People Before Profit blog

The revolutionary hope of Christmas

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Christmas time can be so depressing. It brings out some of the worst features of capitalism and rubs them in our faces. You can't escape, whatever your philosophical or religious belief.

Advertisements spur on feelings of guilt if you don't buy enough of the right kinds of consumer products for people you love. Creative financing is offered so that lenders can make even more profit. And it is an environmental disaster ... more plastic, cardboard and packaging is produced, carted about, and dumped into landfills, vacant lots, and incinerators at Christmas time than at any other time of the year.

And yet ... Nearly smothered beneath piles of gift catalogs and sale circulars, nearly drowned in a sea of synthesized elevator-music Christmas carols, in a locked theological vault guarded down through the centuries by legions of preachers, priests and pontiffs, there burns a persistent secret flame. It is the flame of a revolutionary hope - hope for a better world, a more just society, where the social order is turned upside down so that the poor are fed and the rich are relieved of their ill-gotten gains. And it is something that working people of any culture, any religious or philosophical background can relate to.

What does Christmas have to do with the class struggle? In a word - everything. The story goes like this:

Once upon a time, in a land far away on the edge of a great empire, there was a people with an ancient culture, a storied past, and a great literature, who had been conquered by a technologically advanced imperial power. They were occupied by foreign soldiers and ruled by corrupt local despots who collaborated with the foreign oppressors. There were periodic revolts of local peasants and slaves that were put down mercilessly.

In the midst of all that, a young unmarried girl becomes pregnant out of wedlock. You might think she would regret this development, but on the contrary, she finds in the anticipated birth of a child a reason to rejoice and to hope for a better world. In her joy and determination, she sings an ancient song of liberation:

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me -- He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. (Luke 1:46-53)

She and her fiancee are then forced to make a difficult journey while she is in the last weeks of her pregnancy, ostensibly to comply with the demands of their imperial rulers to register for a census. They are denied lodging in local inns. Homeless, the young family takes shelter in a stable, where the mother goes into labor and gives birth to a baby boy among barnyard animals.

Hardly an auspicious beginning for a child in whom his mother had placed such hope. And then things get worse. The local ruler, a collaborator who is kept in power through an occupation army, decides on an act of terror. Convinced that a revolt is brewing in the village where the young couple has just had their baby, he sends in death squads to kill all the male children under a certain age.

Fortunately, the young family is tipped off and they flee into a neighboring country. There they wait until they receive news of the death of their corrupt local despot, and thereafter return to raise their son in their hometown. When he grows up, the boy becomes a carpenter. As if to fulfill the revolutionary hope expressed in his mother's song, he goes on to organize a movement for social and economic change. It is composed of a coalition of fishermen, reformed prostitutes, the unemployed and low-level public servants, with a cross-section of men and women, and people of different ethnic backgrounds.

The aims of the movement are clear from the very beginning:

"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight ..." (Luke 3:4-5) .

"He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19)

And so, when you look at the Christmas story closely, you find a story of working-class people living in difficult times, in circumstances not too different from those faced by millions of people today. These are people who are aware of their history of struggle. They draw strength from the lessons of the past and nourish hopes and dreams for a better world.

Mary, the young mother in the Christmas story is supremely confident that the future will be better. Her song, known as the Magnificat, is nothing less than revolutionary. This revolutionary aspect of Christmas is also found in the popular Christmas carol "O Holy Night" (Cantique de Noel). The words were written by the French socialist Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure and it was translated into English by the American abolitionist John Sullivan Dwight. The music was written by Adolphe Charles Adam, a friend of Cappeau's who was Jewish. One verse of the carol states:

"Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother; and in his name all oppression shall cease!"

The political ramifications of this carol were well understood by some reactionaries in our own country and it continues to be controversial. The song was banned for years in many conservative churches in the U.S. and many radio stations in the South refused to play it.

So, whenever you get weary of the holidays and all the claptrap that surrounds them, remember the young family of the Christmas story, how they hoped and dreamed for a revolutionary transformation of their country and how they persevered in the face of oppression.

Whoever you are, have a merry and revolutionary Christmas. And let us then enter the new millennium resolved to wipe out homelessness, poverty, racism and injustice once and for all!

This article originally appeared in the Peoples' Weekly World, Dec. 22, 1999.

Photo: Chicago's Daley Plaza, 2006. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/laffy4k/ / CC BY 2.0)

2013 "Are You Serious?" Awards

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 10:56:00 +0000

Every year Dispatches From The Edge gives awards to news stories and newsmakers that fall under the category of "Are you serious?" Here are the awards for 2013.

Creative Solutions Award to the Third Battalion of the 41^st U.S. Infantry Division for its innovative solution on how to halt sporadic attacks by the Taliban in Afghanistan's Zhare District: it blew up a hill that the insurgents used as cover.

This tactic could potentially be a major job creator because there are lots of hills in Afghanistan. And after the U.S. Army blows them all up, it can take on those really big things: mountains.

Runner up in this category is Col. Thomas W. Collins, for his inventive solution on how to explain a sharp rise in Taliban attacks in 2013. The U.S. military published a detailed bar graphs indicating insurgent attacks had declined by 7 percent, but, when the figure was challenged by the media, the Army switched to the mushroom strategy*: "We're just not giving out statistics anymore," Col. Collins told the Associated Press.

Independent sources indicate that attacks were up 40 percent over last year, with the battlegrounds shifting from the south of Afghanistan to the east and north.

*Mushrooms are kept in the dark and fed manure.

The White Man's Burden Award goes to retired U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and an expert on counterinsurgency warfare. McChrystal told the Associated Press that the Afghans don't really want the U.S. to withdraw, because they are "Like a teenager, you really don't want your parents hanging around you, but...you like to know if things go bad, they're going to help." The General went on to say the U.S. needed to stay because "We have an emotional responsibility" to the Afghans.

The "Don't Bring Me No Bad News" Award was split between Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Greek state television network ERT's reporting of the widespread opposition to the current austerity policies of the center-right Samaras government apparently annoyed the Prime Minister. Samaras dismissed all of ERT's 2,700 employees and closed down the station (the fired workers are occupying ERT's headquarters and continue to broadcast programming). When the government restarted broadcasts a month later, it led with a 1960's comedy, followed by documentary about a Greek surrealist poet.

Turkish PM Erdogan pressured Turkey's 24-hour television news stations not to cover the massive June demonstrations that paralyzed much of Istanbul and, instead, to broadcast a panel of medical experts talking about schizophrenia and a documentary about penguins. There are no penguins in Turkey, although the schizophrenia program may have been an appropriate subject matter for the Prime Minister .

