Commentary By Kwame M.A. Soburu The May 18 San Francisco Chronicle had an article titled "A Soldier's Life." It was about eighth-graders from a low-income area of California on a field trip to San Francisco's Presidio-a former military base-to learn about the "Buffalo Soldiers, the Black troops who protected settlers as they traveled West." The … Continue reading Mis-Education of African American Youth
Month: June 2000
Youth in Action
Workers in struggle at UCLA By MICHAEL SCHWARTZ LOS ANGELES-The class struggle is alive and well at UCLA. This is something that people in the LA area aren't used to. Most think UCLA is an institution of learning-a school that cares about the students as well as the professors, TAs, and the many others who … Continue reading Youth in Action
Teamsters Notebook
No end in sight for Overnite strike Strikes that go on for a while usually are not "newsworthy,"at least not for the corporate press. So it wasn't a surprise that the press didn't take note on April 24 of the six-months-long Teamsters strike against Overnite Transportation Co. Teamsters President James P. Hoffa launched the strike, … Continue reading Teamsters Notebook
Costa Rican Banana Workers Protest Pesticide Poisoning
The Costa Rican agricultural workers union, Conatrab (Consejo Nacional de Trabajadores, National Workers Council), has launched an appeal to trade unions and environmentalists in the United States for help in its campaign against the U.S. chemical and fruit companies responsible for the large-scale use of a harmful pesticide. The pesticide in question has the generic … Continue reading Costa Rican Banana Workers Protest Pesticide Poisoning
LABOR BRIEFING
by CHARLES WALKER Longshore workers & tree huggers "It's important to build an alliance not only among local unions," says ILWU Local 23 President Roger Boespflugnot, "but also with other activists in the community. We showed the labor movement and local activists that we always take up the struggle on important social issues-whether it's locked-out … Continue reading LABOR BRIEFING
Manuel Aguilar Mora Begins Presidential Campaign with Tour of Guanajuato, Mexico
The following article describes the opening week of the campaign of Manuel Aguilar Mora, presidential candidate of the Socialist Coalition, the Mexican revolutionary socialist bloc. The bloc includes organizations with which Socialist Action has maintained close fraternal relations-the League for Socialist Unity (Liga de Unidad Socialista-LUS) and the Socialist Workers Party (POS). The basis … Continue reading Manuel Aguilar Mora Begins Presidential Campaign with Tour of Guanajuato, Mexico
Libardo Gonzalez: A Revolutionary in Colombia
By RODRIGO O'FARREL The following article was written by a veteran Colombian Trotskyist. Comrade Libardo Gonzalez died in Bogota, Colombia, at the end of March of a heart attack. He was 58 years old. The outstanding fact of his political life was that he was a first in Colombia to try to create an organization … Continue reading Libardo Gonzalez: A Revolutionary in Colombia
Why AFL-CIO Lost the China Trade Vote
In 1993, the AFL-CIO banked on the Democratic Party to block the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It passed anyway. This year the AFL-CIO tops again turned to the Democrats to defeat the adoption of a bill giving China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR). Labor officials claimed that the proposed legislation … Continue reading Why AFL-CIO Lost the China Trade Vote
French Workers Fight Fake ‘Shorter Workweek” Law
By JAN BIRCH Today all over France, workers are fighting back against a French law that was held up to them as a step in the fight against unemployment. Back in 1997, French workers were very concerned about high unemployment-over 12 percent officially-the increase in the rate of poverty, and a generalized economic crisis … Continue reading French Workers Fight Fake ‘Shorter Workweek” Law
The Only Road for Africa – and the World
By NAT WEINSTEIN Imperialism's relentless super-exploitation and oppression of the people of the neo-colonial world has steadily reduced the 4.75 billion human beings in Africa, Asia, and Latin America down to the lowest depths of poverty. That means that the great majority of this planet's 6 billion souls live as though scientific, technological, and economic … Continue reading The Only Road for Africa – and the World
Workers and Students in Iran Resist Attacks on Their Rights
By KAMRAN NAYERI In the aftermath of the Feb. 18 elections, when the political forces that promised political and social reform of the most repressive aspects of the Islamic Republic won a decisive majority in the Sixth Parliament, the anti-reform forces within the regime have launched a broad series of legal and extra-legal attacks on … Continue reading Workers and Students in Iran Resist Attacks on Their Rights
Sri Lanka Protesters Demand: “Down With the War!”
In the context of a politically explosive situation and great political pressures created by a looming defeat of government forces in their war against Tamil rebels, a coalition of left parties, including the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), the Sri Lankan section of the Fourth International, led a demonstration May 25 of 3000 people against … Continue reading Sri Lanka Protesters Demand: “Down With the War!”
