A full page advertisement, "Sanctions ARE Weapons of Mass Destruction," is slated for publication in The New York Times. Signers include Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, prominent anti-war and human rights fighters who are undisputed opponents of U.S. intervention in Iraq. The ad exposes the terrible toll that U.S. bombing and sanctions have wrought on the … Continue reading Editorial: No U.S. Sanctions Against Iraq!
Month: April 1999
Our Readers Speak Out
Dear editor, The Socialist Action March issue just arrived, and it seems to get better with every issue! Jeff Mackler's article on Mumia was very fine. It appears that Mumia's struggle contains within itself the seed of a new leftward movement. Incredible-so soon after the Teamster debacle! But Mackler says that "The outcome of … Continue reading Our Readers Speak Out
PROFITS VS. THE PLANET: Big Oil’s Killing Fields
By ROLAND SHEPPARD We reported last month on the Feb. 23 disaster at the Tosco Avon Refinery in Martinez, Calif., in which four oil workers were killed in a ball of fire due to company neglect. Following the blast, and under pressure from environmental groups, Tosco agreed to shut down the refinery. Immediately after the … Continue reading PROFITS VS. THE PLANET: Big Oil’s Killing Fields
‘Morality’ and the Patenting of Genes
By NAT WEINSTEIN We have the privilege to be living at a very unique time in human history. It is a time when scientific and technological advances have reached a stage whereby the accumulated discoveries of over 2000 years have begun to trigger a qualitative leap in control over the forces of nature. Reports of … Continue reading ‘Morality’ and the Patenting of Genes
California State University Faculty Votes to Authorize a Strike
By ANN ROBERTSON Teachers across the nation have their eyes on California State University (CSU) as the 20,000 faculty members, spread over 22 campuses, brace themselves for the fight of their careers. On March 28, the members of the California Faculty Association voted to authorize a strike if such action should become necessary. At stake … Continue reading California State University Faculty Votes to Authorize a Strike
Teamsters Notebook: TDU Needs to Refute Hoffa’s Lies
By CHARLES WALKER Recently, an analysis of the 1998 Teamsters election appeared in Union Democracy review, publication of the Association for Union Democracy (AUD). The article was written by Herman Benson, editor of the review. Benson was the founder of the AUD and for 20 years its executive director. One of Benson's main assertions is … Continue reading Teamsters Notebook: TDU Needs to Refute Hoffa’s Lies
Marine ‘Urban Warriors’ Meet Bay Area Protests
By WILLIAM WOLFE OAKLAND, Calif.-Under the guise of providing "humanitarian aid and disaster relief" to the beleaguered masses, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps "Urban Warriors" sailed, hovercrafted, and humveed themselves into the San Francisco Bay Area March 15-21. They planned to "penetrate, thrust, and swarm" into the "urban littorals" of Oakland's Oak Knoll Hospital … Continue reading Marine ‘Urban Warriors’ Meet Bay Area Protests
Death Agony of World Capitalism and the Crisis of Proletarian Leadership
Discussion is beginning in the Fourth International, the worldwide revolutionary socialist organization, in preparation for the next World Congress. As an initial contribution to the discussion, we print below major excerpts from the World Political Resolution approved by Socialist Action's national convention in August 1998. The financial crisis that erupted last October in the so-called … Continue reading Death Agony of World Capitalism and the Crisis of Proletarian Leadership
Fourth International in Crisis
By JEFF MACKLER The programmatic heritage of the Fourth International (FI), the world party of socialist revolution founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky and his collaborators in response to the degeneration and betrayal of the Stalinized Third International, has been proposed for elimination. The Feb. 21-26, 1999, Amsterdam meeting of the International Executive Committee (IEC) … Continue reading Fourth International in Crisis
Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Speaks on Rosemary Nelson’s Murder in Northern Ireland
On Monday, March 15, Rosemary Nelson, a leading human rights lawyer in Northern Ireland, was killed by a car bomb. The murder was claimed by a shadow Loyalist group calling itself "The Red Hand Defenders." But even real Loyalists-that is, violent pro-imperialist groups-have been known to be manipulated by the Northern Ireland police, the Royal … Continue reading Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Speaks on Rosemary Nelson’s Murder in Northern Ireland
Imperialism and Genocide in Namibia
By TOM SANDERS How did Adolph Hitler acquire many of his racist ideas? Strangely enough they came out of Africa in the form of a book written by Eugen Fischer, a prominent German scientist, who went to Namibia (South West Africa) in 1904 and made a study of the mixed ethnic children of German men … Continue reading Imperialism and Genocide in Namibia
Free Lori Berenson!
Socialist Action spoke recently with Kristen Gardner, a spokesperson of the Free Lori Berenson committees. She was a college roommate of Berenson, who was jailed three years ago in Peru on charges of being linked to the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). She has been playing a leading role in building the campaign for Lori's release. … Continue reading Free Lori Berenson!
