People Before Profit blog

Letters

Fri, 31 Jan 2003 05:42:00 +0000

Inhumanity of war

Perhaps no bit of literature is more damning on the inhumanity of war than All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, a German war veteran, about World War I, the “War to End All Wars.” There a German soldier (yes, the enemy) seeks refuge in a bomb crater, and stabs a French soldier. Stuck in the crater with the Frenchman who takes 24 hours to die, he soon becomes overcome with remorse at having stabbed the man and works unsuccessfully to save him. After the French soldier dies, he rummages through the man’s wallet and is crushed to find a photo of the soldier’s wife and smiling daughter. He knows he has killed someone like himself, a man who cares for his family.

This book should be required reading by our U.S. leaders. Or if they find the book too hard to handle, there’s always the famous 1931 movie starring Lew Ayres. Ironically, Ayres was profoundly affected by his role in this film and became a conscientious objector during World War II.

Perhaps all Americans should take time out to read this book or look again at this great movie. Maybe we would all think again how horrible war is to those who must fight in it.

Kenneth Germanson

Milwaukee WI

Ryan continues Ill. tradition

Has it occurred to others that former Gov. Ryan’s courageous act of commuting death sentences was in the same spirit as that of Gov. John F. Altgeld in 1893 when he pardoned the three surviving “Haymarket Martyrs?” The three, along with five others, were convicted after a bomb attack during a protest rally in Chicago, a follow up of the huge “Eight Hour Day” demonstrations on May 1st, 1886. The trial was a total farce, with the convictions determined in advance by a carefully selected jury panel and Judge Joseph Gary.

Altgeld made an intensive study of the trial records and decided that all eight men had been innocent, the jury had been packed and the judge was prejudiced from the start. In freeing the three survivors Altgeld knew that this might well ruin his career. It did – he was widely maligned, burned in effigy, and not reelected. The railroad barons and the heads of the meatpacking, harvester and other industries were very powerful in Illinois!

The Eight-Hour-Day movement inspired working people for years – among them the Cuban journalist and revolutionary Jose Marti who interviewed the martyrs in prison.

Perhaps unknowingly, Ryan took up this courageous tradition by blasting the death penalty and ending it – at least for now – in the state of Illinois, giving new hope to over 3,000 men and women, most famous being Mumia Abu Jamal, in death cells in other states who are still threatened by a killing with poison, gas or electricity.

Victor Grossman

Berlin, Germany

Water privatization

Jose Cruz’ article (PWW 1/4/03) on the privatization of water can bring tears to the eyes of anybody conscious of the extraordinary danger of allowing water (a necessary element for all humans) to be privatized by the same thieves who have no qualms about enslaving workers around the world.

As I read it, I thought about the much publicized “will work for food” signs that the members of our class are reduced to holding as they search for day-to-day survival. “Will work for water” cannot be far behind if we don’t realize the extreme seriousness that faces the world.

Imagine, a relatively small group of humans in the world want to force other humans to come to them on bended knees for water.

It cannot be allowed.

The water issue is something many of us may have ignored. We can’t afford to do that. When I finished reading the article, I passed it on to another person. They are passing it to someone else. You hit us with the shock of reality.

Thank you very much. You’ve performed a great service and your writing grabbed attention.

Bravo.

Barbara Jean Hope

Philadelphia PA

Affirmative action

George W. Bush’s attack on the “constitutionality” and fairness of affirmative action is blind to the destructive power of the institution of racism past and present in U.S. history. Affirmative action policies as established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were a response to persistent past and present policies of discrimination, represented most dramatically by 246 years of slavery and nearly a century of segregation.

Ethnocultural diversity is a very positive thing in itself, but the primary purpose of affirmative action was and should continue to be economic integration and social justice. The Bush administration’s attempt to scuttle affirmative action by joining its opponents before the Supreme Court would set the country back more than half a century and hurt not only minorities and women, but all citizens.

Norman Markowitz

New Brunswick NJ

Editorials

Fri, 31 Jan 2003 05:26:00 +0000

Rogue leader

“ ... many other [suspected terrorists] have met a different fate. Put it this way … they are no longer a problem …”

– George W. Bush, State of the Union address

With a wink and a nod, a swagger and a grin, Bush asserted his unilateral authority to assassinate “problem” individuals around the world.

The gap between suspected terrorist and proven terrorist takes in many innocent people. In recent months, we have seen entire communities, nationalities and work forces under the cloud of “suspected terrorists” subject to registration, detention, deportation and mass firing.

“Innocent till proven guilty” and “trial by jury” establish a methodical process to determine guilt or innocence. Bush’s substitute, “guilt by presidential edict,” has no process except political expediency, thus ensuring that in many cases not only will the innocent be punished but also the guilty will go unsought.

Bush’s “presidential right to assassinate” policy goes hand-in-hand with the previous assertion of his unilateral right to declare anyone, including U.S. citizens, as “enemy combatants,” and then imprison them indefinitely without trial, a lawyer or, even, public knowledge.

