http://104.192.218.19/November-2002-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ <p>Indy media vs war<br /><br /> It is refreshing to read that there are signs of increasing opposition in Congress and among members of the public against Bush’s naked aggression on the Republic of Iraq. As you know, the New York Daily News broke a story that the Bush Abomination is running around trying to round up support for their war, to create the illusion of international support by selling shares in the Iraqi oil fields once they’ve conquered those oilfields. They’re also peddling weapons and offering to deposit large sums of money in the Swiss bank accounts of corrupt foreign leaders. <br /><br /> Bush’s corruption is the biggest scandal since Iran Contra, when the Reagan administration sold guns to [Iran] and used the proceeds to finance their mercenaries in Nicaragua. It is time for the media to blow the lid off this one. The major networks, NBC ABC and CBS have their noses stuffed so far up Bush’s a** they’re not likely to do much of anything. But independents such as PWW, Pacifica and others can blow this thing a mile high and in the process head off Bush’s obscene war, thus saving thousands of lives. <br /><br />Jerry GreenbergVia e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Media ‘embed’ with military<br /><br /> I hope readers aren’t missing the newest rightwing candidate for Most Sardonic Developments of All Time – journalists are attending military “boot camp” to “get ready” to cover the coming Bush War in the Middle East. <br /><br /> Those who meet the requirements of the United States military will – this is their word – “embed” with the military. <br /><br /> The last American commercial journalist who had any claim at all to integrity, Walter Cronkite, recently recounted on National Public Radio how honest coverage of military operations came to an end after he began to take issue with fabulously overstated government body counts during Vietnam. <br /><br /> During the more recent invasions of Grenada and Iraq, Americans saw how completely the commercial information monopolists had accepted their leashes and muzzles from the Pentagon. But, even then, they didn’t submit their employees to one-week courses with the military as a requirement to get “embed.” <br /><br />Jim LaneDallas TX<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More coverage from Italy<br /><br /> I would like this newspaper to talk a little about the sad situation in Italy, especially now with a center-right government; the European Social Forum that took place two weeks ago in Florence; the crisis of the FIAT automobiles company and the earthquake in Molise. <br /><br />Scappin AlessandroVenice, Italy<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Reading hope<br /><br /> I write to you from capitalist Ukraine. The situation here is horrible. Poverty level is getting higher and higher. Sometimes I think that a real nightmare is slowly but inevitably approaching. It is good that I have access to such source of news and information like yours. It really gives me hope and a ray of light. <br /><br />Konstantin KalinovskyVia e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Stay tuned<br /><br /> My own humble PBS offering, “Seth Eastman: Painting the Dakota” will be airing this coming Thanksgiving Day at noon on WNET. Hope you can tune in! Cheers. <br /><br />Kristian BergSt. Paul MN<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Where’s the Green coverage? <br /><br /> As a former long-time resident of Pittsburgh and an even longer time subscriber to the PWW I was pleased to read Rosita Johnson’s excellent article on the Green Party’s Pennsylvania governor’s campaign. (11/16) <br /><br /> Sadly, the big business media in Pennsylvania gave more coverage to this Green campaign than did the PWW. It’s hard to believe that you could not give any [pre-election] coverage to the Morrill campaign for governor. Or the campaign of AnnDrea Benson, a former aide to Sen. Paul Wellstone, running as a Green congressional candidate in the industrial city of Erie, who received over 26 percent of the vote in a race the Democrats did not even bother to enter. <br /><br /> When all you do is concentrate on dumbo and the jackass you not only do your readers a real disservice, you end up missing the real story. <br /><br />Walter TillowNew York NY<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Thu, 28 Nov 2002 03:54:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ <p>Stop Bush’s nightmare Christmas war<br /><br /><br /><br /> The world sighed with relief when Iraq agreed to let UN inspectors search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD). They breathed easier, still, when George W. Bush seemed grudgingly to accept a role for the UN. Yet there is much evidence that Bush is going through the motions and plans a preemptive war even if the UN Chief Inspector, Hans Blix, certifies that Iraq has no WMD. <br /><br /> The Mirror, a British newspaper, reports that Pentagon hawk Richard Perle told members of the British Parliament Nov. 20, “I cannot see how Hans Blix can state more than he can know. All he can know is the results of his own investigations. And that does not prove Saddam does not have weapons of mass destruction.” <br /><br /> Yes indeed, Mr. Perle, a defendant is guilty only if the evidence finds him so. But Perle – and Bush – live in a world where evidence matters little. As the Queen of Hearts shouted at Alice, “Words mean exactly what I want them to mean.” <br /><br /> Another British newspaper, The Sun, warns that the Pentagon sees a six-week “window of opportunity” for a war on Iraq. It begins on Dec. 16. The long, chill winter nights are ideal cover for aerial bombardment as well as a land invasion with 250,000 troops. <br /><br /> We argue that this war can be stopped. But only if we succeed in making war so politically costly that Bush and his fellow warmongers are forced to retreat. A rising tide in the U.S. and an overwhelming majority of people around the world are opposed to Bush’s preemptive war on a sovereign state that has not attacked the U.S. first. It would put the U.S. in a position analogous to the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Now is the time to redouble our struggle with rallies, marches, lobbying and messages to Congress. We urge our readers to support the Iraq Pledge for Peace actions in your area on Dec. 10-14. No War on Iraq! <br /><br /><br /><br /> ****************************************************************************************************************** <br /><br /><br /><br />Bush ignores public on environment<br /><br /><br /><br /> Despite a CBS/New York Times poll showing that two-thirds of all Americans favor stronger federal regulation to protect the environment and promote safety, the Bush administration is rushing pell-mell to allow corporate polluters to continue their polluting ways and, even, to allow them to dump more pollutants into the biosphere. <br /><br /> The administration’s decision to weaken the New Source Review (NSR) provision of the Clean Air Act all but guarantees that we will be subjected to millions of tons more pollutants with increasing health risks for millions. <br /><br /> NSR requires older factories to install modern pollution control technology whenever they make changes that increase production. The Sierra Club says the program has been instrumental in controlling pollution from older refineries, power plants and factories that often release four to ten times more pollution, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, than modern plants. <br /><br /> Studies have linked these emissions to increased rates of asthma, heart disease and premature death. A study last year found that the power plants that are being sued for violating NSR are linked to at least 5,500 premature deaths a year, many of which could be prevented if these plants installed the modern pollution control technology required by the NSR program. <br /><br /> The same poll showed that 55 percent disapprove of the White House effort to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. By a ratio of two to one, respondents thought that protecting the environment was more important than producing energy. Seven of every eight of those polled say Bush favors producing energy over protecting the environment. Bush &amp; Co. may believe they won a mandate in the Nov. 5 election but this poll reveals that the people are fed up with administration coddling of corporate scofflaws. Clean air and clean water is a human right that we must fight to protect from Bush and his petrochemical patrons. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Thu, 28 Nov 2002 03:43:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/prison-labor-needs-reforms/ <p>Opinion<br /><br /><br /><br /> The practice of prison labor is almost as old as the ages. In fact, many forms of ancient slavery lie in the use of conquered people for work. Currently, the idea and practice of prison labor is as diverse as it is controversial. Arguments for and against it are often based on broad assumptions about how and why prison labor is used. <br /><br /> For example, in Vermont a new system of prison labor is currently employed that doesn’t fit the standard chain-gang or license plate mold. Prisoners at one small county jail are free to work in their community at fair market wages, with modest deductions for their room and board and other reasonable costs, such as child support. Prisoners do not work inside the prison but work at normal jobs; they wear normal clothes, not jailhouse blues; they maintain normal community ties and are not subjected to any form of dehumanization or disrespect as a result of their imprisonment, and they are free to work real jobs by which they can maintain themselves and their families after their term of incarceration. In this one Vermont jail, prisoners are really re-integrated into society; rehabilitation is the underlying motivation, not a by-product of profits. <br /><br /> But this lone Vermont phenomenon is in direct contrast to the rest of the nation’s prison-industrial complex. In states like Wisconsin and California, prisoners work in jailhouse factories for third-world wages. Furthermore, rather than being equal competitors to their unincarcerated counterparts, they are actually state-subsidized monopolistic forces, taking jobs away from hard-working Americans in industries like manufacturing and telemarketing. <br /><br /> State and federal agencies claim that prison industry is rehabilitating convicts with job training, encouraging a work ethic and discipline, giving prisoners the skills that will allow them to be successful outside of prison. However, most prison industry is in the manufacturing sector, the very industry that is already on the decline in the American job market. <br /><br /> Far from being trained for life outside of prison, in California prisoners are surveyed for over 50 skills that they already possess upon arrival and are generally put to work doing tasks that they already know how to do. In South Carolina, at Evans Correctional Facility, over 250 jailhouse workers are working for an IBM supplier and “many inmate workers are over-qualified for the jobs they hold,” according to Bert Christy, a plant manager at the site, quoted in a February 1999 article in Perspective Magazine. <br /><br /> There are also numerous cases of convicts working as telemarketers taking credit card information, although most telemarketing firms would not hire ex-convicts, even if they were already trained. Indeed prison labor is taking jobs away from the working class in many communities, which in turn encourages higher rates of incarceration in those very same communities. <br /><br /> Rather than offering substantial job training to encourage market growth, prisons are being used to nail the coffin door closed on industries that are already reeling from the effects of globalization. Furthermore, when short-term profits are the driving force for prison labor, it is virtually guaranteed that convicts are not being trained for a wide range of jobs that they might actually get in the non-prison world. This is because training is an investment which capitalist ventures desire to minimize. It’s not profitable in the short term to train large numbers of convicts on a variety of jobs; rather they will be kept to what is most efficient. <br /><br /> Until our society stops manufacturing criminals, it is best if those who are jailed are not idle, so in the meantime their activities should be individually focused on their talents and potentials, to provide each person with the best path toward a fulfilling and productive life. And that should not be confused with expedient profits. Job training is a good so long as it is not just mindless activity. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Brandi Kishner is a young writer and student living in Chicago. She can be reached at bkishner@pww.org<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 22 Nov 2002 06:53:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/prison-labor-needs-reforms/ http://peoplesworld.org/venezuelan-democracy-under-siege-by-u-s/ <p>Opinion<br /><br /><br /><br /> Twelve years ago a populist priest named Jean-Bertrand Aristide became President of Haiti, in that country’s first democratic elections. A businessman summed up the attitude of Haiti’s small but stubborn elite: “Everybody who is anybody is against Aristide – except for the people!” <br /><br /> The upper classes of Venezuela have adopted a similar attitude as they seek to overthrow their own populist president – Hugo Chavez. They refuse to respect the results of democratic elections, and have little regard for the majority of their (mostly poor) compatriots. Recently the nation’s largest business federation, joined by some leaders of organized labor, once again attempted a general strike with the stated purpose of ousting the president. <br /><br /> The similarities do not end there: Aristide was overthrown in a military coup led by officers who were later discovered to be on the payroll of the CIA. <br /><br /> Chavez survived a similar challenge six months ago, when a military coup removed his government for two days. His presidency – and Venezuelan democracy – was rescued not only by a rebellion within the armed forces, but by the thousands of people who risked their lives and took to the streets to defend their government. <br /><br /> Venezuela is now edging closer to civil war, and once again Washington is part of the problem. The Bush administration welcomed the April 11 coup at first, then backed off in the face of international embarrassment when the coup was reversed. A good deal of circumstantial evidence – including numerous meetings between administration officials and the coup leaders – indicates that our government’s support for the coup was more than just a nod and a wink. <br /><br /> What has the Bush administration learned in the six months since the failed coup in Venezuela? Not very much, it appears. The U.S. State Department investigated itself and, not surprisingly, found no evidence of wrongdoing – although the investigation concluded that our diplomats were not sufficiently clear in communicating that they were against a coup. Venezuelan opposition leaders certainly have no reason to believe that a coup government would suffer any rupture in diplomatic or commercial relations with the United States. <br /><br /> Although not as openly prejudiced as the Venezuelan press, the U.S. media has also presented a distorted view of the situation in Venezuela. Chavez is often portrayed as some sort of dictator, when in fact his government is one of the least repressive in Latin America. No one has even been arrested for attempting to overthrow the government, a crime that in most countries would carry a long prison term, and in the United States, the death penalty. <br /><br /> The press here often repeats the opposition charge that Chavez is installing “Cuban-style socialism.” This does not even pass the laugh test. Venezuela is as capitalist a country as it has ever been, and there have been no moves toward state ownership or control of the economy since Chavez was elected in 1998. <br /><br /> The Venezuelan economy is currently in a deep recession, worsened by billions of dollars of capital flight and reduced investment due to political uncertainty. It also suffers from a long-term economic decline considerably worse than that of Latin America as a whole. Venezuela’s income per person has actually shrunk by more than 18 percent since 1980. <br /><br /> Although the Chavez government has registered some significant gains for the poor in terms of school enrollment and access to health care, it still faces both the short-term hurdle of economic recovery and the problem of arresting the country’s long decline. But Venezuela is not alone in this regard: income per person has hardly grown at all in Latin America over the last 20 years, and it is projected to shrink this year. <br /><br /> The rise of populist and progressive governments, such as Brazil’s Workers Party – whose candidate Lula Da Silva won the presidency a couple of weeks ago – will therefore continue. It is a logical response to the failed economic experiment – commonly known as the “Washington Consensus” – conducted at Latin America’s expense over the last 20 years. This trend will not be halted, as it has so many times in the past with Washington’s support, by means of coups, violence, or economic pressures. Our government – like Venezuela’s elite – might just have to learn to accept the idea of democracy, where the government and even some of its economic policies are decided in elections, by a popular vote. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (www.cepr.net).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 22 Nov 2002 06:26:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/venezuelan-democracy-under-siege-by-u-s/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ <p>Cover grocery workers<br /><br /> Great site! Could you run a story about the contract negotiations with UFCW 1546, UFCW 881 and Dominicks grocery stores (Safeway). Safeway is intimidating, harassing and breaking the law. You can get more info at WWW.UFCWLOCAL1546.ORG <br /><br /> Thanks, <br /><br /><br /><br />John ReeseVia e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NY State not #1<br /><br /> Being a former New Yorker myself, I am all too aware of of the Empire State’s inflated sense of its own importance. Still, contrary to an article in your Nov. 2 edition, N.Y. is not “the nation’s largest state.” California is. It is not even the second largest state. Texas is. It is third largest, though Florida is close behind and if present trends continue, will soon surpass N.Y. <br /><br /> This is not geographic nitpicking since the federal system that exists in this nation mandates us to deploy our forces where the masses are and, as bourgeois political analysts long have noted, a key demographic trend in this nation in recent decades has been the surge in population in the “Sunbelt” and a relative decline in the Northeast. <br /><br /><br /><br />Gerald HorneChapel Hill NC<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Greetings from Fargo<br /><br /> I wanted to tell you how much I enjoy Judith Le Blanc’s reportage from the Middle East. Thanks. Keep up the good work. <br /><br /> I still have hopes for peace, for a future for all the peoples of the world. It’s hard to be optimistic in the face of all the terrible things.that are taking place, but I still do. <br /><br /> We have to hang in, keep on truckin’. <br /><br /><br /><br />Lew LubkaFargo ND<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Getting the word out in LA<br /><br /> I read your newspaper magazine. If you really want to have an impact on the news, if you really want to get your stories covered in the “mainstream” news media, than you ought to do this: <br /><br /> Drop off stacks of your newspapers in the lobbies of the news media outlets. I’ve seen stacks of LA Weekly in the lobbies of all the newspapers, so why not your newspapers too? <br /><br /> Drop off stacks of your newspapers at ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, BBC, and all the local tv news stations. They’ll read them because they’re always looking for content. Just drop off the stacks in front with a note to leave in the lobbies next to the LA Weekly and somebody will eventually move them there. <br /><br /> Another place you might consider dropping off stacks at are at the news stands at the main train stations. Bored commuters will pick them up to read. <br /><br /> Also, at least this way, the media can no longer pretend they didn’t know about these stories. <br /><br /><br /><br />Roger CromwellVia e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Don’t attack Iraq<br /><br /> We have sent a letter to the Foreign Ministers of Scandinavia, to stop the U.S. and UK planned military attack plans against the Iraqi people. Please, could you make this letter public? <br /><br /> During the first eight weeks in Afghanistan war, October 2001 to December 2001, U.S. has killed over 3767 civilians in Afghanistan, by: classical mass destruction weapons, like: <br /><br /> • Cluster Bombs <br /><br /> • Thermobaric (15.000 pounds) bombs <br /><br /> • B-52 “Mat” bombings <br /><br /> • Cruise Missiles, equipped with 1000 pounds (=458 kg) Shrapnell Warheads. <br /><br /> • Depleted Uranium (=DU) bombs. <br /><br /> During the Iraqi War 1990, the “International Coalition” bombed Iraq with Depleted Uranium bombs. Several thousand Iraqi children are now lying in Iraqi hospitals, due to cancer, immunosupression, etc. <br /><br /> Dear Ministers: We appeal to you, that you do everything, at your hands, to prevent the attack against Iraq. There is already a great hurry, because, to our knowledge, the attack is planned to start November-December 2002. <br /><br /> It is well known, that the real reason for the U.S. and UK attack against Iraq is: Oil. Iraq has the SECOND richest oil reserves in the world. <br /><br /> The Iraqi oil belongs to Iraqi children, their future depends on it. The Iraqi oil does not belong to U.S. and Western financial [interests] and U.S. oil companies. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. Stig Froberg, physicistvia e-mail from Finland<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Capitalism isn’t working<br /><br /> I wanted to write more about what I have in mind about long term unemployment, now that I’m part of that crowd for 17 months, but let me sum it up by suggesting that this country needs a new CCC – a Committee to Criminalize Capitalism. <br /><br />BruceVia e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 22 Nov 2002 06:11:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ <p>Study war no more<br /><br /> Young people will not only be the cannon fodder in a war against Iraq; they are already victims of the growing militarization of American life under the leadership of “chickenhawks” George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their military-industrial corporate profiteer backers. <br /><br /> With dwindling employment opportunities and denied economic resources to pay for higher education, working-class youth and young people of color are driven to join the “volunteer” armed forces. While the Pentagon cynically targets these youth for recruitment using the lure of education and income, the Bush administration is promoting a war that sets these kids up to be killed or maimed, perhaps returning home to a lifetime of disability. <br /><br /> The new education bill, signed by Bush in January, forces school districts receiving assistance under the act to provide, on request, military recruiters access to high school students’ names, addresses and telephone listings. Schools have to give recruiters the same access to students as is provided to post-secondary educational institutions or prospective employers. Schools that fail to conform to these requirements will lose substantial federal funds. <br /><br /> Young people are also victimized when schools are starved for funds, while billions are poured into aggressive military weaponry, high-tech snooping on the public and other projects of the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism.” As the cost of higher education is passed onto students and their families, those working-class youths lucky enough to complete college enter the job market saddled with astronomical student loan burdens. <br /><br /> Militarization is distorting the content of education as well. This is most evident on college campuses, where research is heavily funded by the Pentagon. With colleges reeling from state funding cuts, the military and “homeland security” will