People Before Profit blog

Violet Russell, 92, lifelong activist

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:22:00 +0000

“Strength, grace, courage.” That is how Violet Russell and 12 other women are described in a 2008 calendar honoring “Rosie the Riveter,” women who worked in armaments production in Washington State during World War II.

Russell, a fervent anti-fascist, was employed as an inspector in various departments of Boeing aircraft plants throughout World War II, the war to defeat fascism. She died June 6 at age 92.

Her parents came by steerage from Czarist Russia, fleeing anti-Semitic pogroms in the Ukraine. Dirt poor pioneers, they eked out a living in part by making and selling umbrellas. They settled in the Home Colony, a utopian socialist community near Tacoma where Russell was born in 1915.

The colony, one of several utopian communities in the Puget Sound region, offered a vibrant mix of radical thought and culture with many communist, socialist, and anarchist leaders visiting the town. A frequent speaker was William Z. Foster, the legendary leader of strikes in the meatpacking and steel industries who later served as national chairman of the Communist Party USA.

Russell soaked up these revolutionary ideas, becoming a partisan of the working class and a staunch believer in the class struggle and socialism. She found a political home for that outlook in the Communist Party, joining in 1940 and remaining a member in good standing until her death.

She worked her way through the University of Washington, graduating with degrees in bacteriology and zoology.

After World War II she continued her employment as a bookkeeper, followed by two decades of work in cancer research at the University of Washington. Her elder sister, Dr. Rose Payne, a research biologist at Stanford University, broke new ground in research in tissue compatibility helping advance the practice of organ transplants. She died in 1999.

The calendar, produced by Washington Women in Trades, and funded by many Puget Sound unions, features Violet Russell for October. Her birthday was Oct. 25. Photo captions report that while working at Boeing she met and married her husband, George who shared her allegiance to organized labor. “Vi was no stranger to union activism,” it continues. “She was enthusiastic and involved.” The Boeing workers, represented by the International Association of Machinists, are now voting on a new contract after a long strike battle with the company.

Russell was an active participant in the Washington State Alliance of Retired Americans (WSARA), AFL-CIO, Seattle Women Act for Peace and the Coalition of Labor Union Women. In her union, State Employees Local 1488, she was a political action spark plug, managing the union’s phone tree until the final months of her life.

Much of that phone-banking was in support of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and now Barack Obama. In her final interview with Seattle Woman Magazine last spring, she exulted, “Who would have imagined we’d have a Black man who is aspiring to be president!”

She regarded as her crowning achievement her work in the campaign that established the state’s first minimum wage law.

Her husband died in 1981. She is survived by her son, Alan; by a stepdaughter, Elaine Russell; and by two grandchildren. A memorial celebration of Violet Russell’s life will be held 2 p.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6 at the West Seattle Senior Center, 4217 Southwest Oregon St. Will Parry, a leader of WSARA will play the guitar and sing union songs. Refreshments will be served.

Shades of Green: October 25, 2008

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Thumbs up, thumbs down

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:48:00 +0000

MovieREVIEWs

“Battle in Seattle”

Directed by Stuart Townsend

USA, 98 min., Rated R

In late September, North Texas union activists started receiving pleas to help get “Battle in Seattle” into more movie theaters. At that time, it was scheduled to open on only 11 screens nationwide. AFL-CIO, Change to Win, the Teamsters and Steelworkers asked activists to demand that the movie be shown in their cities. The promotional web site is www.battleinseattlemovie.com/labor. This is a “grassroots-powered” movie.

Apparently, some North Texans responded, and the film opened October 3 both in Dallas and the nearby company town of Plano. Plano closed it after one week, but, by then, the Angelika Theatre in Dallas had agreed to let Jobs with Justice have half an hour after the 7 p.m. showing on Oct. 10. About 45 activists showed up. Nearly all of them were known to Jobs with Justice and/or the Dallas Peace Center.