Let’s not forget that two years ago a right-wing consultant firm hired by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush falsely classified thousands of African-American voters as “criminals” and kicked them off the voting roles without due process, thus paving the way for the ascension of George W. to the presidency.

At a time when the American people are engaged in serious struggles for peace, decent wages, health care, education and affirmative action, will we be safer in a world without the rule of law where corporate spokesmen like Bush decide unilaterally who is a “problem” and what should be done about them?

Tearing up the Bill of Rights, flouting established international law and the UN are clear signs that Bush is a rogue president, using a war on terrorism to place himself above the law in order to promote his corporate agenda.

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Silence on racism

The words “race,” “equality,” or “civil rights” never once crossed the lips of George W. Bush during his State of the Union address, Jan. 28. The silence was deafening.

In the wake of the Trent Lott fiasco, the country has been grappling with the fact that officials, at the highest levels of power, long for and support policies that will push our country back to days of legal segregation and Jim Crow.

The country has been facing the fact that racist inequalities still exist today. Our public schools face what one report called re-segregation. Gaps in wages, housing, health care, education worsen the quality of life for millions of Americans – African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asian Americans, American Indians, Arab Americans and other people of color. Police brutality, unequal treatment in the courts, and racial profiling are still pervasive throughout the criminal justice system. The racist gap in living standards worsens the quality of life for working people and families of all races.

Furthermore Americans have been coming to grips with the fact that the president has come out against what has been the law of the land – affirmative action – a legal remedy to make up for past and present racist discrimination. The administration filed a brief opposing the University of Michigan’s admission policies, a case now before the Supreme Court.

Millions of people, perhaps an anti-racist majority, want our country to take on the challenge of racism and all forms of inequality. But the president and his advisors do not. Bush’s speech is part of a wider pattern of policies that deepen racial and gender disparities – ranging from the war to economic and budgetary policies – all of which will weigh heavily on communities of color and women.

The silence was deafening, but the people’s response should be deafening, too. Demand from all our leaders pro-civil rights legislation, affirmative action programs, equality in all areas of life and “no” to any appointment of anti-civil and women’s rights judges.

Editorials

Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:09:00 +0000

There’s still time to stop Bush’s war juggernaut

George W. Bush has worked to convince us that an invasion of Iraq is inevitable and resistance futile. But consider the following:

* Millions rallied against war on Iraq around the world, Jan. 18, including 800,000 in Washington, San Francisco and other cities here in the U.S. They believe the war can be stopped.

* French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin says UN inspections are working. “There is no reason to go to war while we can still improve the path of cooperation,” he stated. France vows to veto any UN resolution authorizing an attack on Iraq. Germany, Russia and China are likewise opposed to the Bush rush to war.

* Scores of U.S. lawmakers, including some who voted to authorize force against Iraq, have written a letter to Bush urging him to announce support for a diplomatic solution under UN auspices in his State of the Union Address Jan. 28.

The letter states: “We believe the U.S. should make every attempt to achieve Iraq’s disarmament through diplomatic means and with the full support of our allies, in accordance with the process articulatedin UN Security Council Resolution 1441.” That resolution, the lawmakers point out, provides for a “tough new weapons inspection regime” with unimpeded, unconditional, and unrestricted access” for UN inspectors.

Dr. Hans Blix and Director General Mohamed ElBaradei are scheduled to report on the progress of the UN inspections Jan. 27. They are expectedto reportthat no “smoking gun” has been found and that it will take a year to complete the inspections.

A recent poll found that 80 percent in the U.S. reject war if the U.S. attacks unilaterally or with only British support.

No, war is not inevitable. Contact your Senators and Representative. Urge them to speak out against war.

If Bush does not respect majority opinion and goes ahead with unilateral, preemptive war, it will cost him millions of votes in 2004 and expose him as the un-elected rogue and warmonger.

A voice for struggle

As newspapers around the country carried stories of the FCC moving to ease media ownership rules, and of the possible merger of AOL Time Warner’s CNN and Disney’s ABC, 200 members of the Independent Press Association gathered in San Francicso for the organization’s first annual convention.

The IPA, which calls itself “the antidote to monopoly media,” was founded in 1996. It offers independent publications a community and support network. It allows the independent press to work together to match the strength of an ever-consolidating mainstream media.

This year’s convention, hopefully the first in a long line of growing meetings, focused primarily on the business end of things – how to be political and financially sustainable, how to increase subscribers, how to host events. These are all topics that are important for the long life of a sometimes embattled independent press.

But beyond fighting for our existence, those of us in the independent press are also fighting for our politics and coverage. It is up to those of us in the IPA – primarily made up of progressive and community papers – to carry on the great traditions of the independent press. Dating back to William Garrison’s The Liberator, first published in 1847 and the strongest voice calling for the abolition of slavery, the independent press in America has been key to democratic change.

