People Before Profit blog

American Indian activist Leonard Peltier seeks new trial

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 15:27:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS — “It is my obligation to find errors in the government’s case,” Barry Bachrach, a defense lawyer for Leonard Peltier, told the World outside of the Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse here Feb. 13, after a hearing to review Peltier’s conviction and sentencing.

Peltier, a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM), has spent 30 years in prison for his alleged role in the shooting deaths of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. However, no one witnessed the shooting, and ballistics tests, which were concealed from the court at the time by the FBI, showed that the bullets could not have been fired from the alleged murder weapon. Peltier has repeatedly denied responsibility.

While Peltier’s defense has been ongoing since his arrest in 1976, Bachrach is taking a different approach. According to Bachrach, “the Federal Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction under the statutes upon which Peltier was convicted and sentenced. The laws under which Leonard Peltier was convicted require that the incident take place on a federal enclave, which does not include the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where the incident did take place. In this case, the government therefore lacked jurisdiction.”

Subject matter jurisdiction refers to the question of whether a particular court has the power to decide particular questions. In this case, Peltier’s lawyers argue that the only possibly authority the U.S. government could have used to prosecute and convict Peltier was the Indian Crimes Act, which was not invoked.

“Peltier was charged under the wrong statute,” said Bachrach. “The court never had jurisdiction. You can’t convict someone under the wrong law.”

Peltier’s case has been surrounded by controversy since he was first imprisoned. At the time of his trial the government released about 3,500 pages of documents. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, Peltier’s lawyers have discovered that 142,579 pages of documents have been improperly concealed. Peltier’s lawyers have repeated requested access to all of the documents.

“At the time of the trial the prosecutors lied. Without a doubt, they lied about the total number of documents the FBI actually possessed concerning Leonard Peltier” and the murders on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Michael Kuzma, another Peltier defense lawyer, told the World at the courthouse. “The missing documents could show that attorney-client confidentiality had been violated.”

Previously released FBI documents seem to indicate that a confidential source may have attempted to penetrate Peltier’s original defense team.

The government claims that it is withholding the documents for national security reasons. Peltier’s supporters claim that he was framed because of his political activism. During the 1970s, AIM struggled to defend Native Americans’ rights and, like the Black Panthers, were targeted by the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program, COINTELPRO.

COINTELPRO disseminated misinformation, manufactured evidence and assassinated leaders of target civil rights organizations. Fifty-seven AIM members and supporters were murdered from 1973-76 and over 300 were attacked, beaten or harassed. At best, the FBI turned a blind eye. However, many Peltier supporters believe that the FBI was not only negligent, but that it was partially responsible for some of the deaths.

“The bottom line is that Leonard Peltier should be entitled to a new trial,” said Bachrach. “In light of government misconduct, they would never be able to prove his guilt. Evidence was fabricated. Witnesses were coerced. The court was prejudicial.”

Two other AIM activists were found not guilty on the grounds of self-defense in a separate trial.

Peltier’s case has historical significance as well, given the U.S. government’s well known racism and neglect of Native Americans. Many see Peltier as a political prisoner fighting not only for his freedom but also for the legitimate grievances of Native Americans. Feb. 6 marked the 30-year anniversary of his imprisonment.

For more information on Peltier’s case, visit www.leonardpeltier.org.

LETTERS

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 11:13:00 +0000

Wrong on Nixzmary Brown

As a working-class person who receives public assistance, I was disappointed and offended at Bill Davis’s article “Nixzmary Brown’s tragic death” (PWW 2/11-17). Nobody excuses child abuse or murder. But gone completely from this piece is a Marxist-Leninist critique of state agencies of the government like Children’s Protective Services. CPS is not a class-neutral institution, nor is it always benign or in the best interests of the child.

From Karl Marx’s day to our own, bourgeois ideologues, government agencies like CPS, social-reformers and reactionaries alike have considered the poor to be “unfit parents.” Capitalism breeds poverty yet its masters blame the victim. Their patronizing cry to “protect the children” is often used as a smokescreen for stealing the young from working-class families, especially if they’re African American or headed by women.

Further, one of the whispered secrets of the left is that Children’s Protective Services has also been used to intimidate low-income activists. (I speak from experience. CPS “investigated” and disrupted my family after the news showed a photo of us at a protest. They found no abuse and closed the case. It was a political attack.)

Yet Davis is left wondering why so much actual child abuse goes unreported. It is because CPS is not “above classes.” It is state-monopoly capitalism and not the working-class that endangers children in a systematic and fundamental way. Davis seems to miss this point.

A reader in Minnesota Via e-mail

Bill Davis responds:

My apology to the reader for any offense. I was trying to explore how state-monopoly capitalism systematically and fundamentally endangers children (in just one way) and, even more important, what is to be done about it.

Broad fights for every child to have a decent childhood and for every family to be able to rear their children in decent conditions are basic democratic struggles. Child welfare services are, of course, not neutral. They are one area of struggle. Unionized child welfare workers are an important part of our fight for more and better preventive and supportive services for families in need.

The ruling class does use children’s protective services against working people, something that child welfare workers and their unions also fight. Of course, the solution is not to abolish child welfare services any more than doing away with health care or public education would deal with ruling-class malfeasance in those areas. I do not wonder why so much actual abuse goes unreported. I do wonder how we can best resist ruling-class efforts to blame the victim and to turn us against each other while fighting for our children and families in a society ruled by those who put profits before people.

I am confident that we will come up with the best ways to fight and that we will win.

Disability access corrections

Thank you for publishing “Wheelchaired activists demand access rights” (PWW 1/21-27). Unfortunately, the last paragraph about time limits to correct disability access violations is inaccurate. There is no 90-day limit for fixing access violations.

The new initiative would basically make it impossible to enforce our civil rights, as there is no enforcement mechanism in the ADA or Title 24 of the California Building Code. The Unruh Civil Rights Act gave us the right to sue for disability access.

Finally, “wheelchaired people” really should be “wheelchair users.” Not all of the disabled people were in wheelchairs!

Susan Chandler (Barnhill) disAbility Advocate, Easy Access West Sacramento CA

Cartoon controversy

In the spirit of freedom of the press I would appreciate it if you would publish the “Mohammad cartoons” in your newspaper. It would show that you have the courage to come forward when many in the liberal and mainstream press have seemed to have lost theirs.

I enjoy reading the World. I particularly like all the news about labor unions and legislation that deal with economic and workers’ rights.

Andrew Skaggs Via e-mail

Editor’s note:

Thanks for your kind words about our labor and legislative coverage.

We will not publish the cartoons in question. In our view, they do nothing to promote working-class unity or solidarity of the world’s peoples. Nor do they expose the vicious racism and exploitation of the capitalist system.

On the contrary, they are mean-spirited expressions of religious intolerance, and are particularly harmful at a time when anti-Islamic propaganda is being used to justify the Bush administration’s war on Iraq and its phony war on terrorism. No principles of free speech require us to disseminate such provocative bigotry.

