People Before Profit blog

Budget and planet friendly gift ideas

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:59:00 +0000

• About 25 years ago I lived in Hibbing on Minnesota’s Iron Range and tried to survive selling Electrolux vacuums to unemployed miners. So, I gave a symbol of my woeful financial condition: an apple and a little tin cup filled with pencils. At least it got a few laughs.

— Tom Ratzloff

• Cull a non-native invasive species to use for a holiday tree and wood sculpture projects. Good for the environment and pocketbook.

— D.L. Lecano

• Frame memorabilia from the Obama campaign — get frames at thrift stores.

• Burn a CD with your favorite songs.

• Homemade granola, put it in old spaghetti jars and print your own label (my daughter did this for both grampas last year; they had a hard time not eating it all in one sitting).

— Elena Mora

• 2009 Peace Calendar:

• Fair trade chocolate from Ghana:

• Solar charger for your cell phone, ipod, etc. — as used by Obama!

• Peace T-shirts (and other merchandise) from UFPJ:

• CD: Mavis Staples “Live: Hope at the Hideout”

• Union-made items from Union Shop Online: .

— Libero Della Piana

• Gift subscription to the People’s Weekly World / Nuestro Mundo — indispensable to creating the change our country cries out for.

• “New Hard Times” CD by the Rabble Rousers, only $10 — all the spirit and inspiration you could want to keep the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act front and center. Union songs with an Irish flair by Bill Collins and Gary MacConnie and friends: .

— Joelle Fishman

• Use the reusable bags that you buy for groceries to wrap presents. They come in some creative colors and can become part of the gift.

— Jenn Delgado

• Shop at places that benefit nonprofits like Chicago’s Brown Elephant stores and the White Elephant resale shop. Also check out the neighborhood newspaper for holiday bazaars featuring handicrafts and home-baked goodies.

— Barbara Russum

• Simple handmade crafts are great gifts. I give adult family households a new set of handknit dishcloths every New Years - colorful, absorbent, durable, cheap, simple and quick to make. My granddaughter makes candles as gifts.

— Marilyn Bechtel

• Cuttings from your favorite coleus or other indoor house plant, in a wine bottle you think is too pretty to throw away; it will grow roots and spread indoor beauty for years.

• Donations to upgrade the PWW’s website.

— Roberta Wood

• Organic fair trade coffee, books or gift certificates from your local progressive bookstore.

— Tim Pelzer

OPINION: Finding personal value in an elitist society

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:15:00 +0000

Imagine, for a moment, that there are two American men standing before you. The man on the left is named Bob. He is wearing an old and tattered flannel jacket, underneath which is a simple white T-shirt. His jeans are dirty and covered with holes. His hands are hard and cracked from years of manual labor. His face is covered in stubble and his broken smile reveals broken teeth. But he is smiling. He works at a production factory, where he earns about $12 an hour and craves overtime. He knows he is not wealthy, but he is content with where he is in life.

On the right is Charles. Charles wears a finely tailored suit and tie, and he looks impeccably groomed. There is not a spot of dirt or grime anywhere on his person. His shoes are expensive and shined to a smooth glean. His perfectly smooth hands hold a leather portfolio, inside of which is the livelihoods of hundreds of people: their paychecks. Charles is the owner of several production facilities, including the one where Bob works. He has over 1,000 employees, most of whom are blue collar laborers like the man beside him. He has recently joined the ranks of American millionaires, and he is proud of his accomplishments. He gives back to the community, in the form of charitable contributions.

Who’s more valuable?

Now imagine that all Americans were asked to vote on which of these two men were more valuable to American society. Who do you think would win?

Undoubtedly, the wealthy Charles would win in a landslide. Although most people may relate more closely with Bob, they would say that he does not contribute as much to our culture as does Charles. After all, Charles gives jobs to over a thousand people; he gives to charities; he generates revenue which boosts the economy; he pays far more in taxes than Bob makes in a year. Certainly he is more valuable, right?

In the society in which we live today, that would be an appropriate assumption. An American is considered valuable only if she has a great deal of wealth. Influence is given only to the rich.

Need more evidence? Consider this:

For the past few years, hundreds of thousands of average Americans have been losing their jobs. Homes have been foreclosed at historic rates. Real estate values have plunged at alarming levels. Millions of regular people have felt the effects of a devastating, and continuing, economic meltdown.

And yet the government has done nothing.

However, in September, when it became clear that our wealthy financial and insurance institutions were in danger of going under, the powers in Washington, D.C., stepped right up to bail them out. They threw over $700 billion at ridiculously rich executives who have proven over and over that they have absolutely no interest in serving the people, but only in lining their own wallets.

How did we get to this point? How did we get to the point where a person’s value is determined by the size of his bank account? Why is the amount of money you make the only measure of your worth?

It should not be this way

I am not qualified to answer those questions, and I certainly cannot explain how we change the current conditions. But I do know one thing: it is wrong.

It should not be this way. Our founding fathers declared that “all men are created equal.” Granted, they considered “all men” to be only rich, landowning males, but it is the thought that counts.

Jesus told us to “love your neighbor as yourself” and to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Have you ever seen those credos in a corporate mission statement? I doubt it. Corporations, and those who run them, are concerned not with how to help their consumers, or even the society as a whole, but only with profits and market share.

By these current standards, I am — at best — of average worth. I own a home, but I am behind on the payments. I lease a new truck, but I am in danger of losing it. I have credit card bills that I cannot keep up with. I continue to take college classes partly to avoid paying back my student loans. I have received my share of “shutoff” notices from utility companies. I never have more than a pittance in my savings account.

But I do not believe that these things make me less valuable than more wealthy members of our country.

I am just as valuable as that CEO …

I am just as valuable as the CEO of Ciena, who was paid $41.2 million while overseeing a 93 percent drop in the value of his corporation’s stock.

I am just as valuable as the CEO of Sun Microsystems, who received $13.1 million a year while driving the company’s profits into the ground.

I am just as valuable as the leaders of Citigroup, who “earned” millions while taking the company to the brink of bankruptcy.

I am just as valuable as George W. Bush, whose policies of deregulation and ill-conceived tax cuts, combined with his mind-numbing ineptitude, have contributed to the current crisis.

I am just as valuable as Richard B. Cheney, whose remarkable arrogance and narrow-mindedness has caused the deaths of thousands.

But no more valuable than the worker or the homeless person on the street

At the same time, our society considers me to be more valuable than some, simply because I have a house and a vehicle to drive. I may have more money than some other citizens, I may eat larger and tastier meals, and I may have the luxury of driving everywhere I go (for now), but that does not make me more valuable than anyone else.

I am no more valuable than the man I see walking the streets of Flint every day, who lives on the curbs.

I am no more valuable than the woman pushing her life’s belongings in a grocery cart along the road.

I am no more valuable than the millions of Americans who have lost their homes because they could not make the payments.

I am no more valuable than the young mother who works two minimum wage jobs to put food on the table.

I am no more valuable than the production worker who produces the items that make his owner rich.

Our current society is sadly mistaken. Personal value has nothing to do with wealth, or possessions, or retirement funds, or stock holdings, or dividends, or how many employees you have, or how many yachts you own.

I am just as valuable as the city planner, and no more valuable than the city bum.

I am just as valuable as the university president, and no more valuable than the high school dropout.

I am just as valuable as the resident of Beverly Hills, and no more valuable than the resident of South Central.

I am just as valuable as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, and no more valuable than the starving artist.

I am just as valuable as the owner of a trucking company, and no more valuable than its newest truck driver.

I am just as valuable as the most successful attorney, and no more valuable than the lowest criminal.

I am just as valuable as the plant manager, and no more valuable than the line worker.