The Bad Hair Award to the Dublin city government for spending $6.8 million to promote a Redhead Convention in the village of Crosshaven on Ireland's southeast coast.

Ireland is currently in a major depression triggered by a banker-instigated housing bubble. The International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission-the so-called "troika"-bailed out the banks and instituted a massive austerity program on Ireland. The cost of the bailout is approximately $13,750 for every Irish citizen.

The salaries of government workers were cut 20 percent, and 35,000 public employees were laid off. Pensions, unemployment and welfare benefits were slashed and new taxes imposed. Unemployment is at almost 13 percent-28 percent for young people. A survey found that 67 percent of families with young children are unable to afford basic necessities, and are in arrears on their rent, utility bills, and mortgages. Some 20 percent of Ireland's children live in houses where both parents are out of work-the highest in Europe-and in a population of 4.6 million people, more than 200,000 have emigrated, about 87,000 a year.

Alan Hayes, the convention's "king of the redheads," told the Financial Times that the "Festival of ginger-loving madness" would draw Irish from all over the world. It is estimated that the Irish diaspora makes up about 100 million people.

"Ireland has one of the highest populations of redheads in the world and we will celebrate by getting together as many as possible," says Hayes. The competitions will include the best red hair, eyebrows, and the "most freckles per square inch."

The Jackal Award goes to the government of France for leveraging its opposition to a settlement between Iran and the U.S. over Teheran's nuclear program as a way to break into the lucrative Middle East arms market. France's spoiler role was praised by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes the monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Morocco.

"France could gain financially from the GCC's frustrations over recent U.S. policy in the Middle East," the global security analyst group Stratfor notes. "Significant defense contracts worth tens of billions of dollars are up for grabs in the Gulf region, ranging from aircraft to warships to missile systems. France is predominantly competing with Britain and the United States for the contracts and is seeking to position itself as a key ally of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates as it looks to strengthen its defense and industrial ties with the region."

The French arms company Thales is negotiating to upgrade Saudi Arabia's short-range missile systems for $3.34 billion and working on a $2.72 billion deal to modernize the kingdom's air defense system. Paris is also negotiating an $8 billion contract to supply the Emirates with 60 Rafale fighter-bombers and trying to sell 72 Rafales to Qatar. France is smarting over the recent collapse of a $4 billion deal to sell Rafale aircraft to Brazil, and a big sale in the Gulf would more than make up for the loss.

Israel-which also praised the French stance vis-à-vis Iran and the U.S.-invited French President Francois Hollande to be the "guest of honor" at last month's "France-Israel Innovation Day" in Tel Aviv. Israel's aeronautics industry had more than $6 billion in sales from 2009 to 1010, and Israel is the fourth largest weapons exporter in the world. France would like to sell its commercial Airbus to Tel Aviv, as well as get in on Israel's expanding drone industry.

C'est la vie.

The Confused Priorities Award to the Associated Press for its March 5 story titled "Little Reaction In Oil Market to Chavez Death" on the demise of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The authors noted that Venezuela has the second-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia, but that the leftist former paratrooper had squandered that wealth:

"Chavez invested Venezuela's oil wealth into social programs including state-run food markets, cash benefits for poor families, free health clinics and education programs. But those gains were meager compared with the spectacular construction projects that oil riches spurred in glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world's tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim Museums in Abu Dhabi."

When Chavez won the presidency in 2001, some 70 percent of the population was considered "poor," in spite of $30 billion in yearly oil revenues. Two percent of the population owned 60 percent of the land, and the gap between rich and poor was one of the worst in Latin America.

According to the Gini Coefficient that measures wealth, Venezuela now has the lowest rate of inequality in Latin America. Poverty has been reduced to 21 percent, and "extreme poverty" from 40 percent to 7.3 percent. Illiteracy has been virtually eliminated, and infant mortality has dropped from 25 per 1,000 to 13 per 1,000, the same as it is for Black Americans. Health clinics increased 169.6 percent, and five million Venezuelans receive free food.

But on the other hand they could have had a copy of the Victory of Samothrace or the Mona Lisa.

The Pinocchio Award to the five countries that violated international law by forcing Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane down and then lying about it.

Morales had been meeting with Russian officials in Moscow when U.S. intelligence services became convinced the leftist president was going to spirit National Security Agency whistle blower Edward Snowden back to Bolivia. When Morales' plane left Russia, the U.S. leaned on France, Italy, Spain and Portugal to close their airspace and deny the plane refueling rights. Morales was forced to turn back and land in Austria, where his aircraft sat for 13 hours.

When Morales protested, the French said they didn't know Morales was on the plane, the Portuguese claimed its international airport couldn't fuel the aircraft, the Spanish said his flyover permit had expired, and the Italians denied they ever closed their airspace. The U.S. initially said it had nothing to do with the incident, but that excuse collapsed once Spain finally admitted it had received an American request to close its airspace to Morales's plane.

The Organization of American States, the Union of South American Nations, and UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon all protested the actions by the five nations as a violation of international law and international commercial airlines treaties.

An angry Morales said, "The Europeans and the Americans think that we are living in an era of empires and colonies. They are wrong. We are a free people...they can no longer do this."

The Frank Norris Award to the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, the intelligence agency in charge of spy satellites, for its new logo: a giant, frowning octopus, its arms encircling the world, sporting the slogan "Nothing is beyond our reach." Norris wrote a famous turn of the 20^th century novel called "The Octopus" about the struggle between farmers in California and the railroads that dominated the state's politics.

The Broad Side of the Barn Award to the Obama administration for spending an extra $1 billion to expand the $34 billion U.S. anti-ballistic missile system (ABM) in spite of the fact that the thing can't hit, well, the broad side of a barn. The last test of the ABM was in July, when, according to the Pentagon, "An intercept was not achieved." No surprise there. The ABM hasn't hit a target since 2008.

The $1 billion will be used to add 14 interceptors to the 30 already deployed in Alaska and California.

Runner up in this category was Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the maker of "Iron Dome," the Israeli ABM system designed to intercept short-range rockets. According to Rafael officials, Iron Dome was 80 percent effective in intercepting Qassem and Grad rockets fired by Palestinians from Gaza during last November's Operation Pillar of Defense.

But an independent analysis of Iron Dome's effectiveness discovered that the 80 percent figure was mostly hype. Tesla Laboratories, a U.S. defense company, found that the interception success rate was between 30 and 40 percent, and Ted Postal-the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who successfully debunked the accuracy claims for Patriot missiles fired during the 1991 Gulf War-says Iron Dome has a "kill rate" of between five and 10 percent.

