People Before Profit blog

Bernice Linton, life-long communist, dies

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 09:24:00 +0000

Bernice Linton died in New York City Feb. 9 at the age of 92. Born Oct. 19, 1911, in Washington state, Linton was the daughter of a German-Ukrainian mother and a father whose forbearers arrived in the 1600s. She worked most of her life as a waitress and member of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union. She and her longshoreman husband joined the Communist Party in 1937, a decision that led her to a life dedicated to struggle for equality and social justice. Linton often said that the right to be called a “progressive” is earned through “doing a good share of the work needed to change our vicious social system.” For her, this included helping to build the anti-fascist American League for Peace and Democracy in the 1940s, campaigning for FDR’s third term and other New Deal candidates in the state of Washington, and legislative campaigns for workers’ rights.

As chair of the Berkeley, Calif., branch of the Civil Rights Congress in the 1950s, she organized and led numerous mass actions against segregation and discrimination, police brutality and frame-ups of African Americans, including the case of Willie McGee that gained national prominence.

Linton’s artistry as a quilt maker and doll maker were put to use in raising money for the People’s World and the Daily Worker, later the Daily World – newspapers of the Communist Party – or to send people to demonstrations, including the historic 1963 March on Washington.

Her last marriage was to Ed Linton, with whom she shared many years of happiness and partnership in the social justice movement. He died in the early 1980s. For many years, Linton volunteered at the offices of the Communist Party and in later years was a member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

Challenging weighty traditions

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 09:19:00 +0000

“A long time ago, my ancestor Paikea came to this place on the back of a whale. Since then and every generation of my family, the first-born son has carried his name and become the leader of our tribe. Until now.”

Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a 12-year-old Maori girl, opens the film “Whale Rider” with this statement of her dilemma. She is the first-born girl.

Her grandfather, Koro (Rawiri Paratene), and his wife are raising her. Koro loves her dearly, but he considers her unlucky. She survived while her twin brother died at birth, and there is now no male in the family to carry on tribal traditions. To make sure that these traditions are passed on is his prime responsibility, and in his view, must surpass even his love for his granddaughter.

Pai’s journey is to find her place in this Maori society. She learns traditions that are forbidden to girls. She strives for acceptance. Her family’s journey is one of hurtfulness and forgiveness. As with all mythic journeys, people become wiser along the way.

A beautiful film, with a Maori cast and shot in New Zealand, “Whale Rider” has won many awards. It is recently out on DVD and if you are interested in mythology, anthropology, or women’s rights or just love whales, it’s a truly wonderful film. If you prefer reading, it is based on the book, “The Whale Rider” by Witi Ihimaera.

The author can be reached at kmoy@pww.org.

WWII Negro Army Chorus: power of song for change

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 09:15:00 +0000

During the Second World War, amidst global crisis, citizens of many lands reached across borders in solidarity. Though the alliance against the Nazi and fascist assault on liberty was an accepted norm, this was not the case within our own military. African American soldiers escaped the apartheid South and “separate but (not generally) equal” North just long enough to be subject to a segregated Army and Navy.

Though deemed second-class soldiers, these Negro units overcame the greatest adversity and were heroic in their service. Although much of their history has been obliterated by racism, the struggle of these units has come to public attention in recent years. A largely untold story, however, is that of the U.S. Army Negro Chorus and the power of its song.

Composer and Communist Marc Blitzstein, already noted for such monumental works as “The Cradle Will Rock,” volunteered for military service within the U.S. Army. Like numerous others on the left, Blitzstein saw the fight against fascism as the preeminent task. However, after enlisting, he came to understand the internal oppression against the so-called “colored” units.

Charlie Kirsh, a white Army medical officer in charge of a Black unit, stood alone as a progressive among his peers, almost all of whom were segregationist Southerners. The Black soldiers, regardless of rank, were subservient to the white officers and subject to any number of abuses. Blitzstein and Kirsh quickly became friends, though they avoided most political discussion.

The ensemble consisted of 200 African American GIs formed initially as a means of aiding the Black troops’ withered morale. The men were members of four different battalions, giving them a unique opportunity for internal organizing.