I am just as valuable as the most popular Food Network chef, and no more valuable than the counter worker at McDonald’s.

I am just as valuable as a king, and no more valuable than a peasant.

It should not be this way. Capitalism was intended to give every citizen an opportunity at success. Instead, it has exploited most for the benefit of a few. And now a person’s value is directly related to the size of his bank account. A man’s value should be measured not by the size of his wallet, but by the mere presence of life.

Descartes once famously said, “I think, therefore I am.” In our society today, it is more appropriate for us to say, “I breathe, therefore I matter.”

Craig Withers is a freelance writer in Flint, Mich.

McScrooged: A talk with McDonalds employee

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:34:00 +0000

A letter from Michael Whitney from Change that Works, SEIU.org:

Last week we told you that McDonald's wasn't lovin' free choice at work. Several thousand of you stood up and told the company what you think about their efforts to stop their employees' free choice.

Now we're kicking our campaign into high gear. We want to speak directly with McDonald's employees about what it's like to work for a CEO who is paid 770 times what his workers earn, leaving working families with barely enough to afford the 'Dollar Menu.'

We're organizing events at McDonald's locations around the country for TOMORROW at NOON. Can you take an hour tomorrow to go to your local McDonald's to educate McDonald's employees about free choice?

.

If you can't find an event near you, you can plan your own – it's easy, quick, and we provide all the materials you need.

According to published reports, the fast food giant is organizing its store owners to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act. McDonald's has reportedly even formed an 'internal response team...to actively participate in the opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.'

The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers the free choice to join unions so they can bargain for better wages, benefits, and retirement security. But it's apparent that McDonald's doesn't want its employees to see any of that.

It's time for McDonald's to give workers more of the wealth they help create, and it's up to us to tell them how to do so.

Find or plan an event at a McDonald's near you TODAY at NOON to tell employees why they need free choice at work.

Thank you for your support of McDonald's employees and workers everywhere.

End military recruitment in our public schools

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:27:00 +0000

An Open Letter to President-elect Obama One day, when we still lived in Tijuana, Mexico, and my son was only 13 years old, a Marine recruiter told him that if my son enlisted someday he could become an agent in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). My son had grown up in Tijuana and seen how drugs destroy the lives of innocent children and he wanted to become a policeman.

The recruiter who exploited my son's idealism promised that he would spend one year in the Marines and then transfer to the DEA despite the fact that he was not a U.S. citizen. We learned too late that none of this was true, but we accepted that in fact he would have to spend eight years in the Marines. Then September 11 changed the history of the world. We were proud that our beloved son would be part of the armed forces that would protect us from terrorism.

Unfortunately, President Bush began to tell a series of lies about WMD and the connection between 9/11 and Iraq. My son was deployed to the Kuwaiti border in February of 2003 and although I opposed the war because I believe violence is never the proper response to international conflict I thought the government of my adopted country would follow the lead of the Congress and the United Nations.

But unfortunately Mr. Bush led us into war with false reasons, a war against an innocent people that even today no one understands. The carnage began on March 20, 2003, and seven days later on March 27 my son died and my life changed forever. The Marine official handed me an official Pentagon document that said he had been shot in the head by enemy fire, but the reality as I later learned from an embedded TV reporter who was present was that my son had stepped on a U.S. cluster bomb. As of today, I have never received a response to my inquiries to the government about the facts of my son's death.

Since 2003 I have dedicated my life to telling my story, denouncing the lies of the Bush administration, and advocating for peace. I traveled to Iraq in December of 2003 to see with my own eyes where my son had died at the hands of our own incompetent government, and while there I learned that thousands of Iraqi children die every day from a lack of medicine. One year later, I returned with $650,000.00 in donated medical aid for the Iraqi people. I have also devoted myself to speaking out against military recruiters who lie to our young people in order to meet their quotas.

And so, because I know that you opposed the war in Iraq, I have taken the audacious step of writing to you directly.

Today, our schools are in great financial trouble. In minority and working-class communities, school districts lack the necessary resources, many schools have closed, many teachers have lost their jobs. But the military recruiters have become better funded and so they visit the schools whenever they like, hunting for young people who only want to get an education. And so I must ask: 'What is our priority — education or the militarization of our youth?

Mr. President-elect, I ask, no I implore, you to put an end to military recruitment in our public schools. Let us put the billions of dollars used to fund recruitment and JROTC back into the educational mission of our schools. Let the American Dream be realized not with false promises and weapons training but rather with books, decent classrooms, well paid teachers, and a pedagogy of hope.

Si se puede Sr. Obama! Yes we can.

Fernando Suárez del Solar Founder & Director Guerrero Azteca Peace Project PO Box 300221, Escondido, CA 92030-0221

www.guerreroazteca.org guerreroaztecaporlapaz.blogspot.com/

Traduccion: Jorge Mariscal

Sit-in!

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:09:00 +0000

Workers take over factory, solidarity pours in

‘Billions for Bank America, $0 for workers’

CHICAGO — “We’re here to demand our rights,” said Manuella Rivera in a gentle but firm voice, “and we’ll stay until we get justice.” Rivera, a 58-year-old window assembler, is among 250 courageous workers at Republic Windows and Doors who have occupied the plant since Dec. 5 when it was shut down after the company’s main financer, Bank of America, refused to extend a line of credit.

The occupation has tapped into the growing anger of people across the country struggling with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and what’s seen as a failure of the federal bailout of banks and financial institutions. The day the occupation started, the U.S. Labor Department said 533,000 more jobs were lost in November.

The action has created a storm of outrage because Bank of America recently received a $25 billion bailout package from the federal government, but decided it wouldn’t go to keep manufacturing operations running. When the company skipped a Dec. 5 meeting with the United Electrical Workers’ union (UE) and Bank of America, the workers unanimously voted to stage a sit-in.

“These workers are to this struggle perhaps what Rosa Parks was to social justice 50 years ago,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said. “This, in many ways, is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence.”

The action against some of the most powerful economic forces in the nation has generated worldwide solidarity and support including from President-elect Barack Obama, who called the workers’ demands “absolutely right.” Food, money and solidarity messages have poured in and area unions, religious and community activists have demonstrated daily with the workers.

Many solidarity actions were part of the Jobs with Justice Coalition People’s Bailout Now Week of Actions Dec. 7-13. A group of religious leaders in town for a meeting of Interfaith Workers Justice rallied at the plant Dec. 9.

“We’re here to stand with these workers to support them in their struggle for justice,” Rev. Nelson Johnson told the World. Johnson is co-president and board member of Interfaith Worker Justice and vice-president of the Pulpit Forum in Greensboro, N.C.

“People need to work and this is no time for the banks or the company to betray the interests of the American people who made this [bailout] money available for moments precisely like this one that should directly benefit the workers here,” said Johnson.

The company, maker of vinyl windows for the home construction market, has employed 300 workers at the factory, including 250 unionized production workers, for 45 years. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1110 represents the workers. The firm started as a family operation but besides Wall Street behemoth Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, has a 40 percent stake in the company.

Republic closed the factory with three days notice when Bank of America refused it a $5 million line of credit. As chief investor, BA has effectively controlled the company’s finances. The abrupt closure clearly violated the federal WARN Act, requiring employers to give 60 days notice of a mass layoff (Illinois state law mandates 75 days) or pay the workers and continue their health benefits for that time.

Negotiations have been ongoing between the union, company and Bank of America to settle all outstanding issues. The workers will vote on whatever settlement is reached.

City, county and state officials have called for breaking ties with Bank of America if they don’t release funds so the workers can receive what they are owed. They also called for an investigation into what Bank of America is doing with the bailout funds, perhaps investing in overseas operations but not in the United States.

