People Before Profit blog

Stadium opening marked by mascot protests

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:46:00 +0000

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - 'I'm a human being, not a mascot!' read a placard carried by a young Lakota Indian here Oct. 5. She was protesting the 'Fighting Sioux' nickname of University of North Dakota (UND) sports teams and a hockey arena plastered with thousands of reproductions of an Indian-head logo.

The 350 demonstrators - UND students and faculty and members of several American Indian tribes - gathered in front of the new $100-million Ralph Engelstad Arena on the day it opened.

Starting in the 1970s, and increasingly in recent years, hundreds of schools and colleges have shed Indian names and logos in recognition of their racist nature.

In the case of the 'Fighting Sioux,' several tribal councils formally requested the University of North Dakota to drop it. Unfortunately, some UND fans defended its use as 'tradition,' and others feared lost alumni contributions.

Enter Ralph Engelstad, a UND alumnus with a gambling fortune. A public admirer of Hitler and a collector of Nazi memorabilia; he was fined $1.5 million by the Nevada Gaming Commission for celebrating Hitler's birthday at two parties in his casino at which employees were required to wear Hitler T-shirts. He operates a non-union hotel and has been the focus of protests by Jewish groups in Las Vegas.

Engelstad offered a $100-million gift to his alma mater, originally half for a hockey arena and half to the university for its unrestricted use. Terms of the gift were subsequently changed, however. First, Engelstad imposed the condition that the 'Fighting Sioux' nickname and logo of an Indian head be retained, and second, that the lavish arena receive all the funds.

The university unveiled a statue of a mounted Indian bearing a plaque noting that it commemorates Sitting Bull.

This was done despite the fact that Isaac Dog Eagle, a descendant of Sitting Bull and a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribal government, had written to the university objecting and pointing out that the university did not receive, or even seek, permission to use Sitting Bull's likeness or name.

Preceding the arena protest was a three-day Northern Plains Conference on American Indian Team Names and Logos, attended by 400 people. The purpose of the conference was to place the use of Indian names and nicknames, as well as Indian figures and images, in a social and political context.

Conference speakers and panels, including academics, Indian spiritual leaders, and tribal members addressed such topics as the psychological impact of American Indian logos and mascots on Native and non-Native people.

The keynote speaker was Winona LaDuke, a longtime activist who heads the White Earth Land Recovery Project, working to return Indian lands to the tribe.

Another speaker was Charlene Teters, professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., a leader in the national movement against Indian mascots. She became an activist when, as one of two Indian students at the University of Illinois, she was confronted with the degrading caricature 'Chief Illiniwek.'

The campaign that grew up after her initial protest provoked harassment and even death threats in reaction. PBS did a documentary on Teters entitled In Whose Honor?

While there is no resolution at Illinois, the universities of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa now refuse to schedule teams with Indian logos except when required by Big Ten regulations. Other colleges are not permitting visiting teams to display Indian names and symbols on jerseys or athletic gear.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has called for the elimination of Indian mascots, logos and team names by educational institutions on the grounds that they are offensive to American Indians, and may create a hostile learning environment in violation of antidiscrimination laws.

The Commission said that 'they are particularly inappropriate and insensitive in light of the long history of forced assimilation that American Indian people have endured in this country.'

CPUSA strategizes to end terrorism and war

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:44:00 +0000

NEW YORK - Communist activists gathered here Oct. 20-21 for the first National Committee meeting since the body's election at the CPUSA's convention in early July.

Calling for a moment of silence on behalf of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, Jarvis Tyner, CPUSA executive vice chairman, said at the meeting's opening that the terrorist act was an attack on the working class of the world.

CPUSA National Chairman Sam Webb gave an opening report that was followed by two days of discussion from the floor, punctuated by reports on the economy, the U.N. conference on racism, defense of the Charleston Five, peace and solidarity campaigns and CPUSA structure and organization proposals.

In his report, Webb emphasized the dangers and hypocrisy of the Bush administration's 'war on terrorism.' He called Bush's speech projecting a broader war 'saber-rattling' with 'nothing statesmen nor sober-minded about it.' Webb, issuing an urgent call to the Party, said that stopping the ultraright's war drive is an historical, defining moment for the working class and the peoples of the world.

Webb said support for Bush's bombing and his 'war on terrorism' is soft among the American people. He also said that a broad worldwide front against terrorism and war can be built.

Many will enter the struggle for peace through different 'portals,' Webb said. These include the struggles for civil liberties and immigrant rights, the fight against racial profiling and the struggles around the economic crisis and social spending, stopping the recent 'corporate looting spree.'

Scott Marshall, chairman of the CPUSA's Labor Commission, outlined the need to link the economic struggle to the struggle for peace. This link, he said, is key to winning a majority against the war.

Speaking from the floor, national committee members highlighted how both Bush's war in Afghanistan and terrorism affect social programs at home, foster an atmosphere that encourages racist and anti-immigrant attacks, result in a huge increase in layoffs and unemployment and an overall curtailing of civil liberties and democratic rights.

Heavy emphasis was placed on the battles in Congress and not surrendering the legislative agenda to Bush and the ultraright.

Joelle Fishman, chairwoman of the CPUSA's political action commission, said there are heroines and heroes in Congress not being reported on by the media and the legislative arena is key to a national fightback.

Arnold Becchetti, an NC member and a founder of Veterans for Peace, read a recent statement by that organization and spoke about carrying the American flag in peace demonstrations. A veteran of the Vietnam War spoke about not ceding America's national symbols to the ultraright.

Many from Southern California spoke about the dramatic increase in layoffs, especially among flight attendants, hotel, restaurant and airport workers, many of whom are Mexican and Latino. Because of the 1996 welfare laws, legal residents, like the majority of these workers, are ineligible for food stamps. Over 30,000 pounds of food has been given out because of the layoffs caused by Sept. 11.

