People Before Profit blog

Untimely storm tests the resolve of Occupy Wall Street

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:20:00 +0000

Walking through Liberty Plaza Park (Zuccotti Park) Sunday, October 30, the day after an untimely winter storm, gave proof that Occupy Wall Street is here to stay until our representatives who were sworn to serve the people fulfill their obligation.

Plastic bags, filled with clothes and piled high, were prepared to be taken for cleaning. Many more tents were in place than previously, in spite of a possible challenge by Mayor Bloomberg to have them removed. The spirit of resolve was amazing.

I've been here for 38 days said Orlando Nieves. "I want them to hear my voice. I'm disabled and I need affordable housing; they said I make too much money. My wife was laid off, her program was cut. She worked with disabled kids. We are living on my disability and we have to decide whether to eat, pay rent or buy my medication."

The United Federation of Teachers and Amalgamated Bank have opened their doors to Occupy Wall Street by accepting drop offs of warm clothing and sleeping bags. Inside, the back of the bank looked like a warehouse chock full of needed winter goods.

Vince Taylor, who lives in Mendocino, Calif., came here to support the protesters for the weekend. "I came here because it's very important that if they shut down Zoccotti Park it will cut out the whole center of what is keeping us moving forward. Our country is in dire straights. It's completely controlled by the ultra-rich, especially the bankers and financial institutions, and they are so selfish that they don't want to help anyone else, and we have to change that."

Ironworker Paul Armstrong of Local 433, Los Angeles, came to New York for work. He talked about why he was with Occupy Wall Street. "I've been out here for several days. If I could have only one wish to come out of this it would be for electoral finance reform. Get private and corporate money out of our election system so someone of my financial stature could actually run for office and be elected to represent me instead of being beholden to big money that got them elected."

A call was made for a march at 6 p.m. to Gracie Mansion where billionaire Mayor Bloomberg was hosting some of the Super Committee members. The mayor is calling for further cuts to the Federal budget to the tune of four trillion dollars. The marchers assembled for a bit of street theater at 89 street and East End Ave. Marie Antoinette and King Louis the Sixteenth hosted the "peasantry." As the marchers chanted "no more cuts" and "tax the rich," the king and queen offered cake.

As the marchers moved closer to the Mansion the police prevented them from exercising their right to move freely and stopped them from crossing the street to where the Mansion was located. A circular line was formed between 88^thth and 89^th streets so the people could continue marching and chanting. One person was arrested for reasons unclear at this writing.

Photo: Gabe Falsetta/PW

Occupy Albany avoids police eviction

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:52:00 +0000

An unseasonable plunge in temperatures and blanket of wet snow fell on the Occupy Albany encampment at Academy Park, situated across from the New York State Capitol, on Thursday night. But the daunting weather did little to dampen the protestors' collective spirit of resolve. With the tacit authorization of city and state police and Albany County District Attorney General David Soarez, occupiers held firm, warmed by the outpouring of support they have received from the community, unions, and even law enforcement officials. Despite direct orders issued last Friday by Governor Andrew Cuomo and Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings to enforce the City's 11 p.m. curfew and arrest anyone who refused to vacate, both city and state police have so far refused to comply.

While Academy Park is located on city property, contiguous Lafayette Park sits on state land, with no discernible boundary dividing the two. It is noteworthy that Lafayette Park- named for General Marquis de Lafayette of American and French Revolutionary fame - was unanimously chosen as the main occupation site by the General Assembly at its meeting two weeks ago. One speaker advocating for the site invoked its revolutionary significance, replete with a grand statue of the revolutionary leader of France's National Guard to watch over the occupation camp.

But last Friday evening it appeared certain the protestors would be evicted. Frantic calls were issued across Facebook and Twitter for people to come down and take a stand against the eviction order before the 11 p.m. curfew, which the mayor vowed to enforce earlier that day.

Supporters were further urged to call both the mayor and governor to protest the planned eviction. A state police unit was mobilized at the edge of Lafayette Park ready to clear the grounds, but the encampment moved over the boundary to city property just before 11:00 to avoid the governor's direct jurisdiction. Anxiety was high as hundreds of protestors awaited the curfew and threatened eviction. But the strategic decision to move over the line to city property worked in their favor and no arrests occurred.

Sources from New York state and Albany city police gave several reasons for their non-compliance with the directive to evict and arrest the occupiers. An overall consensus was reached by state and local officials that there were simply no legitimate grounds for removing what was by all accounts a peaceful protest, a weekly feature of the downtown Capitol District. Furthermore, the city lacked the resources to process so many people on low-level trespassing charges that would only be dismissed.

Statements issued by police in both jurisdictions and the Albany County District Attorney's office also stressed the risks of a heavy-handed response. Officials feared that eviction and mass arrests might backfire by drawing an even larger crowd from the many area colleges, and would likely elicit an angry response from the community, as one officer pointed out, damaging "good community relations that have taken years to rebuild."

The presence of many elderly people and families with young children was also cited as a focus of concern. One officer noted that "There was a lot of discussion about how it would look if we started pulling people away from their kids and arresting them ... and then what do we do with the children?"

Albany County District Attorney David Soares, in support of police, confirmed Sunday that "Our official policy with peaceful protesters is that unless there is property damage or injuries to law enforcement, we don't prosecute people protesting." He added that it would be reckless to take pre-emptive action and carry out mass arrests, which might "lead to calamitous results"

The Working Families Party of New York circulated a petition this week proclaiming "Albany is not Oakland" and thanking Mr. Soares for standing up for the constitutional rights of public assembly and peaceful protest. To be sure, the official statements from state and Albany city police do not voice explicit support for the goals of the Occupy movement, though it was rumored that last Friday night protestors chanted to police "we are fighting for your pensions" in the hours before the curfew was to be imposed.

Occupy Albany has attracted national attention and was featured on Democracy now! for the strikingly tolerant approach of law enforcement compared to the violent reactions of officials in other cities across the nation, most notoriously Oakland.

On Thursday, close to 100 protestors gathered in the War Room outside the Governor's chambers in the State Capitol building to protest Governor Cuomo's plan to let the state "millionaire's tax" expire at the end of the year. A contingent of protestors gathered outside City Hall to protest a symbolic veto by Mayor Jennings of a ban on hydrofracking in Albany passed by the city council.

In Albany, the only immediate challenge faced by resilient protestors is currently the weather.

Sunday was designated "Occupy Albany Clean-up Day," to ensure proper maintenance of the occupation site.

Photo: Occupy Albany

AFL-CIO ramps up campaign to protect Social Security

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:50:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The AFL-CIO is ramping up its campaign to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from threatened future cuts by the congressional so-called "Super Committee." That body is charged with finding ways to cut federal deficits by at least $1.3 trillion over the next decade.

Richard Trumka, the federation's president, held an emergency press conference this morning to declare that the labor movement was determined to fight any cuts in Social Security and Medicaid, regardless of who was proposing the cuts. The press conference was called because of anger in the labor movement following reports last week that six super committee Democrats proposed cuts to Medicare and changes to Social Security that unions oppose.

The federation's president said the campaign to save Social Security was so important to the labor movement that the AFL-CIO would "temporarily set aside the jobs campaign, if necessary, to stop the scheme."

Trumka declared, in this morning's press conference: "If we have to temporarily drop our jobs campaign to do this, we will."

Trumka said that even though organized labor, including himself, has talked with members of the super committee - including its six Democrats - he was surprised by new media reports that show a majority of the committee's Democrats are proposing up to $500 billion in Medicare cuts over ten years.

That Democratic majority also proposed changing the calculation of future Social Security cost of living increases, to make them smaller than forecast. In return, the Democrats demanded that GOP members of the super panel agree to tax increases, especially on the rich and that the GOP agree to close corporate loopholes.

Republican members have already rejected the loophole closing and any taxes on the rich, despite the readiness of committee Democrats to make concessions on Social Security and Medicare. The super committee faces a Nov. 23 deadline for its recommendations to Congress.

The labor federation is strongly opposed to the position taken by the super committee Democrats and says it is letting them know it.