But a lack of success seems to be a sure fire way to open the cash spigots.

The U.S., which contributed more than $200 million to build Iron Dome, will spend an additional $680 million through 2015. The U.S. will also throw $173 million into Israel's high altitude Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptors, part of which are made by Boeing.

ABMs tend to be destabilizing, because the easiest way to defeat them is to overwhelm them with missiles, thus spurring an arms race. They also give their owners a false sense of security. And while they don't work, they do cost a lot, which is bad news for taxpayers and good news for Boeing-also, the prime contractor for the U.S. ABM system-and Toys R Us. Yes, Toys R Us makes the guidance fins on the Iron Dome rocket.

The Golden Lemon Award once again goes to Lockheed Martin (with a tip of the hat to sub-contractors Northrop Grumman, BAE, L-3 Communications, United Technologies Corp., and Honeywell) for "shoddy" work on the F-35 stealth fighter, the most expensive weapons system in U.S. History. The plane-already 10 years behind schedule and 100 percent over budget-has vacuumed up $395.7 billion, and will eventually cost $1.5 trillion.

A Pentagon study, according to Agence France Presse, "cited 363 problems in the design and manufacture of the costly Joint Strike Fighter, the hi-tech warplane that is supposed to serve as the backbone of the future American fleet."

The plane has difficulty performing at night or in bad weather, and is plagued with a faulty oxygen supply system, fuselage cracks and unexplained "hot spots." Its software is also a problem, in part because it is largely untested. "Without adequate product evaluation of mission system software," the Pentagon found, "Lockheed Martin cannot ensure aircraft safety requirements are met."

In the meantime, extended unemployment benefits have been cut from the federal budget. The cost? About $25 billion, or 25 F-35Cs that don't work.

This article was reposted from Dispatches From The Edge.

Photo: gabeandchry/cc

Top 10 television shows of 2013

Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:47:00 +0000

Television series, as of late, have taken risks, made leaps in creative writing, and even moved beyond cable TV, with independent shows debuting on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Indeed, the television boom shows no signs of slowing. Here's a look at the ten best programs of 2013.

10. Spartacus: War of the Damned

The final season of Starz' Spartacus ended in April this year. Though lacking certain alumni this time around (like Xena actress Lucy Lawless, who was a fan favorite), the series went out with a bang nonetheless. With its gladiatorial action and thrilling pace, set to a heavy metal-esque score, Spartacus brought the historical Thracian uprising to the small screen like never before.

9. Hemlock Grove

An exclusive Netflix series, Hemlock Grove seemingly came out of nowhere and brought us 13 episodes containing engaging werewolf stories. Set in a town divided by extreme wealth and poverty after the closing of its steel mill, the series has had a surprisingly pro-labor subtext.

8. The Walking Dead

Its fourth season debuted this year, and it's been an uneven one. After dealing with a viral outbreak for a few episodes, it clumsily picked up the Governor storyline from the previous season immediately after. While the seeming imbalance of story arcs has been a bit jarring, the series has shined in nearly every other way - in its acting, its statements about the human condition, and its emotional weight. To date, The Walking Dead remains unrivaled by any other show of its kind.

7. Vikings

One of the History Channel's first original programs, Vikings documents the journey of viking Ragnar Lothbrok and his fellow warriors as they attempt the first daring raids into England. Its stories this year were uncomplicated and to-the-point, but not without their emotional depth and engrossing atmosphere. It also consciously avoided the glamorization of brutality, opting instead for a cultural and character study, which it delivered to its audience with a slowly building momentum.

6. Skins

Sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic, sometimes very dark, British series Skins has become the definitive modern-day teen/young adult drama, and an atypical one at that. In surprisingly realistic coming-of-age stories, Skins documents the lives of its characters. Some old faces returned this year for its three-part, six-episode seventh and final season. The most memorable episodes were the first two, which abandoned the show's previous bright, poppy, angsty environment. Instead, it took viewers into the gritty world of corporate capitalism, depicting a former main character, Effy, becoming a stock trader and becoming embroiled in an insider trading scandal. The final two episodes saw troubled character Cook descend into the criminal underworld, culminating in a desperate struggle through the countryside as he tries to protect his friends from a killer.

5. Game of Thrones

For all the fantasy fans who weren't already drawn into Game of Thrones' medieval warfare and political intrigue, this season threw dragons and sorcery into the mix. Led by a stellar cast, fueled by compelling story arcs, and ever-faithful to its source material (George R. R. Martin's acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire series), Season 3 of Game of Thrones was spectacular as ever.

4. Arrow

The CW network gave us Season 2 of Arrow, featuring the vigilante archer who fights against one-percenters, drug lords, Russian hitmen, and supervillains alike. If the fact that critics are calling this the definitive superhero television series is not enough of a selling point, then perhaps its left-wing, pro-99 percent stance ought to be. But what really makes this show shine is its diverse, talented supporting cast. And for diehard comic fans, a special appearance this year by Barry Allen, alter ego of The Flash, didn't hurt either.

3. American Horror Story: Coven

This year, Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett joined the cast of the horror anthology series, which once again included the talented Jessica Lange. In keeping with its annually changing story and setting, the theme for 2013 was witches. Set in New Orleans, the series touched on issues of race and gender while still providing outrageously gruesome perversions, episode after episode. Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, Coven is the third season of this wildly successful series - and it's still not afraid to say what it wants, or to laugh at its own absurdity. And that's why viewers love it.

2. Supernatural

What began as a story about two brothers hunting demons and monsters has evolved into an all-out cosmic struggle against celestial and hellish forces, with main characters Sam and Dean caught in the middle. On their side is comic-tragic fallen angel Castiel. Supernatural, with its subtle critique of religion, remains as cleverly tongue-in-cheek as ever, but what's truly remarkable about this show is its longevity. Now nine seasons in, the show is as thrilling and moving as it has ever been. Though the writing was a bit lackluster during a few episodes this year, the excellent acting (you just really, really care about these characters) has made Supernatural one of 2013's finest - and as always, underrated - series.

1. Breaking Bad

While I really wanted to put Supernatural at the top of this list, I would be truly remiss if I omitted what was one of the most well-made series of the year - and perhaps of all time. That this was an award-winning show with a phenomenal lead cast should, at this point, go without saying. It ended this year with its fifth and final season. Though most viewers may have thought the prior season could not be topped, Season 5 surely changed their opinions. After starting off at a breakneck pace, this soon gave way to an impressive slow burn, letting fans soak up all of the dark, final moments of protagonist-turned-antagonist Walter White.