Irish Republican Fighters Raise Questions About ‘Peace’ Strategy
By GERRY FOLEY On May 27, the Ulster Unionist Party council agreed by a vote of 53 to 47 percent to accept the IRA offer to put its weapons under the control of "neutral" arbitrators and to return to the power-sharing parliament of Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement that set up the devolved … Continue reading Irish Republican Fighters Raise Questions About ‘Peace’ Strategy
East Timorese Demonstrate Against the UN
BY ADAM RITSCHER It has now been six months since the United Nation's occupation of East Timor began, making it appropriate to take a look at what has been happening in East Timor during this time. When the UN occupation force arrived in East Timor this last winter they were occupying a country that was … Continue reading East Timorese Demonstrate Against the UN
Economic and Political Crisis Simmers in Indonesia
By GERRY FOLEY Despite a relative stabilization after the election of a government of the bourgeois democratic opposition to the discredited Suharto dictatorship, the crisis in Indonesia continues to simmer. The much touted economic recovery has failed to materialize. Since last November, the national currency, the rupiah, has declined by 21 percent against the dollar, … Continue reading Economic and Political Crisis Simmers in Indonesia
A Balance Sheet of the London Elections
By DAVE HUDSON LONDON-The decision by Ken Livingstone, a popular left-wing MP, to break with the Labour Party and run as an independent for mayor of London represents the most important left split in Labour since the Second World War. His subsequent landslide victory is a body blow to Tony Blair and his "New Labour" … Continue reading A Balance Sheet of the London Elections
Reclaiming MAYDAY
By GARY BILLS PORTLAND, Ore.-"Reclaim May Day" was the theme of a rally, march, and picnic planned here by an ad-hoc coalition of environmentalists, immigrants' rights advocates, unionists, anarchists, and socialists for May 1. The Portland activists were inspired by the success of the anti-WTO demonstrations that were organized by a similar coalition in Seattle … Continue reading Reclaiming MAYDAY
Mumia Activists Sentenced for Liberty Bell Protest
In an ominous development, in late April, several key activists in the movement to save Abu-Jamal's life were sentenced to one year supervised probation for their alleged "failure to obey a lawful order" of a national park ranger at a peaceful protest at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia last July. Hundreds of people participated in … Continue reading Mumia Activists Sentenced for Liberty Bell Protest
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Message to Kent State
When I was asked to write some words about the Kent State Massacre of May 1970, my mind's eye filled like a bucket under a dripping sink; each word a drop, not of water, but of blood. Each drop a shimmering, round, crimson mirror, which plops into a reddened basin, and overflows. Each drop is … Continue reading Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Message to Kent State
W-2 is Big Business
By ANALISA DREW MILWAUKEE-Last month, I wrote an article about the outcome of the implementation of welfare reform ("W-2") and the suffering it has wreaked throughout Wisconsin and particularly Milwaukee. This month I would like to attempt to unravel the tangled web that is W-2 and expose the big money forces behind it. It comes … Continue reading W-2 is Big Business
Teachers Rally in Sacramento for Better Funding for California Schools
By CAROLE SELIGMAN SAN FRANCISCO-Monday, May 8 was a great day to be a teacher in California! That was the day of a huge demonstration-over 8000 teachers-in the state capital, Sacramento. I and a fellow teacher at the South San Francisco elementary school where I teach third grade drove to Sacramento in two hours. There … Continue reading Teachers Rally in Sacramento for Better Funding for California Schools
25 Years After the Vietnam War
By PAUL SIEGEL The New York Times rediscovered Vietnam recently. Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam War, it had a series of articles on Vietnam as it is today and on present Vietnamese and American attitudes toward the war. The general tenor of the articles was that a new generation had come into being … Continue reading 25 Years After the Vietnam War
Fightback: Murder at the Gallop
by Sylvia Weinstein Just think, there is now a fool-proof way of finding out the guilt or innocence of a person accused of rape and murder: Using the DNA test. But at this time only two states, Illinois and New York give inmates the right to use the latest DNA testing-even though the procedure has … Continue reading Fightback: Murder at the Gallop
Texas Set to Take the Life of Gary Graham
By JEFF BLACKBURN The state of Texas is working overtime to kill an innocent man. That man is Gary Graham, also known as Shaka Sankofa.* Graham is scheduled to die by lethal injection on June 22. His case has been publicized throughout the world. He has gained the support of thousands of people, including celebrities, … Continue reading Texas Set to Take the Life of Gary Graham
Israeli Forces Evicted from Lebanon
By GERRY FOLEY It should not have been a surprise that the Israeli retreat from southern Lebanon turned into a rout. That is the fate of hated occupation regimes as soon as their grip falters, for whatever reason. The U.S. retreat from South Vietnam was a similar example. The ignominious collapse of Israel's Lebanese allies … Continue reading Israeli Forces Evicted from Lebanon