"The middle class and lower class have already given enough" in prior budget moves, Trumka said. "It's time for the rich to give a little bit."

The AFL-CIO is asking 700,000 union activists to call or e-mail Congress opposing all of the super committee's proposed cuts.

Labor's campaign against the cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will include leafleting at work sites, media advertising and phone banking, Trumka said. In a statement directed at Democrats thinking about joining Republicans in the budget cutting, he also warned: "It would be very difficult for us to support, or mobilize for, any candidate at any level" who supported cutting Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

He turned aside a question about what labor would do if President Obama endorsed such moves. But Trumka added that if he did so, "It would have a very damaging effect."

Twenty to 25 other groups will join the federation's forces in the campaign to keep Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid intact. Other groups include the NAACP, MoveOn.org and National Christian Leadership Conference, Trumka said.

The fed also is pushing its own alternative methods to close the budget gap.

Trumka identified several measures to accomplish this. They include, but are not limited to, taxing capital gains at the rate of ordinary income, "letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire - that takes you half the way all by itself" - and limiting corporate deductibility of interest used for loans that finance leveraged buyouts.

On the spending side, Trumka said labor's proposals focus on slowing the rising cost of health care, by giving the government power to negotiate prescription drug prices for Medicare and Medicaid, by adding a "public option" to health care reform, and by allowing re-importation of prescription drugs from abroad, where they are cheaper.

Photo: August 2010 "75th Birthday Party" for Social Security in San Francisco. Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Chicago unemployment activist’s message of hope

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:18:00 +0000

CHICAGO - As jobless statistics remain stubbornly high in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, growing numbers of Americans are facing the grueling prospect of long-term unemployment. Currently, 6 million Americans have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, according to U.S. Labor Department statistics. What the statistics don't show is the hopelessness and humiliation felt by these workers.

When Janet Edburg, a lead activist of the South Halsted Unemployed Action Center, was laid off from her job as a shipping and receiving clerk at a Chicago photo lab equipment manufacturer three years ago, she experienced first hand the despair felt by millions of unemployed workers.

A familiar story in today's economy, Janet's company experienced a loss in business due to the downturn, coupled with management's failure to keep up with changes in technology and a bungled attempt at outsourcing part of their operations to China. Janet's schedule was cut to three days a week. "I knew it was going downhill when they got rid of the fabrication department," she said. Then, after 32 years of service, Janet's job was cut as her company downsized to just five employees.

The reality of the recession hit hard. "I didn't think those problems would affect me. I worked hard all those years. I felt like my dignity was taken away. I felt like giving up," Janet said.

In a barren job market, Janet found few prospects for a woman in her 50s. "It's age discrimination," she said. "They'll hire you in your 30s, but after that, they don't want you." After sending out hundreds of resumes and applications, Janet's 99th week of unemployment benefits ended last July.

Fortunately, Janet, a widow with three grown children, found support from family and friends. "Without them, I would have been homeless. They helped me when I needed it most," she said. Another support Janet found in the isolation imposed by joblessness was the Unemployed Action Center in this city's Bridgeport neighborhood. Active with the center for about a year, Janet quickly became a leader and a voice for the unemployed by speaking out at the state Capitol and getting media interest in her story, which reflects the experience of millions of jobless workers. The Unemployed Action Center also helps jobless workers develop resume writing skills, get their utilities bills paid, and navigate the benefits system. The center is also a source of fellowship and moral support for workers.

Janet, who says she wasn't politically active until her job loss, now wants to help others in her situation to find hope, and to fight back. "We should fight for other people's rights, not just our own," she says.

Janet makes sure elected representatives focus on helping the unemployed through legislative action, rather than political grandstanding for the next election with promises of "jobs, jobs, jobs." She recently met with state representatives to ask for legislation to extend unemployment benefits. "They have to fight to make these changes. We'll be in another Depression if they don't."

Janet sees obstructionist policies of the Republicans as a major obstacle to the interests of the unemployed. "They're taking away the American Dream."

Janet's new role as an activist has been received positively by her kids. She says her family "is 100% behind" her activism. Now her plans include furthering her education to improve her job prospects.

Janet's advice to unemployed people is to never give up: "If you want change, you've got to do something - sign petitions, speak up. Get off your butt and get involved."

For Janet, change for a better future began when she got active: "You have to stand up for yourself - when you do that, you're standing up for other people."

Photo: Janet Edburg in front of the Unemployed Action Center. PW/Chris Elliott

Not this old lady! GOP caught in “Grannygate” SB 5 scam

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:58:00 +0000

CLEVELAND - Ohio voters are calling it "Grannygate," and it has blown away Ohio Governor John Kasich's credibility in his desperate drive to block the repeal of his union-busting law, SB 5, in the Nov. 8 election.

The Ohio labor movement and its allies collected 1.3 million signatures to place an initiative on the ballot to repeal the law. A "No" vote on Issue 2 is a vote to repeal SB 5.

The granny in "Grannygate" is Marlene Quinn, a 78-year-old Cincinnati woman whose grandson Jan and great granddaughter Zoey were saved by firefighters in a house fire a year ago. Quinn was so outraged by Gov. Kasich's drive to ram through SB 5, stripping firefighters and other public employees of collective bargaining rights, that she volunteered to make a TV ad for "We Are Ohio" urging voters to vote "No on Issue 2."

"Cincinnati firefighters risked their lives to save Zoey and her grandfather and I trust them to know what they need to protect our communities," Quinn said in the original TV ad broadcast across the Buckeye State. "I'm voting 'no' on Issue 2 to stop Senate Bill 5 because I don't want the politicians in Columbus making decisions for the safety of my family and the firefighters who saved Zoey."

But then, to the consternation of people of this state, the so-called "Building a Better Ohio," a groups of corporate-Republican backers of SB 5, stole footage of Marlene Quinn and used it to produce a TV ad urging voters to vote exactly the opposite of what Quinn said. The altered ad uses the footage of Quinn thanking the firefighters but deleted her line urging voters to "vote No on Issue 2." They substituted a line read by a woman with a voice similar to Quinn's saying, "vote Yes on Issue 2."

The scam TV ad touched off a firestorm, not least from Quinn herself. "I want an apology," she told Cincinnati reporters. "I did not say that. I said 'No.' How dare they! I'didn't give them permission to do this ... They just stole it and said, 'well, she's just an old lady; she won't know any better.' They don't know this old lady."

Later she said, "I think it's dishonest and downright deceitful that they would use footage of me to try to play tricks and fool voters. It's insulting to the brave firefighters who saved the lives of my grandson and my great granddaughter Zoey."

She demanded that TV stations pull the ad and that "Building a Better Ohio" and Gov. Kasich apologize to her. So far 30 stations have complied with the demand and stopped airing the ad. But Kasich has not apologized. In fact, he endorsed the ad. "I think we've been pretty factual," he said. "They've been emotional and we've been factual." Kasich said he does not "run the campaign" but did not mention that his chief of staff, Beth Hansen, is on leave to head up the effort to save the vicious union-busting law.

Quinn then appeared in a new TV ad sponsored by We Are Ohio. "Ohio firefighters risked their lives to save my great granddaughter so I know how important response time is," she says. "That's why I'm voting NO on Issue 2." She adds, "But the organizations behind Issue 2, stole my words to make it seem like I support Issue 2. They must be desperate to twist the words of a grandma to get their way. Don't let the politicians put our communities at risk. Vote 'No' on Issue 2."

The story continues after the video.

It appears that "Grannygate" may have backfired disastrously for Kasich and his fellow corporate right-wing supporters of SB 5.

Polls show 57 percent of likely voters favoring repeal of SB 5 compared to 32 percent who support the law.

The labor movement in Ohio is taking nothing for granted. An army of volunteers is going door to door and phone banking to voters across the state to get out a massive "No on Issue 2" vote.

"Grannygate" is doubtless a precursor of the dirty tricks the Republicans will resort to in the 2012 election to suppress the vote, win majority control on Capitol Hill and oust President Obama from office. A victory by labor and its allies here Nov. 8 will be a sure sign that the 99 percent are fed up with the GOP dirty tricks and determined to retire them from office in 2012.