Evelina Alarcon, a CPUSA vice chairwoman, reported on the fight to Free the Charleston Five. The NC greeted Alarcon's announcement that the political pressure on South Carolina's Republican Attorney General Charles Condon to drop the charges resulted in two critical victories: Condon's withdrawal of his office from the case, which is now assigned to a local prosecutor, and the release of the Charleston Five from house arrest (See article page 3).

Alarcon said that the next major event in the fight to free the five is the international day of action on November 14, the first day of the trial proceedings.

Joe Sims, editor of Political Affairs, reported on the U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, which he attended. His report emphasized the shameful absence of the Bush administration from the conference. Sims said the conference underlined the 'problem of the color line on a world scale since the setbacks to socialism and the new stage of globalization.'

Sims was in South Africa on Sept. 11; he reported on the universal condemnation of the atrocity. The South African Communist Party, Sims said, called for a worldwide demonstration for peace and against terrorism.

Given the new dangers from the ultraright's drive for more violence, war and terrorism much attention was given to the issue of tactics to build a mass, multiracial, united peace movement capable to stop the Bush agenda.

Elena Mora, national organization secretary, highlighted a thought-provoking part of Webb's report that dealt with ultra-left and sectarian tactics. Mora said it was a call to 'shed sectarian ways' and develop tactics to influence millions. After all, she said, the left doesn't make history, the working class does.

Stop Sharon's war

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:42:00 +0000

The following is a statement by the Communist Party of Israel.

The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) most strongly condemns the criminal military escalation taken by the Sharon government against the Palestinian people. The Sharon government, along with irresponsible right-wing elements of the coalition, are exploiting the assassination of of Rechavam Zeevi (see last week's issue) as an excuse to torpedo the international efforts to break the cycle of bloodshed, to return to the negotiating table to achieve a just solution to the Middle East conflict.

The government is using Zeevi's assassination as an excuse to escalate the military aggression in order to defeat the Intifada, to emasculate the Palestinian Authority, and to reoccupy areas handed over to them.

The attempt to equate the Palestinian Authority with the Taliban and Yasser Arafat with Osama bin Laden is fraught with danger. This exposes the malicious plan to topple the Palestinian Authority and end the peace process by occupying areas under Palestinian sovereignty while waging a criminal war under the banner of a 'war on terrorism.'

This criminal escalation of the last few days, includes the invasion and occupation of parts of Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tul Karem, Kilkilyeh, and the Gaza Strip, the assassination of Palestinian leaders, the daily killing of children and innocent civilians, and the total siege of these towns.

All these steps may lead to frightening explosion that could ignite a disastrous regional conflict. Violence breeds violence and does not bring security to either side.

The CPI calls on all supporters of peace, Jews and Arabs alike, to act now in order to block the way of this right-wing government and to avoid the further descent towards a destructive conflict which will bring disaster to all the peoples of the region.

The CPI calls upon the international community to intervene and pressure the Sharon government to halt the aggression, to offer international protection to the Palestinian people, and to assure its security from the crimes and killings carried out by the Israeli occupiers.

This should be the first step towards a just compromise based on the resolutions of the United Nations, which guarantees the right of the Palestinians to an independent state in the borders of June 4, 1967 as well as the right of return for the Palestinian refugees.

Hundreds of thousands march in Rome, Calcutta and around the world

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:40:00 +0000

ROME - Some 150,000 marchers walked the 25 km from Assisi to the Italian city of Perugia in a protest against U.S. air strikes on targets in Afghanistan, Italian TV reported. The peace march was organized by several Catholic groups and Italian opponents of globalization.

Assisi, which has kept much of its medieval appearance, is a place of pilgrimage associated with Saint Francis. Center-left parties opposing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi supported the march and leader of the opposition Francesco Rutelli walked in the procession, although he has publicly supported military pressure on the Taliban.

CALCUTTA - About 70,000 people staged a peace rally last week in Calcutta, the country's biggest anti-war protest so far. The demonstration in the West Bengal capital, organized by the state's ruling Left Front coalition government, drew members of leftist groups and unions as well as intellectuals and students. The protesters were drenched by rain as they shouted, 'We want peace, not war,' 'Stop the terrorism against Afghanistan.'

TORONTO - In the early hours of Oct. 16, over 2,000 people gathered downtown to protest the Canadian government's increasingly repressive policies. Protesters managed to shut down the financial district, clogging downtown traffic and halting the subways for almost five hours.

The rally, which was organized by the Ontario Common Front and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, was intended to start an 'economic disruption' campaign against the Tory government. But the attacks of Sept. 11 and Canadian support for the U.S. war on Afghanistan changed the tenor of the demonstration. Canada is trying to pass a restrictive anti-terrorism bill similar to the one passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

French unions offer solutions

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:38:00 +0000

The following is a statement by the Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT), the French trade union federation.

Our approach is based on values of solidarity, which are those of a trade union movement that brings together women and men, regardless of nationality, politics and religious beliefs.

The CGT condemned the barbarous acts on Sept. 11, which killed ordinary citizens and deeply affected all workers and peoples. These attacks represent neither a conflict between civilizations nor deviant reaction against oppression. They are the product of fanaticism that pursues dangerous aims. It must be firmly fought. Those, who are responsible, must be found and punished and their networks dismantled.

At a time when military intervention is on the horizon, the CGT confirms its rejection of reprisals or revenge, which would have repercussions for other peoples and workers. War cannot be a way of eradicating terrorism.

This is a crucial time in history, which should lead to building new political, economic and social responses. The international community should bring urgent help to the Afghan people and avoid another humanitarian disaster.