Now, as people’s movements fight the Bush administration’s drive to war in Iraq, its attacks on civil liberites, affirmative action and women’s rights, the independent press must be there to cover these struggles that are so often left out of mainstream news coverage.

It is important that we work within the independent media community – through the IPA, with the labor press, with African-American, Latino, Asian, American Indian and immigrant community papers, with the Indymedia movement that took hold after the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization – to ensure a home for the coverage of the fightback against the right-wing attacks of the Bush administration and its big business cronies.

Letters

Fri, 24 Jan 2003 09:41:00 +0000

Anti-Chavez news in the Times

New York Times Caracas correspondent Francisco Toro resigned from the newspaper citing his own “conflicts of interest” and “opposition activism” in Venezuela.

Narco News published Toro’s resignation letter and important background information that reveals that The New York Times’ management knew about Toro’s conflicts throughout his brief tenure at the “Paper of Record.”

After discussing his conflicts with a Times editor, Toro did not resign, but merely “hid” his partisan weblog from public view, making it password accessible-only. [But then] after a week of thinking it over, Toro decided to resign rather than cease his involvement in what he described as “protest marches” and opposition “organizations” in Venezuela.

The resignation of Toro is the latest in a series of misteps, misdeeds, and ethical lapses, at The New York Times regarding its Venezuela coverage. The Times’ credibility reporting from that country is now in a free fall. Read the history and documentation, with key links, at:

Al Giordanovia e-mail

Giordano is the publisher of The Narco News Bulletin

Web audio files

I wonder if it would be possible to put the actual sound files in a convenient place to be downloaded on your webpage (www.pww.org)?

Since I work on a dial-up link on a rural telephone system I don’t want to slow up my connection with an audio stream. I’d rather save the file downloading it overnight or some other convenient time.

The real audio format is satisfactory, but if you want to maximize distribution of such things it might be possible to convert them to mp3 and keep them in an archive that was linked to a Gnutella file sharing system.

James Stewartvia e-mail

Germ warfare

I enjoy reading your publication, for the insights you have into world events. However, I think you should allow for more website posts from your readers, regarding how they are addressing their concerns, regarding world events, around the world.

I am constantly corresponding with various news agencies, and government websites around the world, to address my concerns to the sources. I believe the best way to handle an issue is at the source of the issue, or concern, so that is what I have been doing.

I read the book on germ warfare, and corresponded with several agencies about the book. I do not feel it is necessary for warfare anywhere on my planet, and as a global citizen, I feel it is necessary to say how I feel.

I don’t think there is any need for warfare, and I especially do not think developing biological agents for weapons of war is ever a good idea. I told them I feel it would be better to address world hunger, things of this nature, and to use this technology, and these resources, to develop cures, and to use nuclear resources as an alternative fuel source. What do your readers think?

Bill PfitzerOrlando FL

U.S. peace movement

Thanks for your very informative article by Susan Webb (1/11) on the U.S. peace movement. It helps us a lot, since the mainstream Greek media and some anti-war resources are reporting only on the activities of one U.S. organization only. We need more information and analysis on the broader sections of the U.S. anti-war movement, as well as news of actions or statements by trade unions, intellectuals, civil rights groups and coalitions in order to coordinate better our peace efforts.

We are now preparing for big anti-war actions in all Greek cities on Feb. 15.

Babis AngourakisAthens, Greece

Campaign finance reform

Brandi Kishner’s article on campaign finance reform (12/14/02) was excellent. Facts and then critical thinking presented in that article help people to overcome the unfair campaign finance system we have. But remember it’s one person, one vote (except for the electoral college) no matter how much money is involved.

Chris O’bannonvia e-mail

Hope for 2003

I wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. May 2003 be the best year ever for you and your families, and may peace, tolerance, freedom, dignity and kindness prevail in our global village.

Radwan Masmoudivia e-mail

Venezuelan update

Thu, 23 Jan 2003 08:57:00 +0000

The problem the Bush administration has with Venezuela’s populist President Hugo Chavez, is his “heretical” views about the disposition of Venezuela’s oil wealth. Chavez believes that oil revenues generated by Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) should benefit the people of Venezuela rather than being recycled back to the United States.

In 1998 Chavez defeated an oligarchy composed of Euro-Venezuelans (mantuanos) and its corrupt political system. The Euro-Venezuelans could be counted on to recycle petro-dollars to the United States, engage in lavish shopping sprees in Miami and purchase US securities and real estate while people of Amerindian or African ancestry (pardos) suffered varying degrees of poverty.

Chavez, a former military officer, is a pardo and his determination to alter the situation was viewed as an attack on the international trade and financial system based on the preservation of dollar hegemony. As long as petro-dollars were recycled to the United States, as long as oil was priced in dollars, then, as Henry L. K. Liu observed in Asian Times, the U.S. could “continue to produce dollars while the rest of the world produced things that dollars ... buy.”