The feature film used a lot of footage from the actual 1999 events, including from this newspaper’s sister’s former cable TV show “Changing America.” The film, like the real Battle in Seattle, blasts the World Trade Organization and the entire scandal of “free trade” (naked imperialism) into the world’s consciousness. The emotional focus of the film was on the group of radical environmentalists who organized the initial blockades downtown and the policemen who opposed them. The masked “anarchists” who broke windows are mentioned in passing. Labor’s historic turn toward working with environmentalists and other activists was largely brushed over. The enormous number of independent activists carrying signs opposing child labor weren’t mentioned.

Nevertheless, the audience in Dallas was thrilled with the film. We could not restrain ourselves from repeating some of the marchers’ chants after the house lights came on. “There ain’t no power like the power of the people, ’cause the power of the people don’t stop!”

The President of the Dallas AFL-CIO, Nancy Hall, then gave a short report on her recent fact-finding trip to Colombia. She explained clearly that Colombian trade unionists, like us, want no part of Bush’s proposed “Colombia Free Trade Agreement.” She added that they were closely following the U.S. presidential race and were pulling for Barack Obama, who has promised to review NAFTA and the entire “free trade” process.

A number of audience members signed up with an Obama campaign organizer. In the third and last presidential debate John McCain attacked Obama’s opposition to the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Obama countered by telling the American people about the unacceptable numbers of trade unionists being murdered each day in that war-torn country.

Hall answered questions from the audience, who then broke out into another chant and left the theater with a strong commitment to get other activists to see the film. The next day’s theater listing, however, dropped “Battle in Seattle.” Undoubtedly, North Texans will buy and show the DVD when it appears.

The movie night was filmed by a Jobs with Justice activist. It’s up at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEqNCOZLUes

“W”

Directed by Oliver Stone

USA, 113 min., Rated PG-13

If moviegoers already know that Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfus, and (especially) Thandie Newton are gifted performers, then they have nothing to learn by going to see “W.”

The movie is slow, uninteresting and unforgivably boring.

Oliver Stone portrays W as a Shakespearean tragedy. Stone’s Bush is a flawed hero. The poor guy is just a little slow, but he really means well. He’s misled to his ultimate doom by craftier men with unspoken ambitions. Stone should have named it “MacBush.”

Despite the movie’s herculean attempt to portray Bush as a sympathetic character, all the tragedy is misplaced. It isn’t there, in Bush’s biography. It’s out here, in the rest of the world, where the real tragedy of Bush’s life is being played out!

Keep an eye on Maher

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 06:05:00 +0000

MOVIE REVIEW

“Religulous”

Directed by Larry Charles

Written by Bill Maher

USA, 101 minutes, Rated R

If lightning doesn’t strike comedian Bill Maher in the next few days, you might want to buy a ticket for his new movie, “Religulous.” It rhymes with “ridiculous.” In it, Maher takes a lighthearted but very honest look at religious fundamentalism at home and around the world. Interviewing two Muslims in a gay bar, he displays his well-known brand of chutzpah.

While Maher was demolishing the arguments and beliefs of everybody religious, old movie veteran me turned to my wide-eyed movie buddy and predicted smugly, “There will be a big cop-out at the end!” You know, you’ve seen half a dozen movies where somebody “loses their faith” and says all kinds of provocative things, and then does a 180 and ends the movie supplicating on their knees.

But Maher doesn’t cop out. After an entire movie-length investigation of everything and everybody religious, he turns very serious about the consequences of doing things on faith, of doing things without trying to understand. That’s how some people manage to get other people to incinerate people, or blow them up, or torture them in Heaven’s name.

Whether or not one practices a religion, Maher’s movie is provocative enough to be worth seeing. On the other hand, if he actually does get hit by lightning, better not!

—Jim Lane

Celebrating Latino Heritage Month

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:57:00 +0000

A Dominican woman wears a costume and mask representing the mischievous “Diablos Cojuelos” (Lame Demons), a character portrayed during the February carnivals in the Dominican Republic. Dominicans coming to the United States have brought this cultural custom with them. In this picture the “Diablos Cojuelos” participates in a festival which is part of that town’s effort every year to celebrate Latino Heritage Month.

Progressive cinema goes to Chicago

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:45:00 +0000

The 44th Annual Chicago International Film Festival has released its list of more than 175 titles from over 45 countries. North America’s oldest competitive international film festival runs for two weeks from Oct 16-29 and features many films that should be of interest to progressive viewers. Here are a few that caught my eye.

