november/december 2005 danbury, connecticut

Hat City Free Press

volume five issue one FREE

Bordering on Racism
Paul Streitz and the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control page 4

Watertown Danbury Hartford

July 12, 2005 April 18, 2005 July 25, 2005
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page two hat city free press november/december 2005
e d i t o r i a l
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1.203.730.9397 This issue of the Hat City Free Press takes a look at part of the immigration issue that
has been stirring across Connecticut this summer. Primarily taking a deep look into the
online: Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control (CTCIC) and its founding members. A group
ct: that has conjured protest, all across Connecticut, against their anti-immigrant (legal and
www.madhattersimc.org illegal), close the border mentality.
global:
www.indymedia.org
The United States Immigration policies have long needed attention, but the close the
door and lock them out attitude of groups like the CTCIC can only lead us backwards.
donations: America was built on immigration and the pursuit of the “American Dream”. Much of what
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rarely expose, we need
your help. For every $1 you
send, you ensure almost 10 We applaud the Danbury immigrant community for their stand in Danbury against the
more papers will hit the CTCIC and Mayor Mark Boughton. The Mayor’s attempts to appease his white voters by
streets! What an easy way adding new laws to control volleyball games and suggesting the deputizing of state troop-
to help spread the word ers as immigration officers were weak attempts at controlling immigrants in Danbury.
and help the Indymedia Working with and within the many cultural groups in Danbury and with the immigrants
movement grow! themselves is the only way to start to find a solution to the “illegal” immigrant issues that
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november/december 2005 www.madhattersimc.org page three
c o s t o f w a r
What is Indymedia?
The Independent Media Center
Cost of War Update was established in 1999 by vari-
ous independent and alterna-
tive media organizations and
activists for the purpose of pro-
In the last issue of the Hat City Free Press we introduced you to www.iraqbodycount.net viding grassroots coverage of
and www.costofwar.com. the World Trade Organization
protests in Seattle.
Here are the updates as of November 07, 2005 Through a decentralized and
autonomous network, over one
hundred and fifty Independent
Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq: Media Centers have been setup
Minimum – 26,797 around the world and have
Maximum – 30,163 since been established on every
Danbury’s war tax revenue for the war in Iraq is $123.8 million. continent, with more to come.
Indymedia is the collective effort
Note: As of our last issue in April/May it was $76.9 million. of independent media makers
This money could have paid for 12,800 students to attend a year of Head Start, insured from around the world who are
58,000 children for one year, hired 1,600 additional public school teachers for one year, dedicated to providing a forum
provided 4,700 students four-year scholarships at public universities and built 875 addi- for independent reporting about
important social and political
tional housing units. issues. We work out of a love and
inspiration for people who con-
Military Recruitment Database tinue to work for a better world,
despite corporate media’s distor-
Find out the number of new military recruits in 2004 coming from your high school, tions and unwillingness to cover
county, zip code and state. Get analysis with tables and charts explaining who these the efforts to free humanity.
recruits are in terms of income levels, gender, race/ethnicity as well as highlighting the
cost of war and militarism on local communities. The Hat City Free Press:
The Hat City Free Press is created
To get a snapshot overview and analysis of the military recruitment data, which includes and published by the Mad
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ter based on the belief that
cooperation, equality and
k a t r i n a s u p p o r t decentralization are a better
alternative to the structured,

