People Before Profit blog

No a la guerra! S a la Revolution!

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 10:40:00 +0000

¡Ya basta! Stop killing my people The Kapitalist Guerra kills them every day Los usa, los engaña, les miente, los mata Este Kapitalismo tirano que no tiene compasión Ya basta! Stop squashing my people, mi Raza Esta Guerra los Explota, les Roba, los destruye Esta Guerra makes money only for the few, Those that start, but do not fight in it Money, money, is what la Guerra Devora Kapitalist Guerra Does not care about its people ¡Le vale madre! It eats its own people Guerra keeps people ignorant

¡Ya basta! La Revolución, grita fuerte La Revolution, comes to make a change, In our social problems, nos da una luz La Revolución, is our hope, la única defensa de la explotación Por la Revolución yo muero, Because I would die for my rights and not for dinero! The Revolution cares about its people, Because people son la Revolución. Revolution does not oppress its people, Does not lie to them, doesn’t kill them. La Guerra fears La Revolución La Guerra knows that La Revolución always seeks truth, Finds truth and speaks the truth That is why brothers and sisters we must sing together, Live together and if necessary die together Ya basta! Que viva La Revolucion!

Marx takes center stage

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

When have you ever seen the real-life character of Karl Marx in a play, on television or on a movie screen? Certainly not in capitalist America, which has spent more time and money than any country on earth attempting to prove his ideas wrong.

One of the 19th century’s most prominent figures, Marx (1818-1883), the great philosopher, writer and activist, has been unofficially banned as a subject for people’s culture.

The public has been denied the opportunity to see Marx as a real human being, with feelings and ideas, and all the challenges that normally go with life.

It took America’s pre-eminent historian, Howard Zinn, author of “A People’s History of the United States” and the subject of the new award-winning documentary “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train,” to flesh out this political icon and bring this giant figure of history to life in a play.

Zinn devised a clever premise. Marx is offered a chance to return from the afterlife for about an hour to clear his name and his misunderstood theories. In this short one-act one-man play, “Marx in Soho,” Marx displays a range of emotions, from his love for his wife and children and his love for humanity to his passion for freeing the working class from the yoke of capitalism; from the pain of oppressive poverty and his family’s health problems to the joy of the short-lived Paris Commune and the unflagging support of his co-worker, Frederick Engels.

Marx wrote, “Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” And this play demonstrates not only the way Marx changed the world, but also how Zinn’s talents as a writer and historian have contributed to keeping alive the history of people’s struggles.

The play has been performed in numerous cities. One of the productions of the show features Pennsylvanian actor and blacksmith Robert Weick as Marx. In a performance of passion, humanity and humor, Weick brings the character of Marx to life. In addition, with Zinn’s blessing, Weick has updated and altered the script to relate to current events and relevant figures in the world today.

In Weick’s performance, Marx appears in Ferndale, Mich., in a Methodist church, and quotes from The New York Times about today’s labor struggles and current government statistics proclaiming the extreme disparity of wealth.

Marx defends his theories, albeit complex and often misinterpreted, as being totally relevant to today’s conditions. He rails against the war machine and capitalism’s endless drive for profits. In this lively performance, Marx chugs down a beer between stories about his boils, his family’s poverty, his bouts with the anarchist Bakunin, his attractive housekeeper, the glory of the Paris Commune, the misapplication of his theories in history and many more moving personal tales that inform and entertain.

In the play Marx argues that there can be a better world and that his theories, correctly applied, are still valid, coupled with Zinn’s optimistic message that where there is struggle there’s hope.

Check out Weick’s touring schedule at . Schedule a performance at your church, union hall, school or community center. The show is very affordable, easy to produce and can be staged in almost any venue.

LETTERS

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:17:00 +0000

Letter to George “To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible,” Bush said. Dear George, here is a response from a certified “war skeptic”: Go to Iraq, get out of the Green Zone, and see what life is like for people in Iraq and for the soldiers you’ve sent there. Stay a few days — no quick photo-op and back home. Be sure you drink the water. Then go to Walter Reed Army Hospital and visit the ortho ward. Not just a quick little photo-op, but stay there for a week. You can do it. You stay in Crawford for a week or more and the government keeps going. So go to Walter Reed — or better yet, go to a burn unit at a military hospital. Don’t do the glad-handing politician bull. Go around and empty urine bags. Learn how to check IVs. See if their pain meds are enough. Hear the moans. See the disgusting sights. Smell the smell. Then when you’re done, go to a VA hospital and ask to visit a “back ward.” No photo-op, here either, prez. Spend another week. See the guys from Nam and Gulf War I, and who knows where else their government sent them. No photos. No talking. Just listen. And tend to them. Turn them in their beds to keep them from getting bed sores. Check their feeding tubes. Empty their colostomy bags. Then come back and say this war is worth one more person’s life or health or family. Come back and tell us that if you can. If you can’t, get the hell out of here.

