APRIL 13, 2006 VOL. 48, NO. 14 50¢

workers.org Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite!

SUBSCRIBE TOWORKERS WORLDTrial subscription: $2 for 8 weeksOne year subscription: $25

NAME EMAIL

ADDRESS PHONE

CITY/STATE/ZIP

WORKERS WORLD NEWSPAPER55 W. 17 St. NY, NY 10011 212-627-2994www.workers.org

PORTFIASCOLongshore unionist onirony of Bush’sretreat 3

DUKE SCANDALRacism, sexism run rampant 2

NATO IN AFRICAThe stench of colonialism 8

BOLD ACTION INPUERTO RICORightist ceremony disrupted 9

TAKING BACK CONTROLVenezuela seizes oil fields 9

STAYINGUNITEDFrench youth, unions defy Chirac 10

By John CatalinottoNew York

Many tens of thousands of people marched across theBrooklyn Bridge into downtown Manhattan on April 1 todemand respect and legalization for 11 million undocumentedimmigrant workers. The more than 2-mile march route wasjammed for over three hours.

This New York action against HR 4437 was the latest in a mas-sive wave of protests that has swept the United States from SanDiego to Boston since the anti-immigrant bill passed the Houseof Representatives on Dec. 16.

Another major national protest is set for April 10.Anyone standing on the railing of the Brooklyn Bridge pedes-

trian walk would have seen people from all of South and CentralAmerica and the Caribbean, mostly young working people withtheir families, demanding (1) no to HR 4437, also known as theSensenbrenner-King bill, (2) legal status for undocumentedworkers, and (3) dignity for the millions of people without paperswho work, pay taxes and obey the law.

Groups carried the banners of Mexico—there were many ofthese—and the Caribbean but also of Guatemala, El Salvador,Honduras and nearly all the countries of South America, includ-ing Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. Showers were predicted, butthey held off until the afternoon, and from the bridge in the sul-try sunlight everyone could see clearly the bridges and skyscrap-ers of downtown Manhattan. Many people also held U.S. flags.Farther south in the bay the Statue of Liberty was visible in allits irony.

Along with the overwhelming number of people whose originswere south of the Rio Grande were smaller contingents of immi-

grants from China, Korea and Ireland. When these groups joinedthe militant chants, they also shouted in Spanish. A delegationfrom Workers World Party joined the march under the banner,in English and Spanish, “There are no borders in the workers’struggle,” which drew cheers as it was unfolded.

Many chanted slogans came from earlier struggles. “Yes, wecan,” from the farm workers’ struggles in California was thefavorite, along with “The people united will never be defeated.”Some others were “Bush, listen, the people are in the struggle” and“People who keep silent will never be heard.” A defiant chant was“We’re here, we’re not going; if they throw us out, we’ll come back.”

Even motorists stalled in traffic on the bridge honked theirhorns in support. Many Black motorists— both Caribbean-born and African Americans—raised clenched fistsor gave vee signs.

HR 4437, introduced by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.),is the most racist, reactionary and xenophobic of 11 bills currentlyproposed in Congress, none of which satisfies the demands of theimmigrant workers. HR 4437 would make any relative, employer,coworker, clergy, lawyer or friend of an undocumented immigrantinto an “alien smuggler” and a criminal. HR 4437 was the threatthat awoke the explosive reaction of the immigrant workers.

Workers World correspondent Berta Joubert-Ceci told a pub-lic forum March 31 that these bills represent a struggle between

Continued on page 6

WW PHOTO: JOHN CATALINOTTOApril 1 march for immigrant rights in New York City.

MORE ON IMMIGRANT STRUGGLE Centerfold• Cesar Chavez legacy • Farmworkers march in Chicago • Black-Latin@ unity in N.C.

Carta de un inmigrante¿Renacimiento de la historia?

EDITORIAL 12

Immigrants stay in the streetsCall May 1 boycott to demand legalization

ClarenceThomas

Page 2 April 13, 2006 www.workers.org

Workers World55 West 17 StreetNew York, N.Y. 10011Phone: (212) 627-2994 Fax: (212) 675-7869E-mail: editor@workers.org Web: www.workers.orgVol. 48, No. 14 • April 13, 2006Closing date: April 5, 2006

Editor: Deirdre Griswold

Technical Editor: Lal Roohk

Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell,Leslie Feinberg, Monica Moorehead, Gary Wilson

West Coast Editor: John Parker

Contributing Editors: Greg Butterfield, G. Dunkel,Fred Goldstein, Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Hales, BertaJoubert-Ceci, Milt Neidenberg, Bryan G. Pfeifer, MinnieBruce Pratt

Technical Staff: Shelley Ettinger, Maggie Vascassenno

Mundo Obrero: Carl Glenn, Teresa Gutierrez, Berta Joubert-Ceci, Donna Lazarus, Carlos Vargas

Internet: Janet Mayes

Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weeklyexcept the first week of January by WW Publishers, 55W. 17 St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011. Phone: (212) 627-2994.Subscriptions: One year: $25; foreign and institutions:$35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and edited.Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to WorkersWorld, 55 W. 17 St., New York, NY 10011. Back issuesand individual articles are available on microfilm and/orphotocopy from University Microfilms International,300 Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. A searchablearchive is available on the Web at www.workers.org.

A headline digest is available via e-mail subscription. Send an e-mail message to WWnews-subscribe@workersworld.net.

Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., 5th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10011.

JOIN US. Workers WorldParty (WWP) fights on allissues that face theworking class andoppressed peoples—Blackand white, Latino, Asian,Arab and Native peoples,women and men, youngand old, lesbian, gay, bi,straight, trans, disabled,working, unemployedand students.If you would like toknow more about WWP,or to join us in thesestruggles, contact thebranch nearest you.

National Office55 W. 17 St., New York, NY 10011 (212) 627-2994; Fax (212) 675-7869wwp@workers.org

AtlantaP.O. Box 424, Atlanta, GA 30301 (404) 627-0185atlanta@workers.org

Baltimore426 E. 31 St., Baltimore, MD 21218 (410) 235-7040baltimore@workers.org

Boston284 Armory St., Boston, MA 02130 (617) 983-3835Fax (617) 983-3836boston@workers.org

Buffalo, N.Y. 367 Delaware Ave,Buffalo, NY 14202(716) 566-1115buffalo@workers.orgChicago

27 N. Wacker Dr. #138Chicago, IL 60606 (773) 381-5839Fax (773) 761-9330chicago@workers.org ClevelandP.O. Box 5963Cleveland, OH 44101phone (216) 531-4004cleveland@workers.orgDenverdenver@workers.orgDetroit5920 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202 (313) 831-0750 detroit@workers.orgHoustonP.O. Box 130322, Houston, TX 77219 (713) 861-5965houston@workers.orgLos Angeles

5274 West Pico Blvd.,Suite 203Los Angeles, CA 90019 (323) 936-1416 la@workers.org

PhiladelphiaP.O. Box 9202, Philadelphia, PA 19139 (610) 453-0490phila@workers.org

Richmond, Va.P.O. Box 14602, Richmond, VA 23221richmond@workers.org

Rochester, N.Y.(585) 436-6458rochester@workers.org

San Diego, Calif.3930 Oregon St.,Suite 230San Diego, CA 92104 (619) 692-4496

San Francisco2940 16th St., #207San Francisco, CA 94103(415) 561-9752sf@workers.org

State College, Pa.100 Grandview Rd.,State College, PA16801 (814) 237-8695

Washington, D.C.P.O. Box 57300, Washington, DC 20037,dc@workers.org

By Yolanda CarringtonRaleigh, N.C.

Since last week, one of the most elite uni-versities in the United States has been undernational scrutiny for its grossly incompetenthandling of a sexual assault investigationinvolving one of its top-ranked athletic teams.The firestorm that this case unleashed hasgalvanized residents in the working-class cityof Durham and the entire Triangle, N.C., com-munity. For many people in this region, theincident and its aftermath stand as a hardreminder that systemic oppression remainsalive and well in the 21st-century U.S. South.

University officials had been aware of theallegations of rape and assault against members of theschool’s top-ranked lacrosse team since March 14, but fornearly two weeks, no one from either athletics or admin-istration made any public response about the incident.Duke lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler remained indenial right up until a scheduled March 25 match againstGeorgetown, not even bothering to address the allega-tions when pressed by a reporter from WRAL-5 TV onMarch 24. As the scandal began making national head-lines, Duke President Richard Brodhead and athleticsdirector Joseph Alleva finally decided to hold a press con-ference on March 28.

For four days before March 25, local media reportedthat a woman working as an exotic dancer had accusedthree players from Duke University’s lacrosse team ofbeating, raping, robbing, and nearly strangling her at ateam party on March 13. At this point, the media reportedthat all 47 of the team’s members refused to talk to police,and that 46 of the players submitted DNA samples at therequest of the Durham County district attorney (the loneAfrican-American member of the team was excludedfrom testing because the victim said all her assailantswere white).

But several key aspects of the attack were convenientlyomitted in the early reports, the most critical being therace and class background of the victim and her attack-ers. This initial obfuscation would later elicit strong angerfrom the community.

At press time, no one has been formally charged in thiscase.

On March 13, two African-American women were hiredto perform as exotic dancers for a team party at the homeof the team’s three captains. The single-story house, at610 North Buchanan Blvd., is located in Durham’s his-toric Trinity Park neighborhood near Duke’s EastCampus. This home was one of 14 houses recently pur-chased by the university in response to repeated nuisancecomplaints from homeowners in the neighborhood, whowere fed up with constant all-night partying, public ine-briation, and disruptive behavior on the part of obnox-ious Duke students. The university had plans to sell thehomes after their current leases expired.

The women arrived at the home under the impressionthat they would be performing for a bachelor party of fivemen, but when they arrived, they encountered a drunkenlacrosse team party with over 40 men present, apparentlyall members of the team. According to later police reports,the women were immediately subjected to racist andmisogynistic slurs upon entering the house.

As the victim herself—a mother of two and a full-timestudent at historically Black North Carolina CentralUniversity—told Raleigh’s News and Observer, the

women became so terrified by this verbal abuse that theydecided to leave. A next-door neighbor told the paper thathe personally witnessed white men verbally abusing thewomen with racist slurs as they tried to leave. As theywere approaching their car, one of the men from thehouse came over to them and apologized for the racistabuse. He pleaded with the women to come back insideand perform at the party, and the accuser returned to thehouse. Once she was inside, she was allegedly pulled intoa bathroom by three men, where they subjected her to abrutally violent rape and beating. The victim says she wasvaginally, anally, and orally penetrated, punched, kicked,and nearly strangled by the three men for about 30 min-utes. After she was able to escape from the house, she andthe other woman drove to a local supermarket, where asecurity guard called Durham police around 1:30 a.m. onMarch 14.

When the violently racist nature of the attack wasfinally revealed to the public on March 24, communityoutrage was swift and immediate. Durham residentsquickly set up listservs and message boards in order tocoordinate community response and planning. On March25, a silent demonstration was held in front of the lacrossefield to protest Duke’s match against Georgetown, hold-ing signs bearing strong messages such as “Don’t be a Fanof Rapists.” As it turned out, Duke forfeited the George-town match at the last minute, in anticipation of mount-ing public anger. Later that night, community membersheld a candlelight vigil in front of the house at 610 NorthBuchanan to express support for the victim. The very nextmorning, activists from across the Triangle gathered infront of the house and staged a “Cacerolazo” wake-upcall—a traditional form of protest used by women in LatinAmerica to publicly shame rapists and batterers. The par-ticipants banged on pots and pans while powerfully chant-ing calls for justice and solidarity.

This case has also shone a national spotlight on long-simmering resentments between majority-white Dukeand the ethnically diverse working-class city in which theelite school resides. As the New York Times reported onMarch 31, Duke received a fifth-worst ranking out of 361colleges in the latest Princeton Review survey of so-called“town-gown” relations—the interaction between a majoracademic institution and its surrounding community. Inthe same survey, Duke was also ranked sixth in havinglittle or no interaction between students of different socialclasses and ethnic groups. Indeed, many African-American students at Duke say that racist treatment fromwhite classmates is fairly common on campus. As grad-uate student Danielle Terrazas Williams told theIndependent Weekly: “This is not a different experience

In the U.S.