From Hartford to New Orleans: oppressive society we live in

today. We believe in the open
exchange of and open access
Hartford Food Not Bombs Provides Direct Relief to New Orleans Hurricane Victims to information.
Our name was adapted from the
B Y D AV E R O Z Z A , H A R T F O R D U N D E R C U R R E N T , S E P T E M B E R 2005 histories on our hometown.
Danbury was once known as the
W I T H A N I N T R O D U C T I O N B Y D AV E B O N A N Hat capitol of the world and it is
said that the first hat made in the
U.S. was made in Danbury. The
With over 200 autonomous chapters in the continental United States, not to mention the hundreds of City’s Hat Manufacturing Industry
other chapters throughout the rest of the world, Food Not Bombs (www.foodnotbombs.net) recovers and caused massive mercury pollu-
tion of our land, water and air,
redistributes surplus food to anyone who is hungry. Food Not Bombs was formed out of the anti-nuclear resulting in many cases of mer-
movement, rooted in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some chapters serve once a week while others serve cury poisoning throughout the
every day. Danbury area. We use our name
It was no surprise that when Hurricane Katrina was about to make landfall there was a buzz on the U.S. out of respect for our community
and out of respect to the many
Food Not Bombs email list about providing direct aid to those who needed it, alongside (and at times workers who suffered as a result
against the wishes of) the federal relief agencies. Food Not Bombs has no central office or leaders, there- of the hat industries.
fore groups around the country who had the means and access to large donations of bulk food, transporta-
tion, organized themselves and headed south to aid in the largest show of mass solidarity in recent years. Get Involved!
This paper and our website both
For twelve years Hartford Food Not Bombs has served hot meals every Sunday in Bushnell Park to function under the principles of
the hungry and homeless. Food Not Bombs has chapters all over the world and operates as an inde- open publishing. We encourage
pendent, egalitarian-run entity that draws attention to hunger in the US by providing food to those in our community and our readers
need by utilizing ingredients that would otherwise go to waste. In response to Hurricane Katrina, to participate in the creation of
Hartford FNB packed up a bus dubbed “The Pirate Ship” with food, water, medical supplies and other independent media by writing
and submitting stories to this
necessities. On September 6, the bus left Hartford for the Gulf Coast to help and support the victims paper and/or our website. There
of the hurricane and the subsequent lack of response by government and “relief” organizations. Along are many stories that happen
the way, we were tailed and photographed by a vehicle we later found to be from the Department of everyday that go unpublished
Homeland Security. One would think they have more pressing issues to attend to. by the corporate media.
We arrived in Louisiana on September 8 and started delivering food and supplies to areas neglect- Become the media yourself and
ed by FEMA, The Red Cross, Salvation Army and other groups. Most of the communities we visited report on those stories you feel
were extremely impoverished black neighborhoods. Some of the families we spoke to told us that we are important.
were the first sign of help they had seen since the hurricane hit. Two days later we loaded up the bus You can contribute to the Hat
again and after passing through a military checkpoint, drove over the causeway into New Orleans. The City Free Press by submitting full-
initial scenes we saw could easily be described as “post-apocalyptic.” Cars lay abandoned on streets length articles, letters to the edi-
tors, opinion pieces, photos,
and highways with their gas tanks opened and gas caps removed. Whole billboards and their support drawings, comics and other art-
structures crushed buildings below them, and the corporate logos of fast food restaurants were mauled work suitable for newspapers. All
by the high winds. submissions will be considered on
As we crossed the Huey P Long Bridge and traveled into the neighborhood of Algiers, we came into an equal basis.
contact with a mass of military personnel doing nothing to help the survivors. Instead of providing Any reproduction of stories, pho-
much needed aid to residents, they spent their time following our bus and questioning our purpose for tos or artwork contained in these
being there. pages must use appropriate
Algiers is an economically and environmentally depressed neighborhood with high rates of cancer bylines and credit where due.
and other maladies. Our first stop was at Malik Rahim’s house to drop off food and medical supplies.
Rahim is a community activist/former Black Panther Party member who lent his house to be used as For inquiries, suggestions and/or
submissions, email:
a staging area for grassroots relief efforts. hcfp@madhattersimc.org
In a neighborhood mosque, activists from DC and CT had set up the first and only free clinic named
the Common Ground Wellness Clinic with the philosophy of “solidarity not charity.” The clinic offers
free services ranging from Hepatitis B and Tetanus vaccines to hypertension and diabetic care. It is
completely volunteer staffed with credentialed medical personnel. At the time of our arrival, the
mosque housed both the clinic and a food pantry, however, since it was taxing on the volunteers to run M ORE N EWS C AN
both, FNB was asked to set up a kitchen outside of the clinic offering hot meals to patients and resi- B E F OUND O N T HE
dents. Both the Common Ground Collective and FNB set up these community services with the hope
that after volunteers leave, the community will pick up where they left off and services will continue. W EB
Despite all of the ugliness that this tragedy brought out including classism, racism and apathy,
Algiers represented to me an oasis. The positive side of human nature and community prevailed in this
neighborhood and the sentiment of mutual aid is one that will hopefully last long after this tragedy has www. madhattersimc. org
passed.

