People Before Profit blog

Canadians debate health care

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 03:33:00 +0000

Responding to mass pressures, the government of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has released a long-awaited 356-page report proposing changes that will make an already good national health program even better.

In Canada, everyone is covered by the national plan; they don’t have the Canadian equivalent of 45 million people with no health insurance and another 60 million-plus with limited coverage.

Some of the 47 recommendations proposed by the report, authored by Roy Romanow include:

* Adoption of a Canadian Health Covenant that would renew the government’s commitment to a universally accessible, publicly funded, health care system;

* Establishment of a Health Council of Canada to foster cooperation between provincial, territorial and federal governments;

* Amending the Canadian Health Act to cover the cost of most home care services and prescription drugs; clarifying coverage for diagnostic services and creating a dispute resolution process;

* Amending the Criminal Code of Canada to make it illegal to misuse patient health information;

* Establishing a national immunization program to inoculate all children against childhood diseases;

* Using the newly-created Rural and Remote Access Fund to attract and retain health care providers in remote areas of the country;

* Creation of a program to allow caregivers to spend time away from work in order to care for a family member at home “at critical times.”

* Creation of a new National Drug Agency to evaluate and approve new prescription drugs.

Two of the report’s recommendations relate to Canada’s international responsibilities:

* Ottawa should play a more active leadership role in international efforts to assist developing nations in strengthening their health-care systems;

* Canada should rely less on recruiting health care professionals from developing countries.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees [CUPE], which represents most workers in the Canadian health system, has an in-depth understanding and analysis of the needs of that system. “We now have a blueprint for action. It’s time for a fully public system,” stated Judy Darcy, CUPE national president. “Commissioner Romanow is right on the mark when he says for-profit health care won’t improve access or quality. And that’s true for the full range of services at the heart of heathcare.”

But CUPE leaders also warned that the report leaves the door open to privatization of key patient services in hospital settings.

A meeting of labor health advocates from the western hemisphere is urgently needed. These labor representatives should come from health care unions and unions interested in a national health program. Given the fact that a key provision of the Free Trade Area of the Americas allows the U.S. medical/industrial complex to penetrate the markets of the region, there is much U.S. representatives could tell about the evils of the U.S. system which denies health care to millions of people. And, labor leaders in the USA can gain valuable information as they move toward making health care reform a major demand in the 2004 election.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

War fuels crackdown on Muslims, immigrants

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 02:51:00 +0000

People seeking asylum in the United States from Iraq, Iran and 32 other countries with supposed “ties to al Qaeda” will be held in government custody as part of the “new security measures” announced on March 18. The asylum measure was mentioned in a description of Operation Liberty Shield released by the Department of Homeland Security.

Typically, upon entry, asylum-seekers are interviewed and allowed to apply for refuge at the discretion of an immigration officer. This new policy, however, would mean automatic detention. Civil liberties groups harshly criticized the policy, saying it would hurt only those seeking refuge from persecution.

These immigrants often wait several months for a court to decide whether they will be granted asylum, said Aimed Aquino, director of refugee services for Catholic Charities Diocese in Fort Worth, Texas. “Before these people are granted asylum, they are without any rights in this country,” he said, noting that a long detention during this process is a human rights issue.

Civil liberties advocates said the Bush administration has tried to justify invading Iraq to liberate the Iraqi people. However, it is curtailing democratic rights in the U.S.

“It’s ironic that we say we want to bring freedom to the Iraqi people, but at the same time we are planning to imprison them,” said Wendy Young of the Women’s Commission on Refugee Women and Children in New York. “This is a blanket detainment that could last for months or even years. Before it was a case-by-case basis with initial screening and interviews. The government has cast too wide a net and in the wrong direction.”

Since 9/11 the Department of Justice has systematically hacked away at Constitutional rights and civil liberties, including the passage of the USA Patriot Act and the detention of over 1,200 people, most of whom were later deported despite a lack of ties to terrorism. Much of the government crack-down has been targeted toward immigrants, especially people from predominantly Muslim countries.

On Dec. 6, 2002, the Justice Department announced that men aged 16 to 25 from largely Muslim countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, who had arrived in the U.S. before Sept. 30, 2001, had to register with the INS. Visitors and nationals from the 25 countries have to be fingerprinted, photographed and interrogated. In Los Angeles, at the end of last year, some 1,500 Iranians and others were detained during the process for minor visa violations or for no reason at all.

James Zogby, president of the American Arab Institute, said since the “special registration” program was established in December, the community is “buzzing” with stories of men being treated as threats to national security – grilled by immigration officials, harassed by local police and hauled to local jails.

March 21 was the deadline for men over age 16 from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to register with the federal government. There has been a surge in the number of Pakistanis and Saudis requesting asylum in Canada. For many who are exempt from the process, the concept of registration is scary.

“Look at all the people detained after 9/11 and to this day [who] weren’t given the right to due process,” said Faraz Kureshi, vice president of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Central Florida, whose parents are from Pakistan. “It’s just such a sensitive time. I know students that have joked about it, but they were scared.”

Civil rights and liberties activists, coalitions and organizations have protested detentions and other measures, but many feel much more needs to be done, especially in linking this attack on democratic rights to the Bush administration’s war drive.

Jessica Marshall, a co-coordinator of the Young Communist League and active in the anti-war movement, said, “Most of the students in the peace movement talk about not only how the Bush administration is conducting this ‘war on terrorism’ first against Afghanistan and now Iraq, but also it’s conducting a war against immigrants, workers and young people – really against most of the population in our own country. We have to stop the war abroad and at home.”

Terrie Albano contributed to this article.

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The cloud on Bushs horizon

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 11:04:00 +0000

George W. Bush’s campaign of shock and awe is aimed at the entire world, not only at the cities of Iraq. But as he moves toward the title of Supreme Overlord of the Known Universe, Bush is standing on a shaky foundation.

That shaky foundation is the U.S. dollar.