Immigrants stay in the streets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Duke rape case exposes system’s contradictions . . . . 2

Baltimore community against rate hike . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Dubai backlash bites Bush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Hurricane survivors fight back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Denver transit workers strike. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

On the picket line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Delta pilots pull ‘practice’ strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The battle over the Taylor Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Mumia Abu-Jamal on the NYC transit strike . . . . . . . . 5

Delphi workers picket CEO Miller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Youth honor legacy of Cesar Chavez . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Chicago rally for farmworkers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Black/Latin@ unity stressed at labor banquet. . . . . . . 7

Detroit City Council: ‘Free the Cuban Five!’ . . . . . . . . 7

Around the wor ld

U.S./NATO intervention in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Letter from an immigrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Puerto Rico youth disrupt right-winger . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Bolivarian revolution seizes oil fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

France youth, workers continue protests . . . . . . . . . 10

U.S. occupation’s torture in Iraq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Editor ia lsWorkers without borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Notic ias En Español

Desprivatizar el tema de la inmigración. . . . . . . . . . . . 12

¿Renacimiento de la historia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

WW CALENDAR

LOS ANGELES.

Sat., April 15‘Finding Each Other on the Roadto Freedom.’ Minnie Bruce Pratton Walking to New Orleans andreading from her book, WalkingBack Up Depot Street. 4 p.m. At5274 W Pico Blvd #203, L.A. Forinfo (323) 936-7266.

Sat., April 22Stop War on Iran Before it Starts:Hear Ardeshir Ommani, justreturned from Iran, and SaraFlounders, initiater of the StopWar on Iran Campaign. 4 p.m. At5274 W Pico Blvd #203, L.A. Forinfo (323) 936-7266. NEW YOR

Duke rape case exposes system’s contradictions

Continued on page 4

Demonstrators at Duke University protest rape.

www.workers.org April 13, 2006 Page 3

the FPL Group ofFlorida. Shattuck him-self will reap $40 mil-lion from the merger.

Renee Washingtonof All Peoples Con-gress, an organizer ofthe protest, stated,“This increase is a dis-aster. We are not only calling for no ratehike; we are demanding that the people

On the 38th anniversary of Dr. MartinLuther King’s assassination, survivors ofthe Katrina and Rita hurricanes went toQueens County Housing Court, above, onApril 4 to fight the Radisson hotel chain’splans to evict them.

None of these survivors wants to liveforever in a hotel. But they also don’twant to be thrown into the street.

At a news conference held outside thecourthouse, Rev. James Pullings pointedout that Radisson collected $2 million fromthese hurricane survivors. Yolandis Turnertold how she suffered a heart attack in thehotel after management refused to listento her pleas for a clean, accessible room.

Legal Aid Society attorney Ashwani

This article was contributed to WW by Clarence Thomas, former secretary-treasurer of ILWU Local 10and national co-chair of the Million Worker March Movement.

The company Dubai Ports World (DPWorld) of the United Arab Emiratesannounced on March 8 that it would backout of any management role in U.S. mar-itime ports.

For nearly a month its plans to purchasePeninsular and Oriental Steam NavigationCo. (P&O) of Britain for $6.8 billion, whichhad been approved by the Bush adminis-tration, had ignited a firestorm of contro-versy among Republicans and Democratsthat spilled over to the general public.

The collapse of the DP World deal hadeverything to do with the politics of fearand racism, targeting in particular peopleof the Middle East. This is the outcome ofracially profiling Arabs as potential terror-ists—a mantra of the Bush administrationsince 9/11. Both political parties havebought into this policy.

Security experts have generally agreedthat the DP World deal presented nothreat. DP World would not actually runor manage the ports in the U.S. That is thefunction of the port authorities, themunicipal counties, or the state-control-led concerns that own and operate mostU.S. ports. Companies like P&O just leasecargo terminals from these entities, simi-lar to a landlord-tenant arrangement.

Chickens come home to roost

There is clearly a certain irony that theBush government, its politics of endlesswar against “terrorism” having createdfear of Arabs, would find itself the victimof its own politics.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq;domestic spying on Americans; arrests ofso-called enemy combatants without dueprocess; criminal background checks andI.D. cards for workers, and the undermin-ing of civil rights and civil liberties withthe invocation of the Patriotic Act—all thishas created an atmosphere of anti-immi-grant hysteria around security and fight-ing terrorism.

Since 9/11, a xenophobic frenzy hasspread throughout the country regard-ing people of Arab descent. This hasbeen the root cause of the DP World dealunraveling. Bush’s chickens have comehome to roost.

There’s an old expression on the docks:

“watch the game.” It means longshoreworkers should work safely, look out forthe people working around them andobserve the operation of the job. The water-front is a dangerous work environment.

That same logic may be applied to pay-ing attention to the real issues involvingthe Dubai deal.

The containerization of the shippingbusiness has increased profit margins con-siderably. U.S. companies are no longer inthe top ranks of global terminal operators,which are now permanently based in Asiaand the Middle East. They now manage 80percent of port terminals in the U.S.

While ports are publicly controlled, theiroperation is in private hands. Terminaloperators manage where and when aship will berth, the use of gantrycranes, relations with longshoreworkers, which trucks or railcars will move cargo for distri-bution to consumers.

These operations could bepublicly managed. By having the con-trol in private hands, large conglomerateshave exercised leverage, forcing publicports to make huge concessions and sub-sidies.

U.S. companies jump ship

With the loud outcry around the issueof who should run the seaports, many hereare unaware that U.S.-based corporationshave jumped ship when it comes to invest-ing in the stevedoring business.

Stevedoring Services of America (SSA),a family-owned company in Seattle, is thelargest terminal operator in the UnitedStates and one of the employers ofInternational Longshore and WarehouseUnion (ILWU) members. During contractnegotiations in 2002 between the ILWUmembers and Pacific Maritime Associ-ation, SSA attempted to weaken the unionby not bargaining in good faith. It is wellknown that SSA has a history of outsourc-ing longshore jobs under the aegis of tech-nology. SSA has been a major forcebehind developing a large transshipmentport in Panama.

There’s a close connection between U.S.rulers and DP World. U.S. TreasurySecretary John Snow was the chair of CSXrail firm, which sold its own internationalport operations to DP World for $1.5 bil-lion in 2004. He left DP World in 2004 tojoin the Bush administration.

In 2002, CSX was purchased by theCarlyle Group, of which George Bush Sr.

By Sharon Black

Community and union activistsmarched March 22 to the opulent home ofConstellation Energy CEO, Mayo ShattuckIII, to stop an enormous electric rate hike.By July 2006, rates are slated to increaseby 72 percent after caps are lifted, follow-ing a deregulation plan passed by the statelegislators in 1999. Electric costs are esti-mated to increase on average $743 yearlyper household.

This increase has touched off a state-wide crisis for workers and debates amongstate legislators over a pending $11.4 billionmerger between Constellation Energy and

Prabhakar called the hotel chain “base andvulgar in its greed.” As for Radisson’s pay-master FEMA, “They just want us to disap-pear,” said Bilal, poet and survivor.

Because they fought back, survivorswere able to stave off eviction for 45 moredays. Survivors who are able to get otherhousing and leave earlier can get up to$2,500 from the hotel.

Among the activists and organizationswho came out were Rev. Hudson, BrendaStokely, Attorney Joan Gibbs, Ron Daniels,the New York Solidarity Coalition withKatrina/Rita Survivors, Malcolm X Grass-roots Movement, and the InternationalAction Center.

—Story and photo by Stephen Millies

BALTIMORE .

Community marches on CEO’smansion to stop rate hike

March 22 protest against

72% energy rate hikes.

Longshore unionist explains how

Dubai backlash bites Bushwas a principal owner. Carlyle bought itfor $300 million and sold it to DP Worldfor $650 million two years later.

The chief operating officer at DP Worldis Edward H. Bilkey. Other U.S. citizens inDP World’s leadership include David San-born, President George W. Bush’s nom-inee to run the Transportation Depart-ment’s Maritime Administration.

CNN’s Lou Dobbs reported on Feb. 22that “President Bush’s family and mem-bers of the Bush administration have long-standing business connections with theUnited Arab Emirates,” adding that theUAE was a major investor in the CarlyleGroup and that “the president’s brother,Neil Bush, had reportedly received fund-

ing for his educational software com-pany from the UAE investors.”

DP World’s decision to unloadits U.S. operations has increasedspeculation over which U.S.-based corporation will eventuallyoperate the marine terminals.

One possible buyer of the contract isrumored to be the Carlyle Group.

Working people can have a clearunderstanding of this incestuous rela-tionship among the corporate players bysimply following the money. It always

leads to the powerful and the privileged.

Democrats exploit anti-immigrant fever

The demand of Sen. Hillary Clintonand other Democrats to require U.S. citi-zenship of those working at the ports fuelsthe anti-immigrant fever. This kind of leg-islative measure opportunistically feedson xenophobia and racism. AfricanAmericans and other people of color arewell acquainted with racism in all itsforms. It is as American as apple pie.

At no time was Bush concerned aboutthe Dubai deal. This was all about businessas usual. Family business at that!

The Dubai deal has put the spotlight onprivatization in a big way. There is no ques-tion that the ports should be controlled bythe people in the communities where theyare located. There should be greater repre-sentation of port worker unions and thecommunity on the Port Commissions tooversee their operations. There should alsobe greater accountability to the communi-ties they serve.

The resources from the ports should beused to address the issues of the commu-nities, such as employment, housing, edu-cation and the environment.

NEW YORK.Hurricane survivors fight back

Protesters were met by police in squadcars, on foot and in a motorcycle caravan.Police blocked off the street where Shat-tuck lives and forced cars to detour. Thegroup nevertheless persisted andmarched around the police to Shattuck’sfancy home.

Groups participating included the AllPeoples Congress, AFSCME Council 67,ACORN, and the Green Party. A planningmeeting to launch a statewide coalition isscheduled for April 5 at the downtownlibrary, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more infor-mation, visit www.iacenter.org/folder01/baltmore. htm or e-mail apcbaltimore@pipeline.com.

take over BGE. Gas and electric should befor the people, not for profit.”

Page 4 April 13, 2006 www.workers.org

Transit workers strikeBy Larry HalesDenver

Over 1,700 bus drivers, lightrail operators and mechanics, asubstantial number of them Blackand Latin@, have gone on strikein Denver. The strike vote onApril 2 was 55 to 45 percent afterRTD—the Regional Transporta-tion District—offered a contractwith a raise of a paltry 2 percentafter three years. The healthinsurance premium they aremade to pay would not havechanged—they now pay $190 permonth for a single person. Andthere was a mandate clause con-tinuing on in the new contract.

RTD is considered one of thebest mass transit systems in thecountry and it is the workers thathave made that possible. “If theyare number one, we made themthat way,” said Patricia Stephens,an employee for eight years. Butexecutives at RTD decided that itis more important to give them-selves a 47 percent wage increase,while the rank and file have beenunder a three-year wage freeze. Atleast one of the raises amounts tomore than $50,000.

These are highly skilled work-ers. The bus drivers have to attendan eight-week intensive trainingcourse to earn a license to drivethe buses, and have to log hun-dreds of hours of driving beforecarrying passengers. All together,the bus drivers are required to gothrough a 12-week course beforedriving a regular route.

The conditions for the workershave gotten even worse over theyears, especially for the drivers.According to a union official atAmalgamated Transit Union, thenumber of bus drivers hasdecreased from over 1,000 to 800in 10 years. The bus drivers oper-ate under dangerous conditions.

The bus drivers talk of havingto drive for 90 consecutive dayswithout a day off, and some havehad to take their sick days just torest. They must keep on time, nomatter the road conditions, haveto make transfers to get riders totheir destinations, and when theydo take a sick day they are writtenup for being late. They are wor-

ried about fatigue and their riders’safety.

It is clear that RTD is not wor-ried about safety, or the ability oftheir workers to survive, as thecost of living climbs steadily butwages remain stagnant.

RTD claims that it operates ina deficit, and this is the reasonthat it decided to increase faresfrom $1.25 to $1.50, a steepincrease for many of the workersthat use the mass transit.However, the deficit that appliesto RTD can be traced to theamount of money being drawn forimperialist war, as nearly 80 per-cent of the transit system is sub-sidized. The money being spentfor war and raises for the bossescould go to provide for a cheapmeans of transit for the masses.

One worker on the picket linestated that RTD is looking to pri-vatize. Forty-five percent of RTDwork has been contracted out toprivate companies, hence thereason that RTD is playing aharder line than might beexpected, and why they evenrefused arbitration.

The workers at RTD need sup-port, as RTD is not willing tobudge and is seeking to force theworkers into a poor contract.Officials all the way up to Gov-ernor Bill Owens are denigratingthe RTD workers. GovernorOwens said, “To do it on a Sundaynight before Monday, to do it on

opening day, to do it with fivehours of notice, I think the union–at least the 55 percent that votedlast night to strike – showedwhose side they are on. They cer-tainly aren’t thinking of the pub-lic; they’re only thinking of them-selves.” This kind of talk isn’t fool-ing anyone, however, as manyriders expressed solidarity withthe striking workers. One ridersaid, “I think the company isunfair to the workers. They aregreedy.”

