Condenan decisin sobre inmigracin Apoyo a trabajadores/as mexicanos/as 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite!

Setback for U.S. war plans in Asia

July 19, 2012 Vol. 54, No. 28 $1

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Mass pressure sinks Korea-Japan military pact

By Deirdre Griswold Washingtons strategy to cement a military alliance of the U.S., Japan and south Korea came unglued on June 29 at the last minute as popular pressure forced the Seoul regime to back out of signing a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo. The Pentagon had relied on right-wing south Korean President Lee Myung-bak to deliver the southern half of Korea into an alliance aimed against the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea in the north and its gigantic neighbor, the Peoples Republic of China. The U.S. imperialist ruling class fears Chinas rapid economic development. At the core of Chinas economy is a system of state ownership and planning set up after the 1949 socialist revolution, though China now allows a growing capitalist market. At the time of the revolution, China had very little modern industry; the vast majority of the people were peasants who barely survived from harvest to harvest. Some 600 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty since 1981, according to the World Bank, and the Chinese economy is now the second largest in the world. Meanwhile poverty and instability are growing in the Western capitalist countries. Under the Obama administration, a shift in military strategy has already begun to build more U.S. bases in Asia and move the major part of the U.S. fleet to the Pacific. Last year, the U.S. conducted joint military maneuvers with Japan and south Korea off the coast of the DPRK and not far from the Chinese mainland. What the imperialists had not reckoned with, however, was the powerful impact this would have on the Korean people in both south and north, who have suffered terribly from war and foreign domination. In the north, after the untimely death of Kim Jong Il last December, the new government of Kim Jong Un proceeded to further strengthen the DPRKs military defenses. In the south, demonstrations against military collaboration with Japan and the U.S. have been growing ever more militant, despite constant scare-mongering by the Lee regime about the communist threat from the north. Uproar over proposed pact with Japan The prospect of a military pact with Japan led to an uproar even within the legislature itself, which was formally notified of the deal only one day before it was to be signed. It was only after the top south Korean national security aide considered the architect of the plan, Kim Continued on page 11

U N B E ARAB L E
Hot temps & global warming Fracking ban for the rich Familys eviction resisted Elementary school under attack Education workers ght back Cops brutality challenged Prisoners on hunger strike
3 3 4 5 5 6 6

GEARS UP

North Carolina
Legacy of slave rebellions Life in the mills WWP & CeCe McDonald

CON ED LOCKS OUT

Workers and supporters picket Con Ed headquarters after unionbusting move by utility giant. See page 5.
WW PHOTO: SARA CATALINOTTO

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July 19, 2012

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Lover of life, soldier for socialism

James Frederick Ricks came from rusty, dusty Lackawanna, N.Y., once a steel town near Buffalo. He became a New Yorker at 16, employed by Billboard Publications in that favorite entry job of writers in all media the mailroom. Like fictional mailroom workers, he did not remain there long, and ultimately became head of the Copy Center, the locale of many stories he told. Once someone phoned him: Jim, Im trying to print this damn report and theyre on my back and the machine is dead. Ya gotta help me! Jim solved this terrible emergency by plugging the machine into the outlet. The problems were not usually so simple. It was a pressure job, the phone constantly ringing with frantic calls for help. All through many organizational changes and administrative turnovers, the company hung onto Jim to meet emergencies and solve their problems. He always found a way to defend the workers in his department. If someone was not very skilled, he would train and protect them. So many were nourished by his great-hearted generosity. His own and other children had a person to admire and emulate, who dealt with them with humor and understanding. One hot summer night he took his kids, Ellen and Stacey, to a poetry slam in the Village. When they left at 1:30 in the morning and got in the car to go home, the battery was dead. It was so hot, so late, so far from home, and he had to get up for work the next day. Telling the story, Jim smiled and said, We just found a cab and went home. How cool was that: a hard-working, African-American father took his children to a poetry slam, of all things. For most, finding a dead car late at night would have been a catastrophe. For Jim, it just made the evening more of an adventure. For several years, he worked every week serving food and respect in a soup kitchen. He was the organizer and leader of his tenants association, in combat with the owners for decent conditions in the building. Jims life template came from his parents, who in addition to their own kids adopted two they had served as foster parents. When Jims mother was nearing death, she made him promise never to abandon his adopted brother and sister, and he never did. The printed program of a memorial organized by his family told of another side of Jim: He provided years of dedicated service to the Workers World newspaper, which addresses various issues in the United States and around the world. He was a longtime member of the Workers World supporter program. A thousand Thursdays, Jim came after work to help mail this newspaper. He always wore headphones behind his ears, thus preserving his eardrums, and was never prevented from carrying on conversations. One Thursday, an elderly woman admired a shirt Jim was wearing. When you get through with that shirt, would you give it to me? He nodded yes. A few minutes later, he reappeared in a white tee and handed her his shirt, factory-folded. This at one time would have been called a happening. Jim was in the Workers World loft when needed, and out on the streets when needed, so many times, so many ways. One comrade recalled an event from the summer of 1995, when it seemed the state would succeed in murdering Mumia Abu-Jamal. Our Party went all out to save his life. Jim volunteered to paste up Harlems 125th Street. As we started our work, I saw two men in their 70s watching us. Jims strong arm never tired during the three hours it took to plaster the most famous street in Black America. When we got back to where we had started, Jim and I shook hands. Across the street, I saw the same two men. They were smiling at us. Maybe they were thinking thats the way it should be. A Black man and a white man working together for a just cause. This world, our beautiful planet threatened with death by capitalism, needs more lovers of life and soldiers for socialism like Jim Ricks. There will be no pretentious corporate or college building bearing his name. His living monument will stand as long as there are people left to tell his stories. He will be remembered with love and admiration by all who shared in the many parts of his life. Rosemary Neidenberg and Steve Millies collaborated on this article.

JIM RICKS

19472012
In the U.S.

WORKERS WORLD

this week ...

Jim Ricks, 19472012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Heat waves, global warming & capitalist politics . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Pennsylvania fracking moratorium: Only for the 1% . . . . . . . . 3 Workers still hot at Hot & Crusty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Detroit nancial crisis continues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Rhode Islanders ght to stop eviction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Occupy Solidarity heads through U.S. to Cuba. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Union defends locked-out Con Ed workers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Police evict elementary school occupation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 School workers ght unemployment cut-o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Georgia prisoners on strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Justice for Raheim Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Protesters demand Free Mumia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Teens death by cop protested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Slave rebellions and the legacy of resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Book review: Southern Con ict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Free CeCe! is theme of WWP meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 No war on Syria or at home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Utah Anti-War Coalition launched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 OWS movement & the Global Class War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Around the world Setback for U.S. war plans in Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Sham elections & imperialist plans in Libya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Mass march rejects U.S.-Pakistan deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Syria: Look whos talking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Hezbollah analyzes Syrian crisis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Libor: Another way banks steal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Tito Kayak paddles Caribbean to free political prisoners . . . 11 Workers in Japan protest nuclear plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Editorials Jobs & a dying horse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Noticias En Espaol Condenan decisin sobre inmigracin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Apoyo a trabajadores/as mexicanos/as . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Workers World 55 West 17 Street New York, N.Y. 10011 Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: ww@workers.org Web: www.workers.org Vol. 54, No. 28 July 19, 2012 Closing date: July 10, 2012 Editor: Deirdre Griswold Technical Editor: Lal Roohk Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, Leslie Feinberg, Kris Hamel, Monica Moorehead, Gary Wilson West Coast Editor: John Parker Contributing Editors: Abayomi Azikiwe, Greg Butterfield, Jaimeson Champion, G. Dunkel, Fred Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Cheryl LaBash, Milt Neidenberg, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Betsey Piette, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Gloria Rubac Technical Staff: Sue Davis, Shelley Ettinger, Bob McCubbin, Maggie Vascassenno Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Teresa Gutierrez, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Michael Martnez, Carlos Vargas Supporter Program: Sue Davis, coordinator Copyright 2011 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly except the first week of January by WW Publishers, 55 W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011. Phone: 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $30; institutions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., New York, NY 10011. Back issues and individual articles are available on microfilm and/or photocopy from University Microfilms International, 300 Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. A searchable archive is available on the Web at www.workers.org. A headline digest is available via e-mail subscription. Subscription information is at workers.org/email.php. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

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July 19, 2012

Page 3

Heat waves, global warming & capitalist politics

By Gene Clancy Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana has not had much to say about the current deadly heat wave that has swept his state and much of the United States. Sitting in his air-conditioned office, he is largely insulated from the disaster that is sweeping not only Indianapolis, the state capital, but most of the country. In Fort Wayne, Ind., the temperature of 103 tied an all-time record high set during the Dust Bowl era in 1934 and 1936 and later during the blistering summer of 1988. As of July 8, one of the worst heat waves in U.S. history continues its hold, with temperatures of 100 degrees or higher spreading to northeastern cities, including Philadelphia and New York. The heat set records on July 7 in Washington 105 degrees as well as in St. Louis with 106 and Indianapolis with 104. More than 2,500 heat records have been broken in the U.S. since July 1, and almost 25,000 heat records have been broken so far this year. (ABC News, July 9) At least 30 deaths are being blamed on the heat, including nine in Maryland and 10 in Chicago, mostly among the elderly. Heat was also cited as a factor in three deaths in Wisconsin, two in Tennessee and three in Pennsylvania. (Associated Press, July 7) In Colorado 30,000 people are recovering from one of the most devastating wildfires in history, which destroyed hundreds of homes. Across the West a record number of wildfires are raging more or less out of control, caused by months in some cases, years of record heat and drought. A steady drop in the annual snowpack on the Rocky Mountains has severely limited irrigation and the water available for people to drink. Oppressive heat waves. Horrendous wildfires. Devastating droughts as well as flooding from giant deluges. And a powerful freak wind storm, called a derecho, which downed power lines across a wide swath of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Daniels leads deniers of climate change Is all this just freakish weather or something more? Some climate specialists suggest that if you want a glimpse of the future of global warming, just take a look at U.S. weather in recent weeks. Gov. Daniels would not agree. Heres the derisive and bigoted language he used to dismiss global warming last year: A relentless project has inundated Americans for years with the demand that we must drastically reduce the carbon dioxide we emit as a society. It is asserted that the earth is warming; that this warming would have negative rather than positive consequences; that the warming is man-made rather than natural; that radical changes in the American economy can make a material difference in this phenomenon. The debate, so far, has been dominated by experts from the University of Hollywood and the P.C. Institute of Technology. Any dissident voice is likely to be the target of a fatwa issued by one Ayatollah or another of the climate change theocracy, branding the dissenter as a denier for refusing to bow down to the scientific consensus. The late author and scientist Michael Crichton spoke witheringly of this pattern in a speech at Cal Tech. He said, I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that should be stopped cold in its tracks. (Daniels speech to Rose-Hulman graduates quoted in gadfly.blogspot.com, May 2011) Apparently, Daniels prefers Michael Crichton, whose main claim to fame was that he became a multimillionaire by marketing a series of science fiction books like Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, to scientists and academics from Purdue University, an Indiana engineering school which has issued many warnings about global warming and the influence of carbon dioxide emissions. On June 21, as record wildfires raged in Colorado and across much of the West, the Daily Green republished a 2009 report by Purdue Universitys Diffenbaugh Laboratory, which linked the risk of fires to global warming. On the same day, Purdue University trustees announced they had chosen Gov. Daniels to be president of the university. It is the first time that Purdue appointed a president who did not have any experience in running an academic institution. Daniels has savaged both university and public schools. He has been a loyal supporter of both the petroleum and coal industries in Indiana. But that is ignoring his main qualification. He appointed eight of the 12 trustees. Whether all these recent weather events are the result of global warming can only be verified in the future. But it is clear that deniers like Mitch Daniels and his ilk dont really care about the future well-being of humanity. Theyre too busy padding the wallets of their capitalist paymasters.