The chorus’ founders included Musical Director Sgt. Alexander Jordan, Assistant Director Cpl. James McDaniel (both aviation engineers) and Chaplain William Perkins. An important soloist to the group, added soon after, was Pfc. Kenneth Cantril.

The chorus’ repertoire was largely comprised of spirituals. “Go Down, Moses,” “In the Sweet Bye and Bye” and “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” were among their most requested numbers.

Blitzstein began working with the group soon after its formation. He wrote a piece for them entitled “Freedom Morning,” which was dedicated to the Black soldiers’ struggle. He also arranged Earl Robinson’s “Ballad for Americans” – made famous by Paul Robeson – for the group. Clearly, Blitzstein’s agenda was not standard Army issue.

However, this was before the start of the Cold War and official U.S. policy was one of partnership with the USSR; all things progressive were still acceptable in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.

The chorus’ debut performance in September 1943 held great international relevance: it was at London’s Royal Albert Hall in front of numerous dignitaries. The chorus, though equipped with gifted soloists, included the renowned Black American tenor Roland Hayes, who remained with the group for some time. The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sgt. Hugo Weisgall, provided the accompaniment.

By all accounts, including the military’s own Stars and Stripes, the audience of over 5,000 “enthusiastically acclaimed” the performance. London’s Evening Standard reviewer declared this concert “the most remarkable ceremony I have ever attended in that famous meeting place. The audience was in ecstasy … it was impossible to believe that the chorus had not sung together before in public. The singing was perfectly polished and 1st Sgt. Alexander B. Jordan, who conducted, proved himself an artist of the first order.”

Such praise was standard in the European media, whose reporters, evidently, missed the irony of the Black troops’ segregation and the conditions awaiting them back home. The reviewer concluded his article by describing the impact of the chorus’ rendition of “Ballad for Americans”:

“‘Who was for liberty?’ the chorus asks. And the answer came back, ‘Nobody who was anybody believed it. Everybody who was anybody doubted it.’ There are great hopes for a nation which applauds and upholds its heretics as heroes.”

In a recent interview, Charlie Kirsh and his wife Leah, looking back on time spent with the soldiers in Charlie’s charge as well as their contact with Blitzstein, expanded on this concept of “heretics as heroes.” With the knowledge that can only come with the passage of time, they continue to describe, with excitement, the radicalism of a segregated Black Army chorus in the company of an outspoken cultural worker.

Although the blacklist and intensified FBI investigations had not yet become commonplace during these high years of WWII, the Kirshes couldn’t help but notice an apparent misprint in the pages of their cherished copy of Stars and Stripes: the U.S. Army, in describing the 1943 concert, dubbed the celebrated composer and soldier “Marx” Blitzstein. But then this “heretic” was only a hero to those who knew better.

The author can be reached at leftmus@earthlink.net.

Wayne Holley, steelworker, CPUSA leader

Fri, 20 Feb 2004 07:04:00 +0000

Wayne Dallas Holley, steelworker, scholar, activist and lifelong member of the Communist Party USA, passed away on Dec. 30, 2003. He was 93.

Holley dedicated his whole life to the struggles of working people in Utah and around the world. Just weeks before he died, he was one of hundreds who gathered on the steps of the Utah Statehouse to protest the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Holley said in the Salt Lake Tribune, “I see many things that remind me of the ’30s. The economy, the job situation, nothing being done about it.”

Wayne Holley was born in Mapleton, Utah, on Nov. 23, 1910, to a devout Mormon family of farmers, one of the first to settle in Utah in 1848. He attended nearby Brigham Young University, as well as the University of Utah and Heidelberg University in Germany, receiving degrees in Germanics and Philosophy.

Holley traveled to Germany on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS, or the Mormons) in 1929. While in Germany, he witnessed rising fascism and the Nazi Party, including a speech by Adolf Hitler in Eastern Prussia. “I will never forget the look in those diabolic eyes,” recalled Holley. He called his first trip to Germany his “first awakening” where he began a lifelong commitment to fighting oppression and right-wing extremism.

