People Before Profit blog

National security, or war on workers?

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 11:19:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. – Like many Filipinos living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Erlinda Valencia found a job at the airport, screening carry-on bags for passengers. She worked for Argenbright Security for 14 years, most of that time at a minimum-wage job, barely able to support her family.

Two years ago, organizers from the Service Employees International Union began talking to the screeners. She decided to get involved and eventually became a leader in the campaign that brought the union in. She remembers: “It seemed to us all that for the first time we had a real future.”

Immigrants and minorities have been concentrated in screener jobs. After Sept. 11, they were an easy target. In short order Bush proposed, and Congress passed, legislation requiring that screeners be federal employees. That could have been a good thing for Valencia and her coworkers – or at least it used to be a good thing.

But Congress required that screeners be citizens, and Valencia, like some 800 of her coworkers, had never become one. So just as she and her coworkers finally made their jobs capable of supporting a family, they are losing them.

By federalizing the workforce, the government in effect busted recently-organized unions and fired their leaders. Bush’s hostility towards unions has been evident since he took office. But since Sept. 11 his administration has used national security as a pretext for questioning the right of workers to strike, to bargain effectively or even to have a union at all.

The administration’s use of national security for moves against unions predates the Sept. 11 attacks. On March 9, 2001, Bush told 10,000 workers at Northwest Airlines they couldn’t strike for 60 days. His action eliminated any incentive for the airline to negotiate, and it broke off negotiations.

Invoking “cooling-off periods” (in effect, a temporary ban on strikes), and the appointment of presidential emergency boards with power to mandate a settlement, has become a Bush hallmark. He did it again last December at United Airlines, where 15,000 mechanics had voted almost unanimously to strike. Airline unions are now battling a Senate proposal to allow the Secretary of Transportation to impose contract settlements on airline workers, effectively eliminating their right to strike.

But implicit invocation of national security became a reality with the proposal to establish a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that passed the House in July. It would allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to write new employment rules, essentially exempting any group in the department from existing civil service regulations, which govern pay grades, promotion and hiring systems, ban discrimination and provide whistleblower and other job rights. The Senate refused to enact any bill before adjournment and the issue will be debated when Congress returns.

In a dramatic preview of what lies in store, the administration ruled in January that nearly 1,000 workers in the Department of Justice were ineligible for union membership or representation.

The DHS would be huge, encompassing 170,000 workers, thousands of whom currently belong to 17 different unions in 50 bargaining units. Mitchell Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget recently declared that the Homeland Security model might “eventually help us untie managerial talent across the executive branch.” The federal workplace, in other words, would come to look much like Enron’s.

The flexibility rationale was rejected by Bobby Harnage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, who declared that “the administration is overlooking the tremendous desire of government employees to make DHS work perfectly, because of their pride in the country and in their work. Our members don’t theorize about improving security; they live it because of their own experiences with terrorism, both in Oklahoma City and on Sept. 11.”

Over the summer the use of national security as a pretext for violating those rights took an enormous leap forward. As the contract between West Coast longshore workers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), and their employer, the Pacific Maritime Association, expired on July 31, the administration began to intervene directly.

According to Clarence Thomas, secretary-treasurer of ILWU Local 10, Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao both told the union’s bargaining committee that the administration was prepared to prevent any strike. At the time they made clear that Bush at least would invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, under which striking longshore workers would be ordered to return to work for 80 days.

Department of Labor sources told The Los Angeles Times that the union’s coastwide bargaining structure might be declared an illegal monopoly. All West Coast ports have worked under a single contract since the end of the 1934 general maritime strike, in which the ILWU was born. The single agreement not only equalized conditions, but has given union members a great deal of bargaining leverage, since a strike closes all ports at the same time. The threatened administration action would mean that if the union struck one port, shippers could simply load and unload their cargo in another, making a strike pointless.

When President Reagan used the military to replace striking air traffic controllers in 1981, imprisoning the union’s leaders for conducting an illegal strike, two decades of bitter industrial conflict followed, with large corporations viewing Reagan’s action as an invitation to permanently replace striking workers.

Long before negotiations began, shipping companies and corporations dependent on trans-Pacific vessels, like The Gap, Mattel and Home Depot, formed the West Coast Waterfront Coalition and approached the Bush administration for help. The government then set up a task force, headed by White House advisor Carlos Bonilla, to meet with them. Wages and benefits were never the primary issue in these negotiations. The hourly rate for longshore workers ranges from $27.68/hr to $33.48/hr – about the same as a plumber or electrician. And while these are good wages in terms of the U.S. industrial average, the shipping companies are not claiming poverty in negotiations.

What they would like, however, is to keep certain workers out of the union – the vessel planners who tell the cranes where to put every shipping container, the clerical workers who help track container movement, and the drivers who haul containers in and out of the ports. Workers in these categories in many ports have already joined the ILWU, or tried to, attracted by its high wage rates. The union wants to include them in all ports, to make up for the potential loss of jobs among the clerks who currently track cargo manually. PMA negotiators have said no. The union looks at this as an issue of its own survival.

“As work changes, some jobs disappear,

while others increase,” explains ILWU spokesperson Steve Stallone. “Right now our jobs are the ones disappearing. When the companies say they don’t want our members doing these new jobs, it’s like saying they want the union to disappear, too.”

All the Bush proposals have the same intent – to make a waterfront strike impossible. But their long-term effect would extend far beyond the docks. The use of national security as a pretext for militarizing the workplace and replacing strikers could affect any union. Any strike halting the continued operation of an industry, or large profitable enterprise, could be defined as such a threat to national security, and made illegal.

PMA based its strategy on this philosophy. Early on, it sponsored a steady media drumbeat announcing that a waterfront strike would send the economy into a tailspin. One study made by Martin Associates and paid for by the PMA, predicted losses of $1 billion a day. The study was widely quoted in the mass media as negotiations became more difficult by the time the existing ILWU contract expired.

When the union refused to be provoked into a strike, the PMA simply locked workers out of the terminals in late September, accusing them of a slowdown. Once they were locked out, the employers then demanded Bush invoke Taft-Hartley, and after 10 days, got what they wanted when the Bush administration got a federal judge to order the union to work under its old contract, with no interruption, for 80 days.

The administration’s legal brief voiced a startling new philosophy to defend the action, holding that all commercial cargo could be considered important to the military, not just goods intended for military use abroad. “The DoD (Department of Defense) increasingly relies upon commercial items and practices to meet its requirements,” Defense Secretary Rumsfeld stated. “Raw materials, medical supplies, replacement parts and components, as well as everyday subsistance needs of our armed forces, are just some of the essential military cargo provided by commerical contractors.”

Behind the rationale of national security – to keep the cargo moving, in this case – is a much more class-specific one – to use the existing atmosphere to make it even more difficult for unions to function effectively in bargaining, in strikes, and in organizing new workers. Immigrant workers like Valencia, for instance, have been the workforce most active in labor organizing for the last decade in states like California, Texas and New York. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, the Social Security Administration has sent out a wave of letters to employers, listing the names of employees whose Social Security numbers don’t correspond to the SSA database. Thousands of workers have been fired as a result.

In 2001, the agency sent out 110,000 such letters. This year it plans to increase it to 750,000.

In airports across the country, the post-Sept. 11 climate provided a new impetus for raids and deportations. Operation Tarmac has resulted in the arrest of over 1,000 workers. While federal authorities admit that none of these people are accused of terrorist activity, U.S. Attorney Debra Yang claimed that “we now realize that we must strengthen security at our local airports in order to ensure the safety of the traveling public.”

The net effect of this enforcement effort has been to increase the pressure on undocumented workers to avoid doing anything that might antagonize employers, especially organizing a union. When it becomes more risky and difficult for these workers to organize, or even to hold a job at all, they settle for lower wages. And when the price of immigrant labor goes down as a result, so do the wages for everyone else.

The vast increase in immigration enforcement has a big effect on those unions which have made a strategic alliance with immigrant communities in order to organize industries like building services, food preparation, hotels, meatpacking, farm labor and others. By making it more difficult and risky for those workers to organize, the administration is in effect helping employers resist unionization.

Sometimes that help has been more than implicit. A late-August raid at the Sea-Tac International Airport south of Seattle led to the arrest of workers at the Sky Chef facility that prepares on-board meals for airlines. Those arrests took place in the middle of bargaining between the Hotel Employees union and the company. The union claims that INS agents disguised themselves by wearing company uniforms, and that workers were called to an employee meeting, where they were identified and picked up. Some arrested workers had worked as long as 10 years at the facility, which ironically is owned by a foreign airline, Lufthansa.