Pennsylvania fracking moratorium: Only for the 1%

By Betsey Piette Philadelphia for a statewide moratorium on all drilling, and residents of poorer, rural counties who are battling the negative impact of With the stroke of a pen, Pennsylvania frackings rapid expansion, are objecting Gov. Tom Corbett exempted the states to the provisions inequity. Where was our study? Where was our wealthiest counties from the direct impact of natural gas drilling. The contro- six years? asked state Rep. Jesse White, versial process of hydraulic fracturing who represents communities in drilling fracking has taken a heavy toll on the country in southwestern Pennsylvania. rest of the state, turning many rural and What makes Bucks and Montgomery once forested areas into industrial zones, [counties] so special? (Pittsburgh Post Gazette, July 1) contaminating air and water. Yet state Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, a On June 30, state lawmakers approved a six-year moratorium on drilling in Mont- sponsor of the pro-rich moratorium, says gomery, Bucks and parts of Lehigh, Berks Act 13 doesnt apply to these wealthier and Chester counties, effectively halting counties, My colleagues in Harrisburg permits for oil or gas operations in the never intended for the Marcellus Shale South Newark Basin, a geological for- law to affect our region. (Norristownmation stretching from New Jersey into Patch.com, July 1) southeastern Pennsylvania counties. Some of the states most affluent neighborhoods Fraccidents are situated in these exempt counties. The moratorium clause hastily buried in Pennsylvanias 2012 budget prior to it being signed appears to contradict Act 13, passed in February, that virtually eliminated municipalities rights to limit gas drilling. Before passage of Act 13, cities, including Pittsburgh, had passed bans or set other limits on drilling, fearing its harmful impact on the environment and residents health. While levying minimum fees on drillers, Act 13 left local governing bodies powerless to prevent gas drilling even in residential zones or near schools. Growing gas industry pressure was already casting doubt on the ability of a temporary moratorium imposed by the Delaware River Basin Commission to protect Bucks, Montgomery and other southeastern Pennsylvania counties from drilling. Shortly after Act 13s passage, Turm Oil Company applied to drill a natural gas well in Nockamixon Township in Bucks County. The Department of Environmental Protection was evaluating the application. Environmentalists who are lobbying It is no secret that Gov. Tom Corbett came into office with $1.6 million in financial support from the oil and gas industry. Soon after, he overturned former Gov. Ed Rendells executive order that limited additional drilling on state-owned land. Corbett has continually removed obstacles to fracking. That Corbett approved a moratorium on drilling in the states wealthiest neighborhoods shows that he is well aware that the practice is unsafe. Fracking involves the injection of chemical-laden fluid deep into subterranean shale formations. This toxic liquid can seep into and contaminate nearby water sources. Such contamination led to the deaths of cattle drinking from a Pennsylvania farms stream. A Duke University research team found that drinking water near active shale drilling sites in Pennsylvania and New York has methane concentrations 17 times higher than other wells. Drinking water from these wells can be ignited. Numerous explosions have occurred at drilling sites. An accident in a Chesapeake Energy well in Pennsylvania caused thousands of gallons of fracking fluid to contaminate the Susquehanna River watershed. Accidents occur so frequently during the fracking process that earthjustice.org coined the term fraccidents. More fraccidents have occurred in Pennsylvania than any other state. PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center studied Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection records that revealed 3,355 violations by 64 Marcellus drilling companies between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011. Leaks in disposal wells The fracking process uses millions of gallons of water for each well drilled. Water is being drained from streams and small lakes across the state and from major rivers like the Susquehanna for use in this process. The water contaminated during fracking or flowback must be disposed of. It may contain naturally occurring poisons like arsenic and radium 226, salts, hydrocarbons and up to 250 chemicals, many of which are known carcinogens. Flowback water is usually stored in impoundment pits near the wells. In May 2010, a liner of one Tioga County impoundment pit had between 75 and 100 holes, leaking fluid into a surrounding wetland system. In recent decades, more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid, including fracking flowback, have been injected deep into the earth in injection wells. There are more than 680,000 underground waste and injection wells across the U.S. Injection wells in Ohio have been linked to increased earthquake activity there. A review of 220,000 well inspections from 2007 through 2010 found that structural failures inside injection wells were routine. More than 7,000 wells showed signs that their walls were leaking. (ProPublica, June 21) The documentation of hazards, both current and those that may affect future generations, grows daily, despite claims to the contrary by the natural gas industry and their political spokespeople in Harrisburg. A moratorium on fracking is in order now, not just for the wealthy 1%, but for all of Pennsylvanias residents.

Workers still hot at Hot & Crusty

New York City Workers at Hot & Crusty restaurant picket each Thursday (shown here on July 5) to reinforce their position as negotiations continue with the bosses. On May 23, workers at the 63rd Street location voted to certify an independent grassroots union, the Hot & Crusty Workers Association, with 20 of 22 eligible employees submitting their vote to the National Labor Relations suit about overtime and minimum wage Board. Lawyers representing the mainly violations, as well as other issues. immigrant workers also filed a civil law Report & photo by Anne Pruden

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July 19, 2012

workers.org

Banks must be challenged as

Detroit nancial crisis continues

By Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire Detroit If a legal challenge to the so-called Financial Stability Agreement is not dropped by Detroits Law Department, the State Treasurers Office says it will withhold $28 million in revenue-sharing funds and give them directly to Bank of America, a trustee of public monies earmarked for this distressed municipality. (Detroit News, June 29) The FSA was passed by City Council by a 5-4 majority in April. The agreement has no legal basis and is merely designed to ensure that the banks are paid and that Detroit residents are muzzled in their opposition to the corporate takeover of the city. Bank of America is the second largest holder of municipal debt in the United States. It is second only to JPMorgan Chase. Both financial institutions along with other banks have devastated Detroit and other U.S. cities by deliberately targeting oppressed communities for predatory lending, resulting in millions of foreclosures and a precipitous drop in tax revenues. Rating agencies have lowered Detroits bonds to junk status, making it even more expensive to borrow money and to repay existing loans. A state-appointed Financial Review Panel indicated that Detroit debt obligations were more than $16 billion and rising. For the 2010 fiscal year, Detroit paid $597 million in debt service to the banks, driving this majority African-American municipality into financial ruin and leaving the local government with almost no resources to pay workers wages and maintain services. The City Council passed a budget in June which called for $250 million in budget reductions. This could bring about the layoff of 2,500 city workers and further erode basic services such as fire, public lighting and transportation. A scapegoat for more looting by banks City of Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon filed a lawsuit in June requesting a declaratory judgment on the FSAs legality. The state of Michigan owes Detroit more than $224 million in revenue sharing as well as monies for a failed land deal at the state fairgrounds and unpaid municipal citations. The lawsuit challenged the states ability to place the city under supervision based upon hundreds of millions of dollars being owed and because the FSA is not based on any existing law mandating the state to impose emergency management if cities are under financial distress. Detroits charter provides the authority to the Law Department to pursue debts owed to the municipality. City Council members can request such legal action. Judge William Collette in Ingham County Circuit Court dismissed the lawsuit in June before even permitting the substance of the arguments to be presented during a scheduled hearing. Corporate-backed mayor, Dave Bing, hired a million-dollar law firm to file a motion for dismissal against a case filed by the citys own chief lawyer. Bing sought to have Crittendon fired, but the city charter requires the approval of six City Council members to do so. When Bing requested the City Council vote on Crittendons dismissal on June 22, he walked out of the meeting when there was no support for such a move. Although the corporate media are using the Corporation Counsel as a punching bag, the real issue is whether Detroit residents have a right to determine their own political destiny. The appointment of a putative Financial Advisory Board gives these capitalist agents control over the citys economic direction. They will work to squeeze whatever resources they can out of Detroit, which has one of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the country. Exposing the banks role here, mlive. com reported on June 29: The state is expected to wire one of those payments a $28.5 million sum to the trustee later today. While the trustee is legally obligated to send those funds to the bondholder, [Michigan Treasurer Andy] Dillon said the state is working with Bank of America on a deadline extension that would ensure the city receives those funds. Trustee and bondholder are terms for banks in this case. Dillon said: This is not the states decision. This is a contractual arrangement that has been set out. Well send the money out and the trustee will decide what to do. Call for moratorium on debt service The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs has been waging a campaign against the banks and home foreclosures for more than four years. In recent months, the coalition has demanded that the city refuse to pay debt service, halt layoffs, stop eliminating programs that service the working class and poor, and end the evisceration of municipal services. Raising the demand for a moratorium on debt service, the coalition held demonstrations in the financial district in May and June, and protested at public meetings held by the City Council and one organized by Bing on June 27. The coalition is planning further actions aimed at shedding light on the real culprits behind the citys economic crisis. The crisis in Detroit is taking place amid the bankruptcy filings in Stockton, Calif., and financial problems in many U.S. cities, including Harrisburg, Pa.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Providence, R.I. The U.S. capitalist crisis is being passed down to the states, who in turn are imposing austerity on cities and suburbs through large-scale cutbacks in public spending. This has resulted in the elimination of hundreds of thousands of jobs in public service and education. Since the economic crisis began in 2007-2008, about 600,000 to 800,000 public sector jobs have been lost in the U.S. The federal, state, county and municipal governments are bailing out the banks by paying debt service and interest to banks and corporations, while workers and the poor are paying the price. In Detroit and other Michigan cities with majority African-American populations, the issue of self-determination is a major focus, since these brutal efforts to cut budgets and impose financial dictatorships violate civil rights and voting rights gains, which were won through decades of struggle against racism and national oppression.