Our priority is recognition of the right of all societies to development. Urgent concrete measures must be taken to cancel the debt that weighs heavily on the peoples of the most underprivileged countries. This requires implementing social rights at the international level, challenging the domination of financial markets and multinationals, sharing wealth more fairly in such a way that opens up genuine prospects for young people, who, in the Third World, despair in the same way as those who are excluded in our societies.

Solutions must be found for the most urgent problems, especially in the Middle East. We support the demand for the creation of a genuine Palestinian state and mutual recognition of the State of Israel - both are necessary for the respect of the fundamental right to security and dignity for all those who live in the region.

Such an ambition justifies the creation of new international institutions that promote new relations between peoples and their states and ensure real possibilities of democratic involvement in the world situation regarding political, economic, social and security issues.

France and the European Union should demand democracy, social progress and peace even more strongly. On this basis, the CGT will organize many discussions in workplaces, develop its own initiatives and see what converging actions are possible. This also raises more strongly than ever the need to unite the trade union movement at national, European and international levels.

Great tragedies and the new war danger

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:36:00 +0000

There have been many, many tragedies in the world in our time. Of course, the latest tragedy is the terrorist act which took place in New York and Washington, D.C. This tragedy shook the American people up to what the horrible loss of life can mean to our people and the nation as a whole.

The television, radio and newspapers have been repeating over and over pictures and descriptions of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Now American flags are being sold by the millions. Slogans of solidarity fly on all TV stations, billboards, schools, churches and places of business: 'United We Stand,' 'America Is One' and similar slogans.

President Bush, just a month before the Sept. 11 tragedy, had a very low popularity rating but after the tragedy, polls rated his popularity at 90 percent. We, as average Americans, must take a step or two back and begin evaluating the whys and wherefores without all of the hoopla and jingoism.

With the terrorist strike, the entire Congress, with the exception of one person, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), voted to give Bush and Company $40 billion of our tax money to do what he wants with it. Lee's position, and rightly so, is to thoroughly investigate who the criminals are, apprehend them, bring them to trial and punish them for these dastardly acts.

Beating the drums for war is an excuse by the Bush administration to rob the American people by using tax money for war, missiles and new profits to benefit Big Business.

One such big business is oil. Journalist Karen Talbot, in an article for The People's Weekly World, stated, 'The main motive of the transnational oil companies is profits.' She referred to Frank Viviano's 'Energy future rides on U.S. war: conflict centered in world's oil patch,' in which he stated 'the hidden stakes in the war against terrorism can be summed up in a single word: oil.'

Talbot further points out, 'This region will account for more than 80 percent of the world's oil and natural gas according to the Statistical Review of World Energy.' Vakhtang Kolbaya, deputy chairman of the parliament in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, stated, 'You cannot discuss the violence in this region outside the context of oil ... It's at the heart of the problem.'

Talbot concludes that many have pointed out the fact that the CIA trained, equipped and funded the Mujahedin and Osama bin Laden to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan and into the Soviet Union itself - the largest covert action in the history of the CIA. This included supplying them with stinger missiles. The intelligence service of both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were heavily involved in this. Peter Schweizer, from the Hoover Institute, details this in his book: 'Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union.'

The call to war by the Bush administration can still be stopped. We do not need more violence in some foreign land. Let us use our tax money for humanitarian projects. War will escalate into terrorism in all parts of the world.

Let us not curtail our civil liberties. Let us not return to that era of McCarthyism where wiretaps were prevalent and search and seizure was unrestricted. We must protect the rights of immigrants.

Let us lift the embargoes from all countries and work through the United Nations General Assembly to solve the world's problems.

John Gilman is active in the Wisconsin Committee for Peace and Justice and a recipient of a 2001 People's Weekly World Courage Award.

ILWU opposed to screening of waterfront workers

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:34:00 +0000

Under the pervasive blanket of 'national security,' Congress and the White House House are hastily preparing to reinstitute a program of screening waterfront workers with background checks that go back as far as 10 years regarding such matters as arrests for drugs, petty crimes, or other 'improper activities.'

The 23 disqualifying crimes include felony convictions involving 'sedition. burglary, theft, dishonesty, fraud, misrepresentation, illegal possession of a controlled substance punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of more than a year.

The Port and Maritime Security Act (S-1214) sponsored by Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), includes among its many repressive and undemocratic features, a provision to give the Coast Guard and Maritime Administration authority to carry out background checks of any and all workers with access to the nation's harbors.

At the height of the Cold War and with the beginning of the Korean 'police action' by the U.S. in 1950, a similar screening program was carried out and given legal sanction by the passage of the Magnusen Act. The Magnusen Act, named after its sponsor, Sen. Warren Magnusen (D-Wash.), was used to remove more than 3,000 seamen and other waterfront workers from the maritime industry because of their political or union activities or beliefs.

Some six years later, after several court suits had challenged the constitutionality of the Magnusen Act, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the Act had violated the constitutional rights of the waterfront workers and they were allowed to return to the industry.

Now, under the guise of fighting 'Terrorism,' the government is again moving to impose a screening program of doubtful constitutionality, that would do nothing to stop terrorism but would undermine union control of hiring and weaken the very existence of unions on the waterfront.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), under the leadership of its feisty president, Harry Bridges, fought off four attempts to deport Bridges, and also was able to protect its members from becoming victims of the screening program.

This latest attack on the waterfront workers through the Port Security Bill has been denounced by the present leadership of the ILWU with ILWU President Jim Spinosa stating that there is no evidence to indicate that West Coast dockworkers have been involved in terrorism, drug smuggling or any other illicit activity that screening would attempt to prevent.

'We're not terrorists, but we're being treated like we are. We're not part of the problem. We're part of the solution,' said Spinosa, noting that because dockworkers unload containers from ships, they can report anything suspicious.

