From jdav@mcs.comMon Oct 31 10:56:01 1994 Date: Sun, 30 Oct 94 21:28 CST From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune 11-7-94 (Online Edition) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 45 / November 7, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 45 / November 7, 1994 FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX Editorial 1. VOTERS ARE ANGRY; THEY DON'T SEE ANY 'RECOVERY'! News 2. 100,000 MARCH AGAINST ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS 3. 'IMMIGRATION REFORM' LEADS WAY TO POLICE STATE 4. REDUCE 'AID FOR DEPENDENT CORPORATIONS'! 5. WELFARE REFORMS WILL NOT SAVE MONEY 6. RESIDENTS PLAN MARCH AGAINST POLICE TERROR IN CHICAGO HOUSING AUTHORITY Focus on Veteran's Day 1994 7. ON VETERANS DAY 1994, A VETERAN ASKS: WHY ARE VETS BEING ATTACKED BY THE SYSTEM WE FOUGHT FOR? 8. TURN SWORDS INTO HOMESHARES American Lockdown 9. CALIFORNIA: VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 184 Deadly Force 10. 'OUT COLD COPS': POLICE 'RAPPERS' ADMIT TO CORRUPTION AND BRUTALITY Culture Under Fire 11. 70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR DENNIS BRUTUS: 'THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES' 12. U.S. TRIES TO SILENCE FREE RADIO BERKELEY Letter to the Editor 13. MENTALLY ILL MISTREATED IN PRISON Resources, Announcements, Events, etc. 14. START A FOOD NOT BOMBS GROUP IN YOUR COMMUNITY 15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: WELFARE FRAUD BY AGRIBUSINESSMEN 16 EVENT: TRIBUTE TO NATIVE AMERICANS 17. FOR A BROADER VIEW, READ _RALLY, COMRADES!_ ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PAGE 1 STORY THE 1994 ELECTIONS: IT'S TIME TO MAKE 'FOR THE PEOPLE' A REALITY! The 1994 elections are at hand with the government and the mouthpieces for the ruling class trumpeting that the economy is out of recession and unemployment is falling. That's certainly news to us and to the American people. They know firsthand that layoffs are spreading like wildfire. They know poverty is deepening while the biggest corporations and the biggest banks get richer. The future of the American people under the millionaires and billionaires who control this economy and the government is getting bleaker. The rich don't need us to work for them in their factories and offices. They don't need our children as future workers, either, so they kill off public education and abandon our children to drugs, police terror, prison and violent death. As a result, politicians who speak for the rich tell us it is in our interest to leave millions of Americans without health insurance, to force mothers off welfare and/or break up their families, to punish undocumented immigrants, to snare everybody in the net of "three strikes" laws. In other words, we're being asked to poison ourselves by going along with the fascist policies of the wealthy. What better sign is there that it is time for them to go? The emerging technology represents the very tools which can produce all the food, clothing, homes, health care and much more that we need. It can produce total abundance and end poverty. In a society without poverty, all of us can live full, productive lives free of fear. This is the solution to the present crisis that best serves our interests. We don't need the fascist solutions of the millionaires and billionaires. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: VOTERS ARE ANGRY; THEY DON'T SEE ANY 'RECOVERY'! "If the economy is up, why is Clinton down?" asked a headline in the October 24 edition of U.S. News & World Report. If the economy is improving, why do opinion polls predict heavy losses for the Democrats in the midterm elections? In a poll conducted for TIME magazine and Cable News Network in October, 800 people were asked if they felt personally better-off as a result of what the poll cheerfully called the "recent improvement of the economy." Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed answered "no." The deep anger felt by the American people toward President Clinton, the Congress and almost all established institutions has its roots in an economic revolution taking place in America. Today, capitalists are throwing millions of people out of work and replacing them with robots and computers. Caterpillar Inc. is a case in point. For years, this manufacturer of tractors and other heavy equipment has been replacing human workers with computers and robots. Caterpillar's openly stated goal is to manufacture as much as it can by using "unattended assembly" -- production without human labor. The company has slashed its work force by 31 percent in the last 12 years. While Caterpillar's moves have devastated once-stable Illinois communities like Peoria and East Decatur, these measures have also lowered the company's costs and increased productivity. On October 24, Caterpillar announced that it had made a profit of $244 million in the third quarter of 1994, the second-best three-month period in the company's history. What holds true for Caterpillar, the world's leading builder of construction and earth-moving equipment, also holds true for the U.S. economy as a whole. When capitalists talk about an economic "recovery," they simply mean that their profits, once in poor health, recover. "While corporate profits and executive salaries are rising rapidly, real wages ... are not growing at all," TIME reported October 24, in a cover story on the economy. (The main headline on TIME's cover asked "Boom for