In the past two decades, money from the entire world has poured into the United States – buying bonds, stocks, real estate, and whole corporations. A significant portion of U.S. government bonds, home mortgage bonds, and corporate bonds is now owned by foreign capitalists. Last year, an estimated three-quarters of developed countries’ savings were invested in the U.S.

The result is a “strong” dollar, which can buy more Mexican vegetables, Chinese clothes, and French wine – while other countries buy fewer U.S.-made products. This has contributed to the huge loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs – so much that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, along with some manufacturing executives, has called for steps to lower the value of the dollar.

Most of the U.S. ruling class is happy with a strong dollar. It helps finance the continuing boom in housing, a significant portion of corporate investment, the growing federal deficit and the $400 billion/year trade deficit. The strong dollar makes it easier for the U.S. to spend tens of billions a year on military bases around the world, military aid to client states, bribes, etc. Foreign support of the dollar helps make it possible for Bush to invade and occupy Iraq.

For George W. Bush, the best scenario will soon see victorious U.S. troops marching through the rubble of Baghdad. Haliburton and other U.S. companies will be hard on their heels, clutching lucrative contracts to occupy, rebuild and profit from Iraqi oil. In the short run, the shock and awe of this spectacle might help keep the dollar strong. For the successful businessman or the corrupt government official in Europe, Japan or the global South, what safer place to stash your loot than Wall Street, the financial citadel of the world’s only superpower?

But there is a cloud on Bush’s horizon. All this money flowing into Wall Street means the U.S. is now in debt to the tune of $2.5 trillion, increasing at the rate of $500 billion per year. Attracting foreign capital has become a financial necessity to keep the system functioning – new money must keep flowing in, to make payments on the old debt, as well as to finance the new deficits.

Even economists at the pro-US World Bank and IMF are talking about “payback time” for the U.S. dollar, according to an article in The New York Times. The IMF warned that the U.S. trade deficit poses a “significant risk” to global financial stability.

In the long run, the people of the world, already furious at Bush’s war, will not take kindly to continued subsidy of U.S. imperialism. European capitalists, iced out of the Mid-East by Bush and under pressure from their own people, may be less ready to support the dollar. The costs of occupying Iraq, and waging endless wars against endless enemies, will mount, and the U.S. foreign debt will get larger. And, “you can’t sustain an empire from a debtor’s weakening position – sooner or later the creditors pull the plug,” writes William Greider in The Nation, echoing the analysis of other progressive economists.

A standard capitalist cure for the falling dollar is to cut the real incomes of U.S. workers. The cost of balancing the dollar deficit in this way would be a deep recession and double-digit unemployment. This is what happened during the dollar crises of the 1970s, brought on in part by the costs of the Vietnam war.

The first moral: “If you want peace, work for justice.” By resisting attempts to solve economic problems on the backs of the people, we can deny Bush the economic power to wage aggressive war around the world on behalf of corporate interests.

The second moral: “If you want justice, work for peace.” To lower the deficit and protect our economic future from the effects of a new dollar crisis, we must end the war, and bring the troops home - from Iraq, from Central Asia, from Colombia. And, we must end the pro-corporate trade and economic policies that these troops enforce, at the cost of millions of jobs in the U.S.

The author can be reached at arthur.perlo@pobox.com

Senate blocks Alaska drilling

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 11:00:00 +0000

In a 52-48 vote, the Senate moved to bar oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), March 19. Drilling in the ANWR was a key part of Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy policy.

Since it was originally proposed, the idea of drilling for oil in the habitat of many endangered species has drawn much criticism. The League of Conservation Voters has called it a “special-interest-driven gift” to the Bush administration’s oil corporation connections.

Last week’s vote was the Senate’s second rejection of ANWR drilling. Last year, those in favor of drilling failed to gain enough votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster. However, the House passed a resolution in favor of drilling last year.

“We have defeated similar proposals in the past, and I am pleased that as a bipartisan group we have stood firm in our resolve to protect the refuge,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who indroduced the budget amendment. “Americans must continue to be vigilant because proponents of drilling in this Wildlife Refuge have vowed they will not give up.”

Many environmental groups share Boxer’s warning, saying that it’s very likely that supporters of ANWR drilling will continue pushing for new votes on the issue.

Drilling advocates used the international situation – the vote came hours before the U.S. began bombing Iraq – in an attempt to gain votes. Although they pointed to increasing gas prices and dependency on oil imports, the grassroots campaign against drilling prevailed.

“Americans are concerned about national security, but drilling in the Arctic will do nothing to alleviate these fears,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. “Arctic drilling would not put a dent in our dependence on foreign oil, would do nothing to strengthen our national security, and would not save consumers a dime. We cannot drill our way to energy independence.”

National Clips

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:21:00 +0000

AROUND THE COUNTRY:

A search of newspapers and peace, justice and labor organization websites revealed that events took place in at least 312 cities, towns, townships and communities in over 30 states on March 20, the day after Bush pulled the trigger on Iraq. Americans demonstrated their opposition to the war in countless ways, but vigils were the most common, such as those in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Flint, Mich., and Las Vegas.

Communities also continued to enact peace resolutions as bombs fell on Baghdad. “Cities for Peace” reports that as of March 25, 162 city, county and town councils officially acted opposing the war. Dayton, Ohio, home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, passed a peace resolution. The industrial counties of Belmont and Lorain, Ohio oppose the Bush War.

So far, three career diplomats have resigned from the State Department. In a statement, Mary Wright, deputy chief of the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia, said, “I strongly believe that going to war now will make the world more dangerous not safe.” She follows John Brown, former cultural attaché in Moscow, and John Brady Kiesling, former political counselor in Athens.

MILWAUKEE, Wisc.: The heartland goes out for peace

Over 2,000 residents were in the streets on the first day of war. The well-organized rally in downtown featured music, numerous speakers and a “die-in” to demonstrate that the war is not a video game.

There were arrests for civil disobedience and Milwaukee police have begun ticketing motorists who “honk for peace.”

There have also been protests in a number of cities around the state, including daily protests at the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison.