Mike Ferner Via e-mail Mike Ferner was a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman from 1969-73.

Keep it up

As unaccustomed as I am to writing to reporters, I wanted to pen this email to Roberta Wood in an effort to express my gratitude for her article “Unions sue the Bush Department of Labor over worker deaths” (PWW 1/13-19 ). It is so important that we are reminded of how this administration has stalled and stopped even minimal progress on Occupational Safety and Health regulations. OSHA under this administration has been further eroded into a paper tiger with no teeth. I hope you stay on this story and keep reporting on the irresponsible and outrageous working conditions in the U.S.

Joseph Ventura Cleveland OH

Thank you, Cindy

Americans are subjected to having their e-mail, telephone conversations and even postal mail monitored by a government that claims it wants to bring democracy to the world. Americans can now be arrested and held without charges indefinitely. People all over the country are being arrested and harassed for protesting this government’s actions. On Dec. 28, 2006, Cindy Sheehan and four others were held in Waco, Texas, for seven hours before McLennan County Law Enforcement would book them, to make sure they had to spend the night in jail. These five men and women, most of them in their 50s and 60s, were subjected to delousing and anal exams. They were moved around from cell to cell, and the air conditioning was turned full blast on them, although it was freezing outside. When they asked for blankets they were refused. Finally they were all given one thin blanket to lie down on a cold cement floor on, but nothing to cover with. Keep in mind that two of the three women were mothers of deceased Iraq war troops. Some will say they deserved it. I say it is an attempt to frighten those protesting the war, and set an example for a public that may decide to join them. When we went to the jail to pay the fines of the five, the booking clerk told us they were not there. When we asked an officer where they were, he said he did not know. What an eerie feeling it was, realizing that if they chose not to tell us where the prisoners were, we had no recourse legally. My little group of three agreed that we weren’t leaving until we could get them out. Cindy and other activists are getting arrested for all of us. Thank you, Cindy.

Mikal Hutto Houston TX

Bring the troops home now U.S. military officials had barely finished giving the 3,000th knock on the door to yet another soldier’s family when President Bush announced his plans to deploy an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. New Jersey activists from many different organizations have come together to oppose escalation of U.S.-led war in Iraq. On Jan. 11, the Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War and MoveOn.org protested Bush’s plan to deploy more troops. The event was attended by approximately 80 activists from New Brunswick, Highland Park and neighboring areas. We must become even more vocal. See you in Washington on Jan. 27!

Zoé Galletta New Brunswick NJ

Great economics column

Wadi’h Halabi’s economics column on apologetics for imperialism, “Too late Milton Friedman,” is brilliant ( PWW 12/23-29 ). I’m hoping it sees much wider dissemination as basic education for everybody who is trying to understand the modern world. I intend to try to get it around in Texas. We have a book club here in Dallas that has tried several times to update our basic understanding as presented in Lenin’s master work “Imperialism.” I always felt that modern economists who have tried to explain the situation since World War I were inadequate, even though they can contribute parts of the picture. Halabi’s is far better! Please keep it coming.

Jim Lane Dallas TX

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 07:13:00 +0000

NEW ORLEANS: Low-income residents fight to ‘come home’

Hurricane Katrina evicted elderly and low-income residents from their homes and tossed families into temporary housing across the country. Despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, including what some have called an 18-month-and-counting policy of racist neglect, working-class families organized and are pressuring local, state and federal governments to allow them to return to their homes.

On King Day, Jan. 15, hundreds of displaced families massed at a cordoned-off apartment complex, one of five public housing complexes operated by the city Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, demanding that the structure be restored and that they be able to retrieve personal property from their apartments.

HUD went to court to prohibit similar actions.

“I didn’t know it was a crime to go back to my apartment,” said Stephanie Mingo, a former resident of the St. Bernard complex. Mingo is one of scores of former residents who have worked on the cleanup of the area but have been barred from re-entering their apartments.

At a court hearing on Jan. 22, residents challenged HUD’s plans to demolish all public housing in the city. They also sought access to their apartments.

HUD argued that the buildings are unsafe and said it plans to replace public housing apartments with single-family homes. U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle took the matter under advisement.

Since Katrina struck in 2005, only 40 percent, or 200,000 New Orleanians, have been able to go home.

Patricia Jones, an advocate for residents in the city’s Lower 9th Ward, demanded the federal government step up to the plate. “We are spending a lot of money away from home that probably should be reallocated not only to New Orleans but other parts of the region, for other needs in the country,” she told reporters. “You can’t justify that kind of spending [in Iraq].”

ARLINGTON, Va.: Caseworkers for wounded laid off

The estimated 20,000 U.S. wounded military personnel returning from Iraq is one of the most under-reported stories of the nearly four-year-old war. Now the Department of Defense has laid off many of the caseworkers who helped them.

