is a “mass phenomenon” in Finland today. Many parties described the demise of the “welfare state” on which the working class and middle strata have relied for decades.

Emily Naffa of the Jordanian Communist Party said, “World capitalism dominated by U.S. imperialism” has “turned back to the unfettered operation of market forces, a reversion to a more brutal form of 19th century capitalism.”

Communists from the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR described how their countries, under the thumb of capitalist globalization, are reverting to the bleak economic backwater status of their pre-socialist past. Yuri Mishin of the Communist Party of Estonia noted that since the end of socialism, Estonia’s population has dropped, with about 50 percent fewer children under the age of four. The country has experienced “savage capitalist exploitation,” where “freedom means the government doesn’t have an obligation to defend workers’ rights.”

By contrast, Cuban and Vietnamese communists described their socialist societies’ commitment to raising “the quality of life of people, in material, cultural and spiritual terms,” as the Vietnamese representatives put it. Fernando Remirez de Estenoz of the Communist Party of Cuba said, “In spite of the [U.S.] blockade, the worst drought in 100 years and six hurricanes in four years, Cuba today continues in her struggle to improve the people’s standard of living.”

Differences were expressed by European parties around tactics in dealing with the European Union and the recently formed European Left Party, reflecting differing views of the alliances needed to advance toward socialism. Another contentious issue was whether to include a condemnation of terrorism in the meeting’s final declaration. Some parties argued the terrorist label had been applied to them or others on the left, and therefore were unwilling to join in condemning terrorism. Others wanted to condemn terrorist actions against civilians, emphasizing that these actions play into the hands of imperialism. In particular, parties from the Middle East pleaded for inclusion of such a condemnation. Consensus was not reached, and the issue was not mentioned in the final statement.

The final statement summarized the general agreement favoring increased international solidarity and cooperation among communist and workers’ parties. More than a dozen joint actions were proposed.

Parties in attendance represented nearly every country in Europe, much of the Middle East and North Africa, several countries of Asia and the Americas, and Australia. The sole party from sub-Saharan Africa was the Party of the Congress for the Independence of Madagascar. Some parties that did not attend sent written remarks.

Fathi el Fadi of the Sudanese Communist Party urged steps to improve the participation of parties from Africa and other regions. The final statement proposed initiatives to promote cooperation and joint action with African communist and workers’ parties. Documents from the meeting are available at www.solidnet.org.

Letters

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 08:20:00 +0000

Steinbrenner tramples parks

The spirit and energy of Rosa Parks in refusing to give up her seat on the bus lives on right now in the Bronx where the community is fighting to keep its park free from private developers. Near Yankee Stadium a classic story is unfolding of a large private entity, George Steinbrenner and his Yankee Limited Partnership are seizing public parkland, Macomb’s Dam and Mullaly Parks, from the minority neighborhood with complicity from the corrupt Bronx political machine and spineless city government.

Billionaire Steinbrenner has the gall to build his new Steinbrenner Stadium on these neighborhood parks, subsequently tear down the real “House that Ruth built,” Yankee Stadium, and expect the state and city to spend over $200 million to “re-create” separate and unequal parks five years later. These proposed replacement “parks” will be artificial turf, far from the present sites and even on top of garages!

The community is fed up and fighting back! Check out their web site packed with investigative reporting:

www.saveourparks.blogspot.com.

Recently the local press has featured stories of this racist land grab by Steinbrenner. The Parks1 Campaign (http://parks1.org/blog) writes, “The story is far from over and developing rapidly.” Please sign their petition and contact your elected officials.

A reader

Bronx NY

Contacting Colin Powell

Colin Powell appeared in Marin County recently. His appearance for many of us was a disappointment. He defended the administration’s Iraq position by saying the CIA made them do it, saying every intelligence service knew Saddam was a threat and needed to be taken out. There was more, of course, and all disappointing — except for his support of McCain’s position on torture.

I should like to forward to Colin Powell a letter to the editor of the Pacific Sun also expressing disappointment with Powell’s words.

Do you know to what address I can send correspondence to former Secretary Powell?