The toon question

I don’t happen to be a Muslim, but I can see that the level of hatred directed at Muslims here in the U.S. and around the world is at an all time high. They are automatically suspect, they are insulted and reviled, some of their homelands are bombed and occupied by foreign troops, and some are even jailed and tortured without trial. Those of us who don’t happen to be Muslim have Muslim sister and brother trade unionists, friends and neighbors. We can’t be silent when right-wing hate mongers spend their time stirring up trouble with hateful speech: on the TV and radio, in newspaper articles, and yes, in cartoons.

Our struggle to protect free speech should not be twisted and deformed to “protect” hateful insults that enrage those at whom directed. Publishers and producers don’t work in a classless vacuum. We can’t let them pretend that they have no responsibility for what happens when they print or air hate speech.

Cartoons can zing with rapier intensity at our class enemy. They can be thought provoking, make us laugh out loud, or move us to tears. The great Mexican political cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada worked tirelessly at cartoons dedicated to the working-class and revolutionary struggles during the period of the Mexican Revolution. His political work landed him in jail on several occasions. Posada never catered to wealthy sponsors and his work never made him rich. He knew which side he was on.

Barbara Russum Chicago IL

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 07:26:00 +0000

ANN ARBOR, Mich.: Students hold ‘spy-in’ protest

The only prop missing was the famous James Bond martini, “shaken, not stirred,” as students donned Hollywood “spy” gear in a street theater action Feb. 17 in front of the Federal Building. They were protesting the Bush administration’s domestic spying.

At least 200,000 U.S. citizens have been victims of the illegal practice.

“We don’t like what’s going on and this provides a voice for us because we can’t vote,” said Joanna Ransdall, 15, one of the scores of high school and college students who participated.

A storm of criticism has swirled around Bush’s post-9/11 decision to authorize wiretapping Americans and other domestic spying without going through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court for a warrant.

The students from nine area high schools and the University of Michigan are part of the Michigan Peaceworks Youth Activist Network.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.: State Assembly condemns Patriot Act

With Congress debating reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, the largest state in the country weighed in with a sharply worded resolution defending the democratic rights of its residents and condemning the law.

Nancy Talanian, director of the Bill of Rights Defense Coalition, said, “The California resolution sets a standard we hope Congress will follow as it considers reauthorizing several controversial sections of the Patriot Act and the administration’s approval of warrantless wiretaps. The resolution states that no state resources will be used to collect information based on residents’ activities that are protected by the First Amendment or to scoop up personal records without a direct connection between the records sought and suspected criminal activity.”

California joins Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Montana and Vermont in taking action to protect residents’ civil rights against federal government action. As of Feb. 16, state and local governments representing 87 million people have adopted such a stance.

COLUMBUS, Ohio: Authorities reject ‘intelligent design’

Science and the teaching of evolution survived another challenge Feb. 14 when the Ohio Board of Education voted 11-4 to reject “intelligent design” and sustained the current science curriculum, which includes the teaching of evolution.

The Board has 19 members, 11 elected and eight appointed by the governor.

Case Western Reserve biology professor Patricia Princehouse said the coalition that struggled to defend the integrity of science teaching in public schools isn’t letting down its guard and will continue to monitor actions of the state board.

The high cost of litigation in Dover, Pa., where a long court battle resulted in the rejection of “intelligent design,” played a role in the Ohio board’s decision.

MOBILE, Ala.: Vets, hurricane survivors to march

On March 14 hundreds of Iraq and Vietnam War veterans, members of Gold Star Families for Peace and families who survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will step off for a five-day organizing drive to bring the troops home and re-direct war spending to rebuilding the Gulf Coast. The march is scheduled to start here and proceed along Gulf Coast Highway 90. It will end in New Orleans on March 19.

There are two demands: Immediate return of troops from Iraq, and spending the money saved on rebuilding the Gulf Coast under control of the region’s residents.

For more information, visit www.vetgulfmarch.org.

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

LETTERS

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:34:00 +0000

Treat all candidates alike Your Feb. 11-17 issue lauds California Assembly Bill 583, which establishes public funding for state office. But your article didn’t mention that AB 583 requires minor party and independent candidates to get twice as many $5 contributions as Republicans and Democrats must get. The principle that every candidate should be treated alike works very well in Maine and Arizona, the states which pioneered “Clean Elections.” You would be ballistic if AB 583 said Republicans only need half as many $5 contributions to qualify as Democrats. So why not mention the flaw in AB 583? If the People’s Weekly World, which represents a group that has a long history of fighting for equality in election law for everyone, won’t discuss this, who will?

Richard Winger Editor, Ballot Access News San Francisco CA

Nobody is above the law Just as Nixon was wrong, he broke the law and was impeached, so should Bush be held responsible for his actions in breaking the law. Bush should be impeached. Nobody is above the law! Geoff Lee New York NY

Media falls down on job The mainstream media, as to be expected, swallowed hook, line and sinker the president’s politically motivated “revelation” about breaking up an alleged terrorist plot several years ago to hijack and crash an airliner into a Los Angeles skyscraper. This despite the fact that no one in the media has seen or talked to the alleged perp nor anyone else who supposedly was part of this purported plot, not to mention the innumerable lies this worst-ever president has told us previously in his miserable reign. When will the media demand evidence? When will the media begin doing their jobs? When will the public demand of their elected federal government representatives the impeachment of this lying, murderous president? And when will see George W. Bush in the dock on trial before the International Criminal Court, which he so rightly fears and despises?

Willard B. Shapira Minneapolis MN

Cruel and unusual The decision of the Supreme Court not to give a pardon to Clarence Allen, a sickly 76-year-old, shows how barbaric as a nation we have become (“California executes man in wheelchair,” PWW 1/21-27). Do we as a nation think we are wiser than the Almighty God (who is ready to forgive in a large way)? Who appointed any one of us as people of this country to judge others, and to become hardened, merciless and unforgiving? This country points fingers at other (Third World) countries for their inhumane treatments of their subjects, while with much arrogance the so-called justice system puts to death a man so ill that he would have died soon anyway. The attitude of this nation frightens me. The route this country is taking is extremely dangerous — it has become insane. Let us all join each other in heartfelt prayers to have this country return to its sanity!

Jad A. Ghanan Tucson AZ

Memorialize left writers I recently learned that an auditorium chair in the new Minneapolis Public Library, set to open this May, has been dedicated to the memory of the great Midwestern writer, Meridel Le Sueur. Other authors have been nominated for this honor, too. See www.wilbers.com/MinnesotaAuthorsCampaign.htm for a full list. Someone who certainly deserves recognition is the revolutionary poet Thomas McGrath, a victim of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Years later he resumed teaching, after working many jobs. A $500 total secures a “chair” and pledges for are $50 invited. Readers of the PWW might want to help by getting donations together in smaller amounts to make up a $50 pledge. It is important that as many writers as possible from the left and anti-establishment scene have chairs so that future users of the library will take note of them. The deadline for this project is May 1.

