From jdav@mcs.comMon Jan 30 10:56:45 1995 Date: Tue, 25 Oct 94 22:46 CDT From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune 10-31-94 (Online) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 44 / October 31, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 44 / October 31, 1994 FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX Editorial 1. ELECTION DAY 1994: IT IS TIME FOR INDEPENDENCE News 2. WHAT'S THE SOCIAL CONTRACT? 3. WE CAN'T AFFORD RULE BY THE RICH 4. MILLIONS BECOME HOMELESS, UNEMPLOYED, HUNGRY: 'THE ENEMY IS CREATING OUR ARMY' 5. CHARGES AGAINST MOTHER DROPPED Focus on Health Care: Health Care is a Right! 6. CALIFORNIANS FIGHT FOR SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE: VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 186; NO ON PROPOSITION 187 7. WHY CAN'T CHILDREN HAVE HEALTH CARE? 8. LET'S PUT THE 'PUBLIC' BACK IN APHA 9. WHO ARE THE SICK AND INJURED? 10. STATES' RIGHTS AND HEALTH CARE 11. CONFERENCE ON HEALTH CARE FOR INCARCERATED WOMEN Deadly Force 12. HOMELESS PROTEST POLICE ABUSE AT POLICE CONVENTION American Lockdown 13. WHEN PRISON GUARDS BECOME EXECUTIONERS 14. CALIFORNIA'S PRISON GUARDS -- HIGHLY PAID KILLERS Culture Under Fire 15. THE STARKWEATHERS SPEAK Columns, Statements, Etc. 16. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: A HORN OF PLENTY FOR HUNGRY CORPORATIONS 17. JOIN THE NOC 18. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PAGE 1 STORY WE _CAN_ END HUNGER SO WHY ARE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS HUNGRY? Hunger in America is going up! A study released by the Bread for the World Institute on October 13 reveals that between 1985 and 1990, hunger in the United States rose by 50 percent. By 1990, hunger affected 30 million people, including 12 million children. Today, 26 million Americans rely on food banks to keep themselves alive. So, is our government rushing to aid those who are starving slowly? No. The Department of Agriculture is cutting the money to buy food staples for food banks, from $80 million to $25 million. The Bread for the World Institute study points out that hunger is caused less by food shortages than by violence, poverty, environmental abuses, political disenfranchisement and discrimination. Donald Plucknett, a former scientific adviser to a global network of agricultural research centers, says, "There's plenty of food on the world market, but some people don't have the wherewithal to enter the market." Rule #1: You can't "enter" the market without money. The other rule for working people under capitalism is that if you work, you get to eat. What happens when these rules no longer apply? Many people can't find a job that pays enough to buy food, housing, child care, transportation or other necessities. Many people who do work are not paid enough money to eat adequately. In today's world, a good job is not only hard to find, it's almost impossible to keep. The fact that there are now millions of hungry Americans shows that a system which distributes food by requiring people to pay for it is not working. It doesn't have to be this way. Instead of the present system, we need a new system in which distribution of necessities would take place according to need. The powerful new technology makes a world without any hunger possible. If we get rid of the present system, America's amber waves of grain can nourish all of us. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: ELECTION DAY 1994: IT IS TIME FOR INDEPENDENCE Election Day is coming and America is angry. Recent polls show the bitter mood. Fifty-seven percent of the American people think this country is on the wrong track, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll revealed. The majority of Americans disapproves of President Clinton's handling of the economy. Two- thirds of them do not approve of the job Congress is doing. That same poll also showed that more than 25 percent of Americans believe the economy has gotten worse in the past year. They're right. Today, 80 million people live in poverty in America. Many have lost all hope of ever finding a job. It is this growing misery which has created the deep anger at existing institutions. The great desire for change was highlighted in an important study conducted by the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press which was made public on September 20. It found that 53 percent of the nation's voters believe this country needs a third major political party. Twenty percent would join such a party. The Times Mirror study called these discontented voters "new economy independents." Today, there definitely is a "new economy." Qualitatively new means of production -- computers and robots -- are being introduced into the economy. By replacing human labor, these new means of production are making millions of us independent of a job and of a paycheck. (Many of us don't have either!) That kind of "independence" quickly makes a family independent of a home and of enough food to eat. It's time for those of us who this "new economy" has made "independent" of an adequate income to establish our political independence from the capitalist class. We are a new class of people. Our liberation begins by recognizing that fact. The whole system works to prevent us from ever getting back on our feet. We have two choices. We can either accept our own destruction or set out to overturn this system. The technology of this new economy is powerful enough to end hunger, homelessness and all want -- but only if it is seized from the exploiters and organized in the interests of those this system has discarded. The first step in the process of political independence is for us to take a stand with our own organization, our own principles and our own goals. The National Organizing Committee has adopted a program around which to build such an organization. Join us! ****************************************************************** 2. WHAT'S THE SOCIAL CONTRACT? By Bruce E. Parry The social contract is the way it's supposed to work. We are supposed to elect our public servants. Public schools and hospitals are supposed to serve us. Business is supposed to hire workers so we can make a living. Unions are supposed to protect workers, struggle for our rights, provide a balance to the power of big business. If everyone does his or her part, the system is supposed to work. It never worked well for those at the bottom. But today it doesn't work at all. The reason: the economy underlying the social contract is changing, but the social contract hasn't changed. The solution is to change the social contract to conform with the new economy. The capitalist economic system has been based on the principle of private ownership of businesses, banks, factories and stores. Let's use food as an example. Private ownership says that although everyone needs food, growing, transporting, processing and selling food is controlled by those who own the farms, trucks, railways, big food monopolies (such as Kraft, General Foods, and Nabisco) and the grocery stores. Business people make the most money they can by cutting as much of the cost of producing food as they can. Today, that means using computers, lasers, radar, robots, and other high technology to replace workers. But building an electronic factory, where trucks and forklifts don't need drivers and where machines and tools are controlled by computers instead of workers, is expensive. Only the corporations with the most money can afford them. They drive the smaller corporations out of business. The bigger the corporation, the more likely that they have laid off hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of workers. They are replacing them with electronic assembly lines, robots and computers. Layoffs are averaging 3,000 people a day. Workers with no work fall directly into poverty. Those who are still employed see their wages and benefits cut. They are thrown into poverty while still working. In the meantime, the owners of these companies are getting richer and richer. For example, Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corporation, which makes computer software for the electronic revolution, alone is worth $9.25 billion. Ross Perot founded another computer company (EDS) and is a billionaire. And of course, the Rockefellers, Mellons, Trumps and other bankers and real-estate moguls have their billions. The richest one percent of the population (2.6 million Americans) controls as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent (the poorest 234 million). Those 2.6 million richest Americans control the government. Their money buys them politicians, lobbyists, laws, and lawyers for court cases. The government does not serve the people. The regulations it follows ensure it carries out the interests of business. Businesses will not pay to educate workers children or pay for their heath care if they don't need workers. The social contract has been broken by electronics, which pushes us toward a workerless society without providing for the victims of that change. The NOC is about organizing the victims and changing the social contract to bring it in line with the 1990s. We fight so that people will get what they need, not just what they can afford. But we recognize that we will only get what we are organized to take. The billions of dollars of wealth we produce can be ours, not theirs! ****************************************************************** 3. WE CAN'T AFFORD RULE BY THE RICH By Andy Willis There are 500 or so billionaire families in the United States. They comprise only one to two percent of the population, yet they own 88 percent of the national wealth! Besides celebrities like MicroSoft chief Bill Gates, whose personal fortune is $7 billion, there are virtual recluses like Donald W. Reynolds who owns 57 daily papers in 20 states. He lives in a hidden fortress paid for with his billions. The joke about the golden rule -- that whoever has the gold makes the rules -- is unfortunately the truth when it comes to how the United States is run. Policies that protect the wealth of this incredibly rich one percent are guaranteed by politicians who are sometimes members of the billionaire group like Senator Jay Rockefeller or by David Packard, who directly looked after his interests in the Nixon administration. The billionaire rulers are well served by a lot of millionaire politicians. People like Texas oil multimillionaire Michael Huffington, who has spent $18 million to grab a U.S. Senate seat from California. In Massachusetts, it's millionaire vs. millionaire with incumbent Senator Ted Kennedy sparring with challenger Mitt Romney. The policy that drives present-day U.S. politics is maximum profits. That may mean layoffs, homelessness, epidemics, no education or any of the other disasters that are becoming the reality of life for millions of Americans. We cannot afford to be ruled by millionaires and billionaires who are only looking out for