“Berlin – 1st of May” is a wild adventure that follows four individuals during the workers holiday in Berlin.

The French film “Born in 68” follows the lives of flower children who convince friends to start a commune in the countryside in the ’60s, and takes them through the collapse of communism in the ’90s.

“Déficit” is the directorial debut of class-conscious actor Gael García Bernal, who starred as Che in “The Motorcycle Diaries.”

“Hunger,” best first feature winner at Cannes, is by famed British artist Steve McQueen and tells the fatal prison story of IRA leader Bobby Sands.

“In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race movies and the birth of Black cinema” tells the fascinating story of the parallel 1930s film industry that catered primarily to the Black community. The screening on Oct. 19 is free, and is followed by a panel discussion.

“Jerusalema,” a hugely successful film, is a modern African Robin Hood story. A poor boy steals big in a criminal world. It is based on true incidents.

“Laila’s Birthday” by Palestinian Rashid Masharawi, resembles his previous captivating film, “Ticket to Jerusalem,” in depicting the difficulties of Occupation. Masharawi’s humanist style and deft directorial sensitivities make his films stand out from the many films on the subject.

“Lemon Tree” by the Israeli award winning director of “Syrian Bride” Eran Riklis, also addresses a similar Palestinian issue, that of the destruction of Arab orchards by the Israeli occupation.

“Snow,” a Bosnian film and a Cannes Festival winner, tackles the human aspect of the recent war.

“The Vanished Empire” addresses the fall of the Soviet Union through the eyes of four teenagers who seem oblivious to the earthshaking changes going on in their country.

“Of Time and the City” is revered British director Terence Davies’ documentary of his beloved city of Liverpool.

Famed progressive director/actor Nanni Moretti stars once again as a tragic figure who loses a loved one in “Quiet Chaos.” The film garnered 18 nominations in the Italian Oscars.

One of the most talked-about films is “Slumdog Millionaire” by Britisher Danny Boyle.

Jamal, an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, ends up on a TV show as a contestant to win a million dollars. The unique structure of the story has grabbed audiences around the world.

Martin Sheen narrates the tragic story of 72-year-old Sister Dorothy, a Catholic nun from Ohio, who moved to the Brazilian Amazon Forest in 1967 to work with the poor. She was killed in 2005 possibly with government involvement, and documented in the film “They Killed Sister Dorothy.”

A new program called Green Screen will offer a celebration of film art that focuses on the natural environment. And a new five-block area called Festival Village will offer a stimulating outlet for the film community. More information on the festival, and tickets and passes can be found online at chicagofilmfestival.org and at the five festival theaters.

Students aim to vote for change

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:46:00 +0000

DETROIT, Mich. — People here say the struggling U.S. economy including rising unemployment has hit this city the hardest and as Nov. 4 approaches, first-time voters are gearing up for the most important presidential election of their lifetime.

Students at Wayne State University here who plan to vote for the first time next month shared some of their thoughts about the election and issues important to them. Here is what some of them had to say.

“I’m excited because for the first time in our history we might have an African American president and we need change,” said 19-year-old Christen Hudson, an African American student at Wayne State who is eager to vote for the first time in November.

Chemistry student Mike, who is 19, said, “The economy has affected Detroit a lot worse than other cities across the nation. We are really feeling the burden.”

Education is a priority, said Mike, who is African American. He said he plans to vote for Obama not because he is Black but because he is the best candidate. He also believes Joe Biden will be a better vice president than Sarah Palin. “We need someone who will fix the economy and Obama and Biden can do that,” he added.

Courtney Lawson, 19, an African American, works part-time at McDonalds and is a full-time student. It has been financially hard these days for her family and they have been tightening up their budget, she said. Being able to afford textbooks has not been easy either, she added.

“Financial problems are a big toll on my family,” said Lawson. “I am very excited to vote for Obama this year because he has a better plan to fix the country’s problems.”

Lawson noted, “It’s very important for young people to get involved because we are going to be the ones that have to deal with the future and we have to take steps to make sure that our future is secure.” Lawson said young people should take their vote seriously.