Food Not Bombs volunteers will remain in New Orleans and Mississippi for as long as there is a
need. For more information, to donate, or to read a detailed journal of their work, please visit
www.HartfordFNB.org or call 860-978-3562.
page four
i m m i g r a t i o n i s s u e
Bordering on Racism
Paul Streitz and the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control
B Y E I A N W E I S S M A N A N D C O L I N C A S C I A
Just about a year after its formation, the anti-immigrant group
Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control (CTCIC) seems to
have basically dissolved. The CTCIC was founded in early 2005
by Paul Streitz, Mary Long and Peter Gadiel. Their mission state-
ment is as follows (according to their website):
1. Protect our National Borders
2. Enforce Immigration Laws
3. No Amnesty [for illegal immigrants]
Recently Gadiel and Long have split with Paul Streitz over an
informal study that Streitz performed, although it appears that
they had been distancing themselves from the group for some
time beforehand.
In the study, in question, Streitz observed the employees in all
152 McDonalds outlets in Connecticut (but did not interview
them) to determine the ethnicity of their work force. He conclud-
ed that McDonalds overwhelmingly hires Hispanics, and has dis-
criminated toward other races.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, and
Kevin O’Connor, the U.S. attorney responded to Streitz’s study
by questioning its validity.
Peter Gadiel, whose son died in the attacks of September 11,
also heads 9/11 Families for a Secure America, which focuses on
border security. He stated recently of Streitz, “I will have nothing
to do with the man. I live on the same planet with the man, and
that’s enough.”
Mary Long has stated, similarly, “I guess I view Paul Streitz as
sort of over the top, radical, not credible…”
Streitz has incited special controversy (as well as driving a
wedge into his own core membership) with an email sent to vol-
unteers of the CTCIC urging them to “check some MexDonalds
and observe how many workers are there [sic] and their ethnic
origin.”
Controversy has surrounded the CTCIC for some time now. In
one rather spectacular instance — Monday April 11, 2005 —
Peter Gadiel, then president of the CTCIC appeared on “CNN
Tonight with Lou Dobbs”. He claimed, on air, that the “massive
illegal immigration directly contributed to the 9-11 terrorists’ abil-
ity to carry out their conspiracy,” by providing the terrorists with
an “ocean in which to hide in plain sight.”
He neglected to mention that the terrorists who perpetrated the
9-11 attacks entered the US legally.
On CNN that night, to illustrate his point, Gadiel presented
what he claimed was a forged work visa, with his picture and
name that he obtained illegally. Again he omitted some crucial
details:
According to Arturo Sarukhan, the Consul General of Mexico,
who subsequently contacted Gadiel with a personally addressed
letter, the fake identification card Gadiel brought on to the show
has been obsolete since March 2002. Since then new cards have
been issued which Sarukhan describes as “highly sophisticat-
ed… with 14 security features to prevent forgery and non-
Mexican nationals from obtaining a consular ID.”
CTCIC Targets Danbury
“Many, many immigrants died in the towers,” said Maria Cinta
Lowe, the executive director of the Danbury Hispanic Center,
who attended the open forum meeting of the CTCIC held in
Danbury earlier this year. Lowe was escorted out of the
American Legion Hall early on in the meeting by two police offi-
cers when she attempted to voice her opinions.
“Immigrants are not criminals,” said Marcelo Menezes, a
Danbury resident who also attended the meeting on April 18.
Menezes is correct; crossing the border or overstaying a given
time on a visa are not crimes, according to an article by Nina
Bernstein published in the New York Times in December of 2003,
“Immigration violations, like staying in the country after a visa
has expired, can lead to deportation but are not criminal matters
and have traditionally been the responsibility of federal agents.”
“This is just a KKK reunion. [This is] like what has happened in
the past in Alabama,” Menezes added, “if the law is going to lis-
ten to these clowns.”
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton’s recent push to deputize state
troopers as immigration officers attracted national media atten-
tion, as well as the consternation of many law enforcers, worried
that it would prevent them from solving crimes in immigrant com-
munities. Boughton’s grandstanding also harks back to the media
fiasco surrounding Wallingford, Connecticut in April 2001.
Overnight, Wallingford, CT became a tourist attraction for neo-
Nazi leaders such as Matthew Hale (now in prison for ordering
the assassination of a judge) because of that city’s refusal to
acknowledge Martin Luther King Day by not giving the day off to
federal employees.
White supremacists, regardless of their affiliation all seem to
be drawn to the limelight to use it as a cheap and easy means to
spread their ideas; and the warm glow surrounding the CTCIC
hat city free press november/december 2005
would therefore be enticing. And Streitz seems none too eager to
discourage them.
The WASP nest
Paul Streitz recently published a pair of articles, included
together for emphasis, on the website of The Magic City Morning
Star of Maine.
The first article, entitled “Upper-Class WASP’s Sell-Out
America”, briefly states Streitz’s views on the founding principles
of this nation, “…the template of American society, that is, the
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture.”
“The upper-class WASP’s have abandoned these notions and
surrendered themselves in every aspect of society… to the dis-
establishment, destructive forces of globalism, diversity and mul-
ticulturalism.”
In the second article, entitled “The Great American College
Tuition Rip-Off”, Streitz gets personal. Hamilton College (his
Alma Mater), is a “microcosm of these cultural shifts…” and a
conduit by which multiculturalism, “…a radical left version of
communism, without the economics” is spread to the rest of soci-
ety. “Multiculturalism is a way of glorifying every primitive socie-
ty on the planet while trashing the values of the greatest, wealth-
iest, most free society that ever existed.”
He goes on to state that while the civilized cultures teach their
children to survive in the modern world, “primitive tribes teach
the skills to survive in a jungle habitat…”
In another recent article posted on the same website, Streitz
dares his detractors to “Please, yell racist!”
Grassroots or Astroturf
At first gaze, the world of organized anti-immigration activism
seems rather disorganized. It seems difficult, amidst the great