RTD certainly cared nothingwhen it raised the fares 25 centsand it cared nothing about forcingthe drivers to work long shifts,almost 12 hours a day in splitshifts, with four hours in betweentwo four-hour shifts. RTD carednothing about forcing workers towork 90 days straight, to thepoint of fatigue.

The workers care about safety.They are holding the line andshowing a resolve greater thanthat of the bosses, and see the aimof bosses all over the country todrive down wages. They are fight-ing for all workers.

Though the union wanted toaccept the bogus contract and hadnot prepared for a strike, the rankand file has decided that they willfight for better wages and dignity.Lasonya Jenkins, a six-yearemployee, summed their fight up:“We bend over backwards. We doa great job. We want respect.”

ON THE PICKETLINEBy Sue Davis

Duke rape case exposes system’s contradictions

Teachers ‘sick’ of pay cutsDETROIT – About 1,725 teachers and 345 long-term substitutesin the Detroit public school system called in sick on March 22,leading to the cancellation of classes for about 38,000 studentsat 54 schools. That represents more than a quarter of the sys-tem’s teaching staff.

The teachers were protesting the fact that they had receivedthe first of five reduced paychecks on March 21, while principalsare getting raises ranging from 4.7 to 10.6 percent.

The reduced paychecks were part of the settlement reachedAugust 2005 to avert a strike. The school district had demandedan 11 percent pay cut. Instead, the teachers agreed to a one-yearcontract that would “loan” the district five days’ pay, to be paidback in 2007, and freeze five sick days. Only recently did theteachers learn of the raises for principals. The school system willsave $15 million—$3 million for each of the five days.

President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers Janna Garrisondefended the sick-out. “You do not ask someone to take a cut andgive others a raise,” she told the Detroit Free Press. (March 23)

The teachers have not received a cost-of-living increase inmore than three years. Their contract expires June 30, and nego-tiations started in March.

Student sit-in aids workers’ strike MIAMI – On March 28 students from STAND (Students TowardA New Democracy) at the University of Miami in Florida campedout for 13 hours in the administration office. They demandedthat the University of Miami allow 900 service workers, whohave been striking since March 1, to be represented by Local 11 ofSEIU. There was also civil disobedience by clergy, workers andcommunity supporters outside the building.

The students’ solidarity was decisive. The next day Universityof Miami President Donna Shalala, who before the strike deniedany responsibility for the service workers employed throughUnicco Service Co., finally demanded all parties come to thenegotiating table by March 31.

Although the janitors, housekeepers, food servers and garden-ers—predominantly immigrants from the Caribbean and SouthAmerica—won wage hikes and health benefits in mid-March,they continued the strike to protest Unicco’s labor law violations.

Delta Comair flight attendants vote to strike

Ninety-three percent of Delta Comair flight attendants votedon March 24 to authorize a strike. Delta, which filed for bank-ruptcy on Sept. 14, is demanding nearly 30 percent pay cuts,amounting to nearly $11,000 annually. That would be cata-strophic for the workers who currently average $28,000.

But that’s not all. The cuts come on top of huge increases inhealth care costs that Comair implemented last year in violation of the flight attendants’ contract.

The workers asked members of Delta’s Sky Miles frequentflyer club to sign petitions protesting the draconian pay cuts onApril 3-5 at airports in Cincinnati, New York and Orlando. Tosign the petition, go to www.teamsterstakeaction.org/cam-paign/delta/.

Building workers nix pay freezeNYC – On March 22, workers at 3,500 apartment buildings inNew York City rejected the owners’ demand for a one-year payfreeze and payment of 15 percent of their health care premiums.The 28,000 doormen, janitors and other service workers repre-sented by SEIU Local 32 BJ have threatened to strike on April 21.

Mich. to increase minimum wageMICHIGAN – Pushed by a grassroots petition drive, theMichigan legislature voted to raise the state’s minimum wage to$6.95 an hour in October, $7.15 in July 2006 and $7.40 in July2008. It has joined 17 states and the District of Columbia in set-ting minimum wages higher than the federal minimum of $5.15.

At least $8.88 an hour is needed to keep up with inflation,reported a Feb. 23 AFL-CIO press release. For example, one per-son working full-time for $5.15 a year makes $10,712. That’s$5,378 below the poverty line of $16,090 for a family of three.Two minimum-wage workers would have to work 132 hours aweek, or 3.3 full-time minimum wage jobs, just to make endsmeet.

But that’s only part of the story. Here’s the criminal part.While the federal hourly minimum has been stuck at $5.15 forthe past nine years, Congress members voted themselves eightpay hikes—or $31,600—during the same period. They make onaverage $162,000 a year. That sort of obscene disparity should beoutlawed.

Denver transit workers on the picketline.

for us here at Duke University. Wego to class with racist classmates,we go to gym with people who areracists. That’s not special for us.”

Unfortunately, both the mediaand Duke’s administration aredesperately trying to obscure theblatant racism and misogyny ofthis case. Many media outletsmake a point of referring to thevictim as a “stripper” or “exoticdancer,” while framing the allega-tions of racist verbal abuse asmere race “issues” or “tensions.”Many outlets dare ask if this casehas anything to do with race at all,as if sexual violence can ever beseparated from systemic oppres-sion. At the March 28 press con-ference, athletic director Alleva

stated publicly that during hisentire 26 years in Duke athletics,he has seen “no racial problems”with the lacrosse team or in theentire sports program. It isunclear if Alleva consulted ath-letes of color before making thisstatement.

At N.C. Central University thisweek, public events have beenscheduled to show support for the

victim in the case. These includespeak-outs and a candlelight vigilin front of the campus StudentUnion on April 3. As junior MayaJackson told Black College Wire,“We as a university do not acceptthis. This is an issue that affects allof us.”

The writer is with FIST-FightImperialism-Stand Together-youth group.

Continued from page 2

MUMIA SPEAKSAn interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal from death rowColumns by the Black journalist on prisons, capital-ism, politics, revolution and solidarity. Additionalessays on the prison-industrial complex by MonicaMoorehead, Larry Holmes & Teresa Gutierrez.

Order from International Action Center39 West 14 St. #206, NY, NY 10011 $3

www.workers.org April 13, 2006 Page 5

Delta pilots pull ‘practice’strikeBy David Dixon

A contingent of 275 Delta Air Linepilots marched through the country’sbusiest airport, in Atlanta, on March 30.The angry pilots have been picketingairports around the U.S. with good rea-son. Delta bosses are trying to get anarbitration panel to void the pilots’ con-tract so they can rip off $325 million inpay and benefits from the workers.

The union has agreed to take $140million in annual pay cuts in addition to

By a NYSUT memberNew York

The Taylor Law in New York Stateprohibits public employee unions fromconducting strikes, or even job actionslike “work to rule.” Violation of the lawleads to fines, sanctions against theunion and even jail for union leaders.But there is no pressure on employersto bargain fairly with employees. As aconsequence, tens of thousands of pub-lic employees in New York State areworking under expired contracts.

One of the most powerful unions inNew York City, Transport WorkersLocal 100, which represents the bus andsubway workers, defied the Taylor Lawand went on strike against theMetropolitan Transportation Agencyfor three days in December because itscontract had expired and the union hasa policy of “no contract, no work.” Thestrike had a huge impact on the city, inwhich a majority of people use publictransportation.

After the agency’s new contract offerwas rejected by just seven votes out ofmore than 22,000 cast, the MTA tookall its offers off the table, refused to bar-gain and demanded the PublicEmployees Relation Board appoint apanel to impose a contract on TWU 100.The union is facing a $3 million fine andloss of dues check-off, which couldbankrupt it.

In the field of education, 46 locals inNew York State United Teachers, out of740 districts covered by NYSUT,entered the fall semester of 2005 with a

contract that had expired over twoyears earlier.

The Professional Staff Congress, amember of NYSUT that represents20,000 faculty, adjuncts and profes-sional staff at the City University of NewYork, had its contract with CUNY expireover three years ago. A wall in NYSUTheadquarters gives the names of 84local leaders imprisoned for striking inviolation of the Taylor Law.

The Council of School Supervisorsand Administrators, representing 6,500administrators and principals, justdeclared a deadlock. Its contractexpired June 30, 2002. The Firefightersunion in New York City got a contractthis past fall after 51 months of negoti-ating, stretching back to three monthsbefore 9/11.

A debate is going on in the state labormovement on how to deal with theTaylor Law. Any serious leader realizesthat to change it will require a jointeffort of all the workers in New YorkCity, both private and public. Someunion leaders want to combine directaction with political lobbying to get thestate to amend the law; others wouldrely on lobbying.

This debate surfaced at a City Councilhearing on March 30. The Council hasno oversight or influence on the TaylorLaw but allowed union leaders to bringit up in a hearing on the transit strike.

Randi Weingarten, president of theUnited Federation of Teachers, whichrepresents 80,000 teachers in NewYork City, said that the Taylor Lawallows senior city officials and negotia-

tors to simply stay away from the bar-gaining table without any consequence.Of course, they can be sued, foundguilty of failing to bargain in good faithand then reprimanded and told tomend their ways. But no fines or otherpenalties are imposed, other than apublic scolding.

“The city’s ability to stall withoutrepercussions means unions have virtu-ally no leverage,” she said. And whendisputes are ultimately resolvedthrough the Taylor Law’s arbitrationprocedures, the state arbitrators have“ruled that the pattern must prevail”and workers must accept the terms setby another union.

The UFT has laid out an ambitiousprogram around the Taylor Law, withamending it a number-one priority. Butjust imploring the State Legislature isnot going to satisfy teachers who areworking more hours, often in chaoticsituations, for a slight increase in pay.And it is not likely to result in significantchanges to the law.

The city administration told the CityCouncil hearing, “It is the administra-tion’s position that the Taylor Law hasbeen effective over the years in helpingto foster harmonious labor relations.The administration would oppose anylegislation that attempts to diminish ordilute the positive effects that this lawhas had.”

What lies behind this debate amonglabor leaders is the rising anger amongrank-and-file workers who see their liv-ing standards and jobs eroded by thispattern of stonewall bargaining.

The battle over the Taylor Law

By Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row

Ongoing waragainst workers:

The TWU strike

From a March 1 commentary.

It only lasted for three days,but it lasted long enough tobetray the scuffles and scars ofwar.

It was a spark for the eternalwar between labor and capital.It was a war between those whowork and those who hire.

When the New York TransportWorkers Union (TWU) went out on strike [inDecember 2005—WW], their action sent shockwaves across the country and rattled the rulers.Immediately, like a slave-driver who claims he was“betrayed” by “his people,” New York’s mega-bil-lionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, unleashed anugly verbal missile at those who demanded a faircontract under which to work.

In the minds and mouths of the Bloombergers,TWU strikers were: “Thugs!”

The corporate press joined the slander, withone well-known fishwrapper blaring, with a ban-ner headline, “JAIL ‘EM!”

Them’s fightin’ words. And they reflect, with arichness and clarity rarely revealed, the truenature of this war: a class war.

Local 100 of the TWU is a predominantly Black,Latin@ and immigrant union, and the ugly war ofwords, spun by the masters of the nation’s mediamachines, were as raw as they were racist.

When an unruly mob of cops converged on CityHall to lambaste the city’s first Black mayor (DavidDinkins) as a “washroom attendant,” and sprin-kled other racist references to local Black lead-ers, one needed to search far and wide to find ref-erences to the behavior of the cops as “thuggish.”

The city and the Metropolitan TransportationAuthority (MTA) used the Taylor Law, which disal-lows such strikes, to demand that local courtsreturn crippling fines against any striker.

But some leader TWU members pointed to thehistory of the early civil rights movement, specif-ically the experience of the late Rosa Parks, whobroke unjust laws to spark a mass movement.

Can the Taylor Law be just, when it leaves work-ers at the mercy of management, when it forcesthem to accept substandard contracts, when itrequires ruinous givebacks?

While the corporate press channeled the neg-ativity of their bosses, strikers reported that aver-age, working-class and poor folks supported theirefforts, for many understood that this was a standto strengthen workers generally, and beat backthe hands of greed that have been choking unionsall across the country.

As for the Taylor Law, why would anyone eventry to pass such a law, which clearly disadvantageslabor? The very fact of its existence proves thepolitical betrayal by politicians who supported,lobbied and voted for it.

The Taylor Law is a weapon of the rulers, anda whipping for the workers. It strips them of theironly real instrument of social power—the abilityto refuse their labor. Since when is that a crime?

Well, to the rich, it is! Karl Marx said that thelaw “is but the will of one class made into a lawfor all.”