Whom?") The TIME piece went on to describe the fall in the median income, the growth of poverty and the dramatic rise in temporary work currently taking place in America. The TIME story expressed surprise at what it called these "astonishing developments" during a "business recovery." But millions of Americans distrust the talk of "recovery" precisely because they sense we are not simply living through a bad phase in the ordinary business cycle. The usual business cycle features alternating extremes of "boom" and "bust." Today, a powerful new technology has been introduced into production by the capitalists. This new technology is making human labor unnecessary. This is not a temporary "bust" for the millions who this system has permanently discarded. It will not be followed by any "boom" for us. Those of us who this "recovery" has left behind now have two choices. We can accept hunger and misery or we can seize the new technology from the exploiters and use it to build a new society. ****************************************************************** 2. 100,000 MARCH AGAINST ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS By Maria Teixeira LOS ANGELES -- Beautiful banners filled the streets as an estimated 100,000 people marched here on October 16 in the largest such demonstration in the city's history. Made up of immigrants and people of all colors, there were students, teachers, medical personnel, unions, churches, community groups, and more. The marchers felt a sense of pride and strength as they yelled "We're here to stay!" and "Kick Pete Wilson, not immigrants, out of the country!" The marchers were especially angry about the government's attack on children. Proposition 187 would deny education to children whose parents are undocumented. It is estimated that this would throw 300,000 children out of school and into the streets. Humanity is the issue: We must say NO to their solutions. We cannot accept the solutions of those in power. Deportations, jails, more Border Patrol agents and police will not solve the economic crisis. They are testing the ground in California in order to push this type of legislation all over the country. The march demonstrated the resistance to the attack against the immigrant worker in particular and the attack against the poor in general. This resistance must grow and put forward its own social policy based on the people's needs. We cannot leave control in the hands of the Pete Wilsons. We must insist on a decent life for everyone -- citizen or not, young or old, of whatever religion or nationality. We must insist that they use the taxes of the rich, billion-dollar corporations to pay for the needs of our children. We salute the 100,000 marchers in Los Angeles. There are millions more in the country who form an army of resistance and say, "Enough is enough!" ****************************************************************** 3. 'IMMIGRATION REFORM' LEADS WAY TO POLICE STATE By Jim Davis On September 30, an "immigration reform" panel appointed by Congress recommended that a computer registry be established based on Social Security Administration and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) files. Under the proposed plan, every person would be tracked by the government, and be subject to a computer search of their "legality" before they could get a job. The commission, headed by former Representative Barbara Jordan, has set up one section of the poor -- undocumented workers -- to blame for the failure of the government to provide jobs, housing, education and health care. Such a solution is a major step towards the high-tech police state, and everyone is going to get caught up in the net. So much for the land of the free. ****************************************************************** 4. REDUCE 'AID FOR DEPENDENT CORPORATIONS'! By Pat Gowens, Editor, Welfare Mothers Voice MILWAUKEE -- If we as a nation have given up the possibility of business paying living wages to non-professional workers, logically we need to create a government aid program for the working poor. However, it makes no sense to fund it by eliminating the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the nation's only public child-support program. AFDC costs $15 billion a year and provides an average of $370 a month in child support for four million families. (Ninety percent have only one parent). Only $5 billion gets to the families. Ten billion dollars goes to bureaucrats to police, punish and force poor moms to: 1. report every dollar they earn or receive and every person who helps them; and 2. go through mandatory dead-end job search/training programs. Why take funds from an insignificant, punitive child-support program to fund welfare for the "working poor"? We would be taking from poor children to fund their poor, working moms! Neither dependent minors nor their caregivers can afford to subsidize the workplace. They desperately need their support, whether mom works at home or is employed. The obvious source of funding for the working poor is the Aid For Dependent Corporations programs. Dependent corporations receive $104 billion in federal welfare each year from us generous taxpayers -- $51 billion in direct subsidies and $53.3 billion in tax breaks. And dependent corporations do not need the government handouts they receive. Many corporate welfare recipients are on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans! Aid For Dependent Corporations