Rhode Islanders ght to stop eviction

The Rhode Island Tenants and Homeowners Association and Rhode Island Peoples Assembly rallied at the home of Joann Manning in Providence on June 28 and July 7 to protest her familys impending eviction by Midfirst Bank. Supporters say Mannings family has been robbed of their

home through foreclosure, but she wants her family to be able to stay in their home by paying rent. The bank owns the house and is trying to sell it for such an obscene amount that no one has purchased it, and it will sit vacant if the family gets evicted. Report and photo by Bill Bateman

Occupy Solidarity heads through U.S. to Cuba

By Cheryl LaBash Following a struggle at the border crossing between British Colombia, Canada, and Washington state, the 23rd Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba is rolling through the U.S. It will cross from Texas into Mexico, arriving in Havana on July 21. On July 31, the participants will cross back into the U.S. openly declaring their travel to Cuba without the required U.S. government approval. On July 1, U.S. Customs at the West Coast Peace Arch border crossing stopped a Caravan truck full of humanitarian aid, diverting it to a parking lot at the commercial Pacific Truck border crossing. This shipment of aid included items such as medical supplies like wheelchairs, educational supplies and sports equipment, collected from cities and communities throughout the Canadian province of British Columbia. The U.S. Customs officials targeted the sporting equipment for banning and demanded the purchase of a bond. But public outcry and a determined mobilization prevailed. On July 2, the truck crossed with soccer balls and baseball mitts, license and bond-free. East coast crossings from Canada into the U.S. were uneventful. Cuba is planning special events to welcome the travelers, including a tribute to IFCO founder and leader, the late Rev. Lucius Walker, whose ashes are kept at the Martin Luther King Center in Havana, and a 23-bus caravan that will circle through Havana, made up of some of the many school buses donated over the years. The school bus has become a symbol of this persistent and courageous challenge to the 53-year U.S. economic and terror war against Cuba. In 1993, during the Second Friendshipment, U.S. Treasury officials seized a little yellow school bus on the Texas-Mexico border near Laredo. The 13 Caravanistas on board refused to leave the bus and turned the fenced compound into liberated territory. They began a hunger strike that lasted 23 days until the bus was released to travel on to Cuba.

Pastors for Peace caravan

Volunteers outside a warehouse in Queens, N.Y., load a truck with materials bound for Cuba.
WW PHOTO: ANNE PRUDEN

The Friendshipment Caravan, which began in 1992, is the most extensive national outreach initiative challenging the U.S. blockade of the socialist island. Currently, it publicizes the unjust U.S. imprisonment of the Cuban 5 and defies the U.S. ban on its residents being able to freely travel to Cuba. The theme for the 2012 Caravan is Occupy Solidarity and it will celebrate Cubas commitment to sustainable development. The caravan stops in large and small

communities, including Richmond, Va.; Witchita, Kan.; Birmingham, Ala.; Carbondale, Ill.; Pleasant Hill and Knoxville, Tenn.; El Paso, Dallas, Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Corvallis, Wash.; Oklahoma City; Indianapolis; Boston; New York; Chicago; Washington; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Detroit; and many, many more. For more information, to volunteer and donate go to www.pastorsforpeace.org.

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Union defends locked-out Con Ed workers

By G. Dunkel New York Con Edison, the utility company that supplies electricity, gas and steam to New York City and Westchester County, locked out its 8,500 workers, who belong to Utility Workers Local 1-2 on July 1 at 1 a.m. While UWUA Local 1-2 was willing to continue working, but not willing to give up its right to strike, the company took this quick, unannounced action against the workers to keep them from an unannounced strike. Con Ed doesnt seem to see the contradiction in doing what it accused the union of considering, and then blaming the union for the lockout. Many union members, both in UWUA Local 1-2 and in other unions, see this lockout as a war on workers for which Con Ed had been preparing over a long period. It had 5,000 supervisors and retirees ready to roll on July 2, press releases and white papers written, a plan to release ads and other propaganda that claimed it needed concessions from the union on pensions. John Melia, a spokesperson for Local 1-2, termed the situation grim. He said, Its apparent to us what they want is to break the union. (Newsday, July 6) Con Ed is a very profitable company, with revenues over $13 billion and profits over $1 billion. Its CEO Kevin Burke made just a little less than $11 million last year and has a guaranteed pension of $18 million. Since the company cant outsource distributing electricity and gas, its chosen method to improve its profit margin is to destroy the unions that protect its workers. Solidarity growing Local 1-2 held a large rally at the Con Edison headquarters near Union Square July 5, with nearly 1,000 members and supporters. Ive never seen anything like this before, said Paul Albano, a business agent for Local 1-2. Weve had supporters here from Occupy Wall Street, from the Transit Workers Union and the American Federation of Teachers. There were smaller demonstrations at Con Ed headquarters in Brooklyn and Queens. While concentrating on Con Eds main headquarters, the union has maintained picket lines in front of all three locations. Major unions in New York the United Federation of Teachers, the Hotel Trades Council and Service Employees 32-BJ asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to do what he could to get Con Edison, a state-regulated utility, to make an acceptable deal with Local 1-2. They also started a leaflet campaign to counteract Con Eds ads and to let the people of New York know that the members of Local 1-2 are ready to provide safe and reliable service. The Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions posted a statement July 7 in solidarity with the struggle of Con Edison workers. It reads in part: The EFITU expresses its total solidarity with our American coworkers and comrades. It urges the [U.S.] government to exercise its role by preventing these dangers [brownouts and blackouts] and intervening in favor of just labor contracts preserving workers legal rights. The solidarity campaign within the [U.S.] labor movement with [UWUA] Local 1-2 is a source of joy and inspiration for EFITU. We join this campaign, as we consider that workers solidarity ... is the way that allows workers to gain their rights against savage capitalism and multi-national companies.

WW PHOTO: G. DUNKEL

Locked-out workers and supporters rally July 5.

Police evict elementary school occupation

By Judy Greenspan Oakland, Calif. The city of Oakland, Calif., and its school district somehow found the funds to order a police raid on a group of parents, teachers and children who were occupying the site of Lakeview Elementary school. They took this action despite the layoffs, budget shortfalls and a $2 million school bond debt to the banks. Forty Oakland school and city police evicted a small but committed Lakeview community from the schoolyard on July 3 at 4 a.m. Most people left voluntarily but police arrested two activists, who were cited and released. Supporters had occupied the school site since June 15, the last day of school. They have been demanding the reopening of Lakeview and four other struggling Oakland schools. The Oakland Educational Association, the teachers union, has given a great deal of support to this important struggle. Additionally, the San Francisco Labor Council recently passed a resolution backing the Lakeview community occupation and criticizing the attacks on public schools. The Oakland Unified School District has slated Lakeview to be turned into administrative offices, and has directed that Santa

OAKLAND, CALIF.

March following police attack on Lakeview school occupation, July 3.

WW PHOTO: AL WYNN

Fe Elementary, another closed school, be leased to a neighboring school district. The OUSD has only promised to provide transportation for Santa Fe students for one year. However, district officials have not announced any plans to transport the students who are predominantly African American and Latino/a from four other neighborhood schools to their new schools. Lakeviews sit-in organizers released a statement, which stressed, We have been evicted but not even close to defeated.

Join us and build a militant resistance to fight for quality public education. Later on July 3, they organized an emergency rush-hour rally at Lakeview Elementary. More than 250 people gathered on the schools lower steps to show their support for this struggle. A new fence had been erected around the school since the early morning police raid, effectively keeping supporters off the school site. Joel Velasquez, a parent leader of this struggle, explained that he had tried for years to get the school district to put up

such a fence to protect the children because the school is located in a very heavily trafficked neighborhood right off a freeway ramp. Now, the fence is finally put up, but its to keep the community out, he emphasized. After a brief rally, supporters went on a spirited march, winding their way through an upscale Oakland residential neighborhood. They were taking their protest to the home of School Superintendent Tony Smith. Their chant, Open our schools! Close our prisons! Whos our future? Its the children! resounded through the streets. Lakeview parents, teachers and students rallied in front of Smiths home, urging the school official to reopen the schools or to resign. Smith was nowhere to be seen. This prompted Miles, one of the young children active in this struggle, to ask: Where is Tony Smith? Why wont he come out and talk to us? Miles and a dozen other children led the march to Smiths home. The Lakeview coalition announced plans to continue the free Peoples School for Public Education across the street from Lakeview at Splash Pad Park. They invited all to come and support the school. Several teachers and community supporters announced plans to run for school board. For more information, see saveoaklandschools.org.

School workers ght unemployment cut-o

By Dianne Mathiowetz Atlanta sioner of Labor Mark Butler reversed a decades-old practice of approving unemployment benefits for these workers, who An estimated 65,000 school workers in find themselves without a job in the sumGeorgia from unionized bus drivers to mer through no fault of their own. When food service workers employed by giant school resumes, they are not even guarancorporations like Sodexo and Aramark, as teed their jobs back. well as janitors, crossing guards, landscape While these jobs are vital for the safeworkers and Pre-K teachers are being ty and well-being of children and youth, denied unemployment benefits this sum- they are often low-wage positions, held mer. Public and private schools, colleges predominantly by women who have few and universities are on break and laying off back-up resources. workers for as long as three months. Affected workers like teachers, bus For many of these workers the loss of drivers and crossing guards have mountunemployment benefits came as a total ed protests in such cities as Savannah, shock. Recently elected Georgia Commis- Augusta, Griffin, Columbus and Atlanta. Georgias unemployment rate has been higher than the national average throughout the ongoing recession, forcing the state to borrow money from the federal government to cover benefit payments. The shortfall was exacerbated by a General Assembly vote a decade ago, when the economy was booming, that gave companies a three-year reprieve from paying into the unemployment fund. Georgia now owes $745 million to the federal government. Rather than tax the businesses that pocketed the money from 2000 to 2003, the Georgia General Assembly in the last session passed legislation reducing the weekly unemployment amount as well as the number of benefit weeks. Butlers administrative ruling classifying school workers as ineligible furthered the attack on unemployed workers. All these measures may reduce the official unemployment figures, but do nothing to increase jobs or provide any relief to the hundreds of thousands of unemployed Georgians who have struggled for years in some cases to find work. Atlanta Jobs with Justice, in cooperation with unions, community and student groups, has launched a campaign to reverse Butlers decision. To sign the petition demanding restoration of benefits to education workers, go to atlantajwj.org.

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Georgia prisoners on strike:

Oakland, California

Starving for change

By Dianne Mathiowetz Atlanta Family members say that 10 prisoners at Jackson Diagnostic and Classification Prison are on a month-long hunger strike to protest inhumane conditions. This prison complex, about 50 miles from Atlanta, is where Troy Davis was executed. It currently holds several dozen men who the state suspects of being leaders of the December 10, 2010, work stoppage, often described as the largest prisoner strike in the history of the U.S. Some 18 months ago, in prisons across the state, for two weeks prisoners refused to leave their cells in a nonviolent, mass action to call attention to the lack of medical care, decent food and educational opportunities, the brutal and racist treatment by guards, arbitrary parole decisions, limited visitation and communication with family and friends, and other violations of basic human rights. The strike action brought national attention to the overcrowded, unsanitary and degrading conditions in Georgias prisons. Once the spotlight was gone, the Department of Corrections quickly moved those it deemed leaders to different facilities. Many were beaten and otherwise brutalized and held incommunicado. Now, a year and a half later, on June 10, Miguel Jackson and nine others held at the prison are on a hunger strike. Their demands are the same, but if possible, even more critical. They have been refused medical treatment after being beaten by guards; they are being held in particularly unsanitary conditions; they have been held in prolonged solitary confinement; and they are often deprived of family visitation, communication and access to meager personal possessions. The state Department of Corrections has issued no statement confirming the hunger strike despite having information that several men are in need of medical attention. According to family members of the prisoners, guards have told them their loved ones will be left to die. The prisoners and their families are receiving support from organizations and individuals including Black Agenda Report, U.S. Human Rights Network, The Ordinary People Society, the International Action Center and Occupy Atlanta. On July 9, the family of Miguel Jackson along with dozens of supporters took letters to the office of Gov. Nathan Deal, urging him to intervene immediately to resolve the prisoners demands. To sign a petition, go to change.org/ petitions and search for governor-nathan-deal-our-loved-ones-are-starvingfor-change. For more information, see georgiahungerstrike.wordpress.