Workers for the Arlington-headquartered Military Severely Injured Center connect wounded veterans to benefits, financial resources and continuing medical care, and which helps them reintegrate into civilian life. Caseworkers were laid off as of Jan. 17 at Fort Hood, Texas, Fort Lewis, Wash., and Fort Campbell, Ky.

“They did a fabulous job for these families,” said Janice Buckley of the Washington state chapter of Operation Homefront, a civilian watchdog group that monitors veterans’ hospitals and assists their families. “The kind of work they do for these families who are hanging by a thread … no other organization helped service members and their families like they did.”

The DoD has declined to comment. Laid off workers reported that, as they cleaned out their desks, they were told that the center’s work duplicated efforts by the Army’s Wounded Warrior program.

PITTSBURGH: ‘Save public transit!’

For the fifth time since 2000, thousands of workers, elderly and disabled residents jammed hearings last week held by the Port Authority (PAT), the region’s public transportation system and 15th largest system in the country, protesting route cuts, fare increases and layoffs.

To meet an $80 million deficit, PAT recently proposed cutting 124 of the 213 bus routes, raising fares to $2 or $2.50 from the current $1.75 and laying off 400 workers.

Clarence Luff, a grocery worker, joined with airport workers, hospitality workers and bank workers in charging that slashing the routes would cut them off from their jobs.

For six years, neighborhood, labor and community coalitions have been lobbying the Pennsylvania Legislature to allocate sufficient funding for public transit. The Legislature had been too busy debating flag burning and passing pay hikes for themselves to hear taxpayers’ voices. In November, voters ended the long Republican domination of the state House and re-elected a Democratic governor. Activists see a glimmer of hope to stabilize the state’s public transit system. However, the crisis is now.

The proposed changes would force Marlene Ohnmeiss, who had a liver transplant, to walk three and a half miles to catch an alternative to her current bus. “I want to function in public,” she said.

Six more hearings are scheduled across the region through Feb. 7.

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

LETTERS

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:30:00 +0000

Homelessness rising In St. Petersburg, Fla., a homeless tent city called “Coming Up” took over a vacant lot. The camp grounds are expected to grow rapidly as the city does nothing to supply housing for the homeless. Since the homeless are frequently arrested and sentenced to jail for two or three weeks for the “crime” of sleeping under a highway overpass, the establishment of “Coming Up” will increase ability to get a nights sleep, without being harassed or arrested, for illegal sleeping.

Jesse Kern Via e-mail

A request Maybe you can write something about Lori Berenson, the American activist who has been in prison in Peru for many years as a “terrorist.” As a 20-year-old, I got imprisoned in Java, then a Dutch colony near Japan. I got out alive by being polite. Thoughts are free. Now at 85 and almost blind, I cannot forget prison.

Lilo Heller Mill Valley CA

Behind the rhetoric The true agenda of the Republican Party is to control the American citizen from conception to death. A salient strategy of this scheme is to deprive women, especially those of whom are trapped in poverty, racism and despair, of their reproductive choices. Their ultimate reasons have nothing to do with an alleged metaphysical sacred value of all human life, regardless of quality, suffering, hopelessness of recovery, or any other humane and rational considerations. The truth of the matter is not some misguided theology that wishes to negate free will and preserve “life.” The reason the Republicans wish to deny women, especially minority and socio-economically deprived women, their reproductive rights is a trinity of capitalistic desires: 1. They want a surplus as cannon fodder for their imperialistic, capitalistic military adventurisms. 2. A surplus population is exploited in slave/wage “unskilled” worker jobs. 3. This population, primarily through draconian drug laws and the hopeless/helplessness of economic repression, provides an ever-increasing supply of slave labor for America’s swelling prison population — the largest in the world!

Victor L. Klein Metairie LA

Makes sense After reading CPUSA Chair Sam Webb’s “No mandate, no surrender,” I’m finally getting the picture: “The grip of the extreme right over the entire federal government should be of great concern to every democratic person, regardless of his or her political persuasion.”

George Cooper Irving TX

Thought-provoking piece I commend the PWW in printing Michael T. Klare’s article “The post-abundance era” (PWW 12/16-22). Preparing and educating the working class on the dangers of a world running low on energy resources should be a priority. Whether you call it post-abundance or “peak oil,” the meaning is the same; future production from oil-rich countries cannot meet the world’s growing demand. Surplus margins on the open market are extremely tight, which only increases tensions among the competing imperialist nations. We should be doing all we can to prevent any military attack on Iran while preparing for the coming post-abundance era. It will happen sooner than we like.