PITTSBURGH, Pa.: Steel city says: ‘Support the troops – bring them home’

Thousands of marchers halted rush hour traffic in the shadows of Mellon Bank and US Steel, March 20, the first full day of war. Motorists honked in solidarity and patiently waited for intersections to clear of the rolling demonstration. Stretching for a three full city blocks, residents took over Grant Street without a permit. An army of County police and Federal marshals lined the sidewalks shoulder to shoulder. As the march ended, 122 were arrested including an observer from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Some, including the ACLU observer, appeared before City Magistrate Eugene Zielmanski who issued maximum bail, $1,000, plus $25 in court costs. “Welcome to America,” said the magistrate. “I’m red, white and blue and God Bless America. I’m ultra-conservative.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: Cops use rubber bullets, mace and tear gas on residents

Despite media reports, eyewitnesses and participants say that the hundreds who rallied and marched at the University of New Mexico protesting the launch of the Iraqi War, were organized, peaceful and saddened by actions of the Bush administration.

Local media said that the demonstration blocked an ambulance. That is a lie, say those in the demonstration and those observing. The truth is, the rally parted to let the ambulance enter.

There must have been a need to justify the arrests of peace supporters on the sidewalks; there must have been a reason for the public to understand why cops opened up on the peaceful demonstration with mace and tear gas and how could police explain to the parents of one peace supporter why he was shot at point blank range with a bean bag gun.

By all accounts, the cops, armed and dangerous, were out of control March 20.

DALLAS, Texas: Center of oil country says stop the war

On March 20, hundreds filled the steps outside of Dallas City Hall to pray, protest and stood wondering about the course of the nation.

“All the wisest humans who have ever lived know that war doesn’t work,” said Joe Stokes, a Dallas schoolteacher. “And here we are. At this time in history, I expected something else.”

“We are gathered here with a heavy hearts and great sadness,” said organizer Julie Ryan of the North Texas Coalition for a Just Peace. “We are gathering to show our grief that our country has resorted to violence.”

Hadi Jawad, vice president of the Dallas Peace Center, added, “I have never been more terrified in my life. 9/11 was a day the world changed. Yesterday (when the war began, March 19) the world changed again.”

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.: Hoosiers arrested for sit-in at Senators’ offices

With hundreds of their neighbors, friends and supporters jamming the streets outside March 20, ten ‘Patriots for Peace’ entered the district offices of Sens. Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar “to petition our government for a redress of grievances.” They requested a phone call to the senators to express their opposition to the “illegal, immoral and unjust war.” The staff denied them a phone call and the 10 non-violent residents sat down.

They were met by 17 cops from the city riot squad in full gear and arrested. Behind mounted police, hundreds of voices and honking car horns rose in support of their fellow Hoosiers.

As of March 21, they were still in jail.

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards (dwinebr696@aol.com). Paul Kaczocha, Gary Grass, Babette Grunow, Jim Lane and Emil Shaw contributed to this week’s clips.

Texas educators: No cuts for kids!

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:01:00 +0000

AUSTIN, Texas – About 1,000 public school teachers and their supporters rallied at the Capitol here March 17 to stop the cuts in public education funding proposed by the business lobby and the right-wing extremists who control state government. The rally was part of a Statewide Lobby Day organized by the Texas Federation of Teachers (TFT).

It was the second biggest statewide teachers’ rally in two weeks. The crowd included teachers, school support personnel, and solidarity representatives from the United Auto and Aerospace Workers, Amalgamated Transit Union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Texas State Employees Union.

The state is facing a $10 billion budget shortfall in fiscal years 2004 and 2005. Right wingers like Governor Rick Perry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, and Speaker of the House Craddick want to make up this shortfall by cutting the state budget by 12.5 percent, including $2.7 billion cuts in state grants to public schools.

Those at the rally scolded the rightwingers for daring to balance the state’s budget on the backs of school children. They urged legislators to consider the money spent on public education as an investment in children and an investment in Texas. They also demanded that big businesses be made to pay their fair share of the cost of education.

The proposed cuts will have dire consequences for public education. Classroom sizes will increase, spreading thin the attention that teachers can give to individual students. Qualified teachers will leave for better jobs as the paltry pay and benefits that teachers receive fail to keep up with the rising cost of living. Programs designed to help children with special needs will be cut. Children will be left behind.

Fighting the cuts will be an uphill battle, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of those at the rally. The crowd cheered when speakers urged them to build a grassroots campaign to fight these cuts.

State Representatives from around the state spoke to the rally. Rep. Garnett Coleman of Houston asked the crowd if they were ready to “raise some hell,” and they responded with a big “Yes, we’re ready!” Coleman vowed to fight the budget cuts, “even if we have to shut this place down.” The crowd roared back their approval.

Several speakers praised the progress made in public education over the last decade. For example, achievement tests scores have improved steadily over the last ten years. They pointed out that those primarily responsible for this improvement are the teachers.

Texas educators rightfully think that their progress deserves some reward, but the right wing leaders of the state don’t agree. They are using the budget cuts as a pretext to worsen teachers’ working conditions. Under the guise of giving local school boards and administrators flexibility to deal with the proposed budget cuts, they’ve introduced legislation that takes away teachers’ planning period, their duty free lunch, and right to due process in disciplinary hearings.

The rally participants didn’t have to wait long for their first victory: SB 744, a bill that would strip teachers of their right to have their union dues withheld from their paycheck, died on Lobby Day.

State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos of Austin, while speaking at the rally, told everyone that he had a petition to kill the bill that required only 11 Senators’ signatures. He then took out the petition and signed it on the spot. Then Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston walked up to the podium, took out a pen, and signed it too. The applause grew louder. By the end of the day, there were 13 signatures on the petition.

Perhaps the saddest thing about the cuts is that Texas is a rich state that could afford to pay more for education. John Cole, president of TFT, said that given Texas’s wealth, “it wasn’t right to cut money from public education.”