Another first-time voter, Jordan Grayshik, 18, is a biochemistry major who is white and lives in a suburb outside Detroit. Grayshik works part-time as an environmental technician collecting water and mud samples for a laboratory where they measure the amount of mercury.

Grayshik said he supports Obama because he has better positions when it comes to helping middle class families like his who are struggling, instead of big corporations that make record profits.

“I don’t want to graduate and seek employment when our economy is getting worse and being compared to the Great Depression,” said Grayshik. He comes from a union household. He said his community is predominantly white and usually votes about 75 percent Republican. But things are changing and Grayshik feels Obama could win there this time around.

“The thing I like about Obama is that he is African American. Some might think that a white kid from an upper middle class suburban neighborhood in a Christian Lutheran family will vote Republican,” he said. “But it’s not true.”

In western Michigan, Vanessa Crowley, 22, is a senior at Grand Valley University in Grand Rapids studying social justice and is active on campus and in her community with the Obama campaign. She has been door knocking and phone banking there at least twice a week for a couple of hours each time.

Crowley questions the type of world young people are growing up in and it terrifies her to know McCain voted with Bush over 90 percent of the time. She is white and transgender and said civil rights, women’s reproductive rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights are important to her.

“But in general it’s the economy” that concerns her the most. Crowley has been unemployed for several months. “The widening gap between the rich and poor is increasing and that’s a major problem,” she said.

“A lot of people are talking about the lack of jobs here in Michigan where wages are not living wages and families can’t afford to feed their families,” noted Crowley.

The voters she has talked to are divided about 50/50 between Obama and McCain. She said she talks to a lot of people who voted Republican their whole lives. “But now they feel let down and are finally thinking for themselves and are planning to vote for Obama,” she said. They see the contradictions between their everyday material conditions and the right-wing ideology put forth by McCain and the Republicans, said Crowley. “They just don’t line up.”

The number of young voters under 30 has risen dramatically nationwide over the years and polls show young people prefer Obama over McCain by 2 to 1. The most recent Gallup poll shows Obama leading McCain 60 percent to 34 percent among voters under 30.

Turnout among youth increased by 9 percent from 2000 to 2004, according to U.S. Census data, more than twice any other age group. In 2004, 20 million young people voted, an increase of 2 million voters from the 2000 election. In 2006, youth voter turnout rose to 25 percent.

Political experts are predicting record numbers at the polls next month and many say this turnout is partly due to the number of young voters who plan to make their voice heard on Election Day. Experts say this year’s election could bring out the largest youth vote ever.

plozano @ pww.org

New Haven upholds its stand for immigrant rights

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:13:00 +0000

New Haven, Conn., has been picketed, sued and targeted with massive hate mail by national anti-immigrant organizations since last year when the Elm City Resident Card was launched. Available to any resident regardless of immigration status, the photo ID includes access to city parks, libraries and other programs.

On Monday night, after a packed and emotional hearing, the Finance Committee of the Board of Aldermen unanimously voted to accept private grant funds raised to continue the ID card. Eloquent testimony by dozens of immigrant workers, city officials, union leaders, clergy, educators, police officers and community activists proved the overwhelming success of the program now used by more than 6,000 people.

Three representatives of the extremist Community Watchdog Project with ties to FAIR (the misleadingly named Federation for American Immigration Reform), Numbers USA and other hate groups, received no support for their claims that immigration is destroying African American workers and the entire economy.

The Elm City Resident Card is premised on the idea that the health and well being of the whole community depends on inclusion and opportunity for all residents of the community. New Haven has received many national awards for this project, which is being duplicated in other cities across the country.

The following testimonies of Art Perry, political director of Local 32 BJ SEIU, and Kenneth R. Brown II of the Center for New Community in Chicago emphasize the power of unity to achieve the needs of immigrants and all workers in our country, and respond to the negative impact of division and hate.

— Joelle Fishman

Testimony of Art Perry, political director Local 32 BJ SEIU:

I am here on behalf of the 85,000 members of Local 32BJ SEIU, including 4,500 members in Connecticut.