It is a machine, just like it made segregationlegal, and criminalized Black freedom and dignity.The same law demanded that Blacks take the backof the bus. That same law outlaws the right ofthose who labor to withhold their labor, to bettertheir condition, and those who follow them.

Such a law must itself be outlawed! But it won’tbe, if the people rely on the politicians to do so.

That law can be unmade only by the concertedactions of the people, by workers’ power, sup-ported by others, in every area of work and life.

Even though a recent contract was approved bythe TWU leadership, the proposed pact wasreportedly rejected by a majority of union mem-bers.

These front-line workers want to put an end togivebacks, and compromises, and labor bowing tocapital, and their puppet politicians.

Labor wishes to fight for their class, and fortheir many and varied communities, who are sup-ported by their efforts.

To make a change, labor must fight for it!Go to prisonradio.org to hear Mumia’s audio

commentaries.

No concessions!

Delphi workers picket CEO Miller

the $1 billion they took in 2004, butthat’s not enough for the profit-drivenvultures at Delta. The pilots say they willstrike if their contract is broken, whichDelta claims will put it out of business.“You can consider today’s actions anexercise and you can stand by for thereal thing,” said Lee Moak, the pilotunion’s executive committee chairman,as he led the march, according to AP.

Delta pilots are voting on a strikeauthorization and the results will beannounced after polling is completed

on April 4. There are plans by the unionto picket airports serving Atlanta,Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, New Yorkand Los Angeles this week (washington-post.com).

Delta is trying to use the arbitrationpanel and bankruptcy court against theworkers. The solution for Delta pilotsand other workers would be to force thebankruptcy court to place the airline inthe control of the workers, whose laborcreated the company and should be therightful creditors.

Delphi workers and their supporters picketed theDetroit Economic Club on April 3 as CEO “Steve” Millerwas giving a major address. Delphi makes auto parts forGeneral Motors. Three days earlier Miller had filed peti-tions with federal bankruptcy court judge Robert Drain toinvalidate Delphi’s union contracts after the unionsrefused to accept Delphi’s latest “offer”: to give workersa one-time check for $50,000 in exchange for an almost 40percent pay cut and the destruction of their pensionplans.

The picket line was called by the rank-and-file groupSoldiers of Solidarity and raised the slogans “Expose cor-porate fraud” and “No concessions.”

Meanwhile, about 45 hourly workers at Delphi’s FlintEast operations who had been laid off on Friday, April 30,and told not to report to work on Monday “showed up any-way in defiance and refused to leave,” according to theDetroit Free Press. Claudia Perkins, a Delphi worker with30 years’ seniority who organized the protest, said hercoworkers were unfairly laid off because they had earnedsecured employment status under the union contract.

The workers won after some negotiating and were rein-stated with back pay for missed days of work.

—Martha Grevatt WWPHOTO: DAVE SOLE

Page 6 April 13, 2006 www.workers.org

Immigration march“the right and the ultra-right” and all ofthem increase police measures to stopimmigrants from entering the UnitedStates. Even the least reactionary ones,like the McCain-Kennedy bill, set up a“guest worker” program, which meansthey allow some to become temporary res-idents with no civil rights except to workat unpleasant jobs at low wages withoutbeing jailed or deported.

Joubert-Ceci said that while programslike NAFTA sought to globalize imperial-ist control of the economies in LatinAmerica, “the struggle of immigrants hereis globalizing the reaction of the LatinAmerican people to these neoliberal pro-grams and bringing the struggle home.”

The latest polls have shown that recentimmigrants who have legal papers areoverwhelmingly sympathetic with theundocumented workers, and that even inthe general population at least half aresympathetic.

Immigrant groups and their supportershave called for other major activities. Thenext are expected to culminate on April 10in a National Day of Action, a coordinatedseries of regional demonstrations sched-uled for New York, Boston, Chicago,Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles and othercities, organized by labor, immigration,civil rights, religious and political groups.

At the same time, immigrant rightsgroups have begun to organize a nationalboycott and strike for May Day, May 1, toillustrate the historic positive impact ofimmigrant labor on the national economy.

The March 25th Coalition againstHR4437, which organized the huge rallyin Los Angeles, is calling for a GreatAmerican Boycott of no work, no school,no sales and no buying on May 1 todemand amnesty and full rights for allworkers. The web site www.nohr4437.orghas more information and a place toendorse.

In New York City the Troops Out NowCoalition is working with immigrant andother groups to organize a rally and marchfrom Union Square on May Day in supportof the national boycott. Its web site,www.troopsoutnow.org, will have updateson this developing action.

WW PHOTO: GLORIA VERDIEU

Continued from page 1

Youth honor legacy of Cesar Chavez By Ruth Vela

Cesar Chavez and his contributions tothe workers’ struggle were rememberedand honored throughout California on theweekend of April 1. This year marked thethirteenth year since his death, yet eventoday his name is synonymous with theplight of farm workers.

Now, more than ever, the lessons ofChavez’s life illustrate the need to continuethe struggle. Today immigrants haveincreasingly come under attack both byracist vigilantes and the government.

In San Diego, the annual parade honor-ing the labor leader had a different feelfrom those in years past. As is the customwith parades in San Diego, leading themarch was a contingent of police officers,but this year youth responded by chanting“La placa la migra la misma porqueria!”meaning “the police and the border patrolare the same dirty pigs.” Organizer Enri-que De La Cruz of the California CoalitionAgainst Poverty (CCAP) spoke to onlook-ers and paradegoers, explaining that thechant was in response to police violenceexperienced by local youth, who walkedout of school last week in response to racist,anti-immigrant legislation. Members ofCCAP, FIST—Fight Imperialism, StandTogether—and other local groups took theopportunity to join the parade. Upon arri-ving at the rally point the groups took turnsspeaking, so as to disrupt the politicianson the stage and instead bring messagesof truth to the people of the community.

In downtown Los Angeles about 1,000students, the United Farm Workers,teachers and progressive organizationssuch as the South Central Farmersmarched from historic Olvera Street toCity Hall to honor Chavez and continuethe sentiment of the pro-immigrantmarch held the previous week in LosAngeles. The International Action Centermarched alongside the South CentralFarmers, who were also highlighting theirstruggle against the city of Los Angeles’s

attempt at evicting them from their 14-acre community farm.

In Costa Mesa in Orange County, wherethere is a first-in-the-nation plan to uselocal police to enforce federal immigrationlaw, about 1,500 to 2,000 residents, stu-dents, union members and progressiveorganizations marched to protest thatplan and honor Chavez.

Cesar Chavez and The United FarmWorkers made tremendous gains forworkers, and today the struggle for wagesand dignity continues. But as Chavez him-self said, “We shall strike. We shall organ-ize boycotts. We shall demonstrate andhave political campaigns. We shall pursuethe revolution we have proposed. We aresons and daughters of the farm workers’revolution, a revolution of the poor seek-ing bread and justice.”

Cesar Chavez presenté!John Parker contributed to this report.

WW PHOTO: JOHN PARKERApril 1 marches continue Chavez's legacy.

CHICAGO .

Rally & march for farmworkers

The Coalition Of Immokalee Workers staged a five-mile march and rally in Chicago onApril 1 to protest food chain McDonald’s exploitation of farmworkers. The coalition’swebsite states, “As the march made its way through Chicago and the crowd grew, themarch itself became the message—a diverse group of people, from farmworkers toeveryday consumers, brought together by a common vision of economic justice, a callfor fair wages and human rights, finally, for workers whose exploitation has goneunquestioned for far too long while corporations throughout the food industry haveprofited from their labor.” —David Dixon

WW PHOTO: G. DUNKELNew York, April 1.

SAN DIEGO

LOS ANGELES

PHOTO: CIW-ONLINE.ORG

www.workers.org April 13, 2006 Page 7

By Monica MooreheadRaleigh, N.C.

Black Workers for Justice held its 23rdannual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Supportfor Labor Banquet April 1 in Raleigh, N.C.BWFJ was also commemorating its 25years of community, workplace and anti-imperialist organizing. The major themeof the banquet was “No to war, repression,racism... yes to peace, justice, reparations,human and workers rights.”

BWFJ has a tradition of holding its ban-quet on the first Saturday in April to honorthe memory of Dr. King, who was assassi-nated on April 4, 1968. King was not onlya champion of civil rights but was an out-spoken opponent of the Vietnam war anda proponent for workers’ rights. He waskilled in Memphis, Tenn. while supportingstriking sanitation workers, mainly Blackmen, who were struggling for a living wage,better working conditions and dignity.

A majority of the 300 or more peoplewho attended the banquet were labor, com-munity and political organizers, mainlyfrom the South but from other regions ofthe country as well. BWFJ has a closeworking relationship with UE Locals 150and 160 that are carrying out organizingdrives to sign up hundreds of thousands ofpublic-sector workers into unions through-out North Carolina, a “right to work” state.North Carolina ranks 50th as the state withthe lowest number of unionized workers.

BWFJ’s National vice-chair, AngazaSababa Laughinghouse, stated in his wel-coming remarks that the organization’sgoal has been to build class-wide unityespecially among African American,Latin@, Indigenous, women and whiteworkers. The banquet was emceed byNathanette Mayo.

BWFJ has had a close working relation-ship with the Farm Labor Organizing Com-mittee that represents the interests of8,000 migrant workers in North Carolina,who won their first union contract lastyear. The national president of FLOC, Bald-emar Velasquez, traveled from Toledo,Ohio, to Raleigh to thank BWFJ for all theyears of solidarity work.

Ashaki Binta, BWFJ’s Director ofOrganization, introduced Rueben Solisfrom the San Antonio, Texas-based South-west Workers Union. He remarked on thehistorical links between racist repressionat home with war abroad and U.S. capital-ist expansion.

Saladin Muhammad, National Chair ofBWFJ, introduced the banquet’s keynotespeaker, Malcolm Suber, a leader of thePeople’s Hurricane Relief Fund based inNew Orleans. Suber, a Hurricane Katrinasurvivor, publicly recognized several othersurvivors in the audience.

Suber spoke about how the local rulingclass has taken full advantage of theKatrina tragedy to carry out union-bust-ing tactics in New Orleans in order to gen-

trify the city. These tactics have led to thedecertification of the teachers union andthe transformation of public schools intocharter schools. The union at CharityHospital has also been decertified.

The upcoming April 22 mayoral elec-tion in New Orleans are threatening todisenfranchise tens of thousands ofAfrican-American voters who are still dis-persed throughout the country because lit-tle to nothing has been done to rebuild thepoorest sections of New Orleans.

Suber described how white contractorsbring Latin@ workers to New Orleans todo the most dangerous clean-up work,

especially getting rid of toxic waste with-out any kind of protection. After the workis completed, instead of these undocu-mented workers getting paid a decentwage, the contractors often turn them intothe Immigration Naturalization Service fordeportation.

Suber stated, “If the levees had beenrepaired before the storm, we would nothave to pay billions of dollars torebuild...We have to take on the monsterof the world that is drowning people hereand around the world.... We have to jointhe struggle of immigrants with the strug-gle of Gulf Coast survivors.”

Black/Latin@ unity stressed at labor banquet

DETROIT .

.City Council joins Michigan campaign to ‘Free the Cuban Five!’

WW PHOTO: MONICA MOOREHEAD

Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee president, speaksat April 1 banquet. Sitting left is BWFJ leader Ashaki Binta.

By Cheryl LaBash

In a unanimous and historic vote onMarch 29, the Detroit City Council called“for Freedom for Gerardo Hernández,Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero,Fernando González and René González—the Cuban Five.” The resolution was sub-mitted as part of a statewide push to piercethe curtain of silence that has clung stub-bornly to this case since the “Five” werearrested in 1998. The Michigan Campaignto Free the Cuban Five project of the Jus-tice for Cuba Coalition organized a publicmeeting featuring noted attorney LeonardWeinglass and Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Camp-bell, a fundraiser netting at least $1,000 forthe Freedom Fund and statewide showingsof the joint Cuban/Irish video production“Mission Against Terror.”

A cover letter from retired Judge Clau-dia Morcom submitted the resolution anddisplayed the wide support the Five arereceiving in this area, from City Councilrepresentatives and the ACLU to MichiganWelfare Rights and anti-war organiza-tions. Morcom herself, a veteran civil andpolitical rights advocate, traveled toAtlanta to witness oral arguments onFebruary 14 and presented the violationsof the rights of the Cuban Five to theUnited Nations on March 13.

Not only did the City Council call forfreeing the Five, the resolution alsodemanded “an end to the blockade ofCuba” as well as “restoring the right of U.S.citizens to freely travel and exchange withthe people of Cuba.” Several cases are pend-ing against Michigan residents for travel toCuba including two health care workersfrom Port Huron and the U.S./Cuba Labor

Exchange, that has been threatened with a$27,000 pre-penalty notice.