Dorsey McTaggart

Via e-mail

Death penalty

The 1,000th person to be executed in our country since 1976 was recently put to death in my state. I wish that North Carolina had gotten national attention for doing something else.

I have always been against the death penalty. I think that our government should always try to avoid taking human lives in any situation, and in some cases the prisoner might really be innocent. Since 1973 at least 122 prisoners have been freed from death rows thanks to DNA testing, witnesses recanting their testimony and other second chances.

If the death penalty really is a deterrent, then why don’t they televise it? And why don’t they execute all killers? Whether you call it manslaughter, homicide or murder, taking a life is taking a life. What really bothers me is that many “pro-life” conservative Christians would support something that the Roman authorities did to Jesus.

Didn’t Jesus say, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” and “Whatever you do to the least among men you also do unto me”?

Chuck Mann

Greensboro NC

Better weather ahead

Thank you for your work. It allows us to dream that the “obvious reality” that nothing will change in North America is wrong.

I do not know how and when, but I can tell you that the working class of your country will, by its consciousness, climb up to the skies.

So, I continue to read you, like I read the thermometer to know if it is cold or warmer. And we all know that “aprés la pluie, le beau temps” (after the rain, the nice day).

Daniel Paquet

Pointe-Aux-Trembles, Quebec

David Cohen

Thanks for the tribute you paid to David Cohen on his passing to the next realm (PWW 10/29-11/4).

I moved to Philadelphia in 1967 to go to law school and immersed myself in local politics. Working for David Cohen and Joe Coleman was such a blessing as they tirelessly applied themselves to making life more equitable for all citizens.

Now, I focus on the need to get more people involved in the political process as the next presidential election fast approaches.

Cletis Harry Beegle

Tucson AZ

L.A. Times pulls a fast one

The Los Angeles Times announced it is slashing 85 people from its news staff, despite millions in corporate profits. This means watered-down coverage of local, state and national news. Politicians and corporations who should be held accountable by vigilant watchdog journalism will instead be covered by a staff that is stretched too thin.

Equally outrageous, Californians are being deceived about why these cuts are happening. Despite reaping huge profits that most businesses would envy, the Times’ corporate owners in Chicago simply aren’t satisfied — they want more. The Times points to things like “rising newsprint costs” to distract the public from the real reason for the cuts.

The Times’ corporate owners think they can get away with this because nobody is paying attention. But we’re starting a petition to show the strong public opposition to these cuts.

Please sign the petition at: http://civic.moveon.org/latimescuts/.

Joseph Hancock

Los Angeles CA

Vets for Peace

It was a chilly day and because of the 28 mph wind the wait to march seemed even longer. Once we began however, it was wonderful. In spite of the political decision made at City Hall, it was a glorious contingent. As one participant put it, “You know you are relevant when City Hall treats veterans in such a disrespectful way.”

The NYPD kept us waiting one and three-quarter hours to no avail. Our Veterans for Peace float and contingent marched and chanted various slogans, along with the familiar “Bring them home now!” Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Moe Fishman and Matti Mattson rode on the float along with Cindy Sheehan.

The reception we received along the 5th Avenue route “exceeded my expectations” as another participant said, and right she was! Those chilly winds did not dampen the camaraderie among those that marched.

The latest polls show 68 percent of the American people are against this war of occupation which has taken over 2,000 U.S. lives, thousands of Iraq’s and is bankrupting every city in the nation.

Gabe Falsetta

New York NY

Pro-Chavez candidates sweep Venezuela vote

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 08:09:00 +0000

Venezuelans voted Dec. 4 to elect a new National Assembly. The week before, four parties opposed to President Hugo Chavez had withdrawn from the race, calling for a boycott.

Chavez’s own party, the Movement for the Fifth Republic (MVR), won 114 seats and five pro-Chavez parties took the others in the 167-seat Assembly. Pre-election polls indicated pro-Chavez forces would have won a two-thirds majority even if the opposition parties had stayed in the race.

That’s the margin the Chavez government needs to pass constitutional amendments, including one that might remove term limits for Chavez and other officials. Previously, the MVR held only 52 percent of the seats.