The ILWU leadership has been lobbying against the Hollings Bill in Washington, and union members have been urged to write their congressmen urging them to work to defeat the bill.

West Coast waterfront employers, organized in the Pacific Maritime Association, and the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, have been trying for years to do away with the union-controlled hiring hall which is the bedrock of union wages and working conditions on the waterfront. These employer groups are enthusiastically backing the new screening program which they see as giving them the upper hand in coming negotiations for a new contract between the ILWU and the PMA in the Spring of 2002.

Waterfront unions and their allies at home and abroad are gearing up for an all-out fight to protect their hiring halls and working conditions, which they feel are part of the democracy and living standards that are basic to real national security.

Herb Kaye is a West Coast labor reporter for the People's Weekly World.

Building a broad U.S. peace movement

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:32:00 +0000

In reaction to Bush's war in Afghanistan a new U.S. peace movement has arisen. It is spontaneous, politically diverse, dispersed throughout the country and reflects the basic sentiments of the U.S. peace forces at this point.

This new peace movement has a large youth and student component and in some actions has attracted many thousands. At this stage, this is an advance over the Vietnam era.

This new movement mourns those who have died, calls for bringing all those responsible for the terror to justice and stands in opposition to Bush's so-called war against terrorism. Their position is that war and racism are not the answer.

To win peace, this movement needs to be broader then just the left, more multiracial with a strong labor component. The fight for peace must be linked to the rise of racism and the growing economic crisis at home.

In the past, the majority of the U.S. people have been won to oppose our country's policies of war and aggression. We cannot ignore the fact that today large majorities support Bush's war policies. This support will not hold but the peace forces cannot ignore the reasons why people are supporting Bush right now.

We have to understand that people are still in a state of shock and collective mourning. The American people of all races are just plain frightened and worried that they or their loved ones may be among the next victims of terrorism. They are also angry and they want something done to prevent more horrible acts of mass murder.

At a time when people are psychologically vulnerable they have been bombarded with a massive pro-war propaganda day in and day out for over a month now. This massive propaganda campaign is working for now. The Bush approach is to use these tragic events to scare our people into accepting his reactionary program. The only choices they are presenting is either Bush or bin Laden.

Opposition to war is painted as pro-terrorism. The Bush war in Afghanistan and curbing civil liberties are presented as the only 'solution' to terrorism.

The terrorist act has not only taken innocent lives; it has given the political initiative to right and turned political scoundrels into heroes. It has given, for now, the upper hand to the forces of war and racism for now. To them our need for social security, schools, health care and social justice here at home also fell with the twin towers.

Most peace activists understand that this movement must be multi-issue and call for bringing those who committed the mass murder of 6,000 people to justice. It must offer alternative solutions to Bush's war. The Bush policy will take years and mean tens of thousand of lives. It puts the entire world in peril.

Some in the peace movement have called for the use of the World Court to bring the guilty to justice. Others have called for the creation of an independent international tribunal to fully investigate and bring the guilty to justice. The U.N. cannot be excluded from any effort to end terrorism.

Ideas like Fidel Castro's call for a world conference against terrorism to come up with real solutions are far more effective and acceptable to the world community that the Bush war plan.

Some have called for a full disclosure of the evidence. There is also talk of worldwide demonstrations for peace and against terrorism. Such demonstrations could draw millions.

We must call for finding political solutions to the many conflicts around the world. To start, we need to find a just solution to the question of Palestine. United Nations resolutions 242 and 338 need to be enforced. The world community must respond and help end the conflicts in Africa and elsewhere.

Such solutions will actually take less time and be far more effective than the Bush plan, which is about more than Afghanistan and oil. This administration is trying to build bipartisan unity and world unity around its effort to achieve a new and more dangerous level of U.S. economic and military global domination. This can only be achieved with war.

While rejecting Bush's war, we must not fear calling for bringing terrorists to justice. It is part of offering an alternative.

It is a natural human response to mourn the dead and call for justice. This movement must not appear in any way to be indifferent to the victims of this horrible act of terrorism. In fact, the U.S. peace movement must take a clear position against anything like what happened on Sept. 11 ever happening again to anyone anywhere on this earth.

We also must not blame the victims. To say that the entire U.S. people are responsible for the acts of U.S. imperialism lets the real culprits off the hook and targets the innocent. That's what talking about 'the chickens coming home to roost' implies.

Those who died on Sept. 11 were overwhelmingly working people (from all over the world) who were not responsible for the crimes of U.S. imperialism.

Our task is to win the American people over to the understanding that their interest is not identical with Bush's war drive. We must make it clear that peace is patriotic and globalization, imperialism and war are against the national interest.

Those of us working for peace here in the U.S. can play a major role in the worldwide fight for peace and justice. The most important immediate task before us is to building a broad, multiracial, united U.S. peace movement capable of winning a majority of U.S. people to act against this disastrous effort. This is just what the Communist Party agreed to do at its national committee meeting this past weekend.

Jarvis Tyner is executive vice chair of the Communist Party USA.

Where are we after September 11?

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:23:00 +0000

The following is an excerpt from a report to the Communist Party's national committee, elected at its convention in July. The national committee met Oct. 20-21 in New York.

The shocking and terrifying nature of the Sept. 11 assault has done more than temporarily traumatize the nation. It has also given the Bush administration and the far right a new legitimizing discourse, or, to put it in a less highfalutin way, a new ideological rationale to pursue its political objectives at home and worldwide.

Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. ruling class has been without a fully convincing political rationale to give legitimacy to its narrow class interests. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan in World War II, and for the next 45 years, the specter of an aggressive Soviet Union hellbent on world domination was the ideological canopy under which the American people were mobilized behind the reactionary political project of the U.S. ruling class.