Alderman Joe Moore, who was joined by 14 other aldermen at a Dec. 8 city hall press conference, said, “We can refuse to do business with Bank of America, withdraw all our funds and deposits and make no zoning changes until BA treats these workers right.”

Other speakers said for an economic recovery, money must get into working people’s hands.

“The government gave $25 billion to BA. They are supposed to work with businesses to keep them open, not shut them down,” Lalo Munoz, 54, told the World. Munoz, a machine operator, has worked at the plant for 34 years.

Others see the banks and corporations as taking advantage of the financial and economic crisis to break unions and shed worker benefits and pensions. UE spokespersons say Republic, which has received millions of dollars in city subsidies, has bought a similar plant in Iowa. Speculation is production will be restarted in the non-union Iowa plant.

“The workers want Bank of America to keep the plant open and the workers employed,” said UE Western President Carl Rosen. “There is always a demand for windows and doors. But with Barack Obama’s stimulus proposal, there will be even greater demand for the products made by Republic’s workers. It doesn’t make sense to close this plant when the need is so obvious.”

jbachtell @rednet.org

TAKE ACTION

Messages of solidarity:

For solidarity make checks payable to the UE Local 1110 Solidarity Fund, and mail to: 37 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60607.

Messages of support can be emailed to leahfried@gmail.com.

For more information, call UE at 312-829-8300.

Only one fix for auto industry: nationalize it

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:59:00 +0000

A raging debate is under way across the country, in Congress and between the incoming Obama and outgoing Bush administrations on the fate of the auto industry. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler CEOs have faced tough questioning in Congress. GM is begging for $25 billion to keep it and its ailing Detroit counterparts going. But nobody seems too thrilled about the prospect.

Some say the companies are to blame for their own mess because they’ve focused on turning out gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles. The right wing obsesses over all the well-paid union workers with alleged gold-plated benefits. The New York Times and Washington Post join this bandwagon by reporting wage and benefit figures for autoworkers that are double what they actually get. The inflated figures they report include all the obligations that the companies have to retirees — money that workers, especially newer workers, never see.

“The downfall of the American auto industry is indeed a tragedy,” the Washington Post sermonized recently, “but the automakers and the United Auto Workers have only themselves to blame for much of it.” And, if they have only themselves to blame, the argument goes, why do they deserve taxpayer help? Let them fail and file for bankruptcy. In the long run, the economy will be stronger and the workers better off. It’d be worth the short-term pain, which might not even be so severe. So what if they cannot recover — maybe it’s time for Japan, Germany and Korea to produce all the world’s cars. (Of course that means all the engineering jobs will also head offshore.) The essential argument for letting GM fail is the assumption that bankruptcy would be no big deal. But, while bankruptcy has worked OK for reorganizing airlines, among others, it’s very unlikely a GM failure would have the same result.

In order to seek so-called Chapter 11 status, a distressed company must find some way to operate while the bankruptcy court keeps creditors at bay. But GM can’t build cars without parts, and it can’t get parts without credit. Chapter 11 companies typically get that sort of credit from something called debtor-in-possession (DIP) loans. But the same Wall Street meltdown that has dragged down the economy and GM sales has also dried up the DIP money GM would need to operate.

Thus GM would not qualify for Chapter 11, and would instead end up in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which would entail total liquidation. The company would close its doors, immediately throwing more than 100,000 people out of work. And, experts say, the damage would spread quickly. Automobile parts suppliers in the U.S. rely disproportionately on GM’s business to stay afloat. If GM shuts down, many if not all suppliers would soon follow. Without parts, Chrysler, Ford and eventually foreign-owned factories in the U.S. would have to cease operations.

Restaurants, gas stations, hospitals, and then cities, counties and states all would feel pressure on their bottom lines. A study just published by the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research predicts that 3 million people would lose their jobs in the first year after such a Big Three meltdown, swelling the ranks of the unemployed by nearly one-third nationally and leading to hundreds of billions of dollars in lost income.

On the other hand, the auto executives should not be rewarded for their decades-long inefficiency, short-sightedness and outright corruption. If you are wondering why mass transit, energy and transportation policy are 40 years behind where they should be, just consider the example of Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, who just relinquished the House Energy Committee chairmanship. His wife, a member of the founding GM Fisher family, is a well-paid public relations and lobbying rep for GM!

It is difficult to imagine the combination of legislative strings attached to a bailout package that would change the behavior of auto execs enough to return the companies to profitability, or give the public the modernized, fuel-efficient cars that the U.S. and the world need, in exchange for our investment.

Nationalization is the only form in which the necessary reorganization and retooling of the U.S. auto industry to meet the requirements of the high-tech and fuel-efficient future can succeed.

Only nationalization provides an opportunity to show how a concentrated effort can renew a great industrial city like Detroit.

Only nationalization provides the framework in which collective bargaining over the pay and working conditions of workers in the automobile industry can result in a fair agreement that ends destructive two-tier arrangements and grants auto workers a sustainable, long-term stake in the industry.

The U.S. auto industry, like major financial institutions, is “too big to fail,” as Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke put it. But its executives cannot be trusted with public funds.

Once the industry is retooled and refocused, it’s possible the government could resell it, in whole or in part, back to private producers if that proved to be more efficient. This writer would hope that a government-UAW partnership in rebuilding the auto industry could create a sustainable, profitable, public enterprise. But regardless, nationalization is the only practical course with any reasonable chance of success for the foreseeable future.

jcase@ commonhumanity.info

Hurricane Ike: Dj vu all over again

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:11:00 +0000

GALVESTON, Texas — After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, many speculated that if a similar disaster hit Texas, the Bush administration would respond more positively. Over two months after Hurricane Ike struck, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Once a bustling tourist-oriented city with a strong medical center and vibrant African-American community, Galveston now appears to be a ghost town, devastated first by the storm and now by the cruelty of capitalism.

Some, including Bush’s crony, Texas Governor Rick Perry, expected more from the administration since the current lame-duck president claims to be from Texas. According to the Dallas Morning News, Perry, who appears to have been recently reborn as Governor of the People, has complained loudly that “President George W. Bush didn’t even know of the Texas request for aid when the governor spoke with the president by phone last week.” The News editorialized, “Texas coastal communities are waiting for help. Hundreds of residents still live in tents, disabled cars and condemned homes as they await Federal Emergency Management Agency inspectors, insurance adjusters, mobile homes and utilities. If this is emergency management, we’d hate to see emergency mismanagement.”

Soon after Hurricane Ike struck on Sept. 12, stories circulated of National Guard troops starving at a football stadium near my home. It turned out that the stadium was a huge staging area for evacuation of Ike’s survivors.

There, National Guard troops and Texas public safety officers refused to talk with me. But motor coach operators contracted to evacuate people from the Gulf Coast told me that though some arrived as early as Aug. 27 because of the earlier Hurricane Gustav, they were not provided with suitable housing or food while on duty, and were not allowed off the premises to obtain food. Fortunately, nearby working people heard of their plight and brought huge quantities of food.

After the storm, FEMA quickly put blue tarps over damaged roofs in Houston and Galveston. Now many of my friends, neighbors and co-workers are suffering while FEMA fiddles over whether to pay for needed repairs. Meanwhile, Bush has pushed through billions in bailout money for the wealthiest corporations which presumably still have a roof over their head.

In early November — two months after Ike hit — the Galveston Daily News/ reported that 77 percent of upper Texas Coast residents who had requested assistance had “fallen through the gaps in the safety net the government spreads wide to help victims of natural disasters” because “they did not qualify for help under federal guidelines.” Meanwhile, many residents remain homeless or are residing in substandard housing.

To add insult to injury, over 3,000 people have been laid off from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, which is the only state facility in the area and has served many indigent patients for a long time.