The national security atmosphere, and its conscious use by the administration, is having a growing effect on unions in the most vital areas of their activity. With a possible war against Iraq on the horizon, this use of national security will spread.

“I think there’s more to come,” said Frank Larkin, a spokesperson for the Machinists union. “It’s outrageous to use national security to divide the country by union and non-union. And I think it can only get sharper if there’s a war in Iraq. The hand’s already been dealt by the administration. They already believe we’re in a state of war.”

Reprinted with permission of the author. An earlier version of this article was published in American Prospect.

Harry Hay, pioneer gay rights activist, mourned

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 11:05:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO – Well-known gay rights activist Harry Hay passed away Oct. 17 at the age of 90.

“Today our movement lost one of its treasures. The death of legendary gay activist Harry Hay leaves a heavy sadness in our hearts and minds,” said Lorri L. Jean, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). “Harry was one of the pioneers of the gay rights movement.His courageous and visionary leadership laid the groundwork for today’s activists seeking full equality for the GLBT community. We join Harry’s countless friends and loved ones in mourning his passing.”

In 1950, Harry Hay and four others formed one of the nation’s first gay rights organizations, the Mattachine Society. The idea that homosexuals should organize for civil rights was formed at an election-year party in Los Angeles that was attended exclusively by gay men. The organization was named for the Matachinos, court jesters of the Italian Renaissance who, behind their masks, were free to speak the truth. The Mattachine Society was the first to propose the idea of gay and lesbian people as an oppressed cultural minority.

In the 1960s Hay helped organize the first “gay pride” parade in Los Angeles, was chair of the L.A. Committee to Fight the Exclusion of Homosexuals from the Armed Forces and chair of the Southern California Gay Liberation Front. In the late 70s and early 80s, Hay became increasingly concerned with spiritual issues and formed the Radical Faeries, a movement devoted to ecology, spiritual truth and “gay-centeredness.”

NGLTF honored Hay at the October 1999 Creating Change conference. In his award acceptance speech, Hay said, “I want you to realize, of course, that by honoring me you are all honoring yourselves. In 1948, when I first rifled through Alfred Kinsey’s best-selling book “The Sexual Behavior of the Human Male,” I sensed then that this book should require that all Americans forevermore recast their thinking about homosexuals. His chapter five was implying to me that we were a class of people with the social and political dimensions of a cultural minority. Indeed, a viciously oppressed minority, who, were we to organize, might someday even liberate ourselves under principles protected by the American Constitution.”

Solidarity is new watchword for actors union

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:57:00 +0000

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) President Melissa Gilbert is hoping that stronger ties with the AFL-CIO will help both organizations advance their members’ interests in Washington and help their efforts to take on global conglomerates. Gilbert, who was in Washington Oct. 22 to receive the Labor Heritage Award from the AFL-CIO’s Labor Heritage Foundation, met with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to discuss ways the guild and the labor federation can help each other. Gilbert is the first SAG president to receive the award.

“I am pleased that the Labor Heritage Foundation recognizes that most performers are journeymen laborers who can barely earn a living as actors; when the job is finished, we’re out of a job,” Gilbert said. “It’s an honor to receive this award in the name of all hard-working actors.”

In another example of its new outreach, SAG’s board of directors voted unanimously in October to join the National Coalition on Health Care, the 80-group alliance dedicated to improving America’s health care. SAG “is committed to working on a national solution to the health care crisis. Workers and their families across the country are losing vital health care coverage every day,” said Pamm Fair, a SAG deputy national executive director.

SAG, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Actors’ Equity Association have met with other North American performers’ unions interested in developing an international contract to protect stage, film and TV actors. At its October meeting, SAG hosted the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television, and Radio Artists/Union Of British Columbia Performers to discuss its Global Rule One (GR1), which requires that SAG members work under guild contracts no matter where in the world the production occurs.

The Canadians support GR1 because it would encourage U.S. stars – who are SAG members but have worked in the past on non-union films in Canada – to force productions to go union or lose the box-office draws.

On Sept. 12, SAG and Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), the Australian performers’ union, issued a joint statement reaffirming their solidarity and announcing an agreement on implementation of GR1 on Australian productions.

GR1 has been enforced on productions shot in the U.S. since the Guild’s inception and began worldwide enforcement May 1. Earlier this year, the English-speaking performer unions of the International Federation of Actors met during an international conference in Toronto on global protection for actors. The SAG-MEAA agreement was the first formal agreement to come out of those discussions.

“We welcome [opportunities] to have discussions, which advance the goal of protecting all of our members,” SAG National Executive Director A. Robert Pisano said after meeting with the Canadians. “As production becomes global, organizations representing performers need to think and act globally.”

The author can be reached at crummel@cpusa.org

Bowling for ColumbineBowling for Columbine

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:54:00 +0000

Movie review

Bowling for Columbine

Michael Moore, the acclaimed muckraking moviemaker, has done it again with Bowling for Columbine. As the title implies, he opens with the 1999 high school massacre in Littleton, Colo. – but that’s not all. In this hard-hitting inquiry into our country’s epidemic of gun violence, Moore examines, and goes beyond, several conventional explanations of its causes. His main conclusion: it stems from fear, mass-produced by the commercial news media. He makes clear that the manufactured fear is based on racism and class discrimination. He also emphasizes the role of the National Rifle Association and its false concept of “freedom.”

In his usual biting, satirical, “cut the crap” style, Moore draws connections between gun violence and such things as the horror of welfare “reform,” the domination of the Denver area by military contractor Lockheed-Martin, U.S. imperialism’s world-wide terrorism, the hypocrisy of President Bush, and other issues. As always, there is a bitter irony that would be hilarious if not so tragic, though there are several truly funny scenes. In Moore’s films, humor is a powerful tool for indicting the crimes of capitalism.

If this film shows anywhere near you, don’t miss it! And if it isn’t being shown in your area, call your local movie theaters and ask them why not.

– John Morris and Louise Paul The authors can be reached at pww@pww.org

Bridge between two worlds

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:47:00 +0000

Review

Crescent & Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds, by Stephan Kinzer, published 2001 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 240 pp plus index, hard cover – $25.00, paperback – $14.00

Turkey straddles the Bosphorus, part in Europe, part in Asia, a crucial player in world politics. It sits beside the tumultuous nations of the Middle East: above it loom the Black Sea and the nations of the former Soviet Union and East Europe. It cannot divorce itself from Asia and the Middle East, nor from its Muslim heritage, yet it is a secular nation striving to maintain that secularism amidst increasing currents of religious fanaticism swirling around it.

At the end of World War I Germany and its ally, the Ottoman Empire, lay defeated. All Turkish territory in Europe went to Greece. Istanbul was placed under international control. What is now Syria was ceded to France; the Turkish Mediterranean coast fell to Italy. The Kurds in eastern Turkey were offered separate status, as were the Armenians. The Turkish people rallied around the one Turkish commander, Mustafa Kemal, who had obtained a major battlefield victory during the war. Led by Kemal, they drove out the occupying powers and reclaimed Istanbul, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. Though the Kurds were reincorporated into the Turkish state, Albania remained a separate country.

Kemal took the name Atatürk (father of the Turks) and was thenceforth known as Kemal Atatürk. The Ottoman Empire was signed out of existence and the National Assembly declared Turkey a republic in 1923, with Atatürk as its president. With the abolishment of the Muslim caliphate in 1924, Turkey, which was – and is – 90 percent Muslim, became a secular state. Schools became secular, Turkish began to be written using Latin rather than Arabic characters, the veil was forbidden for women, polygamy was banned, the European calendar replaced the Muslim one, Muslim women were permitted to marry non Muslims, and adults gained the right to change their religion. In short, there took place a veritable revolution led by Atatürk. Since his death in 1938 he has became a national hero; the cult that grew up around him is known as Kemalism.

In accordance with its present constitution, ratified in a referendum in the mid-’80s, Turkey is governed by a National Security Council, made up of five elected officials (president, prime minister and the ministers of defense, interior and foreign affairs) and five generals. Civil governments led by weak and unstable coalitions have, with few exceptions, been unable to govern with direction and purpose. The entrenched military holds sway and has ruled either openly or clandestinely since 1923.