Just two years ago, hundreds of janitors here in New Haven organized to be part of Local 32BJ. The vast majority of our new brothers and sisters are Latino immigrants who live in and around New Haven. And like all immigrants, they are here to work hard, support their families and achieve the American dream.

We testified in support of the ID card in May 2007 and we are here tonight in support of the identification card for the City of New Haven again for all of the reasons that we supported it before.

This card will serve as a means of safety and security for New Haven residents, including immigrant workers. The card will improve public safety — cardholders will be more likely to report witnessing a crime or being a victim of a crime, as well as provide identification if required by law enforcement.

In addition, the card will help residents access services, such as the library, parks and other public facilities. It will assist people in opening bank accounts, providing a safe place to keep their money instead of at home or carrying it in public. The card will also serve as means of identification for those who don’t have a driver’s license, such as the elderly.

This card is a good idea for all of New Haven’s residents and it is especially good for immigrant workers and their families, who are anxious to become full participants in their communities. By helping immigrants better integrate into city life and city services, we’ll build a better, safer and more diverse city.

Testimony of Kenneth R. Brown, II, Center for New Community, Chicago, Ill.:

The Center for New Community is a national organization committed to building community, justice and equality. The center is grounded in many faith traditions, respecting all traditions and secular efforts in building community where the dignity and value of all humanity is manifest.

The work of the center includes organizing against hate groups (such as white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups), hate music and the growing anti-immigrant hate movement. A part of this latter effort is an initiative which I am director of called “Which Way Forward: African Americans, Immigrants and Race,” which includes a network of nationwide African American leaders concerned with the dangers that the anti-immigrant movement poses toward the Black community.

We, as a center, encourage the Board of Aldermen to approve funding for the continuation of the Elm City Resident Card program. The card is a major step in the building of a safe, healthy community for all those who call New Haven home, a step for which we commend city leaders. The program’s facilitation of secure financial services for immigrants, better communication with law enforcement personnel, and increased utilization of city services is a boon to the New Haven community which we applaud, and which, no doubt, others this evening can extol more eloquently than I can. I want you, however, to also be aware of the crucial position of leadership the city of New Haven is taking nationally in the effort to build a healthy society for our residents, both immigrant and native-born.

While the debate on immigration rages around us, the need for safe, growing communities is still present, and cannot wait on protracted political battles. In instituting the Elm City Resident Card program, New Haven has demonstrated its understanding of this, and shown its commitment to addressing the needs of all those who contribute to its diverse social fabric. I dare say New Haven is being looked at for leadership in this arena of society. As various municipalities around the country wrestle with how to foster a vibrant community for all their residents, regardless of standing or country of origin, New Haven is showing that there are positive steps a city can take toward cultivating a safe atmosphere for its people. Your continued leadership in this is essential.

A notable point of success of the program is the fact that funds have been raised to support it, thus alleviating much of the burden on municipal funds. We applaud the efforts of the city to do what’s necessary for its residents even in the face of fiscal challenges.

Do not succumb to the hate and the xenophobia manifested by anti-immigrant groups nationally and here in southern Connecticut. As one examines the increasingly virulent attack in this country on foreign-born persons, one must be greatly concerned by its roots in racism, in white supremacy, in the retention of power and privilege for some at the expense of quality of life for all. We don’t have the time this evening to talk about organizations — some of which are recognized hate groups — such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the Center for Immigration Studies, the Minutemen and other such manifestations of bigotry. If you wish, the Center for New Community can provide further information on such. It’s come to our understanding, however, that there are similar groups here in southern Connecticut whose vitriolic ranting — not only against much of the immigrant population but against city personnel as well — is diametrically opposed to the society-enhancing endeavors of this city. For such thought to, in any way, sway the leaders of New Haven from your goal of providing a healthy atmosphere for all would be a major blow against the building of community.

Continue the leadership you’re providing the country on the creation of safe space and community. Continue, as a city, to be true to your name: let this be, indeed, a new haven — a new place of safety — for all of your residents.