Though it is unconscionable that after a catastrophe like Hurricane Ike, the first targets would be public health facilities, this only mirrors the closing of the Charity Hospital and the VA Medical Center in downtown New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The layoffs are a severe financial blow to Galveston County. UTMB was the city’s largest employer. Union officials from the Texas State Employees Union continue to press the University regents to reinstate workers. Galveston’s City Council is urging the UTMB Board of Regents “to fully support the university and its historic mission of tending to the medical needs of the indigent.”

Meanwhile, the UTMB system, which has cared for inmates in the Texas prison systems, has closed its 365-bed prison hospital. Sick inmates are now being sent to other facilities throughout the state.

A bipartisan group of Texas Congressmembers including Nick Lampson, Gene Green, Kevin Brady, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chet Edwards, Louie Gohmert, Al Green and Sheila Jackson-Lee is pressing FEMA to provide much-needed services to Ike’s survivors.

The survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Ike and their supporters should unite to demand that the Gulf Coast be rebuilt and a priority be placed on the recovery of families rather than extending the profits of the world’s largest corporations. We need a bailout of those inundated by natural catastrophe.

PHill1917 @comcast.net

Street theater links general strike date to todays struggles

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:44:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. — For a moment last weekend the leaves of the calendar flipped backward, as Latham Square in the center of downtown became again the site of that great post-World War II demonstration of labor solidarity, the Oakland General Strike of 1946.

On the afternoon of Dec. 7, the square once more filled with picketing workers in 1940s dress, demanding that the once-grand Hastings and Kahn’s department stores sign union contracts.

And as they had done 62 years ago, police and scabs arrived, courtesy of the city’s anti-labor political establishment, to ensure the profitable holiday merchandise reached the stores. Just as before, a Key Line trolley driver refused to take his vehicle across a picket line, helping spark the AFL unions’ decision to join the strike, which was honored by CIO unions.

The “theatrical reenactment” by union members, writers and historians brought together a score of costumed performers and several dozen audience members who took up picket signs and joined the strikers’ chants.

Then the program turned to current struggles.

Truck driver Manuel Rivas told how hard it is as an “independent contractor” and a single father, to earn enough to support his family. He credited the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports and the Teamsters union for a growing awareness of how employee status and organizing rights for the drivers is linked to resolving the port’s serious air quality problems.

Hotel workers fighting for a decent contract, and city workers facing budget-related lockouts, shared their stories, too.

As we talked briefly after the show, director Max Bell Alper, himself a union organizer, said participants in the theater collective feel it’s important to connect current labor struggles with historical events: “When we remember what people did in the past, it helps today’s workers in their struggles.” The group wants to plan more shows in the future.

The group’s “partners in solidarity” include the Alameda Labor Council and California Labor Federation, the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy and other labor and community organizations.

In that long-ago December, over 130,000 union members joined the three-day general strike, sparing only essential services. The square between the two department stores — then the city’s transit hub — was packed with thousands of strike supporters, who sometimes danced in the rain to music from surrounding loudspeakers.

It took five more months before the department store workers won their union rights. But as a result of the strike, four members of a union-supported slate of candidates ousted their anti-labor opposite numbers on the city council.

The East Bay Labor Journal wrote at the time that the strike “forged a solid block of militant and fighting labor unionists … aware for the first time in many years that only by solidarity and unity can we make ourselves felt.”

mbechtel @pww.org

OPINION: The Jewish vote Obama by a landslide shows support for progressive agenda

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:40:00 +0000

Despite a targeted anti-Obama campaign directed at Jewish Americans by right-wingers, using racism, anti-Muslim slurs and lies about Obama’s character and political stances, Jewish Americans voted overwhelmingly for Obama last month, giving him 78 percent of their votes. Jewish support for Obama nationally was second only to that of African Americans among the various sectors of the U.S. population, and showed Jewish Americans are a solid stream in the multiethnic, multiracial movement for progressive change.

Figures from the National Jewish Democratic Council show Obama’s support among Jewish voters exceeded John Kerry’s 74 percent and was on a par with the 79 percent for Al Gore in 2000 and Bill Clinton’s 80 percent in 1992, and in general far exceeded Jewish support for Democratic presidential candidates in the 1970s and ’80s.

In Florida, where Jews are a significant section of the electorate, the NJDC estimates that the Jewish voting margin for Obama was larger than Obama’s overall margin of victory in the state. Other states where the Jewish margin was a sizeable chunk of Obama's overall margin are North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, California and Nevada. Thus Jewish voters were in sync with African Americans, Latinos, women, union voters, the GLBT community and young voters, who also made the difference for Obama in these and other states.

Despite all the anti-Obama deceptions and smears promoted by the Republican Jewish Coalition in full-page ads in the Jewish press and in e-mails and whispering campaigns, Jewish voters were simply not swayed by the slime and slander. Dire innuendoes of Muslim associations and Iranian nuclear threats failed to impact Jewish voters fed up with Bush’s policies and confronting the same realities that faced every voter: the economy, jobs, endless war, health care, education, the environment.

In addition, McCain’s choice of running mate Sarah Palin and the revving up of the religious far-right was surely a turnoff to the majority of Jewish Americans. All one had to consider were such issues as separation of church and state — an issue of deep importance to Jews — or Supreme Court appointments, or reproductive rights, and the Jewish vote was lost right there.

And many Jews had more confidence that Obama rather than McCain would prevent war between Israel and Iran. Obama throughout the campaign argued for diplomacy, and while expressing support for Israel also said on a number of occasions that being pro-Israel did not necessarily mean supporting the right-wing Israeli Likud party. These positions, rather than McCain’s militarism, coincided with the majority sentiment among Jewish Americans, as shown by polls, for peace and a just two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.

The election campaign gave rise to the formation of several Jewish groups for Obama that played a significant role. They included such groups as Jews for Obama; Rabbis for Obama, with several hundred rabbis signed up; and the Great Schlep, a campaign sparked by humorist Sarah Silverman urging Jewish young people to travel to Florida to visit their grandparents there and talk to them about Obama, which generated visits, phone calls and e-mails, and much publicity. A number of powerful videos aimed at Jewish voters got wide circulation, including several featuring well-known Jewish Hollywood personalities and one showing Israeli Obama supporters. Another featured seniors in Florida, including Holocaust survivors, volunteering for Obama, and hearkened back to the historic Jewish/African American alliance for civil rights and labor rights.

Jewish participation in the Obama campaign took many forms, including phone banking, travel to battleground states (in New York the United Federation of Teachers, with a large Jewish membership, sent busloads of volunteers to Pennsylvania), chain e-mails and pro-Obama ads in Jewish newspapers in major cities.

In addition, a new Jewish lobbying group was formed last year — J Street — focused on pressing for action on a two-state solution, a kind of anti-AIPAC.

J Street backed 41 candidates for Congress, of whom 33 won, including several in very tight races. These candidates all support proactive measures toward achieving a just two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. Indeed, the day after the election, J Street ran a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for speedy appointment of a high-level special envoy to achieve an Israel-Palestine agreement.

Right-wing groups within the Jewish community have worked for years to represent themselves as speaking for all Jewish Americans, and have sought to intimidate those who dissented, particularly on U.S. policy on the Israel/Palestinian crisis. But the election results and other developments over the past months show that these right-wing elements may be losing some of their clout. Jewish Americans are not one-issue voters, and concern for social and economic justice, racial and ethnic equality and inclusiveness, civil liberties, democracy, separation of church and state, peace and internationalism — major themes in the Jewish historical tradition — came to the fore in this presidential election.

