So-called hate crimes have been on the increase. The most lurid example in recent months was the lynching of James Byrd Jr., who was dragged to death behind a pickup truck by white racists in Jasper, Texas. But a more common indication of the problem was the disk jockey on a Washington, D.C., radio station … Continue reading Editorial: ‘Hate Crimes’ on the Increase
Month: March 1999
The Persecution of the Los Angeles Eight
In a Feb. 24 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the American rulers a new license for political repression against foreign-born residents. By a vote of six to three, it rejected the appeal of eight supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Los Angeles who immigration officials have been trying … Continue reading The Persecution of the Los Angeles Eight
Our Readers Speak Out
UPS Dear editors, It is apparent that the owners of United Parcel Service eagerly awaited the victory of union imposter James Hoffa Jr. to the Teamster presidency. Not long after this "victory," memoranda began to be placed all over time-clock boards outlining new Minimal Acceptable Requirements (MAR)-a UPS euphemism for production quotas. Demanding quotas … Continue reading Our Readers Speak Out
Profits Vs. the Planet: Oil Workers Killed by Company Neglect
By ROLAND SHEPPARD On Feb. 23, a refinery blast occurred at the Tosco Avon refinery in Martinez, Calif., killing four workers and critically injuring another. The men were part of a repair crew working on a 100-foot tower, who were trapped after a fireball erupted. The unit operator who runs the tower told the San … Continue reading Profits Vs. the Planet: Oil Workers Killed by Company Neglect
Teamsters Notebook
By CHARLES WALKER I thought the government's case against Ron Carey could not possibly get any phonier, but I was wrong. On Feb. 5, government prosecutors wrote Carey's lawyers that Jere Nash, the key witness against Carey, recently confessed that he defrauded the union using a billings scam. "Nash acknowledged that, when previously questioned by … Continue reading Teamsters Notebook
AFL-CIO No Longer Fights Injunctions
By CHARLES WALKER Injunctions and fines, jailings and blacklists have always been high on the bosses' list for dealing with workers who refuse to see things the bosses' way. So it was predictable that American Airlines would go to court against its pilots (see article on previous page) and it was equally predictable that the … Continue reading AFL-CIO No Longer Fights Injunctions
Seniority: An Important Issue for Pilots
By GERRY FIORI An issue that didn't get much coverage but is very significant for workers was the issue of seniority for the Reno Air pilots. Whereas the pilots at American are members of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the pilots at Reno Air are members of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the AFL-CIO … Continue reading Seniority: An Important Issue for Pilots
American Airlines Pilots Stage Militant Job Action
By GERRY FIORI Pilots at American Airlines staged a 10-day job action last month, including during the busy Presidents Day weekend, that forced the carrier to cancel over 6000 flights and affected more than 500,000 passengers. The cost to American, the second largest U.S. airline, has been variously estimated at between $40 million and $100 … Continue reading American Airlines Pilots Stage Militant Job Action
Military Crushes Romanian Miners’ Protest
By GERRY FOLEY After they led the country's increasingly desperate population to the brink of a general social explosion in January, the Romanian coal miners of the Jiu Valley suffered a disastrous defeat when they tried to renew their protest in February. In January, the miners had defied a court order banning their strike and … Continue reading Military Crushes Romanian Miners’ Protest
‘Peace Negotiations’ are a Trap for Kosovars
By GERRY FOLEY "It seems that an international trap is being laid for Kosovo," the editors of Zeri i Kosoves wrote in the Feb. 25 on-line issue of the exile Albanian weekly supporting the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). "Today, the old trick of international diplomacy is being applied with all possible means and force against the Albanians. … Continue reading ‘Peace Negotiations’ are a Trap for Kosovars
Teachers in Mexico City Beat Back Gov’t Austerity Drive
By GERRY FOLEY Militant teacher trade-unionists in Mexico have just won a major victory against the government's attempts to break the labor movement's resistance to its austerity and privatization drive. Teachers have been a prime target of this assault, since the budget sent to the Mexican congress by President Ernesto Zedillo calls for cutting the … Continue reading Teachers in Mexico City Beat Back Gov’t Austerity Drive
Warnings of Global Crisis Grow Louder
By NAT WEINSTEIN A series of four articles appearing in the Feb. 15 -18 New York Times titled, "Global Contagion: A Narrative," makes the most convincing case yet to appear in the mass media of the rapidly worsening global economic crisis. This latest and most informative report is based on an extensive array of concrete evidence justifying … Continue reading Warnings of Global Crisis Grow Louder
Africans in America: Part Five
By KWAME SOMBURU The defeat of the Confederacy meant that the Southern slavocracy ceased to exist as a power. It caused the expropriation of four million slaves, worth approximately $4 billion, half of the slave owners' capital. In addition, the war caused a two-thirds devaluation in the worth of their land, and destroyed much of … Continue reading Africans in America: Part Five