provides: * $100 million to Sunkist, Gallo, M&Ms, Campbell's Soup, McDonalds, etc. to advertise their products abroad; * $1 billion for Continental Grain, Cargill Inc. and Louis Dreyfus Corp. to receive free shipments of wheat, corn and other commodities from U.S. reserves. (Some commodity program!); * $55 million to pay the grazing fees for livestock of wealthy ranchers. (We pay $7 out of every $9 per animal grazing fee, even for multimillionaires like J.R. Simplot.); * $135.6 million to private forestry companies who owe taxpayers for timber purchased, but are allowed to default with no consequences! * $48 million for land titles to mining companies who pay less than $4,500 for each title instead of the millions that the land is worth. We can easily shave $50 billion to $75 billion off of the Aid For Dependent Corporations program to subsidize the working poor. Then we need to clean up the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program to rid it of its punitive, destructive nature. With the $10 billion spent to police moms, we can guarantee all dependent minors support to the age of 18 with no strings attached. This will give moms the right to work without losing any of their children's support. Like Social Security Survivor's benefits, we should also guarantee mom support, as the primary caregiver, until she earns $7,000 a year. We can use the exorbitant Aid For Dependent Corporations dole to help employees, and guarantee all dependent minors a secure income. Then we will recognize the value in guaranteeing all Americans a secure income -- the unemployed, underemployed, injured workers, people with disabilities, the elderly, and all unpaid caregivers. To do this, we will drastically reduce war expenditures, collapse all public benefits programs (including the remaining Aid For Dependent Corporations), eliminate the policing bureaucracies, and create one Guaranteed Annual Income. Then all Americans will share in the wealth of this nation and we will find peace and harmony in this country. To join the Welfare Warriors in the fight for a Guaranteed Annual Income, call 414-444-0220 or write to 4504 N. 47, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53218. Corporate welfare figures come from Essential Information, Inc., James Donahue, P.O. Box 19405, Washington, D.C. 20036. ****************************************************************** 5. WELFARE REFORMS WILL NOT SAVE MONEY By Jan Lightfoot HINCKLEY, Maine -- The so-called welfare reform will wipe out family values by separating families and erasing family units. One version of the welfare bill includes millions of dollars for the increased use of orphanages. Without welfare, low-income mothers or fathers will no longer be able to feed their own children. Americans will revert to the severe conditions of the 1890s and the 1920s, when families were compelled to surrender their children to uncaring strangers in orphanages. In 1935, the Social Security Act was passed, including the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. Each aspect of Social Security law was intended to prevent another economic depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt envisioned that any flaws in the economic system could be corrected, rather than the whole system failing. President Clinton's plan will penalize every innocent child, the children who the AFDC program was created to protect. When the stroke of a pen is allowed to annihilate one part of the Social Security Act, taxpayers will conclude they can no longer afford to pay Social Security to older folks and outlaw those payments. Piece by piece, that safety net will fall away. With welfare reform, any savings will be converted to increased operation of orphanages. Tell your lawmaker to vote "no" on any of the welfare reform proposals now in Congress because they all have the two-year cap and other aspects which are dangerous. Right now, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 66.3 percent of welfare recipients are off welfare within three years, most under three years. By forcing recipients off after two years, most of these people will be hurt because they will be forced off for life under the Clinton plan (except for unspecified special circumstances). This is why we should tell our lawmakers to vote "no." Welfare can be changed to work better so that people are given the tools they need to get off welfare, such as access to credit, day care and other things they need to pull themselves out of poverty. ****************************************************************** 6. RESIDENTS PLAN MARCH AGAINST POLICE TERROR IN CHA By Rich Capalbo CHICAGO -- On October 13, five-year-old Eric Morse died in a fall from a window in the Ida B. Wells development of the Chicago Housing Authority. According to the police, Eric was yet another child killed by other children. Eric Morse has become this week's political football. A tragedy like this seems to be the only event that can move the political hacks and the local media to pay any attention at all to the conditions of public housing residents and the poor in general. The politicians and the media wring their hands or demand more jails and youth detention centers, but that is the extent of their commitment to the poor of the city, particularly in public housing. Chicago Housing Authority residents have had enough. They are tired of being treated as second-class citizens. Chicago police and CHA police laugh