The election results indicate the prospects are good for a continued resurgence of the majority progressive trend among Jewish Americans and for their participation in renewed and widened alliances to help advance a progressive agenda under the new Obama administration.

Ari Goldman is active in the progressive Jewish American movement.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney issues statement in support of striking Chicago factory workers

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:56:00 +0000

The 10 million members of the AFL-CIO stand in solidarity with over 200 members of the United Electrical Workers who, in championing their own rights, are taking on the rampant corporate abuse of workers across this country during dire economic times. These workers' peaceful occupation of the shuttered Republic Windows and Doors plant in Chicago has put Washington and Wall Street on notice that working people have had enough. We applaud President-elect Barack Obama's support for the workers' demands to receive the vacation time and severance pay that they have earned. Republic and its creditors should meet immediately with these workers to honor their reasonable demands.

Our nation cannot afford to bail out banks and investment firms while leaving workers behind. Only weeks after taking $25 billion in federal bailout money, Bank of America has refused to extend a line of credit to Republic, preventing the workers from either keeping their jobs or receiving severance pay. Bank of America's deplorable behavior is but one symptom of a financial industry that sets its bottom line above the heads of working people. Like so many Wall Street titans, Bank of America took billions in government handouts on the premise that they would extend credit to businesses so that working people could keep their jobs. The striking workers at the Republic plant are rightfully holding them to their promise.

No worker should have to face the loss of his or her job with three days' notice, especially in the midst of the holiday season. As millions of our fellow Americans struggle to make ends meet this winter without a job, Congress cannot afford to remain complacent any longer. Working families are in urgent need of a major jobs-producing economic stimulus now. If our leaders are serious about saving the middle class, then we need an economic agenda that will support good, green jobs like the ones at Republic and hold our financial institutions accountable for their actions.

Letters December 6, 2008

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:27:00 +0000

Imagine a health care system

I am a registered nurse wishing to help, in some small way, citizens of the world during the crisis we all now face.

On President-elect Obama’s website is a page where the public can submit ideas for health care (change.gov/page/s/healthcare.)

Some have brought up preventative medicine as part of the answer to our health care crisis. This should include alleviating all stress-related diseases due to workplace environments, outsourcing jobs to countries that might further mistreat employees, jobs lost because of decisions based on greed by automaker management and others, leading to bankruptcy, home foreclosures due to greed on Wall Street without effective government oversight, the larger failing global economy and the use of expensive and unjust wars instead of understanding, sharing and fairness.

Add to the mix poverty-related disease and illness caused or exacerbated by chemical toxins and pollution. Changes in our epigenetic structures due to all these factors can hardly be blamed on the individual.

About one-third of our health-care costs are eaten up by overhead: marketing, billing, profits, denying coverage, and hassling patients and doctors.

Imagine a system where:

• Impartial science directs our decisions — preventative medicine.

• The government negotiates prices of prescription drugs to lower costs to the sick and injured — preventative medicine.

• Doctors could order effective alternative/complementary medicine for those suffering side effects of Western medications and costs would be paid (preventative medicine).

• No co-pays or deductibles, everyone is covered cradle to grave, period.

• Electronic records foster continuity of care and reduce medical errors — the science of preventative medicine.

• Complete data available so a professional board could determine best practices: what treatments work and which don’t — more science in preventative medicine.

• Hospitals paid based on a global budget negotiated to cover their costs, rather than current practice of billing for each aspirin and test.

• Further decrease costs by eliminating over-ordering expensive technology, and unnecessary surgery performed by for-profit hospitals.

• Each person picks their own doctor, not an insurance company.

• Food labeling includes health hazards of ingredients as part of the science of preventative medicine.

• Air and water purity actually regulated by scientists in government independent of food producers and processors. Green jobs to save our health and planet as part of the science of preventative medicine.

• Living wages paid to our neighbors and unemployment compensation enough to reduce the stress-related illnesses of losing one’s job — preventative medicine.

• Diplomacy used instead of killing innocent people in expensive wars we initiate, lowering injury and death rates, more preventative medicine.

• Clear government oversight of corporations that led us to this place through greed and fraud — preventative medicine.

• Laws equally applied to everyone in this country, eliminating the stressors of disparate treatment — a Constitution of preventative medicine.

Imagine a bill that provides everybody a card to present to a health-care provider for doctor, dentist, prescription drugs, complementary/alternative medicine, mental health, nursing home and home health care, eyeglasses and hearing aids, living wages for those employed and those who have lost their job.

Imagine a system that places more stock in all life and the health of planet Earth instead of the exorbitant greed for-profit seen on Wall Street.

Hard to imagine — YES. Impossible to achieve when we stay silent.

Joe Mungai

Via e-mail

Or no change?

It’s really quite impressive, the alacrity with which the financial oligarchs of corporate America are able to marshal the federal government into heavy duty action on their immediate behalf, while other pressing needs, like single-payer health care for working families, just simply have to wait, as it always seems they must.

However, it’s not at all surprising that these irresponsible and detached capitalist bosses are summarily relieved of any material responsibility for their financial malfeasances, since it’s widely understood that they long ago acquired the U.S. government at auction prices. It’s their most valuable asset and protector, without which their corrupt and exhausted economic system would have long ago been democratized, if not overthrown.

President-elect Obama says he seeks to “change” many things. Yet, tellingly, his economic team is dominated by orthodox neo-liberal hacks like Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, whose very own economic theories have been entirely discredited in the current ruins of their global implementation.

A publicly funded bailout of the nation’s biggest banking and insurance houses, without imposing on them strict new government oversight and regulations, will only reward a venal system of corporate capitalism that will inevitably fail us again. It will also confirm the political vacuity of our bourgeois democracy.

Cord MacGuire

Boulder CO

Coverage on Mumbai

This is a response to the online analysis, “Making sense of the senseless, Mumbai and its implications,” at pww.org.

Thanks for the in-depth analysis and coverage of the Mumbai attack, very informative. One small point in your article which in my opinion should be adjusted is the use of the word “invasion” of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. As I understand it, the USSR was invited by the progressive government there to help defend it from the U.S.-created “contras,” the mujahideen. I would call it a heroic rescue attempt, similar to the way Cuba helped Angola in its conflict with U.S.-supported contra Savimbi and South Africa.

Keep up the good work,

Michael Scheinberg

Collingswood NJ

Bottom up change

I loved your “Yes we did” montage of the Obama win (PWW 11/15-22).

President-elect Obama says change comes from the bottom up. We in old Black Bottom Detroit take that as our marching orders to make a better America.

Yes we can !

Charles Brown

Detroit M

We want to hear from you!

By mail:

People’s Weekly World

3339 S. Halsted St.

Chicago IL 60608

e-mail:

Letters should be limited to 200 words. We reserve the right to edit stories and letters. Only signed letters with the return address of the sender will be considered for publication, but the name of the sender will be withheld on request.

Top shots in IAM photo contest

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:52:00 +0000

Along with crafting quality products, Machinists (IAM) members can take some pretty snappy photos, too. The union’s annual photo contest is a chance for members to capture on film—or pixels—the wide range of work done by Machinists across the country.

In the photo “Pantographing,” first place winner (photo with blue shirt) Jamy R. Kaiser from IAM Local 52 photographed co-worker Paul Cerra engraving a steel hand stamp at Pannier Corp. in Pittsburgh.

Josh Posvancz of IAM Local W98 took third place (photo with red shirt) for his photo “Face of Our Union” showing his union brother Mike Gamble preparing to work on a band saw at the California Redwood Co. in Korbel, Calif.

Winning photographs will be included in the 2009 IAM calendar. Also $2 from each calendar sold is donated to Guide Dogs of America, a group that trains dogs for the blind and visually impaired that the IAM helped found in 1948 and continues to strongly support.