jumble of acronyms and American flags to make out any real
structure. It seems, at first, like a real grassroots movement with
small organizations scattered around the nation. Then one
begins to notice a few names popping up again and again.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project is one
of this nation’s foremost authorities on white supremacist and
anti-immigrant extremists. The U.S. News & World Report once
commented that its work “…bested the nation’s mighty law
enforcement agencies.”
A few years back, the Southern Poverty Law center published
a few articles in its quarterly newspaper about an ophthalmolo-
gist from Michigan named John Tanton. One of these articles,
entitled “The Puppeteer,” begins with the subtitle, “The organized
anti-immigration ‘movement,’ increasingly in bed with racist hate
groups, is dominated by one man, John Tanton.”
Nearly all of the anti-immigrant organizations of any conse-
quence that currently exist in this country are the handiwork of
this man. Most of the rest, like the Connecticut Citizens for
Immigration Control, seem to be mere ideological offshoots of his
organizations. Here is a brief list, compiled by the SPLC of the
groups that Tanton has funded or founded himself:
-*American Immigration Control Foundation — AICF, 1983, funded
-*American Patrol/Voice of Citizens Together — 1992, funded
-California Coalition for Immigration Reform — CCIR, 1994, funded
-U.S. Inc. — 1982, founded and funded
-Californians for Population Stabilization — 1996, funded (founded
separately in 1986)
-Center for Immigration Studies — CIS, 1985, founded and funded
-Federation for American Immigration Reform — FAIR, 1979,
founded and funded
-NumbersUSA — 1996, founded and funded
-Population-Environment Balance — 1973, joined board in 1980
-Pro English — 1994, founded and funded
-ProjectUSA — 1999, funded
-*The Social Contract Press — 1990, founded and funded
-U.S. English — 1983, founded and funded
(An asterisk denotes that a group is considered a hate group by
the SPLC, and organizations in italics are linked to from the
CTCIC website.)
The CCC-onnection
While attempting a veneer of legitimacy, even a cursory exam-
ination of Tanton’s organizations uncovers many blatant ties to
racists and extremist, white-supremacist organizations. This
brings us to the Council of Conservative Citizens.
The CCC originally developed out of the Citizens Councils of
America (CCA) — a network of white, pro-segregation groups
that formed after Brown vs. Board of Education ruled segrega-
tion illegal. The CCA was also known as the White Citizens
Council, as well “white-collar-klan” and the “uptown-klan” for
november/december 2005 www.madhattersimc.org
their numerous influential members.
The CCA can be remembered for helping to fund the defense
of Byron De La Beckwith, a member of a CCA chapter who shot
to death the civil rights activist Medgar Evers, an act immortal-
ized in the film Ghosts of Mississippi.
The CCC apple, unsurprisingly, never fell far from the tree. In
fact, its founder Gordon Baum, formerly the CCA’s Midwest field
director, as well as other leaders of the CCC have acknowledged
that they built their group on the basis of the mailing lists of the
old White Citizens Councils.
Today, the main publication of the CCC, the Citizen’s Informer,
rails against blacks (“genetically inferior”), homosexual (“pervert-
ed sodomites”), affirmative action, non-white immigration (“slimy
brown mass of glop”), “Jewish power brokers”, and aids-research
as well as publishing a number of articles by Abernathyi. The
Citizen’s informer has strong ties to John Tanton’s organization
Social Contract Press. Wayne Lutton, the current editor of the
Social Contract Journal (the mouthpiece of the Social Contract
Press and of John Tanton) also served on the editorial board of
the Citizen’s Informer.
The CCC also has a great deal of overlap with another John
Tanton funded group, the American Immigration Control
Foundation (AICF). Brent Nelson who is a board member of the
AICF is an advisor to the Citizens Informer. Also, John Vinson,
the longtime director of the AICF, writes for the Citizens Informer
and regularly speaks at its gatherings.
Wayne Lutton also serves on the board of the New Century
Foundation (considered a hate group by the SPLC), which pub-
lishes American Renaissance magazine and hosts biannual con-
ference. American Renaissance magazine which is a sort of
pseudo-scientific journal focusing on eugenics (selective breed-
ing to promote racial characteristics) and other aspects of scien-
tific racism, while the biannual conferences provide a real-time
forum for these ideas.
Glen Spencer, the head of American Patrol has spoken at
American Renaissance conferences on numerous occasions. A
recent issue of the CTCIC newsletter reports that a personal con-
ference with Glenn Spencer had been planned by the CTCIC
(although Spencer cannot attend).
Another racist thread that ties most of these organizations
together is the source of their funding. The infamous Pioneer
Fund, for one, has heavily funded three of the groups in the list
above. Since its founding in 1937 the Pioneer Fund has funded
studies of eugenics and the supposed links between race and
intelligence. The Pioneer Fund has provided massive grants to
FAIR ($1,200,000 between 1985 and 1994), Project USA and the
American Immigration Control Foundation ($190,000 through
1998).
Public Relations
While Streitz seems to have taken many lessons from the likes
of the CCC and Paul Tanton, he seems to have missed the class-
es on public relations management.
Although it may take only a little investigative work to uncover
the truth of the matter, many of the more mainstream anti-immi-
grant organizations do make an effort to gloss over the racist
leanings of their constituents. Streitz, on the other hand, never
seemed interested in hiding his true sentiments.
Streitz frequently posts to the message board on the Save Our
State website, a California based anti-immigrant group. At the top
of the website is text reading “Welcome to Mexifornia.” In one
post, referring to Home Depot’s decision to actively hire more
Latinos, a decision that made no reference to illegal immigrants,
Streitz said, “It would be interesting to hear Home Depot explain
how illiterate, non-English speaking Mexicans, making less than
the minimum wage, are going to be buying lawn mowers, kitchen
appliances and expensive power tools from Home Depot.” He
went on to say, “It is depressing to say that, in 2005, the United
States has a President who refuses to defend American borders
against the Mexican invasion.”
“Mexican invasion” is a phrase that often occurs in Streitz’s
articles and essays. Another word that often turns up in anti-
immigrant rhetoric is “reconquista” or reconquest. The idea here
