People Before Profit blog

Bolivians rally to defend countrys unity

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:32:00 +0000

On Jan. 8, a year after Evo Morales became Bolivia’s first indigenous president, 25,000 indigenous peasants and unionized coca growers rallied in Cochabamba in central Bolivia. They called for the resignation of the state governor, Manfred Reyes Villa, an outspoken advocate of state autonomy and an opponent of the president’s progressive reforms.

The demonstrators clashed with city police, who were backed by gangs. Twenty people were wounded. Three days later, three people were killed and over 200 wounded.

The strife reflects the sharpening problem of separatism in Bolivia.

In December, Reyes tried to instigate a referendum to make Cochabamba autonomous. His action was seen as subverting the electorate’s 63 percent vote against autonomy in July. Reyes has also called for the “independence,” i.e. secession, of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija — states in eastern Bolivia that have already approved autonomy.

The protesters also denounced Reyes for his role in the right-wing campaign to have the Constituent Assembly require two-thirds approval for constitutional provisions.

Reyes previously served in the government of reviled former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, who was ousted after national troops killed 43 demonstrators and wounded hundreds more in October 2003.

On Jan. 11, demonstrators burned cars and set fires close to government offices. Simultaneously, well-organized, white middle-class youths assaulted indigenous protesters. Observers noted parallels between those racist attacks and recent actions in Santa Cruz by the notoriously anti-indigenous Union of Santa Cruz Youth.

That Reyes had been elected rather than appointed, as had been the custom, gave him a veneer of independence. City police, refusing to obey orders from military police, turned a blind eye to right-wing violence.

The governor sought refuge in the state of Santa Cruz before the conflict peaked. That state and three others in the eastern “half moon” area contain most of Bolivia’s hydrocarbon reserves, aquifers and productive agricultural lands. Wealthy families of European descent and managers of multinational corporations control the region’s politics and economy.

In the midst of the turmoil, Germán Antelo, president of the right-wing Santa Cruz Civic Committee, called for Evo Morales’ assassination.

En route to Santa Cruz, Reyes met in La Paz, the nation’s capital, on Jan. 11 with the separatist governors of five other states, reportedly to force the government into a national debate on autonomy. The next day, after threatening to foment a 24-hour general strike, the troublesome governors asked Bolivian Cardinal Julio Terrazas to mediate their dispute with the government.

Morales sent Juan Ramon Quintana, one of his ministers, to Cochabamba to negotiate. He also proposed a constitutional provision that governors, mayors and even the president be subject to a recall vote.

After denouncing Reyes for “abandoning his functions in Cochabamba to go to La Paz to stir up politics, to conspire against the government,” Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linares nonetheless assured him of the federal government’s protection if he resumed his office.

Increasingly protesters in Cochabamba manifested a divide between far-left, union-based elements and moderates faithful to constitutional requirements. Representatives of the social movements, meeting in the State Workers’ Center, announced the formation of a parallel government under the aegis of a “revolutionary committee.”

By Jan. 18, peasants were returning to their communities. Spokespersons said a “Judgment of Responsibility” was being prepared against Reyes, who, they vowed, would never return as governor. President Morales was set to meet with peasant leaders on Jan. 27.

In a related development, 3,000 unionists and peasants from Omasuyos province in eastern Bolivia rallied Jan. 16 in La Paz against the pro-autonomy governor Papelucho Paredes. Unions and peasant groups in Los Altos, a large city adjacent to La Paz overflowing with poor people, took up the call for his resignation.

The recent appointment of Phillip Goldberg as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia suggests that the separatists’ call for division is grist for Washington’s mill. Goldberg, having served in Bosnia and Kosovo in recent years, knows about ethnic conflict and the dissolution of nations.

“It’s not by chance that this gentleman has been translated from Kosovo to Bolivia,” according to Santa Cruz university professor Róger Tuero. Goldberg is said to have close ties with Manfred Reyes Villa.

atwhit@megalink.net

A wonderful, tender children book

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:17:00 +0000

The acceptance of gays and lesbians is greater than ever in North America. Thousands of gays and lesbians are raising children these days in the U.S. and Canada. Changing adoption laws allowing gays to adopt children will only increase the numbers of children being raised by gay and lesbian parents. Reflecting these changes, there is a small but growing body of children’s literature addressing this issue.

Canadian writer and illustrator Laurel Dykstra’s “Uncle Aiden,” a wonderful, tender book that teaches kids about gay people, is a welcome addition.

The central character in “Uncle Aiden” is Anna Maria Flannigan Cruz, a Latino girl who has 11 aunts, 9 uncles and 17 cousins. However, her favorite relative is Uncle Aiden, who happens to be gay. He has won Anna Maria’s heart by being attentive to her every need and want. He plays with her and “he never misses one of my school concerts,” explains Anna Maria.

“The best thing about him is he asks what I think and he listens to the answer,” she says. “He also introduces me to his boyfriends” and “we do things together like go to gay pride.” She is even teaching him Spanish.

Dykstra’s book dispels homophobic stereotypes of gay men as weak and prissy. For instance, Uncle Aiden loves to work on his motorcycle and play baseball. Addressing the rigid gender roles that are wrongly taught to children, Uncle Aiden tells Anna Maria “that girls can do anything boys can do.”

The book also emphasizes the importance of self-esteem and of being yourself. Uncle Aiden tells Anna Maria, “Don’t waste your time trying to be like everyone else,” and “not everyone is going to like you, what’s important is that you like you.”

Anna Maria concludes, “I wish everyone had an Uncle Aiden.”

Not only is “Uncle Aiden” well written but the book is also beautifully illustrated in bright, airy colors. Dykstra’s book is a valuable work that helps fight homophobia and promotes understanding. I hope we see more output from Dykstra in the future.

“Uncle Aiden” can be ordered at .

tpelzer @ shaw.ca

Uncle Aiden

By Laurel Dykstra

Baby Bloc Publishing, Vancouver, British Colombia

Softcover, 24 pp., $10.95

Movie highlights anti-racist message

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:07:00 +0000

This is a movie about a dedicated teacher in a gang-ridden high school in the Long Beach, Calif., area, whose students — white, African American, Latino and Asian — are divided along racial lines.

The film is but the latest in a series of good movies with similar plots: “Stand and Deliver,” “To Sir, With Love,” “Lean on Me” and “The Blackboard Jungle” come to mind.

The main character, Erin Gruwell, the schoolteacher, is played by Hilary Swank, with stellar roles played by her students, particularly April Lee Hernandez and rhythm and blues pop star Mario. The setting is Wilson High School.

Since I am married to a retired schoolteacher, the film particularly hit home with me, as I could relate to the problems confronted by teachers as educational workers.

The movie’s title reflects one of these problems: Ms. Gruwell must pay from her own pocket for notebooks for her students to write about their lives. She is also reduced to taking on outside part-time jobs because the administration refuses to pay for classroom materials, field trips and the like.

Later, when I learned that Wilson High was a real high school and that a family member of mine had recently graduated from there, my interest was piqued even more.