Betty Smith President, International Publishers New York NY

Oppose oppressive bill The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a coalition of over 200 groups, is calling on individuals and organizations to oppose HR 4681, the misnamed “Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006.” In a Feb. 14 statement, the Campaign said HR 4681, introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) after the recent Palestinian legislative election which resulted in a Hamas victory, “goes far beyond reiterating the current U.S. ban on direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority; it also calls for many troubling provisions that would punish and isolate the Palestinian people for exercising their right to vote. This unconstructive approach would only perpetuate the status quo of violence, military occupation and human rights violations rather than promoting dialogue and a just, peaceful resolution to the conflict.” Among other things, the bill would severely restrict U.S. humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and deny them the ability to receive assistance from international financial institutions. The Campaign is urging e-mails to members of Congress, meetings with congresspeople during the President’s Day district work period (Feb. 20-24), and participation in a national call-in day on Feb. 28. For more information, visit the Campaign’s web site at www.endtheoccupation.org.

Mark Almberg Chicago IL

Wants Communist perspective Greetings of love and peace. I am a devout communist gay male who is in prison because of homophobia and oppressive state laws. I really enjoy reading People’s Weekly World and Political Affairs. There is a lot of great information in these periodicals. However, as a prison inmate I am unable to send any money. Please send me your publications. I appreciate the beautiful format of your newspaper and magazine and I read each article many times over. It is a great feeling to have a communist perspective as it relates to current events.

A prisoner Brunswick NC

Wal-Mart and health care Great article on health care: “Maryland makes Wal-Mart pay” (PWW 1/21-1/27). Those 1,000 workers and jobs that are being threatened in Annapolis are not real jobs if they are working for Wal-Mart. As far as health care is concerned, if we all practiced prevention with more Eastern and natural medicine, we would learn more of what is important, live longer and be more prosperous.

Joseph P. Donnelly Allston MA

Forum in Venezuela educates, inspires delegates

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:46:00 +0000

CARACAS, Venezuela — The sixth World Social Forum concluded here Jan. 29 with a rally of tens of thousands at the Poliedro Stadium, where just two days prior delegates from 160 countries gathered to hear Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Over 70,000 people participated in the six days of activity here, the Americas venue of the WSF. About 10,000 participated in the Africa venue in Bamako, Mali, Jan. 19-24. Under the banner of “Another world is possible,” slogans at both locations denounced war and the neoliberal policies of privatization and transnational plunder, and defended the rights of women and national minorities.

The forum will also convene in March in Karachi, Pakistan, as its Asia venue.

While the forum movement does not take positions and is “an open space for discussion” and the sharing of experiences, there were nevertheless calls for common action in many workshops in Caracas.

At a trade union forum, Leonel Gonzalez of the Cuban Worker’s Federation called for “unity in action” and “real solidarity” between workers of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. He said it was “unfortunate” that the U.S. trade union movement is not always engaged in working together with those of the developing world and called for a union-based “common front of struggle against the neoliberal policies of the last 25 years.”

In another panel, billed as the Second Hemispheric Campaign on Immigration Policies, participants divided themselves between the dual tasks of policy development and building an international network to defend immigrant and labor rights.

Miguel Vera Tudela, a teacher from Brazil, liked the action orientation of the immigration panel. He said he couldn’t go back to his city without concrete proposals. He said there were “7,000 ‘illegals’ married to Brazilians” who have no legal protection, citing his Venezuelan wife of 14 years as an example.

Sylvia Orduño, an unemployed Chicana graduate student from Ann Arbor, Mich., said Venezuela was an eye-opening experience. Her previous travel outside of the U.S. had been only to Canada and Tijuana, Mexico.

“Coming here has given me the opportunity to learn about other people in the world and the problems they face,” Orduño said. She noted that many people are fighting against similar problems within a world economy where globalization and neoliberal policies flourish. One example she mentioned was the corporate drive to privatize water, a big issue in nearby Detroit.

Bruce Burleson, a human services worker from the Boston area, was impressed by “the sheer number of people who showed up.” He praised the “solidarity people showed with Cuba” calling it “extremely strong and impressive.”

Burleson said that among the Venezuelans he found no people who took a “middle ground” in regards to Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. “People were either strongly in favor of him or strongly opposed,” he said. “Most of the people I talked to who opposed him were the owners of restaurants I went to or owners of other businesses. His supporters were poor people.”

The noted Chicana painter Nora Chapa Mendoza, who came to the WSF with a delegation of mostly trade unionists organized by the U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange, said her main motivation for attending was “seeing Venezuela first hand, to learn what its politics are all about.” She lauded the WSF for being open to progressive social movements and allowing “people to talk one to another” about the issues that affect them.

She noted the participation of different peoples, “especially the indigenous people from so many countries, including Canada.”

Mendoza was impressed by Hugo Chávez and noted the differences between him and President Bush. Referring to Chávez, she said, “He has a connection with the common people. He’s like a president who becomes one of them. People seem to be happy and love him.” She also praised the 10,000 free university scholarships that Venezuela and Cuba have offered to the youth of Bolivia.

Gabriela Acosta, a Venezuelan who works in food and beverage sales, said he appreciated how the WSF tries to address the specific issues in each country while at the same time showing how problems stem from the same source — the transnational corporations and the neoliberal policies of governments under their thumb.

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:08:00 +0000

ST LOUIS: Rally to halt police brutality

When a local television station aired video of four police officers, three white and one African American, beating Edmon Burns, who is Black, in the suburb of Maplewood, the community organized and demanded that the City Council establish a civilian police review board and discipline the officers.

Outside City Hall, residents rallied Feb. 10 when the legislation, Bill 69, was scheduled for a vote. Although the bill had 12 co-sponsors, just three short of the 15 needed for passage, the council postponed action. The Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression vowed to continue the fight. The Rev. Douglas Parham, one of the coalition’s leaders, invited police officers to join to protect residents and themselves.

The officers involved in the attack have yet to be disciplined.

NEW ORLEANS: FEMA evicts thousands

Some 12,000 families, victims of Katrina, have been put out on the street with no place to sleep, 4,400 of them here in the Big Easy. On Feb. 13, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stopped payment on hotel rooms that housed the families.

Many of the evicted told hotel workers they planned to sleep in their cars or on a relative’s sofa until they could return to their own homes.

Meanwhile, 10,770 furnished mobile homes are sitting at the Hope Municipal Airport in Arkansas. “All of us think it’s not right for them be sitting out there and not where families need them,” said Janice Skipworth, manager of the Hope Super 8 Motel. “I stand behind my government no matter what, but this is kind of wrong.”

Local officials feared the trailers would sink in the mud as the rainy season hit. So FEMA spent $6 million to lay down gravel to continue to store the trailers.

New Orleans residents have set up a tent city across from City Hall under the banner of Common Ground. The hand-painted sign outside the community reads, “Stop evicting hurricane survivors.”

WASHINGTON: Bush to sell National Forest land for $1 billion

While cutting taxes on the country’s richest citizens, the Bush administration announced plans to sell 300,000 acres of National Forest land to pay for schools in rural communities.

“This is going the wrong way,” said David Carr, public lands director for the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Americans want more public land, not less.”

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein called it “a terrible idea based on a misguided sense of priorities.”

New Mexico is growing in population and needs the space for development, the administration claims. But Sen. Jeff Bingham of New Mexico said, “That is precisely the reason the land should not be sold. Hunters, anglers, campers and other recreational users benefit from and depend on access to public land.” He called selling public lands to pay down the deficit “shortsighted, ill-advised and irresponsible.”