But with the collapse of Soviet socialism and the end of the Cold War a decade ago, the ruling class was without such an overarching ideological rationale. The 'Soviet menace' and the 'evil empire' were no longer serviceable ideological constructs to give legitimacy to imperialism's policies domestically and internationally.

In a sense, the disintegration of the Soviet Union was not an unalloyed blessing for the U.S. ruling class. On the one hand, socialism's collapse objectively removed the biggest obstacle to imperialism's hegemonic plans, but it also removed the ideological justification for its aggressive policies.

Thus, while U.S. imperialism emerged triumphant at the close of the 20th century, it entered the 21st century without a set of creditable arguments that would lend legitimacy to and mobilize the people behind its polices.

For a while it floated the concept of humanitarian interventionism and later it bandied about the notion of rogue states, but neither resonated enough in the thinking of the American people.

So the ruling class, and especially its most reactionary sections, has been groping to find a new rationale - a legitimizing discourse - that would win public opinion to its objective to aggressively pursue and consolidate its single super-power status worldwide.

In the absence of such an ideological and political construct, a broad people's movement at home and globally over the past decade was able to frustrate many of the far right's most reactionary plans. Even the brazen theft of the presidency in the 2000 elections did little to change this situation.

It is in this context that we should see the terrorist attack of Sept. 11. It was so horrific, so immediate, so unexpected and so cruel that people were profoundly shaken. Millions felt a deep fear that was, up until that moment, foreign to our national psychology.

Life had become fragile and contingent. We were no longer safe, no longer immune from violence perpetrated by faceless and remorseless terrorists.

Seizing on this understandable sea change in mass psychology, the Bush administration is transforming the real danger and fear of international terrorism into a new ideological rationale that galvanizes public opinion behind its political program, much like earlier administrations during the Cold War utilized the 'Soviet menace' to aggressively pursue their reactionary agenda.

Had the terrorist attack not occurred, President Bush probably would have been forced to politically retreat this fall. After all, his standing in the polls was dropping precipitously, the federal budget surplus was disappearing, the regressive and harmful nature of his tax giveaway to the rich was becoming more apparent, his promise not to touch Social Security was putting him in a bind and his misnamed 'anti-missile defense' system was coming under close and critical public scrutiny.

Berkeley City Council calls for end to bombing

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:21:00 +0000

BERKELEY, Calif. - The Berkeley City Council voted Oct. 21 to call on the U.S. government to 'bring the bombing of Afghanistan to a conclusion as quickly as possible.' The vote was five in favor, with four abstentions.

Councilwoman Donna Spring, the sponsor of the resolution, said she wanted to spare innocent Afghan civilians and that the military campaign that began on Oct. 7 'will breed more terrorism and create more instability in the Middle East, particularly in Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons.'

Her resolution also called on the U.S. to work with international organizations in 'bringing to justice all those complicit in last month's violent attack.'

The passage of the resolution brought a number of death threats to those who voted for the halt to the bombing, but Spring said that most Berkeley residents who contacted her supported the resolution. She noted a survey of students at the University of California at Berkeley by the student paper The Daily Californian showed that 65 percent support ending the bombing.

On Sept. 25, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to commend Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) for being the only member of Congress to oppose giving Bush carte blanche to use military force in the anti-terrorism campaign (see related story above).

Berkeley has been the scene of numerous peace rallies and protests against the bombing of Afghanistan, both on the streets of the city and on the campus of UC-Berkeley, despite the efforts of the mainstream media to distort the aims of the protests and to imply that businesses and restaurants will lose customers because of the City Council's peace stand.

As former Berkeley City Councilman Ying Lee Kelley said, 'The council should continue to honor Berkeley's tradition of opposition to brute force to solve profoundly difficult social problems.'

3,500 turn out to support Lee

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:19:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - In a rousing demonstration of affection and support for Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), 3,500 people gathered at Oakland's City Hall Oct. 21. The rally was in support of Lee's lone vote against granting unlimited power to President Bush to plunge the nation into war.

In introducing Lee, Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Keith Carson declared, 'Look around you. We are Black and white, old and young, Latino, Asian, Native American. These are her constituents, this is California, this is America.'

Following a huge ovation from the crowd, Lee said, 'As we bring the perpetrators to justice, let's be sure that no more innocent lives are lost. Thank you for being great patriots and great Americans who insist that democracy and civil liberties must prevail, even in times of crisis. Let us not become the evil that we deplore, and thanks for being the most progressive district in the U.S.'

Actor Danny Glover said, 'In supporting Barbara Lee, we support ourselves. One voice for humankind - that's the voice we must present.' Glover quoted from an April 1967 speech by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., 'We must speak with all humility of our vision, but we must speak.'

He also gave a dramatic reading of the Langston Hughes poem 'Let America Be America Again.'

Noted African-American author Alice Walker also praised Lee, pointing out what it cost her to take that stand and to urge that the government not rush to judgment. 'You are the vision in our ancestor's eyes.'

Kelly Campbell, an Oakland resident, who lost one of her family members in the attack on the Pentagon, expressed her concern that 'the lives of those who died on September 11 not be used to perpetrate more crimes against humanity. Revenge only brings more revenge.'

Students discuss war, profiling

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:17:00 +0000

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Black Active Minds (BAM), a student organization at Buffalo State College, held a panel discussion here Oct. 10 entitled 'A Rumor of War: The Consequences of War for Blacks and America.'

Panelists included the president of Black Active Minds, professors from Buffalo State and the University at Buffalo and a representative from the All-African People's Revolutionary Party. The panel took the form of a round- table discussion with students and professors recounting their experiences and feelings when they first heard the news of the events of Sept. 11.

Many students expressed condemnation for the attacks but said that they recognized the U.S. foreign policy decisions that may have been a historical factor in the tragic events.