Holley served in the U.S. Army in Burma during World War II. Returning from the war, Holley abandoned his promising academic career and worked as a crane operator at U.S. Steel’s Geneva Works for 25 years until his retirement in 1975.

Holley successfully defended against attempts during the McCarthy-era witch-hunts to remove him from his job and the steelworkers union which he had helped build. He also successfully fought false charges by the Subversive Activities Control Board under the unconstitutional McCarran Act.

Holley was also victorious in defending his membership in the LDS church. Up until the end, Holley remained active in the steelworkers union and was a proud member of the LDS church and the CPUSA. He was the founder of the Communist Party’s Joe Hill Club in Utah.

Holley worked for all economic and social issues including universal health care, fair housing, jobs with justice, women’s issues, and all movements for peace. He fought against nuclear testing at the Nevada test site, the Viet Nam War, and the MX Missile Program. He fought for truth, justice and equal rights for all, regardless of social sanctions or consequences.

He is survived by his wife, four children, and numerous grand and great-grandchildren, all of whom are proud of the legacy he left to them. Wayne will be greatly missed.

Seniors use films to promote peace

Fri, 20 Feb 2004 06:50:00 +0000

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – A recent Peace Film Festival here screened nine movies over four days in a retirement community of 10,000 residents. The setting was the new Peacock Theater at Rossmoor. The Rossmoor chapter of Grandmothers for Peace sponsored the event.

The festival got off to a roaring start with the documentary “Seniors for Peace.” This film depicts residents of The Redwoods in Mill Valley, Calif., where the average age is 87. Every week these folks – many in walkers and wheelchairs – participate in a spirited peace demonstration at the intersection near the retirement home.

Three of these residents made the trip from Marin County to Contra Costa County to help open the festival. One woman said, as part of the panel discussion after the film, “I’m old enough now that I don’t have to be afraid to speak my mind and work for peace.”

Classic war movies such as “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Oh! What a Lovely War” were shown to full capacity houses. The Australian film “Breaker Morant” was especially powerful. Perhaps the film that most moved viewers was the beautiful Japanese animated film “Graves of the Fireflies.” Set in Kobe under fire from American firebombs during WWII, it is the emotional story of a brother and sister attempting to survive.

The festival concluded with “Wag the Dog,” a particularly pertinent film for today, with its tale of a manufactured war crisis. Over the four days of the festival, more than 100 people joined Grandmothers for Peace.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.

Human suffering a plea for change

Fri, 20 Feb 2004 06:46:00 +0000

Paul Farmer, a Harvard Medical School teacher, infectious disease expert, and anthropologist, has written his fourth book, “Pathologies of Power.” With grace and feeling, he communicates an obvious commitment to the notion that health care is a human right. And he practices what he preaches.

The first part of the book is devoted to a detailed recounting of medical work in Haiti, Chiapas, Peru, and in Russian prisons. Farmer then goes on to report on the devastating effects of bureaucracy, brutality, and absent health care on people’s lives. His most consistent teaching is that human suffering and the contemporary world order go together, and that is the book’s main contribution.

But ultimately his story fades, especially when he comes to strategies for corrective action. To readers conversant with historical materialism and the possibilities of class-based resistance, Farmer comes across as an idealist, a wishful thinker. His own witness to human wastage stands as a plea for change, just as does statistical documentation from the World Health Organization. Each year, malnutrition contributes to the deaths of 10 million children and 30 million of the world’s 40 million people with HIV infection live in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2002, 585,000 women died in childbirth, 99 percent of them in poor countries. Two million people die annually from tuberculosis, 98 percent of them in poor countries. Infectious diseases cause 7.7 percent of the deaths in rich countries, 57 percent of the deaths in poor countries. Life expectancy approaches 80 years in rich countries, and is as low as 40 to 50 years in the poorest nations. In the 30 or so rich nations, plus Cuba, the infant mortality rate is less than seven deaths per 1,000 births. In the rest of the world, the rates are five to 15 times higher. But numbers do not stick in the soul the way that Farmer’s individual stories of grief do.