The public has until the end of March to comment.

Bush also plans to shut down libraries that serve scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency and the public, and an electronic scientific research catalog, part of $300 million to be axed from the EPA.

“How are EPA scientists supposed to engage in cutting-edge research when they cannot find what the agency has already done?” asked Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Director Jeff Ruch. “The president’s plan will not make us more competitive if we have to spend half our time re-inventing the wheel.”

DENVER: Congregations celebrate Darwin

On Feb. 12, Charles Darwin’s birthday, congregations in 450 churches, including 11 in Denver, marked “Evolution Sunday.” At Denver’s Sixth Avenue United Church in Christ, worshippers read from Genesis and sang a modern hymn celebrating God’s works through science: “Engines and steel. Jack hammers pounding. Classrooms and labs. Tall boiling test tubes. Sing unto God a new song.”

“Evolution Sunday” started in 2004, when University of Wisconsin biology professor Michael Zimmerman initiated a movement to challenge those who argue that Christianity and science clash. Zimmerman drafted a letter and more then 10,000 Christian ministers signed on urging school boards across the country “to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge.”

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696@aol.com). Tony Pecinovsky contributed to this week’s clips.

GULF COAST UPDATE

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 11:51:00 +0000

Summit: Break deadlock on relief

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Progressive Caucus and the TriCaucus met on Capitol Hill, Feb. 7, to strategize on breaking the legislative deadlock over assistance for Katrina survivors. Called by the Hip Hop Caucus, the summit launched the Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign. Its agenda includes a right of return, temporary and long-term housing assistance, voting rights protection and mortgage forgiveness.

Gov. vows to play ‘hardball’ with feds

Gov. Kathleen Blanco vowed to “play hardball” with Washington over oil and gas revenues. Opening a special legislative session in the New Orleans Convention Center, (the first time the Legislature met outside Baton Rouge) Blanco said the disaster that killed 1,300 people had become “yesterday’s problem” for many in Washington, and Louisiana is getting short shrift.

“The state receives only a fraction of the annual $5 billion in federal royalties. If no effort is made to guarantee our fair share of royalties, I have warned the federal government that we will be forced to block the August sale of offshore oil and gas leases,” Blanco told the legislators Feb. 6.

Victory in tent city

In a field with no lights or bathing facilities, more than 100 Katrina workers organized and negotiated concessions on running water, bathrooms and written rental contracts from their contractor/landlord. The workers live at New Orleans’ City Park, in one of several sites where Storm Force Inc. collects rent but has not provided facilities. Laborers work seven days a week amid toxins, dust and sludge, without protective gear. They have to pay $5 for a shower. Many are Mexican and Central American immigrants, brought to the area by contractors and the promise of jobs, but face unsafe working and living conditions, including immigration raids and deportation.

“In my city, workers have rights; tenants have rights; communities have rights,” said Tracie Washington, a New Orleans attorney for the workers.

Putting a pin in pain

Acupuncturists Without Borders, a network of volunteer acupuncturists, is using the ancient healing art to ease the stress, strain and pain felt by residents, relief workers and others struggling to help rebuild New Orleans, following the devastation after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

Services will be available Feb. 10 at the Common Ground Clinic, Pauline Street (between N. Robertson and Claiborne Sts.), 12:30 – 3 p.m. and at the corner of Canal and Dauphine, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Gulf Coast Update is compiled by Terrie Albano (talbano@pww.org).

Letters

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:59:00 +0000

Threats to democracy

The following letter was submitted to the Arizona Daily Star and the People’s Weekly World.

Michael Greco, president of the American Bar Association, was spot on to express his concern about the systemic threat to American democracy (“A Nation Dying of Neglect,” Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 5). Not mentioned in his article is the increasing economic polarity in our society. The top 1 percent of our population now owns more private wealth than the bottom 90 percent. The top 1 percent own 47.7 percent of stocks while the bottom 80 percent own 4.1 percent. (Office for Social Justice, www.osjspm.org).

This wealth is being expropriated by these rich and powerful Americans at an alarming rate. From 1983 to 1998, the bottom 40 percent of Americans lost 76.3 percent of their net worth, while the top 1 percent increased theirs by 42.2 percent. Such obscene disparity, embedded with frightening ignorance about the Constitution coupled with unrestrained monopolization of the economy, is a seedbed for fascism.

The broad executive powers nonchalantly exercised by President Bush, and now defended by Attorney General Gonzales, speak to this political trend. The preservation of democracy hinges on the ordered restoration of the ability of American workers to defend their class interests. We must remove the legal structural impediments to organization of labor through such legislation as The Employee Free Choice Act.

James Hannley Tucson AZ

Inspired

I was inspired by Jose Cruz’s article (PWW 2/4-10) and to view the web site of the World Social Forum. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is quickly becoming a hero of mine, though I long for more accurate information on him. (The U.S. has such a bias against him and I’m not yet fluent in Spanish.) Socialists and environmentalists need to reconnect with the average working stiff here in America to make a greater impact.

Keith Barger Eugene OR

Class roots of fundamentalism

The analysis by Mark Almberg of the Hamas victory (PWW 2/4-10) made important points, not least on the exclusion of most Palestinians from the vote.

The class base of religious fundamentalism — in the U.S. as well as Palestine and Iraq — lies in small exploiters and landlords. Monopoly capital has marginalized these layers through unequal exchange and predatory loans that have to be paid regardless of crises, hurricanes, wars, sanctions, or expensive oil. These layers struggle against big capital’s oppression. Labor needs to pay attention to their demands, particularly against debt enslavement.

But fundamentalism cannot find the way out. It has an interest in exploitation, and opposes land reform. It has risen to the fore in Palestine because of serious errors of working-class leadership, compounded by deproletarianization of the population (a growing problem in more and more capitalist countries).

The democratic demand for separation of church and state is as important as ever, in the U.S., Palestine and most capitalist countries. Perhaps surprisingly, so is the democratic demand for land to the tiller, which needs to be extended to include tillers displaced by capital and condemned to unemployment and slums. This demand will be opposed by both capital and the landlords. It is critical in the struggle for socialist revolution in Palestine and around the capitalist world. The sickle on communism’s flag represents our commitment to this demand.

Wadi’h Halabi Via e-mail

‘Fair trade’ chocolate

Chocolate is a common recipe often shared by couples in love on Valentine’s Day. The best sources say chocolate came from the ancient Aztecs in what is now Mexico, where it was considered a royal aphrodisiac.

Studies today show that dark chocolate helps prevent heart disease and cancer, improving ones mood by boosting the brain chemical serotonin, much like the drug known as Prozac. But I recommend “fair trade” chocolate since the industry is notorious for child labor and worker abuse.

Jose Alberto Chicago IL

Big Bang

John Pappademos’ review of Stephen Hawking’s “A Briefer History of Time” (PWW 1/21-27) represents a healthy dialectical-materialist view of the problem of the origin of the present form of the universe. Dogmatic currents still exist among some Marxist scientists/philosophers who attempt to rule out the Big Bang on purely philosophical grounds.