Kinzer explores many crises through which Turkey has passed: the massacre of the Armenians in 1915, the Kurdish struggle in the late ’90s, the devastating 1999 earthquake, the frictional relations with Greece. Kinzer describes them as deeply impacting the Turkish soul and culture – in much the way the Revolutionary War and the Civil War with its struggle over segregation and racism impact every American, native or foreign born.

Turkey today faces a number of problems. There is the division between Turks and Kurds, and the conflict over the place of religion in public life. Within the Muslim community there is a split between the dominant Sunni majority and the Alexis, who comprise about a quarter of the Turkish people and practice a form of Islam that is far more heterodox and democratic than that practiced by the Sunnis. Over and above these, the dominance of the military is the primary obstacle to a functioning Turkish democracy.

To understand Turkey, so crucial in today’s world’s scene, read this gem of a book; you will not be disappointed.

– Julia Lutsky The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Free trade negotiations only money speaks

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:37:00 +0000

Beginning Oct. 12, Mexican citizens have had the opportunity to voice their opinion about the controversial Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Mexican social organizations are organizing a five-month-long plebiscite, called the “People’s Consultation,” in response to the lack of civil society participation in FTAA negotiations.

Since 1994, government trade representatives and business leaders from all over the Americas (except Cuba) have been meeting behind closed doors to negotiate the extension to the entire hemisphere of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed in 1994 among the United States, Canada and Mexico. For eight years negotiators have met with the private sector, but have excluded virtually all of the hemisphere’s social organizations.

If signed into law, the FTAA would eventually eliminate all trade barriers, and in theory, create equal market access for all signing countries. Proponents claim that open markets will help developing countries attract needed foreign investment, provide jobs and earn hard cash through increased exports.

However, NAFTA has clearly demonstrated in Mexico that the benefits of free trade extend to a relatively small number of persons and corporations, and can have the unintended consequences of hurting the environment and widening the gap between wealthy and poor citizens.

During NAFTA negotiations in the early ’90s, civil society participation from the three member countries was very limited in a debate that has affected millions of people and the natural resources they depend on. Labor, environmental, small agriculture and other citizens’ groups vied for the tiny amount of space available to air their concerns about the process. Meanwhile, those with a seat at the negotiating table, or those with a great deal of money, were able to exert significant influence over the negotiations.

In the case with NAFTA, the winners and losers are clear: Those with the influence (power and money) at the time of negotiation and ratification have benefited greatly. Those without (labor, small farmers and the environment) have suffered greatly.

The FTAA debate elevates this problem to an unprecedented level. Over one billion stakeholders in the Americas have no input into trade negotiations that could change the socio-economic landscape of the hemisphere for decades to come. Instead of having a central role in the negotiations, civil society participation is officially limited to submitting suggestions to a Committee of Government Representatives of Civil Society. Suggestions made seem to disappear, as there appears to be no powerful advocate for these concerns within the negotiating structure. Consequently, there are no official FTAA working groups on crucial areas such as the environment, labor, migration or gender.

Should this be the model of transparent and democratic integration for the hemisphere?

The “People’s Consultation” in Mexico is just part of a hemispheric grassroots effort to include civil society’s voice in the FTAA debate. Citizens in all of the Americas, including the United States, are organizing similar informal referendums. For instance, in September, 10 million Brazilians voted against the signing of the FTAA in a widely circulated plebiscite.

All “Americans,” everyone in the Western Hemisphere, deserve a democratic process in this high-stakes negotiation. All citizens, be they Mexican, Nicaraguan or from the United States, deserve to be heard in momentous decisions about their country’s economic and political future. A failure by governments to supply their citizenry with equal and open channels of participation in international trade agreements like the FTAA is a failure of democracy.

Leo Gorman is a member of the Witness for Peace International Team, Mexico. For more information visit www.witnessforpeace.org

Administration hides role in Venezuela coup

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:34:00 +0000

Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill’s trip to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay has brought some needed attention to the financial and economic crises there. But there is one country where the United States is playing an enormous – and thoroughly destructive – role that has been left out of the picture: Venezuela.

Last April the Bush administration sent a powerful message not only to Venezuelans, but to all of our Southern neighbors: If we don’t like the presidents you elect, we will use our muscle to get rid of them. By any means necessary. That is what was understood when the administration endorsed the attempted military coup on April 11 against the elected president of Venezuela.

Now we will see whether the Democratic-led U.S. Senate will object to this 1950s-style foreign policy. [Editor’s note: This article was written in October while the Senate was in session. The Nov. 5 elections will determine which party controls the Senate, going forward.]

On May 3, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee requested an investigation from the U.S. State Department, to find out what it did wrong in Venezuela. What he got was a complete whitewash.

The State Department’s supposedly independent Office of the Inspector General didn’t interview even a single Venezuelan, but relied on U.S. embassy officials and others who had a direct career interest in covering up what happened. This is comparable to investigating Enron by talking to Ken Lay and Andrew Fastow.

Significant parts of the report remain classified – most tellingly, a section entitled “Miscellaneous Issues Raised by the News Media in Venezuela or the United States.” Just what issues raised by the Venezuelan and U.S. news media is our State Department trying to keep away from the public discussion?

Of course, they can’t hide what the press has already printed. The Washington Post and New York Times cited numerous meetings between top U.S. officials and the people who led the military coup on April 11. The European press was even more explicit about these meetings: “The coup was discussed in some detail, right down to its timing and chances of success, which were deemed to be excellent,” reported the Observer of London, citing sources at the Organization of American States.

There were dozens of such leads in the press that the State Department could have investigated. But it chose not to do so; or if it did, it apparently withheld the results from the public.

Some of the report’s admissions are even more damning than the omissions. Listing the reasons for U.S. hostility to President Hugo Chavez, the report notes “his involvement in the affairs of the Venezuelan oil company, and the potential impact of that on oil prices.” There you have it: the number one reason for the U.S. State Department supporting a military coup against a democratically elected president. He had the nerve to get involved in deciding how much oil Venezuela should produce, instead of leaving these decisions to Washington! And people wonder why anti-U.S. sentiment is rising in Latin America.

Even more importantly, the report admits that U.S. officials did little or nothing to warn the coup leaders that the United States would impose sanctions on a government that was installed by military force. This means that all the admonishments from the U.S. embassy about not supporting a coup – while Washington was funneling millions of dollars to pro-coup organizations – were a mere formality. The real message was a big green light.

The anti-democratic Venezuelan opposition will continue to understand that message, until there is an explicit statement from the Bush administration that a coup would result in a cut-off of economic and diplomatic relations with the United States.

The Senate should demand exactly such a statement, and conduct a real investigation in place of the State Department’s cover-up. Anything less would tell the world that our Congress – not just the Bush administration – has little respect for democracy in Latin America.

Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. For more information visit www.cepr.net

New election law carries risks

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:31:00 +0000

The passage this October of the “Help America Vote Act” is the product of long and hard work and difficult compromises by members of both the House and Senate, as well as the tireless efforts of election reform advocates around the country. The compromise bill takes historic steps forward, and regrettably, erects barriers at the same time.

Many of the bill’s provisions are major steps forward in advancing election administration and in ensuring the accurate casting and counting of votes. The requirements that states adopt error-rate standards, allow voters to correct their ballots, and cast provisional ballots if not on the voter lists will all help voters be heard and counted as they wish. Funding for the states to replace antiquated machinery and the requirement that all states develop statewide computerized voter lists will significantly improve election administration. All these are major advances.

However, the new and overly restrictive voter identification provisions will cause substantial difficulty for large numbers of voters, and will undoubtedly mean that many eligible voters will be unable to vote. The issue of election fraud raised by proponents of the new provisions is certainly overstated and should not be used to unnecessarily restrict access and intimidate voters. In particular, requiring citizens to show photo or other forms of identification and requiring states to check drivers’ licenses and Social Security numbers, and reject registrations that do not include them, is a recipe for disaster. Congress should have the courage to reconsider these provisions in the future.

The focal point of debate will now shift largely to the states. People concerned with creating the most inclusive and vibrant democracy will need to do three things:

• Fight to ensure that adequate funding is provided for the states to carry out the administrative improvements. The bill clearly does not guarantee funding for the future.

• Monitor and challenge implementation of the identification provisions that discriminate against poor voters, new citizens or people of color. There are better ways to ensure the integrity of elections without impinging on access.

• Seek to focus the state debate on the most fundamental issue: to guarantee the participation of all people in the electoral process. The bill requires states to develop plans for their election changes, with citizen input and public review processes. These plans must not be limited to simply replacing old machinery with new. They should include measures that further encourage voting, such as Election Day Voter Registration and fairer policies for re-enfranchisement of people who have lost their voting rights.