Speaking at a press conference, Assembly President Nicolas Maduro of the MVR declared, “A new era is beginning. The people are now in the National Assembly; no longer does it belong to the elites.”

A preliminary report put voter turnout at 25 percent. In middle- and upper-class Caracas neighborhoods, where the boycott call was most widely heeded, only 10 percent of the voters showed up at polling places. Voter turnout in parliamentary elections was less than 20 percent in the pre-Chavez era, rising to 56 percent in 2000, when all parties were participating.

Responding to the low turnout figures, commentators friendly to the Chavez government said that in addition to the boycott, another problem was that candidates for the Assembly were selected by party leaders rather than through grassroots processes, and election campaigning was limited. Another factor was severe weather in many parts of the country, including the capital.

Despite the boycott call, only 556 candidates out of the 5,516 vying for election actually dropped out, along with 18 of the 355 contending political parties and social groups. Many candidates stayed in the race despite their party’s departure.

The parties boycotting the election had expressed concern that the use of computerized fingerprint scanners violated voter anonymity. Responding to opposition criticisms, the National Election Council announced before the election that the scanners would not be used. Even so, the anti-Chavez forces advocated a boycott.

Four hundred observers were on hand before and during the elections from the European Union, the Organization of American States and the electoral commissions of El Salvador, Colombia, Panama, Uruguay and Nicaragua. They overwhelmingly certified the election process as fair and free from fraud, in keeping with the experience of several recent elections there.

Days before the election, Chavez accused the Bush administration of engineering the boycott. “I denounce it before the world and hold responsible for this new conspiracy against Venezuela the very chief of the empire, Mister Danger, the president of the United States,” he said.

According to Vice-President Jose Vincent Rangel, “The U.S. Embassy has been very active, extremely active.” In fact, the National Endowment for Democracy, through its International Republican Institute, provided a yearlong course in electoral politics for 500 members of 11 opposition parties. Venezuelan opposition groups are said to have received $20 million over five years from the U.S. government. To support the contention that Washington had a hand in the boycott, analysts cite the precedents of similar election boycotts in Nicaragua in 1994 and in Haiti in 2000.

On Dec. 1, thousands of Chavez supporters appeared before the National Assembly building to oppose the boycott. Signs and banners invoked the memory of the mass mobilization that returned Chavez to power in April 2002 after an attempted coup by the right wing. One of the signs read, “We will turn Dec. 4 into April 13,” referring to the date of Chavez’s return to power.

Chavez’s opponents tried to flex their muscle in other ways. Explosions were set off in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities before the elections, and a small blast in the west of the country damaged an oil pipeline. The government mobilized an army force of 110,000 to protect polling places and public officials.

Some say charges of a “flawed election” will now be used as a pretext for anti-Chavez, right-wing machinations, both foreign and domestic, heightening the danger of an increase in political violence directed against Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.

LETTERS

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 12:18:00 +0000

LETTERS

Hurricane Wilma appeal

I applied for FEMA, I was denied. I applied for an SBA loan, I was denied. And now I applied for one-time food stamps and I was denied. I just moved to Florida. I have a son and a wife. I only make $20,000 a year. I haven’t made that yet. I just started working. My bank account is negative. I lost a week of work, had no power for two weeks and somehow I was still denied. I am not rich. Far from it. It is the day before Thanksgiving and I have not received my pay yet and I have no food for my family. Why do I pay taxes, why do I vote, why are all these people saying they’re going to help but do nothing? Can you help me?

Daniel Gomez, Homestead FL

Looking for Gulf Coast contacts

Re: “Using Katrina to exploit immigrants” (PWW 11/5-11).

I am working with a network organizing the skills and energy of law students in assisting the people of New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas devastated by the hurricane and the government’s response.

We’re particularly focused now on projects students could work on during their winter break — end of December and early January. We’re planning trips to New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas area. In addition, we’re organizing students who will not be traveling but will commit to do legal research from their home. We’ve made contact with legal services and some grassroots organizations in NO who we will be working with and are interested in finding additional opportunities for students both in NO and other Gulf Coast areas and working from home.