at the federal court injunction that slowed down the warrantless police "sweeps" last spring. They are again on the attack against any and all residents under the guise of cleaning up gangs and drugs. Over the last couple of months, outrageous police conduct has been reported almost daily. Residents are challenged for I.D. to enter their own homes. Children are pushed around with no cause. Young men and women are searched publicly in the most degrading ways. CHA cops have been seen going through residents' mailboxes. CHA police without badges or name tags try to barge into apartments and threaten retaliation for any resistance. This virtual police state exists within a few miles of City Hall. When the residents, especially the children, turn on each other in this pressure cooker, the local press has a field day. Where is the press when the cycle of violence and abuse is initiated by the government? Where is the press when children go hungry from welfare cuts? Where are they when police surround a group of children (not one over 15) playing outside, draw their guns and order them to lie on the ground, cursing at the children with the vilest language imaginable? Residents don't intend to keep taking it. They understand that the system is trying to criminalize them and isolate them so they can be moved out of the way of developers who see nothing but profit in CHA property. Robert Taylor Homes residents and others do not intend to be run over by the CHA. They want decent, safe homes and a community where they can raise their children peacefully. They are fighting for Eric Morse and all the children who live in public housing. Robert Taylor residents will be organizing peaceful but militant protests of the continuing abuse by the government, the police and by CHA officials. The first demonstration, "Marching for Freedom," will be on November 5. The march will start at 53rd and State. They are fighting for rights for all of us. That is why the NOC and the People's Tribune are in full support of "Marching for Freedom" and we urge everyone interested in this fight for justice to participate. For more information about protest activities, call 312-285-3342. ****************************************************************** 7. ON VETERANS DAY 1994, A VETERAN ASKS: WHY ARE VETS BEING ATTACKED BY THE SYSTEM WE FOUGHT FOR? +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS PAGE -- WHETHER YOU'RE A VETERAN OR NOT Most of us understand that America needs a basic change: it doesn't work anymore. This page, like many pages in the People's Tribune, points out how the economic revolution is creating social and political changes that affect every one of us. Many times, it's easier to see the changes in someone else's yard than it is to see them in our own yard. So, everyone who is not a vet ought to read this to see how the capitalist class is systematically attacking veterans. Veterans ought to read it for the same reason. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ By Bruce E. Parry, Vietnam veteran and veteran revolutionary Veterans are under attack. We aren't under attack because the rich and the government don't like us. On the contrary, veterans are a basic source of political and social support for this system. The conservative political positions of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and even the Vietnam Veterans of America prove that. The economics of modern capitalism is changing. In the last 20 years, electronics has changed the way we produce. The way we distribute food, housing, and even health care has not kept pace. Micro-chips, computers, robots, and all the high technology they have spawned -- from VCRs to genetically altered tomatoes -- have replaced workers in the work place. Those workers who still have jobs are working for lower wages because they are competing with robots, not just other workers. This has caused the standard of living of the average American to fall. At the same time, it has caused a vicious battle by corporations for enormous profits. In the effort to maximize their profits, business demanded that government cut taxes to corporations and to their owners, the rich. Taxes for businesses and the rich have been slashed at every level since 1980. That's why government budgets are getting squeezed. There's plenty of money. But the government works for the rich, so it refuses to get money from those who have it. Instead, the same government officials -- elected and appointed -- who brought us tax cuts for the rich are now bringing us "tighten our belts" and "balance the budget." That means cuts in every kind of social program, including veterans' benefits. At first, veterans' health care was free. Any veteran could walk into a Veterans Administration medical facility and get treatment. Then the Department of Veterans Affairs added income requirements: If you had too much money, you had to pay. Soon, they demanded payments from the veterans' private insurance companies. As of May 1993, the VA began demanding co-payments for some medicine. There have even been proposals made recently to provide veterans' care through private insurance and abolish the VA medical system completely. Of course, the fewer services the VA provides, the fewer veterans who use the system. At the same time, it is getting harder for veterans to have their illnesses and injuries certified as "service-connected." Again, this means fewer veterans are treated. Serving