It is essential that we continue America’s historic march toward opening our electoral processes. Real progress will continue to be made by advocates and activists working for reforms that expand the process at every level and bring every member of society into the fullest possible participation. The work does not end here; it is only beginning.

Miles Rapoport is president of Demos, a research advocacy organization, and former Secretary of State of Connecticut. For more information visit: www.demos-usa.org

One step, millions of steps

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:24:00 +0000

If you got on a bus to go to Washington, D.C., for the Oct. 26 antiwar protest, if you took to the streets in San Francisco, or if you took part or plan to take part in a demonstration in any city in the world against the U.S. war against Iraq, you’re in good company. Protest has been the method by which workers have stood together historically to push back the more brutal aims of the ruling class.

Without those who protested, older workers after years of mind-bending and backbreaking labor wouldn’t have Social Security. Absent protest from workers who worked 16-hour days, forced to work six and seven days a week for barely enough food to have the strength to return to work, an eight-hour workday would simply have been out of the question.

Because of protest against imperialist injustice, the Vietnam War ended. Because of worldwide protest, Mumia Abu-Jamal has not yet been murdered by the state of Pennsylvania.

Working-class protest slows down and sometimes turns back the drive of those who would extract from us everything but our very souls for their own gain. Without protest from the working class, there would be no such thing as the minimum wage. Without a history of protest, women would not be “allowed” to vote.

The battlefield of the worldwide class war has many fronts. Foremost at this moment, we must struggle to end wars waged to profit the ruling class. More than eight million U.S. children are without healthcare. Who are their enemies? Not the children of Baghdad.

Those who make their voices heard as our bodies take to the streets against the warmongers are taking a most important step toward the liberation of the working class worldwide. One individual step at a time, each of us collectively with millions of others are taking millions of steps at a time, in the streets of Rome, London, Haifa, Pretoria, Cairo and countless other cities around the world. Ruling class aims of total domination and exploitation of the world’s workers and their resources leave us no choice. We must.

One step at a time, we climb aboard buses, hoisting our protest signs, many of them homemade the night before. Each pen stroke on those signs is a stroke toward the victory of our class. In concert, millions of steps, millions of pen strokes, we march on and fight the battle for peace with justice. That battle is one the working class is prepared to win. It’s the one we can’t afford to lose if we don’t want to be forced to exchange our blood for oil. All aboard.

Barbara Jean Hope is a contributor to the World. She can be reached at bjhope2000@cs.com

Fox hunting trumps activism in major newspapers

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:18:00 +0000

In late September, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of London to protest military action against Iraq, rallying in what the London Independent called “one of the biggest peace demonstrations seen in a generation.” Yet neither The Washington Post nor The New York Times saw fit to run a full article about the protests, instead burying passing mentions of the story in articles about other subjects.

In contrast, both papers showed real interest in another September march of comparable size, also in London – a protest against a proposed ban on fox-hunting. The Washington Post ran a 1,331-word story about the fox-hunting protest on the front page of its “Style” section, while The New York Times ran a short Reuters piece and followed up with an op-ed exploring the class politics of the hunt. A Times story about Prince Charles also made reference to the pro-fox-hunting rally.

Estimates of the crowd at the peace march vary, ranging from the police estimate of 150,000 protesters to the organizers’ estimate of 400,000. A London Observer columnist dismissed the police figures as politically motivated, writing: “The Stop the War coalition last night claimed the total was more than 350,000; the police reluctantly moved up from ‘four men with beards and a small dog’ to 150,000, and the truth was, if anything, even higher than either.”

The peace march was notable not just for its size, but also for its broad base. Organized by the Stop the War coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain, the demonstration focused on two main slogans, “Don’t Attack Iraq” and “Freedom for Palestine.”

The Observer reported solidarity between the causes, describing “an undeniable unity of purpose” in a diverse crowd that included everyone from Muslim activists in keffiyah to “Hampstead ladies with their granddaughters in prams.” According to the Independent, “the sheer numbers who turned out to express vociferous opposition to military action in Iraq ... meant there was no way they could be dismissed as ‘the usual suspects’ of the hard left.”

Despite all that, the entirety of The New York Times’ coverage of the peace march consisted of half of a sentence in an article about the United Kingdom’s approach to UN weapons inspections. The Washington Post managed one reference more, but seemed to have seriously under-counted the crowd. One Post article mentioned “thousands” of protesters in London, while another the next day referred to “tens of thousands.”

Since Britain is the most influential European supporter of the Bush administration’s war plans, the size and composition of the London peace march – not to mention the arguments articulated there – were a major development in the international debate over Iraq. The fox-hunting march, which also addressed broader issues of urban/rural tension in England, was newsworthy enough, but much more local in focus.

Given the looming prospect of a war that could kill thousands of people and throw an entire region into turmoil, it’s disturbing that The New York Times and The Washington Post gave the two events such disparate treatment. Sadly, however, it’s not atypical – major media across the United States have downplayed the breadth and depth of opposition, both at home and abroad, to a new Iraq war.

Countering this worrying trend, media outlets have received thousands of letters over the last month requesting more nuanced, balanced reporting about Iraq issues.

And it’s had an impact. On Oct. 6, Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler supported activists in their concerns about his paper’s coverage of the London peace march. “I’m in agreement with the readers on these complaints,” wrote Getler. “Whatever one thinks about the wisdom of a new war, once it starts it is too late to air arguments that should have been aired before.”

Media activism can make a difference, not just in media coverage, but also in the tenor and quality of public debate. Citizens can profitably communicate with news outlets when they see problems with coverage – it might not get a positive response right away, but in the long run, all those letters and calls add up.

Rachel Coen is an analyst with the media watch group FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting). For more information e-mail fair@fair.org

International notes

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 10:12:00 +0000

India: Plans made for Nov. 14 anti-Iraq war demo

A newly formed Committee Against War on Iraq, convened by a number of political parties, trade unions, women’s organizations, youth and student groups, has announced plans for a Nov. 14 demonstration in the capital city, New Delhi. The action will protest the Bush administration’s drive to attack Iraq, and the Vajpayee government’s failure to oppose the U.S. war moves.

“There are no grounds whatsoever” for the Bush administration’s “flagrant violation of international law and the national sovereignty of Iraq,” the Committee said in a statement. “A war on Iraq will cause unimaginable destruction. Thousands of lives will be lost. It will create new tensions which will threaten world peace.”

The Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress Party were among the many organizations at the Committee’s founding meeting.

China: Reaffirms political settlement re Iraq

In recent statements, China’s President Jiang Zemin and other top leaders have reaffirmed that issues around Iraq should be resolved by political means.

Shortly before leaving for the U.S. and talks with President Bush, Jiang told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that China supports the UN’s role concerning Iraq.

Last week Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told his French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin, that China always supports a political solution of the Iraq weapons inspection dispute within the framework of the UN.

China has also strongly urged Iraq to cooperate fully with the UN inspectors, and has called for a comprehensive solution that would alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people.

Brazil: Metalworkers’ Federation congratulates Lula

In a message to newly elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) said Sunday’s vote was “a proud moment not only for you but indeed all the metalworkers of the world to savor this momentous occasion.

“The fact that a metalworker like yourself can and has been elected to the highest post in your country gives us all tremendous hope for the future of the labor movement,” the message continued.

The IMF expressed confidence that the new president and his Workers’ Party will have the will and capacity to deal positively and promptly with the many problems faced not only by Brazil’s workers but by all the country’s people.

Ireland: Anti-Racist Workplace Week

Ireland’s third Anti-Racist Workplace Week, Nov. 4-8, is being sponsored by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation, the Construction Federation and the Equality Authority.

Among activities planned by unions, SIPTU – the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union – is inviting immigrant workers to meet with union officials, get information on their rights in the workplace and generally discuss any problems or questions they have, in confidence and with the help of an interpreter when needed. Also as part of the week’s observance, SIPTU will present its first “Excellence Award” for anti-racism activities and promotion of equality and diversity in the workplace.

Korea: North-South cooperation affirmed

In an eight-point joint statement issued Oct. 23, North and South Korea pledged they will aggressively cooperate in settling all issues, including the nuclear issue, through dialogue. The statement was issued at the close of ministerial talks in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The two sides said they would hold cabinet-level talks to speed the reconstruction of railway links between north and south, and would discuss details of the scheduled start of construction for the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the DPRK this December. Other issues to be discussed include safe passage of civilian ships through each other’s seas, allowing South Korean fishermen to use part of the DPRK’s fishing grounds, and setting up a permanent meeting place for separated families.