In order to carry out the popular mandates in the 1999 Constitution which established the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the 67 percent of oil revenues dedicated to PDVSA “operating costs” would have to be reduced. Chavez’s efforts to get these costs under control have led to the current “strike” of oil industry executives and managers who, having grown rich off these costs, desire an even greater share through the privatization of Petroleos de Venezuela.

What is standing in the way of both the mantanos and privatization is Hugo Chavez and the poor peasantry, landless rural workers, the urban poor, sections of the working class and the traditional petty bourgeoisie, as well as segments of the military. Hundreds of thousands of Chavez supporters have organized themselves into Bolivarian Circles, whose tasks include raising the consciousness of citizens, developing new forms of participatory organizations in communities, and engaging in projects in the areas of culture, health, education, recreation, and housing, as well as preserving Venezuela’s historical heritage.

Efforts to remove Chavez became a priority for the Bush administration and the Chamber of Commerce of Venezuela who staged a two-day coup in April 2002 that resulted in Pedro Carmona, president of Venezuela’s Chamber of Commerce assuming the position of head of government. Carmona’s first moves included: suspending the National Assembly and the Supreme Court, annulling the constitution; and changing the name of the country. The coup was carried out in the name of preserving democracy and was greeted with glee from the White House. which was actively involved in its organization.

The failed coup provided an opportunity to purge the military of graduates of the School of the Americas; accelerate the development of Bolivarian Circles and intensify the process of land redistribution. According to Al Giordino, publisher of Narco News, the mobilization of the formally excluded represented a “revolutionary process sweeping away decades of a caste system.” Rejecting their subordination to the mantuanos, peasants and the bulk of impoverished workers have become conscious of themselves as historical subjects, “no longer available to report for duty as slaves.”

A failed coup and the emergence of revolutionary consciousness among formerly oppressed workers and peasants have increased the desperation of Venezuelan elites as well as the Bush administration. The latest “strike” in the oil industry temporarily halted oil exports. But the executives of PDVSA who plotted the strike have either been fired or replaced with managers loyal to the Bolivarian Revolution. While not yet back to full production, oil exports have been increasing. According to Ali Rodriquez, President of the state oil monopoly, Venezuela will once again be producing more than 2 million barrels a day and will meet its export commitment by the end of January.

With the oil strike collapsing and the anti-democratic executives and managers discharged, the Bush administration is again trying to force Chavez from office, reaching outside Venezuela to Caesar Gaviria, head of the Organization of the American States, to engineer a regime change. In a Washington Post article mistitled “Venezuela Initiative Readied: US Plan Seeks to End Conflict,” Karen D. Young writes about a US initiative to establish “Friends of Venezuela” who would force Chavez to submit to early elections. This hostile initiative will fail just as the coup and strikes have failed to topple Chavez. But its intent will be clearly revealed: dispose of Hugo Chavez to send a warning to the newly elected Presidents, Lula de Silva of Brazil and Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador about the limits of economic “heresy.”

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Letters

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 04:44:00 +0000

Who polices the police?

The Bush administration has assigned itself the task of policing the world. We vote (except with Bush, who was selected) for president to govern our country, not to rule the world.

There must be millions across the world asking the question, “who is policing the policeman?” As a friend of mine said in an article to a local newspaper, “This president sits on top of the most massive, most dangerous weapons of mass destruction in the world. Again who polices President Bush and colleagues?”

Our only hope lies in the American people themselves. We have to rise; there is the beginnings of a rising already, saying “not in our name” or “enough is enough.” We want peace and the instruments to build peace.

The kind of peace that we are demanding will not come from sophisticated bombers such as the Stealth. It will not be achieved by the thousands and thousands of soldiers stationed in 150 countries around the world. It will not be achieved by military training taking place in Fort Benning, Georgia.

It can only be achieved by voting the rascals out; by financing the UN adequately and permitting it to do its job; by enforcement of the various UN covenants, like protecting worker rights to organize!

Lorenzo TorrezTucson AZ

Distribution is repayment

I know sometimes there can’t be bundles of the PWW/Mundo printed over holidays, but I hate for people I deliver to in the Labor Temple to miss out on it. There sure is a lot of movement going on.

I think, quite often, about what a big job it is for you all to put that paper together. No amount of money can really repay you for all that work. I wish I were a millionaire.

Irene HullSeattle WA

No war for oil

In my neighborhood Dunkin’ Donuts the other day I showed my jacket with a “No War for Oil” sticker on the back to four elderly veterans who were having coffee. One stuck his thumb up and they said, “Yeah, that’s what it’s all about.” They were evidently through war and they know what it’s all about. It’s not John Wayne’s type of war.

Bill MackovichChicago IL

Buy CITGO

PWW readers who want to help the progressive government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela by buying CITGO gas, which is 100 percent owned by the state oil company, PDVSA, can go to the following website to locate a nearby CITGO gas station: www.citgo.com.

