http://104.192.218.19/May-2003-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ <p>Mt. Olive Pickle steals workers’ lives<br /><br /> The disingenuous response from the Mt. Olive Pickle Company answering the March 26 rally by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee is a good example of how they maintain a cheap, exploitable work force. <br /><br /> Mt. Olive claims innocence because Raymundo Hernandez (whose widow led the demonstration on March 26) died in a tobacco field, not a cucumber field. End of story – if you were born yesterday. <br /><br /> The recruiter and employer of Raymundo was the North Carolina Grower’s Association. In 1995, when Raymundo died, the Mt. Olive Pickle Company was a prominent corporate dues-paying member of this association. Many of Mt. Olive’s growers are also members. The growers that don’t use association workers readily use undocumented workers brought in similar fashion as those who recently perished in Victoria, Texas. <br /><br /> Okay, so Raymundo died in a tobacco field, and his remains lay forgotten for four years. What about Urbano Ramirez, who died of heat stroke two summers ago harvesting pickles for a Mt. Olive supplier? Or Mamerto Chai, who would have died of appendicitis had not his co-workers paid a cab driver $70 to get him to the nearest hospital? <br /><br /> Mt. Olive begs to tell their side of the story. Sure, why not? This is why we boycott Mt. Olive, to get them to listen to Raymundo’s and Urbano’s side of the story. <br /><br /> Enron and WorldCom had their thieves who stole people’s life savings; Mt. Olive’s moral dilemma may be worse as its procurement system steals people’s lives. <br /><br /><br /><br />Baldemar VelasquezPresident, FLOC<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />U.S. money grab in Iraq<br /><br /> The current U.S. proposal to the UN Security Council is a blatant money grab by Bush &amp; his Crony Capitalist buddies. The Bush administration is trying to setup a puppet board of directors as the “Provisional Authority” to control the Iraq’s treasury and income from oil sales. It is a truly pathetic exhibition of greed. <br /><br /><br /><br />Ray LauzzanaSan Francisco CA<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Privatization vs. public ownership<br /><br /> Recently I was privileged to read a book titled “The Working Class Majority – America’s Best Kept Secret” by Michael Zweig Economics Professor at State University of New York. In his research he dispels the myth that the private sector can replace duties and services now done by public sector. Prison systems that have been privatized have all failed, cost over runs were much higher than state controlled prisons. Whole public school districts made private by Edison Schools, Inc., were a total flop. <br /><br /> Capitalist medicine HMOs, big insurance, AMA control of U.S. Congress – well, we all know that too well. <br /><br /> Outside the U.S., Chile’s experiment with a private social security system is failing. One can only imagine Enron-types dictating our retirement funds. In Columbia private enterprise armies from U.S. are helping fascist goons squads murder workers and farmers. The right has a low opinion of humankind if they think only profits motivate people. <br /><br /><br /><br />Arthur E. GlazierVero Beach FL<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More on health care <br /><br /> As a new subscriber – first year – I would like to see in a future article, the single payer, universal health care system from cradle to grave explained. Many people receive compromised health care information in other media. I’d like the PWW to present the plan in an uncompromised fashion. <br /><br /><br /><br />Chris O’Bannonvia e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Congrats to Texas fighters<br /><br /><br /><br /> A reader wrote the following letter to some of the Texas legislators who holed up in Arkansas to frustrate a Republican Party power grab in the closing days of the legislative session. <br /><br /><br /><br /> I wish to thank you and your colleagues for the courage shown while fighting the anti-democracy forces of the Bush’s right-wing cabal. Not since the early 1930s in Germany have there been so many “fascist-minded” people, as Paul Robeson once called them, involved in the government of a large powerful nation like the U.S. Your creative and courageous action could well become this country’s second “shot heard ’round the world” in the struggle for democracy. <br /><br /> While there are moments when I am dismayed at what seems to be almost unlimited support for Bush and his agenda, there are more times when I get the sense that there is a growing desire by the population for someone, anyone, to cry out, “The Emperor has no clothes!” I believe the good people of Texas, you legislators and your supporters, finally said those words loud enough for all to hear. <br /><br /> Yours for Peace, Jobs, and Justice, <br /><br /><br /><br />William AppelhansChicago IL<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 30 May 2003 02:03:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ <p>Mourn the dead and organize for peace<br /><br /><br /><br /> Many mourned the death of 145 U.S. soldiers in the Iraq War this past Memorial Day weekend. Surely the deepest grief is suffered by mothers and fathers – both U.S. and Iraqi – who lost a child in a war that George W. Bush said was needed to seize “weapons of mass destruction.” <br /><br /> One of these grieving parents is Fernando Suarez del Solar of Escondido, Calif., whose son, a Marine Lance Corporal, Jesus, died when he stepped on a U.S. cluster bomb in Iraq. The father spoke to a peace rally at San Diego’s Balboa Park, Sat. May 24. “Instead of grabbing a rifle, young people should be allowed to have books,” he said. “With a book, an education, these young people can do more good for the world than with a rifle.” <br /><br /> Suarez said he hoped that by speaking out, he might save the lives of other soldiers “forced into the military because of lack of opportunity. For Latinos, especially, we need more opportunities for education outside of military service. I want everyone to remember my son as a loving and brave young man. He gave his blood to show the American people that Latinos do not come to take or to rob anything. On the contrary, we are here to give our blood to this country.” <br /><br /> Solar’s appeal underlined the disproportionate share of casualties suffered by African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color, including at least 24 who were not even U.S. citizens. The “poverty draft” sends mostly poor and working class youth to die for the interests of wealthy chickenhawks like Bush. Already Bush and his gang are plotting the next preemptive war against Iran. Again the working class will pay in blood and tax dollars if he gets his way. We should listen to a grief stricken father. Books are better than rifles. In memory of Lance Corporal Jesus Suarez de Solar, in memory of all who died in this immoral war, stop Bush’s war machine! <br /><br /><br /><br /> * * * * * * <br /><br /><br /><br />Caging the foxes<br /><br /><br /><br /> The Financial Times hit the nail on the head recently when, after surveying the new tax bill, it said, “The lunatics are now in charge of the asylum.” <br /><br /> We would say it differently. Those in charge of the White House and Congress may be crazy but they are crazy like a fox – and are absolutely determined to change the role of the federal government. <br /><br /> If they get their way, that role will be drastically changed from providing for the general welfare to that of providing for the welfare of the likes of General Motors and General Electric, while making sure that the generals in the Pentagon get theirs. <br /><br /> They know that’s a tough job. But they think they’ve found the way: Enact tax cuts favoring the rich, run huge deficits – and the stage is set for cuts in spending for social programs because “there’s no money.” <br /><br /> David Stockman, Ronald Reagan’s budget director, put the theory into practice when he recognized that those favoring privatization of Social Security could turn public concern over deficits to their advantage. <br /><br /> The process was further refined under the leadership of then House Speaker Newt Gingrich who said the best way to kill Medicare was to “let it die on the vine” by refusing to fund it. How better to get government “off your back?” Nor did President Clinton’s “the era of big government is over” help matters. <br /><br /> When all of the rhetoric is stripped away, budget struggles are resolved on the basis of strength; more specifically, on who’s got the most votes. And that, in turn, will be determined in large measure by who gets the most votes on November 2, 2004. <br /><br /> Elections without issues and candidates pledged to support them will not do much to change the situation. <br /><br /> Therefore the challenge: What are the issues by which candidates will be judged? And how can they be brought into the debate? <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 30 May 2003 01:51:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ <p>Cuba solidarity still needed<br /><br /> As you may know, I am no longer at the Cuban Interests Section (CIS) in Washington, D.C. I was in Cuba on my holidays when the U.S. government decided last week to expel several CIS officials, including myself. So, I was not able to say a proper farewell. This must not mean the end of our contact. I appreciated very much having been in friendship with you and I intend to keep in touch. <br /><br /> This arbitrary decision is yet further evidence of a plan against Cuba aimed at sabotaging agreements, creating a crisis and confrontation between the two countries. <br /><br /> It is a sign of the growing desperation of extremist sectors demanding a hardening of the blockade and fresh aggressions on a people they have been unable to sway after more than 44 years. Part of the purpose is to curry favor with the Cuban American constituency in South Florida. Just today President Bush is due to address them. <br /><br /> I hope you will be able to keep an eye on these developments because they are also part of what appears to be aggressive intent toward Cuba by the fascist-like current U.S. rulers. <br /><br /> In friendship and solidarity, for peace and justice anywhere, <br /><br /><br /><br />Fernando García Bielsa<br /><br /> First Secretary <br /><br /> Cuban Interests Section <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bortz never wavered<br /><br /> The following is a letter printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. <br /><br /> Thank you for your story about the McCarthy-era persecution of Louis Bortz (“How a Snitch Led McCarthy to Louis Bortz,” 5/11). I had the honor of knowing Lou for most of the last 30 years. He was a kind and gentle man, yet exceptionally strong-willed and deeply principled. It takes nothing away from the many fine people I have met while living in Western Pennsylvania to say that he was the best, most honest and the most profoundly human. <br /><br /> The article captures some of the ugliness of that period, but it does not fully convey the tragedy of lost employment, betrayed friendships and broken families that struck many ordinary Pittsburghers in that shameful time. Nor does it present a complete picture of the role of prominent local political, judicial and media leaders who enthusiastically joined McCarthy’s campaign against political dissent. As David Caute in his book, “The Great Fear,” states: “The violent epicenter of the anti-Communist eruption in postwar America was the steel city of Pittsburgh, in Western Pennsylvania.” <br /><br /> In the face of these powerful forces, Lou Bortz never wavered in his commitment to peace, justice and a vision of a better world, a vision he found in the cause of Communism. <br /><br /><br /><br />Greg Godels<br /><br />Pittsburgh PA<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I’ve got a hammer<br /><br /> Thanks for continuing to hammer at what really terrifies Americans today. It was so enraging to see fake disaster drills right at the time thousands were suffering from real tornado disasters. To see hospital workers forced to deal with fake injuries at the expense of real patients. (Not to mention all those who don’t even have access to health care.) To see libraries all over the country forced to cut hours and services while our tax dollars go to fund fake “libraries” set up to undermine socialism in Cuba. <br /><br /><br /><br />Barbara Russum <br /><br />Chicago IL<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Haddad update<br /><br /> Many of you are familiar with the story of Rabih Haddad – a local Muslim teacher, fundraiser, and father of four young children who has been jailed since Dec. 14, 2001, on a technical visa violation. The AAACP has advocated for due process and the civil liberties of Haddad since the beginning. While government-created innuendos and rumors about Haddad and his charity, Global Relief, have been widely circulated, no criminal charges have ever been filed. <br /><br /> Haddad remains an INS prisoner in the Monroe County Jail. About a month ago, jail officials confiscated his property – including his personal correspondence, address book, and books that friends had sent him. Lately they have been denying his children the right to visit. And earlier this week, Haddad’s appeal to be released on bond was denied. He is, essentially, in INS limbo. <br /><br /> Letters from community members would go a long way toward lifting Rabih’s spirits. His address is: <br /><br /> Rabih Haddad 100 E. 2nd St. Monroe MI 48161 <br /><br /> Include articles, too, so he’ll have more things to read. And if you wish to send books, you can do so through an online bookseller or a publisher. <br /><br /><br /><br />Phillis Engelbert<br /><br />Via e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 23 May 2003 02:54:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ <p>Who killed the Victoria 18?<br /><br /><br /><br /> The death of 18 Latino immigrants inside a locked semi-trailer near Victoria, Texas, May 14, throws a hideous spotlight on the criminal trafficking in human cargo across our southern border. A seven-year-old child died in his father’s arms inside that stifling trailer while a woman cried, “El niño! El niño!” (The little boy!). The Bush administration would shift the blame to the truck driver and the so-called “coyotes” who guide the undocumented immigrants across the border. But The New York Times was closer when it wrote that the disaster “is a reminder that Vicente Fox and George Bush have failed to deliver on their ambitious pledge to craft a landmark immigration agreement that would make it easier for the United States to fill its labor needs without forcing young Mexicans to run a deadly gantlet in the desert.” It denounced the “hypocrisy” of U.S. immigration policy which “virtually posts two signs on its southern border – ‘Help Wanted, Inquire Within!’ and ‘Do not Trespass.’” But certainly Fox cannot be blamed for the stalled agreement. Having refused to endorse preemptive war on Iraq, Fox has been cold-shouldered by Bush. The Bush plan would resurrect the hated bracero program, shipping Mexican workers in and out of the U.S. – cheap labor for the corporate factories, fields and construction sites. On May Day, workers organized by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee demonstrated on Capitol Hill demanding enactment of the Freedom Act, which would provide three years of legal residency with the right to renew for millions of undocumented workers. They would have the right to join unions, bargain collectively, send their children to school and draw all the benefits like Food Stamps and Medicaid they are entitled to by virtue of the taxes they pay. The most fitting memorial we could raise to the Victoria 18 and the hundreds of other immigrants who die each year is to fight for enactment of the Freedom Act, to demilitarize and humanize the U.S.-Mexico border. <br /><br /><br /><br /> * * * * * * * <br /><br /><br /><br /> ‘Way to go, stand your ground’<br /><br /><br /><br /> Tom DeLay, GOP majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Tom Craddick, speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, went down in flames on May 16 when a walkout by 55 Democrats in the Texas House brought the legislature to a standstill and defeated a GOP power grab aimed at adding seven Republicans to the state’s 32-member congressional delegation. The measure enjoyed the public support of DeLay. <br /><br /> Several hundred union members and community activists – many wearing “Killer D” T-shirts – gathered on the capitol steps to welcome the returning legislators, in marked contrast to the corporal’s guard who responded to a call by local Republicans to pack the House gallery in a protest action. <br /><br /> The Democrats holed up in Ardmore, Okla. for their week-long standoff, thus placing themselves beyond the reach of troopers of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) who had been ordered to arrest and bring them back to the House chamber. <br /><br /> The DPS has been mired in controversy over its handling of the incident, with charges ranging from intimidating the families of absent legislators to enlisting assistance from the Department of Homeland Security to bring the lawmakers back across the Texas-Oklahoma border. <br /><br /> Both Craddick and DeLay have admitted that the federal government had been approached to intervene, an admission that brought howls of outrage from Texas legislators and members of the Texas congressional delegation. The controversy became even sharper as information surfaced that DPS has ordered destruction of all records and photos gathered during the search for the missing legislators. <br /><br /> For our part we think country-western singer Willie Nelson hit the nail on the head when he sent greetings and gifts to the truants. “Way to go, stand your ground,” he said in a note accompanying red bandannas and a case of whiskey delivered to the motel where the lawmakers were waiting out the legislative clock. <br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 23 May 2003 02:44:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ <p>Solutions and the Communist Party<br /><br /> The Communist Party has for 84 years been the major organized, incorruptible opposition to capitalism in the USA. It has been in the forefront of organizing workers into unions and as well as organizing all people in their struggle for improvement in their lives. Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare and a host of other programs were led by communists. <br /><br /> The single and most important thing missing is the understanding of solutions. The understanding of the scientific development of societies and why, in our understanding of history, we feel confident, due to the fight-back of the working class, in the eventual control people will have over their lives. Socialism. <br /><br /> This does not negate the struggle against the present administration, which we see taking this country to new and more thorough authoritarian control. Robbing the poor and giving to the rich. Using our youth to wage war against the rest of the world for the gain of their class. Instead, scientific socialism allows for a better understanding of who the enemy really is and that everything it does is to preserve and increase its wealth and power. <br /><br /> The reason to join the CPUSA is that the Communist Party has a solution to capitalism’s injustices and, with your help, will better strive to get there. <br /><br /><br /><br />Karl Dennis<br /><br />Tucson AZ<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Fidel’s May Day speech<br /><br /> I had a question about whether or not the PWW is planning to publish Fidel Castro’s May Day speech? I know you have published part of his speeches before. I heard his May Day speech was really something. If you are not going to publish it, can you tell me where I could get a copy of it either in English or Spanish? I really enjoy reading “my paper.” Thanks. <br /><br /><br /><br />Rod Luther<br /><br />Lincoln RI<br /><br /><br /><br /> Editors’ note: The speech is available at www.rednet.org <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Good statement<br /><br /> I commend the statement by the Communist Party (PWW May 3) in defense of Cuba while at the same time joining in the call for the death penalty’s universal abolition. In the same way, we must speak out against all terrorism. Just because the Bush administration is using the fight against terrorism as an excuse to attack Iraq, abuse the civil rights of U.S. citizens, and crush immigrant rights is no reason why we should not more strongly speak out against all forms of terrorism. The party has correctly condemned terrorism but we must more vigorously denounce it as when we defend the struggle of the Palestinian people against the brutal aggression of the Israeli government. <br /><br /> Both sides are using terrorism. Not only are innocent people being killed and injured, this tactic will not win the favor of world public opinion. <br /><br /><br /><br />Armando Ramirez<br /><br />San Diego CA<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Iraqi films<br /><br /> I would like to congratulate Carolyn Rummel on her timely article “Films show Iraq through Iraqi eyes.” (PWW April 26) Not too many people know that the Jewish proletariat constituted a large segment of the Iraqi Communist Party in the 1930s and 40s. The Jewish community in Iraq was vibrant, and its history can be traced back thousands of years. Collusion between Zionist separatists and a British colonialist Iraqi government drove many Jews out of Iraq to Israel, where they were treated very shabbily. <br /><br /><br /><br />Hazzim Yousif<br /><br />Via email<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Working-class internationalism<br /><br /> There is some reportage in our media and considerable anecdotal information on hostility to Canadians traveling and visiting the USA. Some of the same hostility exists here towards U.S. citizens. We think it is deplorable and does not reflect working-class attitudes. This points to the need to elevate the issue of solidarity and internationalism even among progressives everywhere. <br /><br /> I also was encouraged to read that the CPUSA is sponsoring a conference on health care. You may want to get a copy of Roy Romonow’s Report to the Federal Government on Health Care in Canada. Romonow is a social democrat and former premier of the Province of Saskatchewan. I believe you covered or re-printed some items from The People’s Voice on the report. <br /><br /> Keep fighting. <br /><br /><br /><br />Don Currie<br /><br />Canada<br /><br />Via email<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 16 May 2003 04:42:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ <p>No resegregation<br /><br /> On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed the doctrine of “separate but equal” in public education. In unequivocal language, a unanimous court ruled that separate facilities for Black and white were inherently unequal: “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.” <br /><br /> The decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka nullified school segregation laws in 21 states. The ruling was a blow to racism. Although few people thought the millennium had come, most hoped that segregated schools were history. <br /><br /> Forty-nine years later, segregation is, in fact, alive and well. Still worse, a new Harvard study shows that public schools are being resegregated at an alarming pace. While minority enrollment now approaches 40 percent nationwide, the average white student attends a public school that is 80 percent white. At the same time, the average African-American student attends a school that is nearly 100 percent nonwhite. These numbers reflect a serious reversal of progress made in the 1960s and 1970s. <br /><br /> Rather than opposing the resegregation of our public schools, the Bush administration has been aiding and abetting it. The administration’s briefs in the University of Michigan affirmative action case now before the Supreme Court praise so-called “race-blind” plans in several states that guarantee college admission to students based on purely academic indicators. <br /><br /> Bush and his allies would have us ignore the huge inequalities between predominantly white schools and predominantly Black and Latino schools in the U.S. today. They would have us acquiesce, in fact, to a new doctrine of “separate but equal,” reinforcing a deep legacy of bias against the racially oppressed under the guise of applying “equal standards.” <br /><br /> The best way to commemorate the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education is to build the broadest possible movement to defend affirmative action. <br /><br /> * * * * * * <br /><br />Road map to peace<br /><br /> The terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia this week that killed at least 20 people including eight Americans contradict George W. Bush’s claim that his imperial policies of preemptive war, unilateralism, and destruction of civil liberties have “turned the tide” in the war on terrorism. <br /><br /> New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd commented, “Buried in the rubble of Riyadh are some of the Bush administration’s basic assumptions: that Al Qaeda was finished, that invading Iraq would bring regional stability and that a show of American superpower against Saddam would cow terrorists.” <br /><br /> But in fact, as many commentators are noting, the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld policies promote rather than discourage terrorism. <br /><br /> Taking issue with Bush’s might-makes-right view of the world, former JFK speechwriter Theodore Sorenson warned American University graduates this week, “Our declared doctrine of preemptive strikes, without legal justification or evidence, is music to the ears of terrorist organizations that specialize in such strikes; but, if followed worldwide, it will create a lawless planet in which the law abiding will suffer the most.” <br /><br /> Or take the ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis. While the Bush administration speaks words of peace, it has in fact encouraged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s aggressive and lawless reign of terror against the legitimate national and democratic aspirations of the Palestinian people. The “road map” to peace touted by Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell imposes a double standard: while the Palestinian Authority is to be held responsible for stopping not only terrorist acts but any and all armed resistance, the Israeli occupation army and armed settler vigilantes are given free reign to commit crimes against humanity. <br /><br /> The peoples of the world want an end to terrorism, a world of peace and international cooperation in which national sovereignty and human rights are respected. The Bush administration is flouting those desires, spouting Hitler-like doublespeak where war means peace, occupation means freedom, and trashing the Bill of Rights means democracy. <br /><br /> Our Road Map to peace and ending terrorism: Send Bush and Co. out the door in 2004. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 16 May 2003 04:15:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ <p>No fly-boy<br /><br /> I had to laugh when I saw the picture of George Bush wearing full flight gear, strutting across the deck of that aircraft carrier for all the world to see. His campaign advisors will use this spectacular footage to great effect in next year’s election campaign. <br /><br /> But, the fact is, G.W. was never certified to fly military aircraft of any kind. The president was a deserter from the Air National Guard when he was of fighting age. And he’d joined the Guard to avoid the possibility of service in Vietnam. He was AWOL from one of his units for nearly a year in 1972, as his military records document. <br /><br /> Despite this gross absence, Bush was never reprimanded. His nervous commanding officers probably thought that wouldn’t have been prudent, considering their bad boy’s privileged pedigree. Instead, they let him off the hook so he could attend Harvard Business School, unencumbered by any further military obligations. <br /><br /><br /><br />Cord MacGuireBoulder CO <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A proper Ohio greeting for ‘W’<br /><br /> When ‘W’ Bush flew into Canton airport, he was greeted by more than his expected throng of GOP well-to-do clones. A large demonstration of steelworkers whose pensions he had stolen, and peace groups let Bush know that we are not happy with his rule. As Bush’s caravan left the airport, expecting crowds of well-wishers, steelworkers with bullhorns chanted, “Bush go home! Don’t come back!” Signs stated “Bush return our pensions,” “Bush murderer &amp; thief,” “Pensions &amp; health care, not war,” and many, many others. <br /><br /> Besides steelworkers from nearby Massillon and Canton, as well as Lorain, peace groups from Stark County, Cleveland and Cincinnati were present and very loud. All the groups made sure that they exchanged information in order to stay in touch for the struggles ahead. <br /><br /> Breaking the media/war hysteria wall of silence, National Public Radio interviewed the protesters, as did numerous local TV and radio programs. The demo was featured on all three major TV networks. Numerous articles were written about our fight, as well. <br /><br /><br /><br />Bruce BostikLorrain OH<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />May 1 loyalties<br /><br /> The Texas Governor who resides illegitimately in the White House has, in has latest act of attempted theft from the people, declared May 1 as “Loyalty Day.” I guess you’re either with ‘em or agin’ ‘em. <br /><br /> For many of us May 1 has been and will remain a day of loyalty to our working class. <br /><br /><br /><br />Al MarkowitzVia email<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> “Murder and slaughter” <br /><br /> A marine in Time magazine called battle in Iraq “murder and slaughter.” Most of the Iraqi deaths in battle came as they retreated, they were burned by cluster bombs. One engagement after another left up to a hundred Iraqis dead with no Americans even wounded. This is only part of a deliberate, methodical, drive by U.S. imperialism to remake the world to its needs, using superior techniques in weapons. <br /><br /> To contain the movement for peace, and to win over the public to support the war have been major campaigns. This home war will only get more sophisticated. There will be story after story in the capitalist press on how we are helping the Iraqi people prosper in a democracy. <br /><br /> Now, we can look like “heroes” to the uninformed. That’s the story, in short, about this war. <br /><br /><br /><br />Joe SompolinskyMuskegon MI<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bush says ‘Let them eat cake’<br /><br /> 8.8 million people unemployed and George Bush wants to circle the wagons and give the rich a tax cut of 35 billion dollars a year for ten years ($350 billion)! <br /><br /> Mr. President, for 35 billion dollars you could give all of the 8.8 million unemployed $500 per month for 8 months. <br /><br /> Giving tax cuts to the rich to expand production, at a time when industrial output is far below capacity, is just plain stupid. <br /><br /> The rich will just deposit the money in a Swiss bank account or buy stock certificates. A heightened demand for stocks will only inflate stock prices and have no real positive impact on the creation of new jobs. <br /><br /><br /><br />James CarrollKnoxville TN<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Website woes and wows<br /><br /> I was so sorry your website has been out for the last two weeks. But I love the new upgraded web server. It’s so much faster than before. I’m going to tell all my friends to visit www.pww.org. <br /><br />Marie LawrenceVia email<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 09 May 2003 03:56:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ <p>McCarthyism’s stench<br /><br /> The lid was pried opened this week on the Joe McCarthy archives. The files contain the transcripts of the secret proceedings conducted by Sen. Joseph McCarthy during his notorious anti-communist witch hunt in the 1950s. They were sealed for 50 years. <br /><br /> The files show McCarthy to be a sneering, vicious, manipulative, browbeating, and racist bully. He grilled those hauled before him about their personal beliefs and affiliations like the Grand Inquisitor. He treated them with contempt. He then dragged many into public hearings for even more intimidation and abuse. <br /><br /> The hearings were a part of McCarthy’s hysterical anti-communist crusade, a crusade that created fear throughout the country about alleged Communist spies in and out of government. The crusade’s real purpose, however, was quite different. <br /><br /> McCarthyism created an ideological fog that allowed big business to unleash a violent wave of intimidation against all militant, left-wing trade unionists and progressive community activists in the post-World War II era. It facilitated the break-up of progressive unions, weakened all unions, and undermined all forces that were struggling at the time for better wages, working conditions, and an end to racism and inequality. <br /><br /> McCarthyism also created an atmosphere of panic and fear among the public that facilitated the U.S. government’s waging of wars, both hot and Cold. <br /><br /> People’s lives were destroyed. Many lost their jobs. Families were broken up. Some people were beaten up or killed, including Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Some committed suicide, and at least one suicide note can be found among these files. <br /><br /> Some politicians and pundits remarked piously this week about how horrible McCarthyism was and how it can’t be allowed to happen again. <br /><br /> But what about Bush’s “War on Terrorism”? What about this new crusade that is being used to curtail civil liberties, to bust labor unions, to victimize immigrants and racial minorities, and to mobilize support for unending war? Isn’t this cut from the same cloth? <br /><br /> A foul stench indeed. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Corporate flim-flam<br /><br /> Corporate America’s latest pension scam is its most obscene “heads I win, tails you lose” flim-flam yet. <br /><br /> Corporate actuarial experts, have developed another creative new way to get out of obligations to fund workers’ pensions. Finagling with the numbers, they can show that blue-collar workers have life-expectencies lower than the overall population listed on actuarial tables. Their not-surprising conclusion – less money needs to be paid into funding blue-collar workers’ pensions. <br /><br /> Once again it’s win/win for the corporations in Bush’s America. Increase profits when you cut back on work place health and safety and environmental measures. The devastating effects on the health of workers shortens their life spans so you can achieve even more savings by cutting funding to their pensions. <br /><br /> Workers’ pensions are not freebies given by generous employers. They were earned as part of compensation for every hour worked. While the captains of industry can walk away with their profits, playing the stock market, opening and closing plants around the world, hiding their riches in secret deals and mergers, the workers share sits for all to see, irresistibly tempting greedy capitalists. <br /><br /> Like a salivating dog hovering around the family’s Thanksgiving turkey, corporate America finds the billions of dollars accumulated in the pension funds of America’s workers an irresistible lure. Like the dog, they’re just waiting for someone to turn their back for just one moment. <br /><br /> With corporate profits at sky-high levels, there is no excuse for any bookkeeping hanky-panky that provides excuses for pension funds to be diverted back to employers. If blue collar workers truly have shorter life spans (honest actuarians have pointed out that it is actually the category of lower-paid workers who have the lower life span – thus indicating that union membership may actually prolong your life) then it’s time to look at lowering the retirement age so that American workers can both live a little longer and enjoy the hard-earned fruits of their labor. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 09 May 2003 03:48:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/bush-policies-erode-civil-rights/ <p>WASHINGTON – As civil rights veterans gathered in Birmingham, Ala., May 3-4 to celebrate their victory 40 years ago over Police Chief Bull Connor’s attack dogs and fire hoses, a report released by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) warns that the Bush administration seeks to roll back the gains they went to jail to win. <br /><br /> Rev. Calvin Woods, pastor of Birmingham’s Shiloh Baptist Church, was arrested, beaten by police and spat on by Ku Klux Klansmen in 1963. He was one of an estimated 2,000 who attended the civil rights reunion. <br /><br /> “It was inspirational,” Woods told the World in a phone interview. “It engendered a sense of revival to continue to press for the rights of all people. <br /><br /> “Our gains have lulled us into complacency,” Woods said. “Nothing has been handed to us on a silver platter. It took marching. It took hard work. If we are not vigilant, a lot will be lost.” <br /><br /> Today, he said, the main line of defense is the ballot box. “We need to register people to vote all the time, not just when elections roll around,” he said. “We need to continue to meet the same as we did when we were engaged in direct action.” <br /><br /> Rev. Woods’ warning is echoed in the LCCR report titled “The Bush Administration Takes Aim: Civil Rights Under Attack.” The report, recently released by LCCR Executive Director Wade Henderson, rings with anger against the extremist right-wing Republicans. <br /><br /> It cites the pro-segregation statements of Mississippi’s Republican Sen. Trent Lott as proof that “civil rights remains the unfinished business of America. The nation’s historic march toward equality is not completed.” <br /><br /> Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, “civil rights progress has faltered,” the report says. “The Bush administration has quietly engineered a pattern of civil rights reversals … Meanwhile, the war on terrorism itself threatens the principle of equal protection.” <br /><br /> Bush, his appointees, and the GOP leadership of Congress “are using the rhetoric of the so-called “states’ rights” movement to undermine Congress’ ability to promote progress on civil rights issues,” the report declares, calling states’ rights a “code phrase for racial segregation.” <br /><br /> The Bush administration has displayed outright hostility to pending legislation to bar hate crimes, racial profiling, and employment discrimination against gays and lesbians, the report charges. <br /><br /> Bush tax cuts and multi-billion-dollar increases for the Pentagon have squeezed resources for civil rights enforcement and other domestic priorities, the LCCR document says. “Civil rights are illusory in a society without quality public education, decent housing and affordable health care for all citizens,” it continues. <br /><br /> The report contains a bill of particulars of Bush administration attacks and maneuvers aimed at undermining civil rights: <br /><br /> * The Brennan Center for Justice filed suit against Florida charging state authorities with violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in denying the vote to 31 percent of Black adult males on spurious grounds they are “ex-felons.” The lawsuit charges that “racial animus” motivated the 1868 Florida law stripping former felons of their voting rights. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft filed a brief in support of the Florida law. “Tellingly, Florida is represented by some of the same Washington lawyers who represented then-candidate George W. Bush in Florida following the 2000 election, an election in which felon disenfranchisement probably ensured Bush’s disputed margin of victory,” the report says. <br /><br /> * Ashcroft has filed briefs supporting two lawsuits against the University of Michigan’s affirmative action admissions policy. The LCCR charges that the Bush administration’s opposition to “the benign consideration of race as one admission factor among many, calls into question his commitment to longstanding civil rights goals.” <br /><br /> * Ashcroft joined with Pittsburgh officials in terminating a 1994 consent decree aimed at rooting out police brutality and other Pittsburgh police misconduct, over the objections of the NAACP and other civil rights groups. <br /><br /> * Ashcroft has reversed Department of Justice (DOJ) policy by backing an aerobic test designed to exclude women from jobs in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and has also reversed DOJ policy that threw out a hiring test meant to exclude African-American and Latino workers from law enforcement. Solicitor General Ted Olsen has filed a brief supporting narrowing rights protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act. <br /><br /> * The COINTELPRO spy program was used by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to wiretap, photograph and “generally hound” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others on the White House “enemies list.” Now, the report warns, Ashcroft is resurrecting this tactic “that leaves racial and religious minorities at risk of 1960s-style harassment.” <br /><br /> * Bush has stripped DOJ and Homeland Security Department employees of union representation. The report cites American Federation of Government Employees President Bobby Harnage’s comment calling Bush’s action “union busting with a respectable cover.” <br /><br /> The LCCR is the nation’s broadest civil rights coalition with affiliates including the NAACP, AFL-CIO, National Organization for Women, People for the American Way, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and a dozen other groups with tens of millions of members. <br /><br /><br /><br />The author can be reached at greenerpastures21212@yahoo.com<br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 09 May 2003 01:55:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/bush-policies-erode-civil-rights/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ <p>A lot of zeros<br /><br /> I guess I had some free time on my hands today. I was reading the announcement that Bethlehem Steel received the go-ahead to cancel its insurance coverage for retirees and their dependents, effective March 31. <br /><br /> After reading Bethlehem’s statement that health care coverage for retirees costs them $225 million per year, I clicked on the calculator program on my computer. President Bush is asking Congress for $75 billion to cover the cost of the war in Iraq, and humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq. When I punched in 75,000,000,000, I thought I must have made a mistake. That looked like too many zeros. <br /><br /> Unless my figuring is flawed, that $75 billion would cover health care insurance costs for Bethlehem’s retirees for 333 years. I hope these figures are correct because I just finished sending them to my senators, and to the president. <br /><br /><br /><br />Roy G. Jackson<br /><br />Via e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Health care is a right<br /><br /> As we gather to observe May as Mental Health Awareness Month, we are both joyful and sad. We are joyful because of the outstanding progress made in the development and use of psychoactive medications that help bring stability and normalization to thousands. <br /><br /> At the beginning of the 20th century “treatment” consisted of crude methods involving being arrested and shackled to walls in dungeons. Unfortunately, for far too many of us it is back to the dungeons and shackles as the cost of quality mental health care is beyond approach as many of these wonder drugs cost from $150-200 a month. <br /><br /> We are saddened because instead of addressing this very real public health problem, our state officials chose to cut an already inadequate mental health budget. We are further saddened that for many mentally ill people, incarceration is the only means that they will have to receive treatment. What is most distressing to us is accessible treatment for children with mental illness is at an all time low. <br /><br /> In 1948, the United Nations declared certain basic needs as universal human rights. One of those rights is the right to healthcare. A half century later we continue to wait for this to become a reality in the U.S. <br /><br /><br /><br />Frank Valdez <br /><br />Via e-mail<br /><br /> The author is the vice-president/founder Alliance For Mental Health Consumers Rights <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Venezuelan solidarity<br /><br /> Considering the strong solidarity shown by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela with the people of Iraq, I think it’s part and parcel of the anti-war movement to show solidarity with the Chavez government and with progressive peoples movements such as are emerging in South America. <br /><br /> I think, anti-war activists should urge a boycott of major oil companies. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Why? Because there is an alternative: Citgo. Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan government. So, where Citgo gas is available, there is an alternative. Why support oil imperialism, when you can support democracy and progressive government in Venezuela? Buy Citgo. <br /><br /><br /><br />James Jordan<br /><br />Tucson AZ<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Protest CNN<br /><br /> I just saw a segment on Inside Politics on CNN that I could not believe. In a nasty report on the Democratic candidates the segment ended with the faces of all the Democratic candidates on playing cards - just like the horrible and barbaric use of playing cards by the military in Iraq for wanted posters with Saddam Hussein and his gang. I sent CNN an angry email, but it isn’t enough. This kind of smear is just outrageous and needs to be answered in an organized way. <br /><br /> Ideas? <br /><br /> I think most of us remember the use of playing cards by ‘elite’ death squads in Vietnam. <br /><br /><br /><br />A reader<br /><br />Via e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ducking democracy<br /><br /> President Bush’s promise of a “short sprint” to the 2004 presidential election, to start September 11th, is an obvious ruse to use “patriotic” rhetoric and truncate debate. <br /><br /> Again, the administration, which is yet to find the “smoking gun” in Iraq, follows its penchant for secrecy to avoid answering challenges in open, spontaneous public appearance with adversaries. <br /><br /> This is turning the back on our democratic process and traditions. It mimics the very dictatorships it seeks to destroy, using clever maneuvers to deny protracted opportunity for challenges by recusing from a normal electoral process, just another example of Bush’s secrecy and hiding of information. It is another way of being elected by avoiding a full and open public accounting. <br /><br /><br /><br />Sidney J. Gluck<br /><br />New York NY<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Wed, 07 May 2003 06:46:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ <p>The 2004 election season is here<br /><br /><br /><br /> The 2004 elections are 19 months away, but the Karl Rove political machine is already grinding ahead as if the election is a domestic form of preemptive war. Bush’s political operatives scheduled the Republican convention in New York for September 2004, during the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. They are treating this national tragedy as if it is the property of the ultra-right GOP to use as a backdrop for Bush’s reelection. That is an obscenity. <br /><br /> These machinations make clear that Bush plans to run as the president of endless war at home and abroad. Those who challenge the Bush war doctrine or the huge costs of his occupation of Iraq or his squandering of hundreds of billions on armaments, will be smeared and vilified. <br /><br /> Bush is sending his henchmen to strong-arm moderate Republican Senators Olympia Snow (Maine), John Chaffee (R.I.) and George Voinovich (Ohio) for joining Democratic Senators in voting against his $736 billion tax cut for the rich, and an ultra-right Republican outfit is already running scurrilous TV ads calling for replacement of these GOP Senators with rightwing extremists. <br /><br /> As for the Democrats, a big field of presidential candidates have already announced, with some challenging Bush’s war policy. The domestic side of the Bush war policy is now reemerging – something Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman calls Bush’s “budget war on children.” There is a deep wellspring of anger at Bush’s refusal to take action to create jobs, his cutbacks in healthcare and education – anger that needs to be transformed into action. Exposing Bush’s doctrine of preemptive war and his giveaways to the rich as the cause of the worsening crisis for working people at home is the key to defeating Bush and the ultra-right in 2004. <br /><br /> Like it or not, the 2004 election season is already upon us. The stakes are high. Working families everywhere have no choice but to join in the struggle to defeat Bush and his dangerous agenda. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> * * * * * * <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Next steps for peace<br /><br /> The swaggering Bush administration has sent retired General Jay Garner to enforce U.S. rule in Iraq. The corporate media has replaced retired general talking heads with ultra-right talking heads. The message: the war is over, and the Pentagon will impose democracy on Iraq at the point of a bayonet. <br /><br /> Though the bombs are no longer falling, Bush’s war on Iraq is not over. Deprived of clean water, food, and electricity by U.S. destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure, thousands more Iraqis may join the thousands already dead. <br /><br /> A U.S.-installed puppet government could thwart Iraqis’ aspirations for self-determination and hand over Iraq’s vast oil resources to U.S. oil magnates. <br /><br /> The peace movement must now call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces, a U.N.-led reconstruction of Iraq, U.S. payment for that reconstruction, and Iraqi control of the nation’s vast oil reserves. Only on that basis can the democratic forces in Iraq come together to rebuild an Iraq free of U.S. interference and domination. <br /><br /> The millions who marched, prayed and spoke out against preemptive war are now trying to find their bearings. There is no reason to be discouraged. It was widely recognized that a “second superpower” stepped onto the world scene in the form of this huge world peace movement. But the dangers remain. Giddy with his “victory” Bush may be soon launch another “preemptive war.” <br /><br /> Now, we must – and can – build a movement demanding that Bush’s program of endless war be buried in Iraq. Polls show that a majority of Americans oppose preemptive wars on Syria, Iran or North Korea. <br /><br /> Bush says, “I have no specific operation in mind at this point in time.” This is the classic Bush rope-a-dope scheme: switching from regime change, to weapons of mass destruction, to regime change, to liberation to justify their war on Iraq. <br /><br /> The peace movement must take preemptive action, too. A broader, bigger movement can be built to oppose the ultraright’s war without end. No more Iraq’s! <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Wed, 07 May 2003 06:44:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/cinco-de-mayo-has-many-lessons/ <p>Cinco de Mayo is an important national holiday for the Mexican people.It is a celebration of the victory of freedom and national sovereignty. Often, commemorations focus on the military victory by a Mexican people’s army over a larger force of well-trained French troops in the battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. But a look at the whole story finds important parallels for our own time, for Mexico and others. <br /><br /> After Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, big landowners and the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy came into power. <br /><br /> Many Mexicans supported a reform movement led by Benito Juarez that sought to break the power of the landowners and the church. Civil war ensued, with a victory by Juarez in 1860. Juarez began to carry out land reform, breaking up large estates, introducing secular education and enforcing separation of church and state. <br /><br /> But, Juarez faced huge problems. Mexico was broke. Conservative governments had financed themselves by borrowing abroad, on conditions highly unfavorable to Mexico. Juarez announced a moratorium on payments on foreign debts to give the new government some breathing space and ability to implement its program. <br /><br /> France, Britain and Spain, the main creditors, sent armies to collect the debt. But France had another agenda – to conquer Mexico – an agenda Spain and Britain did not share. They withdrew, but the French marched on to Puebla and lost in the historic May 5 battle. <br /><br /> Unfortunately, the French did not give up. They replaced their commander, sent more troops and conquered Puebla and then Mexico City. Eventually, they conquered almost all of Mexico and Juarez became a refugee in his own country. <br /><br /> But Juarez did not give up either, and when the Civil War in the United States ended in 1865, he managed to get U.S. diplomatic pressure to help persuade Napoleon III to cut his losses and pull the French army out. <br /><br /> Today, many Third-World countries suffer from a choking debt burden. Movements across the globe have developed to demand that these debts be abolished. Cuba argues that Third World countries have paid these debts numerous times over with their labor and natural resources. Conditions imposed by the “creditors” only make conditions worse for these countries and peoples. <br /><br /> For example, Mexico’s leaders planned to turn their country into a “First World” economic power by means of the petroleum industry. They borrowed heavily from abroad. But in the 1980s the price of petroleum dropped, and soon Mexico was broke again. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank demanded that Mexico implement a “neo-liberal” economic program, involving privatization of government institutions, cuts in the social safety net, and “free trade.” Mexico re-privatized the banks, which had previously been nationalized. Living standards for the majority of Mexicans began to decline, leading to popular discontent. Corruption, including in elections, became rampant. <br /><br /> In 1994, the “free trade” part of the neo-liberal program was implemented when NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, was signed by Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. The terms of NAFTA meant the gutting of article 27 of the Mexican constitution, which had guaranteed most land would remain in the hands of local farm communities and not foreign investors. <br /><br /> Initially, NAFTA brought a lot of foreign investment to Mexico. But in 1995 there was a near economic collapse because of a run by investors on “tesobonos,” treasury bonds, which were sold on highly favorable terms to investors, who then cashed in because of fears about Mexico’s stability. Mexico had to go hat in hand to the Clinton administration to get a “bailout,” on unfavorable terms. <br /><br /> Free trade in agriculture has driven six million Mexican farm people off the land, drastically lowering the living standards of millions and stimulating greatly increased emigration to the United States. Vast numbers of Mexican industrial workers lost their jobs when Mexican-owned industries were driven out of business by U.S. competition. <br /><br /> In 2000, Mexican voters threw the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, out of office and elected Vicente Fox as president. Fox, a former Coca Cola executive, has intensified the right-wing neo-liberal policies begun by his PRI predecessors. <br /><br /> Cinco de Mayo celebrations across the U.S. and Mexico are an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the inequalities caused by imperialism and debt, and to redouble anti-imperialist solidarity, upholding the principle of national sovereignty for Mexico and other countries. Que viva el Cinco de Mayo! <br /><br />Emile Schepers is an activist in Chicago. He can be reached at pww@pww.org</p> Wed, 07 May 2003 06:43:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/cinco-de-mayo-has-many-lessons/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ <p>Returning artifacts to Iraq<br /><br /> One of the unfortunate tools and consequences of war is the destruction of the history and cultural heritage of tribes, ethnic groups, and even nations. <br /><br /> We have learned time and again that one of the preconditions for an enduring peace is a group or nation’s healthy sense of pride and identity. We would do well to keep this in mind now that the war is winding down in Iraq. <br /><br /> American museums and universities might consider what could only be regarded as an expression of profound respect for the Iraqi people and their contributions to civilization: to help rebuild the Iraq National Museum by returning to Iraq cultural artifacts from that region that are currently part of collections here in the United States. <br /><br /> Such an extraordinary gesture of good will would go a long way toward healing wounds inflicted by this war. <br /><br /> Carol Bragg Via email <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sick and tired of war<br /><br /> The Sept. 11 catastrophe brought the most basic reality of war to our country: namely, the senseless and cold blooded murder of innocent people. I think it made most of the people in the United States realize that war is not the answer to any nation’s problems and that we must find our way through all the muck and mire of racial and national oppression to a peaceful resolution of conflict. <br /><br /> Judging by the response of the massive peace movement, I would venture to say that humankind as a whole is sick and tired of war. <br /><br /> The rich, wealthy, arrogant and powerful have always been willing to go to war to eliminate any and all threats to their rule. For the twin towers blown up Sept. 11 we have leveled two countries with massive bombings, and have subjected untold numbers of the elderly, as well as women and children to the horrors of war. <br /><br /> Karl Marx once said, history repeats itself the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. The days of colonial conquest, of looting countries under the guise of spreading civilization, are gone the Blair-Bush coalition notwithstanding. <br /><br /> But in the final analysis things turn into their opposites. The lie runs its ill-fated course and the truth crushed to earth rises again. The peace movement will endure and triumph because it represents the huddled masses of the world yearning for peace. <br /><br /> Frank Chapman Via email <br /><br /><br /><br />Imagine the possibilities<br /><br /> The amazing technology of warfare is generated by the intelligence, talent and resource of those who create weapons of war. Imagine if all that intellect, all that talent, all that resourcefulness; that vast army of individuals who lean over the drafting boards, work out the mathematical formulas and put their minds to the problem of creating weapons of war were, instead, to turn their energies to solving other problems. To solving the problem of poverty and the host of other problems that plague the world. <br /><br /> Imagine, for instance, what would occur if all those individuals who bring into existence the weapons that decimated Iraq were to use their abilities instead to bring into existence a viable society in which all individuals regardless of political, religious, economic or philosophical beliefs could go about living their lives in complete fulfullment of their ambitions. Just imagine! <br /><br /> Fred DiDomenico Honey Brook PA <br /><br /><br /><br />Bush vs. the Methodist Church<br /><br /> I am a member of the United Methodist Church, a Christian denomination that prides itself on a long tradition of openness, tolerance, and a historic commitment to social justice issues. The Methodist movement began in England during the Industrial Revolution and its first followers fought against both the slave trade and the oppression of working-class miners. United Methodists have ordained women to the ministry since the 1950’s and the current motto of the United Methodist Church is: “Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors.” <br /><br /> Most recently, United Methodist Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, was arrested on March 26 along with 70 other protesters at a peace rally in front of the White House. Sprague said, “The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church has sought four times to have an audience with President Bush. There has been no response.” <br /><br /> So I am left with one question: To whom is George W. Bush accountable? He certainly does not feel any accountability to the bishops of his own religious denomination. I can only raise my voice with those of my bishops and declare: “Mr. Bush, we WILL NOT allow you to make the world in your image and in the image of big business.” Amen and solidarity. <br /><br /> Daniel Klawitter Via email </p> Wed, 07 May 2003 06:40:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ <p>May 1: International Workers’ Day<br /><br /> Only 117 years ago, May 1, 1886, Albert and Lucy Parsons and their two children led 80,000 workers up Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, arm-in-arm, singing. That day, a third of a million American workers answered the call of the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions, predecessor of the American Federation of Labor, to lay down their tools, demanding