South Africa: Unions protest food prices

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) launched protests over soaring food prices last weekend, with picketlines outside Shoprite and Pick ‘n Pay outlets in Kimberley and Bloemfontein, and outside the Free State and Northern Cape provincial legislatures.

Responding to the Competition Commission’s report allegedly clearing retailers of anti-competitive practices, COSATU spokesman Vukani Mde said, “We are concerned not by any perceived lack of competition, but rather the pricing structure of all the retailers combined. This is what needs scrutiny.”

COSATU said major retail groups announced huge profits when prices were soaring, a situation “not unconnected.”

Communist Party spokesperson Mazibuko Jara noted that four retailers account for 70 percent of the market. “Considering their recent windfall profits and the food price hikes,” he said, “we are convinced that the ownership of retail stores needs to be questioned.”

National Clips

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 09:58:00 +0000

TAOS, N.M.: 2,500 march at Rumsfeld’s house

In solidarity with peace demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco on the first anniversary of the Patriot Act, an estimated 2,500 marched on the home of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, demanding a halt to preparations for war with Iraq.

“I don’t think there has been a time from Vietnam until now when people have pondered to such a degree what it means to go to war against another country,” said march organizer and civil rights attorney Jeffrey Haas. A couple of hundred people had been expected. The march stretched for a half mile.

The peace coalition is planning a public forum on Nov. 15 and tacked an invitation for Rumsfeld on his gate.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.: African-American Research Library & Cultural Center opens

On October 26 the country’s third African-American Research Library and Cultural Center opened here after a seven-year struggle. The center features 75,000 books, original manuscripts, 5,000 feet of exhibit space and a 300-seat auditorium. It rivals the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History in Atlanta.

AUGUSTA, Me., MONTPELIER, Vt., NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Marchers call for peace

Calls for peace rang out loud and strong as 2,500 gathered in Augusta to end the Bush war drive. Marchers, many with strollers, snaked their way to the statue of Samantha Smith, the heroic Maine school girl who helped to broker peace between the U.S. and USSR during the Reagan administration.

In Montpelier, a city of 8,000, police estimated that 1,000 answered the call from the American Friends, Citizens Concerned About Violence, formed Sept. 12, 2001, and other peace groups marching to the steps of the state capitol to stop the war with Iraq.

“People are concerned about a foreign policy that serves a handful of people,” said activist Diane Tetrault.

Ariel Goodman, 10, demanded that government money be invested in schools, like her 100-year-old building badly in need of repair, instead of war.

Led by the Women in Black, 630 combat veterans, union organizers, religious leaders and activists carried their signs to the Nashville Metro Courthouse protesting the war drive.

Vanderbilt University Divinity School Dean, Rev. Jim Hudnut-Beumler condemned the Bush administration’s pending war with Iraq.

ALBANY, N.Y.: Insurers must cover womens’ health needs

Starting Jan. 1, 2003, New York women workers will see their health insurance expanded to cover their reproductive needs. The new law, spearheaded by the Coalition of Labor Union Women, is a breakthrough for not just women workers, but their families as well, says CLUW President Gloria Johnson, a vice president of IUE/CWA.

Besides contraception, the new law orders coverage of other services including: The right to access to primary and preventive obstetric and gynecological care without going through a gatekeeper, annual mammograms starting at age 40, not age 50, coverage for osteoporosis – declining bone density – detection, prevention and treatment and a statewide breast cancer detection program.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Religious leaders meet on AIDS in Africa

Over 200 local religious leaders attended a conference at Vanderbilt University in mid-October focused on “AIDS in Africa, Science and Religion.” Volney Gay, professor of religious studies and organizer of the conference, said the goal was to inspire religious leaders to lobby the U.S. government to increase aid to Africa to treat, contain and halt the deadly disease.

“The Awake Project: Uniting Against the African AIDS Crisis,” is available from the University’s religious studies department and includes grassroots materials for federal action.

SANTA MONICA, Calif.: Voters to decide on living wage law

On Nov. 5, voters here will become the first in the country to consider a “living wage” law that covers private sector workers completely independent of state funding or working on state property. The ballot question, JJ, is designed to force luxury beachfront hotels to pay employees $10.50 an hour with health care or $12.25 an hour without health care.

A similar ordinance passed by the City Council a year ago.

So far, the hotel industry has spent $1.8 million to defeat the referendum.

NEW YORK: MIT on WTC collapse

The single-bolt connections in the framework of the World Trade Center popped and fell apart during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, causing the floors to collapse on top of each other, according to a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Experts have been disputing how and why the twin towers collapsed. A study by a Manhattan engineering firm said damage caused by the planes, and fires that broke out as a result, caused both buildings to crumble during the terrorist attacks.

At stake is billions in insurance liability claims and city building codes.

Bush, Cheney and Halliburton found guilty

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 09:37:00 +0000

DALLAS – Two hundred low-income activists rode into Dallas on Oct. 24 to make sure that the world knows how George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the Halliburton Corporation are pulling America down. Local activists gladly joined in for the opportunity to contribute to the AFL-CIO’s “No Business As Usual Day” that was held the previous Saturday to expose corporate greed nationwide. The big group crowded into the lobby of the corporation’s world headquarters building and held their own People’s Court.

The National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support started their publicity work before leaving their various cities. They had a national “call in” day on Oct. 22 with a goal of 2,000 to 3,000 calls to the ABC and CNN television news. An advance man, Kevin Borden, started working in Dallas more than a week before the buses arrived. He spoke to peace, community, labor and immigrants’ rights activists about joining the rally at Halliburton. Each organization had good reasons to join the protest.

Halliburton bought Dresser Industries and laid off employees in Dallas as well as in other parts of the nation. They also launched an effort to challenge employees’ rights to their pension plans. Halliburton employees who had been exposed to toxic asbestos poisoning found themselves fighting the company’s legal maneuver to avoid paying for damages. The issue found extra news exposure because none other than Vice President Dick Cheney had been CEO of Halliburton when the asbestos liabilities were incurred.

After “Enron-Gate” broke, Halliburton was one of the mega-companies accused of “cooking their books.” That is, they were accused of using questionable accounting practices in order to make their stock prices much more attractive than they actually were. The AFL-CIO says that Halliburton CEO David Lesar received $10.3 million in compensation for 2001, while stockholders were taking a bath!

During the 2000 elections, jokesters said that the Bush/Cheney ticket had “diversity” since the two Texans from Dallas came from “two different oil companies,” but both were tied to Halliburton at the Oct. 24 People’s Court. Bush and Cheney were accused of having conspired with Halliburton and other oil companies to set a national energy policy beneficial to oil corporations. The details about how the energy policy was set are still secret.

Bush’s proposal to make “workfare” even more stringent and harder on low-income Americans was also featured among the many accusations at the People’s Court. The actor with the Bush mask defended himself by saying, “You have to believe me because I am the President and, before I became President, I was an average guy.”

“The people are the jurors,” yelled the Judge, “What say you?”

“Guilty” the crowd roared, and repeated, “Guilty” louder and louder while a dozen Dallas police officers nervously fingered their gun belts. Leaders of the rally deliberated for a few minutes when the police told them to leave the lobby, but they decided to go. They did not go far. They established a militant march that encircled Lincoln Square and the Halliburton skyscraper.

After a few more minutes, the crowd marched away. They had to get to their buses because they had more of the same kind of business in Waco, Crawford, and at the Bush ranch!

For more information on the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, e-mail info@nationalcampaign.org

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

PDF version of 'Bush, Cheney and Halliburton found guilty'

Devious: In Jeb Bushs own words

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 05:23:00 +0000

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In the dead of night, an unknown graffiti artist is placing a big sticker on Jeb Bush campaign posters across the state. The sticker has just one word: “Devious.”

The problem for Bush is that it is his own word. The swaggering Bush was caught on a tape recording by a Gannett News reporter bragging to his aides that he has “devious plans” to nullify a ballot initiative requiring the state to reduce class size in the state’s public schools if voters approve it Nov. 5.

It revealed, once again, the Republican governor’s contempt for the will of Florida voters that first surfaced when he and Florida Sec. of State Katherine Harris “scrubbed” at least 80,000 voters, mostly African Americans, from voting rolls to help the Bush-Cheney campaign steal the 2000 presidential election.