Doug Smiley Indianapolis IN

Employee Free Choice Act support I want to help support the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, and hope that you might be able to help publicize my cause to further our mutual interests. I am a pro-employee activist who tried to initiate discussions to consider the pros and cons of forming a union at my ex-company, a high tech firm. Even this innocent discussion group was subject to harassment by management, and they refused to allow me access to publicize my nascent group’s meetings. I filed an NLRB charge and eventually the company settled, putting up a notice out of sight of the majority of employees. Unfortunately, this was only after I resigned when it was clear that the company had no intention of honoring U.S. labor laws. Because I am not affiliated with unions, nor am I a member of the Communist Party, I think my experience would resonate with average Americans. I merely want to have the option to organize when working conditions or wages become unacceptable. I believe when companies feel that there is no chance of a union forming, and then our wages and benefits will be forced into competition with other countries. In my specific case, I was required to assist in the offshoring of thousands of local jobs, and I wanted employees to weigh making high profits against the damage to our community and decide if employee shareholders wanted to protest the offshoring.

John Rose Via e-mail

Re: ‘Fix the Levees’ I am grateful for your coverage of the New Orleans City Council’s unanimous passage of a resolution supporting the 8/29 Commission, a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the failure of the federal levees in metro New Orleans. (PWW 1/13-19). I am writing to correct just a couple of things. Stanford Rosenthal is my 16-year-old son who designed and created the web site as well as the logo and commemorative poster. I, his mother, am the founder of Levees.Org. I am happy to tell you also that Congressman Bobby Jindal (R-La.) publicly supports the 8/29 Commission. Again, thank you for covering the news on the petition for the 8/29 Commission.

Sandy Rosenthal New Orleans LA

When did that happen? Stephen Hadley, national security adviser, has stated that the White House already has money appropriated by Congress to move the additional forces to Iraq. The question is, when was that money appropriated and for how many troops?

John Gilman Milwaukee WI

Russia, Belarus reach fuel compromise

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:50:00 +0000

News analysis

The Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus have settled an energy dispute that threatened to harm their relations and disrupt the world oil supply. Belarus was able to achieve a favorable compromise by winning popular support both at home and in Russia.

Russia, which historically has sold energy to former Soviet republics at reduced rates, has recently been moving fuel prices toward market rates.

Opponents charge that Russia has been using the threat of price increases as a tool to keep nearby nations subservient. The Russian government counters that not only are Russia and Belarus close allies, but they are also moving toward a united state.

A decade ago, under pressure from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), Boris Yeltsin signed a treaty to reunite the two nations. However, the process has been thorny. Currently, Belarus argues that both nations should be considered equals in any merger. On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Belarus should be “absorbed.”

In January, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he would fight for Belarus to maintain its independence from both U.S. and Western imperialism and from great-nation chauvinism from the east (alluding to Russia).

In December Russia announced that it was raising fuel costs for its partner. The Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom raised the price of gas from $47 to $100 per cubic meter of natural gas. Last-minute negotiations resulted in a compromise: Belarus agreed to the increase in exchange for a Gazprom agreement to an increase in duties on gas shipped through Belarus to Europe and elsewhere.

But Russia tried to slap a $180 per ton export duty on all Russian oil shipped to its neighbor. Belarus countered that this was contrary to the “fraternal” nature of the two nations. In retaliation, Belarus put a tax on Russian oil shipped through its borders.

When Russia refused to pay the tax, Belarus took oil from the pipeline as payment. Russia shut off the oil flow, causing a momentary world oil panic.

Socialist-oriented Belarus refines Russian crude oil and sells it abroad, putting the profit into social programs. Thus, a raise in prices would harm the Belarusian people directly.

The public in both countries became involved. Most Belarusians and 44 percent of all Russians thought Russia’s price hikes were wrong. More than 52 percent of all Russians supported Belarus’ retaliatory moves. In Moscow, a mass meeting organized by the CPRF protested the Russian government with chants of “Shame on Russia” and “Belarusians, Russia is with you!”

Under popular pressure, the Russian government agreed to move at a much slower pace toward market prices. In 2006 alone, this represented concessions to Belarus of about $5.8 billion.

Lukashenko thanked the Russian people for their display of support during the spat. “It was one of the decisive moments for settling the conflict,” he said.

dmargolis @ pww.org

Bolivarian socialism gains momentum

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:48:00 +0000

President Hugo Chavez, emboldened by his overwhelming re-election on Dec. 3, has moved Venezuela’s revolutionary process into high gear. Two other landmarks of his presidency have similarly been followed by periods of intensified change: his election to a new full term, or his “re-legitimization” after the adoption of the country’s new constitution in 1999, and the burgeoning of social missions after the failed coup and oil company strike of 2002.

Chavez’s sway derives from an unprecedented 62 percent majority win, with victories in every state. Voting abstention fell to a new low of 25 percent. Chavez supporters govern all but two states.

In recent speeches, Chavez has condemned corruption and bureaucratization and has proclaimed socialism to be the nation’s goal. On Jan. 8 he spoke of “a new era, the National Simon Bolivar Project of 2007-2021,” and “Bolivarian socialism, which requires greater levels of effort and engagement, clarity and efficiency, and revolutionary quality.”