I’m reaching out to see if you have contacts in NO or other Gulf Coast area who could use assistance on immigration and/or worker rights issues.

Hillary Exter , New York NY Hillary Exter is director of Student Organizations & Publicity, Fordham Law School Public Interest Resource Center, HExter at law.fordham.edu.

Sports skills

The article by Pepe Lozano (“Chicago’s White Sox — a joyous inspiration,” PWW 11/12-18) was the best sports article I have ever read in the PWW. I’ve been reading the paper for the past five years. The content and tone is of a brilliant Marxist sports analyst. I hope for a May Day parade too brother! Keep writing.

Kin One, Via e-mail

Drug plan ripoff

I greatly appreciated the article appropriately titled, “The prescription drug law rip-off” (PWW 11/5-11). It’s the clearest thing I’ve seen on the tiny little “benefits” the drug companies allowed in the Medicare prescription drug bill that was ramrodded through Congress under the most suspicious circumstances last year.

I believe one of the very worst aspects of the law did not make the article. As I heard it explained, people must pick a drug provider based on the drugs offered and the prices posted. They sign up for one year and can’t change during that year. However, the drug provider can changes their prices or even stop providing certain drugs any time they choose!

Jim Lane, Dallas TX

A real drug plan

Reliance on private drug plans and other measures in the 2003 Medicare amendments are a disaster for Medicare recipients. Here in Illinois, seniors and people with disabilities face a confusing maze of more than 130 private drug plans. For most, what savings the Part D plans provide in 2006 will quickly disappear due to skyrocketing drug costs and annual increases in the coverage gap, deductible and other out-of-pocket costs.

The private Part D drug plans are a disaster for all American taxpayers. By prohibiting Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices and by subsidizing private insurance profits, Part D wastes nearly 50 cents of every dollar spent.

There is a better way. The Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans believes we can easily enact a real drug benefit that provides meaningful coverage and controls costs by negotiating drug prices just like the Veterans Administration does.

When asked what they want, our members say, “I want my Medicare to help with my drug costs. I want my doctor to decide what medicine I take.” Providing a drug benefit under the existing Medicare program would provide seniors the help they need and be a better deal for taxpayers. We should make it so.

Steve Pittman, Chicago IL Steve Pittman is executive director of the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans.

Different take on 50 Cent

Thanks to Carolyn Rummel for her review of 50 Cent’s film, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” (PWW 11/19-25). I and some fellow Young Communist League members were excited to see the paper talking about cultural issues affecting young people. “Get Rich or Die Trying” has a lot of hype around it. However, we disagree with Rummel’s political assessment of the film, its imagery and its impact on young people today. With all the shortcomings of corporate Hip Hop, it is difficult to recognize what is an expression of the working-class reality of Black people versus what is a harmful and problematic corporate distortion of that reality. We must question why corporate America is promoting artists who glorify a life of gang violence and drug dealing for Black and Latino/a youth.

50 Cent’s overall message is self-explanatory — “get rich or die trying.” Obviously 50 Cent is the one getting rich while the rest of us are dying. This film is not about how to “get out of the hood” and have a better life. The image of 50 Cent holding a gun in one hand and a microphone in another is not about choosing — it suggests that each represents a valid way to wealth and power. This film is about Black people killing Black people and possibly getting rich in the process.

As opportunities for young people have been washed away, the options that 50 Cent represents are not viable for those who would like to continue living. His profit-driven persona and the corporate mystification of it are tools capitalism uses to kill, criminalize and incarcerate young people.

Abdul Hassan, New York NY

Older than we thought

I noticed on your web site that you are plugging yourselves as “working class news and opinion since 1924.”

Actually, you’re two years older than you think you are. “The Worker” was established via a merger of “The Toiler” with “The Workers Council” in January 1922.

1924 was the year the paper went daily — but it originated in 1922.

Happy new birthday.