Hire education: Unions launch campaign for disabled performers

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:42:00 +0000

Although 20 percent of Americans—56 million people—between the ages of 5 and 64 are living with a disability, they are represented by less than 2 percent of characters on TV.

To increase the visibility and equal employment opportunities for performers with disabilities, three unions—Screen Actors (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Actors’ Equity (Equity)—have launched the I AM PWD (Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People With Disabilities) campaign. Over the next three years, the I AM PWD campaign will reach out to the entertainment and media industries, to the general public, to political and legislative leaders and to national and global civil rights, labor and community allies in an effort to urge the entertainment industry to open up equal opportunities for disabled performers.

Actor Robert David Hall, national chair of the Tri-Union Performers with Disabilities Committee, says:

“I’m fortunate to have a good career as an actor and creative artist. The normal struggles any performer faces, however, are complicated 10-fold by our industry’s reluctance to include people with disabilities in the full landscape of entertainment.

“In the 21st century, media is the world’s common cultural environment. Society’s values and priorities are expressed and reflected in film, television, theatre, news and music. If you aren’t seen and heard, you are invisible. People with disabilities are largely invisible within the arts and media landscape.”

Hall, who plays Dr. Albert Rollins on the hit TV show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” has two prosthetic legs and is one of only three regular characters on TV with disabilities.

A study of performers in film and television found that the issue is not just the visibility of performers with disabilities, it carries over into how they are treated and job opportunities. For example, the study showed 56 percent of background performers with disabilities earn less than $1,000 each year. The study also revealed:

• Despite Americans with Disabilities Act regulations and the producer/union policies of non-discrimination and harassment, more than one-third of performers with disabilities felt they had encountered some form of discrimination in the workplace—not being cast for a role or being refused an audition because of their disability.

• More than one-third report that a reasonable accommodation would help them in their work, but nearly two-thirds never asked for an accommodation because they believed employers would be reluctant to hire them. Many performers are unwilling to be candid about their disability for fear of being viewed as an object of pity and incapable of doing the job.

SAG President Alan Rosenberg says the union is committed to inclusion of all actors, and will work tirelessly to advocate and seek visibility and equal employment opportunities for performers with disabilities as they are an integral part of the diverse landscape of the Guild membership and the American scene.

Equity President Mark Zimmerman adds that the growth and vitality of the performance industries depends on equality, diversity and inclusion.

The theatre should, and must, reflect the true diversity of our society.

AFTRA President Roberta Reardon sums it up this way: “Now is the time to stand together to combat discrimination and truly integrate our brothers and sisters with disabilities into the promise of the American scene.”

You can get involved in I AM PWD and learn more at www.iampwd.org.

On your way to inauguration? Chicana art exhibit in Washington

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:26:00 +0000

Chicana Art and Experience: “Mujeres con Garbo” is an exhibition of more than 30 prints, paintings, posters and photographs by women who reflect on the experiences and struggles of Mexican Americans. The show features some of the most prominent artists in the United States today. It will be displayed at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., November 19, 2008–to May 31, 2009.

In its most general application, Chicano/Chicana refers to men and women of Mexican descent living in or born in the United States. More specifically, however, the term describes an individual’s self-identification with a rich, complex fusion of indigenous, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo ancestry and culture. The term came to new prominence in the civil rights and labor struggles of late 1960s. It continues to be associated with a broad movement to advance the rights and interests of Mexican-Americans and to preserve their unique contributions to American culture.

This exhibit concentrates on works of art that depict the specific concerns of working Chicanas—organizing, immigration, women’s rights, health care, workplace safety, housing, community and cultural identity. The title of the show comes from Juana Alicia’s poster “Women with Attitude/Mujeres con Garbo.” The Spanish word garbo is more complex than the English word “attitude”; it combines assertiveness with grace, elegance and agility—a perfect way to sum up the work in this exhibit.

The artists represented in the show are Barbara Carrrasco, Ester Hernández, Cecilia Concepción Alvarez, Laura Álvarez, Favianna Rodriguez, Yreina Cervántez, Juana Alicia, Irene Simmons, Delilah Montoya, Laura Molina, Tina Hernández, Yolanda López, Carmen Lomas Garza and Kathy Vargas. The exhibit was organized by Rex Weil, an artist, independent curator, writer and educator living and working in Washington, D.C.

To turn economy around, more union members needed

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 05:25:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — When you approach the national offices of the AFL-CIO in the shadow of the Washington Monument here your eye is caught by the enormous banner draped over the front of the building, bulging outward as the wind whips it from behind. Letters that spell “We are turning around America” are so large they can be read from a block away.

Leaders of both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win labor federations, still thrilled over labor’s role in helping elect Barack Obama and more pro-labor members of the Congress, told a gathering of labor journalists here Nov. 21 that now there are promises to keep. Arlene Holt Baker, the AFL-CIO’s executive vice president, said, “We have to give them the support they need to make the tough choices. We need an economic recovery package that will turn around this broken economy for workers with good jobs, green jobs, re-regulation of our financial system and health care.”

She warned, however, that “no matter what else we do, it won’t result in real shared prosperity unless we restore workers’ freedom to form unions so they can bargain for a better life with better wages and benefits, unless we win passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.”

The bill puts real teeth in the laws that are supposed to bar companies from intimidating, harassing and firing workers who want to form unions. It allows workers to form their union when a majority signs cards indicating that’s what they desire.

The focus of the Nov. 21 “round-table” discussion with labor journalists here was the main arguments that support passage of the new law.

“For too long, workers haven’t had the power to get their fair share of the value they create,” said Bob Kelly, director of the Change to Win campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act. “As a result, they are struggling, they are finding it harder and harder to stay in their homes, pay for health care and save for retirement. This, in turn, wrecks our economy.

“While workers drag themselves exhausted into a second job just to pay the bills, CEOs, on average, are earning $6,153 an hour. In Japan CEOs earn 11 times what the average worker gets and in Germany they earn 15 times what the average worker gets,” Kelly said, “while here in the United States they earn 411 times what the average worker gets.”

Kelly said that when the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law his Change-to-Win federation will, within 18 months, add 5 million workers to the membership roles of its constituent unions.

“That will mean,” he added, “5 million people will be earning, on average, 22 percent more than they earned before and that 900,000 people will be lifted out of poverty.”

Kenneth Zinn, who chairs the AFL-CIO’s department for strategic research, said, “Simply put, unions make people’s lives better. Communities with strong unions have higher standards of living for everyone.”

Speakers said the law will fix a broken system that, according to Zinn, “leaves out more than 60 million workers who don’t have a union but would join one if they could. In our company-dominated system, workers can be intimidated, coerced and even fired by their bosses for trying to form a union. A decision that should be in the hands of workers is instead in the hands of corporate executives.”

Liz Cattaneo, communications director of American Rights at Work, outlined results of what she said were focus group suggestions regarding the proposed law.

“We need to talk about this in an economic frame,” she said. “Americans are hungry for solutions to fix what ails Main Street and the Employee Free Choice Act is the perfect solution. They are also angry about outrageous compensation for CEOs.”

Her group is running new ads on national television. One ad shows a worker being called into the boss’s office. The boss, flashing an evil looking smile, tells the worker he is doing a good job, deserves a raise and deserves better benefits. As he shakes hands with the boss, he wakes from his dream finding that he is actually holding the paw of his golden retriever who wants to jump into bed with him and his wife. A voice tells him that if he thinks he’s going to get wage and benefit increases that way he’s dreaming and then calls for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

jwojcik@pww.org

$132,000 raised, $68,000 to go

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:55:00 +0000

Readers get creative to raise money for People’s Weekly World

DETROIT — Powered by the creativity and ingenuity of our supporters, the 2008 People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo Fund Drive surged to $132,000 by the end of November, with four local Friends of People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo organizations surpassing their goal, and others getting close to the top.