Some students also expressed their opposition to the military bombings and possible invasion of Afghanistan.

Tim Brown, a Communications professor at the University at Buffalo, discussed the role the media has played since Sept. 11 by packaging information. He told students how to be better consumers of information by seeking out alternative news to get the whole picture and by understanding that the media purposefully simplifies information.

Brown noted that it is not so much what is covered in the media that matters, but what is not covered. He also noted that news, such as the recent acquittal of the police officer accused of shooting a young black male in Cincinnati, has gone virtually uncovered.

Dr. Anthony Neal, chair of the Buffalo State Political Science Department, discussed the political context of the events unfolding throughout the country, citing the Supreme Court's recent refusal to hear a case on racial profiling. By not hearing this case the door is left wide open for the racial profiling of Arab Americans in the hunt for terrorists as well as the continued profiling of African Americans, Neal said.

BAM President Marke Shelton said he fears Arab-Americans will see more racial profiling just as African Americans have for years. He also expressed his opposition to the bombing of Afghanistan, saying 'the act of us going there and bombing is an act of terror too. What are we teaching our children? That's an eye-for-an- eye society.'

Dr. Curtis Haynes, an Economics Professor at Buffalo State, told the World that 'we have to be conscious that we don't give up our civil liberties for security.'

We need to reform jobless benefits

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:16:00 +0000

In the weeks since the events of Sept. 11, the ranks of the unemployed have grown by nearly a half-million. Tens of thousands of airline workers have been joined by more thousands of laid-off workers in every sector of the economy from restaurants to factories and from 'temp' agencies to construction sites, in unemployment lines that grow longer each day.

These layoffs, coming as the economy continued its 11-month downhill slide, give new urgency to the need to reform the nation's unemployment insurance (UI) system that is the first line of defense for laid-off workers. But that, too, has changed as millions of temporary and part-time workers - 2.5 million of them former welfare recipients - entered the work force in recent years and today help push the unemployment rolls to a four-year high.

The AFL-CIO made reform of the unemployment insurance system the number one priority in its recently adopted Blueprint for Economic Reform. In it, the 13-million-member federation calls upon Congress to extend benefits beyond the present 26-week limit, to provide more benefits to more unemployed, especially low-wage and part-time workers. It also calls for federal funding of states to adequately cope with the increase in UI caseloads and other needed employment services.

The need for federal support is made even more urgent by virtue of the fact that reserves at the state level have been plundered to the tune of $47 billion by reductions in employer-paid payroll taxes.

By any measure, the system created in 1935 as part of the Social Security Act, needs reform. Fewer than 40 percent - in some states fewer than 30 percent - of unemployed workers draw UI benefits, down from 50 percent in 1975 and even higher levels a half-century ago. Those who do qualify draw an average weekly benefit of $230. The feds set the basic guidelines for the various state UI systems.

States determine their own eligibility rules. Although the rules vary from state to state, they typically exclude part-time employees, people who quit their jobs or refuse a new shift for family reasons and recently hired low-wage workers, many of them among the 2.5 million welfare recipients who entered the work force in the 1990s.

The system is funded by federal and state payroll taxes paid by employers who pay a lower rate if their former employees do not collect benefits, giving the business community a built-in incentive to minimize the number of unemployed workers who receive benefits.

Despite the low level of weekly benefits, the UI system has helped cushion the impact of unemployment on workers and the communities where they live.

According to a 1999 Department of Labor study, unemployment benefits 'mitigated the loss of real gross domestic product (GDP) by about 15 percent' during the course of each of the five post-World War II recessions. The study also estimated their 'ripple effect' and concluded that each dollar of benefits resulted in a $2.15 increase in GDP and helped preserve an average of more than 100,000 jobs annually.

But with all of that, there is, as the AFL-CIO says, need for major reform of the UI system, beginning with the fact that many women workers are disenfranchised by state eligibility criteria that fail to consider the social and economic issues that affect women's employment patterns and their earnings.

Several state legislatures have bowed to pressure by labor and women's organizations and have instituted important reforms in their UI systems aimed at relaxing eligibility qualifications.

Twelve have eliminated 'waiting weeks.'

Sixteen allow workers to count their most recent earnings in calculating weekly benefits.

Two allow individuals to qualify based on a specified number of hours worked rather than a specified amount of earnings.

Sixteen have adopted 'baby U' provisions that allow unemployment benefits to workers taking leave to care for a new-born.

Thirty-one now pay UI benefits to individuals who leave work for compelling domestic circumstances: child care, domestic violence and other circumstances that significantly affect women workers.

Thirteen provide allowances that increase UI benefits for individuals with dependent children.

At the federal level, the battle for reform revolves around money. Given the national emergency exacerbating economic conditions, Congress should do several things: Relax the threshold that 'triggers' when states become eligible for extended benefits, make the federal government responsible for the entire cost of extended unemployment benefits and repeal federal income taxation of UI benefits, which would effectively increase benefits by more than 15 percent.

While these proposals will go far in easing the burden of unemployment, they stop short of the more far-reaching reforms advocated by the Communist Party that call for paying much higher benefits to unemployed workers from the first to last day of any period of unemployment and to first-time job seekers.

Health care for all needed

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:14:00 +0000

The Nation's Health Worker's Safety

Health care for all needed

By Phil E. Benjamin

New York City is facing an increase in unemployed workers stemming from the World Trade Center crisis. About 120,000 newly unemployed workers will, as a result, face losing health insurance since worker access to health insurance in our country is almost entirely dependent upon employers, either through labor negotiations or directly from the employer. These thousands will be added to the millions in the United States who are already living without health insurance.

National health legislation

In every other industrial country in the world, when natural disasters, like earthquakes, tornadoes and floods, result in the loss of jobs, displaced workers and their families still maintain their full health-care coverage. They do not suffer the fears and anguish of doing without health services because these workers are not tied to their employers for health insurance. Their government provides health services.