Justice for Raheim Brown

Hundreds of anti-police brutality advocates marched in solidarity with the family of Raheim Brown Jr. on July 6. Brown was gunned down by Oakland, Calif., school police officers on January 22, 2011. Protesters started with a rally at the Oakland Police Department headquarters and then marched to the school police office to demand justice for Brown and an end to the policing of youth. Families of other African-American youth killed by Oakland and San Francisco police forces also joined and spoke out about the murders of their loved ones. Unarmed, Brown was barely out of his teens when he was gunned down by school police on Joaquin Miller Road. School officers attempted to pull Brown out of the vehicle he sat in with a female friend, and then shot him seven times, twice in the head. They also brutalized the young woman. The city of Oakland and its school board employ armed guards to patrol children as young as 11 years old. Last year, Cole Middle School in West Oakland was closed down and now functions as a school police station. At a time when the school board is claiming there is not enough money to keep schools like Lakeview, Marshall, Santa Fe, Lazear and Maxwell open, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on school police. The fact that there is a separate police department to deal with school children is an abuse of power perpetrated by the school board. Report and photo by Terri Kay

Protesters demand

Baltimore County, Md.

FREE MUMIA
Philadelphia

Teens death by cop protested

By Steven Ceci and Shannon X Baltimore On the warm evening of July 2, family, friends and supporters of Chris Brown assembled on the steps of the Baltimore County Court Building to voice their outrage over the killing of her 17-year-old son, Christopher Brown, by Baltimore County Police Officer James Laboard. Laboard claims that after he heard a rock hit the door of his house in the Randallstown neighborhood of Baltimore County on June 13, he proceeded to chase a group of boys running away from the house. He says he found Christopher Brown hiding behind bushes and confronted him. The Baltimore County coroners office declared the teens death a homicide caused by asphyxiation. Community members expressed indignation at the county district attorney offices failure to immediately issue charges against Laboard. Instead, charges of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter were issued two weeks after the teens death, following public pressure to respond to the killing. Even so the officer was released on June 27 the same day he was arrested without having to post bail. Russell Neverdon, the lawyer representing the Brown family, said that at minimum Laboard should have been charged with murder: This was not a hot pursuit. Its not an exigent circumstance. It is no way, shape or form even a heat of passion. This person had enough time to chase somebody down and then to engage them when he found that person was cowering and hiding away. Double standard charged The killing of young Christopher Brown has not only raised community awareness and outrage, but also the question of a double standard. In various media interviews, Christophers mother has stated that if any other person had killed someone in a similar fashion, or if her son had killed Laboard, there would have been an immediate arrest and charges brought against the perpetrator. Community leaders responded to Browns call for a Justice Rally for her deceased son. Among those present at the July 2 rally were members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the All Peoples Congress, the National Action Network and Occupy Baltimore. As the community marched the perimeter of the Baltimore County Court Building, chants of Justice for Christopher Brown, NOW! No justice, no peace! and What do we want? JUSTICE! When do we want it? NOW! echoed through nearby neighborhoods and streets. The Rev. C. D. Witherspoon, president of the Baltimore chapter of the SCLC, stated, We need to send a clear and distinct message that we will not tolerate [the killing of our Black youth by the police]. Following the march, the group reassembled in front of the building to hear words of encouragement and testimony by supporters and family of the victim. Chris Brown spoke of the pain resulting from the unjust killing of her son and the refusal of the state to hold Laboard accountable. With her two remaining children embracing her, Brown sang a song in remembrance of Christopher, while her daughter held a sign stating, My Brother TODAY, Your Brother TOMORROW! The Brown family encouraged supporters to continue with them in their fight for justice and announced their intent to hold another protest in Annapolis, Md., the following week.

On left: Bill Perry of Veterans for Peace, with Pam Africa.

WW PHOTO: JOE PIETTE

Despite the record heat, around 100 people gathered at Fifth and Market streets next to Philadelphias Liberty Bell for a Free Mumia rally on July 3. Under the theme, We the people cannot rest until freedom comes, the demonstrators celebrated the victory of Mumia Abu-Jamals release from death row last December and pledged to continue the fight to free him. Speakers addressed the fight to free all political prisoners and denounced continuing U.S. wars and the economic crisis at home. Several entertainers, including

The Welfare Poets, were on hand. In a show of solidarity, the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal which had a permit to use the federal park space that afternoon welcomed Veterans for Peace to stay at the site after park officials threatened to evict the veterans group when their permit expired. ICFFMAJ also welcomed participants in the Occupy National Gathering to join the speakout. They had been evicted after trying to use the space without a permit. Betsey Piette

Conversations on Black Life in America

Mumia Abu-Jamal & Marc Lamont Hill
This book delves into the problems of Black life in America and o ers real, concrete solutions. Order at: www.freemumia.com/?p=684

THE CLASSROOM & THE CELL:

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Eyes on North Carolina:

Slave rebellions & the legacy of resistance

By Andy Koch Raleigh, N.C. This is the third in a series of historical articles leading up to the Sept. 2 March on Wall Street South in Charlotte, N.C., during the Democratic National Convention. Most history books used in U.S. schools portray enslaved African people brought to North America as passive victims of an immoral outrage, one which is long in the past. Sure, it was terrible, the textbooks say, but Abraham Lincoln put an end to all that. That is only a tiny part of the truth, however. The slave trade of Africans was one of the greatest crimes against humanity in all of history, killing 100 million people and underdeveloping Africa the effects of which are apparent to the present day. The colossal amount of labor stolen from all those enslaved people laid the basis for modern capitalism and global white supremacy. But the legacy of slavery continues to this day, with African-descended people in the United States suffering severe oppression. For instance, more Black men are in prison or on probation today than were enslaved in 1850. (Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness) What is often left out of the narrative about enslaved Africans in North America, partcularly in the U.S., is the inspiring legacy of resistance they left behind. Far from being passive victims, the Africans who were attacked by the slave traders fought tooth and nail along every step of the slave trade. The consistent and determined efforts to fight back against this inhuman institution are well documented from the time bands of mercenary traders were driven from African communities to resistance in the processing dungeons on the West Coast of Africa, the terribly to bring to light the scope of these acts of resistance, including many rebellions that took place in North Carolina and the bloody repression that followed. In 1830, wrote Aptheker, the North Carolina legislature was secretly convened in order to devise means to suppress the dangerous disaffection of the [Black] population. The slave masters had plenty of reason to worry. The natural tendencies of the oppressed to resist led to extensive organizing among the enslaved people. As in the Caribbean, socalled Maroon (short form of the Spanish word cimaroon meaning runaway) communities of escaped slaves were set up in the state. A runaway slave community was found in Cabarrus County in 1811. Gates County was the scene of Maroon activity in 1820. The following year Maroons were active in Onslow, Carteret and Bladen Counties, where it took 300 militia members to hunt down them. The slave masters were vicious in their retribution. In 1805, slaves in three North Carolina counties allegedly formed a conspiracy to poison their masters. The slave masters responded by burning to death a Black woman. Three or four other African Americans were hanged. To put these events in a global context, the slave owners in the U.S. South were desperately afraid of slave resistance following the victorious Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804,which ended slavery, kicked out the French colonialists and founded the Haitian republic. Resistance against brutal oppression is the right of the oppressed. Its not up to people on the sidelines to judge the tactics that the oppressed use whether they be enslaved Africans in 1800s-era United States, Palestinians under threat of being ethnically cleansed out of their ancestral lands by U.S.-allied Israeli armed forces, or Colombian rebels like the FARC fighting against one of the most viciously pro-imperialist governments in South America. Its the duty of those not enduring that particular oppression, whatever it may be, to unconditionally uplift and support the struggles of the oppressed against slavery, against capitalist exploitation and against imperialism.

overcrowded slave ships, the markets in the Americas and the plantations where Africans were forced to work. This massive resistance of the enslaved Africans was met by unimaginable cruelty and brutality, resulting in an astronomical number of deaths at the hands of slave traders and slave owners. When rebellions of enslaved people are mentioned in U.S. classrooms, they are characterized as violent, uncommon and isolated. These forceful fightbacks are contrasted to the peaceful Underground Railroad, which is held in higher esteem. Its important to note: The peaceful characterization of the Underground Railroad is also a half-truth. Those who

Mill workers struggles in North Carolina

By Sue Davis ers fight back when the bosses speed up the machines and hike the already backWriters are always told: Write what breaking workload. Almost all the white you know. Thats what M. S. Cole did in workers, the only ones allowed in the her novel, Southern Conflict: The Real union, vote to strike. The Black workers Story of Hard Times in a Southern Cotton play a crucial role by honoring the picket Mill (Alabaster Book Publishing, 2011; lines. Then the bosses hire scabs (strike371 pages). A 50-year resident of Greens- breakers) and call in the cops. One striker boro, N.C., whose spouse worked in a mill is disabled and loses her mind when a scab car speeds through the line. Later, for 40 years, Cole writes with the cops viciously beat a Black leader. compassion and empathy about Though the workers lose the workers day-to-day worries Book the strike and are forced to and struggles that flow from inReview work under inhumane conditimate experience. tions, Cole introduces a surreal Coles tale of the Turner family in the mid-1950s captures the hardscrabble twist of fate. When that is combined with life of oppressed mill workers, forced to sharply declining profits orders are rework for pennies, while the owners look turned due to shoddy work the bosses down on the company town from their opt to end the speedup. A triumphant mansions. Although the bosses nickel and turning point occurs when Black and dimed the workers some, like Aunt El- white workers eat side by side at a joint lie, died on the job that way of life ended dinner in the union hall. With all eyes looking to protests in in the 1970s when owners sought bigger Charlotte, N.C., during the Democratic profits overseas. By slowly building the story around the National Convention Sept. 1-6, Workworkers lives and jobs, Cole skillfully en- ers World readers might enjoy learning tices readers to care about them. She de- about a way of life that reveals the histails strict gender and racial segregation toric fighting spirit of the hardworking on the job: the men are doffers, the wom- people who live there. Madge Cole is a longtime Supporter en spinners, with Black workers relegated to menial jobs, though one Black woman of Workers World newspaper. Her book may be ordered for $20 from the publishintegrates the spinners. The heart of the story is how the work- er at Alabaster.biz or from Amazon.com.