Rick Nagin contributed to this article. Photo: Cincinnati great-grandmother Marlene Quinn listens during a debate on State Issue Two at The City Club of Cleveland Monday, Oct. 17, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) Video credit: WeAreOhio.

Eyewitness describes brutality in tobacco fields

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:40:00 +0000

When Brenda Loya, of AFL-CIO Media Affairs, traveled along with 25 students, activists, and labor leaders to Dudley, N.C., she became a witness to the atrocious environment and conditions of the tobacco farm workers.

Loya said of the experience, "We drove 40 minutes into the country to visit labor camps where farm workers live while they harvest tobacco to supply companies like RJ Reynolds, one of the richest corporations in U.S. agriculture - in fact, one of the largest tobacco corporations in the world, with annual profits of over $2 billion.

"What we saw was never to be imagined. When the work day ends, farm workers - men, women, and children - returned to grim camps, often overcrowded shacks once considered chicken coops and horse stables. They are housed in conditions that clearly violate internationally recognized living standards.

"We saw mattresses that were dirty, wet from the leaky roof, or missing entirely. Workers shared stories about infestations of bedbugs, roaches, and other vermin. We saw nonfunctional showers and toilets. Workers endure these inhumane conditions in fear of losing the jobs that they desperately need to provide for their families - jobs," she noted, "with sub-poverty wages that threaten their lives on a daily basis."

Two things common among these workers, according to a recent report by In These Times, are a sense of responsibility that urges them to endure these conditions because they have to support their families, and a great sense of fear of arrest and deportation. The latter of these themes is what causes them to be apprehensive about forming a union. Each of these workers' traits is in turn exploited by the tobacco industry.

"It's an appalling reality," Loya says. "The climate of fear is perpetuated by the tobacco industry, forcing them to live under conditions that no one should have to bear and denying them a voice in making changes."

Juan Martinez, a farm worker in Wilson County, N.C., said, "There is nothing we can do. Nobody here complains because people don't like being retaliated against or fired, so they don't say anything."

Another worker, Aparicio Rosales, commented, "I think our housing is disgusting. Not everyone has a mattress to sleep on, and there are 10 men in one room. There are three showers, but only one works, and the same goes for the toilets. We don't have a refrigerator or good ventilation."

Meanwhile, said Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm labor organizing Committee, unionizing is an important thing for these workers. "The job of unions is to organize the unorganized. Workers are workers regardless of documented status. Workers deserve to have rights; they deserve working visas with labor rights and justice. Once workers see and feel justice, a fire is ignited that cannot and will not be extinguished."

Photo: FLOC members and supporters march to stop the threatening and deportation of tobacco farm workers. Alexandria Jones/Farm Labor Organizing Committee official site.

Occupy Oaklanders vigil for injured vet

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:33:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - The amphitheater in front of City Hall was alight with twinkling candle flames on the evening of Oct. 27, as over a thousand people held a vigil for Iraq veteran Scott Olsen, seriously hurt two days earlier when he was struck in the head by a police tear gas canister.

Clare Chadwick, 20, was near Olsen as police fired tear gas and "non-lethal projectiles" at demonstrators trying to take back the plaza from which they had been evicted the night before. Chadwick told the crowd she was near Olsen after he was struck, and ran to his aid. "He was bleeding from the mouth, his eyes were rolling in the back of his head. I screamed to the police for medical assistance. They did not give it to me."

Chadwick said, "There was nothing to provoke the police when they started gassing us."

Fellow veteran Keith Shannon said Olsen had been working in San Francisco during the day and joining Occupy San Francisco protesters nights and weekends before coming to Oakland in solidarity with the ousted campers.

As a group of veterans stood behind them on the stage, speakers noted the irony of Olsen returning from two tours of duty in Iraq, only to be injured by police at home. One called for "solidarity with other communities in Oakland that experience egregious police violence."

The crowd cheered when it was reported that Olsen was now conscious, his condition was improving, and he would probably not need surgery for his fractured skull, though he faces a long recovery.

Mayor Jean Quan visited Olsen in the hospital, reportedly apologizing and promising an investigation. Acting police chief Howard Jordan has promised a thorough investigation of the incident.

The amphitheater was still packed as protesters began their daily general assembly, deciding on coming actions, including one in which small groups of participants will scatter through town on Saturday, engaging Oaklanders in art projects, street theater, discussions and other activities.

Earlier in the week, Occupy Oakland participants had decided to call a general strike in the city Nov. 2.

Quan said in a statement that she was "deeply saddened about the outcome on Tuesday...Ultimately it was my responsibility and I apologize for what happened...I cannot change the past, but I want to work with you to ensure that this remains peaceful moving forward."

Her statement noted that "some members of Occupy Oakland" want to meet with her and the police chief. "We need to have direct communications between city staff and your representatives," she told the protesters.

Quan also called on occupiers to maintain safe and healthy conditions and allow emergency personnel access, and reiterated that the city is asking them not to camp overnight, but to use the plaza between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

So far there has been no effort to remove some 20 tents that were set up on the now cleared-out plaza grounds after protesters Wednesday night dismantled a chain link fence that police had erected.

Prior to Tuesday's police attack, Quan and other city officials had sought unsuccessfully to meet with the occupiers. Two days before they were evicted, campers decided city officials could join the daily general assemblies by speaking as individuals.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, police called off a raid that had apparently been planned for pre-dawn hours on Thursday. Supervisors John Avalos, David Chiu, Jane Kim and Eric Mar, along with state Senator Leland Yee, were at the encampment in Justin Herman Plaza.

Occupy San Jose protesters planned a march for Friday afternoon. Several campers have been arrested as they protested city efforts to keep them from camping near City Hall. Shaun O'Kelly, 27, climbed a high wall earlier in the week and has pledged not to come down until police stop removing would-be campers. He has also sought a meeting with Mayor Chuck Reed, who has rejected the proposal.

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Chicago lawmakers: It’s time to decriminalize possession of pot

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:38:00 +0000

CHICAGO - During an Oct. 26 press conference here several aldermen announced they plan to introduce an ordinance at next week's City Council meeting to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana caught on people by the police.

Ald. Daniel Solis says the ordinance is aimed at freeing up police officers on the street to focus on more serious crimes. He says the plan could also save money and raises revenue for the city.

Under the proposal those in the Chicago caught with 10 grams or less of marijuana would be fined a $200 ticket and up to 10 hours of community service.

Solis believes Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel could be persuaded to support the ordinance. There is no indication by the mayor's administration that says otherwise, says Solis.

About 23,000 arrests are made by the Chicago Police Department each year for marijuana possession, which is currently a class b misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,500 fine.

Earlier this month the Chicago Reader reported that Cook County spent at least $78 million each year arresting, prosecuting, and jailing people for possession of marijuana.

Chicago alderman and Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey say police and court personnel get tied up with dealing with the processing of arrestees.

"It is not time to act tough on crime, it is (time) to be smart on crime," said Fritchey in a Chicago Tribune report. "We need our resources spent somewhere else."

Fritchey noted several states have enacted measures decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana possession.

"The simple truth is that the decades-long policies that we have had toward possession of small amounts of marijuana have failed to do anything other than fill our jails with non-violent offenders, strain our budgets, and according to some studies, even cause an increase in more serious crime," Fritchey said in a statement.

Others note the vast arrests for marijuana possession in the city are disproportionately minorities. And too many are ending up with criminal records, although the vast majority of the cases are thrown out of Cook County court, they add.

In an expose by The Reader, journalists Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky say people of all races smoke pot in Chicago, but almost everyone busted is Black.

"The ratio of black to white arrests for marijuana possession in Chicago is 15 to 1," they wrote.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has said the county jails and courts are jammed with petty marijuana offenders. She has indicated in the past that the "war on drugs" is a failure and doesn't help reduce crime.