is that immigrants who are crossing the border, regardless of
their legal status are actually agents of the Mexican government
attempting to reconquer Texas and California. The paranoia orig-
inates from a statement made by former Mexican Consul General
Jose Angel Pescador Osuna. According to the Canadian anti-
immigrant website Canada First, “Discussing a new, Mexican law
permitting dual citizenship Jose Angel Pescador Osuna, Mexican
Consul General in Los Angeles told an audience at the
Southwestern University School of Law, February 6, 1998: ‘I think
we are practicing la Reconquista in California.’”
However, most of the anti-immigrant websites fail to site the
full quote, which is prefaced with “Although I say this half in seri-
ousness and half in joking…”
Streit’s writing is rife with racial stereotypes. In another article
he states, “Since 1965, there have been over 80,000 murders in
the State of California. The mass migration of Mexicans into
California turned parts of Los Angeles and other cities into killing
fields. Gangs of Mexicans compete with gangs of African-
Americans.”
In an article about the effects of immigration on black commu-
nities, in which flows a searing undercurrent of racism, Streitz
writes, “Growing up in the hood means African-Americans must
live next door to Mexicans who think having goats in the back-
page five
i m m i g r a t i o n i s s u e
yard is perfectly acceptable.”
Strange words from a man who told the Hartford Courant “he
has no ‘great animosity’ toward undocumented immigrants,” and
“dismisses allegations that his organization is a right-wing group
or supports vigilantism.”
The latter statement is also strange in light of Streitz’s volun-
teering with the Minutemen in Arizona this preceding spring.
The Reconquista-dors
Such alarmist notions as that of the “reconquista” is yet anoth-
er ideological tie that binds Streitz to such openly racist members
of Taunton’s network as Barbara Coe of the California Coalition
for Immigration Reform and Glen Spencer of Voices of Citizens
Together (VCT — a.k.a. American Patrol).
Both Coe and Spencer are well known to be racists. Coe – who
has repeatedly referred to Mexicans as “savages” – organizes an
annual Fourth of July rally with the VCT, which is regularly
attended by prominent neo-Nazis. Coe heads the California
Coalition for Immigration Reform (to which the CTCIC website
contains a link). Glenn Spencer, recognized by the SPLC as
racist, has spoken at many events alongside prominent neo-
Nazis, holocaust deniers, Klansmen and eugenicists. Spencer
also heads Voices of Citizens together, which is considered a
racist organization by the SPLC (and to which the CTCIC website
has a link).
In his article “Please, yell racist!” that was mentioned earlier,
Streitz alludes to this theory while defending his involvement with
the Minutemen in Arizona. “The Minutemen followed strict proto-
cols of only reporting, not intercepting any illegals. But, there
were few crossings because the Mexican government diverted
them to other areas.”
The Minutemen — the vigilante, armed border patrol that
formed in Arizona earlier this year — also have some links to
white supremacist extremists.
The founders of the Minutemen, Chris Simcox and Jim Gilchrist
—both of California—claimed that their volunteers were screened
by the FBI for known white-supremacists. This claim is com-
pletely false. They denied any connection with white-supremacist
or extremist groups. Yet, according to a report by the Southern
Poverty Law Center, this was not the case. According to Mark
Potok, the director of the Intelligence Project, of the Southern
Poverty Law Center, “…In fact, there were at least six men par-
ticipating who were members of the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi
group whose members have been involved in crimes including
assassination, shootouts with police, the machine-gun murder of
a Jewish talk show host, bank robberies, plots to bomb Disney
World and more. At least two of these men actually discussed
setting up sniper positions along the border sometime in the near
future. In addition, there was at least one member of the Aryan
Nations, another major neo-Nazi group, participating in the
Minuteman Project.”
While these individuals might have merely slipped through the
dragnet, Simcox himself revealed his true colors in an interview
with the SPLC.
When queried on his reasons for moving from Los Angeles to
Tombstone, Arizona, Simcox stated, “Oh, Jesus, it is unbeliev-
able. I mean, we need the National Guard to clean out all our
cities and round them [Mexican immigrants] up. They are hard-
core criminals. They have no problem slitting your throat and tak-
ing your money or selling drugs to your kids or raping your
daughters and they are evil people…”
In addition, in an article by Marc Cooper entitled “On the
Border of Hyprocrisy”, Cooper refers to a presentation by Simcox
along with fellow Minute[wo]man Kathy Harvey he observed at
the town meeting hall in Tombstone. “My theory,” she stated, “is
there is a well-organized plan that actively recruits these people
from all over Mexico, right down to Mexico City.”
Simcox responded, “These are not poor migrant workers,” he
says. “Not if they spent $1,200 just to get to the border.”
More recently —in Hartford, Connecticut on June 25, 2005—
the CTCIC organized a rally in front of Senator Joe Lieberman’s
office to oppose his support of the McCain-Kennedy Bill. The bill
seeks to provide, among other things, a guest-worker program
for illegal immigrants by which they can qualify for permanent
residence (after paying a fine and working for six years).
Kasha Ho’okili Ho of the American Friends Service Committee
was present at a counter-protest across the street.
“We came to rally across the street in support of immigrants’
rights and outnumbered the CTCIC rally both in people and pos-
itive energy. One of the main groups visible in the CTCIC rally
(there were only 17 people) was carrying a banner for ‘European-
American Unity and Rights Organization’ with David Duke’s web-
site on the bottom.”
David Duke, the ex-Klansman, co-founded the European-
American Rights Organization (EURO) with the Council of
Conservative Citizens. EURO was formerly known as National
Organization for European American Rights (NOFEAR). EURO is
an anti-immigrant group that predicts genocide against European
Americans if the white majority is lost in the US and claims that
Third World immigration and multiculturalism “…will destroy the
character and heritage of America.” Their website publishes a
steady stream of anti-Semitic, racist rhetoric, including a recent
article denying the veracity of the holocaust.
Also present at the Hartford protest, leading a march of the
continued on page eight
page six hat city free press november/december 2005
l a b o r

Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Taco Bell Reach

Groundbreaking Agreement
C O M P I L E D B Y D AV E B O N A N

Immokalee/Louisville – In a prece- with the CIW on several fronts to 30 percent Guatemalan, 10 percent
dent-setting move, fast-food industry improve working conditions in Florida’s Haitian and the rest African-American.
leader Taco Bell Corp., a division of tomato fields. For its part, the CIW has The boycott came after nearly eight
Yum! Brands (the world’s largest agreed to end its three-year boycott of years of organizing in the community.
restaurant corporation) has agreed to Taco Bell, saying that the agreement In that time the CIW held community
work with the Florida-based farm work- “sets a new meetings of
er organization, the Coalition of standard of pickers; did
Immokalee Workers (CIW), to address social respon- “It is the most significant victory constant on-
the wages and working conditions of
farm workers in the Florida tomato
sibility for the
f a s t - f o o d since the successful grape boy- to rhg ae n-i zj i no gb;
industry, essentially meeting all of industry.” sponsored
CIW’s demands. This ends the 4-year In a stunning cott led by the UFW in the 1960s local activi-
boycott staged by the CIW against
Taco Bell. They had also organized the
reversal
company policy
of in the fields of California.” ties like fies-
tas; opened a
“Taco Bell Truth Tour” on campuses and their food co-op;
nationwide to garner additional sup- union-busting efforts and an obvious mounted a thirty-day hunger strike in
port. bowing to the boycott, Taco Bell said 1998; walked 250 miles to Florida’s
Taco Bell announced it will fund a other restaurant chains and supermar- capital from Immokalee in 2000; and
penny per pound “pass-through” with kets, along with the Florida Tomato exposed human trafficking and slavery
its suppliers of Florida tomatoes who Committee, should join in seeking leg- in the fields that led to several high-
employ the farm workers. The money islative reform, because “human rights profile convictions. These significant
will go directly toward the workers. are universal and we hope others will efforts succeeded in raising wages to
Taco Bell will undertake joint efforts follow our company’s lead.” pre-1980 levels. But further and faster
Lucas Benitez, a progress was needed because farm
leader of the CIW workers still made only about $7,500 a
News Brief said the victory was year (according to the U.S. Department
“an important victory of Labor) and had no health insurance,
for farm workers, vacation, sick days, pensions, over-
one that establishes time pay, or labor law protection.
NYU, Grad TAs End Talks, Strike Looms a new standard of CIW is a membership-led organiza-
AM New York , November 1, 2005 social responsibility tion of agricultural workers based in
for the fast-food Immokalee, Florida, that seeks justice
The union representing New York University graduate industry and makes for farm workers and promotes their
teaching assistants said yesterday (Oct. 31), it has an immediate mate- fair treatment in accordance with
authorized a strike for November 9 over the university’s rial change in the national and international labor stan-
refusal to negotiate a second contract. The workers are lives of workers. dards. Among its accomplishments, the
represented by Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers In 2004, Taco Bell CIW has aided in the prosecution of
Union, which represents 1,000 teaching assistants. purchased approxi- five slavery operations by the
NYU, which was the only private university in the coun- mately 10 million Department of Justice and the libera-
try to recognize a union of graduate students, was freed pounds of Florida tion of over 1,000 workers. The CIW
from its legal obligation to negotiate with Local 2110 tomatoes, represent- uses creative methods to educate con-
when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled ing less than one sumers about human rights abuses in
last year that graduate students at private universities percent of Florida’s the U.S. agriculture industry, corporate
aren’t workers and can’t form unions. That ruling reversed tomato production. social responsibility, and how con-
a 2000 NLRB decision that had concluded graduate Taco Bell serves sumers can help workers realize their
teaching assistants had the right to form unions because more than 35 million social change goals.
they were essentially workers. consumers each
The union’s first contract with NYU expired on August 31. week in more than For more info go to www.ciw-online.org
NYU claims their offer was rejected forthright while the 6,500 restaurants in To read the new agreements go to
union contends NYU did not negotiate in good faith. the U.S. www.monthlyreview.org/1005leary.htm
The CIW of roughly
2,500 immigrant Information taken from CIW press
workers are 50 release from March 8, 2005 and from
percent Mexican, the Monthly Review, October 2005.

Nov 22-229
november/december 2005 www.madhattersimc.org page seven
s o c i a l i s m

An Introduction to Socialism
B Y C H R I S G A R A F FA

When targeted by the Left for her anti-worker, pro-corporate
policies, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher responded,
“There is no alternative.” This phrase was used so often that it
soon became shortened simply to “TINA.” It was a “resistance
is futile” attitude which is still quoted today. Arial Sharon, the
Israeli Prime Minister, is known to ask his opposition, “What’s
the alternative?” His answer is that there is no alternative to
oppression, poverty, war and need. For Americans working in
GM plants awaiting a pink slip and Palestinians fearing Israeli-
driven and American-made Caterpillar bulldozers, there cannot
be an alternative; else, the elite would be threatened.
An unfortunate fact for the minority who seek to protect their
wealth and power is that Thatcher and company have been
wrong. In 1848, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote that “A
spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism.” Their
philosophy has inspired generations of communists and social-
ists. Their names (Marx especially) have been tarnished from
day one. Most recently in the modern, post-Cold War age, the
mention of Socialism conjures images of Joseph Stalin, the dic-
tator whose distortion of Marxist philosophy destroyed much of
the hope for the Soviet Union, even years after his death.
The truth is that true Socialism looks very little like the
stereotypical, Stalinist USSR. Far from being a dictatorial con-
trolled one-party system, Socialism aims to implement true
democracy and liberation. In modern representative states, the
exercise of democracy is performed once every few years.
Under Socialism it is believed that the working class has the
ability to reason and rule itself; democracy would be exercised
much more routinely. The entire society would be run from the
bottom up. At the base of socialist belief is the idea of libera-
tion. Capitalism as a system that is designed to oppress; fur-
ther, it divides the Oppressed in hopes that they will not rise up
against it. The economy as planned by the influence of individ-
ual profit does not provide for the needs of all, though it easily
could. Capitalism has actually brought about the material
requirements necessary to rid the world of the ills of oppres-
sion, hunger and poverty.
A socialist society would see changes on all levels. First and
foremost, the class system would be abolished. On the individ-
ual scale, healthcare for all would be free and accessible. To
train doctors for this universal healthcare system, education
would also be free from kindergarten through the highest levels
of the universities. Public transportation, homes, food and utili-
ties would follow suit as monies wasted on the weapons of war
and advertising (approximately $1.2 trillion in 2005) are redis-
tributed. Personal liberation would be achieved by allowing
marriage between any consenting people regardless of gender
or sexual orientation. Women would have access to birth control
and abortions, and will be finally liberated as they would be
able to have control over their own bodies. Racial minorities
would offer to society the pieces of their heritage which they
celebrate and not fear any punishment.
Work would not be abolished, but less time would be spent on
it as technology would be utilized to improve the lives of all.
Working conditions would get better, and pay would be fair until
it was deemed unnecessary. Workers would run their factories
and establishments in the form of soviets (workers’ councils),
democratically making decisions which directly affect them
instead of leaving it up to the abstract layers of management
and bosses. Each soviet would elect representatives for the
local soviet, which in turn would elect representatives, up to the
national level.
A specific, future socialist society could not be described in
detail, as it would be up to those living it to shape it. The path
to that future is similarly outlined. In his theory of permanent
revolution, Trotsky shows that the bourgeoisie could not be
trusted to institute, through reform or revolution, true democra-
cy. Instead, the task would fall to the proletariat, the majority of
people, to go through with the socialist revolution. The theory
also outlines part of the failure of Stalin’s “Socialism in one
nation” policy by showing that a socialist state could not exist
for long with the pressures of a capitalist world, leading to the
need for revolution in other countries and eventually worldwide.
A socialist society can not be achieved by reform, whether in
the form of Democrats or Greens. A revolution must take place
and develop from the bottom up. That is to say, a leader cannot
declare Socialism in any country; the people must unite in
struggle for liberation and overthrow the government. With
reform comes compromise: witness the destruction, piece
by piece, of Bill Clinton’s health care plan.