Ohio presidential race is in a dead heat

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:48:00 +0000

The presidential race in Ohio is a dead heat according to a recent poll conducted for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The newspaper’s Sunday headline indicated a 48 percent to 46 percent race, with the Republican leading by two points. McCain’s two point lead, according to the Cleveland paper, shows a narrowing of the race in favor of Obama as compared to a previous poll in September showing him several points ahead. Other national polls last week pointed to a two point lead in Ohio by Obama.

The Obama/Biden ticket is besting the Republican in the northeast and northwest sections of the state. McCain and Palin, however, have an advantage in central and southwest Ohio. The Democrats, significantly have an advantage in the southeast of the state 48 percent to 39 percent. Only three percent are undecided, but 13 percent of voters might change their mind by election time according to this survey.

Notwithstanding this study's results in northeast Ohio many voters remain undecided .

With a statistical tie just 3 weeks out, both camps are gearing up for turning out the vote. Election activists and analysts point out that the economy is trumping all other issues and driving voters toward marking Democratic ballots. NBC commentator Chris Matthews reported Sunday morning that 43 percent of white voters now support Obama, a figure equaling the ballots cast for Bill Clinton. Newsweek spots the number at 46 percent. Lyndon Johnson was the last Democrat to receive a majority of the white vote.

Against this background, the McCain/Palin attempt to inject divisive issues into the campaign has been sharply rebuked in many quarters. Republican news commentator David Gergen appearing on the Colbert Report, condemned McCain’s failure to respond to the ugly character of Republican rallies, saying “the John McCain is better than that.” Representative John Lewis (D-GA), in a recent statement compared the atmosphere at Republican meets as similar to that which led to the Birmingham bombings.

Campaigners working in Ohio also note the influence of negative attacks. “The idea that Obama is a member of Al Qaeda and terrorist is still out there” said an election worker in Youngtown. “I told one woman, ‘Look, your husband is 75 and still has to work to care for you and pay hospital bills because you don’t have insurance. Your daughter is on dialysis. Obama has a health plan to give you insurance without pre-existing conditions and also make it affordable. Wake up!”

Ohio governor William Strickland voiced similar sentiments at a recent labor rally in Niles Ohio. “If you are in a flood it doesn’t matter what color the person’s arm is that pulls you out the water. You just hope it’s a strong arm. Obama has a strong arm.”

Joe Biden, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate is scheduled to appear in Warren Ohio on Tuesday.

Shades of Green: October 11

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:03:00 +0000

You working women ...

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:58:00 +0000

Labor begins march against plant closings in Youngstown

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:48:00 +0000

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Over 2500 workers showed up in Niles Ohio for the first stop in a 500-mile march against plant closings led by Ohio AFL-CIO leader, Joe Rugola. The rally was held at McManamy’s Banquet hall on Sunday, October 5th. The marchers, joined by local labor leaders and elected officials followed, a 15-mile course alongside closed down factories in the cities of Youngstown and Warren Ohio.

The march began at the shuttered General Electric Lamp Plant on Meridian Road on Youngstown’s west side and continued to Indalex Aluminum plant in Girard Ohio where 400 union jobs were recently lost.

The Ohio AFL-CIO says over 1,098 factories have closed in the midwestern state since George Bush took office.

Ohio governor Ted Strickland, according to the Warren Tribune, spoke directly to issue of overcoming hang-ups in the election: “If you're going down the river without a life jacket and there's a man standing on the bank, you don't care if he's black, white, purple or green. You only care if he's got a strong arm to pull you out. Barack Obama has a strong arm, and he will pull us out of the mess the Republicans have created over the past eight years.”

Obama is now leading McCain by seven points in Ohio, with many voters still undecided.

The unity theme was picked up on from another angle by Jim Graham head of the UAW local at Lordstown, Ohio. The Warren Tribune’s Marly Kosinski quoted him as saying, “Democrats helped put Republicans in the White House four years ago because there's not enough Republicans to do it. Democrats helped give George Bush the edge in 2004, but not this time. This time, we are a united party and we are going to put a Democrat back in charge.”

There are over 730,000 union workers in Ohio about 14 percent of the state’s labor force.