increasingly call the shots on not only the content of research, but also what faculty and staff get hired and what majors and courses are and aren’t offered. <br /><br /> Growing numbers of youth are rejecting militarism and demanding a “culture of peace.” We urge our readers to help build this movement. <br /><br /><br /><br /> ****************************************************************************************************************** <br /><br /><br /><br />No turkey for Thanksgiving<br /><br /> According to the Department of Agriculture, some 35 million people live in households that experience “food insecurity” – defined as not having access to adequate supplies of nutritional food without recourse to emergency resources like pantries and soup kitchens. <br /><br /> In 2001, America’s Second Harvest, a national network of food banks that provide emergency hunger relief services, provided help to 23.3 million low-income people, up 9 percent – nearly two million families – from 2000. Last year, nearly one in four households served by Second Harvest did not eat for an entire day because they couldn’t afford food. <br /><br /> Other numbers are equally shameful: 9 million of those seeking aid from Second Harvest last year were children; 62 percent of those served by Second Harvest are female; 11 percent are elderly; nearly 39 percent of households who received assistance from Second Harvest had at least one working member; more than 80 percent of families enrolled in the federal food stamp program run out of stamps in three weeks or less; food insecurity rates for African Americans (29 percent) and Latinos (21.8 percent) are substantially higher than for the nation as a whole (10.7 percent). <br /><br /> The increase in food insecurity and hunger is attributable to several factors, none of which are pre-ordained or written in stone. Instead, they are the result of public policies that can be reversed in the course of mass struggle. <br /><br /> Several partial solutions come to mind: Increase and extend unemployment benefits. Enact real reforms to programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Restore the right of immigrant families and childless adult households to food stamps and other entitlements. <br /><br /> Although none of these deal with the root causes of hunger, they will help ameliorate its pain. And fighting for them will set the stage for the next struggle and the one after and … <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 22 Nov 2002 05:59:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/radio-suffers-from-corporate-control/ <p>A new report by the Future of Music Coalition tells us about the sad state of radio today after six years of deregulation. We all know the problem – you hear the same songs on the radio over and over again, and most the songs you hear all day are crap, anyway. Add to that the lack of local programming, and you can’t tell the difference anymore between a station in Los Angeles and Atlanta. <br /><br /> Why is it so homogenous? <br /><br /> About six years ago, Congress took on one of its biggest special interest- fests when it passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Deregulation was supposed to be a boon for consumers … so the Feed asks, Has your cable bill gone down since then? And the question for today is, was radio better when conglomerates weren’t allowed to own hundreds of stations at a time? <br /><br /> Ten companies control two-thirds of radio listeners and revenue in the country. Clear Channel and Viacom alone control 42 percent of listeners and 45 percent of the revenue. Clear Channel is a great example of the big boys getting fat off the Telecommunications Act. Since the bill passed, they’ve grown from 40 stations to 1,240 – 30 times more than was legal before 1996. Clear Channel broadcasts to one-third of the country – over 100 million people. Now do you understand why you never hear local bands on the radio? <br /><br /> The consolidation of the radio industry also means that a few companies control most of the news people hear during drive time as well as other public affairs programming. Take the case of Davey D, a popular hip-hop DJ the Bay Area. He had a public affairs show on KMEL that dealt with real political and brought on hip hop artists you don’t always hear on the radio. Right after 9/11, brought on Rep. Barbara Lee, who spoke eloquently about her opposition to war in Afghanistan. Right after that, Davey D was fired due to “budget cuts.” Owner? Clear Channel. <br /><br /> At a time when Rupert Murdoch has his own news channel where his so-called journalists give policy memos to Bush, the Feed is pretty worried about a few companies controlling our news. That is, until Junction-City buys a few hundred radio stations. <br /><br />Excerpted from www.junction-city.com/dailyfeed<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 22 Nov 2002 04:45:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/radio-suffers-from-corporate-control/ http://peoplesworld.org/10-000-demand-close-u-s-terror-school/ <p>Over 10,000 people from far and wide gathered at the gates of Ft. Benning, Ga., Nov. 17 to demand closure of the School of the Americas (SOA), better known as the “School of Assassins,” where many death squad officers from Latin America have been trained. <br /><br /> It was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHISC) a few years ago in hopes of ridding the institution of its association with murder and torture. It ostensibly provides combat training for Latin American soldiers. <br /><br /> According to Schools of America Watch, the school is a training camp for terrorists, where the Pentagon instructs Latin American soldiers to terrorize and coerce civilian populations throughout the region. <br /><br /> Ninety-six people engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience and were arrested during the weekend protest. Their court date is set for Jan. 27, 2003. <br /><br /> The demonstration was the 13th and the largest one yet. Matthew Smucker, SOA Watch spokesperson, told the World in a Nov. 20 phone interview, “The response we got from local people was mixed. But there are a lot of people who are questioning our foreign policy right now. After Sept. 11 people were asking ‘why do people hate us?’ Bush said they ‘hate freedom.’ But that answer didn’t satisfy many and a number of people are beginning to realize our foreign policy is hijacked by corporate interests.” <br /><br /> Organizers also attributed the large turnout to growing criticism of the war on terrorism, coupled with concern over turmoil in Latin America this past year involving SOA graduates, in particular from Venezuela and Colombia. “As President Bush expands the ‘war on terrorism,’ thousands [took part in] nonviolent direct action to close what they call a terrorist training camp on U.S. soil – the School of the Americas,” an SOA Watch statement said. <br /><br /> “Bush said we must uproot every known terrorist training camp,” said Abi Miller, 23, from Harrisonburg, Va., one of the 26 presently in prison, “We’re shining a light on one that’s operating with impunity in our backyard.” <br /><br /> Twenty-six people are currently serving three-month and six-month prison sentences for peacefully crossing onto the base during last November’s demonstration. Smucker urged supporters to write letters to the editor, lobby elected officials, host educational events and other actions to keep this issue in front of the public. <br /><br /> The annual gathering marks the anniversary of the 1989 assassination of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador by SOA graduates, including Roberto D’Aubisson, who commanded death squads and was involved in the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. <br /><br /> In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated the use of torture, extortion and execution. SOA Watch said the underlying purpose of the school is to control the economic and political systems of Latin America by training and influencing Latin American militaries. In April two SOA grads – Army Commander-in-Chief Efrain Vasquez and General Ramirez Poveda – helped lead a failed coup in Venezuela. <br /><br /> Additionally, State Department official Otto Reich, who sits on the