"Taxpayers deserve our resources to be spent more productively on long-term infrastructure projects and on alternative diversion programs for our youth population who circulate through the criminal justice system," said Preckwinkle in a statement.

Some however argue decriminalizing marijuana normalizes drug use and could make the controversial habit lead to more dangerous drug use. And those that are only issued tickets don't get the same treatment as those who go to court, say critics.

Possession of cannabis is already a ticketable offense in several suburbs surrounding Chicago and in areas of Cook County that are patrolled by the Cook County Sheriff's Department.

Some 11 states have decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot and 18 states allow its use for medical purposes, according to the pro-marijuana group NORML. The group says enforcing marijuana prohibition costs U.S. taxpayers $10 billion and results in the arrests of 853,000 people a year.

Photo: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File

Attacks on protesters backfire as Occupy raises the heat on banks

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:23:00 +0000

Outrage over a Marine who survived enemy fire only to be wounded by Oakland, Calif., police at an Occupy Wall Street demonstration has elicited more sympathy for the movement nationally as protesters turn up the heat on banks.

The veteran, Scott Olsen, 24, was critically injured on Tuesday night when he was hit in the head with a projectile thrown or shot by police attacking protesters who wanted to re-enter an Oakland plaza that had been cleared of demonstrators earlier in the day.

While Olsen's condition has improved, last night Occupy vigils were held in cities across the nation, including New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, to which Olsen belongs, participated in the vigils.

Olsen, a computer systems technologist, had travelled daily after work to join the protests and camped out overnight in solidarity with the protesters. Videos and pictures of Olsen, lying bleeding and in shock after the police attack, have been seen by millions on the Internet and television.

Since the police actions, including more than 100 arrests in Oakland, unions, their allies, and now Amnesty International have all condemned the use of tear gasince the police actions, including more than 100 arrests in Oakland, unions, their allies, and now Amnesty International have all condemned the use of tear gas as well as the actions of Oakland's mayor, Jean Quan, who initially said the police were justified because protesters threw rocks.

Since then the city administration has switched over to damage control.

Quan vistited Olsen in the hospital where she shook his hand and apologized for what happened to him.

Quan repeated yesterday her prior comments that Oakland is a "very progressive city" and that it supports the goals of Occupy Wall Street.

Oakland police have promised an investigation but petitions are already circulating for the removal of the city's interim police chief, Howard Jordan. Tents have re-appeared on the campground from which they had been removed.

In the meantime, Occupy Wall Street is stepping up its activities nationwide. Protesters planned to march on five banks in New York and deliver thousands of fliers to the companies. They will be folded into paper airplanes and then thrown at the banks. Demonstrators are gathering at Bryant Park in midtown and marching from there to the headquarters of Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase.

The paper planes will be collected in large mailbags and left in the lobbies of the banks.

The protesters will also deliver "singing telegrams" to the CEOs by gathering outside their offices and singing in unison the text of the letters.

The march will end at the headquarters of JP Morgan Chase where demonstrators will stage a "letter-reading," aimed at JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon.

Photo: People's World

Journey by bus to a state capital: A firsthand account

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:13:00 +0000

It was six o'clock in the morning of October 26 and two busloads of noisy, motivated Chicago teachers and friends were on their way to the State of Illinois legislature in Springfield to rally and lobby to protect their pensions.

Everyone was discussing how workers were being attacked at all levels with lay offs, cuts in health, education and social services. The talk was about two bills being proposed in the state legislature that will curb teachers' rights and allow Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel to take control of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Teachers Fund.

We talked about how the proposed HB3827 will replace the current 12-member board with a 7- member board, and how the bill will force teachers to relinquish all of the current input they have over the future of their own pension fund.

Of the seven members who will constitute the board, the four appointed by the Mayor are not beneficiaries of the fund or in any other way accountable to teachers.

Jack Silver, spokesperson for the CTU, practiced his address to the rally, and other riders gave suggestions and encouragement with applause and cheers. The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF), he said, "Has a scandal-free record with a responsible pension board that hard-working teachers, principals and retirees elected.

"Retired Chicago teachers and principals have never missed an employee contribution and have counted on their voice to be represented by the CTPF. The proposed changes will virtually eliminate the democratic voice of educators on the pension board."

Another proposed bill, SB512, Silver said, will ask current members of Illinois state funded pension systems to increase their contributions in order to receive the pension they have been promised. SB-512 will increase teacher contribution from 9 percent to 12.75 percent. Teachers say they don't mind paying their share but wish the state would stop failing them. The Chicago teachers' pension fund gets no help while many suburban and other state systems received $2.5 billion in assistance in 2011.

The average CTU retiree earns $42,000 per year. However, 17,269 of the 87,000 retired teachers receive less than $20,000. But pensioners have spent up to 35 years educating students and rely on the promises made to them over the years. They feel that in Chicago, as elsewhere, teachers are being made into scapegoats during the economic crisis.

After a 3-hour trip, we finally arrived at the legislature where we were met by members of other unions whose pensions are also threatened. There were spirited slogans, chants and calls and for action that reminded us of Occupy Chicago, which was going on back home in the city.

We broke up into small groups to visit the legislators and urge them to oppose Bills HB3827 and SB512. Jack Silver successfully delivered that speech at a big rally. Then it was lunch and back again for more lobbying. We returned to our buses at 5:30 p.m., tired but happy. At 7:45 p.m. we arrived back in Chicago. We shook hands and promised to continue the struggle. "La lucha continua."

In addition to the Chicago Teachers Union, present were the Illinois Nurses Association, Local 881 UFCW AFL-CIO (CLC), Illinois Education Association of NEA, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers International Union, AFSCME, International Union of Operating Engineers, SEIU and Illinois Federation of Teachers.

Photo: "Occupy Springfield" lobby day to save pensions, October 26. CTU joined other Illinois public service workers to stop HB 3827 and SB512 attacks on pensions. Howard Heath.

Anti-union water outfit now in court on contamination charge

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:08:00 +0000

HAMMOND, Ind. - One of the nation's biggest private water companies, which is pursuing an aggressive anti-union campaign in trying to break the back of its Utility Workers local in St. Louis, is also in federal court in Hammond, Ind., on charges of water contamination at a local sewage plant, and an attempted cover-up of that.

United Water Company, through its subsidiary United Water Environmental Services, tried to get U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano to throw the case out. Lozano refused, and ordered it to go forward.

United and its local officials at its Gary, Ind., plant "conspired to 'tamper' with the required E. coli monitoring method by changing the levels of chlorine administered before and after taking samples for E. coli bacteria, the judge said in his ruling.

The other counts of the indictment detail 25 separate instances of alleged tampering with chlorine in the plant just before federal monitors appeared. The Clean Water Act requires the monitoring. The firm broke the law by adjusting the chlorine injected into the water up to make the plant seem "clean" when inspectors were there, and then taking the chlorine level back down again after the inspectors left.

The indictment, disclosed by the Utility Workers, is important because the firm, owned by a French conglomerate, is also trying to break the union's Local 355 in St. Louis. It's also allegedly broken labor law in relations with five other Utility Workers locals at its other plants. One exception: Oct. 5 the firm signed a new contract with Utility Workers Local 375, covering workers at its plant in Jersey City, N.J.

"The Utility Workers believe United Water's effort to discount the seriousness of the allegations contained in the indictment is deeply disturbing. The indictment charges that United Water engaged in numerous environmental felonies over a five-year period. If convicted, the two indicted managers could face decades in prison, and the company subjected to a significant fine, probation, or both," the union said.

"We also believe United Water's argument that the indictment contains 'no allegation of environmental harm' ignores the central reason federal law requires wastewater treatment plants to monitor pollutants. It seems obvious to us that the ability of public regulators to determine whether and to what extent discharges from a treatment facility represent any 'environmental harm' is seriously undermined if - as alleged in the indictment - the plant operator tampers with test results." A federal grant jury indicted the firm and its two local officials last December.

The union released copies of company internal e-mails showing supervisors knew of the "dosing" of chlorine at the Gary wastewater plant as far back as 2003. One plant supervisor called the manipulation of the chlorine levels "a recipe for disaster."