Ocalan Case Shows Hypocrisy of U.S. Bombing of Yugoslavia
By GERRY FOLEY The kidnapping of Kurdish resistance leader Abdullah Ocalan, with the help of the United States and the complicity of its NATO allies, created a wave of public criticism and outrage in Europe against the governments involved. For the time being, these protests have been overshadowed by the fears and furor aroused by … Continue reading Ocalan Case Shows Hypocrisy of U.S. Bombing of Yugoslavia
War in Yugoslavia and the Global Crisis
By NAT WEINSTEIN The American-led imperialist attack on Yugoslavia is only the latest symptom of global capitalism's gradual descent into what is rapidly becoming a social, economic, political, and military quagmire. American capitalism, now serving as world imperialism's chief cop, has two minimum goals in Yugoslavia: To let President Slobodan Milosevic know who is boss; … Continue reading War in Yugoslavia and the Global Crisis
N.Y. Killer Cops Indicted as Protests Grow
By MARILYN VOGT-DOWNEY NEW YORK-A Bronx grand jury indicted four New York City police officers on charges of second-degree murder in the Feb. 4, 1999, death of West African immigrant Amadou Diallo. This is a great step in the battle for justice but a long way from conviction. Diallo was gunned down by Edward McMellon, … Continue reading N.Y. Killer Cops Indicted as Protests Grow
Black Prison Population Approaches One Million
By JOSEPH RYAN A recent analysis of Justice Department statistics has confirmed what most African Americans have known to be true for years: The U.S. criminal justice system, the courts, and the police have had a long-standing policy of arresting, prosecuting, and imprisoning Blacks-especially young Black men-at a rate out of all proportion to their … Continue reading Black Prison Population Approaches One Million
Youth in Action
YSA at March 6 Mumia Conference By ADAM RITSCHER "We are young fists and voices for Mumia!" This was the opening cry at the Youth for Socialist Action (YSA) workshop to organize high school students at the March 6 "Race for Justice" Mumia conference at UC Berkeley. The audience, of between 60-70 youth jammed into … Continue reading Youth in Action
Youth in Action
'Mumia's Life is in Our Hands' Paul M., a high school student in San Francisco and a member of Youth for Socialist Action, spoke at a high school workshop at the Match 6 conference for Mumia Abu-Jamal in Berkeley, Calif. Portions of his remarks follow: I am going to talk about the state of Mumia's … Continue reading Youth in Action
Berkeley Conference Emphasizes Unity for Mumia
By JEFF MACKLER BERKELEY, Calif.-A March 6 "Race for Justice" Western Regional Conference for Mumia at the University of California here attracted over 1500 activists. The conference demonstrated the broadest unity yet achieved in the effort to take the emerging national mass movement to stop the execution and demand a new trial to a new … Continue reading Berkeley Conference Emphasizes Unity for Mumia
Support Grows for Mumia and April 24
By JEFF MACKLER Support is building for the April 24 mobilizations in Philadelphia and San Francisco for award-winning journalist, death row political prisoner, and former Black Panther, Mumia Abu-Jamal. In a new development, it has been announced that the San Francisco march and rally will be led by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). … Continue reading Support Grows for Mumia and April 24
‘We Want Justice’ Says Family of Youth Killed by Cop
By JULIA STEINBERG BALTIMORE-In April 1993, a Black teenager was shot in the back by a Baltimore city policeman. Six years later, his family is still fighting for justice. Baltimore cop Edward Gorwell admitted shooting 14-year old Simmont "Sam" Thomas. He claimed to have heard a gunshot and assumed that he was being shot at … Continue reading ‘We Want Justice’ Says Family of Youth Killed by Cop
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: An ‘Impartial’ Killing
"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine." -Alexander Pope (1688-1714), "The Rape of the Lock" (1712) The dog days of August 1982 drew several people to the pools in Chicago's Washington Park, strangers who would meet and be thereafter linked for life. Among them, Marilyn Green and … Continue reading Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: An ‘Impartial’ Killing
FIGHTBACK: ‘Child is Pending’
By SYLVIA WEINSTEIN A Black woman has been accused of recklessly causing the death of her son. Tabitha Walrond, a 19-year-old welfare recipient, gave birth to her first child on June 27, 1997. She decided to breast-feed him. But seven weeks later her son, Tyler Isaac Walrond, died in her arms of malnutrition. Now the … Continue reading FIGHTBACK: ‘Child is Pending’
Under Cover of U.S./NATO Intervention, Serbs Intensify Attack on Kosovo
By GERRY FOLEY In pursuance of its ambition to become the world's cop, Washington and its NATO allies have initiated armed action against the rump Yugoslavia. Reports indicate that bombs falling upon residential and industrial neighborhoods have caused significant civilian casualties. The Clinton administration claimed that its attack was undertaken in order to halt Serb … Continue reading Under Cover of U.S./NATO Intervention, Serbs Intensify Attack on Kosovo
Stop the U.S./NATO War in Yugoslavia!
With characteristic ruthlessness and with extraordinary cynicism and hypocrisy, the United States and its capitalist allies have launched a murderous bombing campaign against the Yugoslav Federation. This assault is designed to demonstrate the power of the imperialist war machine and its readiness to punish any state or people that does not accept its domination. The … Continue reading Stop the U.S./NATO War in Yugoslavia!