fewer veterans provides an excuse for eliminating even more services. The direction is clear. The government is moving toward providing less and less health care for veterans. Eventually, veterans' health problems which are not service-connected will be treated only on a pay-as-you-go basis. Then, there will be no health care which is not service-connected. Eventually, care will be available only for retirees and for those most severely injured during military service. This is happening because of the economy. It is part of the general direction of limiting access to health care for all Americans. The attack on veterans is not going to go away by itself. Since the government cannot assure itself of the political support of veterans by taking care of us, it seeks to do so by using ideology. It appeals to our love of freedom and democracy and to our memories of the sacrifices we made as veterans. But no matter how much it appeals to our patriotism, a government that cannot provide the basics of life to its population -- particularly to those who served it -- does not deserve our support. ****************************************************************** 8. TURN SWORDS INTO HOMESHARES By Mary Uebelgunne RALEIGH, North Carolina -- Charity begins at home and not in other lands! It is true, veterans are walking the streets, looking for work and eating at the soup kitchen with no place to call home. Funds that are needed are being sent and spent in other countries. The homeless vets who fought for what we have now have it taken away from them because of their status in society. It is time for America to stop turning her back on her own people's suffering and turn swords into homeshares. By poking our nose into Haiti's business, America can remain in denial about its own homeless depression. Now is the time to take care of our own, here at home. ****************************************************************** 9. AMERICAN LOCKDOWN: VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 184 By Clyde Flowers A homeless man steals a two-dollar padlock to protect his only possession, a bicycle. Sentence: 25 years-to-life in prison. A man steals three steaks to feed his family. Sentence: 25 years- to-life in prison. A man steals a can of beer from a 7-11 store. Sentence: 25 years- to-life in prison. This is what "justice" looks like under California's "three strikes" law. The law makes a 25 year-to-life sentence mandatory for a third felony (a second conviction of shoplifting is a felony, regardless of the value of the stolen merchandise). Proposition 184, the "three strike" initiative, will go before California voters in the November 8 election. The proposition has exactly the same language as the law enacted in March by the legislature. If the proposition passes on November 8, it will virtually be impossible to repeal or change this barbaric law. Many objections have been raised to the "three strikes" law: * It is choking the court system as the accused demand jury trials instead of the old system of plea-bargaining. * The cost of building and maintaining prisons is bankrupting the state. In 1989, there were approximately 75,000 prisoners in California. With "three strikes" there will be over 200,000 by 1999. * Police officers are even opposed to the law because it makes it much more dangerous to apprehend suspects who face certain life sentences if captured. But all this opposition fades compared to the real tragedy of "three strikes." This law is really about the destruction of human life. And it is pointed squarely at the poor and unemployed. California Attorney General Dan Lungren is a strong supporter of the law. Commenting about cases where offenders are sentenced to life for small crimes, Lungren said, "At first glance, these cases may look inappropriate, but when you look deeper, you say, 'My God, this is exactly the category of people we want off the streets.' " And what is that category? It is surely not the S&L crooks, not the killer cops or the tax-evading billionaires. In ancient times, the penalty for stealing a loaf of bread was to cut off an arm. But that did not stop theft because then, as now, when people are hungry, when people are desperate, they will do what they have to do to survive. ****************************************************************** 10. DEADLY FORCE: 'OUT COLD COPS': POLICE 'RAPPERS' ADMIT TO CORRUPTION AND BRUTALITY +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ By Yunus Collins DETROIT -- A few Detroit police officers, who call themselves "Out Cold Cops," are trying to take rap and use it against the very people who created it. They have made a record they call "Major Damage." It contains lyrics of profanity, violence and the degradation of citizens who they regard as criminals. With all the uproar about violence and profanity in rap music, you'd expect a reaction to these supposed role models from Tipper Gore, President Clinton and company. But we're not likely to see that -- abuse by police officers is not even acknowledged by the administration -- not while they are calling for 100,000 more cops on the streets. Last year, "Out Cold Cops" appeared on the Jerry Springer Show. These police officers appeared on the show with hooded masks and dark sunglasses. They were glorifying and "justifying" police deadly force and brutality. They took the position that it is legal for a cop sworn to uphold the law to become judge, jury and executioner. They