The occasion that day was his introduction of a revamped cabinet with 15 new ministers and 12 holdovers. Taking an oath adapted from Bolivar’s as he was setting off for the wars of independence, they vowed “never [to] rest arm or soul in the construction of the Venezuelan path towards socialism.”

Chavez outlined five steps, or “motors,” toward a socialist Venezuela.

First of these would be an enabling law letting him pass laws by decree for one year. One such decree, for example, is aimed at nationalizing previously privatized corporations. Chavez specified CANTV, a telecommunications company owned 25 percent by Verizon, and an electric power company owned by the U.S. multinational AES Corp.

In similar fashion, the government’s minority shares in four oil operations in eastern Venezuela would be converted into majority shares with the state gaining control of 18 percent of Venezuela’s oil production.

The second “motor” is constitutional reform in the hands of a new constitutional assembly. The assembly would likely authorize government control of the central bank, nationalization of natural gas operations and full state control of the nationalized oil industry and allow unlimited presidential terms.

Third on the list is “popular education” that would “deepen the new values and demolish the old values of individualism, capitalism and egotism.”

Fourth, the government will readjust patterns of local political power to match geographic boundaries.

Lastly, the Chavez government will build up the community council movement to strengthen grassroots power. Observers point out that agitation for shaking up bureaucracies and local layers of government is coming from the community level.

The government announced Jan. 8 that $5 billion would go toward expanding the number of councils from 13,000 to 21,000 over one year. They are seen as the means by which education, health care, housing and other social missions can be managed locally rather than through the bureaucracies. Councils each representing 200-400 families will engage in participatory democracy.

The new minister for popular participation, the responsible agency for the community councils, will be David Velasquez, who as a Communist Party deputy in the National Assembly wrote enabling legislation for the councils.

On Jan. 10, Chavez himself took the oath of office. His two-hour long address that day took on the dramatic proportions of grand opera, especially as it set the stage for Venezuela’s “socialism of the 21st century.”

He portrayed an eclectic parentage for socialism including Jesus Christ, who was “the greatest socialist in history”; indigenous peoples with communal traditions; early Christians; and Bolivar, whose writings on social justice were reviewed. Chavez vowed “not to give rest to my arm nor rest to my soul, that I will give my days and nights, my entire life to the construction of Venezuelan socialism, of a new political system, of a new social system, of a new economic system.”

Beginning with his re-election, Chavez has been proposing a new single party of the left, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Its objective would be to activate a community base of support for his movement and its main task, the waging of a “battle of ideas for the socialist project.” Smaller left parties, including the Communist Party of Venezuela, would be folded into the new entity so as, in theory, to relieve the political process of “careerists” and hierarchical power relationships

atwhit @ megalink.net

Helvi Savola, Communist leader, 91

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:14:00 +0000

Longtime political activist and Communist Helvi Savola died at the age of 91 on Nov. 20 in Wausau, Wis. She had lived in Wausau since 2000, after retiring from many years of leadership in the Minnesota/Dakotas District of the Communist Party USA.

As one of her comrades from the Minnesota Iron Range recently observed, “Helvi certainly knew the meaning of the Finnish word ‘sisu,’ roughly translated as ‘grit and determination.’ She worked her whole life to make this a better world.”

Born in Wakefield, Mich., in 1915, Helvi grew up in a family that was deeply involved in community activities, including those of the Finnish Workers Federation. The federation offered activities — sports, drama and dancing — as well as practical assistance in setting up consumer and production cooperatives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Helvi was active in the federation and subsequently joined the Young Communist League in nearby Ironwood. In 1937, she went to work in Superior, Wis., for the Farmers and Workers Cooperative Unity Alliance, and in September of that year received a call to work for Local 15 of the Timber Workers Union in Marenisco, Mich. That is where she met Matt Savola, the leader of the union.

Helvi and Matt were married in October 1939. They spent time in Butte, Mont., where Matt worked for a few months in one of Anaconda’s copper mines. From there, the couple returned to Michigan. Helvi served as manager of the Ironwood Co-op Store for a period of time.

During the repressive and anticommunist McCarthy period, Helvi and Matt answered an advertisement in the progressive Finnish-language newspaper Tyomies for a management team for the Clifford Co-op Association in Tripoli, Wis. They stayed there for 21 years, until Matt’s retirement in 1972.

Shortly thereafter, while spending time relaxing in California, the couple was approached by Gus Hall, then general secretary of the CPUSA, who asked them to help lead the party in Minnesota. They promptly agreed to do so.

Among their many interests, Matt and Helvi were acutely sensitive to the plight of small farmers, and often spoke at national meetings of the party about the ravages of corporate agribusiness on rural America.

