International Notes
Angola cease-fire/International Women’s Day/Conspiracy to assassinate Zimbabwe’s president/Russian officers criticize Putin/Colombian Communists fight for peace
Conn. labor and community challenge Bush
Labor and community activists in Connecticut will be challenging the aggressive policies of the Bush administration at an emergency peace and justice conference March 2. The theme is “Bush & Company’s World Domination: How Do We Stop It? – Our Challenge: Peace, Justice and Security After Sept. 11.”
Steelworkers fight for their lives
PITTSBURGH – There is cold rolled anger in the heartland; there is blast furnance fury on the East Coast. In the last two weeks, workers, their families, clergy, school board members and elected officials have jammed high school auditoriums and union halls cheering United Steelworkers of America (USWA) President Leo Gerard’s call for militant action.
AFL-CIO gears for 2002 election-Maps biggest-ever mid-term election mobilization
NEW ORLEANS – At its mid-winter meeting in the “Big Easy,” the AFL-CIO Executive Council fleshed out its 2002 election agenda by adopting an “Agenda for America” and taking steps to finance what AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the federation’s “biggest ever” mid-term election effort. For the entire article, click on the headline. Also visit the AFL-CIO's page: Agenda for All America announced at the New Orleans meeting.
Women of Wisconsin Steel
CHICAGO – In the early 1900s, American working women demonstrated for union rights and the right to vote. Their fight inspired the International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1910 to declare March 8 International Women’s Day. Today, the women of Chicago’s Wisconsin Steel are continuing this fight for workers’ rights. For the entire article, click on the headline. To read an article on Black women in steel from the PWW in 1995, click here.
Steel jobs hang in balance
CLEVELAND – The day before the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) descended on the White House to fight for jobs and retiree benefits industry-wide, a deal was announced that will save the jobs of many workers at LTV. On Feb. 27, union leaders said that WL Ross & Co. agreed to acquire all the facilities of LTV’s steel division “and is committed to engaging in collective bargaining with the union.” For the entire article, click on the headline. Also, read the press release from the USWA on their rally at the White House.
African-American history: The Gabriel Prosser slave revolt
The following is an excerpt from American Negro Slave Revolts by Herbert Aptheker, New York: International Publishers, 1974, pages 219-226 (original edition: Columbia University Press, 1943). For the entire article, click on the headline. To read more about the life of Gabriel Prosser, click here.
At the movies:Watch the movie, dump the sponsor
George Pullman built his financial empire not only on the manufacture of railroad cars but also on the luxury service provided to passengers by the 10,000-man work force who staffed the famous Pullman sleeping and dining cars. But management treated these African-American workers with both contempt and miserable wages.
A reminder of a terrible history
Philip Dray, co-author of We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Shwerner, and Chaney and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi, has brought to life the tortures and torments, hopes and aspirations of people of color, in his latest book.
Tel Aviv rally demands end to occupation
TEL AVIV – Over 15,000 Israelis marched here Feb. 16, from Rabin Square through the main streets to a rally in Museum Plaza, across the street from Israel’s Defense Ministry. The theme of the demonstration was “Get out of the Occupied Territories – Get back to ourselves!”