also said that alleged suspects should be "educated" before they are incarcerated. But the "education" they're talking about consists of billy clubs, nightsticks and bullets. On their record, OCC talks about "crack-selling niggas in body bags" as something that excites them. They dedicate the record to "all officers that don't give a f--- about a jury and ain't scared to kick ass." They denounce Malice Green (killed by Detroit police) as that "Afro-jeri curl, punk-ass nigga on Warren." They acknowledge that Malice Green and Rodney King are just the tip of the iceberg. They admit to being crooked -- even claiming that they "became cops to join the crooks legally." They also talk openly about disrespecting the U.S. Constitution -- in their admissions of false arrests, harassment, obstructing justice, and jail killings. It's especially insulting that they talk about "niggers paying for police brutality" in a primarily African American city that paid $20 million last year alone in settlements and lawsuits to victims of police brutality. Taxpayers in Detroit should be outraged that their money is paying the salaries as well as covering for these crooks and hypocrites. Excerpted from Deadly Force News, a publication of the Detroit Chapter of the NOC. ****************************************************************** 11. 70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR DENNIS BRUTUS: 'THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES' +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ By Nancy Singham CHICAGO -- Professor Dennis Brutus, internationally renowned South African poet, writer and longtime political activist, is celebrating his 70th birthday and his more than 50 years in the struggle for freedom. After being jailed by South Africa's apartheid regime during the 1960s, he was expelled from South Africa and came to the United States, where he taught for a number of years at Northwestern University. He is currently a professor of African Literature at the University of Pittsburgh. In the early 1980s, the U.S. government tried to deport him because of his tireless and well-publicized anti-apartheid activities. Widespread protests forced the government to drop its deportation bid. Several organizations in the Chicago area are paying tribute to Dennis Brutus during the weekend of November 18-20. The theme of the tribute is "A Luta Continua -- The Struggle Continues." In a recent interview, Dennis stressed that the struggle inside and outside South Africa is far from over, and indicated his commitment to the fight for freedom. He is currently helping organize the Coalition Against Global Oppression (CAGO), which exposes institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the "new global monster," the World Trade Organization. These groups dictate the political and economic agenda of the international capitalist class. The campaign of CAGO is based on the slogan "Fifty years is enough." Dennis will be speaking about this campaign at the tribute events. On Friday, November 18, the Guild Complex will host "An Evening Celebrating the Struggle" to honor Dennis. The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Evanson Hall, 1012 Noble at Milwaukee in Chicago (donation at the door). On Sunday, November 20 at 5 p.m., the Africa Network will sponsor a tribute program at Wilson Hall, Association House, 2150 W. North Avenue in Chicago. A $5 donation includes refreshments. For further information, contact Nancy Singham at 312-772-6397 (evenings). ****************************************************************** 12. U.S. TRIES TO SILENCE FREE RADIO BERKELEY BERKELEY, California -- Technological changes are making radio broadcasting easier for the people to master and the government doesn't like it. On October 10, attorneys for Stephen Dunifer and Free Radio Berkeley received notice (80 pages long) of the intention of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to seek an injunction which would bar further broadcasts by Free Radio Berkeley. Free Radio Berkeley is part of a rapidly growing movement which uses inexpensive and low-power radio transmitters (from one-half to 30 watts) to reach local communities. Called micro-power broadcasting, this movement sees simple, easy- to-use transmitters as the leaflet of the 1990s. In an era of multinationally controlled mass media, micro-power broadcasting is the voice of the people. For four years, the government has been trying to squelch this movement with escalating (but uncollected) fines. Clearly, it sees broadcasting which anyone can do as a threat to centralized control of information, ideas and culture. Intimidation having failed, the FCC is abandoning its own procedures and turning to the weight of the federal courts to squelch this new and democratic media. It won't happen. For information and to show support in this significant battle, contact Stephen Dunifer at Free Radio Berkeley at 510-644-3779 or attorney Luke Hiken at 415-705-6460. ****************************************************************** 13. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: MENTALLY ILL MISTREATED IN PRISON Dear Editor: Today, a friend passed me your paper, the People's Tribune, and I was impressed with the issues being raised. The issue I read was dated September 1994. [The writer refers to "American Lockdown," a Special Prison Edition of the People's Tribune.] I was particularly interested in an article written by Sandra Gourley who chairs the Forensic Network of the Oklahoma Alliance for the Mentally Ill. You see, I have been on lock-up status since September 1987. At one time, I was classified by the prison officials as being dangerous. For three years, I was chained up every time I left my cell, whether it was to go on visitation, recreation or shower. Well, in August 1993, I saw Dr. ____. He diagnosed me as being manic-depressive and prescribed 300 milligrams of lithium each day. The medication has helped, but I continue to be held on lock- up status. The mentally ill inmates in South Carolina prisons do not get proper mental health care. They are tagged as being dangerous and left on lock-up status. Thanks, A South Carolina prisoner Ridgeville, South Carolina ****************************************************************** 14. START A FOOD NOT BOMBS GROUP IN YOUR COMMUNITY You can begin feeding the hungry and working for peace by starting a Food Not Bombs group in your community. Food Not Bombs is a nonviolent all-volunteer network that provides free, hot vegetarian meals and political support to low-income people in over 50 communities in North America and Europe. Food Not Bombs is empowering, rewarding and fun! Send $10 to Food Not Bombs for our helpful 128-page book that includes the steps for starting and maintaining a food recovery program, 30 recipes for feeding 100 people and logos, flyers and letters you can reprint. Food Not Bombs, 3145 Geary Blvd. #12, San Francisco, California 94118; or call 1-800-884-1136 for free information. A project of BACAT, 1095 Market St. #209, San Francisco California 94103 ****************************************************************** 15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: WELFARE FRAUD BY AGRIBUSINESSMEN By Leslie Willis "We've lost everything," say disaster victims when they rummage half-heartedly through the ruins of their homes. Some of these ordinary people -- but not all of them -- will get some help from the federal government after a flood, a fire, an earthquake or a hurricane. Not so for wealthy farmers in this country. "Needy" agribusinessmen clean up. Since 1988, they have received more that $8 billion in disaster aid. They do this legally, and illegally, without too much risk, says a recent New York Times article. For example, a California prune farmer got his hands on $90,000 in aid, despite his annual income of $9.6 million. Last year alone, $620,000 went to farmers with incomes above $2 million. In one Alabama county, the largest tomato grower ripped off $99,432 after claiming that drought had damaged 152 acres. He didn't bother to explain why he left his tomato crop in the field to rot and why he didn't turn on his irrigation system. He was just a sharp businessman, cashing in on falling tomato prices. See, the aid check is based on tomatoes selling at $3.33 a box, better money than the current market price of $2.50. It seems that federal investigators have found $92.5 million worth of "questionable" payments to rich farmers. So we ask you, who are the real welfare queens in this country? Isn't this the welfare fraud we must put a stop to? ****************************************************************** 16 EVENT: TRIBUTE TO NATIVE AMERICANS The fourth annual Tribute to Native Americans show will be held November 23 at the Hot House in Chicago. A poetry contest will be featured. The best poems about the desecration of graves will be awarded cash prizes of $100, $50 and $25. (Contestants must be present to win.) Poems must be submitted by November 15 to: E. Donald Two-Rivers, 5441 W. Kenmore, Unit E, Chicago, Illinois 60640. Phone: 312-728- 6756. Sponsored by the Illinois chapter of the American Indian Movement, the Guild Complex and Jackfish Productions (a native-owned production company). ****************************************************************** 17. FOR A BROADER VIEW, READ _RALLY, COMRADES!_ The People's Tribune gives it to you every week -- the stories of those who are fighting a political and economic system that breeds poverty and injustice, along with proposals for moving the struggle forward. But the movement for justice and security also needs a paper that sums things up, offers the leaders of the scattered struggles a deeper understanding of events in the world and our country, and unites those leaders around a strategy for victory. That paper is Rally, Comrades!/!Agrupemonos, Camaradas!, published, like the People's Tribune, by the National Organizing Committee. Each issue of Rally, Comrades! is published in both Spanish and English. In the October issue: * Why America is moving toward becoming a police state and what we must do about it. * The real story about what is happening in Africa today (Part 1). * Unemployment is up, but there's plenty of work to do: Toward a program for the fight for jobs. * How other movements have raised funds, and how the NOC can raise the money it needs to succeed. Don't miss these important articles. Subscribe today. Rally, Comrades! is published six times a year. Subscriptions are $15 for one year. For a free sample copy, write Rally, Comrades!, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647. To subscribe, send a check for $15, made payable to Rally, Comrades!, to the same address. ****************************************************************** 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. 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