themselves. ****************************************************************** 4. MILLIONS BECOME HOMELESS, UNEMPLOYED, HUNGRY: 'THE ENEMY IS CREATING OUR ARMY' By Don Van Pelt, New Mexico Union of the Homeless In every metropolitan area across the country, homelessness is being criminalized. If being homeless is a crime, then why doesn't "our" government end this "crime"? It has the resources, it has the means, it has the authority. What it does not have is the desire to end homelessness. There is no profit in ending homelessness. This administration "acknowledges" seven million homeless people in America. Seven million Americans that the president, the Congress and the legislatures of every state have discarded -- simply because they see no "advantage" in ending the shame of America. They would rather send $62.5 million to help Russian veterans resettle and buy homes. The government has repeatedly promised to deal with domestic issues. But when the power brokers want change, they want more profit -- more welfare for the rich. Which programs are the first to suffer? Programs which benefit, assist and uplift the poorest and neediest segment of our population in this country's history -- the homeless. Throughout every city and state, movement is afoot to disavow the existence of the overwhelming numbers of homeless people that are growing daily. With alarming regularity, cities and states are devising secret plans and programs to shroud the existence of the homeless. Police harassment is just one of those many plans. We must not underestimate the intelligence of the enemy with which we are forced to deal. Police harassment of the homeless is by no means random, isolated or arbitrary. Each incident of a police officer harassing a homeless person is initiated with every intention of provoking a response from that person. A response that "justifies" attack, arrest, confinement, imprisonment, or, as is all too often the case, the use of deadly force. How much more convenient to simply eliminate the source of the rulers' agitation! All too often, I have heard the phrase, "Oh, he's a pretty good cop." Rest assured, the "best" are, first and foremost, sworn to uphold everything that is detrimental to our existence. They are sworn to serve and protect -- to serve the monied, to protect their interests and profits. They view us as threats to the well- being of the ruling class. If a "good cop" has to make a choice between protecting and serving a man of wealth and power or a man without a home, job or family, the choice is already made. The only thing that remains is for that cop to decide to what extent he wants to "serve and protect." If he determines that the surest way is to use deadly force, then we can add one more martyr's name to the masses who have died simply because there was no profitability in that man, woman or child's continued existence. Be fully cognizant, brothers and sisters. Do not for one moment underestimate the extent to which those who control the "armies of the rich" will go to achieve their desired ends. Be fully aware, brothers and sisters, that no matter how we may name it, no matter how long we may avoid staring reality in the eye -- there is a revolution underway in America. We are bound -- by our simple desire to live, our wish to see our children live, our hopes to exist in harmony with others -- to respond, to unite, to stand with every man, woman and child that we see threatened by an act of aggression from the armies of the rich. Our strength grows as our numbers grow. These growing numbers are being created by the utter disregard for human welfare engendered by the ruling class. It is the very thing which assures us victory. That new class they are creating -- in their blind lust for more profit -- will one day be their downfall. We have been handed a gift. The enemy is creating our army. The enemy is marshalling our forces. It is our task to educate, to inspire, to enlighten, to encourage. Let us not fail in our task! ****************************************************************** 5. CHARGES AGAINST MOTHER DROPPED By The Women's Economic Agenda Project OAKLAND, California -- District attorneys in Berkeley appeared under subpoena on October 13 to answer claims that they withheld crucial evidence from the defense of working mother Dorothea Lawyer. The courtroom was packed with Dorothea Lawyer's supporters. Although the judge's ruling "deferred the prosecution" and led to all charges being dropped against Lawyer, no action was taken against the district attorney's office for withholding evidence. Lawyer was charged with felony child endangerment in 1993 after her infant son drowned while in the care of his older brother. The Berkeley district attorney's case against Lawyer for child endangerment was dismissed last year, but misdemeanor charges have required more than 30 separate court appearances over the last 12 months. According to Dorothea Lawyer's attorney, Anna de Leon, the Berkeley district attorneys illegally, and in violation of a court order, withheld crucial evidence. Anna de Leon subpoenaed district attorneys Ronda Theisen and Nancy Davis and a Berkeley police officer to testify at the hearing and brought a motion to dismiss the entire case based on prosecution misconduct. The Defense Committee for Dorothea Lawyer, founded by the Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP) is deeply concerned with the effects of this case for low-income, single working mothers. The many demonstrations and public meetings the