d i s a r m a m e n t

Sr. Platte Ok’d for Probation in Maryland

FROM THE NUCLEAR RESISTER ISSUE #138 SEPTEMBER 2005

Ardeth Platte, 69, and her codefendants, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson, are
Dominican religious sisters who entered, revealed and symbolically disarmed a
Minuteman nuclear missile in its silo on the high plains of Colorado, October 6, 2002.
Platte will be released to probation in December and allowed to return to Baltimore and
her home at Jonah House. Gilbert, who also lives at Jonah House, and Hudson, who
resides in Washington State, are on probation after serving their prison terms. Gilbert
and Hudson have both refused to pay fines or restitution, and federal authorities in
Colorado will have to decide whether this violation should result in provocation of their
probation and a return to prison.

Letters of support should be sent to Ardeth Platte 10857-039, FPC Danbury,

Pembroke Station Rt. 37, Danbury, CT 06811-0379.

A FTERWORD BY D AVE B ONAN

Platte’s actions echo thousands of actions held at military facilities around the world
in the last twenty-five years. Such actions include entering gated facilities and symbol-
ically pouring fake blood on war machines, taking hammers and destroying nuclear air-
plane cockpit controls and mass “die-ins”. The blood symbolizes human unity and the
willingness to give one’s life rather than to take life.
These actions are known as the Swords into Plowshares (disarmament) movement
and have been taking place since 1980, also the years that the anti-nuclear (anti-nuke)
movement gained notoriety and momentum worldwide.
The people who commit these actions are anywhere between 18 and 75 years old
and some are even priests and nuns who know they will be jailed for many years for
their crimes. Some critics call their actions acts of violence. Those who commit the “vio-
lence” argue the property they destroy commit acts of violence and they are trying to
stop the spread of violence on a global scale, funded by U.S. taxpayer money. They are
willing to sacrifice their lives for what
they feel is their just cause, no mat-
ter how much jail time they face.
For more info:
www.plowsharesactions.org
Platte has been serving her sentence at
Danbury’s Federal Correctional
Institution (FCI) on Route 37. She will
be released on December 22. Those
wishing to join area citizens in wel-
coming her as she is released should
call Dave Bonan at the Danbury
IMC 203-730-9397 for more info.
page eight hat city free press november/december 2005
c r e a t i v e m e d i a