The laws of a science have to be discovered from within the science. Dialectical materialism does not replace science but serves as a methodological framework for scientific investigation within an individual science. No scientific conclusion can be imposed on a science from outside it.

Fortunately, a number of scientists and philosophers (often in the minority) fought against dogmatic imposition of philosophy on science that brought discredit to dialectical materialism. For example, Vladimir I. Fock in the USSR, Paul Langevin in France, and Mituo Taketani in Japan creatively applied dialectical-materialist methods of scientific analysis. All three were also Communists and they battled successfully within their own parties to overcome dogmatism in the physical sciences.

In its original theoretical formulation based on the mathematical physics of the general theory of relativity, the Big Bang that initiated the expanding universe was conceived as having arisen from a dimensionless point. The theory was seized upon as evidence of God’s creation of matter out of nothing. Today the overwhelming majority of cosmologists (Hawking included, as Pappademos indicates) neither view the universe as having been created from nothing (that is, from a dimensionless point), nor question the legitimacy of asking what previous form of matter the Big Bang arose from.

Erwin Marquit Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

History shaping events

Despite the news world’s obsession with Hamas, Iraq and nukes in Iran, I look to what is happening in South America and Venezuela as some of the most important and history shaping events in my lifetime. I want to thank you for Jose Cruz’s positive and informative story (PWW 2/4-10) and absolutely appreciate that members of the press are there to record and report Chavez’s words.

Thomas Olufs Via e-mail

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 06:34:00 +0000

BIBB COUNTY, Ala.: Arson destroys rural churches

Beginning Feb. 9 and lasting through the weekend, 10 Baptist churches burned, with six fires reported in 24 hours.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) sent in 35 agents to investigate. “Of course it’s arson,” said Jim Cavanaugh, ATF’s regional director, “you don’t have accidental fires at six churches.” ATF has also brought in several bomb squads.

Although the churches, all Baptist, served Black and white parishioners, a resurgence of racist violence that sparked headlines in 1999 has not been ruled out.

The Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church in Antioch, founded in 1891, was on the national registry of historic places. “It burned all the way to the ground,” said the Rev. Robert E. Murphy Sr., the church’s pastor. “Nothing’s salvageable. We know it was arson.”

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: High heating bills hit the South

Residents rallied in Kelly Ingram Park Feb. 4 to demand the state government control skyrocketing heating bills. State Sen. Sundra Escott (D-Birmingham) said that home heating is a moral issue and promised quick action in the Legislature. The number of families who have had their heat shut off through the end of January outstrips the state’s ability to process their applications for grants to pay their bills.

“We must find a way to help while the gas is still on,” she said.

On Oct. 1, gas companies raised their rates by 36.7 percent.

With natural gas prices spiking across the country with a relatively mild winter so far, even southern states are taking a big hit. In Louisville, the school district has spent $845,000 to keep the heat on in schools. The Jessamine County school district has been forced to cut maintenance projects to pay their $296,000 bill to the private gas company.

CHARLESTON, W.Va.: Wounded Iraq vet gets bill for body armor

A year ago, 1st Lt. William ‘Eddie’ Rebrook IV, an honors graduate of West Point, had his arm shattered by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The medics pulled off his body armor to save his life.

Since then he has undergone seven surgeries, and after eight months recovering at Fort Hood, he was set to come home. When he turned in his gear, the Army presented him with a bill for $700 to pay for his destroyed body armor, threatening him with continuing red tape that might last months or a year. Rebrook scrounged up the cash and returned home Feb. 8.

“It’s outrageous, ridiculous and unconscionable,” said Becky Drumheler, his mother. “I wanted to stand on a street corner and yell through a megaphone about this.”

Lt. Rebrook said that he knows other soldiers who have had to pay for equipment destroyed in battle. “It’s a combat loss,” he said. “It shouldn’t be passed on to the soldier. If a soldier’s stuff is hit by enemy fire, he shouldn’t have to pay for it.”

ANNAPOLIS, Md.: Retail Industry Group sues to halt health care

The Retail Industry Leaders Association, an industry organization representing companies that operate more than 100,000 stores with more than $1.4 trillion in annual sales, filed suit seeking to overturn a Maryland law requiring Wal-Mart to increase spending on health care for workers.

The group said that the Maryland law requiring Wal-Mart to spend 8 percent of the payroll to pay for health insurance “threatens flexibility businesses need to deal with their employees.”

Chris Kofinis, spokesman for the union-based Wake-Up Wal-Mart campaign, which spearheaded the Legislature’s action, predicted that the Maryland law would survive the legal action. “The Maryland bill is a responsible piece of legislation that will make sure that large employers live up to their health care responsibilities. Overwhelmingly, Marylanders supported this legislation.”

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

Irans nuclear issue enters crisis stage

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 06:12:00 +0000

News analysis

The cycle of threats and bullying led by the U.S. in conjunction with the foolish political game played by reactionary rulers in Iran is entering a new and dangerous stage.

Reckless, provocative diplomacy pursued by Iran’s theocratic regime suffered a serious blow Jan. 30 when Russia and China joined U.S. and European efforts to report Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities. On Feb. 4 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agreed to refer Iran to the Security Council. In response Iran’s government has threatened to resume enrichment of uranium.

Leaders of Iran’s Tudeh Party warned recently that the U.S. and its allies in NATO and the European Union are “using the current situation to advance their colonial policies in the Middle East and especially Iran.”

“We condemn any adventurous military activities in the region and against our country Iran, under any pretext, and warn of disastrous ramifications of such activities for the people of the region and world peace in general,” the Tudeh Party said.

The majority of progressive forces in Iran rightly consider that under international law the nation has the right to peaceful application of nuclear energy. Technically Iran’s nuclear industry is fully compliant with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and IAEA requirements, and there is no tangible evidence pointing to activities consistent with production of nuclear weapons. The Bush administration is artificially creating the conditions for international isolation of Iran via the Security Council. This will provide the White House with an array of options including military offensive to shape events according to its strategic plans.

However, while U.S. warhawks would benefit from exaggerating Iran’s nuclear danger, the Iranian regime is playing a dangerous game in providing the Bush administration with the necessary ammunition. The regime’s stand in the nuclear negotiations isn’t based on protecting Iran’s national interests. It seems that the purpose is to use the crises and the “danger of foreign interference” to silence its internal critics and ensure its own survival at any cost.

Since his rigged election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration has done nothing to tackle Iran’s massive socio-economic problems. The majority of Iranians continue to endure growing hardship because Iran’s economy is hostage to the combined interests of deeply corrupt high-ranking politicians and parasitic mercantile capitalists. Ahmadinejad’s administration and its backers are part of this power structure. Brutal suppression of the demands of the working people is the usual response of this regime. An example is the vicious attack by security forces against the striking bus drivers and their families in Tehran on Jan. 28 resulting in hundreds of people being jailed.

The vast majority of the Iranian people hold the regime responsible for the socio-economic problems. The regime sees this as a threat. Its response is more oppression and a provocative foreign policy to divert public opinion around bogus nationalism and religious fervor.