For more on the “Buy CITGO” campaign and other good information, in English, on Venezuela, go to www.vheadline.com.

Walter TillowNew York NY

Thanks for Flory coverage

I’ve been meaning to write for some time, to express appreciation for the coverage of Ishmael Flory. I have fond and vivid memories of getting to know him thirty years ago when I was teaching at Southern Illinois University. He is by any reckoning a remarkable revolutionary who always conveyed the strength and joy of the movement to all around him.

Fred Whitehead

Editor and publisher of Freethought History Kansas City KS

Autism & Homeland Security

I am writing in response to Terrie Albano’s article in the 12/12/02 edition involving mercury poisoning and autism. (“For whom the Homeland is secure?”) This article hit especially close to home, since my 2-year-old son is currently being tested for autism. I had no idea that this heart-breaking condition could be the result of some pharmaceutical company’s shallow dealings. It makes me irate to know that we live in a country where an inhuman corporation’s financial rights rank above our children’s rights.

If Ms. Albano could send me all the information she has on the link between vaccines and autism, and also the Homeland security issue, it would be greatly appreciated. You have just made a whole family of allies on this issue and I intend on exposing the selling of children’s health for campaign dollars. Thanks.

Michael B. BrewerBoaz AL

Editorials

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 04:31:00 +0000

It’s still the economy

A Los Angeles Times poll taken last December shows overwhelming support for an economic agenda focused on spending for improvements to the country’s infrastructure (53 percent) rather than an agenda focused on tax cuts (39 percent).

Add to that the 25-point decline in George W. Bush’s popularity since last January and it’s clear that there is an objective base to challenge economic policies that have added some two million workers to the unemployment rolls, more millions to the ranks of the poor and those without health care and threaten the ability of state and municipal governments to provide for people’s needs.

These shifts in public opinion – and they are bound to continue – have already found their reflection in Congress and organizations such as the National Governors Association and the National League of Cities. But that concern has not yet been crystallized into a coalition of forces strong enough to replace Bush’s Economic Growth and Job Creation program with a program that meets the crisis facing working class families.

Conservative estimates place the collective state budget deficit at more than $60 billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1 – a sure recipe for layoffs and cuts in social service programs. In our judgment the search for a solution to that crisis will provide the framework for building a winning coalition and help set the stage for the 2004 elections.

That requires a shift in national priorities – and a battle over the federal budget. Money that goes to tax breaks for the rich cannot go to the states to provide Medicaid. If it goes to increase military spending it cannot be used to improve public education. Nor is there any reason to believe that increased military spending will provide security for the American people.

Key to a pro-people’s economic program is defeating Bush’s tax breaks, rolling back military spending, providing money to the states to prevent layoffs and cuts in social services.

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Fight for Roe v. Wade

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that struck down state laws that made abortion illegal. It was the upsurge of the women’s movement in the 1960s and 1970s that created the pressure on the Supreme Court to make its historic Roe v. Wade decision.

Now that the Bush administration is going toe-to-toe with the women’s movement and its supporters in an aggressive plan to place in office right wing judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s worth taking a look at the full significance of those vicious anti-abortion laws.

Over the years, laws restricting abortion resulted in the horrible maiming and deaths of millions of women who were denied medical services. Laws against abortion were enacted in the last few centuries with the rise of capitalism, but they never had anything to do with “right to life.” Rather, laws restricting abortion serve to criminalize and stigmatize the normal, inevitable and distinctly human actions of women in controlling their reproductive lives.

These laws are a centerpiece in capitalism’s repressive ideological framework; they effectively marginalize women, who, of course, make up an enormous section of the working class. Other pieces of that repressive framework include restrictions on contraception and sex education, bars to education and employment opportunity and the elimination of social responsibility for children.

The legal and ideological framework of second class citizenship for women sets the stage for the legitimization of lower wages, poorer working and conditions and rights on the job for women, anti-family government policies, disunity in the working class and, inevitably, higher corporate profits. In that sense, anti-abortion laws are part of a pattern of repressive and anti-democratic legislation and practices like racial profiling, anti-immigrant and anti-gay laws.

Because the struggle for women’s equality and dignity is fundamental to turning back the corporate offensive, Bush’s attack on Roe v. Wade demands the strongest possible counter-offensive by all progressive forces.

Of Lungos & Seoritos: A Colombian view of Venezuela

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 05:43:00 +0000

At the petroleum refinery of Barrancabermeja the workers who are consigned to hard manual labor are called “lungos.” There are a lot of them and they earn very little. They are almost all temporary laborers and they live in the poor neighborhoods. When the “lungos” go on strike, technology guarantees that production doesn’t totally stop-so even when the majority of the workers are united in protest, if they can’t actually stop the plant from functioning, the engineers, supervisors, and managers can keep the refinery going under ‘contingency plans.’