All this persuaded Judge Lozano to go ahead. "An indictment is constitutionally sufficient if it states the elements of the crime charged, informs the defendant of the nature of the charge so he may prepare a defense, and enables the defendant to plead the judgment as a bar against future prosecutions for the same offense," he wrote.

"An exhaustive recounting of the facts surrounding the crime is not required. The words of the statute itself will suffice as long as those words expressly set forth all the elements necessary to constitute the offense...Dismissing an indictment is an extraordinary measure," the judge pointed out in his Aug. 24 decision.

United's common pattern appeared in St. Louis, where it is trying to both break Local 355 and get a big rate hike from the state for its Missouri subsidiary.

"Missouri American Water Company is seeking another rate increase of almost 18% this year after receiving increases totaling 47 percent over the past three years," the St. Louis Labor Tribune reported on Oct. 15. "This after earning $268 million in profit last year alone," the profits for the larger, parent company. The rate hike, if approved, would yield $115 million in new income to the firm, the paper added. The union local has intervened in the rate case.

Missouri American Water, the firm's St. Louis subsidiary, is trying to destroy the union contact, "and with it seniority, job protections and health care," the paper noted. The firm's specific proposals include a 52 percent hike in health insurance premiums, a tripling of the family deductible - to $6,000 - total company freedom for outsourcing, and elimination of seniority in calling back laid-off workers to fill vacancies.

Contaminating water and then covering up the violation isn't the only alleged law- breaking by United Water. The National Labor Relations Board's general counsel accused it of five instances of labor law-breaking against other Utility Workers locals in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania during the summer, and a sixth case in New York may be coming.

The latest NLRB charge, in Bloomsburg, Pa., on Oct. 5, said the firm engaged in illegal "direct dealing" with workers over the head of the Utility Workers local there.

"The latest complaint confirms United Water's disregard for the rights of its workers extends to the highest levels of top management," declared union Vice President John Duffy.

Occupy Chicago: A first hand account

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:15:00 +0000

The occupy movement has spread around the world like wild fire and one of the brightest blazes has been in the city of Chicago where occupy activists engaged in their second week of direct action against the city's refusal to allow them use of a permanent space in Grant Park.

The demonstration began last week when 200 protesters were detained for occupying a section of Grant Park that has been coined "The Horse," where there is a giant statue of a Native American riding a horse and pointing his bow.

On October 23rd, one week later, the Occupation attempted to reclaim the park again and to exercise its first amendment right to free speech any time of day or night. The first speaker opened saying, "There are those who say that this is a communist movement. We say this is a movement with communists in it!"

The National Nurses United made a clear stance, setting up their first aid tent and announcing that they weren't going anywhere. The occupiers then formed a protective ring around the them to defend their stand. At 11:10 the park was "closed" with the activists (and myself) still inside.

With the crowd chanting and drums and brass playing, the police slowly started surrounding the crowd. After about 2 hours the police began detaining people.

The females were put in a police wagon and the men into jail buses which they renamed "freedom buses." The women sang "This Little Light of Mine" on their way to the jailhouse.

When we got there we were relieved of our belongings, many of which were never returned and we were then put into a holding cell. The cells were divided by gender and contained far too many people for anyone to even sit down.

With 25 in a 10-man cell we then started up a "stack" (Occupy Wall Street term for a list of speakers) and began discussing future actions, opinions on the current situation and

comparisons to the previous week's experience. (Five of the protesters were also arrested the week before.)

Chants of "whose jail? Our jail!" rang from the holding cells and, whenever a new detainee arrived, the cells would erupt in applause.

One by one, the people in the holding cells were taken out and asked for their information. As they left people would applaud, many with the thought that their stay in prison was almost over.

Once processed the detainees were led into a smaller room with about 4 or 5 occupants. Regularly we would assume that one of us was getting out of the second cell when the guard would step up and ask everyone for a person that no one knew.

About a dozen people who didn't exist were called before anyone in our cell was finally called. The guards taunted us by calling someone's name, then telling that person to follow them without opening the door. At least twice the guard would say, "What? You don't want to get out? OK." and then walk away, leaving a prisoner to make a futile attempt to open the door while the guard had his fun.

The same tricks were played on the women.

Finally we were led out for fingerprinting and mug shots. In the previous arrest this was the final step, before being given bond and released. This time, however, after finger printing and being barked at if we attempted to smile for our pictures, we were instead led to a third cell. That is when it began to sink in, we weren't going anywhere.

I was in a cell with a second-time offender. The cell was only big enough for two and there was a toilet in the room with no divider and no toilet paper. There was a dirty sink and there were no mattresses, forcing us to sleep on concrete slabs. After talking for a few hours, we heard guards say that we could be held for 48 hours, the longest the law would allow them to hold us.

As time went on we realized that the guards stopped coming by to check on us. Prisoners' requests for toilet paper, food, medication, and phone calls went on deaf ears as the guards simply left the block and the inmates completely alone.

Cries from the women's block for medication for a detainee with epilepsy went completely ignored as was a cry for medicine for an inmate with ulcerative colitis.

We went on like that until the next afternoon. Not a single guard, no food, no toilet paper, no word about what was going on. The hopeless situation that we were in was clearly getting to some of the detainees and they began yelling for someone to come and tell us what was going on. The men's block rallied to calm our comrades down. They were encouraged to think of Martin Luther King or Gandhi and how they would have handled the situation.

Finally people began getting let out completely unbeknown to the rest of us who were beginning to believe that we still had more than a day to go before we would see the light of day. Bologna sandwiches were served to some inmates but reportedly not all and the guards slowly started checking on everyone again.

Those with previously recorded need for medication that lay less than 50 feet from where we were held still went ignored. And, the guards regularly blamed us for the holdup, saying that it was taking so long because there were so many of us, despite the fact that the week before on the exact same day they managed to process and release 200 people in half the time.

Finally it was time for my release, 18 hours later and with little sleep I was forced to say goodbye and good luck to the surrounding cells which contained several people who would not be leaving for at least another day. It was bittersweet.

As I walked out with some of my original possessions I and my fellow occupiers were greeted by television cameras and chants of "heroes, heroes." Occupiers had set up camp in front of the police station to stand in solidarity, dispense hugs, food, water and free phone calls.

It was truly heartening to see our comrade's, tears streaming down their faces, running up and giving us cinematic kisses and long hugs.

As the night progressed, reports that our comrade Scott Marshall, Chair of the Labor

Commission of the Communist Party, USA and retired steel worker, had been released 20 hours after his detention and finally, almost 24 hours after the arrests were made the last nurse activist was released.

Mayor Emanuel was sending a clear message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated and threats have been made that each incarceration would become more and more uncomfortable. The second time offenders have also been told that if they are arrested again they will be facing a $10,000 bail set for their release.

Many of the police officers, however ,expressed sympathy with the protesters in private and many of them told me personally that they sided with the occupation and that this was simply a job that they needed in a difficult time. Officers used terms like "solidarity" and "power to the people" when they dealt with us one on one.

One guard even commented that the cells were without toilet paper because "sometimes new mayors don't like to pay their bills and now some people don't want to give us any" and that "if you [we] don't like how poorly the prison is run and maintained we should talk to the mayor about the budget."

"We'll be back, we'll be back," we chanted, when we left the prison that day.

Civil rights groups say: Tell MSNBC to fire Pat Buchanan

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:03:00 +0000

A new campaign is being undertaken to stop the spread of racism on the airways with the announcement by colorofchange.org of a petition drive to convince MSNBC to fire commentator Pat Buchanan.

Buchanan has written a new book that predicts among other things the '"end of white America."

In a letter promoting the effort, Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte says, the one-time GOP campaigner for president "has passed off white supremacist ideology as legitimate mainstream political commentary. And MSNBC continues to pay him and give him a platform on national TV to do it."

Colorofchange.org along with many other civil rights groups successfully led a drive to curtail advertisers from supporting Glenn Beck's now cancelled show on Fox News.