Photo: Breaking Bad official AMC site.

Ten powerful words in 2013

Tue, 17 Dec 2013 15:11:00 +0000

I'll start the countdown in opposite order, beginning with:

10. Drought

Arid skies and population pressure have accelerated the need for secure sources of clean, inexpensive water. Drought damages ecosystems and underlies territorial conflicts. Knowing where the problems exist is but the first step in building a grassroots, yet global, advocacy for the ultimate consumer group: every living thing.

The World Resources Institute released a study, complete with an interactive map, which points out that 37 percent of countries contend with high water stress-and the problem afflicts both affluent and impoverished regions.

9. Whistleblower

Drone and surveillance are two other powerful words impacting our lives, as each represents ways in which our supposedly democratic country continues to infringe on personal liberties both at home and abroad. However, I chose the word "whistleblower" because there are still truth-tellers willing to let the public know what's going on. In January of 2013, CIA agent John Kiriaku was sentenced to 30 months in prison for revealing details about his agency's use of waterboarding, a tactic he honestly described as torture.

8. Obamacare

When President Obama's modest health care reforms met with conservative-driven deadlocks, it underscored the fact that even a slight improvement in basic living standards sparks fierce opposition from the well-financed business community.

7. Ownership

There's a growing trend in business to control their product past point of sale, and to buy and sell information about consumers. It hurts farmers faced with overly restrictive rules on using patented seeds. Tech users face barriers when wanting to unlock their cell phone and tablets.

Even a book purchaser isn't an owner if her book is in electronic form, since there are restrictions on resale. An Internet user's personal information is folded into a corporate database, then subject to reuse without his permission. These developments treat a person as a virtual commodity and make their belongings not truly their own.

6. Shooting

Trayvon Martin died essentially of walking while black. The court case this past summer that absolved his shooter, George Zimmerman, of any responsibility, was but one of many stories that dotted the national news in 2013. It was a rare week when somebody wasn't killing schoolchildren, or shotgun-blasting an injured driver for the "crime" of seeking help, but the violence wasn't restricted to workplaces, schools, and front porches. As Mark Follman noted in his article in Mother Jones, at least 194 children were shot to death in 2013-most of them at home.

5. Affluenza

In December, Texas judge Jean Boyd sentenced teenager Ethan Couch, a repeat offender, to therapy and probation because he was suffering from "affluenza", which is another way of saying that his parent-bestowed life of privilege left him with no understanding of accountability. He was not held responsible for killing four people while driving his truck with a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit.

Earlier, Judge Boyd sentenced a 14-year-old black teenager to up to 10 years in prison for punching a man who later died as a result of his injuries.

Sioux chief Sitting Bull said back in 1877 about the European invasion, "They make many laws which the rich may break but the poor may not, and the love of possession is a disease with them."

The disease of affluenza, if such there be, has a cure: social justice, which has been sadly lacking in these and many other cases in the American system of crime and punishment.

4. Madiba

Madiba is the Xhosa clan name of Nelson Mandela, father of a democratic South Africa, who died Dec 5 of this year. As a young Christian lawyer, he became radicalized by the apartheid regime's reliance on massacres and torture of prisoners to try and contain what had been to that point a largely peaceful movement. Imprisoned for decades, Mandela emerged as a leader and advocate for reconciliation. He remains an inspiration to activists of all ages.

3. Gap

Wage stagnation, the dearth of living-wage jobs, distorted laws and taxation that favors the already wealthy-these factors and more have led to the increasing power of this word. You can't fix what you don't see. Young people, through their participation in political activism and street-level protest, proved more than ever this year that they recognize the wide gulf between mainstream media's rhetoric of consumerist plenty and the injustice within their own lives.

2. Movement

The movement of people across borders, whether legal or illegal, underscores the stress caused by a system often dubbed global yet in practice can be painfully personal. Within our country, the organized movement of people and ideas can lead to greater visibility for poor and working-class people, and a vibrant alternative to the status quo.

1. Strike

The labor movement's renewed growth can be seen in strikes that recurred throughout 2013 within the minimum-wage fast-food industry and big-box merchants. Whether a fry cook at McDonald's or a Walmart stocker, those with the smallest pay checks and the least amount of job security raised their voices this year. Many Americans who work don't make a living wage. This was the year their voices began to be heard.

Photo: jovike/flickr/cc

My top 10 for 2013: political, personal and fun

Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:38:00 +0000

1) Fiftieth anniversary Dr. Martin Luther King marches in Detroit and Washington (Dr. King led the first march in Detroit). Detroit's anniversary march was big and beautiful. Weeks later my wife April, a veteran of both 1963 marches, along with sister-in-law Laura, friend Jackie and I piled into a car for the trip to Washington. The King memorial was moving, but another highlight of the weekend was the sangria at a little Mexican restaurant during our Friday night stay in Berkeley Springs, W.Va. Coming back, we stayed in a picturesque town in Pennsylvania. Politics and fun not only can mix, but should.

2) Detroit's first large fast food demonstration in May when 500 people demanded a $15 minimum wage. Everyone wore ear-to-ear smiles seeing the birth of this vibrant and desperately needed movement.

3) Immigration reform is coming. We saw too many families being broken up but also felt momentum building for change. Lots of good folks are pushing hard for it.

4) "Twelve Y ears a S lave." This terrific film has us learn and relearn the history of white supremacy and the horrors of slavery and slavemasters. Also the determination to be free. Listen to the noises in the theater once the movie ends. Plenty of Kleenex being passed. See it.

5) Speaking of tears: "Same Love." Though this song came out in 2012, when it helped mobilize support for marriage equality in the state of Washington, I first heard it on the radio this June. Tears flow when I play it for people. Download it.

6) Human rights ordinance barring discrimination on basis of race, sexual orientation, gender identification and more wins in my town, Royal Oak, Mich. Equality 1, backwardness and hate 0.

7) December snow bowl, Lions vs. Eagles. Though the Lions lost, there is something about an NFL game being played in 10 inches of snow that totally delights me. I pay attention to weather forecasts for games at Soldier Field or Lambeau Field. It's a brutal game and the rules will have to change for the sport to survive, but it's a vice I have. Maybe not the only one.

8) Coast-to-coast and back-to-back weddings. In May, we went to Portland, Oregon for a niece's wedding. Great wine tour and daily walks amongst towering trees. Drove up to Seattle to see my sister-in-law and days later flew to New York City for the wedding of good friend Genaro. Friend Tom officiated. Daughter Kate shared in the celebration. Family and friends are good to have.