Defense Committee has organized over the last year have been met with public support of Dorothea Lawyer. People are outraged at the use of taxpayer dollars to criminalize a mother who lost her baby because she lacked appropriate child care while she was working. "It is clear," said Carolyn Milligan of WEAP, "that if these police-state tactics of the Alameda County district attorney's office go unpunished, we are all in danger of losing the basic rights and justice that we cherish, and too often, take for granted. "In a state which now boasts of the largest women's prison in the world, WEAP sounds the alarm that the brutal tactics of the Berkeley district attorneys are an example of injustice and the abuse of police and law enforcement power that is out of control in California. The billions of dollars spent in building new prisons would serve our community better if they were spent in education, child care services, and job development. Unemployment, lack of education, and medical services are the real crimes in this state, and they are committed primarily against women and children." For more information, contact WEAP members Renee Pecot or Ethel Long-Scott at 510-451-7379. ****************************************************************** 6. CALIFORNIANS FIGHT FOR SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE: VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 186; NO ON PROPOSITION 187 By Salvador Sandoval M.D. MERCED, California -- On November 8, Proposition 186, the California Health Security Act (CHS), will appear on the California ballot. This is a significant event, given that health care reform is stalled at the national level due to special-interest lobbies and donations, primarily from insurance companies. The CHS is on the ballot thanks to the efforts of hundreds of people who helped to get it qualified. The California Health Security Act should be supported, despite the shortsightedness of some members of the campaign's executive committee. For the first time in the nation's history, a more equitable and humane system for providing health care has a chance of passing, even if it is just in one state. Proponents of the CHS point out that in Canada, first one province enacted the single-payer system and then the concept spread to the rest of the country. They hope the same thing will happen here. The opposition is formidable. According to Citizen's Action, insurance companies have raised close to $40,000 a day to fight Proposition 186. Through June of this year, 92 percent of contributions opposing Proposition 186 came from the insurance lobby and other profit- motivated factions of the health care industry, especially the California Hospitals Committee on Issues, the Health Insurance Association of America and the American Council of Life Insurance. Opponents of the measure charge that higher taxes will result if it is passed and that the measure represents government intervention into the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship. They play on the insecurity of the voters by implying that quality health care for the poor will jeopardize the "middle class's" health care. Opponents of the CHS imply that some people have to be sacrificed in order for the better-paid workers to continue to get health care. Of course, they don't mention that they really want to protect their own profits. Unfortunately, the leaders of the campaign for the California Health Security Act have bowed to the axiom that "the poor don't vote." They have actively excluded poor mothers on welfare, drug addicts in recovery, immigrants and migrant farmworkers and their advocates from an active role in the campaign. The poor will vote if they have a reason to vote and know about it. Further, the executive committee of the campaign has bowed to anti-immigrant hysteria. It has included in its literature statements that only "lawful residents" of the state will be covered. When asked to formally oppose the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, it faint-heartedly left it up to individuals to do as their consciences guided them. WHAT MUST BE DONE Vote for Proposition 186 and against Proposition 187. If Proposition 186 fails this time around, let's do it right the next time around. Those most affected by the lack of health care have to take an active role in this fight. There are more than enough resources to go around for everybody. No one has to go without so that the insurance companies can make their profits. This time it is all of us or none! ****************************************************************** 7. WHY CAN'T CHILDREN HAVE HEALTH CARE? By Jim Fite In October, the deadline passed for the celebrated "immunization of all children" campaign. Both Republicans and Democrats decided that the money they got from drug companies was more important than "shots for the tots." The Clinton administration had proposed the creation of a vaccine warehouse, administered by the General Services Administration, to provide doctors and clinics with needed vaccines so that every child could be protected against preventable diseases. This program was established to provide preventative care for children whether their families could pay or not. This sounded too much like communism for our millionaire leadership in Congress. The drug companies were offended that they would not make a full profit (they now make over 500 percent profit on many drugs) if the government bought and dispensed medicine for children. So, these finely dressed men and women, who meet in the most expensive restaurants, decided that the children were not the issue of importance; drug company profits were most important. It should be added that the children were also not giving any money to the men and women in Congress. Many say the children are our future, but the Congress does not think so. This is more proof that the vast majority of Congresspeople are foul and must not be allowed to make decisions for our country. ****************************************************************** 8. LET'S PUT THE 'PUBLIC' BACK IN APHA By Jim Fite WASHINGTON, D.C.