renamed school’s Board of Visitors, met with the generals in the months preceding the coup. During the coup Reich advised business leader Pedro Carmona, who seized the presidency. Colombia, with over 10,000 troops trained at the SOA, is the school’s largest customer. Not surprisingly, Colombia currently has the worst human rights record in the Western Hemisphere. In June, Colombian police arrested SOA grad John Fredy Jiménez for the murder of Archbishop Isaías Duarte. <br /><br /> “I feel anger at the deliberate teaching of violence,” Caryl Hartjes, a 67-year-old nun from Fondulac, Wisconsin, told reporters as she entered the compound, where she was arrested. <br /><br /> “I don’t want to give up my freedom and I would enjoy peace and justice more, but as a person of faith, I can’t stand back and watch the atrocities,” Dorothy Pagosa, a 48-year-old nun, said as she was arrested. <br /><br /> SOA Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who spent four years in the military and received a Purple Heart for service in Vietnam, became a Catholic priest and worked in Latin America for six years after leaving the military. He placed SOA in direct opposition to the democratic ideals that most Americans hold dear. <br /><br /> “The SOA is part of a corporate-hijacked foreign policy that’s making us a lot of enemies,” said Bourgeois. “If we want lasting peace and security we need a foreign policy that reflects our values of justice, democracy and dignity.” <br /><br /> SOA Watch, founded in 1990, is a growing movement focused on closing the training school, and changing U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. SOA Watch, which has many faith-based leaders and activists among its ranks, educates the public, lobbies Congress and participates in creative, nonviolent resistance. <br /><br /> Smucker urged supporters to write letters to the editor, lobby elected officials, host educational events and other actions to keep this issue in front of the public. For more information visit www.soaw.org. <br /><br />The author can be reached at talbano@pww.org<br /><br /><br /><br /> PDF version of <a href='http://www.pww.org/filemanager/download/35/soa.pdf'> '10,000 demand: Close U.S. terror school'</a></p> Fri, 22 Nov 2002 03:21:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/10-000-demand-close-u-s-terror-school/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ <p>In defeat, defiance<br /><br /> When a coworker asked me what history could teach us about these elections, my answer was to quote Winston Churchill “we have lost a battle. We have not lost the war” and “in defeat, defiance.” <br /><br /> In an election in which less than 40 percent of eligible voters voted, the Republican party, with the votes of less than 20 percent of eligible voters, regained control of the Senate and picked up a few seats in the House by a well orchestrated media marketing blitz, led by the president, who raised 100 million dollars for the Republican campaign in the last weeks. <br /><br /> There are good reasons to be very troubled. The war danger is greater than it was before the elections and the administration’s ability to pack the judiciary and push its reactionary agenda in Congress is certainly greater. <br /><br /> But if we do not address the major structural problem in American politics, the non-voting working class majority, finding ways to bring tens of millions of non voters to the polls by giving them something positive to vote for, then we run the risk of greater disasters. <br /><br /> As Marx and Engels contended more than a century ago, to the ruin of both the capitalist and working class, if the working class is not organized effectively to resist capitalism’s self-destructive policies and advance its own interests, which are the interests of social justice and peace, the general interests of society. <br /><br /><br /><br />Norman MarkowitzNew Brunswick NJ<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Taking exception<br /><br /> It is a very rare event that I take exception to an article printed in the PWW. However, I must take exception – strong exception – with the content of Nov. 2 article entitled “Bridge Between Two Worlds” reviewing Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds. <br /><br /> As both a Communist and a person of Armenian descent, I cannot help but object to the characterization of Ataturk as a “hero” who led a “Revolution.” What Ataturk led was not a revolution: it was a couter-revolution, a fascist coup. <br /><br /> The cost in Turkey, to anyone’s estimate, was 1.5 million Armenians dead. How many Greeks were massacred? How many Jews deported? How many Kurds? How many Turkish workers exchanged, at best, one form of slavery for another? <br /><br /> The author acknowledges the atrocities, analyses the existence of racism. But she does not tie these things into her analysis. If she had, she might first have asked herself: what “revolutionary” government massacres its ethnic minorities? <br /><br /> The fact is, that the massacre of the Armenians would have been worse, but for the Armenian Republic’s incorporation into the Soviet Union and Turkish military defeat at the hands of the USSR on the shores of Lake Van in 1921. <br /><br /><br /><br />Mychal SimonianPhiladelphia PA<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For the Fund Drive<br /><br /> I am sending &amp;#036;50 in memory of Gus Hall, outstanding labor leader and Communist of this last century. His ashes were recentyl interred in Forest Home Cemetray in Chicago. He takes his final rest close to his old comrades, including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, whose forebears hailed from my native Ireland. Elizabeth assisted James Connolly during his years in exile in America. He returned to Ireland to play a leading role in the 1916 revolt against British imperialism. <br /><br /><br /><br />George HarrisonBrooklyn NY<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Socialism is possible<br /><br /> I’ve just read and scanned your Oct. 19 issue. There are extremely informative articles in it by outstanding participants in our struggles for justice. <br /><br /> I’d like to see integrated, the ideology that takes us to struggle for the revolutionary change. <br /><br /> While it is essential to know the data of our persecution, it is impossible to enlist the involvement of the people unless we allow us all to envision the alternatives. It’s hard. <br /><br /> We shouldn’t have only to fight for jobs we really don’t want to do for 40 hours a week. There’s also playing the violin and visiting with the grandchildren and having a swim or a walk or a read. No one needs to be a carpenter or a doctor or a janitor or a mother all those hours a week. We all like variety. We all have many skills and want to learn others. <br /><br /> Since most of us are incapable of framing some lovely, desirable alternatives in ways that connect to all the information in the paper, we need to teach ourselves how to say these ideas; more, how to get other people to dig for their ideas, to look beyond what we’re told is ‘possible’ to building that other world that the USSR implied and that Cuba tries to do. <br /><br /><br /><br />Norma JF HarrisonBerkeley CA<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 15 Nov 2002 05:20:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ <p>No rest for the weary<br /><br /> With the 2002 elections barely over, the election wars of 2004 are already underway. And you can bet that Karl Rove, Tom DeLay and other Neanderthals are burning the midnight oil as they prepare their battle plan to extend the White House tenure of Bush the Appointed. <br /><br /> And there will be battles: Battles over taxes, prescription drugs, school vouchers and public education and any of a dozen other social programs including price supports and parity for family farmers. Battles over welfare reform and health care. Battles to defend affirmative action, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; in defense of immigrant and labor rights, a woman’s right to chose and the environment. And looming over all, the threat of war. <br /><br /> By any measure, a full plate – and with it the challenge of building a fight back capable of side tracking the rightwing drive to parlay