Positive aspects of the film include an exposé of the indifferent and racist attitudes of the school administration, holding the lid on what they regard as basically uneducable students. At one memorable point there is a scene showing good books going to waste in a storeroom because the department head says something to the effect that the students would just treat them badly.

Also, there is the inspired acting in all principal parts, which makes the film believable. This includes Gruwell’s husband, played by Patrick Dempsey, who is supportive at first but ends up leaving her.

Negative aspects of the movie include, first and foremost, its message, which is that an individual, dedicated teacher can change for the better what is basically a rotten situation in a rotten economic system, without any need to change that system.

Another problem with the movie is no mention of a teachers union, except in a negative way, when at one point some of the characters talk of the “problems” caused by the seniority system. What does the movie propose then: do away with the seniority system and leave it up to the good graces of the school board and the administration?

Needless to say, in this distorted context it is the enlightened administration that in the end makes it possible for Gruwell to accomplish the miracle of “turning the kids around.”

Unions have found long ago that a seniority system is the only defense against the cronyism that would occur were there no seniority system. This is not to say that union-guaranteed seniority is incompatible with a new teacher’s love for her students.

All in all, this reviewer’s advice is to go and enjoy the movie. It has an excellent anti-racist message. The good outweighs the bad. And as for the bad parts, I doubt that they will fool many.

pappadem68 @ yahoo.com

Freedom Writers

Directed by Richard LaGravenese

Paramount Pictures, 2007

123 minutes, PG-13

THIS WEEK IN LABOR

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 07:58:00 +0000

Bush health care plan ‘sticks it to workers’

American workers know a raw deal when they see one, said Steelworkers President Leo Gerard. Gerard was responding to President Bush’s State of the Union proposal to tax health benefits. The plan sets no standards for covering the uninsured while “sticking it to workers who have employer health care coverage,” Gerard charged. Two-thirds of Americans receive their health benefits through employer coverage.

Americans are ready for big ideas to solve the health care crisis, the USW president continued, but the Bush plan is a “back door attempt to saddle union workers with a tax for the health care benefits they negotiate through collective bargaining.”

GE negotiations looming

There is no good economic reason for GE to shift its medical costs to employees, a leader of the United Electrical Workers union told a meeting of nearly 300 IUE-CWA Local 201 members in Lynn, Mass. Running up to the opening of negotiations, “GE is trying to create an atmosphere of inevitability about the need for savings on its medical costs for both active and retired employees,” Stephen Tormey, secretary of the UE-GE Conference board, warned.

National contract negotiations with GE are expected to begin in early May with a coordinated bargaining committee that involves 14 international unions, including both UE and IUE-CWA. The current GE national union agreements covering 20,000 workers expires on June 17.

The new contract will also impact tens of thousands of retirees, nonunion workers and lower level managers, said a Local 201 statement. Retirees and their spouses already pay nearly $400 a month for their benefits, while active workers family medical and prescription costs average more than $100 a month, said Local 201 Business Agent Ric Casilli.

Tormey cited GE’s record $20.7 billion profits for 2006, pointing out that “in the last month the company had the cash to spend almost $15 billion on acquiring three new companies.”

GE union members walked out nationwide for two days in January 2003 to stop GE from raising premiums.

‘Labor’ re-instated to House directory

Bosses never stop dreaming of schemes to preserve their profits while doing away with those troublesome folks who produce them — workers. Congressional Republicans realized that goal — at least semantically — 12 years ago when they changed the name of the House committee that deals with labor from the House Education and Labor Committee to the “Committee on Education and Economic Opportunities.”

Well, we’re back! Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who took over the chairmanship of that committee, which deals with wages, workers’ rights and job safety issues, announced that it will once again be known as the Committee on Education and Labor, the name it took when it was established in 1867.

Pride pushes minimum wage

Many workers in the LGBT community face low-wage jobs and stagnant pay, said Nancy Wohlforth, co-president of Pride at Work, the AFL-CIO’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender constituency group.

Ten other LGBT organizations joined PAW in signing a letter urging the Senate to pass the Fair Minimum Wage bill through the Senate. A statement from PAW disputed what it called “the long-held myth of economic affluence among gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans.” The groups’ letter stated: “Our community is diverse, with workers coming from many different economic backgrounds. An increase to the minimum wage would provide real relief to millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers who currently work for $5.15 an hour.”

Wohlforth commented that she was proud “to see so many LGBT organizations standing together with the working-class members of our community.”

NLRB to rule on union access to e-mail

Can unions use company e-mail to communicate with workers? The National Labor Relations Board will take on this question in a case this spring.

The case involves The Newspaper Guild’s Local 37194, which represents 150 staffers at the Eugene, Ore., Register-Guard. The paper is challenging the union’s rights, across the board, to use e-mail in communicating with its 150 members there.

The paper’s management says its policy bans using its e-mail “to solicit or proselytize for commercial ventures, religious or political causes, outside organizations or other non-job-related solicitations.” The paper says the ban covers the union. The Guild says it doesn’t.

Among the issues the board will tackle is whether union members can use the e-mail system to discuss “union or other concerted, protected matters” — such as wages, hours and working conditions — defined by labor law.

If so, what restrictions may an employer place on the e-mails and if not, can the paper permit non-job-related e-mails but not those related to the union? Another question before the Board is whether e-mail access is a mandatory subject for bargaining, just like wages and hours. PAI

Union sports people take aim

Seventy percent of union members hunt or fish, and that important part of their lives is the basis for a new Union Sportsman’s Alliance that some say could fundamentally reshape the environmental movement.

Twenty labor unions with 5 million members are joining forces with a Republican-leaning umbrella group of conservationists — the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership — to put pressure on Congress and the Bush administration to increase federal funding for protecting wildlife habitat while guaranteeing access for hunters and anglers.

The International Association of Fire Fighters is one of the project’s founding unions. The IAFF says the alliance “comes at a time when the Bush administration, with its push for oil and gas drilling in the Rock Mountain West, has limited public access to prime hunting and fishing areas on federal land.

The TRCP includes most of the nation’s mainline hunting and fishing groups. Jim Range, chairman of its board, predicted that the alliance will create an influx of millions of new supporters to the cause of land conservation.

Harold Schaitberger, president of the Fire Fighters union, said the alliance “is about connecting with our members, doing good conservation work and offsetting some of these anti-union messages they are getting from the NRA.”

“This is a way for unions to reconnect with workers in another portion of their lives,” said Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. “It is also going to give the conservation movement a lot more muscle.”

The new alliance, launched Jan. 16, will charge dues of $25 a year.

This isn’t labor’s first initiative with environmental groups. The Apollo Alliance is a national partnership that brings unions together with environmental groups to promote job growth in “green” industries.

This Week in Labor is compiled by Roberta Wood (rwood @ pww.org).

WORLD NOTES

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 07:50:00 +0000

Nicaragua: Ortega hits the ground running

Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega’s first official act after his second presidential inauguration on Jan. 10 — after a 17-year hiatus — was to announce Nicaragua’s membership, with Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela, in the “Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas” (ALBA). ALBA is a multifaceted trade and economic pact that emphasizes regional cooperation for mutual benefit. Its members reject U.S.-dominated “free trade” schemes.