Tim Davenport, Corvallis OR

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:03:00 +0000

S. CHARLESTON, W.Va.: City says ‘bring troops home now’

Mayor Richie Robb, a Republican and decorated Vietnam veteran, sat down and wrote a three-page resolution demanding that the troops be brought out of Iraq — now. Robb, who has served as mayor of this community of 15,000 for 30 years, had just watched a news report that the U.S. government is funding the rebuilding of Iraq, while his town receives the ax from Washington. “This is not a partisan issue,” Robb said. “War has never been a partisan issue, but the Bush administration has made it one. They have hidden behind party labels to hide their ineptness.”

With the City Council’s approval, South Charleston joined 70 other towns and cities from heartland to coasts, which have acted since September to bring U.S. troops, home, now.

Vermont leads all states, with 50 towns approving resolutions to withdraw troops from Iraq. Some City Council members in Sacramento, Calif., received death threats after they voted 8-1 for a “rapid and comprehensive” withdrawal. Gary, Ind., Philadelphia, and Chapel Hill, N.C., are all in the group of 70.

“We’re at a fascinating tipping point,” said Cities for Peace Director John Cavanagh. Cities for Peace helped galvanize 165 state, county, city and municipal resolutions opposing the Bush 2003 invasion of Iraq. Two years into the war, cities and towns are speaking up again.

DENVER: Bush seeks campaign money, finds protesters

Hundreds of peace and justice activists banged on pots and pans with wooden spoons, sounded holiday noisemakers, beat drums and chanted, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation,” as President Bush stopped by the Brown Palace Hotel here Nov. 29. Bush was in town to raise money for GOP Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.

Parked outside Brown Palace was a mobile billboard reading, “Stop Gay Marriage Now So Osama Doesn’t Get Away,” satirizing the diversionary tactics used by Bush to launch and continue the Iraq war.

Nationwide: End the death penalty!

Virginia Gov. Mark Warner granted clemency Nov. 29 to Robin Lovitt, who would have become the 1,000th person executed in the U.S. since 1976 had Warner not done so. The governor’s action took place on the heels of numerous demonstrations by opponents of the scheduled execution, including in Pittsburgh, Pa., where people of faith and opponents of the death penalty rallied Nov. 28.

At the Pittsburgh demonstration, Ray Crone, who was released from prison after DNA evidence proved his innocence — one of more than 120 nationwide who have been exonerated in this way over the past 15 years — said, “Suppose those 120 falsely accused people had been killed. Death is forever. Capital punishment does not recognize the flaws and mistakes in the justice system.”

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, supporters of Stanley Tookie Williams, a death row prisoner slated to be executed Dec. 13, guardedly welcomed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to give Williams a private clemency hearing on Dec. 8. Over 32,000 signatures urging clemency have been given to the governor, and numerous civil rights leaders and media personalities have lent their support to the request. Schwarzenegger has declined clemency, however, in two prior cases.

Williams, a reformed gang leader, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for writing several children’s books aimed at discouraging youth from gang violence.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: Pipe workers fight for retiree benefits

Workers at the 2,000-acre, sprawling American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO) spent their lives producing products upon which every city and town depends. They produced the cast iron pipe used to move sewage and water for drinking and fire suppression systems. Their work made ACIPCO owners rich. Now, the company is closing the on-site health clinic and slashing their retirees’ health care benefits.

Over 75 retirees met Nov. 27 to plan their protest at the company’s upcoming board meeting. ACIPCO workers are not union members, but union was on their mind at the meeting.

Haskill Johnson hired into ACIPCO in 1949 and retired in 1983. Now, he says, the company is imposing a 25-percent-of-cost co-pay for medications, plus a $2.50 fee just for handing the pillbox across the counter. Workers hired after Jan. 1, 2006, will receive no medical coverage whatsoever when they retire, and the company is raising the retirement age from 58 to 65.

“I was told when I was hired that when I retired my medical and prescriptions would be free,” said Johnson. “But that’s not the case anymore. These are really outrageous things to ask.”

Jerry Sumerel, another retiree at the workers-only meeting, said, “I don’t know what the answer is. I just know that if you don’t have the guts enough to stand up and do something about it, nobody else is going to do it for you.”

Although Fortune magazine rates ACIPCO 28 on the list of best companies to work for, workers and retirees charge that the company is going downhill fast because of management’s total lack of respect for blue collar workers and retirees.

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696 at aol.com).