Mediamatters,org who is supporting the campaign with its own letter says, "Pat Buchanan's bigotry has been on full display these past weeks as he appears across the media promoting his latest book about the harms he thinks America will suffer as it becomes more racially diverse. Buchanan's recent inappropriate remarks are nothing new for him - they are part of his long history of bigotry."

They go on to note that the Anti-Defamation League labeled Buchanan an "unrepentant bigot."

Buchanan recently appeared on a radio show that represents itself as "pro-white and against political centralization."

His new book, Suicide of a Superpower is, according to Talking Points Memo, replete with racist and "crazy ideas." Among them are the coming "death" of the people of European decent. Buchanan says, "When the faith dies, the culture dies, the civilization dies, the people die. That is the progression. And as the faith that gave birth to the West is dying in the West, peoples of European descent from the steppes of Russia to the coast of California have begun to die out, as the Third World treks north to claim the estate."

Buchanan in the past has defended Hitler and said that both sides were right in the Civil War.

The petition can be signed here.

Photo: Victor Nagornny // CC 2.0

Students: Obama loan relief plan good first step, more needed

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:27:00 +0000

President Obama announced yesterday, Oct. 26, that his administration will authorize a series of student loan initiatives to help borrowers better manage their student debt with less financial strain after they graduate. Student activists say the president's executive order on the issue is a good first step, but is not nearly enough to tackle the larger student debt crisis.

"We need systematic changes in how we pay for our education because it's just not affordable," said Chris Hicks, national coordinator with the Student Labor Action Project. "It's great that Obama is taking some good first steps, but it's too little, too late."

Hicks notes the current economic crisis and the lack of jobs across the nation has taken a particularly heavy burden on students. The unemployment rate among youth is nearly 20 percent, he said, and too many college graduates are being forced to take unexpected career paths to make ends meet. Last year the average debt for a college grad was $25,000, said Hicks. Six months after graduation students are stuck with credit collectors requesting loan payments, he said.

"Students are graduating off a cliff with a mountain of loan debt in a time where jobs are scarce," said Hicks. Some are forced to consider bankruptcy, he said.

Hicks mentioned his middle school friend, a recent college graduate with a degree in economics, and his struggle finding a job. "Now he's a grocery bagger."

Hicks said the Occupy Wall Street protests sweeping cities across the country have cited rising student debt crisis as one of the movements main concerns.

"The occupy movement is a wake-up call. Education is a right and everyone should have access to go to college. But we've moved away from that idea. It's harder to get financial aid, funding for higher education is being slashed and state budget cuts and rising tuition rates are not helping."

Hicks continued, "The country was derailed by corporate greed and that's why people are willing to occupy their cities and sleep in parks. Enough is enough! Our country is moving in the wrong direction and it's time we fix it."

For Hicks, Obama's student loan relief plan is the first real victory based on the demands of the occupy Wall Street movement. He believes the pressure and leadership by students and youth and their allies in the occupy movement was what pushed the Obama administration to act on the loan debt crisis.

Officials in the Obama administration have admitted the president's student loan debt relief plan was spurred in part by a petition on the White House website, signed by 30,000 people, calling for reform.

Speaking to thousands of students at the University of Colorado's Denver campus, Obama said he will no longer wait on Congress to respond to the rising financial burden of higher education.

"Student loan debt has now surpassed credit card debt for the first time ever," said Obama. "And when a big chunk of every paycheck goes towards student loans instead of being spent on other things, that's not just tough for middle-class families, it's painful for the economy ands it's harmful to our recovery because that money is not going to help businesses grow."

Obama said his plan has the potential to boost the economy.

Under the new measure students graduating with unmanageable levels of student debt could have their monthly payments capped to what they can afford through the Income Based Repayment (IBR) program. Beginning July 1, 2014, the IBR plan is scheduled to lower that limit from 15 percent to 10 percent of discretionary income while the remaining balance is forgiven after 20 years rather than 25 years.

Another aspect is the "pay as you earn" option, which could benefit up to 1.6 million low-income borrowers and reduce their payments by as much as a couple of hundred dollars a month.

Other initiatives include a special consolidation plan to make payments easier and help students lower their interest rates, save money, and simplify the process. The plan also aims to share clear and easy to understand information on financial aid forms to help students and their families better comprehend their financial aid package and the cost of college.

"The president's student loan initiative is a positive move in an effort to curtail and fight back against the epidemic student debt has become," said Victor Sanchez, president of the United States Student Association, in a statement.

"While some borrowers straddled with tens of thousands in student debt may not qualify for some or any of the benefits outlined in Obama's new student loan initiatives, the action by the administration is a step in the right direction," said Sanchez.

He notes more immediate relief is still needed.

"Undoubtedly though, this reflects a shift in the national political dialogue in part as a result of the frustration expressed by the young people in the occupy movement decrying unmanageable student debt in an economy with no jobs," said Sanchez. "We remain confident that more is to come and support these initial strides towards providing relief for student loan borrowers."

To read the president's plan in detail click here. Photo: Courtesy of the Student Labor Action Project's Facebook page.

Oakland demos spark call for nonviolence & end to repression

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:29:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - In the wake of the early morning police eviction of Occupy Oakland protesters from their encampments Oct. 25, confrontation between protesters and police came to a head in the early evening after protesters regrouped at the city's main library to march through the city.

After rallying on the library steps, a crowd of about 1,000 set out through downtown streets, with police blocking traffic for them. But what started as an energetic, loud and peaceful march soon took on a different character. Participants said as the march approached police headquarters, police pulled two people out of the crowd and arrested them. Marchers then surrounded the arresting officers, shouting, "Let them go!" As the crowd grew, police fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas. Observers said many officers had been splattered by paint, and some marchers had also thrown water bottles.

As the crowd veered toward the now-deserted campsite, near City Hall, police refused them entry, declaring the march an illegal assembly, and warning that they would use chemical agents. Several hundred protesters continued to surge through city streets, confronted with tear gas, projectiles and police batons. At least one protester, Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, was struck in the head by a police projectile. Olsen was reported in serious but stable condition at Highland Hospital.

Police said a number of officers had been "assaulted, doused with hazardous materials and hit with large rocks and bottles" before the dispersal orders were issued.

The eviction of the Occupy Oakland campers has created significant controversy in the city, with Mayor Jean Quan, Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan and others citing major health and safety concerns, and others sharply criticizing the city's actions.

Soon after the eviction, the Alameda Labor Council posted a resolution on its web site, saying it "shares the outrage, frustration and resolve of the protesters, commits to the fight, and goes on record in support of the Occupy Oakland and the entire Occupy Wall Street movement." The resolution further backed protesters' right to peaceful assembly and opposed "any efforts to unreasonably evict protesters based on unsupported claims of public safety." It said the mayor and the City Council "are on the wrong side of history," and called on the city to drop charges against those arrested and restore the occupation.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United issued a similar statement, and theAsian PacificEnvironmental Network issued a petition calling on the mayor to stop police repression against the protesters.

The previous weekend, observers had called conditions in the camp good and improving. But some who stayed in camp overnight reported that drinking, drug use, sexual harassment and some violence did occur at night, with campers feeling they could overcome the problems.

Until a few days before the eviction, campers had rejected the idea of meeting with the city to work out an agreement. At that point the camp's general assembly said city officials could participate as individuals in the camp's consensus process.

Speaking on public radio station KQED Oct. 26, City Council President Pro Tem Ignacio de la Fuente pointed out that Mayor Quan "tried from the beginning to establish a dialogue" with protesters and to allow them to use the plaza during the day, and noted what he called "the infiltration" of people totally opposed to the police.

Others urged an emphasis on nonviolence, and pointed out that the clashes obscured the real reason for the occupation.

A protester interviewed on radio station KPFA said he felt participation in the demonstration would have been much better if people "would just stop throwing bottles at the cops. I understand frustration with the police. But what's throwing a bottle going to solve? Nothing. As soon as it's thrown, they gas everybody. If we could go one afternoon without gassing, we could fill up a three block radius around here."