Southern Con ict:

escaped slavery in this way were often forced into violent confrontations with bounty hunters and the like. Harriet Tubman always travelled armed, engaged in many skirmishes throughout her career as a freedom fighter, and even recruited people to aid in one of the most famous anti-slavery revolts, John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry. Herbert Aptheker, in his groundbreaking book American Negro Slave Revolts, documented more than 250 uprisings in the U.S. South that involved 10 or more slaves. These rebellions were neither uncommon nor isolated, but the unavoidable result of the intense oppression and exploitation enslaved Africans were made to endure. These revolts were righteous resistance on the part of oppressed people. All progressives should raise up these historic acts of self-determination by enslaved Africans. Many uprisings in North Carolina Apthekers classic work was the first

Free CeCe! is theme of WWP meeting

Durham, N.C.
WW PHOTO: BRYAN G. PFEIFER

The Durham, N.C., branch of Workers World Party held a public meeting the evening of July 6 to bring attention to the struggle to free CeCe McDonald. McDonald is a young African-American transgender woman wrongfully sentenced to prison in Minnesota for defending herself against a violent, anti-trans and racist attack. Imani Henry from New York City,

a trans activist and WWP leader, talked about McDonalds case and the overall struggle against racism and for lesbian/ gay/bisexual/trans/queer justice and liberation. The audience was mainly youthful, multinational and of varied genders. Part of the discussion centered on having an LGBTQ contingent in the upcoming Sept. 2 March on Wall Street South. Workers World Durham, N.C., bureau

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Sham elections & imperialist plans

By Abayomi Azikiwe Editor, Pan-African News Wire Western-based corporate media outlets have proclaimed Mahmoud Elwarfally Jibril the Western-backed National Forces Alliance winner of the first postJamahiriya election. (Jamahiriya was part of the name of the Libyan country and government from 1969 to 2011; the word signified that power was invested in the masses.) Its expected that Jibril, who was educated at the University of Pittsburgh, will continue the current policies of the National Transitional Council, which the Pentagon and NATO installed in 2011. Jibril, who was a minister in the Col. Moammar Gadhafi government, defected early during the U.S.-backed counterrevolution last year. He served as a public face of the NTC, which the Obama administration used to justify the forced removal of Gadhafis internationally recognized government. Jibril had been forced out as the interim prime minister of the NTC earlier this year in a factional dispute. The NTC regimes only political program is a firm alliance with the imperialist states and the suppression of the loyalist forces still supporting the Jamahiriya government of the martyred Moammar Gadhafi. The elections held on July 7 represent a continuation of the same process of regime-change aimed at bringing Libya fully into the fold of Western domination. Hailed as a moderate, Jibril advances no political ideas independent of Washington and London. Despite the claims that the elections represented a major development in the history of this North African state, the actual vote turnout was low. Even in Tripoli, the capital, many stayed away as a result of threats of violence, lack of information on the candidates, and rejection of the process which seemed alien to many people. The NTC government said that the participation rate was 60 percent. Even if the rebel regimes figures were taken at face value, it would still indicate that 40 percent of the people rejected the polls, which brings into question the legitimacy of the outcome. Libya had not had a political party system since 1952 under the monarchy, when election violence resulted in the banning of parties. Under the Jamahiriya, the system was based on direct democracy through peoples committees. Reflecting the problems associated with the newly imposed system under the NTC, most candidates were designated as independent. Nevertheless, Jibrils pro-U.S. party was anointed the victor. What the corporate media omitted to mention is that the Jamahiriyas supporters were excluded from participating in the elections. Former officials who had remained loyal to the Gadhafi government were banned from running. This skewed the outcome in favor of the imperialistbacked parties and candidates. Gadhafis son, Seif al-Islam, was denied the right to participate in the elections. He is currently being held by the Zintan militia which operates outside the authority of the NTC rebel regime based in Tripoli. Thousands of supporters of the Gadhafi government remain imprisoned and exiled. The former Prime Minister Baghdadi al- Mahmoudi, recently extradited from Tunisia, is being held by the NTC rebels in Tripoli. Even members of the International Criminal Court who visited Seif al-Islam several weeks ago were arrested and held for over a month until the imperialist states applied pressure for their release. Although the ICC assisted, along with the U.N. Security Council, in providing a pseudo-legal rationale for the war against Libya, its personnel were put on notice to not interfere in the broader imperialist designs for this oil-rich nation of 7 million people. Elections reinforce regional divisions The events around the elections illustrated the political chaos that has defined Libya since the overthrow of the previous government. In the eastern region, people attacked election offices, trashed ballot boxes and burned voting materials. Several electoral commission officials were killed or injured in attacks. The eastern region of the country was given a lower, disproportionate number of representatives than the western region, who will be seated in the so-called National General Congress. Some elements in the east have been calling for autonomy from the western region, where Tripoli is located. In the south of the country, factional fighting over the last few months has created a serious security situation. In Kufra, fighting prevented the delivery of ballot boxes in many areas. The south was given the least amount of representation in the new parliament. These developments will only exacerbate the existing divisions in the country. Overall it was reported that more than 100 voting stations were unable to stage elections on July 7. Lessons for Syria & Iran Developments in Libya over the last 17 months point to the imperialist designs for Africa and the Middle East. The capitalist ruling classes in the West aim to topple independent governments, privatize national wealth and impose puppet leaders who will follow the dictates of the U.S. and NATO countries. In Syria the imperialist states and their allies deny the legitimacy of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, leaving open the potential of direct military intervention. These efforts can open a path toward the same program for Iran, which has been under tremendous pressure from the U.S. and Israel through sanctions, corporate media vilifications, targeted assassinations of scientists, and military intimidation tactics in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. Consequently, the anti-war movement in the U.S. and Europe must stand firm in opposition to imperialist interventions in Syria and Iran.

LIBYA

Mass march rejects U.S.-Pakistan deal

By John Catalinotto A deal in early July papered over frayed relations between U.S. imperialism and Pakistans government. But it did little to calm the Pakistani peoples anger at being a target of the U.S. war machine. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showcased the administrations military strategy for Central Asia with an apology to Pakistan and a pledge to keep Afghanistan a friend of NATO should U.S. troops leave as scheduled in 2014. Last December, U.S. planes attacked a military post on the Pakistani side of the frontier with Afghanistan, leaving 24 Pakistani troops and officers dead and the Pakistani army furious. The Pakistani government then blocked NATO supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan. They demanded a formal U.S. apology and later said they would charge $5,000 a truckload through their roads, instead of the prior $200 price. Meanwhile, NATO had to pay an additional $100 million a month to ship supplies using alternate routes. The Pentagon claimed that relations were too cozy between the Pakistani military post and the Taliban-led resistance in Afghanistan. U.S. generals refused to give the apology during the next seven months as U.S.-Pakistani relations soured. Finally, a deal was worked out in early July where Clinton said the U.S. was sorry about the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers, the U.S. would restore $1 billion in aid to the Pakistani army, and the supply lines would be reopened. How long will the agreement last? Pakistani military and intelligence officers have friendly relations with the Taliban, which they helped get into power in the 1990s. Since the Pakistani generals can rightly expect that the Taliban will eventually help form the Afghan government, the generals will want to maintain relations and influence in post-occupation Afghanistan. Washington and the Taliban coexisted easily in the mid-1990s. Only after the 2001 invasion and NATO occupation did the Taliban-led Afghan resistance confront and challenge imperialism with the goal of driving the imperialist occupiers out of Afghanistan. Now the U.S.-NATO problem is that any clean victory for the Afghan resistance is a humiliation for imperialism. The contradictory interests of the Pakistani military and U.S. imperialism may still lead to a break between the regimes in Islamabad and Washington. This is true even though Pakistans wealthy ruling class and its military have been dependent on their relationship with the U.S. throughout their history. Pakistani people in the streets The vast majority of Pakistans people are furious with U.S. imperialism, not just for the attack on the border post, but for the ongoing drone attacks on Pakistani territory, which kill children and other civilians, though allegedly aimed at insurgents that support the Afghan resistance. Though the governments reached a deal, Pakistans people have already shown that Clintons sorry falls short. Some 8,000 people packed 200 vehicles to make the 170-mile long march caravan between Lahore and Islamabad to protest the opening of the NATO route. Islamic organizations were the major organizers of this particular protest. Antiimperialist attitudes, however, go beyond these groups. The Pakistani secular left is also opposed to NATOs occupation of Afghanistan, to the dominant role of U.S. imperialism in Pakistan and especially to the U.S. drones that target Pakistan. A meeting of the Pakistani-U.S. Freedom Forum in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 23 reflected these attitudes among different sectors of Pakistani society. Everyone was angry about the drones. Many speakers attacked the current U.S. administration as being even more aggressive than the prior George W. Bush administration. In Afghanistan, the war continues. Six more NATO occupation troops lost their lives in an attack by the resistance on July 8 as the war allegedly winds down.

Syria: Look whos talking

By Manlio Dinucci [Saying they are] deeply concerned at the escalation of violence that threatens to widen the [Syrian] conflict into a regional war, they demand the cessation of armed violence in all its forms. Who are these pacifists? Members of the Action Group for Syria, which met in Geneva on June 30 and issued a closing communiqu. Leading the pacifist chorus is the United States. In reality it is the director of the ongoing war operation which, after destroying the Libyan state last year, is now attempting to dismantle the Syrian one. CIA agents, writes the New York Times, operating clandestinely in southern Turkey, are recruiting and arming groups that fight the Syrian government. Through a cross-border shadow network, in which the [Israeli] Mossad also operates, they receive automatic rifles, ammunition, antitank rockets and explosives. With a video on YouTube, they show that they know how to use them: the explosion of a powerful remote-controlled bomb destroys a civilian truck driving past a store. Turkey also expressed its opposition to the further militarization of the conflict, which must be resolved through peaceful dialogue. But Turkey provides the command center in Istanbul that directs the operation and the military bases in which armed groups are trained before they infiltrate Syria. Turkey also, using the pretext of Syrias shooting down Turkeys military aircraft which was flying at low altitude along the Syrian coast to probe anti-aircraft defenses is now massing its troops on the border threatening a defensive intervention. That could trigger a large-scale NATO attack under Article 5, dusted off for the occasion, while the non-Article 5 was used for the attack on Libya. Other members of the Group France, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar claim to be committed to defending the sovereignty, independence, national unity and territorial integrity of Syria. Those same forces are now carrying out the same operation in Syria that they did in Libya: training and arming the Free Syrian Army and about another 100 groups recruited from various countries, whose members are paid by Saudi Arabia. They also use reactionary Islamic militants and entire armed Islamic groups, earlier branded as dangerous terrorists, and they infiltrate special forces into Syria, such as those from Qatar sent last year into Libya, Continued on page 10

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July 19, 2012

Page 9

Hezbollah analyzes Syrian crisis

The following observations about Syria are excerpted from a conversation between Ernesto Gomez Abascal, a journalist, writer and former ambassador from Cuba to several Middle East countries, and Ammar al-Mussawi, director of International Relations for Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a popular political organization representing the Shiite Muslim community as well as a national liberation organization defending the people of Lebanon. WW managing editor John Catalinotto did the translation from Spanish. The entire interview is on lahaine.org.