Bush is also heard on the tape cracking jokes about “juicy details” (his words) of an alleged lesbian relationship between two former caregivers of missing child, Rilya Wilson. Bush is responsible for the debacle in Florida’s Department of Children and Families which cannot account for 532 children who ran away or were abducted from foster homes. To put it mildly, Bush’s levity about a missing child was in foul taste.

The Palm Beach Post headlined the story of the tape as Jeb Bush’s “most serious campaign mistake.” Democratic opponent, Bill McBride, seized on the recording, hammering Bush as a demagogue who talks behind voters backs of his devious plans to slash and burn public education and the children of the Sunshine State. “What I say in private is the same thing I say to you from this podium,” McBride tells his big, cheering crowds.

Virtually unkown a few weeks ago, McBride has surged in the polls to within striking distance of Bush. A relentless campaigner, McBride, a Tampa attorney, enjoys strong support from the Florida AFL-CIO, the Teachers Union and other grassroots organizations.

During an Oct. 22 televised debate at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, McBride hit Bush again for his failed record on public education. “For the past three and a half years, you’ve had an opportunity to reduce class size. They haven’t been reduced,” McBride said. “In one instance, you said class sizes didn’t matter, as if you’d never seen a class. What we’ve had over the past four years is not enough leadership. I’ll provide that.”

International notes

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 05:15:00 +0000

Italy: General strike for workers’ rights

Over 1 million workers and their supporters took to the streets in 120 Italian cities and towns Oct. 18. The year’s second general strike was called by the country’s largest union federation, the left-led CGIL, to protest government plans to weaken labor rights, as well as cuts in health and education budgets.

Over 250,000 marched in Milan, and 150,000 in Rome.

Air, rail and public transit services were sharply curtailed; most schools and many banks were closed.

The CGIL strongly opposes the government plan to amend the 1970 labor law to make it easier for firms to lay off workers – a move it says threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs. In recent weeks Italian companies have announced over 20,000 layoffs.

Since the first general strike last April, the number of smaller strikes and work stoppages in Italy has risen nearly 500 percent over the same period last year.

Colombia: Public workers need support

Public Service International (PSI), the international federation of public service workers, sent a letter of protest to the Colombian government after the military occupied the premises of EMCALI on Sept. 30 and attacked PSI-affiliated trade unionists the next day. Five workers suffered serious burns and asphyxia as a result of the attacks with explosives and tear gas bombs.

SINTRAEMCALI represents workers at the state-owned EMCALI, which provides water, electricity and telecommunications services for Cali, a city of 2.5 million. The union has been engaged in a long struggle to prevent the company from being privatized. Last January the union reached agreement with the municipal and national governments to keep the company public.

But after his election, President Alvaro Uribe Velez sent troops to break up the union’s meetings and occupy the company’s premises.

PSI called on the Colombian government to halt military attacks on the workers, withdraw military and police personnel from the company premises, and respect the January 2002 agreement.

Kenya: Teachers gain int’l solidarity

Kenya’s teachers, on strike since Sept. 23 over broken promises of salary increases, received crucial international support this week. The South African Democratic Teachers Union and Congress of South African Trade Unions are joining with other international labor organizations to urge Kenya’s government to honor a 1997 agreement to double teachers’ pay.

The current action is the third national teachers strike aimed at pressing the government to implement the increase. Since it began, teachers have been subjected to government intimidation, harassment and threats. In addition, the Education Minister is trying to revoke the 1997 agreement – a move blocked last week by the Supreme Court – and has suspended the collection of union dues.

Belgium: Int’l unionists denounce McDonald’s

An international seminar on McDonald’s labor practices, held in Brussels last week, found that the fast food giant uses minimum standards in setting wage, health and safety practices, and uses anti-union methods including isolating, harassing and dismissing employees who support unions.

The symposium, attended by union activists from Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Philippines, The Netherlands, the USA and Russia, found that in some countries the size and influence of the company’s operations is depressing wages and working conditions throughout the restaurant sector.

On the meeting’s last day, participants demonstrated at a McDonald’s in Brussels, before presenting their findings to a special hearing with the President of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.

The seminar participants concluded that McDonald’s could and should “engage in social dialogue” with trade unions in all countries where it operates. They agreed that as a company employing many workers in many countries, McDonald’s should establish relations with the IUF, the international organization of workers in the restaurant sector.

Israel: 100,000 workers strike

More than 100,000 city and regional workers laid down their tools, Oct. 12, while another 80,000 civil servants, as well as the non-medical staff at government-run hospitals, started a slow-down strike. The unions, affiliated to the General Histadrut Trade Union Federation, have sanctioned both strike actions.

The strikers’ main demand is a substantial raise in cost-of-living index and no cuts to social benefits such as pensions, child allowances and unemployment. The government treasury and employers said the cuts have to be made because of the crisis on the world market and the enormous increase in military and security expenses.

The unions said cost-of-living increments, which by law should be adjusted to the consumer price index, were not adjusted for over two years, thereby lowering workers’ income. In most major cities, strikers held demonstrations and vigils in front of government offices and entrance gates of national enterprises.

Israelis protest show trial of Palestinian

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 05:04:00 +0000

TEL-AVIV – Marwan Barghouti, the leader of El-Fatah – the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) majority party chaired by Yasser Arafat – is being convicted and sentenced to death by a small group of hysterical people. Barghouti, arrested in April by the Israeli occupation regime, faces numerous charges, including murder. He was brought with shackled hands and feet to the district court here, Oct. 3.

The hysteria surrounding Barghouti reflects the mood among a broad section of the Israeli public, brainwashed day-in-day-out by the government-manipulated media. Barghouti is the first case of a defendant charged with alleged terrorist offences to be tried by a civil court of justice. Barghouti, an elected member of a legal parliament – the Palestinian Legislative Council – being forced to stand trial at a civil court in Tel-Aviv, is illegal and outrageous, Barghouti’s defense lawyers said.

Barghouti is well-known in the Israeli peace movement, having attended common Israeli-Palestinian peace meetings or protest actions against the Israeli occupation. In addition to his native Arab tongue, he speaks Hebrew fluently, which he learned while incarcerated during the first Intifada (1987-93).

Many Israeli friends of Barghouti, sympathizers, peace activists and left-wing personalities, arrived in the early morning hours, in order to be the first to secure seats at the courtroom. Well-known public figures, like Uri Avnery, his wife Rachel (both Laureates of the alternative Nobel Peace Price), Adam Keller of the Gush-Shalom peace bloc, and at least two Knesset parliamentarians, as well as Israeli and foreign correspondents, waited to attend the session.

However, following a closed meeting of security officers and at least one secretary representing Sharon, the court’s security guards and police officers forcefully pushed the waiting crowd away from the entrance to the court room, allowing in only a few selected press teams, and an organized group of “terror victims” relatives. Before any others could enter, it was announced, “The courtroom is fully occupied, no more seats left.”

Avnery and others pointed out that the group of relatives selected to enter are known to be close to the radical right-wing, some even close to the outlawed, but very active, fascist KAKH (Kahane-lives) party. Other relatives of terror victims, known to have solidarity relationships with their Palestinian counterparts, were not allowed into the courtroom.

Next, the whole world witnessed over their TV screens tumultuous courtroom scenes staged by the rightwing next-of-kin or those who acted as such. They shouted and terrorized Barghouti with threats. Outside, the courtroom protests against the selection process were hardly seen by the TV viewers.

“If this was a taste of what kind of trial Barghouti will get, good night to Israel’s democracy,” a protestor remarked.

One of the sensational highlights of the day was learning that one of Barghouti’s defense attorneys is Shamai Leibovitz, the Jewish orthodox grandson of the late Professor Yeshaiyahu Leibovitz, editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia Judaika. Leibovitz was a fiery protester, even up to his nineties, against the 1967 occupation of Arab territories, the racist persecution of the Palestinian people, as well as a whistle blower against the danger from the Jewish fundamentalist power encroachment in the state. Shamai stated he was treading in the footsteps of his late grandfather by taking part in Bargouti’s defense.

After the session, Barghouti’s defense attorneys, headed by the East Jerusalem Palestinian lawyer Jawad Boulus, told the outdoor crowd that the Israeli civil court has no jurisdiction to handle a case against a citizen and resident of occupied Palestine. This was against international law, as well as the 1949 Geneva Fourth Convention dealing with the protection of the civilian population of a territory occupied by a foreign power. Israel is a co-signatory to that Convention.