There is much talk these days about the importance of providing bereavement services to people who suffered in the World Trade Center disaster. There is heroic work being done by therapists, social workers and others who are tending to the requirements of people in need. Continuation of bereavement therapy is only possible for all workers and their families when there is national health plan providing the services.

The answer to both the bereavement process and the public health crisis is an immediate, emergency national health program that provides all needed health services for anyone who worked at the World Trade Center or worked for an employer who relied on business from the WTC. Take the insurance carriers out of the picture. Their greed would cost us too much.

Congress could do the right thing and pass universal health-care legislative program that covers everyone, regardless if they are employed or not employed. There is no time like the present.

And, since COBRA health benefits - the continuation of health benefits for 18 months following termination of employment - is very expensive, most workers will not be able to afford it. This constitutes a qualitative increase in the already dangerous public health crisis in our country.

Paying premiums not the answer

A few members of Congress are putting forward proposals to deal with the crisis, but the proposals keep the insurance carriers rolling in dollars. Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) proposed that the federal government pay half the premiums of workers laid off as a result of the WTC disaster, but only for 12 months.

Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) proposed a bill that would provide laid-off workers with a tax credit equal to half the cost of any health insurance premium, but with a maximum of only $110 per month per individual and $290 per family.

President Bush's proposals are so full of loopholes that they are totally useless. Aides to Baucus and Kennedy have said their proposals would cost about $16.5 billion. The price tag should not come as a surprise since it is using taxpayer money to pay the premiums for the greedy for-profit insurance carriers. This solution is no solution.

There is much lip-service being paid to finding jobs for the thousands of displaced hourly workers. The labor movement is pushing Congress hard for action. Coupled with the recession, bordering on depression, a massive jobs program with health benefits is urgently needed.

Tobacco still lobbies hard

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:13:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Each day that Congress meets, the nation's four largest cigarette manufacturers spend more than $100,000 pushing their agenda on Capitol Hill

Philip Morris Cos., which operates the nation's largest cigarette factory, and three other tobacco companies poured $44.2 million into lobbying Congress in two-and-a-half years ending June 30, according to reports filed by corporations and lobbying firms with the U.S. House and Senate.

The lobbying by Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and Lorillard Tobacco Co. comes three years after the landmark $206 billion settlement between the cigarette-makers and the states shut down the Tobacco Institute, the industry's powerful Washington lobbying arm.

Despite the institute's demise, lobbying continues. Big Tobacco's spending, an average of $106,415 each legislative day, illustrates how an industry digs deep by dispatching legions of lobbyists to influence Congress.

Consider Philip Morris' lobbying on the Breast Cancer Prescription Drug Fairness Act. Or the Medicare Modernization and Solvency Act of 2001. The tobacco giant isn't against treating breast cancer or updating federal insurance for senior adults, but it is against paying for the programs with cigarette taxes.

'We typically monitor a lot of bills,' said David Tovar, a Philip Morris spokesman. 'Historically, we anticipate that [Congress] will look for funding for some of these programs from tobacco taxes.'

The tobacco industry did unite and apparently won a battle when it persuaded Congress to reduce the amount spent on a Clinton-era lawsuit alleging that cigarette-makers conspired for decades to keep the risks of smoking from the public.

Charlie Rose no longer represents North Carolina in the House, but he made $240,000 during the last congressional session to schmooze former colleagues on Philip Morris' behalf. More than 100 former members of Congress are registered lobbyists, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Hundreds more former congressional staff workers now lobby.

Massachusetts Senior Action: Yes to action, no to war

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:10:00 +0000

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Massachusetts Senior Action Council held its convention here Oct. 12 with 300 senior activists coming from around the state.

'Yes to social and political activism; no to war' was the theme of the convention. Among the resolutions passed were those endorsing single-payer health care for all, paid family leave and indexing the minimum wage (both Massachusetts voter initiatives), opposition to any privatization of Social Security, removal of the cap on payroll contributions to Social Security and an end to racial profiling.

Isaac Ben Ezra, the new statewide membership coordinator, appealed in his written bid for office: 'As America's resources, human and financial, are put to the test, I ponder what is an appropriate response [to Sept. 11]. At this moment of national mourning, can we find justice without immersing thousands of civilian innocents in smothering tombs reminiscent of the Twin Towers monument to madness? Sept. 11 established that military might alone cannot secure the peace. If there is to be a future, we will have to find another way to peace.'

State Senator Mark Montigny, in his keynote speech, urged continued political activism and 'to let the legislators know that in a period of budget cuts, shortfalls and constraints, not all cuts are equal' and that programs that promote the 'general welfare' need to be maintained and expanded.

Texans to join November 9 protests

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:08:00 +0000

DALLAS - The North Texas chapter of Jobs with Justice (JwJ) will join in the worldwide protests against the World Trade Organization Nov. 9. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has called for worldwide protests that day because the WTO is scheduled to begin another round of talks in Qatar.

'Real patriotism and real support of our unions includes questioning and analyzing for ourselves,' State Rep. Lon Burnam told an Oct. 13 JwJ meeting discussing the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The FTAA would give them the legal power to override environmental and labor laws in 34 countries, instead of the three countries now economically dominated by NAFTA. At the same time, layoffs and the economic situation in our nation worsen every day. Industrial production statistics indicated the longest period of downturn since World War II.

The ICFTU called for Nov. 9 demonstrations long before the tragedies of Sept. 11, but they have said that the need for protests continues. The day is set to coincide with the first day of the WTO's fourth Ministerial Conference in Qatar.

'At a time when democracy and open society are under such brutal attack, we need to strengthen democracy and global governance,' Bill Jordan, ICFTU general secretary, said in a statement. 'We must recommit ourselves to building a world where democracy and rights prevail.'