The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a boat carrying Yolande Jean and other Haitian refugees. They ended up at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Yolande Jean, who was HIV positive, was put in solitary confinement. Sergei, in Siberia, was arrested in 1991 on a charge of passing fake checks. But he ended up with a death sentence, because he contracted tuberculosis during pretrial detention. He would die because money was unavailable for the right drugs. (Ten years after the fall of the Soviet Union the incidence of tuberculosis had increased threefold. One out of 10 prisoners was infected.)

Farmer is no stranger to the idea that injustice has to do with class divisions. He writes that 358 individuals make as much money as do 2.3 billion other persons. He quotes the Jesuit J.L. Segundo: “The world that is satisfying to us is the same world that is utterly devastating to them.”

Farmer places “individual biography” into the “larger matrix of culture, history, and political economy.” That observation might have been a cue to delve into the intimate workings of capitalist globalization. The author’s prescriptions for action fall short. Farmer nominates health workers as front line soldiers in the battle for human rights. They would practice “pragmatic solidarity,” bring universities, medical providers, and non-governmental organizations together. They would find money and go where they are needed. Under a scheme like that, angels of light and justice would be setting up shop along every road, in every block, the world over.

Farmer admires liberation theology because of its “preferential option for the poor,” but offers few specifics. He visits Cuba and admires that nation’s approach toward the prevention and treatment of AIDS/HIV. But he holds back on any hint that Cuba might be different, that it takes seriously the socialist imperative that health care is a human right.

The overarching problem so eloquently posed in Farmer’s book, the inordinate suffering of the poor, is left unsolved. The author comes across as an expert from away and a practitioner of noblesse oblige.

Except for stories of indigenous people in Chiapas who set up autonomous organizations, his subjects seem powerless, isolated, and, most importantly, dependent. That predicament, of course, is the point at which realistic strategic analysis ought to begin. That would have been the occasion for an inquiry into the ways and means by which the disposable, oppressed people of the world might come together in class solidarity to bring about their own liberation.

Farmer does quote Bertolt Brecht: “The compassion of the oppressed for the oppressed is indispensable. It is the world’s only hope.” On their way, those in struggle would surely welcome a hand from friends like Dr. Farmer who have zeal, concern, and expertise.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.

U.S. denies visas to Grammy winners

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 08:54:00 +0000

Ibrahim Ferrer, with the CD “Buenos Hermanos,” and Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, with “Mambo Sinuendo,” have both won 2004 Grammys in the Traditional Tropical Music and Instrumental Pop categories, respectively.

However, neither Ferrer or Galbán were able to attend the ceremonies in Los Angeles, having been denied visas by the U.S. government, thus becoming – as was widely reflected in the written press and television – “notable by their absence.” Just a few days ago, the Cuban Music Institute issued a press release related to Washington’s decision to penalize Cuban artists at the 2004 Grammys.

“Once again the U.S. government has denied visas to an outstanding delegation representing Cuban music that would have been present at the award ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb. 8,” the Cuban statement said.

The statement notes that this is not a repeat of what happened with the Latin Grammys in Miami. “On this occasion, the Grammy Academy duly sent our institutions the invitations required by the U.S. government as part of established procedures for entering that country. Immediately, all the necessary documents were presented at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.”

The Cuban Music Institute affirms that “even more outrageous is the fact that they denied visas to the whole of the Cuban delegation using Section 212(f) of U.S. migratory legislation which, as is well-known, is applied by this country to terrorists, assassins, drug traffickers, and any person constituting a threat to U.S. national security.”

The statement goes on to point out that “both inside and outside Cuba, the ethical, moral and human values of outstanding guitarist Manuel Galbán, Eugenio Rodríguez Rodríguez, director of the “Ignacio Piñeiro” National Septet, our great lute player Barbarito Torres, excellent percussionist Amadito Valdés, and those jewels of Cuban music Ibrahim Ferrer and Guillermo Rubalcaba, are well known.”

The statement concludes by saying: “We would like to say to the U.S. public that we are deeply regret that you will be unable to see these honorable exponents of Cuban music. We are sure that the day will come when there are no blockades, manipulations or threats and we will be able to enjoy in peace the music produced by both peoples.”