Extradite Posada Carriles!

Most important in this statisticallypoorest major city in the United States,“the City of Detroit calls on the U.S. gov-ernment to extradite Luis Posada Carrilesto the sovereign country of Venezuelawithout further delay so he may stand trialfor the 1976 bombing of Cubana airlinesresulting in the deaths of 73 people.”

The phony U.S. “war on terror” wringsnational resources out of local and statebudgets to shower destruction on Iraq, butterrorists plotting in Miami are handledwith kid gloves.

These anti-Cuba terrorists themselvesare enmeshed with U.S. government covertaggression throughout Latin America,Central America and the Caribbean. TheCIA trained Luis Posada Carriles, who ispresently detained in El Paso, Texas byU.S. immigration authorities. BolivarianVenezuela is demanding his extraditionbecause the 1976 Cubana airline bombingover Barbados was planned in Venezuela.

His partner Orlando Bosch, one of theleading terrorists in the WesternHemisphere, was also involved in thebombing of the airline. The first President

Bush granted Bosch resident statusdespite a Justice Department report rec-ommending denial. “Bosch lives a normallife and is often granted a place of honorat presidential speeches,” Weinglass said,and “the lawyer who introduced Bosch toJeb Bush is named Batista, the son of theformer dictator, who is now on the FloridaSupreme Court.”

The ‘Brothers to the Rescue’ aircraft thatwas used to overfly Cuba was formerlyflown by the CIA-backed Contras, whowaged an illegal war under the direction ofand funded by the United States againstNicaragua during the 1980s. The Miamiterrorists have been involved in countlesscovert actions, from the Iran-Contra dealswith Oliver North in the 1980s to Nixon’sWatergate burglars in the 1990s.

Cuban Five legal victory invigorates struggle

In August 2005 a unanimous decisionof a three-judge panel from the 11th CircuitCourt overturned the convictions of theCuban Five. The 93-page decision con-cluded that a fair trial was impossible inMiami. Nonetheless, the U.S. attorney gen-eral decided to prolong the unjust impris-onment of the Five heroes by asking an enbanc review by the entire 11th Circuit

Court. A reinvigorated international cam-paign to free the Cuban Five is underwayto counteract the stalling and build sup-port leading to a new trial or their release.

The Detroit public meeting held atWayne State University Law SchoolPartrich Auditorium included a specialpresentation by Ignacio Meneses, co-chairof the National Network on Cuba, recog-nizing retired Council President MaryannMahaffey for her steadfast support andassistance in solidarity with Cuba, and amessage from the Cuban interests sectionthat also recognized her.

Weinglass and Campbell’s spellbindingpresentations revealed in detail nearly halfa century of aggression and intrigue that isbeing brought to public view through thestruggle to free these five courageous men.

Although the case of the Cuban Fiveinvolves civil liberty and human rightsissues, it also goes to the heart of the his-torical aims of U.S. imperialism in theAmericas. This imperialist dominationthrough neoliberal policies, kidnappingsand coups is being rolled back throughoutLatin America and bitterly fought in Haiti.A demonstration called for May 20 todemand “Hands off Cuba and Venezuela!”is being built hand in hand with Free theCuban Five efforts.

WW PHOTOS: DAVID SOLE

Judge Claudia Morcom and representative of Canadian Cuba Friendship.

Rev. Dr.Joan Brown

Campbell,ReligiousDirector,

ChautauquaInstitution,

andLeonard

Weinglass.

Page 8 April 13, 2006 www.workers.org

By Greg Butterfield

The United States and the former colo-nial powers of Europe, under the auspicesof NATO and the European Union, aretaking new steps to deepen their directmilitary intervention in Africa.

On March 29, President George W.Bush publicly called for NATO militaryintervention in Sudan. As justification, herepeated charges of government-spon-sored genocide in the Darfur region, with-out mentioning the long-time interests ofthe U.S. in the country’s vast oil wealth, orthe U.S. sponsorship of separatist forces.

Bush has bipartisan support for his lat-est military threats against Sudan. In theU.S. Senate, Democrat Joseph Biden andRepublican Sam Brownback are sponsor-ing a resolution calling for NATO troopsto be sent in and for the enforcement of ano-flight zone over Darfur.

President Omar al-Bashir, head of thenational unity government created afterthe end of Sudan’s 50-year north/southcivil war in 2004, warned March 20 thatthe U.S. “risked another Iraq” if non-African troops were sent into his country.

“We have witnessed what happened inIraq and Afghanistan and learned lessonsthat shouldn’t be repeated on the Africancontinent,” said Bashir. (Reuters, March20)

Currently 7,000 African Union peace-keepers are stationed in Darfur, alongwith 13,000 UN humanitarian aid work-ers. Washington and London have beenpressuring the AU to make way for UnitedNations troops. Bush says he wantsNATO forces to add muscle to a UN pres-ence.

U.S.-authored resolutions being push-ed through the UN Security Council arelaying the groundwork for invasion— justas they did in Iraq.

In the meantime, the U.S. is providinglogistical support to Rwandan army“peacekeepers” in Darfur. The Rwandanarmy has been implicated in genocideduring its U.S.-instigated invasion of theDemocratic Republic of Congo.

Tens of thousands of protestors madetheir opposition to U.S., NATO and UNtroops clear on March 8, when they ral-

lied in Khartoum, the capital city, chant-ing, “Down, down U.S.A.” and “UN peace-keepers, bring your coffins.”

NATO war games

More than 7,000 troops from the newNATO Response Force (NRF) are sched-uled to carry out military exercises in themountainous archipelago of Cape Verde,off Africa’s northwest coast, from June 1to July 12. It’s the first time NATO has heldwar games in Africa, and the first timesuch maneuvers have taken place at sucha distance from Europe or North America.

“NATO to stage African show of force”was the blunt headline of a March 27French News Agency report on the wargames.

Countries of the nearby southern Sahararegion were racked by famine last yearafter a locust plague destroyed crops inlate 2004. The United States stood asidewhile children died of hunger. But theseexercises, insisted on by Washington, havea budget of “tens of million of euros” accor-ding to AFP’s anonymous military source.

Not coincidentally, Mauritania, one ofCape Verde’s closest neighbors on Africa’swestern coast and home of a major oil dis-covery, was the site of a popular uprisingthat ousted a pro-U.S. regime last year. Infact, the U.S. had initially proposed con-ducting the war games in the Mauritaniandesert.

U.S. Gen. James L. Jones, NATO’s oper-ational commander, complained March 31that other NATO member countries werenot providing promised military person-nel and materials for the Cape Verde man-euvers or the NRF, which is supposed tobe fully operational by October 2006.Jones said there were shortfalls of 25 to 35percent on troops and material for thecoming year.

NATO leaders agreed to create the“rapid response force” at a summit in Pra-gue in November 2002 – before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent rise ofan intransigent Iraqi resistance.

Washington has groomed the NRF asanother means of rapidly deploying troopsto “trouble spots” far outside the originalboundaries of the anti-Soviet NorthAtlantic Treaty Organization.

‘De-privatize the subject of immigration.’

AFRICA .

Threat of U.S./NATO military intervention grows

The European capitalist powers may bedragging their heels when it comes to U.S.-dominated NATO. But that doesn’t meanthese former colonial overlords want to beleft out of the new “scramble for Africa.”

The European Union is planning tosend 1,500 troops, under German com-mand, to Central Africa this summer,allegedly to protect national electionsscheduled for mid-June in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo.

It will be just the second foreign deploy-ment of German-commanded forces sinceWorld War II. The first was in 1999, dur-ing the U.S.-led war against Yugoslavia.

U.S. plan: re-colonization

Why are U.S. imperialism and its Euro-pean allies/rivals pushing for more directmilitary control in Africa now? What doesit mean for the long-struggling people ofthat continent, and for the anti-war andprogressive movements in this country?

The plan to recolonize African countriesliberated in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s,and to more openly dominate neocolonies,has been taking shape since the early1990s, with the Clinton administration’sinvasion of Somalia.

Then Workers World wrote: “The U.S.occupation of Somalia under the auspicesof the United Nations is in many ways anexperiment to test a new method for therecolonization and domination of otherAfrican countries, prized by the UnitedStates either for their strategic location ortheir fabulous natural resources and rawmaterials.

“Washington feels free to pursue anaggressive policy toward these countriesnow that the Soviet Union has collapsed.The mere existence of the Soviet campserved African countries as a diplomatic,economic, and military counter-weight tothe designs of the U.S. and the capitalistpowers in Europe. ...

“The official U.S. line is that these coun-tries must be targeted for armed, outside(that is, U.S. and European) interventionbecause civil wars or potential civil warshave made these countries ‘ungovernable.’

“That, of course, is a resort to the racist,colonial position that Africa is ‘not readyfor independence.’ This line also conve-

we will remain here until we reach ourobjectives. So it is necessary to set up rulesfor coexistence; this means justice, that webe treated with dignity as human beings.This implies a program of basic issues:work in worthy conditions, a job with justwages and without discrimination; goodhealth services, education and social secu-rity at all levels and in equal conditions.

The second subject is to put in perspec-tive whether immigration is legal or ille-gal. I say “to put in perspective” becauseimmigrants will always exist; that hasbeen the history of humanity.

What is irrational is that millions ofpeople must leave their countries of origin,against their will, to arrive someplacewhere they are persecuted as if they werecriminals.

We have the responsibility to confrontand resolve the objective causes of theirrational phenomenon of forced immi-gration. To struggle against war is a fun-

niently obscures the fact that the CIA hasa hand in fomenting many of the same‘civil wars.’” (WW, June 24, 1993)

Clinton’s Somalian adventure ended indisaster. The U.S. forces’ brutally racistbehavior united the population in a peo-ple’s war that drove out the invaders andtheir superior Black Hawk-type technol-ogy –- just as Bush’s invasion of Iraq hasprovoked a determined people’s resist-ance in that country.

Nevertheless, the U.S. ruling class is stilldetermined to seize Africa’s resourcesoutright, and has steadily increased thepressure on debt-ridden and war-torncountries to open their markets to U.S.corporations and their lands to U.S. mili-tary bases.

Sudan has been a particular target sinceit opposed the first Gulf War in 1991. InAugust 1998, then-President Clintonbombed Sudan’s main pharmaceuticalplant, using fabricated evidence of chemi-cal weapons manufacturing. Former U.S.Attorney General Ramsey Clark led a fact-finding delegation that reported first-handevidence exposing this U.S. terrorism.

Since 1999, Sudan has become a majoroil exporter. Its main customer is thePeople’s Republic of China.

With Big Oil’s dreams of unfettereddomination of Iraq going up in smoke,U.S. imperialism is lashing out – anddriven to desperate acts, it is targeting oilproducing countries that refuse to bow toits control, like Iran, Venezuela and Sudan.

The Bush cabal may feel that Sudan isan easy target. It is a poor country, deci-mated by decades of civil war and divi-sions rooted in its colonial history underBritain. Sudan’s government has beenextensively demonized in the media, andthe country’s problems are not well under-stood or appreciated by the progressivemovement in the U.S. and Europe.

Progressive and revolutionary forces inthe West must be on alert and ready to actin solidarity against U.S./NATO interven-tion in Sudan, Congo, Zimbabwe, and any-where else on the continent. The heroicAfrican people, who have shouldered somuch of the burden of struggle againstimperialism and HIV/AIDS, deservenothing less.

The following letter was submitted toWorkers World by Gerardo CajamarcaAlarcón, a Colombian human rightsadvocate and member of the Coca-Colaworkers’ union, SINALTRAINAL.Cajamarca is in exile in the UnitedStates because of death threats hereceived from paramilitaries.

De-privatize the subject of immigration.This is an urgent necessity for progress.

I believe that the subject of immigrationhas many approaches. During almost 700days living in the United States, I have hadthe opportunity to participate in activitieswith several organizations.

Each organization and individual workshard for immigrants in the broad contextof human rights, everyone in their ownway, with their particular vision and val-ues, with their political and economicresources, but all in general have thedesire to do the right thing.

But I have always found the best andgreatest learning experience could be

found in the streets, on the bus, in theclinic, in the park, speaking with people.Surely people know much morethan we believe they do.

People know what is justand unjust because every onehas experienced or suffered it;they know why they come here,they have suffered from povertyor war, or both, and they are here totransform this terrible reality in their ownway and according to their possibilities.

We work hard. We study hard. Some ofus think of returning to live in our home-land, particularly those of us who are hereagainst our will. But those who make thedecision to become nationals or to perma-nently reside in this country have the rightto make it without discrimination orracism. This is, in the end, a country ofimmigrants.