Despite the proposed cuts to public education, a voucher pilot has been introduced that will siphon off scarce public education resources, giving those funds to private schools and private education schemes.

Those at the rally challenged legislators to look for ways to raise revenue to fund public education adequately rather than cutting the budget and using vouchers to divert education dollars to their cronies.

On April 9, there will be a march, rally, and lobby day against budget cuts sponsored by the Texas State Employees Union and supported by the state AFL-CIO.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

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National Clips

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 03:30:00 +0000

ANN ARBOR, Mich.: Marching for equal opportunity

On April 1, the Supreme Court will hear not only lawyers defending the University of Michigan Law School affirmative action admission policies against attorneys arguing to close the doors of equality, but thousands of voices who are signing up for buses, planes, trains and cars in solidarity with the university. Students, trade unionists, professionals, elected officials and religious leaders from across the country will converge on the high court steps in Washington, D.C., behind the banners of civil rights, democracy and equality.

The Civil Rights March to the Supreme Court unites 37 civil rights organizations, 48 labor organizations, 16 religious organizations, members of Congress, state legislatures, city councils and school boards, mayors, and hundreds of student governments and groups from New York to Miami to Michigan to California. For march information: National Black Law Students Association: www.nblsa.org

TERRA HAUTE, Ind.: Gulf War vet executed

President Bush and the Supreme Court denied requests by lawyers representing Louis Jones, Jr., to stop his execution, March 17. Mark Corello, spokesman for the Justice Department, offered no explanation.

In March 1991, Jones was part of an Army unit that followed up after a U.S. bombing of an arms depot during the Gulf War. The U.S. bombing exploded bins of serin, a deadly nerve gas. Jones received an honorable discharge and was decorated for bravery.

In December 2000, Jones and 130,000 soldiers received notice from the Pentagon that “you may have been exposed to low levels of nerve gas during your service in the Gulf War.” Jones’ attorneys presented evidence that he suffered “irreparable brain damage” resulting from his exposure to nerve gas and requested life imprisonment. The Bush administration rejected the appeal and executed Jones March 17.

Jones who was convicted of murder, became the third person to be executed by the federal government since 1963.

DENVER, Colo.: Violence begets violence

Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Dallagher and Brig. Gen. Sylvanus Taco Gilbert are under fire after at least 54 women cadets charged they had been raped by fellow cadets. Even ultr-right Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) has called for their resignation

“If there are rapists serving on active duty, like the one accused of raping my constituent, I find that reprehensible,” Tancredo wrote in a letter to Air Force Secretary James Roche. “I have lost all confidence in the ability of the current command structure at the academy to resolve this matter. This is the most serious scandal to confront any of the nation’s academies. It requires dramatic, serious, decisive remedies.”

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) said that 25 female cadets reported to him that they had been raped at the Academy. Some said they were ostracized, punished or forced to leave the academy if they reported the attacks to military authorities.

Results of an internal Air Force investigation of the charges are expected by the end of March. Allard is calling for an outside, criminal investigation.

SAN FRANCISCO: Low-wage workers sue high-fashion brands

Sales associates, mostly minimum wage workers, at the Gap, Abercrombie and Fitch and Polo Ralph Lauren stores are suing the retail clothing owners for forcing them to purchase the expensive clothes and wear them to work as a condition of employment. They are asking for elimination of the policy and that they be reimbursed for what it has cost them.

The cost is dramatic. Aneta Chmielewska worked at Abercrombie and Fitch until the company told her that not only did she have wear Abercrombie clothes to work, but they had to be the latest fashion. Soon, she was spending half of her $300 bi-weekly wages, just to be able to work. She quit, saying, “Some people don’t need much money – they can work there (Abercrombie).”

The suit is based on state laws mandating that if uniforms are required, the company has to provide them, free, and companies cannot coerce workers to buy products; and on laws that set minimum wage standards.

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

Students march across state to save education

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 03:21:00 +0000

ALBANY – What would happen if Gov. George Pataki raised tuition at New York State’s public colleges and universities, cut financial aid programs, gutted opportunity programs, cut the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) budgets and cut community college funding? The answer – tens of thousands of students forced to withdraw from college, subsequent layoffs of faculty and staff, and increased obstacles to access to higher education for New York’s high school students. Some students would have to drop out. Some would never get the opportunity to go.

That was the message thousands of students sent to Pataki and state legislators in a 561-mile relay race across New York state to protest the proposed budget. The “No Tuition Hike” started at Buffalo, at the western end of the state, and Long Island, at the southeastern end of the state, and culminated in Albany, at the steps of the State Capitol building, in a mass rally on March 11 when thousands of students filled the streets to tell the governor “No.”

In western New York, students kicked off the No Tuition Hike simultaneously at Buffalo State College, on Buffalo’s west side, and the University at Buffalo, in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo. The two groups of students marched in the bitter cold to Erie County Community College’s North Campus, where they met another group of students, to continue the hike to Pembroke, 24 miles away.

At the kick-off rally at Buffalo State College almost 100 students gathered to see the hikers on their way. Speakers from the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), the statewide student group organizing the hike, the United University Professions Union (UUP), and other student groups addressed the rally. Jeff Fose, a sophomore, said, “I’m walking to send a message to Albany that I can’t afford to pay more for school.”

Dr. Stephen M. Pendleton, political science professor and president of the UUP local at Buffalo State, wondered why the governor could not see how his budget will affect the lives of students.

At the same time, students in Long Island, surrounded by dozens of supporters, kicked off their leg of the hike. The next day, when the marching students came to New York City, there was a rally of about 2,000 people at City Hall.

“It’s unbelievable. CUNY’s tuition is going up $1,200! Bush wants to spend billions of dollars on a war, but he should give it to us, to CUNY,” said Sarah Rosas, a student at the demonstration.

Pataki’s proposals include raising CUNY and SUNY tuitions by $1,200 while cutting their budgets 12-15 percent. The budget would also cut financial aid programs by one-third and opportunity programs by 50 percent.