The ultraconservative faction within the ruling regime that brought Ahmadinejad to power seeks an enemy and a conflict that can be used as a smokescreen to implement their reactionary objectives. They are trying to militarize the nation and establish a medieval style state to fully consolidate their power. Any escalation of hostilities with the U.S. or Israel will directly play into the hands of the ruling dictatorship.

George Bush in his recent State of the Union speech declared, “Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and determine their own destiny — and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom”. This claim can’t be taken seriously, when in the same speech Bush stated that the “U.S. is addicted to oil.”

U.S. foreign politics will continue to be specifically attuned to securing ever-growing cheap and plentiful energy imports. Despite Bush’s talk of ethanol, easy access to and control of Middle East oil remains a long-term U.S. objective. However a democratic Middle East is not conducive to the ruling U.S. economic interests. This is because the people of a democratic state would be empowered to take control of their national wealth.

Enrichment of uranium is Iran’s legitimate right. However, given the aggressive presence of the U.S. in the region, Iran’s representatives should return to the negotiation table with a constructive approach, with the objective of conflict resolution in order to ensure Iran’s immediate security.

Referral of Iran to the UN Security Council is a slippery slop towards unpredictable confrontation. The international community must not allow the Bush administration to dictate the terms of negotiations with Iran.

Nima Kamran is a correspondent for the Tudeh Party of Iran.

Venezuela prioritizes Latin American unity

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 07:20:00 +0000

Unity is at the top of Venezuela’s agenda for Latin America. Just over a year ago Venezuela and Cuba signed agreements establishing the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), and President Hugo Chávez’ return to Havana Feb. 3 was the occasion for rededication to solidarity among Latin American nations.

At 2 a.m. President Fidel Castro greeted Chávez at Havana’s airport and a few hours later took him to Cuba’s 15th International Book Fair, where Venezuela was the guest of honor. The two presidents signed an agreement providing for an ALBA Cultural Fund to support a publishing house and record label.

That evening at a rally attended by 200,000 people, Castro presented Chávez with the Jose Marti International Award sponsored by UNESCO. The prize honors contributions towards Latin American integration and the preservation of cultural traditions and historical values. Addressing the crowd, Chávez recounted Simon Bolivar’s dreams of a Latin America integrated and liberated from imperial control.

He identified U.S. domination in Latin America as a source of poverty and suffering. Noting that “Jose Marti and Simon Bolivar revealed an anti-imperialist awareness in most of their works,” Chávez ran down the list of U.S. interventions in the region since 1846.

Recently Venezuela has taken some practical steps. On Jan. 24 Chávez and newly elected Bolivian President Evo Morales signed agreements on energy supplies, agricultural sales, health care and educational initiatives. The two nations are united, he said, in a “battle against neoliberalism, against capitalism.”

Venezuela will provide 200,000 barrels of oil each month in exchange for food products and will purchase soybean and poultry products from Bolivia. Cuban and Venezuelan experts are on the verge of launching a nationwide literacy campaign in Bolivia. Venezuela joined other nations on Feb. 1 in sending food and material aid to Bolivia in the wake of devastating floods there caused by heavy rains.

At a meeting on Jan. 21 in Brasilia, presidents Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, and Chávez announced plans to build a 5,000-mile-long natural gas pipeline extending from Caracas to Buenos Aires with links to Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. The project will take seven years to complete and cost up to $20 billion. Venezuela recently joined with those nations in Mercosur, the South American common market.

CELEBRATE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:35:00 +0000

‘Seven Decades in the Struggle for Human Rights’ Through July 31 Chicago

More than 125 rare and unique photographs, correspondence, programs and memorabilia trace seven decades in Chicago struggles for human rights through the eyes of Timuel Black Jr., a noted professor, historian and wide-ranging activist. The exhibit highlights 1930s Bronzeville, Professor Black’s service in World War II, the Chicago civil rights movement of the 1960s and the election of Mayor Harold Washington. At the Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted St., Chicago

‘Bold Improvisation: African-American Quilts’ January 28 to April 2, 2006 Kansas City Museum

Explore more than a century of craft and creativity. “Bold Improvisation: 120 Years of African-American Quilts” is a survey of African American quilt-making. The exhibition presents more than 40 quilts from various families and time periods, supplemented by African textiles. All quilting blends creative spirit with careful handwork and traditions that are often generations old. What makes African American quilts distinctive is that they often start with familiar patterns and then add improvised variations that result in complex works of modern art. The full array of quilts and textiles provides viewers with a greater understanding of the influences that produced African American quilting.

Chicago to hear author Taylor Branch

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch will discuss and sign “At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68,” the third and last installment of his three-volume biography of Martin Luther King Jr. Moving from the protest at Selma and the 1966 Meredith March through King’s expanding political concern for the poor to his 1968 assassination in Memphis, Tenn., Branch gives us not only the civil rights leader’s life but also the rapidly changing pulse of American culture and politics and makes it clear why King is a defining figure in American history. Monday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. at the Harold Washington Library Center.

LETTERS

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:07:00 +0000

My opinion

My parents were both immigrants from the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. They came in the earlier part of the 1900s. They were both from very poor families. Thus for the last three decades I’ve been following the plight of these people as close as is possible, and have often expressed my opinion, joined protests, etc., in their defense.

Most recently I’ve been impressed by those folk who say the punitive attitude displayed by Washington, D.C., is no solution to the border crossing issue, for as one commentator said, “the U.S. may build a 15-foot wall but someone will come up with a 16-foot ladder.” Millions of taxpayers’ dollars have been spent in building these walls, increasing the number of Border Patrols, sensor cameras and tons of military paraphernalia, yet the crossers keep coming in ever bigger numbers.

So the question arises: what can be done? If punishment doesn’t work, what then?

I tend to think that the U.S. government should design a “good neighbor policy,” as the FDR policy was called. As we know now, the whole intent of Roosevelt’s policy was sabotaged by U.S. employers and turned into a bad policy which is now known as the “bracero program.” Suggesting this kind of a change is not as simple as it sounds. For one thing, our government would have to dismantle the border fences so border crossers can cross at ports of entry. Following that the government would need to promise and enforce certain political rights, like the right to citizenship, to organize unions, to unite their families and so on. The point is: can the U.S. be convinced on the basis of citizen pressure to change course? Maybe yes, maybe no, but the effort is worth trying. That’s my opinion.

Lorenzo Torrez Tucson AZ

Tehran strike attacked

The strike was to begin at 5 a.m. on Jan. 27. Since the Islamic Iranian regime does not tolerate any independent trade unions and protests, it tried in the beginning to stop the strike by jailing a number of unionists leading the Workers Syndicate of United Bus Company of Teheran. But the arrests did not stop the strike. On a more suppressive level, the regime mobilized thousands of its security forces to break down the strike. They attacked houses and arrested a large number of members of the union. At the same time, security forces occupied all bus terminals in Teheran and attacked the drivers and other employees of the company by firing tear gas and beating them violently. Hundreds of people have reportedly been arrested and hundreds of others were wounded. Chasing down of the bus drivers, members of the union, continues.

Security forces arrested the wives of jailed unionists, who were to replace their husbands helping advance the strike forward.