9) A week in Empire, Mich., during July. You can walk to Lake Michigan or take a hike on a trail in adjacent Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park - without ever using a car. Appreciate our country's natural beauty, and let's work to preserve it.

10) Regarding the car: We bought a bungalow that sits between 200-year-old white oaks. Walking distance to grocery stores, drug store, library, farmers market, movies, wooded park and more than a few bars and restaurants. I may never drive again - unless it's to Empire. Get exercise, save gas, help the environment.

Looking forward to new adventures in 2014.

Photo: Greg Peverill-Conti CC 2.0

One year after Newtown and I am still angry

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:26:00 +0000

Author's Note: Some of you may be wondering what is a labor union advocate doing talking about gun control and Sandy Hook. The answer is simple. I have three children who attend an elementary school just like Sandy Hook. I would also like to point out that two of the largest labor unions in New Hampshire, where I live, are the teachers unions (NEA-NH and AFT-NH).

One year ago we all were stunned by the horrific event at a little elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. This tragic event that took the lives of 20 innocent school children, and six brave educators. As Adam Lanza entered the school, with guns blazing he managed to fire over 150 rounds from his mother's semi-automatic rifle with 30-round magazines.

The day after the shooting the American Federation of Teachers released this short video honoring the brave educators who sacrificed their lives to protect the children in their care:

That day, and every day since, people have been asking "What are we going to do about Newtown?" For the first weeks that followed the shooting, people across the country were up in arms and calling on Congress to pass sweeping gun reforms. A completely organic grassroots organization called Moms Demand Action started pushing for background checks and smaller magazines on all weapons sales.

The argument quickly became a fight between common sense, and the National Rifle Association. Across the country labor unions and other groups like Moms Demand Action, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Americans for Responsible Solutions (Gabby and Mark Giffords' PAC) began an all out war with the NRA right on the steps of the Capitol.

"We demand a vote, Gabby Giffords demands a vote," cried President Obama during his State of The Union address. As every day passed more pressure was being put on Congress to pass the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act, commonly referred to as the background check bill. A bill that would require background check on all gun sales, closing the loophole that allows people to buy guns without a background check at gun shows and on the internet. The bill also placed a limit on the size of magazines, and ultimately pushed for a ban on all assault rifles.

Momentum and public support grew every single day leading up to the vote. People overwhelmingly supported background checks on all gun sales. The court of public opinion was completely against the NRA, who led the charge to kill the bill.

The bill failed to break the 60-vote threshold (54-46) to overcome the Republican filibuster. The vote was strictly down party lines except for one stray Republican (John McCain) who voted with Democrats to pass the bill to strengthen the background check system. (Note: four Democratic senators voted against the bill: Baucus (D-Mont.), Begich (D-Alaska), Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Pryor (D-Ark.))

After the Senate failed to pass the Safe Communities, Safer Schools Act people became even more outraged. Demand Action - a campaign by Mayors Against Illegal Guns - started calling out every single senator who voted against the bill with ads saying "Shame on you."

Even after the failed vote teachers unions and educators continued to speak out for stronger gun laws. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told the crowd at a Netroots Nation event, "I am glad to be on the list of people they (NRA) hate."

The National Rifle Association even floated the idea that we should arm teachers with guns, because "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun." Many people, including myself, thought that was just too much. We are trying to keep the guns out of our schools and the NRA wants every teacher to be packing heat.

Lily Eskelsen Garcia completely rejected this idea of arming teachers. Lily represents over 3 million educators nationwide. As she phrased it, "People that would put our children, teachers, and janitors at risk do not deserve their office."

Here we are, one year later, and what have we accomplished? What have we done to stop the carnage of gun violence in America? The Boston Globe reports:

"A Law Center scorecard shows that 18 states weakened their gun restrictions in 2013, 11 states and the District of Columbia strengthened them, and 10 states passed a combination. Both sides in the gun debate, however, manage to find hopeful signs in that tally."

Where is that outrage that we all felt last December 14 as we were all forced to see the images of teachers and children running away from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, or the images of the 20 children and six heroic teachers who we will never see again? Where is that outrage now as the majority of the nation has yet to see any change in our gun laws?

As of today (12-13-13) there have been 11,436 or more gun related deaths since Newtown. (Check out slate.com's most amazing interactive graphic that continues to update with the names and locations of gun-related deaths since Newtown.) This number does not include the thousands of people who commit suicide every year. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 33,000 people will die in gun-related deaths this year.

The group Moms Demand Action released a statement along with a very powerful advertisement calling for an end to the "silence." Moms Demand Action is hosting "end the silence" rallies all across the country to make the plea that we do not need more moments of silence, we need stronger gun laws to prevent these types of tragedies.

"One year ago, 20 beautiful children and six brave teachers and administrators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a tragedy that is still impossible to comprehend," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein. "On that morning, a deranged killer shot his way into what should have been a safe place, with an assault weapon and enough high-capacity ammunition magazines to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. The massacre was the product, in large part, of our nation's weak gun laws - laws that allow military-style assault weapons to be sold legally and that permit criminals and domestic abusers to easily obtain weapons at gun shows and over the Internet without a background check."

Since Newtown there have been at least 20 different school shootings claiming the lives of dozens of innocent people. When will it stop? When will Congress wake up and do what is right for public safety? I refuse to let this be another flash in the pan that fizzles out after time. I hope that this one-year anniversary of the tragedy at Newtown reignites the fire we once had to effect much needed changes in our gun laws. I am also proud of the labor leaders like Randi Weingarten and Lily Eskelsen Garcia who are using their positions as labor leaders to continue to fight for stronger and more effective gun laws.

Matt Murray is editor of NH Labor News, where this article originally appeared.

Photo: Moveon.org image used in vigils across the country in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. (Moveon/FB)

Remembering Mandela’s visit to Washington

Thu, 12 Dec 2013 15:53:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - When Nelson Mandela delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on June 26, 1990, I was one of a hundred or more reporters in the House Press Gallery. I had been assigned by peoplesworld.org's predecessor, the People's Daily World, to cover the momentous event.

Mandela was greeted by a standing ovation. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus erupted in cheers to welcome this great freedom fighter.

Rarely is a non-head-of-state invited to speak to a joint session of Congress. In Mandela's case it was especially improbable since he had just been released from 27 years imprisonment on Robben Island. He was still being denounced by the ultra-right in Washington as a "terrorist" and a "Moscow-line Communist" who deserved to be in jail. I myself had written a full-page article to coincide with Mandela's visit, exposing the role of the CIA and other such circles in the nation's capital in helping keep Mandela in prison.