Students from across the state joined the hike as it wound through cities, small towns, villages and rural areas. All along the route and across the state, students held activities and rallies in support of the hike. For example, students at Geneseo worked to educate the campus about Pataki’s budget proposal and what can be done to oppose it. Their work culminated in sending students to the No Tuition Hike as it passed through Rochester, Feb. 26, and to the rally in Albany on March 11.

During the hike, students carried a “diploma” to present to the governor upon reaching Albany. It read in part, “We march through snow, sleet, wind, rain and whatever else may come, to say ‘no’ to a tuition hike, ‘no’ to financial aid cuts, ‘no’ to budget cuts and ‘YES’ to education.”

At the closing rally, Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, one of the sponsoring organizations, said that the budget cuts were part of an “agenda not to educate you.” She said the reason for the lack of funds and budget hikes is the tax cuts for the rich that Pataki and the Republicans have pushed on the state. They are making up for that lost money, she said, with things like tuition hikes, which are really taxes on working people.

“Instead of tuition being increased, I think it should be lowered – back to nothing, like it used to be,” State Sen. Tom Duane (D-Manhattan) told the World at the closing rally in Albany.

Gabe Smith can be reached at smitg140@mail.buffalostate.edu and Dan Margolis can be reached at dmargolis@pww.org. Nick Robbins contributed to this article.

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Cities defy Patriot Act

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 03:12:00 +0000

BALTIMORE – Councilman Kwame Abayomi urged his City Council colleagues to approve his “Preservation of Civil Liberties” resolution directing Baltimore city police not to enforce repressive sections of the USA Patriot Act such as racial profiling and mass detention of innocent immigrants. Ten of the council’s 18 members, including Council President Sheila Dixon, are cosponsors of the resolution.

If the measure is approved, Baltimore would join 65 other municipalities that have adopted resolutions against the Patriot Act’s sweeping police state powers. Speaking March 13 during a hearing chaired by Councilman Robert Curran in the ornate council chamber, Abayomi decried Attorney General John Ashcroft for ramming the measure through Congress without a single day of hearings one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“The last time the government had such sweeping powers was during the era of COINTELPRO used against Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X,” Abayomi said. “Egregious, dangerous activities have already begun under the guise of combating terrorism.

The resolution proclaims that the City of Baltimore will “vigorously uphold the constitutionally protected rights of all persons to peacefully protest and express their political views without any form of governmental interference.”

It directs the Baltimore Police Department to refrain from enforcing “immigration matters” as well as surveillance of individuals engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment and orders the police to “refrain from racial profiling or religious profiling” or from “collecting or maintaining information about the political, religious, or social views, associations or activities of any individual or group” unless it directly relates to investigation of criminal activities.

It also directs the police to refuse cooperation with the Justice Department’s TIPS program that enlists people to “spy on their neighbors, colleagues or customers …” It directs Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt library to post a warning that under the Patriot Act, federal agents may snoop on the records of the books and other materials borrowed by users.

Attorney C. William Michaels, author of the book No Greater Threat told the hearing that Ashcroft is engaged in an “ever growing, ever expanding” attack on civil liberties. He pointed out that the Bush administration now routinely uses war terminology such as “enemy combatant” to justify suspension of Constitutional liberties.

Meredith Curtis of the Baltimore Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said the Patriot Act “is a slide away from the democratic rights we fought for. … Local police must answer to the local community, not to the federal government. People are living in fear right here in our own state. Baltimore can become part of a growing movement for the kind of country we want. You are in good company … 65 cities and towns have passed resolutions against the Patriot Act.”

Tina Wheeler, district organizer of the Communist Party of Maryland, pointed out that a legal immigrant from Morocco, his wife, children and their Baltimore community were terrorized by the FBI last September on the basis of a phony “tip” that he was building a bomb in his garage.

Ashcroft is seeking enactment of Patriot Act II, which would grant the Bush administration even more sweeeping powers to spy and harass, she warned. “The Bush administration needs fear and intimidation to silence the growing opposition to their extremist policies,” she said, urging the council to pass the resolution. “We say ‘No!’ to Patriot Acts I and II.”

Max Obuszewski, an organizer for the American Friends Service Committee, reminded the crowd that amid whipped up “war fever” he and seven other peace activists were arrested at Towsontown Mall distributing leaflets against a war on Iraq. “Obviously, John Ashcroft is the new McCarthy.”

Kay Dellinger, spokesperson for the Coalition Against Global Exploitation, said, “We believe the Patriot Act should be repealed. It never should have been passed.”

Richard Ochs, a veteran trade union and peace activist, said undocumented immigrant workers are especially subject to arrest, detention and deportation under the Patriot Act. “But the U.S. Constitution says due process is not just for citizens but for all residents of the United States,” Ochs said.

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Womens groups blast Senate abortion vote

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 09:38:00 +0000

After the Senate’s March 13 vote in favor of a ban on so-called “partial birth” abortions, outraged women’s rights groups vowed to fight the law, and pointed to the importance of court nominees.

National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy called the bill “a political game and an attempt to send us back to pre-Roe days when countless women died from illegal abortions.”

She spoke harshly of the rhetoric used in the debate. “You won’t find the term ‘partial birth abortion’ in any medical dictionary – instead try looking for it in the ultraconservative rhetoric manual,” Gandy said. “Contrary to what opponents of abortion rights would have you believe, this bill is not about a specific late-term procedure. This bill, like each of its predecessors, is purposely worded so vaguely that it could criminalize even some of the safest and most common abortion procedures after twelve weeks and well before fetal viability.”

The ban, introduced by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.), is not supported by the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or the American Medical Women’s Association. “This legislation has nothing to do with the best interests of medicine or women’s health. In fact, this ban does not even include a constitutionally required exception to preserve the health of the woman,” Gandy said.

Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said that the result of the vote was that “the women of America lost critical freedoms.”

Michelman continued, “This legislation not only endangers women’s health, but is unconstitutional, deceptive, and dangerous. And it is only the beginning of a coordinated strategy to rollback a woman’s right to choose and insert government into our private lives.”