After Matt died in 1977, Helvi continued organizing for the CPUSA for another 20 years. She and fellow organizer Helen Kruth teamed up to put out the People’s Path, a bimonthly progressive newsletter for political activists in Minnesota and the Dakotas. They spent a good amount of time selling Marxist literature at the Paul Robeson Bookshop in Minneapolis or taking the books on the road in their travels.

Helvi was known for her coalition-building skills and her active involvement in groups ranging from the Mesaba Co-op Park in Hibbing, Minn., to the Twin Cities Peace and Justice Coalition. Until she moved to Wisconsin, she would never miss a Midsummer Festival or an annual meeting at Mesaba Park. She was also on the board of a progressive, nonprofit foundation, the John E. Forchette Foundation, at the time of her death.

Helvi never lost her way. She was always “in the trenches,” even when the going got rough during the Great Depression and the McCarthy witch-hunt era. She leaves behind a rich legacy of working-class struggle and progressive values to inspire future generations.

She is survived by her son Michael, daughter Patricia Gohs, grandchildren and one step-great-granddaughter.

LETTERS

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 10:27:00 +0000

Costs of the war An Associated Press web story reported that the U.S. expects to spend $170,000,000,000 (that’s $170 billion!) on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming year. I began to try to comprehend that figure. Try these for understanding and comparing: $170,000,000,000 annually $14,166,666,667 monthly $3,269,230,769 weekly $465,753,425 daily $19,406,393 hourly $323,440 per minute $5,391 per second $565 per living U.S. person $1,563 per U.S. household (estimated 2005). What could this pay for? 45.8 million Americans are without health insurance. It would cost $131.675 billion to cover them. That could be accomplished by stopping the war for 40 weeks, 2 days and 17 hours. The St. Louis Art Museum has an annual operating budget of $25.3 million. Stopping the war for 1 hour and 18 minutes would pay for its year’s expenses. New York City’s annual public health budget is $1.5 billion. Stopping the war for 3 days, 5 hours and 17 minutes would double its budget. Detroit’s troubled school system has an annual operating budget of $927,732,055. Stopping the war for 1 day, 23 hours and 49 minutes would put that system back into shape, and just imagine how many art and music classes could be added to its curriculum! Talk about “No child left behind.” The strapped Detroit Public Library has an annual budget of $43.66 million — 2 days and 15 minutes of war. Just a few million dollars would allow this great public library to open its doors way beyond its limited hours of service. Add your own cultural institution or public service to this list. Do the math. Send it to your congressperson and senators. Send one to the president (comments@whitehouse.gov) and the vice president (vice_president@whitehouse.gov). Pass it along to your friends.

Bill Meyer Detroit MI

Missing from ‘La Huelga’

I read the article “Texas farm workers, La Huelga’s 40th anniversary” (Online eXtra), and I did not read anything about Domingo Arredondo who had been the president of United Farm Workers in Starr County or when Sen. Kennedy got him out of jail.

Adrian Arredondo Sr. Via e-mail

Changes sweep Latin America

The party’s over for U.S. hegemony in Latin America as the “Bells Are Ringing” for real social change there, as new leaders take steps to put the needs of their people above the “interests of the U.S.” (read American corporations) and the wealthy of that long-exploited continent. Chile — the new president, Michelle Bachelet, former prisoner of the now dead dictator, Pinochet, moves forward to erase his legacy with new policies. Uruguay — the former dictator Bordaberry and his foreign minister have been arrested by President Vasquez, who has promised to make human rights a priority. Ecuador — Rafael Correa, recently elected president with peasant and labor support, has said he might want a base in Miami if the U.S. wishes to keep its base in Ecuador. Bolivia — “It’s a new deal in Bolivia,” says President Evo Morales, as he just signed a land-reform bill which will allow his government to redistribute 77,000 square miles of land. He is the first full-blooded Indian president since the Spanish conquest 500 years ago. Brazil — Lula da Silva was recently re-elected president with the overwhelming support of the poor to continue his progressive policies. Venezuela — Hugo Chavez again re-elected to continue policies to lift the poor out of poverty, notwithstanding what Bush and Kissinger say. And last but not least, Nicaraguan voters put Sandinista Daniel Ortega back in the president’s seat. And in the U.S., specifically Miami, there is a projected shortage of big homes and condos to accommodate the wealthy of Latin America preparing to leave the southern continent. For them the party is truly over.

Bernadette M. Geller Via e-mail

Re: Shameful anti-Semitism

Is a statement false because a bad person makes it? We all agree David Duke is a nasty piece of work. But even the dogs in the street know that his statement, as reported in your editorial “Shameful Anti-Semitism” (PWW 12/16-22), “The Zionists have used the Holocaust as a weapon to deny the rights of the Palestinians and cover up the crimes of Israel,” is perfectly true. As for Iran’s leaders, whom you call “reactionary,” they cannot be all that reactionary, because the Bush administration hates them with a passion for pursuing an independent foreign and energy policy, even to the point of public speculation by senior administration figures about the desirability of bombing Iran. Thank you for fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, but your well-intentioned editorial went over the top.