There is no better way to support these words than the title of Ibrahim Ferrer’s own CD: Buenos Hermanos. There is always a just proverb that fits the occasion: “No one can extinguish that which shines with its own light.”

U.S. artists defend British whistleblower

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 08:48:00 +0000

An array of high-profile Americans – including Rev. Jesse Jackson, feminist Gloria Steinem, Daniel Ellsberg, and artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Danny Glover and Martin Sheen – released a joint statement Jan. 29 in support of Katharine Gun, a British whistleblower. Gun faces two years in prison in England for alerting the public about U.S. spying on United Nations diplomats aimed at securing U.N. approval for war against Iraq. An excerpt of the statement follows:

As the world teetered on the edge of war in early March 2003, with the United States and Britain pressuring the UN Security Council to give up on weapons inspections and authorize a war against Iraq, a news story broke that made headlines in much of the world. The story disrupted momentum toward a UN war resolution.

Quoting a leaked “top secret” memo written by an official of the U.S. National Security Agency, the Observer newspaper in London reported that, in furtherance of the war resolution, American spies were “mounting a surge” of surveillance targeting countries on the Security Council – especially “against” six undecided countries. The spying intercepted diplomatic communications via home and office telephones and e-mails in search of “the whole gamut of information that could give U.S. policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to U.S. goals.” The NSA memo requested the help of British intelligence in the surveillance.

The Observer’s story about U.S. dirty tricks at the UN rocked much of the world, especially the countries targeted for spying. Today, a 29-year-old British woman, Katharine Gun, is facing two years in prison for acting on her conscience and helping to bring the spy memo to light.

Gun, a translator at the British intelligence agency GCHQ, was arrested shortly after the story was published. In November, she was charged with violating Britain’s draconian Official Secrets Act.

Gun recently explained her actions in written statements: “Any disclosures that may have been made were justified on the following grounds: because they exposed serious illegality and wrongdoing on the part of the U.S. government which attempted to subvert our own security services. ... I will defend the charges against me on the basis my actions were necessary to prevent an illegal war in which thousands of Iraqi civilians and British soldiers would be killed or maimed.”

There has been much talk in recent months about the “special relationship” between the U.S. and British governments, which led the world to war. But history tells us of another “special relationship” – between people of good will in the United States and Britain who worked together in opposition to slavery and colonialism, and most recently against the push for war on Iraq.

• We urge the U.S. media to inform the public about this important case involving fundamental issues of secrecy, freedom of the press and international law.

• We urge our elected officials to express their concerns over this prosecution to the British government.

• We urge Americans to express their solidarity with Gun directly to the British government through its embassy, 3100 Massachusetts Ave., Washington, D.C. 20008. Phone: (202) 588-7800. Fax: (202) 588-7870. (Send a copy to the address below.)

Contact: Americans Concerned about Katharine Gun, c/o Institute for Public Accuracy, 915 National Press Building, Washington D.C. 20045.

Academy celebrates Carmen Jones at 50

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 08:42:00 +0000

NEW YORK – The 1954 Academy Award-nominated musical “Carmen Jones” will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a screening here on March 1. Presented as the next entry in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ monthly series “Monday Nights with Oscar,” “Carmen Jones” will screen in Cinemascope at 7:30 p.m. in the Academy Theater at Lighthouse International.

Harry Belafonte, who starred in the film as Joe, an army pilot in training for the Korean War, is scheduled to attend the screening, and New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell will serve as host.

“Carmen Jones” starred Dorothy Dandridge in the title role, a breakthrough performance that earned her a Best Actress Academy Award nomination. The film, which also starred Pearl Bailey and Roy Glenn, reworks Bizet’s opera into an American setting. Dandridge’s Carmen is a civilian employee at an all-Black army camp who pursues Belafonte’s character despite his being engaged to another woman.

Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the film also features the screen debuts of both Diahann Carroll and Brock Peters. Oscar Hammerstein II had adapted the libretto from the opera, and Herschel Burke Gilbert, the film’s musical director, received an Oscar nomination for the musical score.