Moreover, it contravenes the agreements signed between Israel and the PLO, and the PNA (national authority) respectively, the defense team maintains. Further, the whole charge sheet is a framed-up masterpiece, which has no basis whatsoever in reality. This will be the main defense line when the trial begins, Boulus said.

The court session Oct. 3 was an organized rehearsal of a right-wing spectacle, a taste of what kind of show trial this will be.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

National Clips

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 04:58:00 +0000

Working families tell candidates: No more business as usual With the Nov. 5 elections almost two weeks away, thousands of Labor 2002 volunteers came together Oct. 18 weekend at more than 100 events and election activities across the country. Their mission: to spread the word about where candidates stand on corporate accountability and other working family issues. With precinct walks, leafleting and phone-banking, union activists set out on the AFL-CIO’s National Days of Action on corporate accountability to demand that candidates stand against corporate greed and for working families on such issues as good jobs, quality education and affordable health care and prescription drugs. Volunteer phone bankers will make millions of calls before Election Day. “We need to elect labor people to these offices who will pay attention to working people and retirees,” said Dion Guthrie, business manager and president of Electrical Workers Local 1501. Guthrie, who is running for county council in Harford County, Md., joined precinct walkers and discussed recent corporate scandals. “Thank God I’ve got a union pension,” he said, “but the losses in my 401(k) will mean I work another five years.”

Texas’ fate is in Latino hands Since early in the election cycle, pundits and analysts have speculated about the growing importance of Latino voters in Texas. Most recently, the polls listed in big corporate newspapers say that Tony Sanchez is lagging behind the incumbent Republican in the governor’s race, but many explain that they cannot accurately predict the Latino vote. Gerardo Contreras, coordinator for the Labor Committee for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) in North Texas, reports that LCLAA and other organizations did a splendid job of registering new Latino voters. The San Antonio newspaper reported that one-fifth of Texas voters have Spanish surnames, 300,000 more people than had been projected earlier! Another positive trend is the increased commitment of union people to the campaigns. Dallas AFL-CIO members made over 100,000 yard signs, for example. In Texas, turnout is the key to winning in November. Contreras has a lot of confidence: “Everywhere, there’s going to be a big difference, because the Latino vote is coming on real strong.”

PHOENIX: Farmworkers lead voter registration drive Arizona farmworkers have been registering thousands of new voters from Phoenix to many rural communities throughout the state. “This is the first year that we see such interest in the elections,” said Juvencio Valenzuela, United Farmworkers of America (UFW) spokesperson, who is heading the registration drive. Cecilia Hidalgo, UFW field organizer, said, “This is a key year. We need to get the people to vote to change the state of Arizona. We need to be united.” Voter registration will play a key factor in the upcoming gubernatorial race between Democrat Janet Napolitano and ultraconservative Matt Salmon, which pollsters say is to close to call. Hidalgo believes that the unprecedented interest and response in registration is related to Democrat Alfredo Gutierrez’ run for governor. Gutierrez received 20 percent of the vote in the primary, campaigning against the “right-to-work (for less)” clause and the death penalty. The farmworkers are also working for a paid state holiday to honor Cesar Chavez. In an age of increasing tension and violence between countries, Hidalgo reminds people of Cesar Chavez’ message of peaceful change and nonviolence. “With so much talk of war, what are we teaching our kids but violence? Cesar Chavez fought for the dignity of all the people, the same level for everybody, the right to go to college or a university, and the possibility of running for president.”

PHILADELPHIA: Activist runs for state rep. Philadelphia community activist Ernst Ford is a candidate for State Representative on the Green Party ticket and many in his Kensington neighborhood believe he will win. A racially and ethnically diverse area, Kensington is an historic neighborhood confronting problems like high rates of unemployment, poverty, abandoned houses and homelessness. Ford is a block captain and knows the problems of his community, including the Live Stop Program to get unlicensed and uninsured motorists off the street. Thousands of cars have been confiscated by the police and auctioned off, which has an adverse effect on working people. “The city is taking away poor people’s cars because they can’t afford the high cost of insurance. We must demand cheaper car insurance and cheaper public transportation,” said Ford. “I don’t have all the solutions, but I’m willing to work with the people in my district to bring about the results we need,” he added. Ford has led marches against drugs, police misconduct and declining living conditions. Born in Haiti, Ford has lived in Philadelphia for over 12 years.

BALTIMORE: NAACP says no ‘first-strike’ on Iraq The NAACP Board of Directors adopted unanimously a resolution stating “the President of the United States has not made a conclusive case for the use of deadly force in the case of Iraq.” The resolution stated the “NAACP expresses its opposition to armed conflict against the country of Iraq without our exercising all options, including but not limited to United Nations arms inspections.” It also expressed concern at the disproportionate rates at which “African-American and other minority youth and young adults are enrolled into military” service. The youth board members sponsored the resolution. NAACP college chapters will host town hall meetings on campuses “to gauge and express student sentiment regarding armed conflict with the country of Iraq.”

BOSTON: Demands for peace continue Over 600 marched, October 20, opposing the Bush administration’s pending attack on Iraq. Organized by Boston Mobilization, the “Walk for Peace” called for a multilateral approach and negotiations to resolve the crisis with Iraq. The United Methodist Church issued a scathing attack on Bush’s war plans. The attack on Iraq, according to the church report, is “without any justification according to the teachings of Christ.” Bush is a member of the United Methodist Church.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.: Campus rallies against Iraq war Over 700 students and faculty gathered on UC Santa Cruz campus earlier this month to protest Bush’s threats of a new war in Iraq. The “budding” student group Standing United for Peace (SUP) organized the rally. Six-hundred students signed letters against the war. The stack was delivered to the University Chancellor’s mailbox. Many students signed the “Not in Our Name” pledge, a pledge of resistance prepared by leading artists and intellectuals. Over 400 students signed up to get more information from or help out with SUP. Layla Razavi, a 19-year-old politics major, said “I’m really impressed that the movement has gathered so much support, not just in Santa Cruz, but across the country. But we must build our power quickly in order to, not just protest the war, but prevent it.”

TUCSON: 1,500 rally against Bush’s war The sea of signs called for “No War on Iraq” as more than 1,500 people took to the streets, Oct. 19, in what was the largest peace demonstration here since Viet Nam. Signs, speakers, marchers, singers, dancers, artists all reflected the twin themes of stopping war in Iraq and using our resources, instead, to meet needs here at home. Racism has increased with the Bush administration’s war drive, as evidenced by increased vigilante activity on the U.S.-Mexico border, coupled with the increased militarization there. The march and rally was sponsored by 27 different community, religious, peace, student, civil rights and labor groups. The unity of the people was quite evident; from the speakers to the crowd, it was a reflection of the rich cultural and ethnic diversity that makes up our region. Four more peace actions are planned including an American Friends Service Committee-sponsored truckload of food delivery to Congressional offices with the demand, “Feed, don’t bomb Iraq!”

WASHINGTON, D.C.: High Court supports juvenile death penalty The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision refused to hear an appeal challenging executions of people who were younger than 18 when they committed their crimes. Writing for the four dissenting judges, (Justices Souter, Bader-Ginsburg, Breyer and himself) Justice Stevens said, “The practice of executing such offenders is a relic of the past and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society. We should put an end to this shameful practice.”

HOUSTON: Immigrant workers demand justice Hundreds of workers marched Oct. 20, demanding an end to harassment and intimidation under the guise of “fighting terrorism.” At the rally, workers hoisted flags from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala. Their signs, in Spanish, read “Immigration and terrorism are not the same thing.” “We want (President) Bush and Congress to recognize that immigrants are a benefit to this country,” Bernardo Fallas, spokesman for the Central American Response Center (CRECEN), said. In September, 143 workers were indicted and 64 arrested at Bush Intercontinental Airport for allegedly using false identification. “We understand the need for national security,” Fallas continued, “but those food servers are not a threat to national security.”

ATLANTA: Delta announces more lay-offs Delta announced 7,000 – 8,000 workers will lose their jobs over the next 6 months. In 2001, the airline slashed 10,000 jobs, which sent the local economy into a tailspin. Delta employs 68,000 workers across the country, 30,000 in Greater Atlanta. The announcement follows one by American Airlines where 7,000 workers will lose their jobs.

National Clips are compiled by Denise Winebrenner Edwards. If you have a story for national clips send it to pww@pww.org. Contributors to this week’s clips are Terrie Albano, Joe Bernick, Rosita Johnson, James Jordan, Jim Lane, Ron Roeders and Anukene Warda.