Upsidedownworld.org reported that Venezuelan will provide Nicaragua with 10 million barrels of oil annually and will build an oil refinery and 32 electrical generating plants. Venezuela has also cancelled $31.8 million of Nicaragua’s debt.

On Jan. 15, Ortega’s Education Ministry ended public school privatization, abolished school fees and launched a literacy campaign. The government announced that private health care services will be eliminated from public hospitals, and that payments for medicines, surgery and tests at public hospitals have been abolished.

Guinea: Unions take on nation’s president

Unions headed by the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) have carried out strikes throughout the west African nation aimed at removing President Lansana Conte, who has been criticized for economic mismanagement, especially in the mining sector. Guinea is home to about half of the world’s reserves of bauxite, a key material in producing aluminum.

Conte took power in a 1984 coup and since 1993 has been re-elected in voting said to have been fraudulent. Despite the president’s offers to reduce fuel prices and retrieve mining revenues lost to foreign companies, he disappointed union representatives who met with him on Jan. 17, according to AllAfrica.com.

Rabiatou Serah Diallo, the CNTG’s head, declared, “The solution to the strike is in the hands of President Conte and the institutions of the republic. … We will continue the fight.” The labor federation has called for the appointment of a transitional government.

Up to 12 people have been killed and scores wounded in uncharacteristically violent demonstrations in Conakry, the nation’s capital.

Vietnam: Swedish unionists visit for talks

A delegation of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (STUC) arrived in Vietnam on Jan. 11 for bilateral meetings with their host, the Vietnam’s General Confederation of Labor.

The Swedish unionists have been asked by their Vietnamese counterparts to assist in the training of union officials and in devising curricula for Vietnam’s trade union schools. They were also asked to provide help in organizing seminars on the World Trade Organization, which Vietnam joined last year.

The delegation leader, STUC Vice President Leif Hakansson, said, “We are mulling measures to further boost cooperation between the two nations in labor particularly, and in economic and trade activities in the future.”

In 1969 Sweden became the first western nation to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam, according to the report on LabourStart.org.

Jordan: Anti-U.S. sentiments growing

According to recent Zogby polling, 80 percent of the respondents from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, relatively peaceful countries cooperating with the U.S. government, hold unfavorable opinions of the United States.

In 2002, Zogby found that 34 percent of Jordanians viewed the U.S. favorably. Four years later the number had fallen to 5 percent, the lowest figure among five Arab nations, the others being Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The negative views in Jordan, according to Miftah.org, stem from factors such as the suffering of fellow Sunnis in Iraq; the arrival of 700,000 Iraqi refugees, many of whom work for cheap wages; the U.S. failure to bring about Israeli-Palestinian peace; the marginalization of the Sunni group Hamas despite its electoral victory in 2006; and lastly, Bush support for Israel’s 2006 military assault that weakened Lebanon’s Sunni prime minister.

Nepal: Maoist rebels enter Parliament

Entering Nepal’s Parliament on Jan. 16, former Maoist rebels controlled enough seats to become the second-largest party in the transitional government. In November, the Maoists joined with seven political parties to end 10 years of civil war, a war that claimed the lives of 14,000 people and displaced almost 200,000 more.

Citing UN sources, a report at Inter Press Service describes Nepal’s dire humanitarian circumstances, where extreme poverty and high rates of mortality and malnutrition have long prevailed.

The Parliament will approve a temporary constitution to guide the government until elections to a constituent assembly take place in May.

World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney Jr. (atwhit @ megalink.net).

UN says countries must act vs. racism

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 07:43:00 +0000

UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution against racism and discrimination Dec. 20, after the U.S. and two other countries sought to block it.

The resolution, sponsored by Russia and co-sponsored by Belarus, Cuba, Vietnam, Venezuela and others, says the world community is “alarmed” at the worldwide spread of “of various extremist political parties, movements and groups, including neo-Nazis and skinhead groups.”

It says member states must “declare as an offense the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, the incitement to racial discrimination and acts of violence directed at any race or group of another color or ethnic origin.”

Russia said the focus is “promoting dialogue in the face of various extremist groups … who perpetrated violence against those whose skin was of a different color, those of a different religion and immigrants.”

The U.S. was joined only by Japan and Micronesia in opposing the resolution. The U.S. argued that some provisions violated freedom of speech.

Rejecting this approach, Costa Rica’s representative said, “The initiative should have been adopted by consensus.”

dmargolis @ pww.org

U.S. sheds crocodile tears on Sudan

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 07:38:00 +0000

The Bush administration is shedding crocodile tears over the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region to hide its real aim: securing control of vast oil resources in Sudan. That charge was leveled by Fathi el-Fadl, a leader of the Sudanese Communist Party, in an interview with the People’s Weekly World during the recent meeting of communist and workers parties in Lisbon (see Tim Wheeler's report from Lisbon at ).

El-Fadl cited highly publicized U.S. demonstrations calling for U.S. or NATO troops to intervene. “The situation is being used,” he said. “Some of those participating in those demonstrations have never cared about democracy or human rights in Sudan.”

The main issue for the U.S. and Sudanese governments “is not Darfur or human rights or democracy in the Sudan,” he said. “It is the joint interests of both governments in dividing the oil ‘cake.’” The U.S. wants to build an oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia, under the Red Sea, across Sudan through Darfur, and into Chad, he noted. Ultimately it would extend to Nigeria and down west Africa to Angola.

This does not mean there is no Darfur crisis, El-Fadl said. “The reality is that there is violation of human rights in Darfur. There is no security. The government troops, the janjaweed bandits employed by the Sudanese government, and to a lesser extent the Darfur Front [including the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and others] contribute to the situation. If the government is serious about a peaceful resolution of this crisis, they should restrain the troops.”

The Sudanese government, he charged, has stalled on implementing the Abuja Agreement, which it signed in Abuja, Nigeria, Nov. 9, 2004. Under that agreement, Sudan agreed to full representation of the Darfur Front in the government. But the representatives from Darfur “are treated as civil servants rather than giving them a share of power,” said El-Fadl. Realizing these problems, he said, the international community is trying to extend the Abuja Agreement “in a way that reflects the aspirations of the people of Darfur.”

The 2004 agreement “failed to address the burning issue in Darfur: practical steps to secure security and peace by disarming the janjaweed bandits, and the return of displaced people to their homeland. It also failed to provide for compensation of the individuals and communities that have suffered heavy losses as a result of the war unleashed by the government of Sudan.”

Last year, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 1706 calling for deployment of 17,300 UN peacekeepers to replace or reinforce 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. The Sudanese government rejected the proposal, warning it would regard UN peacekeepers as “foreign invaders.”

The Sudanese Communist Party has proposed convening two conferences to resolve the crisis. The first would be a “Darfurian conference” bringing together all the people of Darfur to implement the agreement with the Darfurian people’s “full knowledge and consent,” El Fadl said. Second would be a “national conference of all the people of Sudan, including representation from the eastern front and Darfur, to discuss the future of Sudan including democratic transformation of the country and division of wealth and power. These ideas are being widely discussed in Sudan. It was the program proposed by the Communist Party of Sudan but now all the democratic forces in Sudan agree with it.”