Tickets for the screening are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Tickets may be reserved over the phone by calling 888-778-7575. All orders will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Pending availability, tickets may be purchased in person the night of the screening when the doors open at 7:00 p.m. The Academy Theater at Lighthouse International is located at 111 East 59th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues.

– Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Red Scare didnt dampen their creativity Red Scare didnt dampen their creativity

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 08:38:00 +0000

Book Review

Historian Paul Buhle’s continuing series on Hollywood blacklistees has, inevitably, led beyond the kingdoms of the studio monarchy. After writing a series of books on the subject, the author’s 2003 collaboration with David Wagner examines the plight of those who needed to flee “Tinsel Town” during the Cold War.

Though this volume’s intended opening is 1950, the introduction actually takes us back to a 1947 meeting between the renowned Bertolt Brecht and director Joseph Losey, on the night prior to the former’s House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearing. The threat of seeming fascism caused Brecht to leave this country soon after. “Hide in Plain Sight” offers an insightful perspective on the effects of this particular blacklist in the years to follow.

Buhle and Wagner, in a more or less chronologically-based account, follow famous Hollywood figures through their post-Hollywood Ten era descent and then, via the new mediums and locations, rebirth.

This volume continues their story after the blacklist, when survivors began to find toeholds as individuals in the film industry in England, France and Mexico and the television industry in New York and, under vastly different circumstances, in Spain, Italy and, covertly from time to time, even in the back lots of Hollywood itself.

In a fairly comprehensive account of their chosen period, Buhle and Wagner offer much of the time’s history and popular culture. Often, this book is a trip through time. However, it has the luxury of both 20-20 hindsight and a progressive perspective.

The politics of early television are detailed from more than one angle: while it was initially only a medium of the wealthy few, blacklistees and their liberal allies were able to make use of television’s virtual lack of restrictions. Hence, the creation of teleplays with a moral progressives couldn’t miss. This reviewer, having been born a little too late to recall programming of the 1950s, was shocked to learn of the rebellion inherent in “You Are There,” which was almost routinely exposed historic governmental corruption!

Readers will find the inner workings of the medium fascinating, particularly subsections on hospital and police dramas, sitcoms, science fiction, horror and more. Special attention is paid to shows such as “East Side, West Side” (recently rediscovered by the cable channel, Trio) which maintained a daring, probing look at social ills.

“Hide in Plain Sight” is an important next step in the Buhle/Wagner collection. It takes us up to the present day and offers the reader much to consider with every flip of the TV dial, trip to the video store or visit to the local movie theater.

The author can be reached at leftmus@earthlink.net.

The price of empire

Fri, 06 Feb 2004 08:42:00 +0000

Review

In his latest work, “The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic,” Chalmers Johnson has returned to expand upon themes that emerged in his previous bestseller, “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire.” The new effort is a well-researched and documented tour de force of American military, foreign, and economic policy during the past century.

The United States “has undergone a transformation from republic to empire that may well prove irreversible,” Johnson pessimistically observes, and he asserts that the 9/11 attacks produced “a dangerous change in the thinking of some of our leaders who began to see our republic as a genuine empire, a new Rome, the greatest colossus in history, no longer bound by international law, the concerns of allies, or any constraints on its use of military force.”

All of this is unfolding in a country whose people “do not recognize – or want to recognize – that the United States dominates the world through its military power.” Johnson explains that the American Empire is held together by over a half-million soldiers, spies, technicians, dependents, and civilian contractors; at least 725 known U.S. military bases and countless secret ones; a dozen carrier fleets; and “a network of economic and political interests, tied in a thousand different ways to American corporations, universities, and communities” back in the homeland.

According to Johnson, today’s imperialists have based much of their thinking on a dangerous misleading conclusion: that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the result of a great American victory. Following the Soviet debacle, Johnson writes, Washington had to move with speed “to ensure that the collapse would not affect the Pentagon’s budget or our ‘strategic position’ on the globe we had garrisoned in the name of ‘anti-Communism.’”