Mandela was escorted to the speaker's dais by a big delegation of senators and representatives. Standing head and shoulder above them, literally, was Rep. Ron Dellums, D-Calif., who had toiled since 1972 to push through an anti-apartheid sanctions bill. In 1986, the Senate, then controlled by the Republicans, unexpectedly overrode Reagan's veto of the bill, which banned most trade with South Africa and cleared the way for billions of dollars in divestment from South Africa. It was crucial in bringing down the racist apartheid regime.

Mandela told the lawmakers that day in 1990, "We should take this opportunity to thank you all for the principled struggle you waged which resulted in the adoption of the historic Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act which made a decisive contribution to the process of moving our country forward towards negotiations."

Mandela added, "The stand you took established the understanding among the millions of our people that here we have friends, here we have fighters against racism who feel the hurt because we are hurt, who seek our success because they too seek the victory of democracy over tyranny."

He said he was speaking not only about the lawmakers, themselves, "but also of the millions of people throughout this great land who stood up and engaged the apartheid system in struggle, the masses who have given us such strength and joy by the manner in which they have received us since we arrived in this country."

That welcome included a ticker-tape parade in New York; a huge rally in Detroit where he was greeted by leaders of the United Auto Workers and by civil rights heroine Rosa Parks; a victory celebration in Oakland; a celebration in Los Angeles and similar outpourings in other cities across the nation.

"To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity," Mandela said that day. "To impose on them a wretched life of hunger and deprivation is to dehumanize them. But such has been the fate of all black persons in our country under the system of apartheid ... The injury is made that much more intolerable by the opulence of our white compatriots and the deliberate distortion of the economy to feed that opulence."

The democratic reconstruction of South Africa, he added, requires an economy that "can provide food, houses, education, health care, social security and everything that makes human life human, that makes life joyful and not a protracted encounter with hopelessness and despair."

The U.S. senators and representatives put in office by transnational banks and corporations nodded as Mandela said the "private sector is an engine of growth and development." But then Mandela warned, "It should never be that the anger of the poor should be the finger of accusation pointed at all of us because we failed to respond to the cries of the people for food and shelter, for the dignity of the individual."

The struggle against apartheid had been building for years. There were sit-down protests and hundreds of arrests in front of the South African Embassy in Washington sponsored by Randall Robinson and the TransAfrica organization.

When Reagan vetoed the Dellum's anti-apartheid bill while spouting cliches about "constructive engagement," the anti-apartheid movement responded with angry streets demonstrations. April 25 through the April 27 of 1987, more than 100,000 protesters marched in Washington for peace and justice in Central America and in South Africa. On campuses across the nation, the demand for divestment grew so loud it could not be ignored. Many universities withdrew many billions of dollars in investments in South Africa. The labor movement also responded. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union refused to load cargo coming from or heading toward South Africa. I helped report on all these struggles.

Mandela's speech still rings true 23 years after he delivered it. Huge progress has been won in South Africa in overcoming racist apartheid. Yet the gap between rich and poor yawns wide. Mandela struck a responsive chord when he said working people in South Africa and working people of the U.S. are fighting the same battle against tyranny. The OUR Walmart protesters, the fast food workers across the nation demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage; those who march for immigration reform; those who march for voting rights threatened by Republican vote suppression tactics. They all march in the spirit of Nelson Mandela.

Photo: Statue of Nelson Mandela, in front of the South African Embassy in Washington. Ted Eytan CC 2.0

A handshake that shook the world

Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:35:00 +0000

In the spirit of Nelson Mandela, President Obama stopped and shook the hand of Cuban President Raul Castro at the memorial to Mandela in South Africa.

Instantly and predictably, the U.S. far-right Republicans and their mouthpieces went crazy. Now, nobody in their right mind could argue with following the example Mandela set of talking, negotiating and finally reconciling with one's enemies, especially when history has moved to a new stage. But nobody said the tea party types are in their right mind.

More important, the idea that Cuba is the "enemy" of the United States is a relic of the last century's Cold War and needs to be finally thrown on the ash heap of history. Not just the idea, but also the numerous anti-Cuba policies, starting with the U.S. embargo and travel ban. History has indeed moved to a new stage and it is time for our policy to reflect that. It is heartening to see the Obama administration ease the most extreme Bush-era sanctions against our neighbor. Much more needs to be done.

U.S. anti-Cuba policies have hurt our own economy and isolated our country from the rest of the world, in particular the countries of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The United States stands out like a sore thumb, the only country in the hemisphere that does not have normal relations with the socialist island 90 miles from Florida's shores.

It was a handshake that shook the world, fittingly done at Mandela's memorial. Yes, Mr. President, let us all honor Mandela's legacy - a man whom you rightfully described as understanding "the ties that bind the human spirit" - and finally establish neighborly ties to Cuba.

Photo: In this image from TV, President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, at the memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. The handshake between the leaders of the two Cold War enemies came during a ceremony that's focused on Mandela's legacy of reconciliation. Hundreds of foreign dignitaries and world heads of states gathered with thousands of South African people to celebrate the life, and mark the death, of Nelson Mandela, who has became a global symbol of reconciliation. AP/SABC Pool

Should Iran have the “right” to nuclear fuel?

Wed, 11 Dec 2013 14:08:00 +0000

There are any number of obstacles that could trip up the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the "P5+1"-the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany- but the right to "enrich" nuclear fuel should not be one of them. Any close reading of the 1968 "Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons"(NPT) clearly indicates that, even though the word "enrichment" is not used in the text, all signers have the right to the "peaceful applications of nuclear technology."

Enriched fuel is produced when refined uranium ore-"yellowcake"-is transformed into uranium hexafluoride gas and spun in a centrifuge. The result is fuel that may contain anywhere from 3.5 to 5 percent Uranium 235 to over 90 percent U-235. The former is used in power plants, the latter in nuclear weapons. Some medical procedures require fuel enriched to 20 percent.

Iran currently has some 15,700 pounds of 3.5 to 5 percent nuclear fuel, and 432 pounds of 20 percent enriched fuel. International Atomic Energy Agency investigators have never turned up any weapons grade fuel in Iran and have certified that Teheran is not diverting fuel to build nuclear weapons. Intelligence agencies, including Israel's, are in general agreement that Teheran has not enriched above 20 percent. A nuclear weapon requires about 110 pounds of uranium fuel enriched to between 90 and 95 percent.

Iran insists it is not building a weapon, and its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, against the production of nuclear weapons as being contrary to Islamic beliefs.