Right now the oil-workers union of Colombia, USO (Union Sindical Obrera), is getting ready to go on strike in response to the Uribe government’s offensive. That offensive is headed by Isaac Yanovich, a businessman from the private banking sector who has been named president of the state oil company. The workers, who struggled and won the creation of a national oil company (Ecopetrol), have resisted its privatization for the past 25 years. They have paid a terrible price for their resistance: 100 union leaders and activists assassinated (four during 2002, which saw 160 Colombian unionists killed), two disappeared, 10 kidnapped, 31 imprisoned (six of whom are still in prison), and 250 fired (11 of whom were fired just a few days ago).

It is in such difficult conditions that the Colombian oil-workers are preparing their strike for the beginning of 2003. The victory of their movement will depend on their ability to halt production. For this reason the union and the government are both putting forth massive efforts to win the engineers and supervisors to their side. If the union is unable to win these over, the workers will have no option but to occupy the plant. This will mean that they will face military repression like they did in 1971. In that year, as workers in the union remember well, worker Fermin Amaya was murdered as he was about to stop production at the Barranca refinery.

Next door in Venezuela, the world is flipped entirely upside down. There, the “lungos” are working intensely while the call to strike is followed with fervor and without hesitation by the managers. On Dec. 2 the managerial body of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDV (Petroleros de Venezuela), blocked the entrance to the refinery and used their vehicles to stop the workers, the “lungos” – who had showed up to work in massive numbers – from entering.

The same managerial body was joined by the executive of labor relations in its attempts to bar the entry of workers.

But the real strength of the strike in Venezuela has been in the computers that control the giant and highly automated petroleum industry. Even though the PDV is nominally state-owned and run, the computer system is in the hands of the “mixed” (public-private) enterprise Intesa. The party with the technical skill in the partnership is the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) – a transnational computing company. Among its directors: ex-U.S. Secretaries of Defense William Perry and Melvin Laird; ex-directors of the CIA John Deutsch, Robert Gates; Admiral Bobby Ray Inman (ex-director of the National Security Agency); other retired military staff including Wayne Downing (former commander in chief of U.S. Special Forces) and Jasper Welch (ex-coordinator of the National Security Council).

The hold-up of the oil-tankers was directed from these computing centers.

The hold-up was welcomed by various captains, but the tankers were forced to shore in any case: nothing moves without direction from the computers, which also stopped key operations in the refineries and the entry of vital gas for the iron and steel industries of eastern Venezuela. “Lungos” from Guayana had to recover the gas.

The high salaries, privileges, and commissions of the managers, labor relations chiefs, systems engineers, and tanker captains has become a useful weapon of political control for the transnational corporations who seek to privatize Venezuela’s (and Colombia’s, Ecuador’s and Brazil’s) petrol industry.

This “middle” class with its disposable income is the political base of the right in Colombia and Venezuela (and its heroes are Bush, Aznar or Berlusconi). It is the electoral force behind Colombia’s president Alvaro Uribe Velez and behind the coup in Venezuela. Washington uses the mailed fist in Colombia and the velvet glove in Venezuela, but in both cases its local support is from these “middle” classes who, like Bush himself, are too deaf to hear of the assassinations of unionists in Colombia but scream in rage if a hair on the head of a manager or oil-tanker captain in Venezuela is touched; who are quiet when two million Colombians are displaced from their lands but enraged by the Venezuelan Land Law when it threatens the unproductive ranches of large Venezuelan landowners.

On Sept. 16, 2002, Colombian peasants were treated cruelly for their protests on the highways. Their food was burned. They were denied drinking water. They were surrounded by the military and their leaders were arrested. Three were disappeared. International delegates were deported. Seven of the protest leaders have since been assassinated, one disappeared, and many others harassed and threatened with murder. They stand accused-of blocking the roads. In Venezuela on the other hand, the “middle” and upper classes blocked roads with their Mercedes Benz and BMWs, and their rights were respected.

In Cali, Colombia, the public service workers have been protesting privatization. The young workers of the apprentices’ union have been protesting to maintain state control over the apprenticeship institution, SENA. Both sectors have been incessantly, brutally attacked and the international media have nothing to say. The media are silent as well on the daily confrontations on the Caribbean coast of Colombia when the privatized electricity company tries to cut electricity to thousands of indebted, poor people. Neither popular protest nor state repression make the international news if they occur in Colombia, which, to the media, is a land strictly of terrorism and drugs.

The “middle” class ought to watch out though-sometimes it can end up the victim of its own heroes, whether they be politicians like Bush or the mainstream media itself. That was what happened with the “corralito” in Argentina, when the whole country-including the “middle class” – mobilized against the banks and were denounced for it in the media.

Until this happens the “señoritos” in wealthy eastern Caracas, in the Chico of Bogota and of Miami, will be the darlings of the media.