a one- or two-vote pick up in the Senate into a legislative steam roller. <br /><br /> We draw two conclusions from the 2002 elections: The first is that President Bush did NOT win a mandate. <br /><br /> The second is that, as the AFL-CIO election night survey shows, nothing changed as far as the issues facing working people are concerned. The front burner issues of Nov. 4 were still on the front burner when the polls closed Nov. 5. <br /><br /> There are two keys to developing a successful fight back against the Bush agenda: A program of demands that meets the needs of people and developing the tactics that can unite the intended victims of that agenda into a movement capable of conducting a militant struggle for those demands. <br /><br /> Election 2002 showed that such a coalition can be built. The results showed that it must be built. As we said, you can bet that Karl Rove is already burning the midnight oil! <br /><br /><br /><br /> ****************************************************************************************************************************************************** <br /><br /><br /><br />War can be stopped<br /><br /> Everywhere people are debating the next steps following an election showing voters to be split on the issues and the way to a peaceful future for their children and grandchildren. <br /><br /> In union halls and churches; on the street and on the job, voices calling for “standing up and fighting” the Republican’s program reflect the mood of the thousands of activists who knocked on doors and succeeded in preventing a right-wing power grab on Nov. 5. <br /><br /> Stand up and fight: that is the way to blunt the Bush administration’s push for war with Iraq despite that country’s agreement to the UN resolution calling for unconditional inspections. (See Story, page 1.) <br /><br /> The war drive can only be stopped with by a grassrooots movement whose roots reach into every community pointing out the very real dangers, both at home and abroad, that war with Iraq will pose: A grassroots movement that makes real the possible loss of human life such a war will exact and explains why military might, alone, can not disarm a country. A grassroots movement that can educate the people about how the U.S. arms industry – the industry that is supplying the world with the very weapons that could bring on a nuclear war It’s a cycle of war and violence that must be stopped. <br /><br /> The Iraq Pledge of Resistance, a campaign by peace and religious groups for nonviolent civil disobedience to oppose war in Iraq is calling for local actions on Tuesday, December 10. <br /><br /> Let’s join these actions. Let’s take the door knocking and phone banking we used in the Election 2002 fight and put it into action to stop the election war Bush and the right would like to have. Lets go to our churches, community groups and union locals and organize teach-ins and vigils on Dec 10. So far actions are being organized in 26 cities and 17 states. We urge our readers to sign-the pledge of resistance at www.peacepledge.org or call the Pledge at (301) 589-2355. <br /><br /> Let’s make real the Biblical dream of beating swords into plowshares and prevent the U.S. arms industry from selling war no more. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 15 Nov 2002 05:14:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/bloody-sunday/ <p>Movie review<br /><br /><br /><br />Bloody Sunday<br /><br /><br /><br /> This British-Irish film is a gripping recreation of the January 30, 1972, massacre by the British Army of 13 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, working together with local groups, had called the Sunday march to protest against internment without trial, which had been introduced by the British government the previous summer. That Sunday, 10,000 marchers found themselves encircled by massive military force. The film depicts the mounting tension and confusion on all sides and shows how, with the combination of a population simmering under centuries of oppression and military occupation, and a hated and frightened occupying army, things can get out of hand and lead to disaster. <br /><br /> The film focuses on Ivan Cooper (played by James Nesbitt, who appeared in the wonderful film, Waking Ned Devine), a Protestant member of Parliament from Derry who was a local leader of the nonviolent movement against British occupation. By focusing on Cooper, writer-director Paul Greengrass makes clear that the Northern Ireland conflict is not and was not fundamentally about religion, but about class and national oppression. <br /><br /> If the film has any model, it is the 1960s masterpiece, The Battle of Algiers, the film’s producer, Mark Redhead, says. But while that movie shows an ultimately victorious struggle for national liberation, Bloody Sunday depicts a terrible defeat. Cooper says bitterly, following the massacre, it killed the nonviolent movement in Northern Ireland. Bloody Sunday was a major turning point in the history of the modern Irish troubles, the filmmakers say, catapulting the conflict into a civil war, driving many young men into the ranks of the IRA and fuelling a decades-long cycle of violence. <br /><br /> Nevertheless, the filmmakers say Bloody Sunday is 'a war film about the struggle for peace.' Filmed in a graphic on-the-street style, using many non-professional actors with direct ties to the actual events, Bloody Sunday gives vivid life to a story that resonates today, in the West Bank and in our own country, too. It is an excellent, powerful film. <br /><br /> The film’s website, www.paramountclassics.com/bloodysunday/, contains a wealth of information. A famous poem by Thomas Kinsella about Bloody Sunday, 'Butcher’s Dozen' is on the web at www.usm.maine.edu/~mcgrath/poems/butchrs.htm. <br /><br />– Susan Webb<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Thu, 14 Nov 2002 09:57:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/bloody-sunday/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ <p>Veterans Day<br /><br /> Nov. 11, first called Armistice Day, commemorates the end of WWI. At eleven o’clock on Nov. 11, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, a treaty was signed which ended the first World War, and for the next twenty years was memorialized as Armistice day. As a high school student in the Junior ROTC I marched in a parade on each one. <br /><br /> After WWII, the name was changed to Veterans Day and all veterans were supposed to be honored as heroes. A few were, and others thought they were because they had put on a uniform, even though they may have spent all the war years playing poker while wearing it. As an Air Force mechanic in a combat squadron of WWII, I was neither a hero or career poker player, but did whatever they told me while island hopping across the Pacific Ocean and back. During those years my squadron dropped bombs on Iwo Jima and tried to kill Japanese men before they could kill Americans. <br /><br /> We also dropped firebombs on Japanese cities, setting women and children on fire to die horrible deaths, although their only offense was that they had a bad government. That was not heroic work and we should remember that war is not about making heroes, but about killing people and of people dying. <br /><br /> We veterans of WW II, other wars, and many other people are survivors of an insane time when million of people on our side were trying, and succeeding in, killing millions of people on the other side that was doing the same to us. War is not an act of nature; people make wars and people kill other people. Whenever we want to we can stop fighting wars <br /><br /><br /><br />Gordon Monroe (U.S. Air Force, 1943-46) Via e-mail<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Conscience<br /><br /> Wouldn’t it be a good thing if people could convince Pres. Bush to go see the play The Exonerated. What can we do to get him to a showing? <br /><br /><br /><br />Kay PlummerNew York NY<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Wellstone memorial<br /><br /> PWW, thanks for year twenty of sending the paper to me. Renewal is in the mail. <br /><br /> Wellstone people are accustomed to being in the midst of Republicans who hated Wellstone and anything remotely like him. I am glad that Republicans had