Nov. 5: A referendum on Bush policies

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 04:32:00 +0000

Commentary

These are not ordinary times. And Nov. 5 – Election Day – is no ordinary day.

This election more than any in recent memory offers voters an unparalleled opportunity to strike a blow against the extreme right and for peace, progress and sanity.

Its outcome will be a referendum on the policies of the Bush administration.

On one side of the struggle is gathered organized labor, the racially and nationally oppressed peoples, women and other democratic forces, and on the other, the Bush administration and its reactionary supporters.

Not for a long time has an administration been so aggressive, militarist and eager to go to war, so deaf to the crying need for jobs and health care, so contemptuous of the rights of African Americans, Mexican Americans and other racially and nationally oppressed peoples, so scornful of women and immigrants, so ready to dispense with our democratic traditions, so callous towards the environment, so hell-bent on turning our public schools over to private corporations, and so determined to raid the collapsing pension system – and all the while looting the public treasury and protecting corporate profits and corporate thieves.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Bush administration and its right-wing counterparts in Congress present a clear and imminent danger to everything that we as a people hold dear and consider just. They constitute a menace to our nation’s well being and the well being of our world. The future of our country turns, to no small degree, on which party ends up with control of Congress on the evening of Nov. 5.

Bush and his advisors appreciate this fact, and are calibrating everything they do towards regaining control of the Senate and adding to their majority in the House. Labor and its allies must approach these elections with no less determination.

With less than two weeks before the polls open, political pundits are calling the election a dead heat. Thus, between now and Nov. 5, a full national mobilization of voters is imperative. A crusading spirit must infuse the ranks of the people’s movement. To squander this opportunity would be a tragic mistake. People’s rights, livelihoods and lives are at stake.

This sounds ominous, and it is. But at the same time it should be an incentive for everyone to engage the battle to defeat right-wing Congressional candidates on Election Day. Such a victory won’t guarantee that the flood tide of economic insecurity, democratic denial and senseless death and destruction stemming from the policies of the Bush administration will be immediately reversed. But it would represent a first and important step in that direction.

All out for Nov. 5!

Sam Webb is national chairman of the Communist Party and can be reached at swebb@cpusa.org

ILWU to Bush: We wont let you take waterfront from us

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 04:28:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES – International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) President James Spinosa and AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka both spoke at the Oct. 22 general membership meeting of ILWU Local 13 where nearly 2,000 members packed the union hall to hear reports on developments in their battle with their employers, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).

The message delivered by the two leaders and Ramon Ponce de Leon, president of Local 13, the largest West Coast ILWU local, was loud and clear, “Stand united, we are going to fight, and we are going to win!”

Spinosa said the goal of the employers association “is to destroy what we have enjoyed since 1934 and we are not going to let them do it. We’ve gone beyond traditional collective bargaining over contract demands. They want to destroy our union and take control of the waterfront. Corporate America with all its greed is at our doorstep.”

Spinosa said President Bush was part of the PMA game plan to break the union. “They have the media, the president, and the courts set up to get us.” He added that by invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, PMA was setting the stage to bankrupt the union.

Spinosa said the situation required the ILWU to “think outside the box and outsmart the ship owners. We have to shift into a different mode,” he said. “Our mode has to be ‘You are not going to take this waterfront away from us.’”

Spinosa called on the rank and file to “do their job” in the fight for a decent contract. “You’ve gotta do your job and not allow the PMA to beat us in court. Stay on the job. They can’t beat us if we stay on the job because we are protecting our job.”

Trumka, former president of the United Mine Workers, told how that union had fought back when hit with the Taft-Hartley Act. “We struck for 118 days and we won because we stuck together. We know two things for sure. First, the PMA and shippers will try to conquer us by dividing us. Second, as long as we reject their scheming and stand together – we will win.”

Trumka commended the ILWU membership for their courage and commitment. “You are making history instead of becoming history,” he said to cheers, adding that the federation pledged its “support, expertise, respect and solidarity today, tomorrow and as long as it takes.”

Trumka blasted President Bush for interfering in collective bargaining and stressed significance of the ILWU battle for the rest of labor. “Bush knows that if he can bring this union down, the rest will be easy. But when this union stands him down – and you will – Bush will think twice about taking on another union.”

Trumka emphasized the importance of the November elections and congratulated the ILWU for sending 35 members to five states to participate in electoral campaigns. “This election will determine who will control all three branches of the federal government; it will decide whether Bush can interfere in negotiations or not. You are showing incredible solidarity by sending your members across the country while you face this battle on the waterfront.”

The meeting ended after Dave Arian, public relations chair for the negotiating committee, explained the union’s strategy for next stage of the fight and Rob Remar, ILWU legal counsel, explained the workings of the Taft-Hartley Act and its implications for the union. Spinosa, Trumka and the other officers were given a standing ovation when they left the stage at the end of the meeting.

This story is excerpted from an article in The Dispatcher. The author can be reached at evnalarcon@aol.com

ACLU presses Safe and Free campaign

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 04:15:00 +0000

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is mobilizing its 53 chapters and 300,000 members in a campaign to keep the nation “Safe and Free” from attacks on constitutional rights by the Bush administration.

The campaign includes broadcast of a television commercial, litigation and mass organizing and lobbying in defense of the Bill of Rights. While stressing the ACLU’s abhorrence of terrorism the campaign also stresses its revulsion at those who exploit terrorism to undermine liberty.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero announced the $3.5 million campaign Oct. 18, warning that George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have used the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to seize sweeping powers of mass detention, spying and surveillance.

Romero singled out Ashcroft’s USA Patriot Act as the centerpiece of the assault on the Bill of Rights. “This law, rushed through Congress in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, is responsible for altering our nation’s immigration laws, expanding the government’s ability to spy on citizens, and increasing the capacity for unreasonable searches and seizures,” he said.

It has included detention of more than 8,000 people, mostly Arabs and people of color, “on little or no evidence of wrongdoing,” Romero added.

Ashcroft kept these people, the overwhelming majority of whom were innocent of any connection to terrorism, imprisoned at secret locations, even refusing to divulge their names.

Romero introduced several people who had been caught up in Ashcroft’s dragnet: Sister Virgine Lawinger of Wisconsin Peace Action, barred from boarding a plane and questioned about her plans to attend a Washington protest against the School of the Americas; Danny Muller of Voices in the Wilderness, to whom a postal clerk refused to sell stamps when Muller asked that they not include a likeness of the U.S. flag; A.J. Brown, interrogated by the Secret Service, because someone reported she had a poster critical of George W. Bush in her college dorm.

“Without an immediate and powerful public outcry on behalf of liberty, the administration’s calculated attempts to limit our constitutional rights and liberties could change the definition of freedom in America,” Romero concluded.

Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington office, said the first priority of the Safe and Free project is to reverse Ashcroft’s decision to “rewrite guidelines that limit the ability of the FBI to engage in domestic spying.”

Those guidelines were imposed in the mid-1970s when hearings before Sen. Frank Church’s Select Committee on Intelligence exposed the FBI’s COINTELPRO “dirty tricks” campaign to destroy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others who publicly disagreed with government policies.

COINTELPRO was first used by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to spy on, harass, and disrupt, the Communist Party USA and was later directed against the civil rights and the anti-Vietnam War movements. It culminated with Richard Nixon’s infamous “enemies list” of more than 30,000 law-abiding citizens targeted for IRS audits and other forms of government retribution. Local police set up “Red Squads,” which, together with the FBI, infiltrated and disrupted protest meetings.

Now, Murphy warned, Ashcroft is taking steps to revive these tactics. “The attorney general’s new guidelines allow the FBI to work with municipal, county, and state police agencies to conduct joint operations that include spying on First Amendment-protected activities.”

She pointed out that local authorities can refuse to cooperate with these witch hunt activities as was done when the police department of Portland, Oregon refused to collaborate with the administration’s repressive campaign. The ACLU will also seek congressional repeal of the worst features of the Patriot Act.

Howard Simon, president of the Florida ACLU, recalled the debacle in the 2000 election in which at least 80,000 Florida voters were disenfranchised, opening the way or George W. Bush to steal the election.

He said the same thing happened in Florida’s Sept. 10 primary election when thousands of voters waited in interminable lines – or were turned away – because polling places failed to open or electronic voting machines failed to operate.

Simon warned that only a high state of vigilance can prevent a repeat of that fiasco. “If not corrected, Nov. 5 will be as bad or worse” than Sept. 10, he warned.

The author can be reached at greenerpastures21212@yahoo.com