John Russo, of Youngtown State University’s Labor Studies Department in an article in Sunday’s Youngtown Vindicator pointed to the emphasis on internal organizing and worker to worker contacts by the labor movement, a point emphasized by Richard Trumka secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO in a recent visit to the Youngtown area.

The rally ended at Amweld Steel in Warren Ohio.

Paul Newman: more than blue eyes

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:05:00 +0000

Paul Newman, remembered for his acting, his famous blue eyes, his race car driving and his socially conscious, organic Newman’s Own foods, died Sept. 26 at the age of 83. Newman, along with his wife Joanne Woodward, also actively supported the civil rights movement and spoke out against the Vietnam War. At right, Newman arrives in Washington to attend the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom.

AP photo.

Shades of Green: October 4

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:54:00 +0000

Pow! Bam! Comics give it to the system

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:50:00 +0000

BOOK REVIEW

Inside the World of Comic Books

Jeffery Klaehn, Ed.

Black Rose Books, 2008

Paperback, 258 pp., $24.99

By Tim Pelzer

While there are no longer comic racks in every corner store, comics are still around. More recently, comic book characters such as the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Batman and Hellboy have enjoyed success in the movies. “Inside the World of Comics” is a timely, amusing collection of essays and interviews exploring comics from the perspective of writers, academics, artists, editors and readers.

In “Tales of the American Crypt”, Bradford W. Wright reveals how Entertaining Comics’ (EC) line of horror, crime, science fiction and war comics from 1950 to 1955 subverted and critiqued American attitudes and practices. In Shock Suspense Stories, a Korean war vet returns to his home town and discovers that his family did not carry out his request that his friend, who died saving his life in combat, be buried in the family cemetery because he is black. The soldier, at a ceremony to welcome him home, tells everyone that his black comrade thought he was defending democracy in Korea, but even in death faced discrimination. “I am ashamed of you” sobs the soldier.

In “Judgment Day”, a black astronaut visits a planet and discovers that the planet is inhabited by orange and blue robots. Orange robots receive all the benefits while blue robots, living on the southern part of the planet, are second class citizens.

“In EC comic books American society was not a great melting pot that dissolved racial, religious, ethnic and political differences into a national anti-communist consensus. It was a society at war with itself. In their intolerant crusade against various ‘others’, white American ultimately stood exposed as the real villains. The more respectable the individual’s status within society, the more likely it was that the individual was evil”, writes Wright.

Warning about the dangers of anti-communism, in an issue of Shock Suspense Stories a parade honoring Korean war vets is taking place and a group of onlookers are angered by a man who looks indifferent to the event. Thinking that he was “a lousy red”, they jump and kill the man. After, they learn they had killed a blind war veteran.

Artist Harvey Kurtzman, who first contributed cartoons to the Daily Worker during the 1930s - forerunner of the Peoples Weekly World - became EC’s most influential writer and illustrator. He created two war comics that presented the ugly side of war unlike conventional portrayals that glamorized it. Kurtzman would later go on to edit Mad magazine.

“EC’s crime and horror comics explored the psychosis and evil that lurked beneath the gilded exterior of the American home.”

In the end, boycotts by nervous distributors and self-censorship forced EC to fold in 1955.

Julian Darius in “Exposing Status Quo Superheroics” explains how DC comics censored one of its popular titles Authority, written by Mark Millar, because he created a character that tried to create a just world.

Editor Jeffrey Klaehn, a professor at Canada’s Wilfrid Laurier University, also includes interviews with writers and editors from independent labels such as Dark Horse. Since the early 1990s, there has been an explosion in the number of independent comic book companies, challenging DC and Marvel’s dominance of the industry.

In another interesting interview, Canadian artist Steve Niles talks about his monster vampire hit comic “30 Days of Night”, which Hollywood made into a movie last year. According to Niles, who was working for DC at the time, he did “30 Days of Night” for the independent label IWD for fun without pay. Little did he know that it would turn out to be an overnight success.

Klaehn’s “Inside the World of Comics” is a unique meditation on the comic book landscape.

tpelzer @shaw.ca

How a globalized system creates illegality

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:49:00 +0000

BOOK REVIEW

Illegal People

By David Bacon

Beacon Press, 2004

Hardcover, 261 pp., $26.95

Photojournalist and activist David Bacon provides us with a useful and readable account of undocumented migration to the United States.