Along with old “demons” like China, Fidel Castro, drug lords and Saddam Hussein, the U.S. conjured new ones – Osama Bin Laden, weapons of mass destruction, the “axis of evil,” and terrorism – in order to justify the military’s expanding role. The so-called peace dividend has never been more than an illusion as the U.S. openly changed from a “defensive” to an “offensive” power. The country began to wage wars at an accelerating rate, “whose publicly stated purposes were increasingly deceptive or unpersuasive.”

Although considerable attention is focused on military policy, Johnson also examines economic factors, including the role of oil. The oil interests have closely influenced diplomatic and military policies and it is no accident that “while American oil companies are competing for access to oil in Central Asia, the U.S. is building up military bases across the region.” Johnson charges that the U.S. wants strategic control over oil resources in the Middle East and Central Asia “in order to oversee the shipments to regions increasingly dependent on imported petroleum which might someday challenge American imperialism.”

Johnson predicts the consequences America’s transition to empire: (1) a state of perpetual warfare leading to more terror against Americans; (2) loss of democracy and constitutional rights at home; (3) truth being replaced by propaganda, disinformation, and glorification of war; (4) economic bankruptcy – imperial overstretch will eventually bankrupt the American economy.

Although Johnson’s work is an excellent overview of the development of U.S. militarism and imperialism during the past century, the book focuses mainly on the symptoms and not root cause of the problem. Still, because it is so well researched, Johnson’s book provides a useful tool to both the student and activist.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.

Artists events target Patriot Act

Fri, 06 Feb 2004 08:33:00 +0000

MILWAUKEE – Hundreds of people here took part in five days of events last month to critically examine the USA Patriot Act and other threats to civil liberties. The Milwaukee Artist Resource Network organized the Dossier Project, which combined visual art, performance, music, and panels of experts and ordinary citizens.

At the Jan. 16 panel discussion, held in conjunction with Milwaukee’s Turner Hall and taped for broadcast on local public television, former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), known for his ultra-conservative views, joined Nadine Strossen, a law professor and national president of the American Civil Liberties Union, in opposing the Patriot Act.

Barr’s participation is emblematic of a wariness of government power crossing political boundaries. Defending the Patriot Act were U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic and FBI Special Agent David Mitchell.

Opponents noted that although the Patriot Act was supposed to prevent future terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001, a joint inquiry of Congress has since admitted that 9/11 could have been prevented with already existing police powers. Biskupic said that parts of the Patriot Act were nevertheless useful for other purposes and credited it with helping to rescue a kidnap victim last year.

He said Congress should add “checks and balances,” but not repeal the entire Act. In his State of the Union Address last month, George W. Bush asked Congress to pass legislation to make the entire Patriot Act permanent.

Several times Mitchell or Biskupic warned audience members that stories they had heard about the Patriot Act were false, only to be rebutted by Strossen or Barr, who forced them to admit that yes, local law enforcement is on the lookout for people carrying almanacs. Yes, part of Patriot Act II was signed on the day Saddam Hussein was captured. No, the FBI no longer needs individualized suspicion to get a warrant to secretly search your house.

As participants debated whether law enforcement might use the Act to suppress political dissent, Strossen noted that Section 802 of the Act defined terrorism so broadly that it could cover civil disobedience. Mitchell responded, “We’re not interested today in everybody who goes and protests against a war.” But Strossen noted that Attorney General John Ashcroft had also weakened guidelines that prevented FBI spying on people not suspected of any crime.

An audience member later talked about how the “red squad” in Milwaukee had targeted Communists and their families, conspiring to get people fired from their jobs and conducting other dirty tricks. Mitchell answered that such operations could not go on today because of guidelines approved by Attorney General Edward Levi in 1976. An exasperated Strossen pointed out that “those are the guidelines that Ashcroft just repealed!”

Throughout the week’s various presentations, the event site exhibited relevant artworks by local artists. One, “The Carceral City,” provided a map of surveillance cameras directed at public spaces downtown and included dozens of images of city folk caught by these cameras. A disturbing presentation by the Milwaukee Mask and Puppet Theatre showed the cityscape overseen by grotesque rulers where all the foreign-looking people collapsed to the ground with the pull of a lever.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.