It is urgent to move forward with this program, he said, because the Darfur Front is threatening to leave the government on grounds it is not serious about implementing the Abuja Agreement. The 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the government and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army in the south is also not yet implemented. “It shows that the government of Sudan is stalling, negotiating and signing agreements they have no intention of implementing,” he said. “Instead they want to negotiate through the United States the opening of the oil industry to the oil monopolies.”

El-Fadl added, “As far as UN troops are concerned, we think the representatives of the Darfur Front and the Sudanese government should enter into negotiations with the UN on the composition of the troops and their mandate. With their agreement, the troops can be sent. Until that time, our position is to reinforce the presence of the African Union troops.” Aside from these peacekeeping forces, he emphasized, “We want to make it abundantly clear that while we call for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, we are opposed to the presence of foreign troops in Sudan and especially American troops.”

The U.S., France and other imperialist powers, he said, “should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Sudan.”

greenerpastures21212 @ yahoo.com

Millions demand Senate enact, Bush sign 100-hour agenda

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:56:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — Mass organizations with millions of members celebrated House passage in 42 hours of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 100-hour agenda. They demanded that the Senate do the same, including raising the minimum wage, slashing college loan rates and eliminating $14 billion in federal giveaways to Big Oil.

The Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) greeted the victory. “More work has been done for the American people in 42 hours than the previous Congress did in two years,” the CAF statement declared. “Our job is obviously not done … the fight to transform the 100-hour reforms now turns to the Senate.

“Already we see signs of both spine and weakness in the Senate,” the statement continued. “If we continue to stand strong, we can remind Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans alike that the public has spoken.”

The reference was to amendments the Republican right plans to attach to the minimum wage bill and other 100-hour legislation before they are passed and delivered to the White House. In fact, Senate Republicans on Jan. 24 blocked passage of the minimum wage bill, demanding that tax breaks for businesses that employ low-wage workers. The United Farmworkers Union also warned of “poison pill” amendments to the measure that would directly discriminate against farmworkers.

Jeremy Funk, spokesperson for Americans United for Change, told the World the “large bipartisan majorities” that voted for the agenda in the House have put Bush and the Republican right “on the defensive.” For example, 82 Republicans voted with all Democrats to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 over two years and 124 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to cut interest rates on federally subsidized college loans. Both passed by veto-proof margins.

MoveOn.org, the online grassroots lobby group, warned that the 100-hour agenda contains legislation “too popular for Bush to veto” and therefore the GOP strategy is “to bottle them up in the Senate by adding amendments that Democrats won’t be able to support.”

Tim Carpenter, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, told the World, “We’re excited to see the House and Senate leadership moving ahead to increase the minimum wage and address the lobby scandal, the ethics crisis. It’s a good start but obviously more work needs to be done.”

Carpenter said Bush’s proposals on national health care in his State of the Union speech would make the crisis worse. “We’re committed to HR 676, the Conyers-Kucinich ‘Medicare for All’ bill. It is the only legislation that moves forward to solve the national health care crisis.”

Carpenter also praised Reps. Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, and Maxine Waters, all California Democrats, for introducing HR 508, a bill calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq within six months. “The challenge now is to hold the Democratic leadership’s feet to the fire, to call on them to join the majority of Americans who voted this past November to end the occupation of Iraq,” he said.

Pelosi and Reid hailed House passage of the 100-hour agenda during an extended news conference at the National Press Club Jan. 19. In their own “State of Our Union” addresses, they called for reversal of Bush-Cheney policies.

“This year, we come to you as the majority,” Pelosi said.

“The American people have called for a new direction for the Congress and for the country. … Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster compounded by a man-made disaster. It is now 18 months past time to get our response right. … The response to Katrina is one of the great moral challenges facing our nation. So is ending the war in Iraq.”

She urged prompt enactment by the House and Senate of a bipartisan resolution that reads, “It is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen our involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating the United States military force presence.”

greenerpastures21212 @ yahoo.com

A working-class getaway: a Caribbean cruise!

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:59:00 +0000

At 81,700 tons, the Enchantment of the Seas is a big ship by any measure. Commissioned by Royal Caribbean Cruises, Inc., of Norway in 1997, she was built in Finland and is registered in Nassau. Last year, she was taken to Rotterdam, cut in two, and had another 73 feet added, stretching her length to 989 feet.

The 840 crew members are citizens of 52 nations. They toil to keep 2,252 passengers happy and well fed. They work six months without a break. Then they are given a six-week leave and a round-trip airline ticket home anywhere in the world.

The closest I ever came to an ocean cruise was Roy Rydell’s stories in the People’s Weekly World. A retired National Maritime Union seaman, he wrote many stories about the cruise industry before he died. Roy would have figured out how much surplus value those workers generated for their employer. All I know is that they earn every penny they make.

My granddaughter Anita just graduated with high honors from Goucher College in Maryland, and we all agreed that it called for a celebration. Googling one night, she stumbled upon an offer of cruise tickets at just over $400 per passenger. She reserved four tickets on the spot. My daughter Susan, a skilled travel agent by avocation, joined Anita in planning the adventure. So my wife Joyce, Susan, Anita, and I boarded the ship in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Dec. 18 for the cruise with ports of call in Key West; Cozumel, Mexico; and Belize, returning Dec. 23.

Every night in the Champagne Lounge a chamber orchestra performed. Then came a throaty-voiced nightclub singer who sang old favorites. Evenings, we dined in the My Fair Lady dining room. Our assigned tablemates were a young painting contractor from Naples, Fla., and his recently widowed mother, and a real estate agent and his wife, a second grade school teacher, from Louisville, Ky.

The first night out, as we gathered around our table, the maître d’, an Italian, spotted my “U.S. Out of Iraq, Rebuild America” lapel button. “What is this?” he asked me.

I explained that the button expressed my opposition to the Iraq war.

Every evening that followed, he warmly greeted me. The evening of our farewell dinner, he put his arm around me and pointed at my button. “This is my man,” he announced for all to hear.

Cruising is no longer a preserve of the wealthy elite. Working-class people save to pay for an ocean cruise. Our shipmates were a rainbow of races and nationalities, Black, Latino, Asian and white.

One day I stepped into an elevator. I was wearing the lime green cap given to me by the Baltimore Building Trades with the message, “I’m IBEW and I Vote.” A young girl peered at my cap. “‘Eboo.’ What does that mean?” she asked. Her mother interjected, “International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, dear. It’s a labor union.”

I nodded. “I got this cap for going door to door in the midterm elections in Maryland,” I said. “We won a sweeping victory.”

“We need more Eboos down in Texas,” the girl said.

“Are you in the labor movement?” I asked her mother.

“No. We’re just liberal. We’re from Austin, a little spot of blue in a sea of Republican red.”

“Well, you didn’t do so bad,” I said. “You got Tom DeLay out and Nick Lampson in.”

“Yes, and we just won a special election down in San Antonio. We did pretty well, all considered.”

“I love Austin,” I said as the elevator doors opened. “Great food, great music, the Dixie Chicks!”

Her eyes widened with delight. “You’ve got it right there!” she exclaimed. “The Dixie Chicks are the best!”