Readers in Texas, Connecticut, Vermont and Kentucky all fulfilled their goals, and more. This represents a dramatic turnaround for Vermont and Kentucky, both of whom did not complete their goals in 2007 or 2006.

Some local organizations, like Michigan, are using creative ways, and utilizing the skills of PWW readers, to raise funds.

“We’re selling jam,” said John Rummel, coordinator of the Michigan Friends of the PWW. “And we’re raising a lot of money.”

A Michigan supporter is known to family and friends—and now readers—for her jam-making skills. She makes them in her own kitchen, in dozens of different flavors, everything from watermelon to jalapeno, says Rummel. She then gives all the proceeds to her favorite paper.

“Last year we got about $1,110” in jam money, Rummel added. This weekend the jam maker is scheduled to set up a table at Noel Night, a holiday festival in Detroit.

Other groups are just about done: Iowa and Nebraska and New Mexico will complete their goals with less than $100 — combined. Other areas are not so high in their percentages, but many of them are planning big events that are established traditions and bring in thousands of dollars. Eastern Pennsylvania, Missouri and Illinois are in this group.

(Check out the scoreboard, above, from a Chicago Sox night out PWW fundraiser, another creative way to raise money for your favorite newspaper.)

Dan Margolis is chair of the 2008 People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo fund drive.

DONATE People’s Weekly World Fund Drive Now 646-437-5363 send a check payable to PWW, 235 West 23rd Fl 8, New York, NY 10011

As economic crisis worsens hunger stalks the land

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:26:00 +0000

A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture reveals that hunger skyrocketed across America in 2007 after the nation plunged into its current deep recession in the first month of that year. An additional 2 million recipients have been added to Food Stamp rolls between January and August of this year, proof that the hunger crisis has deepened dramatically during the recession.

The annual USDA report, usually released in October, was postponed until after the Nov. 4 election prompting angry charges that the Bush administration was trying to help Republicans facing voter rage over soaring hunger and poverty. There was also fury that the Bush administration dropped use of the word “hunger” in the report arguing that it is not a “scientific” term. They substituted the phrase “food insecurity.”

The report found that “food insecurity” for children rose by over 60 percent to 691,000 youngsters last year. The number of “food insecure” senior citizens living alone soared 26 percent to 783,000 last year.

“Even before the current economic downturn, some 13 million households containing 36.2 million people lacked access to adequate food at some point in 2007 because they didn’t have enough money for groceries,” said Stacy Dean, director of food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Hunger is the product of low income and poverty so the long term solution is to give people jobs or benefits that provide an adequate income,” explained a food policy specialist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“In the short term,” the specialist said, “we need an increase in food stamps as part of any economic recovery plan and increased funding for other government nutrition programs.” Increased funding for food stamps, the specialist said, “is a very effective way of putting more money into the economy. Money given to low income people in the form of food stamps is spent very quickly by people who have a high need. It also frees up money so they can make other purchases. We expect both the House and Senate in the 111th Congress to move quickly on it.”

The report found hunger most severe in Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas and Maine.

But Joseph Quattrocchi, executive director of Pennsylvania Hunger Action, told the World the hunger crisis is nationwide with no state spared, including his own. “Unfortunately, I would say Pennsylvania is similar to the situation across the country: more people in need, more people being laid off, and food costs going up. There is a constant uptick in the number of people applying for food stamps. And there is increased stress on our emergency food pantries. They cannot make ends meet with the increased demand for food and dwindling donations.”

Pennsylvania was the first state to establish a state-funded program to purchase food to help supply emergency food banks. “The state allocated $18 million in the most recent year. On the one hand, we’re very proud that Pennsylania did that. On the other hand, its not nearly enough to meet the need.” The federal government must step in with a massive infusion of funds to help feed the hungry, he said. “Food is a basic human right,” he said. “People should not have to fight for food.”

A report by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities titled “States in Trouble Due to Economic Downturn” shows that 41 states face severe budget shortfalls that make it difficult or impossible to cope with the hunger crisis on their own. Twenty-one of the hardest hit states together have a projected shortfall totaling $40 billion through Fiscal Year 2010, forcing massive cutbacks and layoffs including in programs to assist poor and hungry people.

Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act is among the first items on the agenda when the 111th Congress opens in January, he said. “Reauthorizing these child nutrition programs speaks to all childhood hunger,” he added, listing the school lunch and school Breakfast programs, the summer food program and the children and adult community food programs — all basic entitlement programs — as well as Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a program that provides food for pregnant and lactating women and for children. All these programs should be fully funded, he said.

Quatrocchi emphasized the link between hunger and low achievement in the nation’s public schools. “Hungry children cannot learn,” he said. “A growling belly means low performance in the classroom. We need to make sure that all children are well-fed if we are looking to strengthen our nation. President-elect Obama is already on record to eliminate child hunger in the next 15 years. It’s a hard order to fill but hopefully we will achieve it.”

He pointed out the paradox of a nation with an epidemic of obesity and hunger at the same time. “These are people with limited resources that precludes higher priced fresh meat, dairy and vegetables,” he said. “Parents choose foods with the highest caloric values to fill their kids’ stomaches.” The food stamp and other federal nutrition programs help promote a healthy diet as well, he said.

New policy needed after Mumbai terror

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:47:00 +0000

The attacks on Mumbai, India, stunned and outraged the world last week. It’s being called India’s 9/11. That may be an accurate name for the shock and anger that people felt as bleeding bodies, fires and chaos pervaded their largest metropolis.

But, luckily for the world, India’s government is not dominated by ultra-right neocons as the United States was in 2001. And, neither is the U.S. today. The bodies and wreckage of Mumbai could also mark the death of Bush's disastrous 'war on terror.'

Barack Obama’s election signals a changed U.S. foreign policy – one that relies more on robust diplomacy and not on tanks and drones. The Mumbai attacks challenge the new administration to move ahead on a new policy for peace and stability. In order to do that, he and the American people will need to take a good look at all the moving parts – past and present – that have led to Mumbai.

Using the claim of getting rid of terrorists, the U.S. and NATO invaded Afghanistan and the U.S. invaded Iraq. Lately, the U.S. military has crossed into Pakistani territory as well. These military adventures have killed thousands of civilians and destroyed homes and communities, angering the local populations, and pushing many in the region into the arms of extremist groups. These groups exploit popular anger over anti-Muslim pogroms in India and tensions over the disputed Kashmir region. The U.S. occupation of Iraq and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel also add fuel to the combustible mix of grievances.

Perhaps most of all, the economy of much of the region stands in ruins with millions mired in deep poverty, barely scratching out a living. Clearly, there has to be a new approach that emphasizes political solutions and diplomacy to isolate these fanatical groups and assist the people in rebuilding their lives and countries.

The democratic and progressive forces in both India and Pakistan are saying that terrorist extremists are not in either country’s interest. They agree that efforts to develop peaceful relations between between the two countries have to continue, along with cooperation in the investigation of the attacks. India's Left parties have called for a full investigation and if evidence shows Pakistani involvement, they say, India should take it to the United Nations Security Council for action.

As the investigation continues and facts come out as to who funded and planned the Mumbai attack, the role of our government in promoting and financing extremist groups and propping up dictators in the region has to be remembered. This history – along with current U.S. military actions - fuels a deep-seated distrust of the U.S. that the incoming Obama administration will have to overcome to have any success.