Sandra Bernhard, Cultural Arsonist
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH "I'm Still Here ... Damn It!" A stage show starring Sandra Bernhard. Theatre on the Square, San Francisco. Actress, comic, and vocalist Sandra Bernhard brought her one-woman show direct from Broadway to San Francisco's Theatre on the Square in February as part of a national tour. Bernhard has been called a "cultural … Continue reading Sandra Bernhard, Cultural Arsonist
California State University Faculty Resists Attacks
By ANN ROBERTSON An unexpected event happened in the California State University (CSU) system that might well have ramifications for higher public education across the nation. After a year of negotiations, the board of the faculty union, the California Faculty Association (CFA), sent a Tentative Agreement to the faculty for ratification-only to get it back … Continue reading California State University Faculty Resists Attacks
Youth in Action: UCLA Students for Socialist Action
LOS ANGELES-In the short amount of time that Students for Socialist Action has been here on the UCLA campus, we've been able to establish a presence as the largest and most active youth socialist group in the area. Since October, we've taken up issues that affect the student population, from the struggle of the Teachers … Continue reading Youth in Action: UCLA Students for Socialist Action
Youth in Action: Dead Ends
By NICHOLAS J. LUSIANI My surroundings have a history of a specified hue One can look and one can see we can only be what we can only do. First the fruit of evil and good was picked In delusion legitimizing the institution of politricks Now they chop down the trees to make slivers of … Continue reading Youth in Action: Dead Ends
Youth in Action: Student Activists on the Move!
By ADAM RITSCHER On Feb. 26, over 60 militant students staged a march at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill demanding that their school's chancellor come out firmly against hiring contractors that employ sweatshop labor. The march was organized by a student organization called Students for Economic Justice, and was one of a series … Continue reading Youth in Action: Student Activists on the Move!
National NAACP Gangs up with Demos to Oust Minneapolis Branch President
By DOUGLAS MANN MINNEAPOLIS-More than a month after a bitter Jan. 9 election for president of the local NAACP branch, the NAACP National Executive Board finally declared an official winner. The board announced that Rick Campbell, a deputy chief and fire marshal in the Minneapolis Fire Department, had ousted incumbent president Leola Seals by a … Continue reading National NAACP Gangs up with Demos to Oust Minneapolis Branch President
Cops Attack N.Y. Mumia Conference
By MARTY GOODMAN NEW YORK-Four persons were arrested and several physically assaulted by campus security and New York Police Department (NYPD) cops at a Feb. 13 conference sponsored by the New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition. The conference had been called to organize support for the mass April 24 march for Mumia in Philadelphia. Among … Continue reading Cops Attack N.Y. Mumia Conference
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Legalized Cop Violence
"When a gang member is beaten by persons unknown in a mixed neighborhood, and the Black gangs begin terrorizing WHITES, it is called racism; a bunch of cops can ride through Black neighborhoods all day beatin' ass, and call it law; when a bunch of Blacks beat one of these cops' ass it's called mob … Continue reading Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Legalized Cop Violence
FIGHTBACK: The End of Welfare as We Know It?
By SYLVIA WEINSTEIN The UN Development Program's 1998 report estimates that for the "developing" countries, "the additional cost of achieving and maintaining universal access to basic education for all, basic health care for all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all, and safe water and sanitation for all is roughly $40 billion … Continue reading FIGHTBACK: The End of Welfare as We Know It?
U.S. Engineered Ocalan Kidnapping
By GERRY FOLEY Washington has not been bashful about taking the credit for engineering the kidnapping of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan by Turkish commandos. In its Feb. 20 issue, The New York Times quoted an unnamed "senior" U.S. official as saying: "We spent a good deal of time working with Italy and Germany and Turkey to find … Continue reading U.S. Engineered Ocalan Kidnapping
NYPD Orders Dumdum Bullets
By MARILYN VOGT-DOWNEY Police Commissioner Howard Safir's first response to the Diallo killing was to order more careful training of SCU cops. Then on Feb. 13, he joined Mayor Giuliani at a press conference to announce plans to make cops' guns even more gruesome by issuing hollow-point "dumdum" bullets to the NYPD in the coming … Continue reading NYPD Orders Dumdum Bullets
New Yorkers Protest Cop Killing of Ahmed Diallo
By MARILYN VOGT-DOWNEY NEW YORK-When four cops gunned down Amadou Ahmed Diallo in the doorway to his home at 12:45 a.m. on Feb. 4, they made the institutionalized brutality and racism of the New York City Police Department into an international issue. The victim of this police murder was a 22-year-old African immigrant from Guinea … Continue reading New Yorkers Protest Cop Killing of Ahmed Diallo