the opportunity to be somewhat forced to sit still for a Wellstone event. As for Trent Lott getting an unwarm welcome ... it is like Al Capone showing up at the funeral of Elliot Ness. <br /><br /> I have given Governor Ventura every possible credit... but he is seriously wrong about the Wellstone memorial, and his behavior is embarrassing, though no more so than the local media members who say they felt hoodwinked out of a “real” memorial “service.” <br /><br /> I thought that the Wellstone memorial was 100 percent Wellstone. Wellstone people are sincere, serious, focused, people-issue activists. <br /><br /> The Republican Party manipulates people with insincere issues. Many good people are Republicans simply because the Republican Party is the greatest institution of propaganda. The core of the Republican Party does not care about the “issues” that average Republicans latch on to. The Republican Party core knows what it is doing. It is out to protect the interests of the wealthy and powerful. That core interest will never sell. They have no choice but to gather support with their phony issues that sell to the selfish and uninformed. <br /><br /> Democrats don’t have to apologize for being Wellstone people. Wellstone people will stand up and keep voting and keep fighting. Millions of Wellstone people will make Wellstone’s America a reality. <br /><br /><br /><br />Bob PerschmannChaska MN<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Stop interest rate reduction<br /><br /> The seniors cannot stand any more stimulation. Every time you reduce the rates we get less interest on our savings and bonds that we live on. We must then sell some of our income producing assets to live a decent life. That means we have less assets to produce interest income on in the future. If we have less money we buy less. Factories cannot sell and make a living on their products. They then fire workers to keep their bottom line up. These workers lose income so they can not buy products. The vicious cycle continues until America goes “bust.” The idea of reducing interest rates is a “catch 22” situation. We cannot afford any more interest rates cuts! Am I the only one who sees this fiasco coming? <br /><br /><br /><br />A. Morton RosenfieldBoynton Beach FL<br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 08 Nov 2002 06:13:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ <p>Death by drone: an illegal act<br /><br /> The CIA killed six suspected terrorists with an unmanned drone in Yemen, thereby officially expanding the war on terrorism outside of Afghanistan. One of Al Qaeda’s top men was supposedly among the six. It made the headlines across the country, after Bush went around electioneering that terrorists would be hunted down one-by-one and therapy won’t work on them. <br /><br /> Well, Mr. President, how about trying a little law and order for a change? Maybe, utilizing the rule of law and good old fashioned international cooperation and police work, terrorists can be arrested and tried in International Criminal Court (ICC) and, if found guilty, put in jail for their crimes against humanity. <br /><br /> Oh yes, except that the Bush administration will not sign onto the ICC, nor does it pursue any kind of policies of international cooperation. They would rather use their high-tech weapons of mass destruction around the world – with a shoot first, ask questions later foreign policy. Such a policy still has not brought anyone to justice for the Sept. 11 attacks. It has only brought the world more death, destruction and insecurity. <br /><br /> Oh – did we mention the killing of the six – even if they were terrorists – is illegal? Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said, “Even terrorists must be treated according to international law. Otherwise, any country can start executing those whom they consider terrorists.” <br /><br /> Following the Yemen attack, the hawks announced they are targeting the Horn of Africa as part of their widening and endless war. The Pentagon is establishing a Task Force Horn of Africa, to be based in Djibouti. Troops and ships are expected to join the 800 special forces already there. The Pentagon likened the task force to a similar command running operations in Afghanistan. <br /><br /> While the Bush administration made gains in the elections, and will move with deadly speed for more war, this outrageous foreign policy will not be accepted forever by the American people and certainly is not now accepted by the world’s people. The best national security is to build a strong, broad peace movement to force the Bush administration to stop its catastrophic course. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 08 Nov 2002 05:59:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/chicago-s-banquet-a-success/ <p>CHICAGO – Honoring legendary fighters for social justice, the annual Illinois People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo banquet raised &amp;#036;6,100 for the 2002 Fund Drive here Oct. 20. <br /><br /> William McNary, president of USAction and veteran of countless successful union and community battles, gave the keynote address. In his speech McNary told of his own personal tragedies, from which he has found the strength to fight until social justice is won, and gave a call to all present, “We must be in it to win it.” <br /><br /> He warned the crowd to withstand the pressures that might make some get discouraged. “If we don’t do politics, politics will do us,” McNary told his audience. “The people sometimes have trouble relating to the intricacies of programs politicians advocate, but always respond passionately to candidates and programs who manage to resonate with their most deeply held moral visions of equality and social justice.” <br /><br /> McNary brought the crowd to its feet with his confidence and energy. He declared that a better world needs a “‘Declaration of Interdependence,’ not only to emphasize the need to unite and fight, but [as] the imperative of creating a society in which all will look out for the interests of all.” <br /><br /> The purpose and meaning of social justice were also illuminated by Barbara Moore, an honoree and vice president of the Coalition to Protect Public Housing. She described how important victories are in human terms, how the basic necessities of a life, a home and a good job are fundamental in the pursuit of happiness. <br /><br /> An award was also given to the Chicago-Central States Joint Board of UNITE in honor of the victorious eight-month strike by workers at Carousel Linens. In the words of John Bachtell, Banquet Committee chairman and the district organizer of the Communist Party of Illinois, with their victory the workers won “human dignity and respect for the newly re-emerging labor rights of immigrants, minorities and women.” <br /><br /> Ishmael Flory, a hero from the Civil Rights movement and member of the Communist Party USA, was honored for his life of fighting for the rights of working people. <br /><br /> Kathy Kelly from Voices in the Wilderness was also an honoree. Kelly was unable to attend the because she is in Iraq, continuing her work to improve the lives of its sanctions-worn people and avert war. According to CPUSA Illinois district member Emile Schepers, Kelly “has been, for years, a bulwark of the movement to end the sanctions against Iraq, in which endeavor she is currently putting her life on the line again.” <br /><br /> The banquet also included a poetry reading by YCL member Cesar Casamayor and musical performances by Tomeka Reid and Cellos a fire and Tim Yeager, treasurer of UAW Local 2320, who ended the program with a rousing rendition of “Solidarity Forever.” <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 01 Nov 2002 05:08:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/chicago-s-banquet-a-success/ http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ <p>War is ... <br /><br /> The quote Ed Campbell is looking for (10/26) is from Marine Commander-Gen. Smedley Butler and was published in The New York Times, Aug. 21, 1931, as well as in the magazine, The World Tomorrow in Oct. 1931. It goes as follows: <br /><br /> “I spent 33 years (in the Marines). ... most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism ... <br /><br /> “I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City (bank) boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street ... <br /><br /> “In China, in 1927, I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. ... I had ... a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotions. ... I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three city districts. The Marines operated on three continents.” <br /><br /><br /><br />Rick NaginCleveland OH<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Editor’s note: We want to thank all the readers who responded and now we know for sure that our readers are some of the most well read people! To read the entire speech go to www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm. For Butler’s biography http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Butler.html <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Young Communists in Texas<br /><br /> Several Young Communist League (YCL) members passed out election literature in the University of North Texas’s (UNT) free speech area on Oct. 22 and 23. Members decorated their table with homemade signs that read, “Vote to Defeat the Ultra-right,” and “Say NO to Bush and Co. on Nov. 5.” <br /><br /> Students and faculty took copies of the PWW special election issue and the CPUSA election pamphlet, “Say NO to Bush and Co.” Many interested students signed up to receive more information about the UNT YCL club. One faculty member remarked, “We haven’t seen this since the ’60’s.” <br /><br /> The table also sparked many debates. International students from Sudan and India argued about the impending war in Iraq. Another man yelled anti-communist rhetoric at the YCL, prompting several bystanders to grab literature and voice their support for the YCL’s cause. <br /><br /> Several campus organizations grew excited upon seeing the table. On Tuesday, the UNT College Democrats added a “Ron Kirk for Senator” yard sign to the event, and the campus Anti-War Operations League (AWOL) left several “No War in Iraq” postcards at the table. On Wednesday, even more peace and justice organizations begged to leave literature at the table, including members of the Dallas Peace Center. <br /><br /> Several progressive organizations plan to mobilize on Nov. 4 and 5, including Students for Choice, the College Democrats, and the YCL. The groups will mobilize students to vote against the ultra-right in the Nov. 5 elections. <br /><br /><br /><br />Matt ParkerDenton TX<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />No to death penality<br /><br /> There is one thing about the PWW that I agree with completely and that is your opposition to the death penalty. I 100 percent oppose the death penalty. I call it the ritualistic butchering of homo sapiens. It is barbaric and it serves as no deterrent to the population. <br /><br /> We execute the poor, minorities, and mentally ill people. It is all grossly improper. <br /><br /><br /><br />Cletis Harry BeegleTucson AZ<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Minnesotans will fight<br /><br /> We in Minnesota are mourning the loss of Paul Wellstone, his wife, his daughter, three campaign workers and two pilots last Friday. I am convinced that the loss of the Wellstones will energize voters to one of the highest turnouts for an off-year election in Minn. history. <br /><br /> I am going to the memorial in Minneapolis Tuesday night for the victims. I will hopefully be on a bus of Iron Rangers who will travel down to pay our respects. <br /><br /> We feel the loss of Wellstone is a great loss for not only our state, but for the country as a whole. We will do everything in our power to prevent Norm Coleman and the Republicans from representing us in the U.S. Senate. Wish us luck. <br /><br /><br /><br />“A Ranger” Iron Range MN<br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 01 Nov 2002 04:05:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/letters-26283/ http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/ <p>Stop the vote thieves before they steal<br /><br /> “If you can’t win it, steal it.” That should be the slogan of the Republicans in the 2002 election as it was in the 2000 election. Attorney General John Ashcroft has just announced his “Voting Access and Integrity Initiative.” In the guise of combatting voter fraud, it is a plan for massive disenfranchisement of African-American, Latino, American Indian and other working class voters. <br /><br /> Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has already sounded the alarm that the Republican Party is paying an agent, John Lauck, to find “questionable” voter registrations of American Indians on reservations in South Dakota where 16,700 new voters have been signed up. At stake is the Senate seat now held by Democrat Tim Johnson. If the Republican challenger John Thune wins, by foul means or otherwise, Bush will be one seat closer to control of the Senate. Bush and Cheney’s worst nightmare is labor and American Indian voters displaying the same clout they used to oust Republican Sen. “Slippery Slade” Gorton in the 2000 election. <br /><br /> Even the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota is a target. More than 100,000 absentee ballots were mailed to Minnesota voters. All those returned with votes for Wellstone will be thrown out. But all absentee ballots for his GOP opponent, Norm Coleman, will be counted. Expect a court challenge to this legal trickery. <br /><br /> In Florida, Democrat Bill McBride is gaining on Republican incumbent Governor Jeb Bush. A warning of the trickery came in the Sept. 10 primary when thousands faced closed polling places, long lines and non-functioning voting machines, a repeat of the Bush vote-scrubbing scam perfected in the 2000 election. <br /><br /> This is a moment for maximum vigilance. Let’s redouble the effort to get out the vote, early. Let’s ensure an army of poll watchers at every polling place to block the right-wing election thieves. <br /><br /><br /><br /> ************************************************************************************************************** <br /><br /><br /><br />Did the Russian hostages die for Caspian oil? <br /><br /> At least 117 hostages and 50 of their Chechen separatist captors died Oct. 26 when Russian security police flooded a theater with a suffocating narcotic gas. Once again, the masses of the Russian people are in mourning. Russian President Vladimir Putin, echoed George W. Bush, vowing a broad U.S.-style war against terrorism. <br /><br /> As with Bush, Putin’s hard-line aims to deflect questions about the performance of his own security agencies. All but two of the hostages were killed by the Russian SWAT teams. Putin’s decision to end the hostage crisis by brute force recalls Gen. Westmoreland’s comment during the Vietnam War that it was necessary to “destroy the village in order to save it.” What policy does Putin have to end the crisis in Chechnya other than to annihilate it? <br /><br /> We have a few questions of our own. Why has the U.S. State Department repeatedly met with Ilyas Akhmadov, “foreign minister” of the Chechen rebels, most recently January 24 of this year? The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the meeting as an “unfriendly act. … the administration of the U.S. encourages Chechen separatists … This meeting took place at a time when new, irrefutable proof appears of direct connections between the leaders of the Chechen militants and Osama bin Laden.” <br /><br /> Many of the Chechen terrorists are veterans of the CIA war in Afghanistan. They served NATO and the Pentagon in Kosovo and Macedonia in dismantling Yugoslavia. On June 21, State Department official Elizabeth Jones, called on Russia to negotiate a peace agreement with Chechnya. In the course of a news briefing, she mentioned that U.S. military instructors are now deployed in neighboring Georgia and the U.S. has military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan in the oil rich Caspian basin. Is the Bush administration flirting with the Chechen rebels to gain a stranglehold on Central Asian oil? Perhaps they think a client Chechen state would help ExxonMobil grab Caspian oil. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> Fri, 01 Nov 2002 03:54:00 +0000 http://peoplesworld.org/editorials-26283/