Chicago day laborers balk at strike-breaking

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:07:00 +0000

CHICAGO - On Aug. 9, 65 members of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Local 1114 went out on strike against the Coach and Car Company of Elk Grove Village, a Chicago suburb.

Grievances of the mostly Mexican-American work force include the company's demand for a giveback of health insurance benefits and serious pension and wage cuts.

Workers also accuse Coach and Car of unfair labor practices, including improper subcontracting, setting up a phony parallel operation with minimum wage workers, and refusing to disclose to the union information vital to contact negotiations.

Coach and Car has contracted with a number of Chicago day labor agencies to provide strikebreakers, mostly Mexican immigrants also. According to the union and the Chicago Day Labor Organizing Project of Jobs with Justice, these day laborers were not told that they were going to be transported across picket lines.

The striking Coach and Car workers have received considerable community support. Illinois State Senator Miguel del Valle, in whose district many of the workers live, has been especially vocal.

At a press conference in downtown Chicago Oct. 10, del Valle, members of the union, and representatives of other groups denounced the abuses committed both by Coach and Car and by the sleazy day labor agencies that have contracted to provide the 'substitute workers.'

Abel Diaz, a Coach and Car worker for 20 years, described how workers at the plant helped the company get a contract with the Metra rail transportation system to make coach seats, only to see the company use the money to hire strikebreaking day labor agencies.

According to Eduardo Perez, of the Chicago Day Labor Organizing Project, some of the agencies involved in the Coach and Car situation do not have required state licenses, overcharge workers to be transported in overloaded vans without state safety inspection stickers, discriminate against women workers and commit blatant wage and hours violations.

Del Valle pointed out that there is already a law in Illinois, almost never enforced, that forbids the use of 'professional strikebreakers.'

Del Valle and a colleague in the lower house, State Rep. Willie Delgado, have been trying for several years to pass legislation that will specifically forbid the use of day laborers as strikebreakers.

Two years ago, del Valle was able to pass legislation requiring licensing and other rules for day labor agencies, but the Illinois Manufacturers' Association successfully lobbied to excise language forbidding the use of day laborers in strikes from that law.

Last year del Valle tried again, but the Republican leadership in the Illinois Senate stopped the bill. He promised to return to the legislature in January with another bill to put an end to the practices that are going on at Coach and Car, and to increase penalties for day labor agencies that violate the law.

'If that sounds like a threat to these people,' said del Valle, 'it is because it is.'

Resolution opposing militarization of space

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:05:00 +0000

A resolution opposing militarization of space will be recommended favorably to the New Haven Board of Aldermen by its Human Services Committee. At a packed public hearing Oct. 16, members of the committee said they were convinced by testimony to vote their support. The full Board of Aldermen will vote on the resolution Nov. 8. The text, introduced by the City of New Haven Peace Commission, follows.

Recalling the New Haven Board of Aldermen unanimously endorsed a resolution opposing the testing of nuclear weapons, the spread of nuclear weapons and called for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons;

Recognizing the proposed Missile Defense system would abrogate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 that has served as a base, at least, for stabilization of the threatened terror of nuclear war and would initiate a dangerous arms race diverting funds so necessary to meet the essential needs of people for food, clothing, education and health care;

Noting the reaffirmation of the Outer Space Treaty, signed by 140 members of the General Assembly of the United Nations, including the United States, that specifies outer space is reserved for peaceful uses only and that outer space enjoys universal ownership;

Observing world-wide opposition to any militarization of space, including missile and theatre defense systems and the placement of nuclear weapons in space, expressed by governments and dramatized by massive popular demonstrations in many countries;

Realizing the United States government is proceeding with research and testing of a missile defense system despite universal opposition;

Therefore, the New Haven Board of Aldermen, in keeping with its long tradition of advocacy for peace, reaffirms its call for the total abolition of nuclear weapons and opposition to the research and employment of a Missile Defense system, and further

Urges other Connecticut municipal bodies to initiate resolutions expressing vigorously their opposition to this threat to world peace, and further

Orders copies of this resolution sent to President George W. Bush; Secretary-General of the United Nations; Connecticut Congressional delegation; the cities and towns of Connecticut and the media.

Labor antiwar efforts in three cities

Wed, 31 Oct 2001 10:04:00 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A group began meeting to talk about concerns about the government's response to the events of Sept. 11. The working group, the Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, is composed of national/international union office staff, union members and local union staff.

Their web site to serve as an information sharing resource can be viewed at http://communities.msn.com/laborpeaceandjustice.

NEW YORK - NYC Labor Against the War has come together over the past month from within a broader antiwar coalition ('Not in Our Name') in the shared belief that trade unionists at Ground Zero have a special responsibility to speak out. The committee's primary focus has been an ongoing antiwar petition which has been signed by 406 entities and/or individual trade unionists: 278 from NYC (including two labor bodies and 12 presidents), and 130 from other cities and countries (including six presidents) - the list of signers grows daily. The committee also sponsored a labor contingent at a large Oct. 7 antiwar rally and is planning labor teach-ins, educational materials and other efforts.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA - Labor for Peace and Justice was formed on Oct. 7 at a meeting of 68 labor activists, union staff and local union leaders from 35 organizations.

While no formal position was adopted, there was general consensus that the resolution against the war, adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council, provided all the essential points of unity. The group is preparing fact sheets, train-the-trainer materials, and talking points that can be used to prepare union leaders, stewards and staff to engage members in discussion. Efforts will be made to have a resolution introduced at the forthcoming state federation of labor convention in November.

Washington D.C.: Laborpeace@hotmail.com

NYC: letwin@alaa.org

S.F. Bay: getorganized@igc.org