Hector Mondragon is an economist and activist in Colombia. This is a commentary first published on Znet (www.zmag.org) and has been translated from Spanish by Justin Podur.

Letters

Fri, 10 Jan 2003 05:58:00 +0000

Peace with North Korea

In a news report on National Public Radio mocking North Korea’s statement that U.S. policy was aimed at world domination and nuclear war in Korea, Eric Weiner noted that the “Stalinist regime” had made such “bombastic” statements for years.

North Korea pursued a very different course than the Soviet Union in the period of the Stalin leadership. But the word “Stalinist” continues to be used widely for any government or movement that the capitalist countries wish to destroy.

North Korea has legitimate grievances against U.S. imperialism and has sought to survive under the most difficult circumstances since the Soviet Union was destroyed in the counter-revolution of 1991. The armed forces of the North are serious about defending their country.

In the 1990s relationships between North and South Korea improved significantly and the Clinton administration helped to bring about a limited thaw in U.S.-North Korean relations. The Bush administration’s wild “axis of evil” attacks on North Korea have obviously encouraged the Pyongyong government to respond with their own toughness, which they have always done in the past.

Bush and the Pentagon are more interested in convincing Americans that they can fight a “two front war” against Iraq and North Korea rather than mentioning that North Korea’s neighbors have no sympathy with such war policies.

Norman MarkowitzNew Brunswick NJ

Message to American people

The following letter was signed by hundreds of people from around the world, indicating their worry about the world situation.

The USA is on the brink of war. An aggressive and unpredictable leader is spreading fear and insecurity. His name is George W. Bush.

Mr. Bush possesses massive arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, and he claims he has the right to use them.

He was never elected by a majority of his people. (32 percent of adult Americans voted for Bush. He got 539,989 less votes than opponent Al Gore.)

He leads a regime, where he himself – and a rich elite – enjoy enormous wealth and growing privileges, while millions live in poverty and despair. People of ethnic minorities are oppressed and humiliated.

His country ranks highest in the world with regard to not signing human rights treaties.

We know that most Americans want peace, prosperity and justice for all. You are good people, like most people are, in Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Korea, Ukraine, Australia, Norway, Mexico, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Indonesia, Brazil, India, Bolivia, Iran, Uganda, Portugal and elsewhere.

Your worried friends in the rest of the world

via e-mail

Helpful analysis

David Cavendish’s analysis (12/7/02) of the 2002 election was great – clear, informative and concise. I reproduced it and passed it on the friends. Thanks for such an informative and useful analysis.

Bill Martinvia e-mail

Capitalism’s wasteful

I read in the business news recently that many U.S. air travelers are booking flights all around the world, but not for business or pleasure. But simply to log on more air miles for their frequent flyer accounts because they are fearful of their expiration dates if they fail to meet the minimum numbers.

What a wasteful practice in this corporate capitalist game!

Henry JungBoston MA

PWW is educational

I enjoyed Brandi Kishner’s commentary on campaign finance (12/14/02). I find the PWW to be the most educational publication there is on issues of significance.

Unfortunately, as I get educated, I also get angry. One often figures they have heard the most bizarre thing coming out of Washington, until one reads something even more unbelievable.

Kishner refers to this exclusion of oil companies from any limitations of political donations. I suppose it shouldn’t be hard to believe considering the oily fools slummin’ in the White House.

Spencer LudtkeSt. Paul MN

Editorials

Fri, 10 Jan 2003 05:52:00 +0000

Jobless workers win a few weeks of relief

Although both combatants were standing when the battle was over, the House and Senate vote to extend the Temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits for five months is a victory for the unemployed and the AFL-CIO, which stood as their champion.

True, it’s not a knockout and has its shortcomings. It does nothing for the million workers who have exhausted both their state and federal unemployment benefits. But outrage that Congress adjourned for the holiday without extending benefits for a million unemployed workers forced a Republican-controlled Congress to act on the first day they returned to Capitol Hill. They appropriated nine times as much money as they were willing to appropriate a month earlier. That’s a victory and, more importantly, an indication of what can be done.

We are not among those who think that the 108th Congress, led by Republicans Tom DeLay and Bill Frist, is any kinder or gentler than the 107th. And we know that George Bush hasn’t changed his spots.

In the face of their hostile, anti-worker policies, victory depended on which side was best at mobilizing and deploying the troops and the majority who favor help for the unemployed. A recent CBS poll shows 59 percent of the public thinks Bush’s economic policies favor the rich and only half approve of his handling of the economy. The poll said the people believe the highest priority for the new Congress must be jobs.

All the signs are that the economy is getting worse with unemployment rising, federal, state and local deficits at ruinous levels, and tens of millions without health care. Bush’s tax package, peddled as an “economic stimulus” plan will destroy, not create jobs. It offers crumbs to working people and a feast for the wealthy. So the need for jobless benefits, Medicaid and other emergency programs is going to grow more intense.