Janet Kaplan Brooklyn NY

I love your newspaper

Hello, I just want to let you all know that I recently discovered your newspaper a few months ago. I am now a regular reader of it and absolutely love it! I just want to tell you all this. I love the stories you all write about and the fact that you all cover the news that is not in regular news media that brainwashes America now. Discovering your newspaper this year is one of the best things I did this year. Please keep up the good work.

Shawntaye Scott Via e-mail

Cap those profits

In regard to raising the minimum wage, there ought to be a maximum wage too. The economic pie is only so big in the short run as everyone strives for a piece of “apple pie.” A maximum wage would restrict profiteering and high prices charged by those in control of the system. Those people working for low wages could afford to purchase goods and services at lower prices. Persons who earn more money than persons who make less want to keep their possessions, money, prosperity and toys for themselves and do not wish to share with others. It is the selfish nature of the system.

Raymond Daugerdas Pittsburgh PA

Colombian journalist, press freedom under siege

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:14:00 +0000

“It’s very worrying for us,” said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, referring to the Nov. 19 arrest by Colombian secret police of journalist Fredy Munoz on charges of terrorism and “rebellion.”

Apparently, Maduro said, “they are looking to frighten this young asset of Colombian journalism and trying ... to silence his voice, that of independent journalism that looks for truth and is trying to tell Latin America that another reality is possible.”

A journalist for 11 years, Munoz had worked since September 2005 as correspondent in Colombia for the 18-month-old Telesur news channel.

Munoz is still in jail and his case has reverberated widely as an attack on press freedom and on Telesur, a television network operated by Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia to serve as an alternative to news outlets beholden to business interests.

(At press time, Telesur was reporting that Munoz’s release was imminent. Look for an update next week.)

Munoz gained recognition for his articles exposing the terrible conditions facing 15,000 residents of La Soledad near Barranquilla, Colombia, who for 20 years had endured contaminated water, mountains of trash and rat-borne sicknesses.

Describing himself as a “tireless reporter,” he told prosecutors, “I have no time to be a terrorist leader.”

Citing testimony from three jailed guerrillas, prosecutors allege that Munoz carried out bomb attacks in Barranquilla and Cartegena in 2002 under the name Jorge Eliécer. But one of the three, Yainer Rodríguez Vázques, has recanted, saying he can no longer “keep on accusing people I don’t know” and that the guerrilla Eliécer was killed by paramilitaries. He had initially cooperated with prosecutors to reduce his sentence.

Munoz’s defenders claim that the Colombian government, in jailing the reporter, is trying to criminalize Telesur. For the right-wing Uribe government, “the watchword is cover-up,” said Aram Aharonian, Telesur’s director, especially about “what is happening in Latin America.”

Aharonian pointed out that Telesur has reported on the killings of peasants in Cajamarca by the Colombian army, the government passing off of murdered civilians as dead guerrillas, the slaughter of elite police forces in Jamundí by soldiers, another soldier-police clash in Guaitarilla and financial ties between army personnel and narcotraffickers in Atlantico state. Colombian officials understandably see Munoz and Telesur as a threat.

For Fredy Munoz the stakes are high. Since Alvaro Uribe became president in 2000, 18 journalists have been killed in Colombia. Aharonian said, “Thousands of honest journalists have paid and are paying for their ethics, their dedication, with prison, persecution, threats and violence.”

Demanding “no more reporters in jail,” 2,000 people from social and political organizations marched in Bogota on Dec. 10 as they rejected the confining of “information behind bars.” Demonstrators were on the streets again on Dec. 19.

Over 430 Telesur reporters and producers sent holiday greetings to Munoz: “They locked you up trying to silence the free press and your comrades. ... We respond, as ones who, loving this profession, do our work fearlessly, committed to the voiceless and the weak with unrelenting pursuit of truth.” They told Munoz that “honest colleagues throughout the world” are demanding his freedom.

Within two weeks of Munoz’s jailing, a statement signed by 1,000 academicians, journalists and intellectuals forming a “Network in Defense of Humanity” was circulating widely on the Internet. It denounced accusations against the reporter as “absolutely wild.” Several international press federations have called for his freedom.

Munoz has continued writing from jail. He accuses “the backbone of society” of promoting “massacres, selective assassinations, forced displacement,” especially in the rich Antioquia region where “the underlying theme is a cursed, silent treasure, the business of producing and exporting cocaine.”

Thus the spectacle unfolds of a courageous prisoner wielding words to condemn the repressive government that has put him in jail.

“We are all Fredy Munoz,” declared Aharonian, adding, “We are all Telesur.”

atwhit @ megalink.net

NATIONAL CLIPS

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 07:33:00 +0000

NEW ORLEANS: Residents say ‘Fix the levees’

Nearly two years and several billion dollars later, residents and former residents of the Crescent City are still not convinced that the levees are safe — and with good reason.