The U.S. and its allies claim that the NPT does not include an inherent right to enrich fuel because the words "enrich" do not appear in the document. But the Treaty clearly states, in at least two different places, that the only restriction on nuclear programs is the production of a weapon. It is worthwhile to examine the two passages.

The preamble to the NPT affirms "the principle that the benefits of peaceful applications of nuclear technology, including any technological by-products which may be derived by nuclear-weapon States from the development of nuclear-explosive devices, should be available for peaceful purposes to all Parties of the Treaty, whether nuclear-weapon or non-nuclear weapon States."

Since one cannot produce a nuclear weapon without enriched fuel, and since it is impossible to obtain weapons-grade nuclear fuel on the open market-it violates the Treaty (and common sense)-all nuclear weapons states enrich fuel. Several non-weapons states, including Japan and Germany, do as well.

The second passage is Article IV, which has two parts:

1) "Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop, research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with articles I and II of this Treaty." [Articles I and II bar countries from transferring or receiving nuclear weapons or "any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapon..."].

2) "All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy."

The NPT has been signed or agreed to by virtually every country in the world, with the exceptions of Israel, India, Pakistan and South Sudan. North Korea, exercising its rights under Article X, withdrew from the Treaty in 2003. In theory, those countries who do not sign the NPT cannot buy uranium on the open market, but the Bush administration subverted this section of the NPT by agreeing to sell uranium to India. The Obama administration has not repudiated that decision, although the Indians have yet to act on it.

Rumor has it that France supplied the Israelis with the knowledge of how to build its bomb, and Apartheid South Africa supplied the fuel. India and Pakistan developed nuclear weapons on their own. North Korea may have received the technical knowledge on how to produce its nuclear weapon from Pakistan, although there is no "secret" to building a bomb. All one needs is the right fuel and some engineering skills.

Delivering a bomb is another matter. Putting one on a missile requires miniaturization, which is devilishly hard, and delivering one by aircraft is unreliable if the target country has even a semi-modern anti-aircraft system.

It appears as if the P5+1 will eventually allow Iran to enrich fuel, although to what percentage is the rub. Will 20 percent be a red line for the P5+1? One hopes not. While 20 percent is closer to bomb-grade fuel than 3.5 or 5 percent, the increased inspection regime already agreed to two weeks ago would quickly spot any attempt to produce weapons-grade fuel. In any event, the 20 percent fuel can be configured in a way that makes it virtually impossible to upgrade it to bomb-ready material. There is also nothing in the NPT that bars enriching to 20 percent.

At this point the heavy water reactor at Arak is also a potential obstacle to an agreement. Commenting on Iran's commitment to building the Arak reactor, Teheran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said that such a reactor is a "red line, which we will never cross," indicating, at this point, that Iran intends to follow through with the project. Iran did, however, invite UN inspectors to examine the plant.

Heavy water reactors produce plutonium, which can also be used in nuclear weapons. The Nagasaki bomb was a plutonium weapon, and many of today's nuclear weapons use it as a fuel. Heavy water reactors are efficient and don't require an extensive enrichment industry, but they are expensive and produce what is unarguably the most dangerous and toxic substance on earth.

However, there is nothing in the NPT that differentiates between light water reactors and heavy water reactors, and signers have the right to use both technologies. Whether that is a good idea is entirely another matter, but certainly not an excuse for the massive sanctions that have tanked the Iranian economy. Every country has the inalienable right to do something dumb, like produce plutonium with a half-life of 24,000 years (and you wouldn't want to get too close to it even after that).

Adherence to the NPT is no obstacle to an agreement. The roadblocks will come from Israel-which is not a party to the Treaty-the Gulf monarchies, the Republicans (and some Democrats) in Congress, and the alliance between the neo-conservatives who successfully pushed for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

A close reading of the NPT is something everyone can do. The document is only four and a half pages and its language is accessible to anyone. In contrast, wading through the 53-page "Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty" , a document certainly as important as the NPT, is an ordeal. But a close reading of the NPT is not necessarily comfortable for the governments of the U.S., China, France, Britain, or Russia. In particular Article VI:

"Each of the parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."

This article was reposted from Dispatches from the Edge.

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif after the P5+1 and Iran concluded negotiations about Iran's nuclear capabilities, Nov. 24, 2013. Wikimedia (CC)

Hail and farewell President Nelson Mandela

Wed, 11 Dec 2013 12:53:00 +0000

With the death of Nelson Mandela, an era has come to an end. The struggle against apartheid was a defining moment of the 20th century: the college divestment movement; the campaign to expel South Africa from the UN; the demand for comprehensive sanctions and most of all the cry "Free Nelson Mandela" shaped an entire generation.

Students sat in; longshore workers refused to unload South African cargo; workers went on strike; thousands were arrested in protests at South African embassies; poets, actors and musicians all lent their talent, labor, and bodies to an unprecedented campaign to bring to an end the atrocity of apartheid.

With the 1976 Soweto uprising the racist regime's days were numbered. For nearly 20 years after, South Africa's mass democratic movement, in ever escalating assaults on the Pretoria government, succeeded in rendering the country ungovernable.

It was a movement launched in the 1940s and 1950s by Africans and eventually encompassing the entire South African people, a movement led by patriots under the alliance of the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party, and the country's trade unions (COSATU).

It was a movement at every step banned, imprisoned, tortured, exiled, harassed, harried, poisoned and bombed, a movement that despite all remained unbent and unbowed. And through it all there stood a beacon, the Robben Island prisoners led by Mandela's lonely frame.

But finally the walls of apartheid came tumbling down.

Nelson Mandela's work had in some ways just begun. Healing, governing, nation building became the order of the day. And the "old man" as he was fondly called, already in his 70s, set himself to the Herculean task of founding a new democratic state.

It was, he insisted, a collective effort in which all were invited to take part, including former enemies. Efforts to split, isolate and tame the revolutionary character of the South African movement were firmly rebuffed. The communists, revolutionary democrats, and nationalist architects remained united with Mandela himself in every instance upholding its unity. Standing side by side with him were Alliance leaders Oliver Tambo, president of the ANC, and Govan Mbeki, Albertina and Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Ruth First and Joe Slovo of the SACP and COSATU.

This South African patriot, in the best of working-class revolutionary tradition, brought the nation together in "Truth and Reconciliation" giving the country hope for a new start and in so doing inspiring the world.

It was an accomplishment that endures. Notwithstanding ongoing problems of deep poverty, inequality and class strife, the ANC and its Alliance partners continue on the path of building a civilized modern state, setting a 21st century example of revolutionary transition.