At dawn, Dec. 19, the cruise ship sidled up to the dock in Key West. I was standing at the starboard rail. The inhabitants of this little town 90 miles from Cuba were still asleep as the sun rose. The palm trees and wooden frame dwellings were silhouetted in the still darkened town.

Somewhere a rooster crowed. “Did you hear that?” I asked a young couple standing beside me. They listened. And there it was again, nature’s shrill alarm clock.

I raced back to my cabin and fetched my sketch pad. I was already on the hunt for that rooster. Soon we trekked down the gangway. In front of the Customs House, an ornate Victorian brick edifice, I discovered not one but several roosters, splendid in their iridescent green and golden brown plumage, their combs fiery red. They strutted about like self-important politicians, crowing loudly to impress the hens who were too busy pecking away at cracked corn on the sidewalk to pay them any heed.

I sat down on the curb to sketch. My subject strutted off toward Duval Street. I pursued him but he flew to a rooftop cackling indignantly. I turned to another rooster. By midmorning I was applying the pastels to my rooster, actually a composite of several. Still, I needed a closer look at the head of the fine fellow just a dozen steps away.

I broke off a chunk of a conch fritter and tossed it at my feet, hoping to lure the rooster nearer. The rooster cocked his head warily and was just stepping nearer when in a blur four seagulls swooped down. One of them swallowed the fritter in a gulp.

My poor befuddled rooster cocked his head as if to say: “What happened?”

But I got my sketch of the “Gypsy Rooster of Key West” and returned to the ship. (To learn more, visit www.chickensofkeywest.com.)

We sailed down the balmy, breezy Gulf that evening for Cozumel, Mexico. There I made another sketch of the winding palm-lined avenue beside the turquoise sea. Riding offshore was a majestic cruise ship that looked just like our own. Joyce, Susan and Anita were Christmas shopping, including a purchase of a box of Cuban cigars. During a break, they visited the Havana Blue Lounge and sipped Mojitos made with genuine Havana Club rum.

We sailed for Belize that afternoon. Next morning, we dropped anchor beyond the barrier reef about 2 miles offshore. We stepped into a big motor launch that ferried us into Belize City. There we boarded a bus to visit Mayan ruins in the mountains in the far west. The two-hour trip gave us a glimpse of people in a Third World country struggling to cope with poverty and mass unemployment. From the top of the Mayan pyramid, 130 feet up, we looked out into Guatemala. We had barely an hour to take in this stunning scene before we had to board our bus to return to our ship; alas, no time to do a sketch.

That evening, we cruised for hours with land off our starboard beam. The captain came on the intercom, speaking in his clipped Norwegian accent. “That is Cuba you see off to the south,” he said. “We will be cruising along the coast of Cuba for several hours.” Did I detect a wistful note in the captain’s voice?

A cruise to Cuba, jewel of the Antilles! What a dream! It will be possible when we end the U.S. blockade. I’ll go with my sketch pad.

greenerpastures21212 @ yahoo.com

Robeson film fest set for February

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:52:00 +0000

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Paul Robeson film festival here will help celebrate Black History Month. The film fest is being jointly sponsored by the University of Louisville and The Left Alternative in Kentucky over the four weekends in February.

“Song of Freedom” kicks off the fest and will screen on Feb. 3 (Sat.) at 11:00 a.m. at the Highlands/Shelby Park branch of the Louisville Free Public Library, Mid-City Mall (1250 Bardstown Rd.). The film will screen again on Feb. 4 (Sun.) at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. at the Elaine Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom (Main) Library, at the university.

“Jericho (Dark Sands)” will screen on Feb. 10 (Sat.) at 11:00 a.m. at the Highlands/Shelby Park Library. The film will be shown again on Feb. 11 (Sun.) at the university site at same time as places as above.

“Big Fella” will screen on Feb. 17 (Sat.) and Feb. 18 (Sun.) at the same times and places as above.

And “The Emperor Jones”will show on the final weekend, Feb. 24-25, once again at the same times and places as above.

Admission is free, but $5 donations are encouraged.

Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was a 20th-century Renaissance man, an outstanding athlete, folk and opera singer, actor of both stage and screen, writer, linguist, and political, labor, and civil rights activist.

Besides appearing in the lead roles of many plays and films, he toured both America and Europe acting in the leads of “Othello” and “Showboat.” Jerome Kern wrote the song “Old Man River” especially for Robeson. Robeson changed the last line to, “I’m gonna keep on fighting till I die.” Robeson wrote the memoir, “Here I Stand,” in 1958.

Fluent in more than twenty languages, Robeson gave fundraising concerts for labor unions in the U.S., Canada, England, Wales, and elsewhere. During the Spanish Civil War, he gave front-line performances in support of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the American volunteer brigade supporting the fledgling Spanish Republic, and to the republican troops generally. And these accomplishments are only the tip of Robeson’s iceberg.

For further information about the festival, call (502) 409-8706.

Pursuing happyness conveys capitalist reality

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:50:00 +0000

In Pursuit of Happyness

Directed by Gabriele Muccino

Colombia Pictures, 2006, 117 min.

Movie review

I recently saw the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” starring Will Smith, his real-life son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, and the actress Thandie Newton as Smith’s wife. It is an excellent movie and one I would recommend to all PWW readers.

The movie portrays a down-on-his-luck salesman (Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith), struggling to hold his family together in a present-day big city (San Francisco).

It shows real problems of real people, and the fact that the family in question is African American is very important. Too often Hollywood shows African Americans in a stereotypical fashion.

The love between father, wife and son are shown vividly. And the strengths of character shown in the film, in the presence of adversity, are truly amazing.

The one disagreement that this reviewer has with the film, and it is an important one, is with the ending. It shows our hero, favored by a combination of skill, luck and dogged determination to succeed despite all obstacles and “making it to the top”: a typical “rags-to-riches” story. Those who are familiar with the old Horatio Alger success stories will recognize the formula.

I keep thinking of the myriad of less-favored whites as well as African American families (a hint of that appears in the movie) who don’t “make it to the top” and are torn apart by the cruelties of the capitalist system.

Why should only the favored few “make it to the top” and the vast majority sink to the bottom, cast off by the ethic of the capitalist system? We must organize to bring about a change of system that will make the conclusion of this otherwise excellent movie seem somewhat outmoded.

Incidentally, the misspelling of the word “happyness” is purposeful and forms part of the plot.

CARTOON

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:37:00 +0000

Copper miners gain in new contract

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:17:00 +0000

TUCSON, Ariz. — Southwest copper miners won substantial economic gains and unprecedented job security provisions in a contract with ASARCO that covers approximately 1,600 hourly workers at five locations in Arizona and Texas.

A coalition of eight unions led by the United Steelworkers (USW) negotiated wage increases, a signing bonus and quarterly bonuses, a 20 percent increase in pension benefits and lower premiums with the same or better health benefits for retirees.

The contract also includes provisions for one to two union-nominated members on the board of directors when ASARCO emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the right to veto the purchase of all or part of the company by any entity not willing to negotiate in good faith with the unions.

