Student Militancy Pressures UC to Repeal Ban on Affirmative Action By MARC LISPI and JULIA WALLACE SAN FRANCISCO-On May 16 nearly 400 students rallied at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to protest the meeting of the UC board of regents and to demand that they repeal SP-1 and SP-2. SP-1 and SP-2 … Continue reading Youth in Action
Month: June 2001
French Workers Protest Lay-Offs
By GERRY FOLEY The French municipal elections in March, in which revolutionary groups gained substantial votes, were followed almost immediately by a wave of layoffs. The reaction from working people has been particularly sharp because many of the companies laying off workers are clearly not experiencing economic difficulties but are showing large profits. (Layoffs have … Continue reading French Workers Protest Lay-Offs
Indonesian Gov’t Veers Rightward; Steps up Military Attacks in Aceh
As we go to press, Indonesia has plunged into a new political crisis. The legislature has begun impreachment proceedings against the president, Abdul Rahman Wahid. In response, he has called his supporters into the street to demonstrate on his behalf and even threatened civil war and the breakup of the country if he is removed. … Continue reading Indonesian Gov’t Veers Rightward; Steps up Military Attacks in Aceh
Film Review: Bread and Roses
By PAUL M. Going to the movies nowadays can be a demoralizing experience. We rarely see examples of human solidarity and courage against injustice, or the beauty, creativity, and power of average working people depicted there. Most movies don't encourage us to value our own lives or learn about the many important struggles that working-class … Continue reading Film Review: Bread and Roses
Chicago Teachers Union Reform Slate Wins
By DAVID BERNT CHICAGO-In a major victory for area teachers, a reform slate won a recent election for the Chicago Teachers Union. The reform slate, Pro-Active Chicago Teachers and School Employees (PACT), won all officer positions and 39 of 47 executive board seats that represent the 33,000-member union. PACT ran on a platform calling for … Continue reading Chicago Teachers Union Reform Slate Wins
Gas Workers Strike in Chicago
By DAVID BERNT CHICAGO-About 1050 workers at the utility company People's Gas voted to go on strike on May 18. The workers, members of the Gas Workers Local 18007 of the Service Employees Union, rejected a recent contract offer from management by a margin of 612-306. The contract called for changes in work rules that … Continue reading Gas Workers Strike in Chicago
AFL-CIO Bureaucrats at Dead End
By CHARLES WALKER The AFL-CIO leadership met for four days last February to take stock of its aims, and if necessary, fine-tune its strategies and tactics. Socialists support many of the federation's stated goals, which, if realized, would greatly improve the daily life of the nation's workers, especially ethnic minorities and women. We are no … Continue reading AFL-CIO Bureaucrats at Dead End
Duluth Hotel Workers Rally for Dignity
By ADAM RITSCHER DULUTH, Minn.-It was a quiet, gray afternoon in downtown Duluth on May 24, until 100 vibrant and vocal members and supporters of Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 99 showed up on the scene. They were there to march and rally in support of Radison Hotel workers who are in contract negotiations … Continue reading Duluth Hotel Workers Rally for Dignity
Class Struggle in Hollywood
By CHARLES WALKER "CLASS STRUGGLE IN HOLLYWOOD, 1930-1950" By Gerald Horne. University of Texas, Austin, 2001. 331 pp., $22.95, paper. By May 1945 (World War II ended in August) more than half a million workers voted for strikes in National Labor Relations Board polls, compared to only 43,000 in the same period of 1944. The … Continue reading Class Struggle in Hollywood
‘Apertura Modotti’ An early 20th Century Model
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH Tina Modotti was born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti in Italy in 1896 and by the 1920s was a minor star of theater and silent film in the United States. She then became a political radical and a noted photographer. Ellen Gavin's play, "Apertura Modotti," takes us through her life over a 20-year … Continue reading ‘Apertura Modotti’ An early 20th Century Model
Forty Years Since Freedom Rides Took on the Segregationist South
By JAN BIRCH In 1961, members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a Northern-based civil rights group, relaunched the Freedom Rides. The first Freedom Rides, sponsored by CORE and the Fellowship for Reconciliation, a religious group, had taken place in 1947. Black members and white members had gone on a "Journey of Reconciliation," trying … Continue reading Forty Years Since Freedom Rides Took on the Segregationist South
Macedonian Government Increases Military Repression against Albanians
By GERRY FOLEY At the end of May, a major Macedonian military sweep to clear Albanian nationalist guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (UCK) from a number of rural areas that they control in Western Macedonia has been continuing for more than a month. Three things have become clear: The Macedonian government is pursuing a … Continue reading Macedonian Government Increases Military Repression against Albanians
Document by Greek Trotskyists: National Liberation Struggles in the Former Yugoslavia
BY ANDRES KLOKE Following is a resolution submitted by the OKDE (Greek section of the Fourth International). It appeared as an article in the May edition of Spartakos. The armed conflicts that broke out in March between the UCPMB (Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac) in southern Serbia and the UCK (NLA, … Continue reading Document by Greek Trotskyists: National Liberation Struggles in the Former Yugoslavia
Beverly Murder Confession and New Defense Affidavits Reaffirm Mumia’s Innocence
By JEFF MACKLER A Philadelphia press conference called on May 5 by Mumia Abu-Jamal's new legal team has opened a new stage in the fight for Mumia's freedom. Attorneys Marlene Kamish and Elliot Grossman presented a sworn statement by Arnold R. Beverly stating that he, not Jamal, had killed police officer Daniel Faulkner in the … Continue reading Beverly Murder Confession and New Defense Affidavits Reaffirm Mumia’s Innocence
Editorials
There's more in the pantry for the generals While the Bush administration's sweeping tax program will devastate the federal government's minimal social programs, it is not going to take any skin off the nose of the military. In fact, the military budget this year will be increased by at least $5.6 billion, and possibly much … Continue reading Editorials
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Occidental College Commencement Address
This is a transcript of the remarks made by Mumia Abu-Jamal at the Occidental College Baccalaureate ceremony on May 20, 2001. If you were fortunate enough to be at Baccalaureate, you had the rare opportunity to hear the powerful voice of America's most compelling prison journalist. Consider this a record of that event. College politics … Continue reading Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Occidental College Commencement Address
Power Companies Rake in $$$ from Energy Crisis
By BARRY SHEPPARD California's power "crisis" would be better named "The Great Rip-off." The power companies, with the connivance of the politicians, have raked in tens of billions as a result of this carefully engineered "crisis," and are demanding more. So blatant has the scam become that even a few state Democrats are making noises … Continue reading Power Companies Rake in $$$ from Energy Crisis
Palestine’s Fight for Self-Determination Challenges Apartheid Israel
By GERRY FOLEY The deadly suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on June 1 highlights the increasingly poisoned relationships between the two communities inhabiting the lands of historic Palestine. The immediate effect of this desperate act has been to expose the Palestinian people to still more violent attacks by the Zionist state. In its June 3 … Continue reading Palestine’s Fight for Self-Determination Challenges Apartheid Israel