--The 122nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the American Public Health Association is being held here October 30- November 3. Exhibits will be at the Sheraton Washington Hotel. The National Organizing Committee welcomes everyone to Booth 214 for the "Universal Single-Payer Health Care for Survival" booth. Our paper, the People's Tribune, welcomes articles from APHA members. Most of us working in public health are stuck with the obvious lunacy where on one hand, health care is being cut back and on the other hand, our society is already structured and able to solve the health problems facing us. We say, "Untie our hands." Let us heal. Let us pursue the preventative programs, the rehabilitation, the reconstruction. Don't close hospital beds, don't destroy the mental health facilities. Don't make us fight AIDS and tuberculosis hog-tied with budget cuts and profiteering. Many of us have taken oaths to care for the sick, to protect the environment or to conduct ourselves with professional ethics. None of these oaths nor the preambles or our professional organizations state that we can only practice medicine if it is profitable. The "P" in APHA does not stand for profit, but for public. Every day, people suffer and die needlessly because they cannot be treated "profitably." We know the basis of even profitable medicine is the public infrastructure. However, greed is even demanding parts of the infrastructure be sold or dismantled. Enough! Let's go to the public, let's work with the public, let's put public in the forefront and public health in the spotlight. ****************************************************************** 9. WHO ARE THE SICK AND INJURED? By Jim Fite BALTIMORE -- Congress has been debating "health care reform" by concentrating on those people who were working and who got health benefits. These people and their families, the so-called middle class, are quickly becoming a minority in the United States. The U.S. population is composed of at least 50 million people who gain their medical care through Medicare or Medicaid programs. Another 20 million make less than $30,000 a year and still have no insurance. Twenty-two million people are covered by veterans' benefits. Still another 20 million are unemployed, or are temporary or migrant workers. Several million people exist on Native American reservations and in prisons, both of which have their own health care systems. This means that there have been two separate political battles in the working class. Those workers with insurance are battling for the employer to keep the insurance, to pay for the insurance, to provide for the insurance, etc. If the government offers to subsidize the insurance, to help the employer, to make the production more globally productive ... this is a battle of insurance "reform." It is not presented nor seen by the participants as a battle for survival except when lowering the cost of production requires them to give up health coverage entirely. The second political battle in the working class is among those who are fighting to keep or improve the benefits from the various "single-payer" or government-sponsored programs such as Medicare and veterans' benefits. In the first arena, managed care has become the result of "insurance reform." This is an effort to reconstruct the traditional work-based insurance into work-based health maintenance organizations (HMO). This is basically reducing health workers and professionals to a production unit-oriented service delivery that can be accounted for to the last nickel. In the second arena, there has been an elimination of benefits and a cutback on services. In the last year, the health care system could not be addressed "universally" because of the difference between these two groups and how they each get their health care. The first group gets health care as a part of its relationship to production. The second group gets health care as part of its relationship to society. The insurance of the first group could not be subsidized without raiding the funds of the second group. This could not be done without providing some "insurance" solution to deliver health care to the second group. The insurance companies realize the second group is not profitable. Many inner-city hospitals, which now rely on funding to provide health care to the second group, did not want Medicaid money going to the insurance companies instead of local or state governments. Hence, we have a deadlock and a year in which to pass from the defensive ("I want my benefits back!") to the offensive ("If you can't organize health care for me, then I will organize it for both of us!"). The National Organizing Committee is a place where health workers and professionals can unify their efforts and help build a healthy world. To join us or to find out more, visit Booth 214 at the American Public Health Convention from October 30 to November 3. ****************************************************************** 10. STATES' RIGHTS AND HEALTH CARE By Jim Fite BALTIMORE -- The collapse of a federal health care program in the halls of Congress in September brought the issue back to state politics. If a state government passes laws to control health care costs, determine the quality and amount of care, specify benefits or to have hospitals report costs and spending for employee benefits, the attempts will be stopped by the ERISA laws. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act was passed in 1974. This law was the desire of large corporations who decided to insure themselves instead of buying health insurance for their employees. They wanted the ERISA law so that states could not dictate what benefits they provided under their self-insurance scheme. They also wanted to avoid state regulation. The ERISA law has provided the basis for the defeat of state attempts to control benefits that self-insured employers give. It therefore stops any state action on health care. The Supreme Court is going to rule on the states' right to get a waiver on ERISA. Any waiver on ERISA will be seriously contested by the large self-insured companies, and many small ones. It also will be opposed by big labor unions. State and federal governments are used by the wealthy to organize society so that the wealthy become more wealthy. Health care delivery has been federalized by Medicaid, Medicare, veterans' benefits and ERISA. State governments will have to go to all levels of appellate government to gain waivers from these programs. The fact that the Clinton administration is willing to advance state waivers from these programs is a step backward. The Northeastern, Midwestern and Western states have always been blocked in their attempts at progress by the "Solid South," whose politics still reflect the days of slavery. Attempts to provide health care to all residents in Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts and elsewhere have run into roadblocks -- even with waivers exempting their activity from federal guidelines. These guidelines were established when the U.S. economy was growing. The guidelines for how people are treated are generally better than those found in the states, particularly in the South. When the waiver from federal programs is obtained for good intentions, state political history is filled with examples of discrimination. We must find a way to solve our problems that is real; states' rights is a ruler's illusion. Remember, just because you are sick doesn't mean someone isn't getting rich off it. ****************************************************************** 11. CONFERENCE ON HEALTH CARE FOR INCARCERATED WOMEN CHICAGO -- A conference on Health Care for Incarcerated Women, sponsored by the Prison Action Committee and the Chicago Foundation for Women, will be held in Chicago at the Bederman Auditorium, 618 South Michigan Avenue on October 26, from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. Attendance is free and the public is invited. Women are the most rapidly increasing segment of the prison population. The transition from an almost exclusively male population introduces a variety of problems, especially in the area of health care. The conference will focus on the special needs of women as health care consumers, questions of freedom of choice in medical treatment, and the impact of the health of these women on their children, families and society. For further information and to pre-register, call: Barbara Echols or Richard Ahmad of the Prison Action Committee at 312-862-0376 or 312-862-0488. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you, the front line fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486- 3551. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 12. DEADLY FORCE: HOMELESS PROTEST POLICE ABUSE AT POLICE CONVENTION By Seamus O'Sullivan ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- More than 40 homeless people and their supporters organized by the New Mexico Union of the Homeless (NMUH) staged a rally October 15 to protest police harassment outside the opening-day activities of the 101st convention of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. NMUH organizer Don Van Pelt said one Albuquerque police officer wrote 40 citations in one day against homeless people sleeping in Civic Plaza, or "concrete park" as it's known to homeless people. Van Pelt said the city ordinance which closes Civic Plaza from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. is selectively enforced against homeless people. The same ordinance also prohibits skateboarding and cycling. Van Pelt said he is unfamiliar with anyone being cited for that violation. Kenny Brandt of the NMUH said he went to the Albuquerque Police Department's Office of Internal Affairs a year and a half ago to request an investigation of police harassment. "They told me I was wasting my time," said Brandt. "I can't even go into the Greyhound station to go to the bathroom or to get a cup of coffee," said Gene Prospero Sr. "I'm an ex- Marine. This is my country, too. Where are you supposed to go?" "Harassing the homeless is not going to make the problem go away. We need housing and jobs," said Van Pelt. With winter approaching, the NMUH has called for a meeting with Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. ****************************************************************** 13. AMERICAN LOCKDOWN: WHEN PRISON GUARDS BECOME