Reality and what to do

Steven Camarota, author of a recentstudy, affirms that immigration to the

United States reached a record levelbetween March of 2000 and March of

2005, with 7.9 million new immi-grants, including documented

and undocumented—the high-est number reached in a five-year period in the history of

this country. More than half ofthose—3.7 million—who arrived

after 2000 are without papers, theCenter for Immigration Studies reportsays, using data provided by the UnitedStates census. By March 2005, some 35.2million documented and undocumentedimmigrants were living in the UnitedStates—a record level.

The measures to stop immigration areridiculous; fences as high and expensiveas they are useless, since people will con-tinue to build tunnels or devise othermeans of arriving at their destiny.

But while we are here there are manyissues to resolve.

The first is to accept reality: We arehere, more will arrive by thousands and

letter

Continued on page 11

www.workers.org April 13, 2006 Page 9

Youth disrupt ceremonyfor right-wing CubanBy Tom SotoSan Juan, Puerto Rico

At times what may seem like an obscurepolitical event can give rise to a course ofstruggle. This is especially true when thereis a deep economic and political crisisbrewing, such as the current situation inPuerto Rico.

On March 29, as members of the Houseof Representatives, which is dominated bythe right wing pro-statehood New Pro-gressive Party, attempted to hold a “recog-nition ceremony” to thank Julio LabatutEscarra—a right-wing Cuban-born busi-nessman—for his “philanthropic contri-butions in Puerto Rico,” a militant demon-stration of “independentistas” marchedoutside the capitol building chanting“Labatut, Labatut, asesino eres tu”(Labatut, Labatut, you are an assassin).

Julio Labatut Escarra has been publiclytied to the right-wing death squads thatoperated in Puerto Rico in the 1970s and1980s and implicated in the assassinationof Carlos Muñiz Varela in 1979.

Varela, also born in Cuba, was a workerwho married and lived in Puerto Rico. In1979, he was 26 and had two children,Yamaira and Carlos. He operated theVaradero Travel Agency, promoting traveland dialogue with revolutionary Cuba—apolicy that the U.S. government opposed.

Varela was also active in the ComitéNacional de la Brigada Antonio Maceo(the National Committee of the AntonioMaceo Brigade), which organized solidar-ity trips to Cuba.

According to Milagros Rivera of theCuba Solidarity Committee, “With the view

of ending travel to Cuba, Carlos MuñizVarela was assassinated by the FBIthrough its agents in Puerto Rico. Omega7, a terrorist organization created andfunded by the CIA, took responsibility forthe assassination.”

Labatut is protected by the FBI, whichfor 26 years has not turned over evidenceto the Puerto Rican Department of Justiceregarding the murder.

Repression and economic crisisawakens militancy

The attempt to honor Julio LabatutEscarra on the heels of the FBI assassina-tion of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos on Sept. 23and FBI raids against pro-independenceactivists in February; in an economicatmosphere where the prices of all com-modities and food stuffs have risen dras-

tically in the last year; where a 7percent sales tax is being consid-ered by the legislature; and in themidst of a fiscal and debt crisiswhere the Puerto Rican governmentrefuses to negotiate wages with publicemployees such as the Electrical IndustryWorkers Union and the Federation ofTeachers placed the independence move-ment in a position to set an example.

The demonstration on Wednesday,which was called on relatively short noticeby family members and the MovimientoIndependentista Nacional Hostosiano(Hostos National Independence Move-ment), the Comité de Solidaridad ConCuba (Cuba Solidarity Committee), theSocialist Front and others grew to almost1,000 people.

Demonstrators marched up to the

doors of the capitol building chanting:“Assassin, assassin,” while police andcapitol security outside and inside thebuilding blocked the entrances.

At one point the environmentalactivist Alberto De Jesús Mercado, pop-ularly known as Tito Kayak, attempted toclimb the flagpole in front of the build-ing, which was flying the U.S. flag. Whenthe police rushed off to stop him, theentrance doors to the building were leftminimally protected, allowing militantyouth to penetrate the sanctity of thecolonial legislature.

In the ensuing struggle insidethe building, windows were bro-ken, furniture was trashed, paint-ings were torn off the walls, and theglass encasement holding PuertoRico’s (colonial) constitution wascracked. Reporters like HumbertoTrías covering the event werethrown to the ground by the police,and security personnel used fireextinguishers to repel the demon-strators. All this thoroughly dis-rupted the ceremony honoring theterrorist.

Second disruption is carried out

After riot police were bused in toreinforce the building, representa-

March 28 that: “The Navy will send an air-craft carrier strike group, with four ships,a 60-plane air wing and 6,500 sailors, toCaribbean and South American waters fora major training exercise, it wasannounced Monday.

“Some defense analysts suggested thatthe unusual two-month-long deployment,set to begin in early April, could be inter-preted as a show of force by anti-Americangovernments in Venezuela and Cuba.

“‘The presence of a U.S. carrier task forcein the Caribbean will definitely be inter-preted as some sort of signal by the govern-ments of Cuba and Venezuela,’ said LorenThompson of the Lexington Institute, apro-defense think-tank in Washington.

“‘If I was sitting in the Venezuela capi-tal looking at this American task force, themessage I would be getting is America stillis not so distracted by Iraq that it is unableto enforce its interests in the Caribbean,’Thompson said.”

The Venezuelan government is takingthe threat seriously and has recently pur-chased military aircraft and small armsfrom Russia. It has gained enormous pres-tige in the region through its progressivepolicies and the masses of people at homeare solidly behind the revolution, as shownin every election for the last seven years.

But the leaders, many of whom, likeChávez, come from the military, know thatto defend themselves against imperialismthe Venezuelan people need more thangood will.

Bolivarian revolution advances with seizure of oil fields By Deirdre Griswold

What happens in a real revolution?Nothing could be simpler: power andproperty are taken away from the privi-leged few in order to distribute to the peo-ple the wealth the exploiters once hogged.

Venezuela has once again confirmedthat it is on the road of revolution. It hasmoved to gain more control over oil, itsmost precious resource. It calls its revolu-tion Bolivarian after the Great Liberator,Simón Bolívar, in order to stress that nec-essary social change requires the libera-tion of the country and the region fromforeign domination.

Near the end of March, the NationalAssembly passed a law that gives the stateoil company, Petróleos de Venezuela orPDVSA, at least a 60 percent stake in proj-ects where foreign oil companies once gotthe lion’s share of the profits. The law ap-plies to 32 oil fields that are pumping aboutone-fifth of the country’s production.

Foreign oil companies will still be mak-ing money in Venezuela—just not as muchas before.

Sixteen companies, including RoyalDutch Shell, the Spanish-Argentine com-pany Repsol YPF, Brazil’s Petrobras andChina National Petroleum agreed to thenew contracts. Italy’s Eni and France’sTotal, however, refused to go along withthe new terms.

For the first time ever, the governmentthen seized their oil fields, putting them

under PDVSA’s management. “These two companies are refusing to

abide by our laws,” said Energy MinisterRafael Ramírez in a press conference inCaracas on April 3. “They won’t acceptstate control over our resources, and theywon’t accept the taxes and royalty rates.”

The U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil, on theother hand, got around the problem byselling off its stake in the 15,000-barrel-a-day Quiamare-La Ceiba field to a Spanishcompany rather than resist the new law.One reason it didn’t want to jeopardize itsrelations with the government is that itstill holds a 42 percent stake in a muchlarger heavy-oil project at Cerro Negro,which is not affected by the new law.

These three oil companies are amongthe six largest in the world.

What does the Venezuelan governmentof President Hugo Chávez want to do withthe money?

It is moving to transform Venezuela bylifting up the poor majority who in the pastgot virtually nothing from the country’s oilriches. The state’s enhanced revenue willgo to the many social projects it haslaunched in recent years, with a priority onliteracy and general education; medicalclinics for the poor, many staffed by Cubandoctors; subsidized food in poor commu-nities; new housing and land reform.

President Chávez recently announcedthat 150,000 new houses for the poor willbe built by the end of the year. The mayorof Greater Caracas, Juan Barreto, has

announced that to alleviate the housingproblem and combat high rents, the gov-ernment expects to expropriate about 400apartment buildings in the city. To beseized, a building must be at least 10 yearsold and the owner must have collected atleast five times the building’s value in rents.

Venezuela has also been helping poorpeople in other countries who have beenhit by the worldwide increase in the priceof heating oil. Many cities in the U.S. itselfhave now signed on to receive Venezuelanoil at a low cost—just at a time when theU.S. government has cut heating subsidiesfor the poor.

One of Venezuela’s major goals is theregional integration of Latin America asa giant economic bloc with its own pow-erful banks, telecommunications anddeveloped infrastructure. All this hasbeen impossible ever since the MonroeDoctrine of 1823 declared all of LatinAmerica to be under the domination ofthe United States.

Washington’s reaction to the ongoingrevolution in Venezuela is deepening hos-tility—which should come as no surprise,considering the terrible war the Bushadministration has launched in theMiddle East, for no other reason than tocontrol that oil-rich region. Venezuela haswhat some consider to be the largestrecoverable oil reserves in the world.

The Virginian-Pilot, a newspaper fromthe Hampton Roads area where the U.S.Navy has an enormous base, reported on

Reporter Humberto Trías thrown to ground by police.

PHOTOS: ALVIN COUTO

Protesters at capital during ceremony ‘honoring’ Julio Labatut Escarra. Continued on page 11

Page 10 April 13, 2006 www.workers.org

Workers without borders

leftbooks.com ...Books to change the world–that’s the point

the economies of their home countrieshave been decimated. Where there oncewas a market for home-grown agricul-tural products, that market has beentaken over by the transnational agribusi-ness companies. So peasants fromMexico, for example, who used to raise afamily on a small plot of land, are nowworking in hotels and restaurants in LosAngeles, Chicago and New York for mis-erable wages—if they get paid at all.

The capitalist laws that criminalizeimmigrant workers have one intention:to keep this growing sector of the work-ing class from being able to organize andfight for better wages and conditions.The laws are not to keep them out alto-gether. Far from it. The bosses needimmigrant workers, but they want themhere under semi-slave conditions. It’s ahuge two-tier strategy to divide theworking class.

According to the 2000 census, immi-grants made up 12.4 percent of theworkforce. But that’s only half the story.In the preceding decade, half the newworkers were immigrants. New immi-grants accounted for the entire laborgrowth in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, and 72 percent of thegrowth in the Pacific region.

Many are paid less than the minimumwage. Twenty percent of all low-wagefamilies are headed by immigrants. Andthey are often in the most dangerousjobs. By 2002, immigrant workers madeup 15 percent of the workforce butaccounted for 69 percent of workplacefatalities.

The recent demonstrations revealedthe pent-up anguish of immigrant work-ers over their situation and their angerover been treated as criminals when allthey want is a job. But they also revealedtheir hope that organization, being ableto come out in large numbers for thefirst time, is the answer.

It’s up to the labor movement and allprogressive people to help keep thathope alive. In this time of massive lay-offs in the industrial sector, the slashingof wages and the phasing out of unionbenefits like pensions and health care,the potential of the working class tomount a massive fightback is the onlything that can turn the situation around.This offensive by the bosses is world-wide—as we are seeing in France rightnow. It doesn’t come from immigration.It comes from the growing competitionthat always accompanies capitalist over-production—when the rapid growth ofthe means of production far outstripsthe market for their products, leadingeventually to crisis and catastrophe.

It’s time to struggle once again for thetruth that an injury to one is an injury toall. The greatest solidarity must be builtbetween U.S.-born workers and immi-grants, whether “legal” or undocu-mented, in order to turn back the assaultof the billionaire corporations. That’sonly possible if labor comes outunequivocally for amnesty and fullimmigrant rights.

FRANCE.

Youth, unions continue protestsBy LeiLani Dowell

Protests continue in France, led byyouth and trade unions, against the FirstEmployment Contract, or CPE, a bill thatwould make it easier for employers to fireyouth under the age of 26 at will. The lawwas proposed and pushed through theFrench parliament by Prime MinisterDominique de Villepin with little parlia-mentary debate and no consultation withyouth or trade unions.

Youth and allies see this contract as anattack on labor laws that have protected allworkers in France and have been won inhard-fought struggles.

French police say that more than 3,500people have been arrested since the begin-ning of the protests on March 7. Unionleaders have issued an April 16 deadlinefor the government to revoke the law.

In a country where youth unemploy-ment is a staggering 23 percent—and 50percent in the poorer immigrant sub-urbs—government officials are nowscrambling to appease the rage and frus-tration of the youth, but on governmentterms. President Jacques Chirac signedCPE into law on April 2 but did not imple-ment it immediately, offering mildamendments such as shortening the two-year contract for youth to one year, andadding language that would requireemployers to give reason for termination.

The youth are saying they won’t acceptany amendments to the law, only its repeal.