The U.S. with the help of Pakistan aided and abetted the formation of extremist groups from the late 1970s into the 1980s and '90s to fight the Soviet Union, which in 1979 sent its military to try to prop up neighboring Afghanistan's beseiged left-oriented secular government. Although India and Pakistan are both called U.S. allies in Bush's “war on terror,” the U.S. long supported Pakistan against non-aligned India, and utilized the Sino-Soviet split to try to get China to ally with Pakistan. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have propped up Pakistan's army and its intelligence agency, ISI, which is believed to have ties to some of the extremist groups.

As a result of the U.S. actions, Afghanistan has been at war for almost 30 years and there is no Soviet Union to play a countervailing role. The descendants of the nasty groups the U.S. launched during the Cold War continue, funded by drug- and gun-running, networks of right-wing religious extremists, and directly or indirectly, by various intelligence agencies on behalf of reactionary forces whose interests are served by such groups. Pakistan has suffered under a series of dictatorships. Now it is torn by four centers vying for power: the democratically-elected government headed by President Asif Ali Zadari, the army, ISI and the religious extremists. Some analysts say the Mumbai attack was intended to provoke India-Pakistan border tensions, so that Pakistan would pull troops out of its northwest frontier, easing pressure on the extremists based there.

But it seems the Pakistani government does not want a nuclear-tension-filled standoff with India. India's government, led by the Congress Party, also seems inclined to avoid inciting such tension. However, the Indian government has been open to joining with the Bush administration in a “strategic alliance” many see as targeting China and Russia. The recently signed U.S.-India nuclear agreement has many worried about its potentially destabilizing impact on this already tension-ridden area.

If the last 30 years of history in the region shows anything, it is that U.S. policies designed to encircle, provoke and isolate China and Russia through proxies, be it Afghanistan, Kashmir, Pakistan or India, have been disastrous and must be abandoned. The terrorism, violence, poverty and degradation spawned by these policies can only be eliminated through international cooperation, equality of relations, multilateral agreements and a reduction in military and corporate power. Long live a different approach.

People Before Profits: Economic stimulus in China and the U.S.

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:01:00 +0000

(Part 1)

On Nov. 9, China announced a two-year, $586 billion program to address domestic dislocations arising from world capitalism’s unfolding crisis. Lower prices in China make this worth more than $1 trillion in the United States. Thousands of factories have closed in China, and hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs because of the sudden collapse of demand from capitalist countries.

The new program carefully builds on China’s 11th Five-Year plan (2006-2010) — few people realize China has maintained such plans. It allocates added billions to improve education, health care and environmental protection. It expands plans to build affordable, environmentally-conscious housing and repair or upgrade existing housing. It allocates billions to improve electrical service and roads in the countryside. This should help raise agricultural productivity and reduce the inequality between city and countryside, and slow the migration of agricultural workers to the cities. In addition, the plan allocates additional billions to accelerate recovery in areas devastated by May’s huge earthquake. This is in sharp contrast with the U.S., where hundreds of thousands of people – mainly low-income workers and their families — have been abandoned, many driven out of New Orleans and the other Gulf regions hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

China’s new program calls for building 10,000 more kilometers of rail lines by the end of 2010. (One kilometer is about 0.62 mile.) According to Yang Zhonming of the rail ministry’s Development and Planning department, rail construction will employ 6 million workers and require 20 million tons of steel and 120 million tons of cement. The 11th Five-Year Plan had called for expanding China’s rail network from 70,000 km to 90,000 km. Rail is usually the most efficient and environmentally sound way to transport people and goods between cities. The state can also direct the banking system to expand lending to meet desired goals.

Labor productivity in China has been climbing 15 percent or more annually in recent years. This makes it possible to cut shift hours without loss in pay, and hire additional workers to reduce urban unemployment. While no such program has been announced, in the past China has reduced the workweek and lengthened holidays with similar goals in mind.

China’s response to the crisis stands in sharp contrast with that in capitalist countries, where a few central bankers have undemocratically handed over trillions to cover the billionaires’ losses. At the same time, capitalist governments around the world are generally slashing education, health, housing, mass transit, infrastructure and environmental programs, while employers lay off millions and head to bankruptcy courts.

Workers in America should welcome China’s stimulus program for two reasons.

1. U.S. workers will be employed making the construction equipment, electrical generators, locomotives and other capital goods China will need for its massive infrastructure program. The U.S. will also gain jobs indirectly – for example, providing mining equipment or oil production services for other countries that are exporting to China. And China’s own productive capacity, both in primary goods (steel, cement) and consumer goods will be directed more to meet internal demand instead of directed toward export. Steelworkers in the U.S. will be glad to know, for example, that 20 million tons of Chinese steel will be staying in China to build up their rail system.

2. The incoming Obama administration is committed to an economic stimulus package that includes some of the same elements as China’s plan. But there will be fierce resistance from free market ideologues and reactionary corporate interests. And there will be debate on the size and scope of the U.S. stimulus plan. China envisages spending between 7 percent and 8 percent of its GDP each year on the program. With our larger economy, the US would have to spend about $1 trillion per year to have the same impact. If a developing country like China can react to the global economic crisis by making such a big commitment to meeting the needs of its people and environment, its example can help the U.S. to do so as well.

(Next week — Part 2 contrasts China’s response to the crisis with the response in capitalist countries)

econ4ppl@cpusa.org

Connecticut conference highlights Declaration of Human Rights anniversary

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:57:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A coalition of labor, peace, civil rights and human rights organizations in Connecticut will join in the international commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a conference at Quinnipiac University on Saturday, Dec. 6.

Rep. John Conyers, chair of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives and sponsor of HR 676 for universal single payer healthcare, will be keynote speaker.

Conference convener, Al Marder, had recently returned from the European Theater in the fight against fascism during World War II when the Declaration was adopted. It made an indelible impression on him. He now chairs the International Association of Peace Messenger Cities of the United Nations, and leads many local organizations concerned with peace and equality.

“Look back historically,” he says. “Even though the cold war was starting, the United Nations was laying out a vision of the future. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights would change our society drastically.”

Marder points out that, “while the State Department uses the Declaration to talk only about free speech, they never mention the obligations of jobs, education, medical care, gender equality, peace, and all the requirements for the full expression of the human personality.”

The Connecticut conference, called around the theme “Fulfilling the Promise,” is bringing together activists from a wide range of groups and relating their issues with the Declaration of Human Rights.

Connecticut AFL-CIO president John Olsen says popularizing the Declaration gives strength to the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act and the rights of workers to form unions. A resolution in support was passed at their convention.

In addition to the plenary speech by Rep. Conyers and a presentation on the Declaration by Prof. James Silk of the Yale School of Law, the conference will feature six workshops highlighting the right to a living wage, the peace economy as key to sustainability, social and economic struggles in Connecticut, and issues of political injustice and humanizing the judicial system.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt, drawing upon the Constitution of the United States, was instrumental in drafting the document which enumerates the civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights necessary for the dignity and well being of all people and for world peace including every person’s human right to food, health care, housing and public education.

The steering committee, whose meetings were hosted at Planned Parenthood in New Haven, reached out widely. The conference has been endorsed by 45 organizations including the Connecticut Bar Association, Connecticut Library Association, Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, and a host of labor, peace and social justice groups.

The conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Alumni Hall on the Quinnipiac University campus. For information visit the conference website at http://udhr.net.

The following day, on Sunday, Dec. 7, Al Marder will be one of three honorees to receive the Amistad Award from the People’s Weekly World at a reception at 4:00 pm at the New Haven People’s Center, 37 Howe Street. Other recipients are Kathy Jackson, chairwoman of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists in Connecticut and Juan Hernandez, Assistant District Leader of SEIU 32 BJ Justice for Janitors. For information on this event call 203-624-8664 or visit ctpeoplebeforeprofits.blogspot.net.