Rallying around a campaign initiated by Stanford Rosenthal, a 16-year-old high school student and his mother Sandy, over 7,000 New Orleanians have volunteered to circulate a petition to Congress demanding an “8/29 Commission” (Hurricane Katrina struck on 8/29/05) to investigate the levees and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The goal is to gather 50,000 signatures to force the new Congress to establish an independent panel, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to determine why the levees broke, how to fix them and how to guarantee the safety of 1.5 million residents of greater New Orleans.

“Clearly a fresh analysis is needed to assure that critical vulnerabilities in the levee system are addressed and all possible opportunities for improvement are considered,” said Rosenthal.

His group, Levees.org, met with Louisiana’s Sen. Mary Landrieu, who has offered her support, as have Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and David Vitter (R-La.). At their first meeting of the year, the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to back the initiative. The incoming chairman of the House Committee for Government Reform, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), said it was at the top of his list.

DURHAM, N.C.: Trial of lacrosse players moves forward

Last March, an African American student at North Carolina Central University, a single mother of three, accused several white members of the Duke University lacrosse team of rape. Since then, three players have been charged with felonies. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.

But at Dec. 15 hearing, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong said he told the director of a private DNA testing lab to sequester evidence. Leaks to the press said the tests revealed that the suspects’ DNA was not present. Nifong subsequently dropped the first-degree rape charges. The charges of kidnapping and sexual offense still stand, however.

Nifong has come under sharp criticism from the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys for his handling of the case, but he stands by his actions.

Meantime, the president of Duke, Richard Brodhead, allowed one of the indicted lacrosse players, David Evans, to graduate last May and permitted the other two players, Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, to return to Duke “in good standing.” They had been suspended.

North Carolina Central law professor Irving Joyner, who will monitor the proceedings for the state NAACP, said that under Nifong the prosecution “has tightened up its case” against the three players.

Supporters of the indicted students, who want all charges dropped, launched a virulent racist attack against the local African American newspaper, The Wilmington Journal, after the paper ran an editorial calling for due process.

Durham Mayor William Bell, who is African American, is concerned that the defense wants a change of venue. “I don’t have any question a fair trial can be held in Durham,” he said. The mayor is standing behind the police department’s investigation, which resulted in the charges and grand jury indictments.

TRENTON, N.J.: Panel calls for end to death penalty

In a 127-page report compiled after a yearlong investigation, a 13-member blue ribbon panel released its report calling on the New Jersey Legislature to abolish the death penalty. There was only one dissenting vote. It was cast by former state Sen. John Russo, who introduced the death penalty law in 1982. No one has been executed in the state since 1963.

Nationally, as of October 2006, there were 3,344 people on death row. California has the most, followed by Florida and Texas.

The death penalty, according to the panel’s report, “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency, serves no penological purpose such as deterrence or retribution and is not worth the risk of an irreversible mistake.”

Gov. Jon Corzine and Democratic state lawmakers support the panel’s findings and predict that New Jersey will become the first state to take the death penalty off the books, recommending life without parole instead.

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

In Norway, does U.S. or Norwegian law prevail?

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:23:00 +0000

A delegation from Cuba’s Tourism Ministry planning to be in Norway for the annual Lillestroem Tourism Fair on Jan. 11-13 learned in December that its 14 members weren’t welcome at the Edderkoppen Hotel in Olso where previous Cuban delegations had stayed.

Geir Lundkvist, spokesperson for the Scandic chain that owns that hotel and 139 others in nine countries, explained that U.S. rules have been in force since March 2006 when U.S.-based Hilton corporation bought Scandic. The U.S. economic blockade of Cuba took precedence, he said.

Christina Karlegran, regional spokesperson for Hilton and Scandic, assured reporters that Cuban groups are turned away from Scandic hotels in Sweden too. “We have to follow American law,” she said.

In response, the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees is boycotting Scandic hotels. Union leader Anne Grethe Skaardal declared, “For us, it is unacceptable for the U.S. to dictate to the whole world. In addition, we strongly oppose the U.S. boycott of Cuba.”

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions demanded that “companies like Scandic” be barred from Norway. Citing Norwegian law, Oslo’s Anti-Racist Center filed a police complaint against the hotel, Scandic, and a Hilton Hotel managing director. The center said, “No one can be denied access based on their citizenship or ethnic origin ... foreign companies establishing themselves in Norway must follow Norwegian laws.” Norway’s foreign minister agreed, although he expressed uncertainty as to the government agency responsible for following up on the situation.

In March 2006 Mexico’s government fined the Sheraton company $112,000 for refusing service to 16 Cuban guests. Sheraton hotels in Sweden reportedly are continuing to bar Cuban visitors.

atwhit@megalink.net