Meanwhile, hard-line Interior MinisterNicolas Sarkozy has been poised to takecharge of negotiations over the law, evenas he demonizes the protesting youth.Sarkozy reportedly said of the demonstra-tors on April 4, “It is giving them too muchcredit to ascribe an ideology to them.These are just hoodlums, who come tobreak and pillage. I’m not sure there is anideology behind all this.”

Sarkozy is contending for a presidentialnomination from the ruling Union for aPopular Movement party, with Villepin ashis main rival.

Workers World spoke to Jean-ClaudeKeusch, a retired journalist for the CGT(Confédération Générale du Travail)union confederation magazine VO (VieOuvrière, Worker’s Life), who was at thedemonstration in Paris April 4. He said:

“More than 3 million people were in thestreets in France on April 4, according toorganizers of the anti-CPE demonstra-tions. A million according to the police.

“Throughout the demonstration shoutscalling for a ‘general strike’ could beheard. On the afternoon of April 5, unionleaders were scheduled to meet with thegovernment for discussions.

“Whatever the size was, one thing is cer-tain: far from weakening, the anti-CPEmovement once again proved its determi-nation. Another certainty: the standing ofPrime Minister de Villepin reached its lowpoint. He is now physically exhausted, ashe showed yesterday in front of thedeputies of Parliament.

“This, following the astonishing, evensurrealistic televised announcement madeby head of state Jacques Chirac last week[that he would ratify the CPE], when hisvoice was out of sync with the visual pres-entation, has widened the gap even morebetween a broad part of public opinion andthe choices carried out by the government.

“France has entered one of its most seri-ous political crises in the history of theFifth Republic. Even within the majoritycenter-right government, voices are raisedthat condemn the strategy carried out inMatignon [the prime minister’s resi-dence].

“And more and more Minister of Inter-ior Sarkozy appears to the eyes of the rightwing as the man who could get the govern-ment out of this quicksand. But it is a goodbet that this change in personnel will beonly a meager response to the anger of thestreet. As long as the CPE is not defini-tively withdrawn, there are few chancesthat a serious dialogue will begin betweenthe majority of people in France and thecurrent government.”

fter more than a week of massivedemonstrations across the

country for immigrant rights,followed by student walkouts—an esti-mated 40,000 youth walked out of theirschools in Los Angeles alone—you wouldthink there would be even more pressureon the sponsors of the Sensenbrenner-King bill to withdraw this draconianpiece of legislation, which criminalizesall undocumented workers and thosewho aid or employ them.

Its sponsors, however, are hoping foran anti-immigrant backlash and arecounting on the decades of poisonousagitation by the capitalist media against“illegal aliens,” enhanced by the eco-nomic crunch facing many U.S.-bornworkers who are losing their jobs andbenefits. Day after day, the media claimthat the crimes of capitalist bossesagainst workers are because immigrantsare “taking your jobs.”

Meanwhile, a slew of other bills, somesupported by Democrats and Republicans,sound less repressive but still make itimpossible for most immigrants to everget permanent residency and would setup “guest worker” programs. They arewaiting in the wings in case theSensenbrenner bill fails in the Senate.

It is important for every worker toknow that anything short of full amnestyand full rights for immigrants is a vic-tory for the bosses and a setback for allworkers. When workers who daredemand unpaid wages, or organize aunion, or complain about long hoursand hazardous conditions are threat-ened with deportation, the working classas a whole is under attack.

This is a global economy, as everyoneshould realize if they look at where thethings they use come from. Especiallybecause of the imperialist-dominatedrules of trade and commerce encoded inthe World Trade Organization, theInternational Monetary Fund and vari-ous “free trade” agreements, capital isfree to go where it wants in pursuit ofhigher profits.

For a very long time, this export ofcapital from the more industrializedcountries has been undermining theeconomies of other countries all over theworld, especially where they had beencolonized by force. This imperialist dom-ination of the world began over a cen-tury ago. Karl Marx wrote about it in1848 in the Communist Manifesto, whenhe said that cheap commodities were thebourgeoisie’s “heavy artillery with whichit batters down all Chinese walls.” Oncethe countries were penetrated by foreigncapital, however, the commodities didn’tremain so cheap and the people werefurther impoverished.

What is more recent is the massivemovement of labor from the super-exploited areas in search of jobs. Eventhough in much of the world, especiallythe wealthy imperialist countries, theseworkers face anti-immigrant laws, theystill will risk everything, including theirlives, to slip over the borders because

A

Subscribe to Workers WorldSpecial trial subscription ___$2 for eight weeks (new subscription) ___ $25 for one year

Name____________________________________________________ Phone number _______________________

Address ______________________________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip_____________________________________________________________________________________

Workers World Newspaper 55 West 17 St. NY, NY 10011 (212) 627-2994Or use a credit card and subscribe online at: www.workers.org/orders/subscribe.php

WW PHOTONew York, March 26.

www.workers.org April 13, 2006 Page 11

these killings, whether or not the occupy-ing troops pulled the triggers, they havelegal responsibility according to interna-tional rules of occupation.

To investigate this problem further andto publicize these atrocities, anti-occupa-tion organizations in Spain, Belgium andthe United States have organized a semi-nar for April 22 in Madrid. The meeting iscalled “A War Launched to Erase both theCulture and Future of the Iraqi People—International Seminar on the Assassina-tion of Iraqi Academics and HealthProfessionals.”

The Spanish Campaign against theOccupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq(CEOSI), The BRussells Tribunal and theInternational Action Center are calling forthe international seminar. These groups’news release states that the following day,April 23, “there will be an internationalmeeting of both European and U.S. organ-izations with the purpose of encouraginginternational solidarity with Iraq.”

“Four relevant Iraqi guests–activists,academics and medical doctors–will par-ticipate in the public session. They are cur-rently documenting the dirty war in Iraq:Eman A. Khamas, Dr. Ali Abdulah, DrSami Wasfi (there was an assassinationattempt on his life) and Dr Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar.” Experts and activists from theSpanish state, Belgium and the U.S.,among others, will address the seminar.

The Association of Iraqi Academicsestimates that more than 180 academicsand an additional 311 primary and second-ary teachers of both sexes have been killedin Iraq during the last four months alone.Also, workers attached to the NationalIraqi Medicare System are being targetedfor a mass campaign of extortion, threatsand murders, and “Iraqi hospitals andclinics are being attacked and systemati-cally raided by U.S. occupation forces.”

One, two, many proofs of torture

In mid-March the web magazine Salonraised questions as to whether the Iraqiknown as Haj Ali was really the manshown in the infamous photograph of aprisoner, wearing a hood, standing onboxes in Abu Ghraib prison with elec-trodes attached to his limbs. In subse-quent newspaper articles Haj Ali said hemight not be the one in that particular pic-ture but that he was tortured and pho-tographed like that. Most of these articlesgave the false impression that the discrep-ancy somehow invalidated his story.

To set the record straight, Haj Ali spoketo two reporters in Amman, Jordan onMarch 21, the article published on the website of the Anti-Imperialist Camp. Haj Alitold the reporters: “The truth to this is thatI was not the only one who was torturedin this barbaric fashion. Almost all prison-ers in the part of the prison that I wasfamiliar with were tortured in this way.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I wasone of those who had to stand on that card-board box, with a black hood placed overmy head and electrical wires attached tomy hands. As an Iraqi person who hasgone through Abu Ghraib, I represent allthose tormented people.

“First they denied ever having torturedpeople in this way. Then they claimedthose were just isolated cases. Now theyadmit that they have tortured many, manypeople in that way. They do so to discreditus, but on the other hand, it also meansthat this form of torture was not an iso-lated case. It has been made public. Thatis a result of our campaign work.

“Since my release and the founding ofour Association of Victims of AmericanOccupation Prisons, we have had 1,300activities to protest the occupation andespecially the private torture companieswhose services are employed by the U.S.military. Nobody could imagine that oursmall association would have been able todo all that, without any official financialassistance. By dogged perseverance, dona-tions and help from friends and somemedia, we have achieved something, evenin the United States. We raised our voicesand the Pentagon doesn’t like that.”

Told that the New York Times reports

that the man on the photograph is in factAbdou Hussain Saad Faleh, Haj Ali said,“I know that man. There are also photosof Said Saleh Shain from Mosul. They gavehim the nickname “Joker,” and he was tor-tured in the same way. There was also some-one called Saddam Rawi. They attached theelectrical wires to his ears. Still today, hehas neurological problems, and he hasbrought suit at the United Nations.”

Haj Ali described some legal action hisgroup is taking: “The lawsuit we filed isdefinitely one reason for the current smearcampaign. We are an independent NGO.Many have tried to buy us, without suc-cess. The suit was brought a year and a halfago in the U.S. Two hundred cases werefiled as a class-action lawsuit.

“Now we have brought 50 more formerprisoners, among them several women,from Iraq to Jordan. And we have pub-lished a comprehensive documentationabout the abducted and tortured, the vic-tims of American policies.

“Our campaign is directed especiallyagainst Titan Group [Titan Corp., SanDiego]. They are a private company con-ducting interrogations in the prisons. …We are well aware that the United Statesis run with the mentality of a corporation.Important motives for the war against Iraqwere the interests of those corporations:first of all Halliburton, which is directlyowned by Dick Cheney, and all the com-panies associated with the Bush family.

“The United States cannot accept thattheir companies are targeted. It is a capi-talist regime based on corporate profits,and complete disregard for the needs ofhuman beings.”

U.S. occupation responsible for killings, torture in Iraq

wealth, war, unjust commerce and freetrade agreements, self-determination ofthe peoples and peaceful coexistence. Butall these issues must be in the publicdomain. It is necessary to share them, dis-cuss them in the schools, in the churches,in the unions and among all. Find the path,the proposal and make it a reality withthose who govern—a practical and realexercise in democracy.

“De-privatize the subject of immigra-tion” means not only taking the issue awayfrom the offices of the corporations thatprofit from fear, but also from governmentoffices or those who believe the commu-nity is something to plunder to satisfytheir interests or egos, and bring it to thepeople as a whole for debate and action.

Gerardo Cajamarca AlarcónColombian immigrant gcajamarca@sinaltrainal.orgwww.sinaltrainal.org

tive Jennifer González of the pro-state-hood New Progressive Party, who waschairing the event, attempted to continuewith the ceremony, but to the surprise ofsecurity officials a loud bang occurred,again interrupting the event.

This time Kayak had been able to crashthrough a window into the offices ofNorma Burgos, the senator for the NewProgressive Party. Havoc broke loose inthe building as police and security offi-cials, inside and outside, were seen run-ning in all directions searching for the ori-gins of the noise, and later for theintruder. Kayak was arrested.

The action shocked the bourgeoisestablishment in Puerto Rico.

According to capitol personnel, $30,000in damages were sustained. RicardoSantos, speaking for the Socialist WorkersMovement (Movimiento Socialista de losTrabajadores), referred to the assassina-tion of Muñiz Varela, saying, “What isworth more: $30,000in damages, or the lifeof a person?”

R e p r e s e n t a t i v eGonzález, the mainorganizer of the cere-mony, later told thepress that she had

been asked by Carlos Varela Pérez, son ofCarlos Muñiz Varela, not to honor JulioLabatut in light of his suspected role in themurder of his father.

Addressing the rally outside the capitol,Carlos Varela Pérez, now 31, reminded thecrowd how in a television interviewLabatut was once asked whether heplayed a role in the murder of Varela. Hisreply: “I did not have the honor of partic-ipating in that killing.”

Jorge Farinacci, spokesperson for theSocialist Front, commented in a writtenstatement, “We repudiate this act of provo-cation by the legislature, of organizing aceremony to honor an assassin and terror-ist, whose hands are stained with the bloodof independentistas and socialists.

“For more than three decades, the his-tory of Julio Labatut is full of conspiraciesto murder and to destroy the independ-ence and socialist movement, and every-thing that appears to be like revolutionaryCuba.”

By John Catalinotto

In just the first four days of April, 16 U.S.occupation troops in Iraq, mostly Marinesand including two helicopter pilots, havebeen reported dead or missing.

U.S. officials and journalists had notedas March ended that there was an “upside”to the massacre of over 1,000 Iraqi civil-ians that month following the Feb. 23bombing of the Golden Dome mosque inSamarra. During March, only 32 U.S.troops died, the lowest monthly bodycount since early 2004. But the April num-bers indicate that the March figures mayhave been just a blip in a long campaign.

Iraqis, both police and army membersbut also civilians, are still being killed infirefights, bombings and executions, someof them targeted by U.S. troops. Mean-while, Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceand British Foreign Secretary Jack Strawhave been pressuring the Iraqi occupationgovernment to get rid of its designatedPrime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jafari, andform a new government.