The agreement follows a 13-month contract extension which workers ratified after a 19-week strike in 2005. Negotiating team member Ian Robertson said that the striking workers “made an impression on the leadership of the company” and that the company knew the workers would strike again if necessary.

It is the policy of the USW to form international strategic alliances with unions which work in the same industries and for the same companies in other countries. One such alliance led to the Mexican miners union rallying in front of the Mexico City headquarters of ASARCO parent company Grupo Mexico during the 2005 strike.

Robertson stated that because of these international demonstrations, the company “knew we were out there; knew we had the support.” The tentative agreement, which combines several separate contracts, is awaiting ratification by union members and approval by a bankruptcy court.

Solidarity turns tide for Goodyear workers

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:12:00 +0000

PITTSBURGH — Labor and community solidarity with Goodyear workers, who ratified a new contract Dec. 28 after a three-month strike, reached such a level that United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard sent an e-mail/letter of appreciation to all the local unions and activists for which the USW had addresses.

“We thank the entire labor movement, activist communities and progressive groups from all over North America for their unprecedented solidarity and acknowledge the efforts of fair-minded representatives of the media and financial communities who took the time to understand the critical issues in this conflict,” Gerard wrote.

The 15,000 rubber workers at Goodyear, whose union merged with the steelworkers over a decade ago, shut down tire production at most of the company’s North American operations on Oct. 5. Although spread out across 11 states and two Canadian provinces, picket lines were informed enough to support online blogs in several cities, including Gadsden, Ala., further building community support.

Few workers crossed the lines.

Though there is no rubber production near Tacoma, Wash., Pierce County United for Peace helped mobilize peace activists and supporters not to buy Goodyear tires.

On Dec. 16, workers, their families and supporters in 150 cities and towns handed out flyers at Goodyear stores. In Pittsburgh, potential tire buyers at Monroeville Mall were convinced to “shop around” by a picket line of over 100, including USW Canadian leaders, the union’s International Secretary-Treasurer Jim English, the president of the Allegheny County Labor Council, members of the clergy, peace activists and elected officials.

In Salt Lake City, scores of union members took the rubber workers’ case directly to buyers at the South Salt Lake tire store. “If these companies go outside the U.S. with their products, what are our people going to do in the future,” a tearful communications worker, Ross Edmonds, told the Salt Lake Tribune. Unlike Pennsylvania, Utah is a “right-to-work” state, where unions barely have a right to exist.

The rallies, picket lines, fund-raising and countless other activities were just the first page out of the USW corporate campaign handbook, written during the Ravenswood and Bridgestone/Firestone strikes and updated after every struggle. The union had fueled up the chapters on international solidarity and was preparing to launch a global campaign.

The Goodyear workers stood up against the world’s largest tire corporation which employs 80,000 workers in 29 countries. Across the country, workers like Edmonds are frustrated at seeing their communities crumble as their neighbors’ jobs are shipped overseas. The Goodyear workers and their union built on that issue, which according to exit polls played a big role in the Democratic victories in November.

It all paid off. Casting 10,000 secret ballots, Goodyear workers approved their new contract by 2 to 1.

First, they protected 30,000 retirees’ health care by forcing Goodyear to put $1 billion into a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association (VEBA), modeled after the union’s success at LTV and Bethlehem Steel following bankruptcy. That represented an 80 percent increase over Goodyear’s initial offer.

Instead of shipping their investment dollars overseas, Goodyear must invest $550 million to improve USW North American plants.

All union members returned to their jobs with continuous seniority.

Solidarity bought 1,100 workers at the company’s Tyler, Texas, plant one more year. Goodyear had announced that the plant would shut down immediately. “It’s a bittersweet outcome,” said Kevin Johnson, USW-Goodyear contract coordinator. “We wanted to win Tyler protected status like the other plants, but we only got it for 2007. Still, the company has committed to building the Tyler ticket [tonnage] in USW plants as long as the company stays in those markets.”

The workers also won a raise, kept their cost of living (COLA) increase and preserved their health insurance with only a small increase in worker contributions.

Goodyear says the strike cost it $350 million. Some union leaders say that could have been invested in the changing technology of tire manufacturing in North America.

“As we said from the beginning,” wrote the USW’s Gerard, “this contract campaign went far beyond a labor-management dispute. It was a battle to make a company live up to its commitments to past and current employees and to secure a future for manufacturing in North America.”

dwinebr696 @ aol.com

The fight pays off Justice vs. Wal-Mart

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:09:00 +0000

Workers’ Correspondence

Union busting has become so important to Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest corporate fat cat, that it is offering to pay clerks and cashiers who sign up to work at its new “superstore” in Riverdale, N.J., $2 an hour more than the starting rate at the surrounding unionized stores.

Those who get the jobs, however, will have no comparable health benefits and no job protection and will face wage rollbacks and layoffs as Wal-Mart begins to put surrounding competitors out of business.

Local 464A of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) has been leading the charge against Wal-Mart here in northern New Jersey.

When the local picketed the Wal-Mart outlet on Route 46 in Lodi recently, hundreds of UFCW members from nearby ShopRites, A&Ps and Stop and Shops surrounded the store and handed out leaflets to customers leaving and entering the store. Teamsters and other union drivers stopped their trucks and rigs on Route 46, blowing their horns in approval.

Wal-Mart locked its employees in, forbidding anyone from going outside the store to talk to union members demonstrating outside.

UFCW members were nevertheless able to get inside the store and give literature to the workers, many of whom folded and pocketed the papers despite continual orders from management over the intercom not to take any of the material.

Two members of the town council who were shopping in the store at the time went to the manager’s office to complain about the locking in of the employees.

The tactic of paying higher wages at the new neighboring Wal-Mart in Riverdale results, of course, from all of the union actions against Wal-Mart including the one on Route 46.

The northern New Jersey actions follow some notable ones around the country.

Early one October 2006 morning, 200 workers at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., walked out of their store to protest new unfair policies at the store.

Over the last year, Wal-Mart had cut the percentage of full-timers, cut management and worker positions, cut hours, imposed salary caps, eliminated health care and imposed outrageous attendance policies.

They had imposed an “open availability” schedule, which compelled workers to be available for shifts around the clock.

Workers found themselves working different hours each day — unable, for example, to pick up children after school. Part-timers could not keep second jobs because they could be called to Wal-Mart at any time.

In addition, an internal document leaked at that store indicated that the company was exploring ways to get rid of not only full-timers but also “unhealthy” employees who were considered “too expensive.”

The Hialeah Gardens walkout was the first time that Wal-Mart workers had ever revolted on such a large scale.

Nearly every employee stood outside the store shouting, “We want justice!”

The company was forced to withdraw its attendance policy.

The fight pays off.

— John P. Wojcik West Milford, N.J.

WORLD NOTES

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:59:00 +0000

Colombia: Journalist freed but still under threat

Telesur correspondent Fredy Munoz, falsely accused of rebellion and terrorism, left jail in Barrinquilla, Colombia, Jan. 9. The campaign for Munoz’s release has raised demands for press freedom, freedom of expression, and legal rights for the accused.

Munoz’s case remains open. Immediately after his departure intelligence agents questioned jail personnel about his destination.