EXECUTIONERS +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "American Lockdown" is a column on the prison struggle in the United States. The column will feature inmate correspondence, reprints from prison publications, editorials and information on the growing struggle against repression and the prison industry in this country. We encourage all readers to submit articles, clippings and cultural expressions. As the ruling class answers the just demands of poor people with prison cells and as oppressive legislation packs the jails, juvenile detention centers and penitentiaries of this country, we are confident that "American Lockdown" will become an important part of the struggle. Write to: American Lockdown/People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ By Kurt Michaels, #E64903/2E103 San Quentin State Prison Death Row SAN QUENTIN, California -- Damn! Damn! Damn! A fight between a guy on my yard and one who returned from A.C. the day before occurred while I was visiting my mother. It was just a fistfight, yet the gunmen [prison guards] used the 9mm assault rifle rather than the new "non-lethal" gun, and the guy who had been helping me with a good exercise routine ... was shot in the back twice and killed for no reason. The staff in this unit have been pushing us against one another, taking the few positive, tension-reducing outlets away even though there's been nothing done by us to deserve such additional punishment on top of being on Death Row and awaiting execution. By taking so much away and intentionally causing anger/tension for no reason other than that's how some cruel/sick staff get their kicks, most in here are starting to realize there's very little difference between this unit and the punishment unit. What's the incentive for being "good," after so much is taken away that there's nothing left to lose by being "bad"? But there's little chance of changing things back to how they were when tension levels were so much lower without bringing in new staff who don't play head games or try to cause us such anger/tension for their own amusement. They are killing us in here. Guess this is cheaper than going through the appeal process and waiting to "legally" execute us, and, when there's nothing positive and nothing to lose, who'll really be to blame if/when prisoners are finally forced to say "Enough!" and feel it's time to call a truce amongst themselves in order to fight those finding pleasure in their suffering? ****************************************************************** 14. CALIFORNIA'S PRISON GUARDS -- HIGHLY PAID KILLERS By Anthony Prince According to the California Department of Justice, prison guards belonging to the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) have killed 33 inmates over the last 10 years. Taxpayer dollars paid for these guards to murder inmates. Taxpayer dollars have allowed the guards to become a powerful political lobby in the state. CCPOA guards are the highest paid in the nation with an average salary and benefits that exceed $55,000 per year. Jess Castillo was one of their victims. Following an assault by other inmates on Castillo at Pelican Bay State Prison on August 6, 1993, guards shot and killed him. This use of deadly force to stop prison fights is supported by top corrections officials. Meanwhile, as 30,000 guards in 23 California prisons gulp tax dollars, the share of funds going to public education has fallen by almost five percent. That's a crime. So is shooting an unarmed prisoner in the back for fist-fighting. (See inmate Kurt Michaels' story above.) And so is the practice of locking up more and more Californians for drug offenses when it has been statistically proven that treating substance abusers is far cheaper (and brings better results) than warehousing them. It doesn't make sense. But it makes dollars -- for the prison industry, that is. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CULTURE UNDER FIRE Culture jumps barriers of geography and color. Millions of Americans create with music, writing, film and video, graffiti, painting, theatre and much more. We need it all, because culture can link together and expand the growing battles for food, housing, and jobs. In turn, these battles provide new audiences and inspiration for artists. Use the "Culture Under Fire'' column to plug in, to express yourself. Write: Culture Under Fire, c/o People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 15. THE STARKWEATHERS SPEAK By Scott Pfeiffer CHICAGO -- On October 2, Kansas City country rockers The Starkweathers performed a murderously powerful set at the Empty Bottle. The bittersweet emotional high point came as singer/songwriter/guitarist Rich Smith sang, a cappella, a verse from Woody Guthrie's revolutionary vision of America, "This Land is Your Land," as an intro to their own "Burn the Flag." The fight to redeem the flag as a symbol of fairness has become irrelevant in a country in which, for one class of people, there is no fairness. But then Smith's lone voice was joined in harmony with that of Mike Ireland and the band's soaring guitar lines and rolling drums, and I thought of the way Springsteen introduced his version of "Land": "I guess I'd just like to do this for ya tonight, askin' you to be vigilant, because with countries, just like with people, it's easy to let the best of yourself slip away." P.T.: You guys have a real diverse musical range. Does that have to do with your revolutionary music? RICH SMITH: Honestly, I'd say that