relief from the brutal 12- and 14-hour workdays imposed by the capitalist employers. <br /><br /> A few days later, a suspicious bomb blast killed several police and protesters in the city’s Haymarket Square. Chicago’s captains of industry used that event to try to stamp out the troublesome labor movement once and for all by framing up and executing its leaders. <br /><br /> In a travesty of justice, Parsons and three other leaders were executed by the state of Illinois. But the working class movement around the world seized on the cause of Chicago’s workers and set May Day as a day of international workers’ struggle. <br /><br /> Looking back at that first Chicago May Day march of immigrant and native-born working class families in 1886 – led by Albert Parsons, a typographer and Civil War veteran, and Lucy Parsons, a seamstress with African American and Mexican American roots – conjures up an amazingly current picture of today’s struggles. <br /><br /> This year, thousands of supporters of immigrants rights are converging on D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago, while central labor bodies from cities and towns like Cleveland, Ohio, and Albany, N.Y., are reviving their May Day traditions in militant strike-support activities. <br /><br /> Today, far from being crushed, around the world, and in the U.S. workers and their families, unions, religious and community groups are marching arm-in-arm, singing and chanting, fighting the effects of corporate greed, demanding shorter hours, better pay, peace, immigrant rights, free speech and a better life for working families. <br /><br /> The People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo Editorial Board takes special delight in greeting our readers on May Day, 2003, from our new home in Chicago, birthplace of International Workers’ Day <br /><br />It’s the system!<br /><br /> There’s something wrong, somewhere. The White House tells us the rich need to be given more money to encourage them to work harder. Therefore, tax cuts of more than $60,000 per year for those with annual incomes over a million dollars. On the other hand, we’re told the poor should receive less money so they will work harder. Therefore, deny earned-income tax credits (average amount less than $2,000) to four million poor people who already have jobs. It doesn’t make sense, but, then, that’s the nature of the capitalist system. <br /><br /> The IRS says these people cheated the Treasury out of $6.0 billion in 1999, and it’s time to put an end to it. So they want to hire 640 new investigators and, come July, people claiming the earned-income tax credit will be required to submit advance proof of their eligibility. To prove their relationships to children, they are expected to produce marriage certificates, in some cases for other people’s marriages; for marriages that took place abroad; and in a few cases, for marriages of great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. Children will have to produce school or medical records. <br /><br /> And what about the corporations that managed to sidestep at least $54 billion by hiding profits in tax shelters, while people running their own businesses.cheated Uncle Sam out of $38 billion by failing to report all their income in 1992? Nothing – just the cost of a high-priced tax lawyer. <br /><br /> The most recent I.R.S. data shows that 300,000 people who claimed the earned-income tax credit were audited last year – about one in every 64. By contrast, one of every 120 taxpayers with annual incomes over $100,000 was audited, as were about one in 400 partnerships, most of which are owned by the wealthy. <br /><br /> Simply put, there’s a double standard operating here. But, as we said earlier, that’s the capitalist system. </p> Wed, 07 May 2003 06:37:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26114/ http://peoplesworld.org/solidarity-leaders-say-let-cuba-live/ <p>WASHINGTON – A standing-room crowd of Cuba solidarity activists packed the Cuban Interest Section April 26 for a briefing on the current U.S.-Cuba crisis. Cuba’s response to so-called “dissidents” including the execution of three men who hijacked a ferry has stirred widespread concern among many who have been active in Cuba solidarity. The ferry hijacking was one of seven hijackings of Cuban airliners and boats in as many months, placing at risk the lives of scores of men, women and children. <br /><br /> Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque sent a message thanking participants for their solidarity. “Now we are facing a clear anti-Cuban plan to overthrow the revolution by any means,” Roque said. “To avoid a war and to save lives, we had to adopt a painful decision. We do not like the death penalty. It is not part of our philosophy and we hope it won’t be in the future.” <br /><br /> Ambassador Dagoberto Rodriguez pointed out that Cuba was among the first to condemn the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S., to express condolences and to offer cooperation in combating terrorism. The Bush administration response to these gestures was stepped up hostility against Cuba, he said. At the heart of the hijackings is an attempt to instigate a “mass exodus” that would destabilize Cuba and sow the seeds of war, he said. <br /><br /> “We are responsible to protect the lives of 11 million Cubans,” Rodriguez said. “We knew many people in the U.S. would be very critical (of the executions). We are not naïve. We were forced to act. Our enemies are trying to take advantage of the situation to see to it that the Cuban revolution is destroyed. We had to stop this disastrous trend of hijackings.” <br /><br /> The Rev. Lucius Walker, founder and executive director of IFCO-Pastors for Peace, urged an outpouring of solidarity with Cuba in the face of sharply escalated provocations against the island nation by the Bush administration. <br /><br /> “The Cuban people are facing the clearest threat yet of an invasion by the United States,” he said. “I think our 14th Friendshipment caravan this July is even more important than the first caravan that arrived when Cuba was in the grips of the double blockade. This will be a powerful statement from the people of the United States to the people of Cuba that we stand with them against the provocations of our own government.” <br /><br /> The onus for Cuba’s tough measures, Walker said, should be placed on the Bush administration. “If you organize and inspire treason against a nation, you bear responsibility for the consequences,” he said. The peace and solidarity movement should dialogue with those condemning Cuba to convince them that solidarity with Cuba is more urgent than ever, Walker said. <br /><br /> In a statement last week, IFCO-Pastors for Peace warned, “While the world’s attention has been riveted to events surrounding the buildup and subsequent invasion of Iraq, the U.S. has launched a series of hostile actions to undermine Cuba, promote terrorism, destabilize its economy and instigate treason … While the world waits to see which Middle Eastern country is the next invasion target, the Cuban people are justifiably concerned that Cuba could be next.” <br /><br /> More than 20 right-wing Cuban Americans, including Otto Reich, an Iran-contra criminal, have been appointed by Bush, the statement said. Since he became chief of the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, James Cason “began organizing meetings with Cuban citizens where opposition to the Cuban government was the main topic. Cason also began traveling throughout Cuba, distributing money and equipment explicitly designed to build internal dissent. This behavior on the part of a foreign diplomat is a clear violation of laws governing diplomatic conduct. Such behavior would never be tolerated by the U.S. government within its own borders.” Cason has openly proclaimed that his job is to instigate Cuba’s “rapid transition” to an “open market economy.” <br /><br /> The Bush administration has issued only 500 visas for Cubans to visit the U.S. even though a 1995 agreement permits 10,000 visas for Cubans. “This stonewalling by the U.S. not only encourages illegal immigration, it puts families at risk.” <br /><br /> The statement concludes that IFCO-Pastors for Peace “has opposed the death penalty for more than 35 years. This opposition includes the 71 executions carried out in the U.S. in 2002, the 152 executions carried out in Texas while George W. Bush was governor, the eight executions of youth offenders in Texas and the three executions in Cuba. Cuba’s decision to execute three of the hijackers in no way discredits its genuine concerns to prevent the escalation of terrorist actions instigated against it by the United States. What Cuba faces at this moment is nothing short of its survival as a nation.” <br /><br />The author can be reached at greenerpastures21212@yahoo.com</p> Wed, 07 May 2003 05:54:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/solidarity-leaders-say-let-cuba-live/