The battle that forced Congress to approve $7 billion for extended unemployment benefits shows that victories can be won.

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Bush’s dilemma

When it comes to racism and affirmative action the Bush administration faces a dilemma of its own making. The most important case for educational equality since Brown v. Board Education is before the Supreme Court – Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger challenge the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policies for admissions.

The Justice Department has until Jan. 16 to sign a “friend of the court” brief either supporting the white students and their far-right backers in dismantling affirmative action, or siding with the U-M and their pro-diversity arguments. Or the White House can decide to remain silent, which will be the loudest statement of all.

Since the outrage over Trent Lott’s racist statements at the party for pro-segregationist Strom Thurmond, both the Bush administration and the Republican Party have been on the defensive because of their deplorable record on racial equality. They replaced Lott with Sen. Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) as GOP leader. Frist is no different when it comes to racism. Frist has a similar voting record on civil rights as Lott, he just packages the racism with a sugar-coated pill.

Administration extremists like Attorney General John Ashcroft and Solicitor General Ted Olson want the Justice Dept. to side with Gratz and Grutter. White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, himself an African-American U-M law school graduate, advise that the administration should remain silent, so they won’t further alienate minority voters.

Such is the brazenly cynical nature of Bush administration-style politics. Doing the right thing to ensure equal access to higher education for young people of color, and racial diversity at the nation’s campuses does not figure into their divide and conquer equation.

The Bush administration should feel the heat demanding that they side with the U-M. If the recent re-nomination of notorious anti-civil rights Mississippi judge Charles Pickering to a federal judgeship is any indication of the administration’s post-Lott stance on racism, it will take a lot of heat.

Letters

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 09:16:00 +0000

‘Stop loss’ is another draft

Hi. I was checking out the website and I was very impressed. I had a story that I thought might be of interest to you. I am in the army and I am against any attack on Iraq. I was wondering if the general American public was aware that the military is currently imposing a “stop loss” on soldiers. This means that when you reach the end of your original contract, you can’t get out of the military and get on with your life. You’re stuck in, held against your will. This policy was approved by Congress and affects thousands of Americans around the world either directly or indirectly. A “stop loss” is not much better than a draft. The army’s current policy is to hold soldiers with special skills and training up to one year past their “ETS” date, which is the date you were supposed to get out. It applies to active duty and reserves.

Help us win back our freedom by ending the war on terrorism. Thanks for your time.

A readervia e-mail

Editor’s note: We will definitely look into this story. If any other reader has information on this please send to pww@pww.org

Kerrey the war hawk

Robert Kerrey, former conservative Democratic Senator and now President of the New School for Social Research, joined a group of establishment personalities calling itself the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. When students at the New School protested, Kerrey responded in Catch-22 terms that he did not want to “set a precedent, so that this university begins to be led, like so many other universities in America, by presidents who are so concerned with fund-raising that they have no opinion on anything that matters.” Wow! Supporting military interventionism makes it hard to raise money from corporations and the rich?

Norman MarkowitzNew Brunswick NJ

Chinese Communist Party report

Congratulations on running Al Sargis’ article on the Chinese Communist Party Congress in your November 23 issue.

It is the most balanced approach to highly sensitive ideological questions in shifting domestic and international affairs. Whatever differences there may be among the left, one thing we should all agree: China remains independent of imperialism and an example to developing countries. Though maintaining independence is a constant challenge, China has steered a course that we hope will lead to a prosperous, independent socialist country.

Sidney J. GluckNew York NY

Gates in India discussion

I read with interest the article by MKN Moorthy in the PWW (11/30/2002) about Bill Gates in India. I too was quite put off by Gates’ behavior.

However, Moorthy’s piece raises a number of questions that are unanswered and I hope this can generate some discussion.

Moorthy’s report casts aspersion on Microsoft’s plan to invest in India. India and China together have as many software engineers and developers as the United States, and it is absurd to throw cold water on plans to employ them.

Perhaps Moorthy meant only to underscore that Indian developers are paid on a scale that is only a fraction of what their counterparts are paid in the U.S. However, the answer to that is not to blast Microsoft for investing in Indian software development, but instead to aid in the process of building bridges between IT workers in India and other countries, especially the U.S.

It also seems somewhat strange that Moorthy would focus on minimizing the number of people with AIDS in India, rather than welcoming Gates’ contribution of $100 million and pointing out that this legacy of colonialism and imperialism requires a much larger contribution by the big capitalist nations if it is to be defeated.

Ted PearsonChicago IL

Author’s note:

MKN Moorthy wrote: Thank you for your comments. If a corporation like Microsoft can’t be blasted then what can? Gates’ statistics about the number of AIDS victims in India is a fabricated one. The National AIDS Control Bureau of India published the latest statistics and it is authoritative. I have no intention to minimize the number of AIDS victims, because they need more international attention and aid. But fabricated statistics do not help.