Some 20 other unionists, members of the board of directors of the union, were also expected to be arrested.

Kanoon Zendanian Association of Iranian Political Prisoners (in Exile) Via e-mail

Confidentiality

The Justice Department is requesting Google to provide search information and while individuals are not named, and it is supposedly not a privacy issue, they are still requesting information for whatever purpose. Concurrently, Congress has asked the Bush administration to provide information about their response to Katrina, which they have refused on the basis of confidentiality. One assumes that Congress needs this information to improve the response for future catastrophes. It seems to me that the Bush administration has forgotten that the government is of the people, by the people, for the people, as stated by an earlier president of their party.

Carolyn Plummer New York NY

Morris Zeitlin

I’m Morris Zeitlin’s grandson. I just wanted to send a quick note to let you know that our beloved grandpa — a longtime People’s Weekly World reader and contributor — passed away Jan. 27. Architect, city planner, Marxist scholar and lifelong advocate for peace and justice, Morris Zeitlin was the author of “American Cities: A Working-Class View” (International Publishers). He was 95. He is survived by his wife of over 70 years, Sylvia, his two daughters, four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

Andy Tepper Via e-mail

Israel and Palestine: corrections

I’m a member of the YCL (and CP) of Israel. I’ve enjoyed reading online your Jan. 14 article about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I think it’s great that you strive to educate your readers about the struggles of Israeli and Palestinian Communists.

There were, however, several inaccuracies in the article.

The Palestinian People’s Party was founded in 1919, not in 1917, originally by the name of Socialist Workers Party. Later the party was renamed Hebrew Socialist Workers Party. It was not until the mid 1920s that it was finally named the Palestinian Communist Party.

The PCP suffered a split in 1943, with most of the Arab comrades forming the National Liberation League (NLL).

Those Arab comrades who remained in Israel following the 1948 war merged their organization with the (mainly Jewish) PCP to form the Communist Party of Israel.

The NLL comrades who remained in the West Bank (which following the 1948 war was annexed to Jordan) were active for several years under the name of NLL, until renaming themselves the Jordanian Communist Party in the early 1950s. Following the 1967 war, the Communists in the Israeli-occupied West Bank formed the Palestinian Communist Organization of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, renamed the PCP in 1982.

Thus, the movement started by 20 people who met in a wooden shack in 1919 gave birth to the three Communist Parties of Israel, Palestine and Jordan.

Also, “Campus,” a left-wing student coalition led by Hadash in the 1980s and early ’90s, ceased to exist many years ago. Nowadays, however, there are active Hadash clubs in Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem universities. (In each of these, the CPI organizes a Communist club). Recently Hadash in Tel-Aviv University won 22 percent of the vote in the elections to the TAU student association!

Sorry if my corrections seem petty, but living in Israel, where the history of the CPI is often distorted in the media, made me regard very highly the accurate portrait of the history of the party.

Uri Weltmann Israel

PEOPLES HEALTH

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 10:46:00 +0000

Mineworker president on coal tragedies

(PAI) — Putting “the coal industry in charge” of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is leading to dangerous conditions for the nation’s coal miners, United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts told lawmakers at a Jan. 23 Senate committee hearing on the Sago, W.Va. mining disaster.

MSHA “is full of former mine management executives who spend too much time trying to appease their friends, and too little time looking out for miners’ interests,” Roberts said.

Twelve miners died from high carbon monoxide levels while trapped underground after the Jan. 2 blast. A 13th miner is in the hospital. Days later, a second tragedy killed two more miners.

The underground coal industry has experienced tragedies, as well as near-tragedies, on a recurring basis, Roberts told senators.

“Just since August 2000, MSHA has records of well over 400 mine fires, ignitions, explosions and inundations that far too easily could have developed into significant disasters and fatalities. Many other incidents likely went unreported. With better regulations, more regular enforcement, and with support from the highest echelons of the agency, many of these accidents could have been prevented,” Roberts stated.

Too often MSHA’s top administrators undercut inspectors in the field, Roberts said. MSHA cited the Sago mine, which is nonunion, for more than 270 safety violations, many of them serious, in the two years before the tragedy. But it never closed Sago.

MSHA “spends too much effort at ‘compliance assistance’ and too little on enforcement,” Roberts added. Compliance assistance is a Bush administration concept, also used at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to get firms to voluntarily agree to safety measures — not mandated standards — with promise of reduced enforcement for those who go along.

“MSHA has some excellent mine health and safety experts working in field offices,” Roberts said. “Yet they have not been receiving support from those above them. Too often, an inspector will write citations and orders upon finding violations, only to have them compromised away.”

The problem, Roberts said, is MSHA could not institute basic safety rules that might have saved the miners, such as requiring mines to stock extra breathing apparatus underground.

MSHA also could require mine owners to establish a communications system, so rescue teams would know where underground miners are.

183 inspectors cut

The MSHA budget for the year ending Sept. 30 was reduced $3.5 million from three years before. The cuts forced MSHA to eliminate 183 inspectors and staff.

Bush’s MSHA yanked several proposed Clinton administration mine safety rules, including one requiring mine owners to frequently replace outdated breathing apparatus.

“I want to know if 1960s-era technology is truly the best we can offer miners today,” said Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa), son of a coal miner. Holding up an inexpensive communications device used in Australian mines, he asked why MSHA does not require U.S. mines to use it.

Another view on state health plans

The following response to last week’s column on Maine’s “Dirigo” health care plan was sent in by health care activist Don Sloan MD:

“Dirigo works” by Dr. Sara Stalman is well taken and her good intentions come through loud and clear. But while there is something to be said for any of the states promoting their individual programs as immediate aids to those in acute need, in the end, that will prove destructive to the movement. I suggest the states are better served by using their facilities, resources and personnel to see the forest instead of the trees.

The economics of the states as a part of the union (read: matching funds) just does not allow for any semblance of adequate health care. Yes, health care is cost-effective. But no state, from the wealthiest on down, has the machinery, expertise or funds to provide this vital service to its citizens, a service where inadequacy eventually does more harm than good.

As we are up against perhaps the most reactionary administration in our history, having the individual states make those vain attempts at healthcare only gives our criminally negligent feds more fodder for their cannons and allows them to pull back further, always adding that the states can carry the ball.

The lack of organized healthcare in the U.S. is a national problem that demands a national solution. Anything else is but a well-meaning waste. The individual states must only provide that stopgap acute help, always adding that the struggle for a federal program is primary. Our national hemorrhage must not be assuaged with a Band-Aid. The progressive movement has been taught that hard lesson these past decades and our successes have come about when the problem is addressed on its proper level.

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 09:58:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO: City slams anti-immigrant HR 4437

In what may be the first such action by a U.S. city, the Board of Supervisors Jan. 24 passed a powerful resolution condemning anti-immigrant HR 4437, now on its way to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HR 4437 “will do some very scary, chilling things — not only making all undocumented people in the U.S. into felons and criminalizing a whole class of people with the stroke of a pen, but also penalizing U.S. citizens and legal residents who have routine contacts with the immigrant community,” Supervisor Chris Daly told a press conference.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi called HR 4437 “reminiscent of Senator McCarthy’s ‘red scare’ of the 1950s.”