Interview:

Ernesto Gomez Abascal: What is your evaluation of what is happening in Syria? Ammar al-Mussawi: Now it is Syria that faces a war led by the United States. The goal is the same [as with the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon] to create a new Greater Middle East controlled by the U.S. and Israel. Behind it all is the control of energy resources during the 21st century, where gas will play the most important role. Looking at the map, we see that Syrian territory is the natural path to reach the Mediterranean ports through gas pipelines from Iran, Iraq and Qatar, where the largest reserves are. Additionally, large deposits of gas have been discovered in Syria and Lebanon. The Qatari monarchy has a special interest in this; it has huge gas reserves and its leaders have pretensions of becoming a great power. The largest U.S. military base in the Gulf is located there. The television station Al Jazeera has become the mouthpiece of political reaction, imperialism and Zionism. It is blatantly intervening in Syria. Why doesnt it put that effort behind defending the Palestinians and into the fight against Zionism? Saudi Arabia does the same. We are seeing how in some mosques in that country the leaders are asking the faithful to make monetary contributions to help the opposition in Syria. They have never done that to help the Palestinian resistance.

We have the view that the situation in Syria is complicated, but the government has the capacity to resist and will defeat the aggressors. When terrorist activities began last year, the opposition and the imperialists said that in three months the government would fall. Then they said six, but they are no longer setting deadlines. The latest Israeli intelligence assessment says that Bashar al-Assad will last for years. Unlike what happened in Libya, the armed forces are holding together in Syria; they maintain their combat effectiveness. There are only individual defections, personal ones. Nor did the enemy succeed in provoking defections from the embassies, so the European Union countries, after wearing themselves out trying to achieve this, decided to expel the ambassadors. The opposition, on the other hand, is deeply divided and has failed to unite despite all efforts made in many meetings of the so-called friends of Syria. There are also many differences between opponents who are inside and those abroad. The internal opposition is against foreign intervention, while those outside request it. Furthermore, all in the opposition want to be the leader. The war against Syria is exposing the hypocrisy and double standards of Obama and the imperialists, who say they are fighting terrorism but are supporting Al Qaeda, the Salafists and extremists who commit crimes in Syria. Impact on Lebanon EGA: What influence does what is happening in Syria have in Lebanon? AM: Of course, what happens in Syria impacts on Lebanon. Hezbollah is working hard to make sure no harm is done to Syria from Lebanon. We cannot succeed in this completely, as the Future Movement and the March 14 Movement, directed by Hariri, are Syrias enemies and support the armed opposition. We are acting with patience and caution, trying

to avoid confrontations as far as possible, but if they want to take things to the extreme, this can produce an explosion that would cause a confrontation. We try to maintain an acceptable balance at the political level. In the search for such a balance, we know that the internal correlation of forces is favorable to us, but we do not lose sight of our fundamental objective: the resistance to Israel. EGA: What position do the countries bordering Syria take? AM: The other countries around Syria are acting according to their interests. Turkey has ambitions but also fears. The government has been working for a U.N. resolution granting a cover for military action against Damascus. Opposition from Russia and China has been very important. The raid by Turkeys F-4 Phantom aircraft over Syrian territory, which was shot down by Syrias air defense at Latakia, was neither accidental nor a result of an error. It was a provocation and an attempt to probe Syrian defenses. And it got a clear answer. Russia and Iran have given serious warnings to Turkey and are very con-

cerned about the establishment of a U.S. radar base on Turkish territory. Clearly, this base is not being put there to protect Turkey. The Turkish government also has internal problems and has not reached a consensus to wage war on Syria; there is opposition even among the military. In Jordan, the monarchy is addressing the issue carefully, afraid it will aggravate the internal contradictions and that the conflict in Syria could reach into its own territory, so it is not acting openly. However, it allows U.S. and British special services to train Syrian opposition groups there. The Iraqi government is in favor of Syria and supports Bashar al-Assads government, but the border is very long and difficult to control, and can be penetrated by opposition elements. Iran has always provided support to Syria because they are allies. Russia is also giving full support. Israel, in our opinion, is not going to get involved in the Syrian conflict, at least not directly, as it doesnt suit their interests. In summary, our view is optimistic about Syria, but the struggle will be long and complex.

No war on Syria or at home

Workers World forum

By Al Wynn Oakland, Calif. Activists from Occupy Oakland, longshore and postal workers, and anti-police brutality, immigrant rights and antiwar movements gathered here for a Workers World Party forum on July 8. They discussed U.S. threats against Syria, the organizing behind New York Citys May 1st march by immigrants, Occupy Wall Street and unions, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Unions deep connection with African-American and other communities and its relationship with Occupy. Sara Flounders, WWP Secretariat member and International Action Center codirector, exposed how the U.S. has backed opposition Syrians and outright mercenaries carrying out violence against the Syrian people and government. She also discussed the imperialist medias warmongering, based on hypocritical responsibility to protect excuses, and Washingtons long-term strategy of launching endless, unwinnable wars solely to profit from destruction and to disrupt resistance to its global hegemony. Flounders quoted the so-called Syrian oppositions own stated plans to open Syria to the West, end Syrias close relationships with Iran and the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, and align Syria with the regions reactionary regimes. Teresa Gutierrez, WWP Secretariat member and co-coordinator of the New York Citys May 1st Coalition for Worker

WW PHOTO: AL WYNN

At table, from left: Clarence Thomas, Sara Flounders, Judy Greenspan and Teresa Gutierrez.

UTAH

Anti-War Coalition launched

By Wilden Wulle Salt Lake City In recent weeks, there has been a resurgence in anti-war politics in Salt Lake City with the creation of the Utah Anti-War Coalition. UAWC was initiated in order to work toward organizing community resistance against the spread of the U.S. war machine at a time when more than half of U.S. residents are said to be against the war in Afghanistan. The coalition sees the need to resist the spread of U.S. wars abroad and the militarization of society. The coalition consists of local activists from Occupy Salt Lake City, the Revolutionary Students Union and the Industrial Workers of the World. The group has united on opposing U.S. wars by using slogans independent of political differences, slogans like Stop the Drone Strikes, End the Kill List, Hands Off Iran and U.S. Out of Afghanistan. Many of the activists in the coalition are relatively new to the anti-war movement and are beginning their work with plans for a counter-recruitment campaign aimed at stopping campus military recruiters. The group plans to bring information and alternatives to young people who are frequently the target of the U.S. military for recruitment into the armed services. Some goals of UAWC include finding ways to influence public school policies and presenting an anti-recruitment message that will counter the lies offered by the military at high schools, colleges and universities around the Salt Lake City area. The group sees its long-term goal as getting the military recruiters out and kicking the military-industrial complex off of college campuses. The coalition plans to build opposition to U.S. militarism and corporate war profiteering with a teach-in at the end of July. This teach-in is planned at a time when ALEC the American Legislative Exchange Council a major right-wing corporate lobbying group, plans to hold its annual meeting in Salt Lake City. ALEC crafts corporate-friendly state legislation and hands it off to local conservative politicians to run with. ALEC has long-term ties to the Koch brothers, with representation by Koch Industries on the governing board of ALEC. Utah activist groups have been building for months, planning and organizing opposition to the ALEC visit to Salt Lake City. There are many demonstrations, teach-ins and pickets scheduled throughout the week of the ALEC conference.

and Immigrant Rights, spoke of the fourby-four effort that forged an alliance among the May 1st Coalition, unions, Occupy Wall Street and immigrants in one of the countrys most multinational cities. She described how during this effort, the groups debated whether or not calling for a general strike was appropriate, why a permit was needed for a march that included undocumented workers, and police repression against Occupy activists. Thanks to these efforts 50,000 people marched on May Day in New York. Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10 Coastwide Caucus and Convention Delegate and Million Worker March Movement co-chair, spoke to the history of the ILWUs port shutdowns against the Iraq war, in solidarity with Palestine, against the police murder of Oscar Grant and in solidarity with Occupy. Thomas said reclaiming May Day was a victory, a winning back of consciousness by workers in the U.S., begun by immigrants in 2006 but now accepted by many union activists and by Occupy. Thomas emphasized how shutting down Wall Street on the waterfront, as expressed in West Coast Occupy literature, was a powerful step up from general mass marches in the streets. The discussion included racist police killings the war at home and the upcoming March on Wall Street South in Charlotte, N.C. Flounders observed that perhaps Occupys greatest gift has been to reintroduce a class perspective with their exposure of the 1%.

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July 19, 2012

workers.org

oes it bother the spin doctors for either the Obama or the Romney campaigns that their job is to invent reasons why, if the voters put their man in the saddle, it will invigorate a dying horse? Everyone realizes that the big issue in this election campaign is jobs. The employment figures continue to be bleak. In fact, the budget cuts enacted by both Democrats and Republicans at all levels of government are swelling the jobless rolls with hundreds of thousands who used to have supposedly stable jobs. So it isnt just manufacturing thats in the tank. Service jobs, which were once seen as the wave of the future as plants shut down, are disappearing like fog before a hot wind. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are unabashedly capitalist parties. Despite the socialist baiting of Obama by the right wing, no other economic system but capitalism is even conceivable to either party. The Democrats claim to be for a kinder capitalism, one where the government keeps a tighter rein on the huge corporations. They pay lip service to more progressive issues. But big business puts hundreds of millions of dollars into the election coffers of both parties to ensure its own interests, no matter who wins. The problem is that the capitalist system has gone into crisis and is throwing millions of workers on the scrap heap. Democrats as well as Republicans offer