Telesur President Andrés Izarra, speaking at a Mercosur journalism seminar, declared, “Fredy’s life runs more dangerously now that he is on the street than when he was in jail.” He referred to “intelligence service mechanisms directed by political interests aimed at discrediting, endangering and somehow finishing off journalists’ lives.”

European Union: New energy policies favor environment

In preparation for an EU summit in March, Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission chief, is urging member states to agree to an unprecedented continent-wide energy conservation plan.

The projected policy calls for low carbon energy and development of an internal energy market. Prominent goals include 20 percent of all energy consumed being derived from renewable sources by 2020; 10 percent of vehicle fuel from bio-fuels; and new power stations recapturing and burying carbon wastes, becoming “carbon neutral” by 2013. The energy market would be extended to the entire continent, no longer functioning within individual nations.

Environmental groups see the proposed 20 percent cut as insufficient to reverse climate changes. French and German energy officials reportedly fear that integrated operations will result in the loss of price controls and investment opportunities. Barrosso, quoted by BBC, envisions a “post-industrial revolution — the development of a low-carbon economy.”

Nigeria: Violence threatens workers and oil industry

Last year, violence in the Niger Delta caused oil production to fall by up to 600,000 barrels per day. Revenue loss amounted to $4.4 billion.

Finance Minister Nenadi Usman attributes assaults, kidnappings and sabotage to militant groups demanding shares of oil export profits. Five Chinese telecommunications workers were kidnapped Jan. 5, and hundreds of Nigerian oil workers have been taken hostage in recent months, according to reports on BBC and AllAfrica.com.

To pressure the government into holding a “stakeholders’ summit” dealing with security issues, the Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers had planned to strike Jan. 1, but delayed because of potential fuel shortages affecting masses of impoverished Nigerians. Union President Peter Akpatason told reporters that peace waits upon the resolution of development and security issues, and that the infrastructure and financial integrity of the industry are at stake as well as worker safety. Akpatason is a candidate for the presidency of the Nigeria Labor Congress.

Burma: Resistance grows against authoritarian regime

Following confidence-building protests last year and a 30 percent hike in the price of rice, Burmese people are openly denouncing a regime they see as corrupt and oppressive.

In October, 60,000 signatories demanded that the State Peace and Development Council, as the ruling junta is known, release political prisoners. A “White Expression” movement — people wearing white clothes symbolizing honesty — materialized last year, as did anti-government, silent prayer meetings. In the last two weeks, thousands have undertaken a so-called “Open Heart” campaign.

Protests are banned, the media censured and elections abandoned, so dissatisfaction is expressed through handwritten letters with special envelopes and paper. The “88 Generation,” a young people’s group, has organized the campaign. The group’s name memorializes students violently repressed in 1988. Naing Aung, spokesperson for exiled activists, sees Open Heart as “an effort to break the silence,” according to Inter Press Service. He calls for “people to show their courage by standing up and openly identifying themselves as critics.”

Iran: U.S. sanctions large bank

The U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted a large Iranian state-owned bank, alleging it has a role in weapons proliferation. The Bank Sepah’s assets in the United States have been frozen, and U.S. corporations and citizens are prohibited from dealings with the bank.

A Treasury spokesperson accused the Iranian bank of facilitating Iran’s international purchases, including missile technology from North Korea and “missile related items” from China. In September, Washington had blacklisted Bank Saderat, another Iranian bank, alleging that it “supported terrorism.”

The ban also covers a subsidiary of Bank Sepah in Great Britain, the BBC reported toward Jan. 10.

The U.S. moves are seen as part of the Bush administration’s escalating hostility toward Iran.

Bank Sepah’s close ties with Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS AG, was one factor in triggering a $100 million fine against the Swiss bank by the Treasury Department in May 2004. The Swiss bank’s cooperation with Cuba served as another pretext.

World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney Jr. (atwhit @ megalink.net).

Greeks march to save public higher education

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:54:00 +0000

ATHENS, Greece — Pro-education forces throughout Greece took to the streets this week for an all-out offensive of marches and demonstrations to block a parliamentary vote on privatizing the higher education system. The day the vote went to Parliament, Jan. 10, was declared a day of nationwide action.

Marches and demonstrations were held all day long in over 40 cities on the mainland and on the islands. Thousands upon thousands came out to protect the right of this and future generations to be educated. Their battle cry was “Free public education for all!”

While thousands of protesters thronged the Parliament building in Athens, shouting “Big business out of our schools,” reformist social-democratic (PASOK) and conservative (New Democracy) parliament members joined forces and pushed through a reactionary vote allowing the reappraisal of Article 16 of the Greek Constitution, which protects the public nature of higher education. This vote opens the road not only to the founding of private universities but to the total privatization of public education.

Article 16 stipulates that higher education is publicly owned and free for everyone. PASOK and New Democracy, following the directives of the European Union as set out in the Bologna Treaty of 1999, have been collaborating to amend this article in order to permit the establishment of privately owned universities whose degrees would be fully recognized by the Greek state.

Both the previous PASOK government and current New Democracy government have systematically neglected and undermined public education, paving the way in the public consciousness for the approval of the amendment. New Democracy, for example, was elected on an “education platform” that promised 5 percent of the state budget for education. Yet on their watch, state expenditure for education has dropped from 3.6 percent to 3.2 percent.

This first vote to put Article 16 up for amendment will be followed by a second vote at the end of February, with the final, decisive vote set for the end of March. If the amendment to Article 16 were to pass, it would open the doors to mass privatization of the higher education system, effectively assimilating it into the global capitalist system of pay-as-you-go. Universities would compete to gain funding from the state and multinational corporations.

Amendment supporters argue that placing education in private hands would “upgrade” it, “make it more competitive” and stop the brain drain of Greek youth to other countries. The reality is that education would be drastically downgraded, and universities would become commercial enterprises.

A two-tier university system would be developed, with a few select universities for those who can afford it and many more downgraded commercial enterprises where working-class youth could “buy” a degree of questionable value, despite their hard work and sacrifice. Those who could afford it would continue to be educated abroad.

Mass social struggle here in Greece has effectively delayed the implementation of many

neoliberal education reforms that have already been put in place in other European countries. The marches, mobilizations and school takeovers by the students starting last summer grew larger and more dynamic in the fall (see the students’ web site www.mathites.gr/photos.html for photos) as the government refused to back down and its hypocritical calls for dialogue with educators and students ended in the tear-gassing of demonstrators.

Although the initial vote passed, pro-education forces have vowed to carry on, guided by the slogan, “The only lost battles are those that are not fought.”

UN resolution vs. human trafficking

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:52:00 +0000

UNITED NATIONS — The Republic of Belarus sponsored a resolution here to strengthen the worldwide fight against the trafficking of women and girls. The resolution was approved unanimously without a vote.

The document recognizes this “contemporary form of slavery” as a gross violation of fundamental human rights.

The resolution calls upon governments to take steps to eliminate the demand for trafficked women and girls and to reduce factors leading to victims’ vulnerability to trafficking, “including poverty, underdevelopment and lack of equal opportunities, lack of equal access to education” and lack of equal access to decent jobs.