Roll Them Down Hills tree trunks and spelunking in

caves. Some of us showed com-
we gorged ourselves on before we left the
forests. This was our war paint. Those of
passion and helped our enemy us that had spent years in the forest knew
BY GEORGIOS “COMPOST” TSANGARIS die. Why draw it out and make it more about magic and were respected as
painful? Cities had been on life elders. They had pouches and powders
Our goblins kicked their webbed toes in support for ages anyway. They and they grabbed spiritual pom poms and
the water, propelling the canoe towards burrowed into the excretions of the behe- beat their foreheads on tom toms. Our eld-
the bank. The male barnacles, who have moths, finding nourishment in the form of ers were cheerleaders of the revolution,
(proportionally speaking) the largest heady expired juices and traveling across not the vanguard. Some were only 12 city-
penises in the animal kingdom, took over lines on paper that all of us were itching to years old but we hailed them as living fos-
the rowing when snapping turtles had bit- erase. We all had to scrub off the tattoos sils. They were coelacanths and they sup-
ten away the goblins legs. It would take that the cities had put on us in our sleep. ported our weight when our minds made
hours for the legs to grow back, and the We had to use brambles but we were born us top heavy. Greed acted like an exotic
canoe had to get towards the shore soon- anew without those marks on our flesh. hemorrhagic fever among our enemies,
er than that. The rendezvous was already Whatever we needed that couldn’t be and their soldiers deserted the barricades,
beginning. The night was lit up with burn- found in their rubbish heaps we claimed as and only survived if they could scratch off
ing skyscrapers in the distance like giant booty. All’s fair in love and war and we’re their tattoos. Not all of them even realized
torches lit by angry Luddites. That night it hopped up on both. We put our eye patch- they had been tattooed. If they asked for
wasn’t the stars that fell onto Alabama, it es on, chopped off our legs and hopped directions we knew they didn’t understand
was satellites. The canoe reached the into stores with our wooden appendages yet.
shore and we could finally relax. The last clicking on the tile floors. There were Midwives. We weren’t sure of it then but
threats to our safety on this side of the sticks of dynamite in our beards and gold now we know, we were all midwives at that
river were miles tall but shrinking every teeth gleaming in our eyes. We ran out point in time. We had feathers growing out
minute, and their death lit up our celebra- cackling, laden down with loot. Some of us of our armpits and had bird’s beaks in our
tory picnic while angels trumpets bloomed were caught and middle aged people tried earlobes and soon we realized we could
from our eyelids. Now the world belongs to to teach them that everything on earth is fly. Our knotted hair became antennae
us and the first thing we’re doing is setting binary and vertical, and we wept for our and we learned radar from creatures
it free. After that we’re taking our memo- captured brethren in between moans as who wore their bones as skin tight bul-
ries of the hard times before the end of we made love in fields filled with stones. letproof leather. As we flew, we respect-
cities, and we’re stuffing them into tires We conceived and gave birth to our chil- ed each other because we knew that
and rolling them down hills. We’re going to dren in the places where cities belched w e ’ l l b e e a c h o t h e r s o m e d a y, i f w e
bring them back up and keep rolling them out and buried their dead. We did not haven’t been already. Just breathe and
back down until we know the revolutions of waste much time on mourning, because push. The cities went up in flames and we
the tires by heart. Then, we’ll put it to song we knew we should organize. celebrated the new year, the start of the
and this will be our creation myth, whis- We crisscrossed the country, salivat- first year, A.C. (after civilization). Tobacco
pered and screamed over the blatting of ing at the images our prophets hummed and cedar were thrown into fires and we
drums and the tingling of brain cells at into our eager ears. When the concrete had moments of silence in bogs across the
hootenannies that lived only in our dreams began to crumble we came out of the continent until we couldn’t be silent any
a couple of months ago. woodwork. Cabins in the woods and longer and then we welcomed the birth
In the beginning, we knew the cities squats hidden in plain view emptied simul- with long rapturous howls. Now the world
were dying. More and more of us knew it taneously. We dug up our caches of pick- belongs to us and the first thing we’re
as time went on. We left in small unsteady axes and mounted our war bicycles. Our doing is setting it free. The rest is his-
streams, hiding under rocks, melting into faces were stained with the juice of berries tory that hasn’t begun yet.

It begins, “‘Nativism,’ or the idea that only U.S. ‘natives’ really

STREITZ
continued from page five
CTCIC, was John McGowan, a Danbury resident who dressed as
Uncle Sam for the occasion. As the march passed a construction
site, McGowan shouted at the twelve or so workers, “You guys
legal?” McGowan claims he asked because of “the look of their
nationality.”
“People don’t want to have racial profiling in our country,” he
said. “I’ll tell you what. Only one race bombed the Twin Towers.”
Nativism and anti-immigrant groups
The recent conflicts sparked by anti-immigrant groups and
their rhetoric evokes a scene from the film Gangs of New York:
an epic battle at the five points between nativists, and the white-
Anglo-Saxon protestants. As you watch the final scene, the
graveyard on the Hudson where the protagonists buried their fall-
en comrades fades into centuries past, and seems resolved. It is
wrapped up in Hollywood style; its bones buried deep beneath
that great cultural layer-cake that is New York City.
Yet, in reality, all this demonstrates is the battle is not so new.
And it is far from over.
In an article by the American Friends Service Committee, the
Nobel Peace Prize winning Quaker group, a concise outline of
the origins of anti-immigrant movements in US history is provided.
belong here, is not new to this country. For the past 150 years,
attitudes towards immigrants have changed cyclically, often
undergoing rapid shifts in response to economic or political con-
ditions. In periods of social and economic turmoil…anti-
immigrant sentiments tend to flare up as people look for
someone to blame.”
There was the Chinese Exclusion Act that banned
Chinese-born laborers from entering the country in the late
1800’s. There was “operation wetback” in which 500,000
or so people of Mexican descent (including US citizens)
were deported during the great depression (an event
which CTCIC members allegedly wish to repeat). Then,
there was the Chinese-American internment during World
War II.
More recently, immigrant communities have experienced
a rash of racially motivated attacks in reaction to the
attacks of September 11th. This, along with some general
economic trends, in particular the process of globalization
and its effects on the US economy, have helped to fuel a
resurgence of White Nationalism.
According to Leonard Zeskind, an eminent authority on
white supremacist movements, white nationalism is a
movement of white people, in this case “…people who see
America as a European civilization that is under threat of
racial swamping by non-European peoples.” White
Nationalism, an outgrowth of nativism, is a movement to
unify whites under the flag of a white cultural identity, a result of
the “…re-emerging notion of this country as Anglo-American.”
And, according to Zeskind, it has mainstreamed these ideas in a
way that has not been seen since before World War II.
The CTCIC seems like another aspect of the mainstreaming of
white nationalism.
It seems that the CTCIC was merely the Trojan Horse by which
this insidious philosophy could be smuggled into the mainstream.
Let’s just hope that, just as the core membership of the CTCIC
has, we can all see past the glare of the media spotlight shining
on this spectacle and see the true colors of the CTCIC.
Source Info:
-Southern Poverty Law Center – “Communing with the Council”
www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=802
-i n s t i t u t e f o r t h e s t u d y o f a c a d e m i c r a c i s m ( I S A R ) –
w w w. f e r r i s . e d u / i s a r / h o m e pa g e . h t m
-www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=93
-www.publiceye.org/research/directories/immig_grp_undermine.html
-www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/learn/anti-immigrant.htm
-Ubinas article in Hartford Courant