Both Gandy and Michelman pointed to the unconstitutionality of the bill. It is similar to the Nebraska law that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 2000 Stenberg v. Carhart case. “Anti-choice Senators simply ignored Supreme Court precedent and voted to criminalize safe abortion procedures,” Michelman said.

The bill is expected to easily pass the Republican-controlled House, and Bush has already promised to sign it. However, the legal challenge will begin as soon as it’s signed. Planned Parenthood will file suit as soon as the bill is signed. I mean that minute,” Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt told The New York Times.

But groups warn that the outcome of a Supreme Court case is tied to court nominees. A vacancy is expected in June, when the court recesses for the Summer. The approval of an anti-choice nominee could tip the scale of an already narrowly divided Supreme Court.

Some Senators acknowledged this strategy from the floor of the Senate during debate.

The Senate vote came in the middle of a Democratic filibuster on the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the federal appeals court. Estrada, who has refused to tell the Senate his views on key issues, was nominated earlier in Bush’s presidency, but the nomination was rejected by the then-Democrat-controlled Senate. Since the right-wing took the Senate in November, Bush has renominated Estrada as well as Priscilla Owen to a federal appeals court.

Abortion rights groups are mobilizing to support the current filibuster, and are opposing the Owen nomination.

For more information, visit www.now.org or www.naral.org

Child poverty and the Bush budget

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 09:34:00 +0000

Nowhere is the fakery of “compassionate conservatism” better exposed than in George W. Bush’s 2004 budget proposals affecting the children in low-income families.

In a blistering statement released shortly after release of the budget, Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), slammed the White House for attempting to “dismantle” the Head Start program that provides developmental and educational services for almost 800,000 low-income, pre-school children ages three to five. She said the 2004 budget also “starves child care and after-school funding” and would drop 200,000 children from child care over the next five years and 570,000 children from after-school activities next year alone.

“Children are being forced to bear the burden of state budget shortfalls and the Bush administration’s budget proposals,” Edelman said, accusing the White House of waging a “budget war” against poor children. She added that Bush’s proposal to abolish taxes on dividends could provide every unserved child a slot in the Head Start program and health coverage under the children’s Health Insurance Program.

Edelman said the Bush administration believes children and the poor “should subsidize tax breaks for the rich” with the health care, education, jobs and income they need to survive today. She added, “[The administration] says our children and grandchildren should be saddled with a mountain of future debt as deficits escalate from profligate tax cuts for millionaires and huge indiscriminate military budget increases.”

The U.S. Census Bureau considered a three-person family poor in the year 2000 if its annual income was less than $13,738. For a family of four, the poverty threshold was $17,603. Using that standard, the Children’s Defense Fund says:

* 11.6 million American children younger than 18 lived below the poverty line in 2000. More children live in poverty today than were poor 20 or 30 years ago.

* One out of every six American children was poor in 2000. By race and ethnicity, 30.6 percent of Black children, 28.0 percent of Hispanic children, 14.4 percent of Asian and Pacific Island children, and 12.9 percent of white children were poor.

* Poor children defy the stereotypes. There are more poor white children (7.3 million) than poor Black children (3.5 million) or poor Hispanic children (3.3 million), even though the proportion of Black and Hispanic children who are poor is far higher. More poor children live in suburban and rural areas than in central cities. Poor families have only 2.3 children on average.

* Poverty matters. Poor children are at least twice as likely as non-poor children to suffer stunted growth or lead poisoning, or to be kept back in school. More than half of poor Americans experience serious deprivations during the year — lack of food, utility shutoffs, crowded or substandard housing, or lack of a stove or refrigerator. Poor households are more than 15 times as likely to experience hunger.

* Ranked against other social problems, the hazards of poverty are high. A baby born to a poor mother is more likely to die before its first birthday than a baby born to an unwed mother, a high school dropout, or a mother who smoked during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Other numbers are equally disturbing:

* More than three out of four poor children (77 percent) live with a family member who worked at least part of the year. More than one out of three poor children (4.1 million) lives in a family where someone is employed full-time year round. The proportion of poor families with children that were poor despite being headed by somebody who worked full time throughout 2000 is the highest in the 26 years for which data exist.

* Two out of five children in families headed by single women (39.8 percent) were poor in 2000. Only 8.2 percent of children in married families were poor.

* In fiscal year 1999, some 9.3 million people received food stamps. More than half of the people who get food stamps are children. In fiscal year 2000 15.4 million children were eligible for free or reduced-priced school lunches.

The author can be reached at fgab708@aol.com

The health bridge is falling down

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 05:04:00 +0000

Ever heard of COBRA? You probably have if you lost a job and were offered the opportunity to keep your health coverage. Under the 1986 Consolidated Omnibus Benefit Reconciliation Act (COBRA), workers who are laid off must be offered, by their employer, the opportunity to purchase their existing coverage for up to 18 months. This was one of those “reforms” that Congress was pressured to give with the skyrocketing cost of health care and the massive number of workers laid off following the recession of the early 1980s.

Getting these health rights for unemployed workers was very important, but this kind of reform had a short-term value and is now almost useless. Those who have consistently opposed a federal commitment to health care began using the COBRA program as an example of how the current system can take care of those in need.

The publicity value to the anti-national-health legislative forces is important. Sure, unemployed workers have a right to buy their present coverage, but that right has a very high price tag – a tremendous monthly cost. Also, these workers who are eligible for COBRA are not counted as being part of the uninsured.

For corporate medical ideologues, this value is very high. It is still very important to the medical-industrial complex and their bought and paid for politicians who trumpet the old saw, “The U.S. has the best health care system in the world. There may be some dislocations, but the system is best in private, for-profit, competition hands.”

The cost of COBRA is directly determined by the benefit package that the worker had at the time of job termination. The cost for a single person is about $500 a month; for a family the cost can range from $700 to $1,200 a month. Now, anyone can figure out that the weekly unemployment insurance payment that the now jobless worker receives would be almost entirely sucked up by those costs.