OWS movement & Jobs & a dying horse the Global Class War
no real answers. Cut taxes on the rich, say Republicans, as though they havent been doing that for decades. Cut taxes on companies that hire more workers, say Democrats, as if that too hasnt been tried and failed. The truth is that a crisis like the one shaking the whole capitalist world cannot be solved within the framework of this system not without the wholesale destruction of much of the planets productive capacity and the deaths of tens of millions of people. Thats how the capitalist system got out of the Great Depression with World War II. Its not a sane option. History has shown that for the workers to seize the means of production from the small class of capitalists the 1% who lay claim to what the 99% have created is the only way to transition to a rational economic system whose purpose is to satisfy human needs, not corporate greed. Its the only way to have full employment and an equitable distribution of the wealth. We need to fight for a workers revolution here. But, in the meantime, a bold and massive offensive by workers can win concessions, even from capitalist parties. Workers need a government jobs program. The money is there, but both parties need to stop giving it to the banks and use it instead for the workers. Rather than getting caught up in the capitalist election, labor needs to demand good-paying jobs or income for all who need them Now! By Caleb T. Maupin Youth in the U.S. are totally justified in hating the 1%. This small elite of ultrawealthy people has left us with barely any future to look forward to. The 1% is the capitalist class. They own the big banks, factories, industries, oil wells, big-box stores and commanding heights of the economy. They own the world, and the rest of humanity can only live by selling our labor to them. The wages we get in exchange are practically nothing. The working class the 99% has created the wealth of the entire world, yet the 1% gets to own it. Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movement are a glorious development. It is the generation without a future pouring into the streets and fighting back. Its like a neon sign has been put up in the sky announcing Rise up! Rise up! said Larry Holmes, Workers World Partys First Secretary. As a generation, many of us are rising up. We may not be able to find a decent paying job with benefits. We may be in debt for decades trying to pay for our education. We may not be able to look forward to any economic comfort or the so-called American Dream. But we can certainly fight back against these conditions! We can take over public space! We can seize bank lobbies! We can construct barricades! We can defy police orders! We can create chaos and unrest in response to the tyranny of the rich! We are a new movement of militant young radicals, and as our movement deepens and grows, what we need more than anything else is to make allies. We cannot stand alone against the 1%. The 1% has made enemies all over the globe. In Paraguay they just carried out a coup and overthrew a popular government. The 1% bombed and destroyed Libya, leaving it in ruins and killing thousands because Libyans dared to keep the oil profits for themselves, and not hand them over to Wall Street. With their guns pointed at Syria and Iran, they are threatening a wider and bigger war in the Middle East. The 1% and its Pentagon are locked and loaded, ready to spill the blood of anyone who defies them. The same New York Police Department thugs of the 1% that clubbed heads in Zuccotti Park are stopping and frisking people of color every day. They are also targeting lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people. There is a crisis of police terror around the country, as cops murder innocent Black and Latino/a people with a free hand, often facing no penalty. There are more than 2 million people in prison in this free country, and more prisons are being built all the time. Children of six or seven are being dragged out of school in handcuffs. A racist thug killed Trayvon Martin, and almost got away with it. When people of color resist police terror, they are fighting against the 1%. When people in Libya resist NATO occupiers, they are fighting the 1%. When immigrants resist vigilante terrorism and repressive laws in Arizona and elsewhere, they are fighting the 1%. Capitalist class versus working class These are not simply struggles of wrong against right. They are struggles of class against class. The rule of the 1% is a built-in feature of the economic system of capitalism. Capitalism in its highest stage, where the wealthy bankers in a few countries dominate and repress working people the world over, is called imperialism. Thats where were at now. Racism, anti-immigrant bigotry, police brutality, anti-LGBTQ oppression, sexism and the oppression of women, the marginalization of disabled people, the continued drive toward war and destruction, unemployment, mass poverty all these things flow from this system of capitalism/imperialism. This global system is in an economic meltdown, and all over the globe people are feeling its desperation and viciousness. If OWS is going to grow stronger and more powerful, we have no choice but to join with all the forces involved in this worldwide struggle. Only with millions on our side, from every walk of life, can we truly move toward bringing capitalism/ imperialism to its knees. Can you imagine how the world could look if we actually defeat the 1%? We would hold all the productive power and wealth in common so we could plan the economy in order to eradicate poverty, homelessness, unemployment and all other profit-borne horrors. We could clean up the environment and make sure the earths resources are sustainable for future generations. We could work toward liquidating all oppression and discrimination and building true equality. But we cant do it alone! Sam Marcy, the founder of Workers World Party, called this all-encompassing struggle the Global Class War. And it is a war. The 1% has made a mess of the world, but they have no intention of handing it over to the rest of us without a fierce fight. Youth in Syria, Iran, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Venezuela are fighting to keep the 1% out of their homelands. Palestinians are resisting Zionist occupation. Prisoners are fighting back, demanding an end to tortuous conditions. Workers are fighting to protect their unions. The battle lines are clearly drawn. Now, as this battle rages, the OWS movement must clearly answer: Which side are we on? and Are we ready to fight until victory?

editorial

A revolutionary youths perspective

Libor: Another way banks steal

By G. Dunkel It doesnt sound malevolent. Libor the London interbank offered rate is presented as a series of interest rates, which banks use to make unsecured loans to other banks. The use of Libor began in the early 1960s. Every day, representatives of the worlds biggest banks the ones that are considered too big to fail meet in London and set the Libor for the next day, week, month and year. It is posted daily. Its set for 10 different currencies, including the dollar, euro, pound and yen. The rate can be found on the internet or can be obtained through email from a variety of services. What makes the Libor important is that it is used as a benchmark for interest rates around the world. Some $10 trillion of variable rate mortgages and $350 trillion or so of derivatives are pegged to the Libor. Its also used as a benchmark for credit card interest rates. British regulators who have built a case against Barclays Bank and fined it $450 million for manipulating the Libor say that as much as $500 trillion of financial instruments are pegged to the Libor. What the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission established was that Barclays, starting in 2005, manipulated the Libor to improve the banks profitability. Since Libor is set by the banks themselves, it was and still is easy for them to manipulate how the rate is set. Regulators paid it no mind until currencies like the euro were stressed. The CFTC and its British equivalent were so incensed about what Barclays did and how it ripped off other, smaller banks, financial institutions and governments that they forced the resignation of Barclays top two executives. The Libor demonstrates the immense influence and control the too-big-tofail banks have over the world economy. However, the CFTC and its British and European counterparts will never reveal how the Libor has led to millions of foreclosures and bankruptcies worldwide. Untold numbers of working and poor people have been harmed by the exorbitant interest rates on mortgages and credit, which were manipulated by the Libor. This atrocious theft by the big banks is an intrinsic part of global capitalism. Only socialism can put an end to it.

Look whos talking

Continued from page 8 disguised as internal opposition groups. And the members of the Action Group seeking freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists are the same who manipulated photographs while leading a relentless worldwide media campaign to blame the Syrian government for all the massacres. These same people organized the terrorist attack that killed three Syrian journalists when an armed group attacked Television-al-Ekhbaria in Damascus, hitting it with rockets and blowing it up. Theyd like to also blow away the assurances of Russia and China, [other] members of the Action Group, that no outsider should make decisions that concern the Syrian people. The Western powers have already decided, by activating their war machine, to once again annex Syria to their empire. Translated by John Catalinotto, a WW managing editor, from a July 3 article in Il Manifesto (Italy).

SYRIA:

Capitalism at a Dead End

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Tito Kayak paddles Caribbean to free political prisoners

By Berta Joubert-Ceci Some might consider traveling solo in a kayak on the turquoise but sometimes treacherous waters of the Caribbean Sea during the hurricane season a suicide mission. This, however, is exactly what Puerto Rican daredevil environmental activist Alberto de Jess, better known as Tito Kayak, is doing. For him and thousands of other Puerto Ricans, this action pales in comparison to a life dedicated to the struggle for independence of that island-nation. The aim of this Kayaking through the Caribbean, you see, is to free Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lpez Rivera from the U.S. prison system. Who is Oscar Lpez? The now 69-year-old Lpez had come to the United States as a child with his family. Like many youth at the time, he was drafted into the U.S. military during the war against Vietnam. This experience showed him the need to fight for the liberation of his own people and of Puerto Rico from colonial bondage. After his return to Chicago, where he had moved as a teenager, Lpez worked incessantly toward this goal. He became a community activist, participating in struggles against police brutality, discrimination in the delivery of utility services, housing, etc. He worked to help create educational and cultural programs for youth and prisoners. In 1981, he was arrested, with 14 other compatriots, accused of belonging to a clandestine movement for Puerto Rican independence, the Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN), and charged with and convicted of seditious conspiracy attempting to overthrow the government of the United States in Puerto Rico by force. The sentences were long. After pressure from a campaign of supporters, it was only in 1999 that President Bill Clinton granted clemency to 12 of the 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners in U.S. prisons at the time. Lpez was among the 12, but he refused clemency because it was not offered to all. His imprisonment was the type this imperialist government imposes on all who dare resist long years in maximum security, isolation, difficulties for family visits, lack of adequate health care, etc. In March 2011, Lpez wrote an open letter to the Puerto Rican people explaining why he had decided at that time to request parole, which he had refused in the past. Even though Lpez has shown exemplary behavior in prison, so far his parole has been rejected, and he will have to serve an additional 15 years. This further outrage has angered the solidarity movement, reenergizing it at an international level and prompting newer tactics. One is Kayaking through the Caribbean to free Oscar Lpez, Tito Kayaks initiative. Kayak is well known for his audacious actions on behalf of the environment, the Puerto Rican anti-colonial struggle and world peace. He co-founded in 1995 the organization Amigos/as del M.A.R. (Movimiento Ambiental Revolucionario or Revolutionary Environmental Movement). He was active in the struggle to oust the U.S. Navy from Vieques and for other environmental struggles on the island. In 2007, Kayak was arrested in Panama for hanging a large sign, on the highest point of the Americas Bridge, protesting the passage of ships with radioactive waste through the Panama Canal and the Caribbean. That same year he was jailed in Israel for hanging a Palestinian flag on top of a tower in the Israeli apartheid wall. On June 21, he started his kayaking campaign in Venezuela. His goal is to travel 1,400 miles from Venezuela to Puerto Rico and then to Washington, D.C., the final destination, to demand freedom for Oscar Lpez. Meanwhile, Kayak plans to stop at several islands to raise awareness and bring the struggle for the freedom of Lpez to the international community. As of July 9, his kayak had broken twice, and Kayak had been treated for an injured wrist. At the time of this writing, he is approaching the island of St. Lucia from St. Vincent where he had to stay for several days to repair the kayak. Though the kayak has been temporarily repaired, it is not expected to last the complete journey. A new kayak must be purchased. Donations can be sent to Banco Popular to the account of Alberto De Jess #239560382 or through PayPal to the email account of amigosdelmarpr@ gmail.com.

Tito Kayak

Two other political prisoners Oscar Lpez, however, is not the only Puerto Rican political prisoner, only the longest held in prison. There are also two brothers, Avelino and Norberto Gonzlez Claudio. Both have been accused of participating in the 1985 operation to secure $7.12 million from a Wells Fargo armored truck in Hartford, Conn. That operation was carried out by a clandestine organization fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico, the PRTP-Macheteros, (Puerto Rican Workers Revolutionary Party). Avelino, the older of the two, was apprehended in Puerto Rico in 2008 and since then held in prison in the U.S. Norberto was arrested in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on May 10, 2011. He is also in prison in the U.S. Though their sentences are far shorter than Lpezs, prison conditions have been equally criminal. Both have been denied adequate medical treatment. In Avelinos case, after diagnosis of Parkinsons disease, he was denied necessary treatment, which might cause permanent damage. He might be released earlier, in August 2012 instead of next October, but so far the Federal Bureau of Prisons has made no comment. Norberto, who has served one of five years, will face sentencing Sept. 27 in Hartford. His support committee is encouraging activists to show solidarity that day in front of the court.