It called on all member states to prosecute those responsible for human trafficking and to ensure that trafficked women were not victimized through state penalties for being trafficked, as is commonly the case in many countries.

Speaking on behalf of Belarus, Andrei Dapkiunas spoke of the need for “governments, international institutions, civil society” to unite the “efforts of the developing and developed countries, of countries of origin, destination and transit, from the South to the North.”

“Only then,” he added, “can we expect a groundbreaking shift for the better in our efforts to eradicate from the face of the Earth all forms of slavery altogether.”

While Belarus has most consistently led the fight against human trafficking on the international level, the resolution’s co-sponsors include Cuba, China, Angola, Vietnam and others.

The document, entitled “Improving the coordination in efforts against trafficking in persons,” was adopted by the General Assembly’s Third Committee in October and adopted by the full assembly on Dec. 20.

dmargolis @ pww.org

Calif. governor proposes sweeping health plan

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:46:00 +0000

Last week California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed a sweeping $12 billion proposal to revamp health care in the state. Among its provisions:

• All residents would have to carry health insurance, and all employers of 10 or more workers would have to provide health benefits or pay 4 percent of payroll into a state purchasing pool. Some 1.2 million low-income Californians could receive state help to buy individual insurance.

• The state would cover all children, including undocumented immigrants, living below 300 percent of the federal poverty level (about $60,000 for a family of four), and would expand Medi-Cal to cover some 630,000 very poor adults who aren’t now eligible for coverage.

• Insurers would be barred from refusing coverage because of pre-existing conditions, age or occupation and would have to spend 85 percent of revenue on care.

• Everyone would have to show proof of insurance either through their workplace or through purchasing coverage individually, with the minimum policy providing a $5,000 deductible and maximum out-of-pocket costs of $10,000 per family.

• While Medi-Cal reimbursements would be raised, doctors would have to pay a tax of 2 percent, and hospitals, 4 percent.

“This year we must take action on health care,” Schwarzenegger said in his State of the State address Jan. 9, pointing out that nearly 6.5 million Californians — nearly one in five — have no coverage. Welcoming proposals made by others, including legislative leaders, he added, “The ultimate answer will come from the principle of shared responsibility — shared by government, by the employers, by the health plans, by the doctors, by the hospitals and by the individual.”

Responses, many of them critical, came quickly.

The broad Health Access California coalition of 200 organizations representing all segments of the state’s population cited “steps forward,” including the goal of ensuring that all Californians have access to coverage, an expanded Medi-Cal with increased reimbursements to providers, rules for insurers and requirements for employers to contribute. But, it said, despite the governor’s theme of “shared responsibility,” the burden is on individual consumers.

“Based on what was proposed, patients and workers bear a disproportionate amount of risk,” Health Access said. The coalition also warned that placing the burden on individuals could undermine employer-based coverage programs.

“While the governor’s health care proposal includes some positive elements, it is the wrong prescription for California’s health care crisis,” Art Pulaski, head of the California Labor Federation, said in a statement, adding that the plan “shifts responsibility for health costs onto already overburdened workers and their families.”

Calling the plan a boon to insurance companies, Pulaski pointed out that there is no guarantee coverage would be either affordable or adequate, and warned that employers who now provide health benefits could drop coverage and just pay the minimal tax. “The proposed employer contribution is so low that even Wal-Mart, a corporation known for its minimal employee health care coverage, already exceeds the requirements,” Pulaski said.

The California Nurses Association said it welcomed the governor’s decision to deal with the growing health care crisis, but called his proposals “little more than a fresh coat of paint on a collapsing house.”

The governor’s proposal to cover undocumented people was seen as positive by advocates of care for working-class and oppressed minority communities, but as a bone of contention by most in his own Republican Party.

The proposal “is a good starting point for discussions in the Legislature this year,” said Assembly Health Committee chair Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), adding, “My biggest concerns include the individual mandate and a raid on funding that counties use to serve the uninsured who seek care through emergency rooms.”

Calling Schwarzenegger’s plan “very troubling,” state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), who heads the Senate Health Committee, said the proposal “would allow, and even encourage, the proliferation of bare-bones plans.” Writing in California Progress Report, she also criticized the governor’s adoption of a version of President Bush’s health savings accounts. Kuehl, whose single-payer bill passed both houses of the Legislature last year but was vetoed by the governor, is reintroducing the measure this year.

State Senate President pro tem Don Perata (D-East Bay) and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) have also introduced health care legislation.

mbechtel@pww.org

$180,000 reached as PWW fund drive wraps up

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:19:00 +0000

NEW YORK — The People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo wrapped up its 2006 Fund Drive on Dec. 31. The newspaper’s fund drive committee said that they were pleased with the drive’s results.

Events and individual contributions raised $180,000, just short of the $200,000 goal.

“Raising $180,000 is a big success,” said PWW editor Terrie Albano. “Last year, we raised $139,000 towards our $150,000 goal and we had to extend the drive by at least a month.”

“Readers and supporters value this newspaper and showed it by putting in time and effort to raise the money,” she said. “Friends of the People’s Weekly World in New York, Illinois, California, Connecticut, Texas, Maryland, Oregon, Arizona, Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, Ohio, Minnesota and the Dakotas, Colorado, Missouri and Kansas, and New Mexico all met their goals or went beyond.”

Other states and local committees worked hard and did better than last year, she said, but not meeting the targets in those areas made a negative impact on the drive overall.

When asked why there is such a fierce commitment to the PWW, Albano replied, “No other left-wing newspaper in the United States highlighted the importance of defeating Bush and the ultra-right in the congressional elections to create a new political landscape more favorable to working families. We not only covered that struggle, our reporters were part of it. People really appreciate that.”

New York, which raised over $41,000 — $2,000 above its goal — took the prize for most money raised.

“We’re thrilled,” said Elena Mora, who along with Jenn Perna coordinated N.Y. state’s efforts. “I had this feeling of anxiety about having to raise nearly $40,000, and reluctantly agreed to it. But now I think we could raise even more.”

Texas supporters took in nearly $500 more than their $2,500 goal (even though the PWW has repeatedly threatened to send George W. Bush back to their state!).

PWW friends threw important fund raising events, some drawing hundreds while others were more intimate. One example was a group in Philadelphia, which held a December event with Dr. Walter Tsou, former Philadelphia city health commissioner, who has consistently fought for universal health care. The event brought well over 100 people and thousands of dollars. Also honored were peace activist Larry Horowitz and labor activist Ben Sears.

Fund drive coordinator Pamella Saffer expressed thanks to the fund drive committee for “consistently coming through.” Saffer said fund drive volunteers Gail Ryall of Northern California, Arturo Cambron of Southern California, Joe Bernick of Arizona, Lance Cohn of Illinois and Dorothy Johnson of Connecticut deserve special mention.

“We learned a lot of lessons,” Saffer added. “We’re looking forward to progressing even further in the coming year, to moving ahead, and to strengthening our coverage. I feel confident that 2007’s fund drive will be even better.”

“The PWW editorial board and staff,” said Albano, “want to thank the readers for supporting this newspaper. Your support shows the PWW is a vital part of the movements for peace, economic justice, democracy, equality and socialism.”

dmargolis @ pww.org