A recent New York Times Magazine article described an unemployed computer worker who had been making about $100,000 a year before he was laid off. His wife, who had cancer, was under going very expensive chemotherapy treatment.

For this family, the COBRA payment was $832 a month. Because the family had too many assets they were not eligible for Medicaid, the federal program that takes care of low-income families.

The cancer treatment, even with their previous insurance, was not entirely covered. They have outstanding bills of about $3,000. The family was faced with the option of eating less – they have two children – or dropping the COBRA coverage.

The article reported that the family decided to drop the COBRA and that meant dropping the chemotherapy. They understood they were taking a chance, but they really had no choice.

This one example is being duplicated across the country as the current recession deepens and health care costs escalate.

The reality is quite different for those without jobs. It is a special problem during a period when the jobless rate is on the rise and a spell of unemployment can last beyond 18 months. Or, as in many cases, when workers are forced to accept jobs for low wages and no health benefits.

When labor and community activists lobby their elected officials for national health care they should be sure to make them aware of the failure of the COBRA program.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

National Clips

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 04:16:00 +0000

DENTON, Tex.: Books not bombs

Approximately 400 students walked out of class, March 5, and gathered on the University of North Texas free speech area to protest the impending war in Iraq. A coalition of UNT student groups coordinated the event, which included speeches from both faculty and students. Dr. Olivia Masih White spoke about her recent trip to Iraq as part of a church peace delegation. She informed the crowd that the people of Iraq have suffered tremendously at the hands of U.S. aggression. Dr. Roberto Caldaron urged the audience to attend the May 3 statewide protest in Austin, titled “Showdown in Texas.”

LARAMIE, Wyo.: ‘Stop mad cowboy disease’

For 20 blocks through downtown, 200 residents carryed signs saying “Stop Mad Cowboy Disease” in honor of International Women’s Day. “By spending money on bombs and instead of food, our society is exposing all us to the possibility of total annihilation by nuclear war,” said Whitney Nichols.

EAST LOS ANGELES: Guerra no, paz si

Hundreds of mostly Mexican American and Latino anti-war protesters marched for two and one-half miles, March 9, chanting “Guerra no! Paz si!” (War, no; Peace, yes). Organized by Latinos Against the War on Iraq, the protest ended with a rally at Salazar Park, the site of a Chicano protest against the Vietnam War in 1970, called the “Chicano Moratorium.” Henry Gutierrez, 54, who attended the 1970 rally, which drew tens of thousands of protesters, also marched.

“If we go to war, Hispanics in particular are going to suffer,” said Gutierrez. “It will mean cuts in public transportation, health care and education. Those are things we depend on.”

PORTLAND, Maine: Support the troops, bring ‘em home

Over 500 celebrated International Women’s Day in the streets shouting, “War’s No Good; Bring (our troops) Home!” Karen Wainberg added that International Women’s Day started in the U.S. in the fight for social and economic justice and was then celebrated by socialists and communists around the world. In 2003, with Bush itching to pull the trigger on Iraq, it was a day for women to unite for peace.

COLUMBIA, Missouri: GOP official resigns

Jack Walters resigned his position as Republican Chairman of Boone County, March 10, because he could not support war with Iraq and the “belligerent and reckless language coming from the White House.” In his resignation letter, Walters added that the “safety and integrity of the country outweighs politics.” The Republican chairman had made public statements charging that the purpose of the war is to gain control of oil.

SELMA, Ala.: Civil rights jubilee

This year marked the 38th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” and the march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a famous crossing during the Selma to Montgomery march. The jubilee is a national celebration of the right to vote and one of the few commemorative events of the Civil Rights Movement in the country. It was held March 6-9.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, who marched, March 9, said, “The bridge was a barrier that stood between us and the access to state government and the right to vote … The challenges today are beyond the bridge.”

Father Michael Pfleger told the Chicago Defender that racism is still unfinished business and believes Bush is trying to “turn the clock back” on people of color when it comes to civil rights.

“Today our children are now having to fight battles that their grandparents thought they had already won,” Pfleger said. “We’re remembering 38 years ago but, we’re looking and seeing how many bridges have to be crossed…The only bridge Bush wants to march across is to war, and we have to refuse to get on that bridge.”

PITTSBURGH: Steelworkers demand health care

They played by the rules their entire working life. They made the steel for battleships, skyscrapers, schools, cars and hospitals. But in the 21st century, 250,000 retired steelworkers have been swindled out of their health insurance. On March 31, the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) expects that another 95,000 families will face a future without health care coverage when Bethlehem Steel is granted permission by the bankruptcy court to terminate their health care plans.

Congress slammed the door in the their face. “There’s no money. We’re going to war,” they said when steelworkers lobbied the Hill in February.

In a letter to rank and file steelworkers, union President Leo Girard called for “fundamental changes in our healthcare system. The crisis for Bethlehem retirees and millions of other Americans will continue and get worse … That’s why we are urging every steelworker and every USWA retiree to get involved in the fight to end the crisis in retiree health care.”

National clips are compiled weekly by Denise Winebrenner Edwards, who can be reached at dwinebr696@aol.com. Matt Parker and Terrie Albano contributed to this week’s clips.

Bush to poor people: Drop dead

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 08:18:00 +0000

The latest outrage of the Bush White House is the brutal attempt to kill the 40-year-old federal Medicaid program, the health program that is the final health and safety net for the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and other low-income people.

As originally established, both Medicaid and Medicare were “entitlement” programs – programs under which people who met certain standards were entitled to their benefits. People living 65 years and beyond were told they would never have to worry about their health care because Medicare would provide for their needs.

For liberals and progressives, the struggle to force the 1964-65 Congress to fulfill its commitment to seniors and poor people was a watershed. Ever since the failure of Congress to enact a national health bill following World War II, the health status of the most vulnerable people was dramatically worsening, with statistics clearly indicating that something had to be done. And those facts, along with massive labor and political pressure, finally forced Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson to act.