Under this pressure, the alliance set togovern Iraq, composed of seven parties ofwhich three are the most powerful Shiite-based parties—SCIRI, Dawa and theMehdi Army—has pulled back in its sup-port for al-Jafari. Four of these partieshave said they would no longer back him.Al-Jafari has said he has no plans to with-draw. (Washington Post, April 3)

After Rice and Straw left, Mehdi Armyleader Muqtada al-Sadr criticized their“meddling in Iraqi affairs” as undermin-ing Iraqi sovereignty. While some peopleblame the Mehdi Army for the sectariankilling of Sunni Iraqis, others in the activeIraqi resistance still look to Muqtada’sMehdi Army as the most likely of the Shiiteforces to join the struggle to kick out theU.S. occupation.

Iraqi academics killed

According to a report from Abu Tamampublished on Uruknet, on March 30 U.S.occupation soldiers shot and killed a 72-year-old professor, Qais HusameldeenJuma’a, as he left the Agriculture Collegeof the University of Baghdad and passedtheir check point. The professor hadreturned from Australia to supervise a fewPh.D. students at the college.

If this news is confirmed, Juma’a wouldbe only the latest of hundreds of Iraqiintellectuals assassinated since the begin-ning of the U.S.-led occupation. For all

damental task for such a goal. This task is not as complicated as it is

claimed. One simply must learn to solveconflicts without arrogance, respectingthe right and the dignity of others withoutany type of imposition.

It is essential to resolve the terribleinequalities between the haves and have-nots; whether this is among individuals,social classes or countries.

While hunger, war and lack of opportu-nities exist in our countries of origin, emi-gration will be a constant; the only vari-able will be the exact number of those whodecide to leave their country to look fornew opportunities.

The accumulation of wealth in a fewhands is a crime. It is antisocial behavior.

This is the approach we must take if wewant to seriously and responsibly considerthe subject of immigration: poverty and

Continued from page 8

Immigration letter

Continued from page 9

Rightist stoppedin Puerto Rico

Protesters push intothe capital building.

PHOTO: ALVIN COUTO

MUND OBRERO¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los países, uníos!

“Si la luna suave se deslizapor cualquier cornisa sinpermiso alguno, por qué elmojado precisa demostrarcon visas que no es deNeptuno...”

– Ricardo Arjona

Desprivatizar el tema de la inmi-gración. Una necesidad urgente paraavanzar.

Creo que el tema de inmigracióntiene muchos enfoques, a casi 700días de estar en Estados Unidos hetenido la oportunidad de participaren varias actividades junto a variasorganizaciones.

Cada una de las organizaciones ydistintas personas trabajan duro porlos inmigrantes en el amplio con-texto de los Derechos Humanos,cada cual a su manera, con su partic-ular visión y valores, con su pre-supuesto político y económico perotodos en común tienen el deseo deacertar.

Pero la mejor y más grande expe-riencia y aprendizaje siempre la heencontrado en la calle, en el bus, enla clínica, en el parque, hablando conla gente. Es seguro que la gente sabemucho más de lo que a vecescreemos.

La gente sabe de lo justo y de loinjusto porque cada quien lo ha vividoo sufrido; sabe por qué viene aquí, hapadecido la pobreza o la guerra, oambas, y están aquí para trasformaresta terrible realidad a su manera ydesde sus posibilidades.

Trabajamos o estudiamos duro.Algunos pensamos en regresar a vivir

en nuestra tierra, sobre todo quienesestamos aquí contra nuestra propiavoluntad. Pero quienes toman ladecisión de nacionalizarse o hacer suresidencia permanente en este paístienen derecho a realizarlo sin ningúntipo de discriminación o racismo, alfin este es un país de inmigrantes.

Las realidades y el qué hacer:

Steven Camarota, autor de unareciente investigación afirma que“La inmigración a Estados Unidosalcanzó un nivel récord entre marzode 2000 y marzo de 2005 llegando a7,9 millones de nuevos inmigrantes—entre documentados e indocumen-tados—la cifra más alta alcanzada enun periodo de cinco años en la histo-ria de esta nación.

Más de la mitad—3,7 millones—de los llegados después de 2000 soninmigrantes sin papeles, subraya elestudio realizado por el Centro deEstudios de Inmigración, con base endatos suministrados por el censo deEstados Unidos. A marzo de 2005vivían en Estados Unidos 35,2 mil-lones de inmigrantes—documenta-dos e indocumentados—es decir unnivel récord.”

Resultan ridículas las medidaspara parar la inmigración; muros tanaltos y costosos como inserviblesmientras que de cualquier manera lagente seguirá construyendo túneles oideando otras formas para llegar a sudestino.

Pero mientras estemos aquí haymuchos temas por resolver.

El primero es asumir la realidad:Aquí estamos, llegaremos más y por

miles y aquí nos quedaremos hastaalcanzar nuestros objetivos de talmanera que es necesario construirreglas de convivencia lo cual quieredecir Justicia, ser tratados con dig-nidad como seres humanos. Estoimplica un plan en asuntos elemen-tales: trabajo en condiciones dignas,un empleo con salarios justos y sindiscriminación; buenos servicios desalud, educación y seguridad socialen todos los niveles y en igualdad decondiciones.

El segundo tema es racionalizar lainmigración legal o ilegal. Digoracionalizarla por que el inmigrantesiempre existirá, es así la historia dela humanidad.

Lo irracional es el hecho de quemillones de personas tengan quesalir de sus países de origen contra suvoluntad para llegar a otro sitio y serperseguidos como criminales.

Tenemos la responsabilidad deafrontar y resolver las causas objeti-vas del fenómeno irracional de lainmigración forzada. Luchar contrala guerra es tarea fundamental paratal propósito y esto no es un asuntotan complicado como se dice, se tratasencillamente de aprender a resolverconflictos sin arrogancia respetandoel derecho y la dignidad del otro sinningún tipo de imposición.

Resolver las terribles desigual-dades entre los que tienen y los queno tienen es imprescindible; esto esentre individuos, entre clasessociales y entre países.

Mientras exista hambre, guerra yfalta de oportunidades en nuestrospaíses de origen, la emigración seráuna constante, la variable estará enel número ascendente de quienesdeciden abandonar su país y buscarnuevas oportunidades.

La acumulación de riquezas enpocas manos es un crimen y un com-portamiento antisocial.

Este es un enfoque que debemostrabajar si queremos tratar con serie-dad y responsabilidad el asunto de lainmigración: pobreza y riqueza,guerra, comercio injusto y tratados delibre comercio, autodeterminación delos pueblos y convivencia pacifica.Pero todos estos temas deben ser dedominio popular, es necesario com-partirlos, discutirlos en las escuelas,en las iglesias, en los sindicatos y entretodos construir el camino, la prop-uesta y hacerla realidad con los quegobiernan lo cual será un ejerciciopráctico y real de democracia.

Desprivatizar el tema de la inmi-gración no solamente de los despa-chos de las corporaciones que selucran con el miedo, desprivatizarlotambién de los despachos guberna-mentales o de quienes creen a lacomunidad un botín para satisfacersus intereses o sus egos.

Gerardo Cajamarca AlarcónInmigrante colombianogcajamarca@sinaltrainal.orgwww.sinaltrainal.org

Carta de un inmigrante

Desprivatizar el tema de la inmigración

EDITORIAL

¿Renacimientode la historia?

Durante el año pasado los gobiernos capitalistasque forman la Unión Europea han abierto unataque reaccionario contra los derechos de orga-

nizaciones comunistas. Esto sorprende, dado que hace 15años los filósofos más altamente pagados y estimados delos capitalistas declararon que la historia había terminadoy que el reino eterno del mercado libre había comenzado.Los comunistas que quedaban se suponían que iban a serridiculizados, no reprimidos.

Pero en el 2005 el Consejo Europeo decidió distorsionaresta historia –la que había “terminado” –declarando queel Ejército Rojo de la Unión Soviética, que había detenidoal imperialismo alemán a costa de un sacrificio enorme,era igualmente culpable junto a los líderes Nazis que ini-ciaron la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Esto haría ilegal elmostrar las banderas del comunismo, al igual que la odi-ada svástica.

Además, el gobierno de la República Checa, ahora unmini estado bajo el control del imperialismo alemán yestadounidense, vieron con urgencia el prohibir la Uniónde Juventudes Comunistas, (KSM), porque se había atre-vido a proclamar la existencia de la lucha de clases.

Y entonces el estado danés lanzó un ataque contra lasorganizaciones comunistas danesas precisamente en elmomento en que estos grupos estaban exponiendo elpapel reaccionario de las caricaturas anti-musulmanas yestaban intentando movilizar solidaridad con l@s inmi-grantes oprimid@s musulmanes. El pretexto del gob-ierno: que l@s comunistas daneses –de varios partidos-apoyaron un llamado en el portal “Rebellion” cuya metaera la de desafiar la legislación anti-terrorista nacional,equivalente danesa de la Ley Patriótica (Patriot Act). Estellamado incluyó un pedido a que se hicieran donativos alejército de liberación de Colombia, las FARC-EP, y almovimiento para la liberación de Palestina, el FrentePopular por la Liberación Palestina FPLP.

Todo el pueblo progresista en los Estados Unidos debedefender los derechos de los comunistas europeos paraorganizar y luchar por sus ideas. Organizaciones comu-nistas en Europa han montado una campaña para prote-ger los derechos del KSM. (http://4ksm.kke.gr)

Cualquiera que escuche esto posiblemente se pregun-taría, “¿Por qué los capitalistas europeos, y especialmentesus partidos derechistas y neoliberales, creen que ahoratienen que utilizar métodos policíacos para prevenir quelos comunistas se organicen? ¿Qué es lo que temen?

En 2005 tuvieron éxitos electorales el PartidoComunista de la República Checa y el Partido Comunistade Portugal, un partido que abiertamente declara su pro-grama socialista y que mejoró su posición igualmente enelecciones locales y nacionales por primera vez endécadas. Pero estos fueron sólo pequeños indicios de uncambio. ¿Es que los partidos capitalistas anticipan unaresistencia de la clase trabajadora a su ataque despi-adado?

Las señales están creciendo con fuerza. La rebeliónentre la juventud en los suburbios oprimidos de Franciafue el primer indicio de una lucha verdadera.

Luego, comenzando en marzo, cientos de miles de tra-bajadores alemanes recurrieron al arma de la huelga. Hansalido esporádicamente, intentando defender los avanceseconómicos que hicieron después de la Segunda GuerraMundial, los que han estado bajo un ataque constante.

En Bretaña el 28 de marzo, una huelga de 1,5 millonesde trabajador@s rechazó un plan del gobierno de reducirlos beneficios de jubilación.

La huelga británica pasó casi desapercibida por losmedios de comunicación mundiales porque, en la Franciacercana, algunos 3 millones de estudiantes y traba-jador@s cerraron casi la mitad del país y marcharon encada ciudad importante para defender el derecho a unempleo para l@s trabajador@s jóvenes.

Y ahora, al otro lado del Atlántico, en los EstadosUnidos, el centro del imperialismo mundial, donde la his-toria no solamente supuestamente ha terminado y ha sidosepultada, millones de trabajador@s inmigrantes estánlevantándose e inundando las calles.

Esos que se jactaron de haber sepultado el comunismorealmente creyeron que era el fin de la lucha obrera. Enambas cosas se han equivocado.

13 & 14 de mayoCiudad de Nueva YorkTod@s están invitad@s a participarde una evaluación crítica de la situación mundial enfocándose enlas lecciones más importantes que sepueden aprender y en las principalescuestiones que se necesitan tratar enla lucha mundial por el socialismo—pasado, presente y futuro.

Invitamos su participación en esta discusión.

Anote las fechas de la conferenciaen su calendario.

Se están preparando materiales ydocumentos previos a la conferencia

Anote la fecha: 13 & 14 de mayo

Hacia el renacerde la lucha global

por el socialismo¿Es la dirección política e ideológica delmovimiento de masas un factor decisivopara derrotar el afán de guerra imperialista?

¿Son el internacionalismo, la solidaridady la perspectiva revolucionaria másvitales hoy que nunca?

¿Todavía son válidas y esenciales las doctrinas centrales del Marxismo para la emancipación de tod@s l@s trabaja-dor@s, para las luchas contra la guerra y la reacción, y contra toda forma deexplotación y opresión?

¿Cuál es el papel de l@s revolucionari@s,sus organizaciones y la clase obreramultinacional en los EEUU en promoverla próxima fase de la lucha global por elsocialismo?

CONFERENCIA Auspiciada por el PARTIDO WORKERS WORLD/MUNDO OBRERO Llame: 212-627-2994 • www.workers.org • wwp@workers.org • www.workersworld.net