Renee Saucedo of the San Francisco Day Labor Program and La Raza Centro Legal told the World that local immigrant rights organizations plan to meet with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Judiciary Committee, urging her to work to kill the bill.

The resolution urges other local and state governments to follow suit in condemning HR 4437; calls on local, state and national governments to condemn and protect against anti-immigrant violence; and urges immigration reform upholding the rights of all residents regardless of immigration status.

FRANKFORT, Ky.: House committee backs ‘Medicare for All’

“Hell, yes!” roared state Rep. Kathy Stein (D-Lexington) as the House Health and Welfare Committee passed a resolution, to go to the full Legislature, supporting federal enactment of HR 676, the single-payer health care plan introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).

“It would be historic to have a Southern state endorse universal health care and medicine for all,” said Joel Segal, Conyers’ legislative assistant.

The Kentucky Psychiatric Medical Association, Louisville-based Falls City Medical Society and Dr. Adewale Troutman, director of the Louisville Metro Health Department, joined the Morehead, Ky., City Council and scores of unions, religious groups and others in supporting the bill.

A 2002 report by the Institute of Medicine, an advisory group to Congress, found that 18,000 adults die each year because they have no health insurance.

SEATTLE: State lawmakers protect gay rights

After a 30-year struggle, on Jan. 27 the state Legislature passed a measure barring discrimination against gays and lesbians. Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) said she would sign the bill, making Washington the 17th state to ban bias against gays and lesbians in housing, employment and insurance and the seventh to outlaw prejudice against transgender people.

Republican state Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, who switched his vote to join 24 Democrats giving the bill a two-vote margin of victory in the Senate, said, “We don’t choose who we love — the heart chooses who we love.” He continued, “It’s unacceptable to discriminate against people because of that.”

The state Supreme Court is considering a challenge to the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. A ruling is expected this month.

PITTSBURGH: Battle for mass transit funds continues

The labor-community coalition Save Our Transit rallied in the chilly early morning hours, Jan. 26, then marched into a meeting of the Pennsylvania Funding and Reform Commission. Bus drivers and riders are demanding that the state set up a dedicated fund to keep mass transit rolling and affordable.

The commission was established by the governor last year to find solutions to the chronic transit crisis in the state.

“Transit is an economic competitiveness issue,” said Ken Zapinski, vice president of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Downtown Pittsburgh and the medical/university complex have the second and third highest concentration of jobs in the state and half of the workers get there on the bus, Zapinski said.

Support for dedicated funding for mass transit came from some unexpected quarters, including the Westmoreland County Transit Authority, which provides 300,000 rides a year using outside contractors, a form of “back door” privatization. “That is not the solution,” Director Larry Morris told the commissioners. “What’s still needed is a dedicated, predicable source of funding.”

“Who’s going to take better care of your house? You or a renter?” asked Mary Jo Morandini, director of the Beaver County Transit Authority. Morandini described how the authority converted from outside contractors to in-house drivers and mechanics, saving money and improving service.

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696@aol.com). Marilyn Bechtel contributed to this week’s clips.

Hamas victory sends political shockwaves

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 09:46:00 +0000

News Analysis

The landslide victory of Hamas in the Jan. 25 Palestinian legislative elections sent shockwaves throughout the Middle East and beyond.

The official tally showed Hamas’ Change and Reform slate winning 74 of the 132 seats. The Fatah Movement, which has dominated the Palestinian Authority for 13 years, won 45. The remaining 13 seats were divided between independents backed by Hamas (4), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (3), Mustafa Barghouti’s Independent Palestine list (2), Hanan Ashrawi’s Third Way (2), and The Alternative list (2), a coalition that included the Palestinian People’s Party and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Turnout was high, around 78 percent. Several observers pointed out, however, that two-thirds of the Palestinian people — those in refugee camps, the diaspora and Israeli prisons — were excluded from the vote. And those who voted did so under the harsh conditions of military occupation, particularly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

But over 981,000 Palestinians turned out and they voted big for Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, which has a history, among other things, of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. Why?

Hamas’ election platform called for resisting the Israeli occupation, defending Palestinian rights, ending corruption and cronyism in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and helping the poor. Its slate included some Christians, women and professionals known for service to the community.

Hamas has built up considerable good will among Palestinians in the occupied territories through its network of schools, clinics and other welfare institutions. Its leaders have acquired a reputation for incorruptibility.

All this earned them support.

While Hamas’ founding charter calls for Israel’s “obliteration,” its election platform didn’t include that demand. It offered to observe a 10-year ceasefire if Israel agrees to withdraw to its 1967 borders. In addition, Hamas has abided by a PA-brokered ceasefire for about a year, something acknowledged, but not matched, by the Israeli authorities.

Polls and interviews suggest that voters may have been motivated less by devotion to Hamas — one poll shows under 3 percent of the population supports its advocacy of an Islamic state in all of historic Palestine — than out of deep disappointment with the PA and Fatah.

Palestinians are clearly fed up with 38 years of Israeli occupation, particularly since the 1993 Oslo Accords. Massive unemployment, poverty, hunger and lack of housing have grown, and only a handful have benefited.

Israel’s relentless policy of targeted assassinations and armed incursions, and its annexationist apartheid wall along the West Bank, have multiplied Palestinian outrage.

This unbearable status quo is strongly associated with the governing PA, along with Israel and the United States.

It is important to note that the PA’s work has been routinely sabotaged by the U.S. and Israel. From its inception, the PA was dependent on Israel’s whims about whether to open its borders for trade and on aid from U.S.-dominated institutions like the World Bank.

The PA’s leadership was frequently humiliated. For more than three years, both Israel and the Bush administration refused to negotiate with Yasser Arafat and later Mahmoud Abbas. (Thus, Western talk about not negotiating with Hamas is nothing new.)

At the same time, the Bush administration tried to keep Fatah in power by giving the PA at least $2 million, directly or indirectly, in the run-up to the election to spend in ways that might boost Fatah’s vote.

It is unclear how Hamas will handle its new responsibilities. It offered to form a coalition government with Fatah, but was spurned. Hamas, known for a pragmatic approach to politics, also offered posts to prominent independents. Abbas remains the PA’s president.

Israel and the U.S. said they will not deal with Hamas until it renounces violence and recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and threatened to impose a virtual economic blockade on the territories. Both Hamas and Fatah protested such a move, which could be catastrophic for the already impoverished Palestinian people.

Gush Shalom, an Israeli peace group, urged Israel to negotiate with Hamas. The Communist Party of Israel warned that Israeli authorities could use the Hamas victory as a pretext for intensifying the oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories and in Israel. It reiterated its longstanding call for Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders and for establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state — a two-state solution.

Some pundits said the election results will strengthen the hand of anti-Arab extremists in Israel and benefit the right-wing in Israel’s upcoming elections.

In the 1970s the Israeli government supported Hamas as a counterweight to the more secular, nationalist and left-leaning Palestine Liberation Organization. Ironically, one consequence of the Hamas victory may be the revival of the PLO. That, combined with reaffirmation of international law and relevant UN resolutions, may ultimately be a path toward peace.