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Occupy Oakland at the crossroads

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:43:00 +0000

In the confrontation between Occupy Oakland protesters and police, charges and countercharges have been flying in the media over whether the cops used excessive force or the protesters resorted to other than non-violent means to repel the city's evacuation of the encampment on the morning of Oct. 25 and in subsequent encounters.

Meanwhile, getting lost is the goal of the burgeoning Occupy Wall Street movement, which is to make the banks accountable to the people and pay for the mess they created.

The financial sector must be made to pay, through far stricter regulation and funding, massive creation of jobs, meaningful foreclosure measures, aid to states and cities like Oakland, and more.

These are all victims of the capitalist social system, today being ruled by speculators and their firms reaping outrageous profits in the casino-like financial market, producing not one single tangible object.

It is this fictitious economic order - buttressed by the military industrial complex, the energy monopolies, insurance companies and other reactionary sections of capital - that is driving our nation and the world to ruin. And it is precisely these class and social forces that the Occupiers are challenging.

The movement for the 99 percent against the 1 percent is much bigger than any single one of its component parts.

Unquestionably, in launching the Occupy Wall Street movement a month ago, the mostly youthful rebellion captured the moral fiber of the overwhelming majority of Americans against the banks and corporate greed, and more.

Yes, that includes the Occupy Wall Street movement but also other long established movements that have been coming to the fore in recent years, like the organized labor movement, the movement for equality of peoples of color, women, immigrants, the gay community and, most importantly, the youth.

The occupiers are giving expression and, at the same time, impetus to the proposition that the culprit is more than a few bad banks and corporations. They are saying that it's the "system that's not working for us and the 99 percent."

In challenging the very system - capitalism - that's given rise to corporate greed, corruption, erosion of democracy, poverty, gross inequality, war, environmental degradation, racism and all the other isms of the political right wing, the occupiers are doing a great service to the nation and world.

After all, our nation remains the home of the world's most powerful sections of capital, despite the global reach of capitalism today.

I have my personal views of how the situation in Oakland would have been best handled.

Letting loose the Oakland police, which has less than a sterling record of responsible policing, on Occupy Oakland without first exhausting all avenues to resolve the concerns the city had regarding safety was shortsighted. The subsequent police conduct left a lot to be desired.

The demonstrators, who in their overwhelming majority have acted in the spirit of nonviolent civil disobedience Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the movement he led established, must continue to take measures to guarantee that remains the tactical guiding mode of action.

At the same time, Oakland's most respected movements and civic leaders must throw their full moral weight behind the Occupy movement and all the social forces - labor and others - that have come to define the 99 percent movement

At this critical juncture, the challenge is for all parties with a direct stake in the future of the movement to overpower the power of the banks and large corporations to come to the table to work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement.

I think this is necessary and possible.

Other Occupy cities with administrations sympathetic to the Occupy movement have worked out mutually satisfactory arrangements.

That means that everyone with a stake in furthering the cause of the 99 percent bears a heavy responsibility to conduct the struggle in ways that unify and enhance, not undermine, the common cause, which is to put Wall Street up against the wall.

By its very nature, the process of working out differences of outlook and approach by the various groups and forces that make up the 99 percent movement requires give and take in everyone's part.

At the end of the day, it is broad united action around a commonly agreed goal and set of demands that will win the day against the reactionary institutions of capitalism.

The eyes of the nation are on Oakland. Let's not blow it, Oakland!

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Labor group and an Ohio town call for new immigration approaches

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:39:00 +0000

A new report by a national union group says that attacks on immigrant rights make no sense because it is corporate addiction to cheap labor and the so- called "free trade" agreements that cause millions to leave their homelands and come to the United States.

A town in Ohio, meanwhile, says that by rolling out a welcome mat for immigrants, rather than persecuting them, it can help solve the immigration problem and fix its economy at the same time.

The report, "Disposable Workers: Immigration After NAFTA and the Nation's Addiction to Cheap Labor,"was released this month by the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), an AFL-CIO constituency group.

Hector Sanchez, LCLAA's executive director and the report's main author, says it's time that politicians stop blaming immigrants as the problem. The debate should target how U.S. international policies have exacerbated the rising income inequalities in this country and how millions of Mexicans and Central Americans continue to be economically displaced because of them.

"The same policies that are displacing workers here in the U.S. have dislocated workers in Mexico and other countries - limiting their economic prospects in their homeland and forcing them to seek better opportunities in the U.S.," said Sanchez.

He added that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a failure for working people in Mexico and the U.S.

Recent free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, like the NAFTA-style trade deals, will continue to cause massive job loss, says Sanchez.

Speaking about this matter to the PW in April, Sanchez noted that Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. workforce. When the labor movement and the immigrant rights struggle unite, they make a strategic alliance and complement one another, he said:

"There is no other group in the U.S. that is more exploitable and vulnerable as undocumented workers. Enforcement-only policies have only enhanced that vulnerability to the point that immigrants have become disposable workers. It's a perfect system for exploitation, but we need to ask who is really benefiting from this, because so far everyone wants to blame undocumented workers. Eleven million immigrants living in the U.S. is not a mistake. This is a public policy issue and the corporations and entire sectors of the economy are profiting from the broken immigration system."

Sanchez argues that it's time to change the debate and promote fair trade policies that seek sustainable economic development for all parties involved. The agreements, he said, need to respect workers' rights at home and abroad.

Nevertheless, states like Arizona, Georgia, Alabama and others continue to target immigrants by passing some of the toughest anti-immigrant laws in the nation. Critics say the new laws not only hurt immigrants but badly affecting the state's local economies. A massive exodus of immigrants can spell economic disaster for whole towns or counties.

Officials in one town, however, have taken a completely different approach. Dayton, Ohio is using the recent exodus of immigrants from unfriendly states like Alabama, which recently approved a tough anti-immigrant law, to help spur a recovery effort for its own faltering economy.

Dayton officials unanimously adopted the "Welcome to Dayton" plan earlier this month to encourage immigrants to settle in their city. Dayton officials see the potential influx of new residents as a way to boost the city's dire economy.

The city's unemployment rate is 11 percent, two points higher than the national average, yet the number of foreign-born residents in Dayton has increased 57 percent in 10 years.

Dayton's Mayor Gary Leitzell, who was endorsed by the Republican Party in 2009, said immigrants would bring new ideas, new perspectives and new talent to the city's workforce. "To reverse the decades-long trend of economic decline in this city, we need to think globally," he said on the ThinkProgress.org website.

Dayton officials began to examine the city's immigration population, noting immigrants have revitalized rundown houses and have moved into, and fixed up what had been vacant homes.

The new policy is a work in progress, say officials. It's key areas include increasing information and access to government, social services and housing issues. Language education, assistance with identification cards, and grants and marketing help for immigrant entrepreneurs to help build the economy will also be part of the plan.

"We will be more diverse, we will grow, we will have more restaurants, more small businesses," said Tom Wahlrab, Dayton's human relations council director, to Think Progress.

According to Think Progress farms and businesses under Alabama's anti-immigrant law, the worst in the nation, have lost workers as immigrants have fled the state. And few Alabamians have stepped in to take the jobs left behind.

Animal killing in Ohio highlights need for regulations

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:56:00 +0000

In the aftermath of this past week's tragic killing of 49 exotic animals, including 18 rare Bengal Tigers, in Zanesville, Ohio Governor John Kasich is scrambling to put a positive spin on the calamity. Endangered wolves and monkeys were among the animals killed after their troubled owner, Terry Thompson, released them and then took his own life. Six leopards were saved and a monkey is still unaccounted for.

Although professionals in handling exotic animals have long called for stronger regulations, an alliance of conservatives, libertarians, Republicans and NRA supporters have successfully blocked them. Ohio remains one of only seven states requiring no permits and having next to no regulations over private ownership of exotic animals.

The previous Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat, had issued an executive order banning the purchase or boarding of exotic animals by anyone convicted of animal cruelty. Even this relatively mild measure was canceled by Republican Kasich.