The South African revolution has helped change the United States and the world. Even the election of a President Obama, who spoke movingly at Mandela's memorial, would not have been possible but for the Free South Africa movement's enormous moral influence.

Indeed, the South African and U.S. freedom movements are bound together by a thousand threads first woven by W.E.B. Du Bois and ANC leaders in the early Pan African Congresses.

New solidarity patterns were set by in the post World War II anti-colonial struggles by the likes of Paul Robeson and William Patterson and in the 1960s by U.S. Communist Party chairman Henry Winston, who was among the first to heed the ANC's call for comprehensive mandatory sanctions.

Mandela is gone. In remembering him perhaps his lifelong friend, ANC leader Walter Sisulu, said it best: "For the greater part of his life he was a beacon of the struggle. In his later years he became the symbol of hope. In death he stands confirmed as the embodiment of humanity's hope for the future."

Hail President Nelson Mandela! Hail and farewell!!

People's World will be republishing some of its tremendous coverage of the anti-apartheid struggles. Stay tuned.

Photo: A portrait of Nelson Mandela is seen through a sea of umbrellas during the Dec. 10 memorial service for the former South African president at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, near Johannesburg, South Africa. (Themba Hadebe/AP)

Nelson Mandela - a memory

Fri, 06 Dec 2013 16:15:00 +0000

"One thing alone I charge you. As you live, believe in life. Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader and fuller life. The only possible death is to lose belief in this truth simply because the great end comes slowly, because time is long."

- W.E.B Du Bois, historian, activist, founder of the Niagara Movement, and author of the "The Souls of Black Folk."

Those words are taped on my desk next to James Baldwin's searing quote from "The Fire Next Time": "A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that they be wicked but only that they be spineless." Nelson Mandela, the great clarion of African freedom, whose history was the very embodiment of courage, above all else believed in life. And like Du Bois and Baldwin, he understood perseverance.

With the news that Mandela's breath finally failed him-his lungs were savaged by the tuberculosis he acquired during his 27 years of imprisonment in South Africa-two memories came to mind.

In the spring of 1961, I stood in a vast crowd of people in London's Trafalgar Square to hear a stream of speakers denounce apartheid, a term I had never before encountered. In part my ignorance was because I was an 18-year-old, fresh out of high school, where I had majored mainly in football and beer, but also because I was an American, and the word was simply not on my political radar screen. A few of us knew about the Sharpeville massacre the previous year, when South African police had murdered 69 peaceful demonstrators, but "apartheid" was as yet an exotic vocabulary word for me.

When I returned home to San Francisco to start college, a few of us tried to get some traction on the issue. The UN had called for an international boycott in 1962, but it had been almost completely ignored by the West. Even Britain's supposed anti-apartheid Labor Government rejected joining the UN boycott. It is hard to get Americans to look beyond their shores unless a lot of body bags are coming home. In any case, most of us were swept up in the civil rights movement, the free speech movement, and then the fight to end the war in Southeast Asia. The anti-apartheid movement went on the back burner.

It was not that Americans were unaware of apartheid-even though I doubt that a lot people, even in the civil rights movement, could have given the definition of the Afrikaner word: "the state of being apart"-it was that no one quite knew what to do about it. Until the anti-apartheid movement came up with the idea of divesting in companies that did business with the Pretoria regime, it seemed a bridge too far.

But starting in the 1970s that began to change and, without belittling any other area of the country, Oakland and Berkeley led the way. As the singer and activist Harry Belafonte said, San Francisco's East Bay was "The birthplace of the U.S. anti-apartheid movement."

But it was a long, slow slog.

In 1972 Berkeley Congressman Ron Dellums, D-Calif., introduced the "Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act," which ended up dead on arrival in Washington. The following year Berkeley Mayor Lonnie Hancock tried to get the city to divest from companies investing in South Africa, but the effort failed. It took six years of repeated efforts to get Berkeley to divest. When it finally did, it became one of the first in the nation to do so.

The turning point in the fight against apartheid came in 1984, when students and faculty at the University of California, Berkeley demanded that the biggest university in the world divest its billions of dollars of investments in companies that did business with South Africa. At the time I was a reporter, who wished them well, but had no great hopes of success. I kept thinking of a line from a poem by Irish revolutionary Padraic Pearse about those who had gone out "to break their strength and die, they and few, in bloody protest for a glorious thing. They shall be spoken of among their people. The generations shall remember them, and called them blessed."

How wrong I was. Memories of the past can sometimes blind us to the potential for the future.

The students built shantytowns on campus, besieged the Board of Regents and took over historic Sproul Plaza for six weeks. The University responded in typical fashion: tear gas, arrests, expulsions and stonewalling, all of which was like trying to douse a fire with gasoline. Civil rights groups and trade unionists joined the demonstrations, along with people throughout the Bay Area. The University soon found itself at war with the whole East Bay.

The pressure was just too much, even for the powerful and wealthy Board of Regents. In 1986 UC withdrew $3 billion from companies doing business with South Africa, dwarfing modest divestment decisions by universities like Harvard. Dellums re-introduced the divestment legislation, and in 1986 the U.S. Congress passed it. It was the death knell for apartheid.

Mandela remained in prison until 1990, when it became clear to the South African government that it could no longer withstand the international pressure to release him and terminate the system that had enchained a people for over 40 years. While apartheid was officially ended in 1990, it was not until Mandela was elected president in 1994 that it was finally buried.

And that leads to the second memory.

On July 1, 1990, Mandela came to the Oakland Coliseum and told 58,000 people, "It is clear beyond any reasonable doubt that the unbanning of our organization [the African National Congress] came as a result of the pressure exerted on the apartheid regime by yourselves." He thanked the crowd and held his fist in the air. No, Berkeley students, faculty, civil rights organizations, town residents and trade unionists did not bring down apartheid by themselves, but because they persevered and had spine, they started the avalanche.

It is sometimes hard to remember these lessons because DuBois was right: ends come slowly and history is long. But in the end it is those who fill the plazas, who chain themselves to doors, who shrug aside tear gas and billy clubs-who persevere in the face of prison, exile, even death-to whom history's laurels go.

We shall miss this dear man who loved freedom and humanity so much that, no matter what was done to him, would not break. He set the bar high. We honor him by clearing it.

Originally posted at Conn Hallinan's blog: Dispatches From the Edge.

Photo: Nelson Mandela waved to the capacity crowd that greeted him at the Oakland Coliseum shortly after his release from a South African prison in 1990. AP/ Sarah Fawcett