U.S. war plans in Asia

Continued from page 1 Tae-hyo, was forced to resign on July 5 that the New York Times decided to let its readers know what was really going on in south Korea: Mr. Lees government had meant the agreement as a limited step toward increasing military ties with Japan, in line with Washingtons desire to bring the two Asian countries closer under a trilateral alliance that could cope more efficiently with North Koreas growing nuclear and missile threats, as well as with Chinas expanding military clout. It quickly became apparent, however, that the government had underestimated South Koreans misgivings about cooperating militarily with Japan. Mr. Lees political opponents quickly seized on that disquiet to begin an election-year offensive, accusing Mr. Lee of kowtowing to Washington and, with various civic groups, likening the conservative governing camp to the past Korean traitors who secretly cooperated with Japans annexation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910. (New York Times, July 5) All Korea was subjected to brutal Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. An estimated 200,000 Korean women were forced into sexual slavery to serve Japanese troops during World War II. Hatred for the colonial oppressors runs very deep in Korea. The U.S. troops that entered southern Korea at the end of World War II effectively divided the south from the north. A guerrilla force led by Kim Il Sung, a Korean communist, aided by the Soviet Union, liberated the north from Japan. In the south, many Koreans who had collaborated with Japan became puppets of the U.S., which also rearmed some Japanese troops to keep the workers and peasants there from throwing out their exploiters and uniting with the socialist forces in the north. Today, along with mass sentiment in the south against being dragged into a military pact with Japan, there is a strong movement to peacefully reunite Korea. Resurgence of movement in south On the same day that Kim Tae-hyo was forced to resign from the Lee government because of his role in the planned military pact with Japan, another south Korean, Ro Su-hui, bravely walked across the heavily militarized border dividing north from south. He was immediately arrested by south Korean officials for having visited the north. Ro had spent more than three months in the DPRK after entering it on March 24 from China. While there, he had publicly called for the reunification of the two Koreas and bitterly criticized President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea for his hard-line North Korea policy. (New York Times, July 5) Ro, who is 68 years old, faces a possible 10 years in prison for violating south Koreas anti-communist National Security Law. (Lim Su-kyung, a reunification activist who was jailed under this law after crossing the border in 1989, won a seat in south Koreas parliament this April another defeat for the right wing.) Before Ro crossed into the south, hundreds of north Koreans pressed flowers on him and waved unity flags. Two groups met him on the south side of the border: one of hard-liners who called him a commie and burned him in effigy, another of supporters who welcomed Ro while calling for repeal of the National Security Law. The very next day, a south Korean drove his van into the gate of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Washingtons plans for a Washington-Tokyo-Seoul axis in Asia are in big trouble.

Workers protest nuclear plant

JAPAN

Protesters in Tokyo denounce decision to reopen nuclear plants, June 29.

The Executive Committee for the 50th International Antiwar Assembly in Japan has issued an official call for the annual anti-war assembly in that country on Aug. 5. The following are excerpts from a recent communique from the committee. Here in Japan, peoples protests against Japans nuclear development and the U.S.-Japan military alliance are growing. Although the Fukushima disaster has not been settled, the government decided to resume the operation of nuclear plants. Inexcusably, the [Yoshihiko] Noda government of Japan has set out to restart a nuclear plant (the Oi plant in Fukui Pre-

fecture), trampling on the painful cries of victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the fierce outcry of the toiling masses against the restart. The announcement of the government that the Fukushima nuclear accident is settled is a complete lie. Prime Minister Noda has reiterated it in order to justify the restart of nuclear plants. Reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant are in imminent danger of the resumption of criticality even with a massive amount of coolant water poured onto the heated nuclear fuels in the reactors.

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Protestas continentales para apoyar la resistencia de los/as trabajadores/as

Cheryl LaBash entrevist a Benjamin Prado de la Unin del Barrio para el peridico Workers World/Mundo Obrero. Unin del Barrio es miembro del Grupo Coordinador del ESNA (Encuentro Sindical Nuestra Amrica), que celebr su quinta reunin continental en la ciudad de Mxico del 21 al 23 de mayo. En el 2009, el gobierno mexicano utiliz a 27.000 agentes federales armados para apoderarse de Luz y Fuerza, el proveedor de energa para la ciudad y el centro de Mxico, quitando a ms de 40.000 miembros del Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas sus puestos de trabajo. El ataque contra este militante sindicato independiente es parte de una ofensiva capitalista ms amplia contra los/as trabajadores/as mexicanos/as incluyendo los mineros en Cananea, los/as trabajadores/as de las aerolneas y los/as maestros que se ha intensificado con el Tratado de Libre Comercio de Amrica del Norte (TLCAN). Representantes del SME han explicado su lucha a lo largo de los Estados Unidos y han trado quejas formales bajo las regulaciones del TLCAN. El Sindicato ha organizado movilizaciones masivas y ocupaciones en el Zcalo, la plaza central de la Ciudad de Mxico. La unidad a travs de las fronteras es esencial para forzar un retroceso de la guerra globalizada del capitalismo contra los/as trabajadores/as. MO: Qu tienen planeado para el 26 de junio? Prado: El 26 de junio, trabajadores/ as por todo el continente se reunirn frente a las embajadas y los consulados mexicanos para demostrar su solidaridad con la clase trabajadora mexicana y sus sindicatos y protestar la poltica terrorista de represin estatal contra los/as trabajadores/as y sus organizaciones. Estas manifestaciones tambin exigirn el fin de las disputas laborales que involucran al Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME), Mineros, el Bloque Democrtico de la Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores en la Educacin, y los/as trabajadores/as de Mexicana de Aviacin. Este llamado tambin pide la liberacin de 12 presos polticos, todos miembros del SME que han sido detenidos por luchar por su derecho a mantener sus puestos de trabajo sindicales. MO: Por qu es importante? Prado: El llamado del 26 de junio es una expresin de solidaridad entre la clase obrera con consciencia de clase de Nuestra Amrica, destinada a levantarse unida con acciones concretas que se oponen a la poltica neoliberal que la oligarqua internacional financiera est tratando de imponer sobre el pueblo trabajador por todas las partes del mundo. Esta expresin de solidaridad con la clase trabajadora mexicana tiene la intencin de enviar el mensaje de que un ataque contra un sector de la clase trabajadora es un ataque contra todos/as los/as trabajadores/as del mundo. Esta accin provee la oportunidad para que todos/as los/as trabajadores/ as ms all de las fronteras nacionales estn unidos/as contra esta agresin generalizada sobre el derecho al trabajo. Adems, la importancia de esta accin antes de la eleccin del 1 de julio es testimonio de la necesidad de un cambio poltico fundamental en Mxico. Es una manifestacin de apoyo a los/ as trabajadores/as mexicanos/as que exigen poner fin a los partidos polticos fascistas del PAN-PRI que han impuesto la poltica de libre comercio ejemplificado por el TLCAN que ha condenado a millones de trabajadores/as al desempleo, subempleo o al trabajo informal sin ninguna proteccin econmica y social. MO: Dnde se origin? Prado: La propuesta de una jornada continental de accin fue presentada a los/as delegados/as de la Quinta Conferencia del ESNA que se celebr en la Ciudad de Mxico del 21 al 23 de mayo. En esta reunin ms de 400 delegados/as mexicanos/as y otros/as 200 delegados/ as que representaban ms de 20 pases, se reunieron para debatir y discutir el impacto del capitalismo sobre los/as trabajadores/as de la regin. Su objetivo era encontrar la unidad en el pensamiento y en la accin en respuesta a la ofensiva capitalista que intenta despojar hasta el ltimo derecho de los/as trabajadores/as y promover la acumulacin de riqueza en manos de un pequeo nmero de empresas transnacionales e individuos.

MEXICO

Activistas de Arizona condenan la decisin del Tribunal Supremo sobre inmigracin

Por Paul Teitelbaum Tucson, Ariz. El dictamen del 25 de junio por el Tribunal Supremo confirmando la disposicin Mustreme sus papeles de la ley anti-inmigrante SB1070 de Arizona fue recibida inmediatamente con indignacin y protesta en Phoenix y Tucson. En Phoenix, los/as manifestantes fueron a la oficina del racista sheriff Joe Arpaio y al Capitolio del Estado. En Tucson, los/as manifestantes se reunieron en una esquina de la interseccin donde queda el edificio estatal y el tribunal federal donde se llevan a cabo las deportaciones en masa de la operacin Streamline. Arizona est al frente del ataque antiinmigrante. Desde sus inicios como territorio robado de Mxico, la historia de Arizona est plagada de racismo. La destruccin de barrios histricos barrios latinos allan el camino para la expansin de las reas metropolitanas de Phoenix y Tucson. Arizona fue uno de los ltimos estados en promulgar un da festivo en honor al Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fue slo despus de una masiva protesta pblica, incluyendo un boicot del Estado y trasladando el Sper Bowl de 1993 fuera de Phoenix, lo que oblig a actuar a la legislatura. Hasta el da de hoy, el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Tucson est bajo un plan de abolicin de la segregacin racial ordenada por el Tribunal. Esta orden de abolicin se impuso primero en 1978, 24 aos despus de que se prohibiera la segregacin, como consecuencia de una demanda que expona el tratamiento racista y la educacin inferior que reciban los/ as latinos/as. de orden pblico en el estado, preparndolos para hacer cumplir las disposiciones en cuanto el tribunal dictaminara. No podemos quedarnos pasivamente y permitir que el estado asle y aterrorice a porciones de nuestra comunidad. Debemos unirnos con quienes estn bajo ataque y hace retroceder el asalto que est dirigido hacia TODAS las personas. La tctica de dividir a las personas por el color de su piel, religin, identidad sexual o si poseen documentos especficos o no, es slo un intento de desviar la atencin de los verdaderos delincuentes y el problema real: los bancos, las corporaciones y la mquina de guerra que roban ms y ms de la riqueza mundial mientras que continuamente enfrentan trabajadores/ as contra trabajadores/as y grupo contra grupo. Debemos unirnos y luchar contra todo lo que intente dividirnos. El racismo, el sexismo, la intolerancia anti-homosexual todo esto tiene que desaparecer. Debemos seguir ampliando la lucha contra la guerra, el racismo y el imperialismo y luchar por puestos de trabajo, legalizacin de los/as indocumentados/as, y el cuidado de la salud y educacin para todos/as. As como vemos los acontecimientos en Paraguay, donde otro golpe antipopular ha ocurrido, es imperativo que tambin nuestra lucha sea global. Ahora es un buen momento para recordar esto: la historia demuestra que lo que importa es lo que sucede en las callesno en los tribunales ni en la Casa Blanca. Eso es lo que finalmente decidir la suerte del pueblo. S se puede. La lucha contina.

En respuesta a la sentencia del Tribunal Supremo, el Centro de Accin Internacional de Tucson emiti la siguiente declaracin: El anuncio del Tribunal Supremo confirmando la disposicin Mustreme sus papeles de la SB1070, contina el asalto contra los/as latinos/as y las comunidades de inmigrantes de Arizona. Esta decisin no es slo la legalizacin del perfil racial, sino que es una luz verde para el racismo y resultar en el aumento de terror por la polica y por la patrulla fronteriza contra las comunidades de color. Todas las personas que estn luchando por sobrevivir bajo el peso de la crisis econmica capitalista deberan tomar nota de esta decisin. La legalizacin del perfil racial por el Tribunal Supremo no va a resolver ninguno de los urgentes prob-

lemas sociales que demandan atencin. No proporcionar empleo, ni cuidado de salud, ni educacin para el pueblo. No arreglar las escuelas, las carreteras o las otras infraestructuras decrpitas. En su lugar, se perder el dinero que podra ser invertido en estos servicios sociales vitales, criminalizando y encarcelando a personas que lo que estn haciendo es tratando de sobrevivir. La gobernadora de Arizona Jan Brewer y el notoriamente racista sheriff Joe Arpaio han estado salivando sobre esto, esperando la oportunidad de llenar las crceles con fines de lucro de sus amigos corporativos. Arpaio no ha escondido su intencin de establecer puestos de control y redadas masivas tan pronto como se anunciara la sentencia, y la gobernadora envi un vdeo de formacin a cada agencia