He takes us back to the migrants’ home communities in Mexico, Central America and the Philippines, and shows us how the activities of multinational corporations force millions of people to emigrate. As Bacon puts it: “A globalized political and economic system creates illegality by displacing people and then denying them rights and equality as they do what they have to do to survive — move to find work.” Bacon then shows how the U.S. legal system forces the migrants to accept outrageous working conditions, either as undocumented or “guest” workers.

The best parts of the book are a series of well written vignettes which demonstrate the ways in which corporations’ drives for profits at first displace workers and farmers from their homeland in Mexico and other Third World countries, and then convert them into a migrant workforce that can be subjected to grotesque super exploitation. Bacon’s forte is his ability to seamlessly link what ordinary workers tell him to large international and national economic and political developments.

Bacon’s description of the struggle of Mexican copper miners in Cananea, Sonora, demonstrates how U.S. and Mexican capitalists and politicians have combined to crush Mexican unions and drive down wages and working conditions. Formerly progressive Mexican labor law has been demolished by the onslaught of U.S., international and Mexican big capital abetted by reactionary politicians on both sides of the border. A vivid example given by Bacon is that of U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, one of the worst anti-immigrant bigots in Congress. Sensenbrenner’s family is heavily linked to the Kimberly-Clark paper company. Kimberly-Clark has close ties to Grupo Mexico, which owns the Cananea copper mine and is trying to crush the union there. And in the U.S., Kimberly Clark, via subcontractors, is engaged in some of the most abusive practices against migrant paper workers.

The passage of NAFTA and the conditions attached to the Clinton-Rubin loan bailout in 1994 displaced millions of Mexican farmers and workers. Bacon shows what happens to them on our side of the border, when they try to unionize. His examples of grassroots organizing efforts led by immigrant workers show that in spite of repression, undocumented workers often demonstrate leadership qualities that are an asset to the whole labor movement.

Bacon reminds us that immigration raids do not help either immigrant or U.S. workers, but rather are a massive union-busting tool that aids super exploitation.

Starting with a historical account of the old “bracero” program, the book makes clear that “guest worker” programs are not the solution, as they are cynically exploited by employers who ignore labor laws in the certainty that the government is never going to enforce them.

The weakest part of the book is Bacon’s coverage of the legislative history of “comprehensive immigration reform” over the past three years. Bacon has been highly critical of a series of initiatives (the SOLVE Act of 2004, the Kennedy-McCain bill of 2005-2006 and the Senate immigration bill of 2007) which sought to trade a legalization program for the undocumented against new guest worker programs and tighter internal and border enforcement. Bacon supported a bill introduced by Sheila Jackson-Lee, which had no guest worker aspect and included new jobs programs for the unemployed.

Bacon puts a worse construction than I would on the motives of some of the activists, organizations and politicians who supported the SOLVE/McCain-Kennedy bill “architecture.”

Certainly, the corporate “Essential Worker Coalition” and some of the politicians, especially Bush and congressional Republicans, who backed this legislation saw it as a source of cheap labor for U.S. business.

But some unions (SEIU, Unite Here, UFW and FLOC), the Roman Catholic bishops, the National Council of La Raza, the National Immigration Forum and others also supported this legislation. Their motive was to find a legislative fix, albeit temporary, that would get undocumented immigrants out from under the hammer blows of the government’s repression.

Given the might of the corporations and the balance of power in Congress, no bill that simply legalized the undocumented without any negative concessions and tradeoffs was going to pass. The votes simply were not there, though Bacon writes as if this were just a minor obstacle. Even Jackson-Lee’s bill did not attract the all-important labor support it needed, and in the current Congress Jackson-Lee herself has signed on as a cosponsor of the STRIVE act, another version of McCain-Kennedy.

Bacon is certainly correct to say that an alliance among labor, immigrants and African Americans is key to any advances in the future. And this is well under way. But any legislative advances will depend on Obama in the presidency and a much bigger Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

A small criticism: The lack of an index and detailed list of sources is a drawback and should be corrected in future editions.