"These animals do not belong in people's backyards, bedrooms or basements," stated Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the U.S. Humane Society. "Private individuals cannot provide adequate care or security for these animals or the public."

Desperate to put a positive face on the disaster, Kasich issued a new executive order establishing a task force to "study" the problem. Animal advocates were not optimistic, however, as two of the groups appointed are part of the exotic animal ownership lobby - Ohio Association of Animal Owners (OAAO) and the group calling itself Zoological Association of America, which "accredits roadside zoos."

"There are certain things private individuals simply cannot provide. The resources needed are immense," stated Dale Schmidt, CEO of the Columbus Zoo. "Lion and tiger cubs are cute and cuddly when they're young, but quickly grow into huge, uncontrollable big cats."

Making the situation worse was the fact that, according to the Zanesville Times Recorder, Thompson had a "long and troubled history with guns and exotic animals." He had been convicted of animal cruelty in 2005 and was found guilty of weapons violations after ATF authorities confiscated over a hundred illegal weapons in a 2008 raid. He owed Muskingum County over $68,000 in back taxes and was just released in August from prison on the weapons charges.

Sherriff Matt Lutz had been called to Thompson's place 16 times on various complaints from nearby residents. After the animal killings, both Lutz and his deputies spoke of "feeling horrible" about the killings. "We wanted to save the animals, but when we were faced with threats to public safety, we just saw no alternatives," he said.

While Ohio is described by animal advocates as having the worst exotic animal laws in the nation, Alabama, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin also have next to no regulations over exotic animal ownership. Idaho, Michigan and Montana are cited as having wholly inadequate regulations.

Governors in many of these states openly attack public workers, their unions and all things public. Ohio and Wisconsin both now have right-wing governors and Republican-controlled legislatures that have passed extremist legislation attacking public worker bargaining rights.

Zoos, as well as schools and police and fire protection, are among areas generally understood as requiring public ownership. Reactionary forces seem determined to return to the past when there was little or no public sector. This time was portrayed in the film, 'Gangs of New York,' where the 'Gangs' were private firefighters who could set a house on fire and extort the owner to pay for putting it out. In defending public workers and their unions, we are defending civilization from the forces of corporate anarchy.

Photo: Leopard, Panthera pardus, a large, powerful carnivore that can grow to six feet in length and can live to 20 years, here pictured in the Kenyan wilderness. Sergey Yeliseev, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

It's official: Top 1% doubled their share of nation's income

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:10:00 +0000

The Congressional Budget Office said in a new report this week what the labor movement and its allies have been saying all along: The top 1 percent have more than doubled their share of the nation's income over the last 30 years.

The report, requested several years ago, comes as the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads across the country with protesters and allies in the labor movement and elsewhere condemning the growing gap in America between rich and poor.

The budget office found that from 1979 to 2007, average inflation-adjusted after-tax income grew by 275 percent for the 1 percent of the population with the highest income. For others in the top 20 percent of the population, average real after-tax household income grew by 65 percent.

The findings are consistent with numerous studies over the last two years by labor economists. But since these findings come from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, they could, when coupled with the popular uprising, have a major impact on debates by congressional lawmakers.

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows two thirds of the public saying wealth should be more evenly distributed. Seven in 10 Americans say the policies of congressional Republicans favor the rich. Two thirds oppose tax cuts for corporations and two thirds support increasing income taxes on millionaires and billionaires.

The poll also shows that eighty-nine percent of Americans say they distrust government to do the right thing and 84 percent disapprove of Congress.

Interestingly, the approval rating for President Obama rose to 46 percent from significantly lower ratings last month. The poll found substantial support of the individual components of the president's jobs bill.

The poll results also underline how completely each of the GOP presidential candidates are out of sync with public attitudes on major economic questions.

Mitt Romney's tax plan includes a $6.6 trillion giveaway to corporations and the richest Americans. Romney's Medicaid cuts are even more draconian than the ones proposed last year by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Minn.

Rick Perry's 20 percent flat tax plan would not only lower income taxes on the wealthy, but would completely eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends, currently taxed at 15 percent. The Perry plan amounts to expansion of a loophole that already allows billionaires to pay a lower tax rate than middle class taxpayers.

Perry's response, when asked this week by reporters to explain the giveaway was, "I don't care about that."

Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan would slash taxes for millionaires by an average of $487,000 each, according to an Oct.25 report by ThinkProgress.

The latest Times/CBS poll does not look good at all for Republicans.

Seventy-one percent say the GOP does not have a clear plan for creating jobs.

Only 25 percent said that lowering taxes on large corporations or repealing the entire health care reform law was a good idea. Almost all GOP lawmakers and all of their party's presidential candidates have said they favor repeal of the health care law.

Disapproval of Congress has risen 22 percent in the poll, since Republicans took control of Congress.

The number of people saying Occupy Wall Street reflects the views of the majority of Americans far exceeds the numbers who once voiced support for the tea party.

In February, a CBS News poll found that 27 percent of the public said the views of the Tea Party reflected the sentiment of most Americans. In the current poll, 46 percent said the same of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Photo: It seems everyone and their dog is joining the fight for economic fairness. Occupy Oakland march, Oct. 22. Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Police evict Occupy Oakland

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:26:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - In a massive pre-dawn raid today, Oct. 25, Oakland and other area police evicted hundreds of Occupy Oakland protesters from their two-week-old encampment in front of City Hall and a smaller camp in a nearby park.

Protesters say they plan to regroup near the city's main library at 4 p.m.

At a morning press conference, city officials cited health and safety violations, including fire hazards, sanitation problems, property damage, improper food storage, worsening of an already existing rat infestation, refusal to admit emergency medical personnel to the plaza, and some incidents of violence.

City Manager Deanna Santana reiterated the city's commitment to free speech, and said after cleanup the plaza will be available to protesters from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, though camping will not be allowed.

Mayor Jean Quan, in Washington D.C. seeking federal funds for the city, told KGO-TV she had been in communication with city officials before the campers were evicted. She reiterated the city's commitment to free speech, adding, "We've been trying to talk with the Occupy Oakland people for the last two weeks. Last week it was pretty clear there was escalating violence."

Quan added, "At night we had people who were hurt, that we were not allowed to treat, and we had several criminal activities ... and so it was clear that we had to close it down over the weekend."

The encampment began Oct. 10. The city had begun issuing eviction warnings during its second week.

An Oct. 22 visit to the plaza showed a picture quite different from that cited by the city. The area, holding over 100 tents, appeared neat and clean, with systematic trash collection and no apparent food waste.

But a supporter who stayed overnight the night before the raid reported drinking and other substance use was rampant, several fights occurred and sexual harassment was a major problem.

In their daily general assemblies, occupiers had discussed among themselves the need to cope with problems in the camp including cleanliness, violence and sexual harassment, and expressed confidence they could take needed actions.

After having been unwilling to talk with city officials, the occupiers decided the officials could come to the general assembly and take part like any other speaker in the camp's consensus process. Some occupiers had urged a more proactive approach to talking with the city.

Over the weekend, community observers had inspected the encampment, noting that efforts were being made to improve food storage, that waste disposal was systematic, and that the rat problem could be dealt with through temporary measures.

Many in the community, including the Alameda Labor Council and many unions as well as community organizations, have supported Occupy Oakland. The California Nurses Association staffed the camp's first aid clinic, and the Oakland Education Association funded the porta-potties.

In a late morning press conference, Alameda Labor Council head Josie Camacho called the shutdown "an unprovoked raid on peaceful protesters," and called on the city to release those arrested, drop the charges, and restore the occupation "or otherwise reverse this silencing of the voice of the majority of Americans."

At the city's press conference, newly appointed Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said "hundreds" of officers had been involved, and about 75 arrests were made, with most being charged with misdemeanor offenses. Other observers put arrests at around 90. Jordan said no injuries had occurred to campers or to police. He added that police use of tear gas and non-lethal projectiles would be investigated.

While many Oaklanders support Occupy Oakland, Mayor Quan and city officials have been under increasing pressure from some residents who are demanding more police. In recent days an effort has been made to recall her over this issue.