what's been most important for us is that over the years we've finally learned how to incorporate the influences that we've had. I grew up listening to Merle Haggard, George Jones and Johnny Cash, who, in their own ways, are revolutionaries, but you couldn't really say that politically they were, who maybe personally were. As I got older, I started listening to the Jam and the Clash. Basically, punk rock changed the way we listen to music. It changed the way we live, it changed everything for us. Over a couple of years, it's been a matter of incorporating the political ideas, and the ability to incorporate those into music, that we got from people like the Clash, and incorporating that into the musical structures that we got from Johnny Cash. P.T.: Do you guys feel a kinship with hip-hop? RICH SMITH: We sure do. In fact, we probably feel more kinship with bands that challenge the status quo, such as Fugazi and Disposable Heroes, than with people who make country music now. MIKE IRELAND: I think you're talking about groups that, because they don't fit what people expect to see when they go to bars, have no place to play. You go to Kansas City, where you gonna go to hear hip-hop? Nowhere. Metal bands in Kansas City have, like, three bars that maybe they can get into. RICHARD SMITH: Historically, those are the bands that challenge the status quo, and they're the people who have the most limited access to public view. MIKE IRELAND: You go out and play nice, palatable roots-rock about what you expect country to be about, you won't have any problem. RICH SMITH: But if you say "Burn the Flag," or "Wake up, y'all, 'cause your whole fuckin' country is falling down around your ears," or "Stop killing people for what they've done when you don't even know them" it's generally hip-hop and metal and punk bands [that] are the ones that confront those things. MIKE IRELAND: And there's a listenership that's just as disenfranchised. ****************************************************************** 16. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: A HORN OF PLENTY FOR HUNGRY CORPORATIONS Amidst news that hunger in America rose to 30 million people during these past few years, you might ask why big business hasn't skipped a meal. Why do some 12 million children lack the proper nutrition to thrive, when large private companies are receiving free shipments of wheat, corn and other commodities from U.S. government reserves? You also might ask why money to buy staples for food banks is being cut back this year when big companies are getting their fill. Between 1985 and 1989, our government gave Cargill, Inc. a bag of government "groceries" worth $444 million; it gave Continental Grain Co. $429 million and Louis Dreyfus Corp. $300 million. That's a lot of government cheese! Should the hungry suffer in silence while these fat cats belly up to the public trough? We don't think so! ****************************************************************** 17. JOIN THE NOC The National Organizing Committee (NOC) is a fighting organization. When homeless activists seize empty buildings, look for us. The NOC will be there. When the unemployed fight for jobs, look for us. The NOC will be there. When the victims of police state brutality speak out to expose injustice, listen for us. The NOC will be part of the chorus. We are revolutionary fighters from every battlefront. Our mission is to forge the revolutionary force necessary to destroy this capitalist system, a system of poverty and injustice. We are an organization that believes the poor and exploited people can be educated, organized and inspired to rise up in our millions. We want to create a new system based on justice and economic prosperity for everyone. ____ I want to join the NOC ____ Please send me the NOC program, information, on speakers and samples of NOC publications ____ I want to make a monthly donation to the NOC of: ____ $5 ____ $10 _____ $25 ____$50 ____ Other Name ____________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip __________________________________________________ National Organizing Committee, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647 312-486-0028 ****************************************************************** 18. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published weekly in Chicago, is devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be and will be changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate politically those millions on the basis of their own experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it. Join us! Editor: Laura Garcia Publisher: National Organizing Committee, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028 To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests for bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, IL 60654 Respond via e-mail to jdav@igc.org Reach us by phone: Chicago: (312) 486-3551 Atlanta: (404) 242-2380 Baltimore: (410) 467-4769 Detroit: (313) 839-7600 Los Angeles: (310) 428-2618 Washington, D.C.: (202) 529-6250 Oakland, CA: (510) 464-4554 GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is available at many locations nationwide. One year subscriptions $25 ($35 institutions), bulk orders of 5 or more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, tel. (312) 486- 3551. WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, tel. (312) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. ******************************************************************