But, to get the powerful insurance lobby to drop its opposition, Congress agreed to allow insurance carriers to serve as third party administrators of both programs.

While Medicare is 100 percent financed by the federal government, the Medicaid program finacing is split 50-50 between state and federal government, with states playing a major role in its administration. For some states, like New York, the state’s share is split between state and local government.

In addition to its disastrous “welfare reform,” the Clinton administration pushed for the privatization of Medicaid programs, mostly through not-for-profit organizations. But even with these changes, both Medicare and Medicaid remained entitlement programs.

If Bush has his way that is about to change. Under his latest proposal, the federal share of Medicaid will be given the states in the form of “block grants.” That means governors can use the money in any way they wish.

In New York State the governor is cutting the state’s part of the Medicaid bill by $1.2 billion, with more than 40 percent of the cuts in Medicaid targeted at services such as nursing homes and home care – services primarily used by seniors. The special drug program for seniors will be cut.

Under the Bush plan, Gov. George Pataki could use the federal Medicaid money to backfill the cuts. He could promise to use it for Medicaid, but his promises mean nothing.

The Greater New York Hospital Association says the Pataki Medicaid cuts would severely hit teaching hospitals and so-called safety net hospitals, i.e., the public hospitals.

With two-thirds of all states proposing drastic Medicaid benefit cutbacks by increasing co-payments, restricting eligibility or just plain removing poor people from the Medicaid rolls, it is clear a national movement must be put together to fight back.

The link between the outrageous war budget and the cutbacks in domestic programs can become the trigger to bring together broad coalitions to defeat Bush. And, as the AFL-CIO Executive Council said recently, we cannot wait for the 2004 elections – the struggle must start today.

Saving Medicaid and Medicare is the next step in forcing Congress to enact a national health care program.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

National Clips

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 05:51:00 +0000

PITTSBURGH: 124th city on the peace list

Steelworkers, union leaders, “Raging Grannies,” veterans, professionals, artists, students and folks from across the city filled City Council Chambers at 9:30 am, lined up (for the third time) behind a microphone and testified for peace with Iraq. The council, in a 7-0 vote, finally agreed.

Pittsburgh is the fourth community in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia, York, Haines Township and Wilkinsburg, to pass a peace resolution.

“I am president of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees Chapter 20-15, Pittsburgh,” George Edwards told the pre-meeting rally. “Our chapter has a lot of veterans, including me.” Edwards read from the AFL-CIO resolution adopted at their Feb. 27 meeting to cheers, echoing applause and honking car solidarity horns.

BALTIMORE: Peace ‘illegal’ in suburban mall

When 20 activists from the Iraq Pledge of Resistance showed up inside the Towsontown Mall, March 1, wearing pictures of Iraqi children and distributing anti-war flyers. Mall owners called the police. Shopping malls are considered private property, but activists argue that it is a “town square with a roof over it.”

Baltimore County police arrested eight Pledge members. Their crime was handing out 500 flyers in an hour.

The peace activists were jailed for 14 hours in leg shackles. While on their way to arraignment, cops heckled the activists over their patrol car loud speakers chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” followed by whistles to simulate bombs dropping. Their trial is scheduled for June.

SAN FRANCISCO: Stock exchange pres. against war

The former president of the West Coast stock exchange, Pacific Exchange, announced that he would participate in non-violent demonstrations to shut down the financial district, if the U.S. attacks Iraq. Protests will target Pacific Exchange, Transamerica Pyramid and “other war making corporate and federal headquarters.”

Warren Langley, 60, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel, served as stock exchange president from 1996 – 1999. He supported the Vietnam War. But on Jan. 18, he marched in his first peace protest. After the Feb. 16 demonstration, Langley decided to do more and contacted Direct Action to Stop the War. “I do believe this war is wrong,” he said.

DETROIT: Marchers to High Court: ‘Save affirmative action’

About 1,000 Detroit-area residents marched on March 1 to demand that the Supreme Court “Save Affirmative Action.”

At a rally near the old Tiger Stadium, the crowd cheered on a number of speakers and prominent attendees, including Lt. Governor John Cherry, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Wendell Anthony of the Detroit Chapter of the NAACP, both U.S. Senators from Michigan, Carl Levin (D) and Debbie Stabenow (D). After the rally, the crowd marched peacefully to the federal courthouse.

The march was sponsored by the Coalition to Defend Equal Opportunity, composed of numerous civil rights and labor organizations.

Michigan’s Lt. Governor said that the university’s mission was to provide a diverse quality education for all, not just the few. Rep. Cheeks Kilpatrick urged the crowd to attend the April 1 rally in Washington D.C. She called for using people’s power to change the minds of our leaders. “Change comes from the bottom, from the people to the leaders,” she stated. “You have to force leaders to act.”

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear cases on April 1 that say affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan discriminate against white students.

DALLAS: Driving while Black or Brown: Hazardous to your health

For African-American and Mexican-American motorists in north Texas a simple traffic stop can turn into a humiliating search or even arrest instead of a warning or ticket. A state mandated 2002 study found that in Dallas one in every nine Hispanics and one in every 15 African Americans stopped for a traffic violation resulted in a full search of their vehicles. That compares to one in every 28 whites. The trend changed in Arlington and Denton where African-Americans were more likely than Hispanics and whites to be searched.

“Based on the data that we have,” said Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bottom, “I think it is time to take a step back and make sure we treat everybody fairly.”

NEW YORK: Hikers start ‘No Tuition Hike’

Students and young people on opposite sides of the state held kickoff rallies for the “No Tuition Hike,” in which young people will walk from Buffalo and Long Island to Albany to protest the increase in tuition and fees at the City and State Universities of New York.

The rallies, which have been organized by the Hike’s sponsoring group, the New York Public Interest Research Group and the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, drew hundreds of people in Buffalo and thousands in New York City. A closing rally is planned on March 11 in Albany, and is expected to draw many thousands of people.

National clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards who can be reached at dwinebr696@aol.com. Dan Margolis and Joel Wendland contributed to this week’s clips.