From jdav@mcs.comMon Jan 30 10:57:10 1995 Date: Sun, 18 Dec 94 10:46 CST From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune 12-19-94 (Online edition) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 51 / December 19, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 51 / December 19, 1994 Page One 1. HUNGER IN THE MILITARY: EVEN SOLDIERS NEED FOOD STAMPS Editorial 2. THE GATT TREATY: FREEDOM FOR WHOM? News 3. THE FIGHT AGAINST CALIFORNIA'S PROPOSITION 187: FORGING SOLIDARITY 4. THE CONTEXT FOR EVENTS IN MEXICO: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY HAS NO BORDERS 5. MINNESOTA'S POOR PROTEST AT GOVERNOR'S MANSION 6. 'NIGHTLINE' REPORT FROM PRISON SHOWS INJUSTICE OF SYSTEM 7. KIDS LOSE OUT IN S.F. NEWSPAPER STRIKE 8. WELFARE REFORM IS LIFE-THREATENING: CAN WE SPEAK OUT? 9. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: NO SECOND FOR REICH'S PROPOSAL 10. CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS GIVE POLICE MORE POWER American Lockdown 11. A PRISON INMATE TAKES UP THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE Deadly Force 12. RESIDENTS CONDEMN THE HIRING OF COP WHO BEAT KING Culture Under Fire 13. POEM: FOR JACK HIRSCHMAN ON HIS 59TH BIRTHDAY Announcements, Events, etc. 14. LETTER: PT READER SUGGESTS WAYS TO RESIST THE WAR ON THE POOR 15. SHOP WITH THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE! 16. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** 2. PAGE 1 STORY: HUNGER IN THE MILITARY EVEN SOLDIERS NEED FOOD STAMPS; SOMETHING'S ROTTEN IN AMERICA Families of U.S. armed forces personnel on food stamps? Yes, according to published reports. The Army Times, citing a 1992 Defense Department report, has reported that about 17,000 service members are drawing food stamps. Throughout the U.S. armed forces, said the Army Times, about $27.4 million in food stamps were redeemed at military stores in 1993. That's about a $3 million increase over the previous year. Says Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.): "More and more, the men and women who have agreed to potentially lay down their lives for their country are finding that along with the uniform may come a losing battle against poverty.'' Another Army Times report cited information from the National Military Family Association declaring that about 64 percent of the spouses of enlisted personnel and 56 percent of the spouses of officers are either working or looking for work. The members of the armed forces are due to get a 2.6 percent pay raise in January, but military pay will still be about 14 percent behind comparable private sector salaries. Military salaries have eroded in value by about 8 percent since 1983. Now hear this: The next speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, intends to enact the repeal of the food stamp program upon which not only millions of civilian families depend, but also many thousands of military families as well. Millions of Americans are being thrown into the street as a result of both corporate and military downsizing. A ruling class that defends itself with the blood of men and women in uniform while taking food out of the mouths of the children of those men and women is not fit to rule! ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: THE GATT TREATY: FREEDOM FOR WHOM? In late November, President Clinton called Congress back for a special session. What was the emergency? Was Congress being summoned to help end poverty or police brutality or to protect free speech? Not by a long shot. The special session was held only to ratify the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. (The House ratified the measure on November 29 and the Senate followed on December 1.) The GATT treaty will reduce or eliminate tariffs on goods traded between 124 nations. It will also make "intellectual property" like movies, computer software and copyrights subject to the laws of international trade. So, while millions of Americans endure hunger and unemployment, President Clinton and the leaders of Congress have been busy since Election Day. They've been hard at work, arranging the final passage of a treaty to protect the property of those involved in international trade! That says an awful lot about what our leaders care about. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a famous message to Congress listing four "essential human freedoms" which Americans believe in and are willing to fight for. The Four Freedoms are: freedom of speech and expression; freedom of worship; freedom from want; and freedom from fear. Today, are our president and Congress fighting for freedom of speech? (The Congress in which Jesse Helms is a leader?) Are they fighting for freedom of worship? (The president and Congress willing to abolish the separation of church and state in America?) Can anyone seriously suggest that the president or the members of Congress are doing anything to create "freedom from want" (threats to eliminate welfare) or real "freedom from fear" (such as rising police terror) in America today? The passage of the GATT treaty shows that there is only one freedom the ruling class of America cares about: free trade. ****************************************************************** 3. THE FIGHT AGAINST CALIFORNIA'S PROPOSITION 187: FORGING SOLIDARITY [Editor's note: The following editorial is reprinted from the December 12 edition of our bilingual sister publication, the Tribuno del Pueblo.] The passage of Proposition 187 has shaken up the entire country. More than just the legal questions that are still pending, we have before us the challenge of what to do. The answer to this nightmare has the capacity to put us on the road to transforming our society -- if we are capable of reflecting on it and taking action. The debate on the rights of immigrants is polarizing the state of California. The fact that, on the one hand, thousands of people -- including many legal immigrants -- voted in favor of the initiative reflects the capability of the politicians to foster hate and division. On the other hand, the massive response of doctors, teachers and community leaders to challenge this new law by refusing to comply is of extreme importance. One thing is clear. Today, the fight for the rights of immigrants is totally connected to the future of the vast majority of people in this country. In the '60s when the blacks embarked upon their historic struggle for their rights, the United States was in a period of economic expansion. The years of racial violence and legal discrimination were able to be combated because there was a huge degree of unity and will of the black people and because it was economically and politically convenient for the government to be "more democratic." Today the situation is different. Today the development of the world economy is resulting in great changes. Today the production of goods is international and so is the labor force, and unemployment is becoming permanent. The scarcity of jobs and resources for the first time since the '30s is impacting the United States. This is the source of the campaign of hatred. Only hatred won't eliminate unemployment and social problems. In this context the movement for the rights of immigrants can only be carried out if we understand that, in reality, it is not just an issue of "defending the immigrant"; it is about putting forward the questions of how we are going to resolve the problems that society as a whole faces. Either we allow necessity to divide us or we work to forge unity between all those people with whom we share the desire to live a life with dignity. The campaign against 187 has to deepen and extend its work towards a growing solidarity that involves all of our communities. ****************************************************************** 4. THE CONTEXT FOR EVENTS IN MEXICO: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY HAS NO BORDERS By Richard Monje The new "global economy" is what all leaders and parties of all countries are forced to deal with. The capitalists must control this process to remain in power. NAFTA, GATT and the rush to extend these trade pacts or to fight against them is to try and utilize the forces of change -- the revolution in production. The world is experiencing a worldwide economic crisis. This crisis is being caused by the transformation from mechanics to electronics, resulting from the introduction of robotics and computers into production. Every form of production is being forced to reach this level in order to remain competitive. Every country is being forced to reach this level of production to remain competitive. Decades of economic integration between the United States and Mexico have tied us together and NAFTA has deepened that connection. The revolutionaries in the United States need to understand the direct relationship of our fight here to the revolutionary struggle in Mexico. There is an inseparable connection of Chiapas and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) to the fight for democracy in Mexico to the fight against Proposition 187, strike struggles in Illinois, the Los Angeles Rebellion and the fight against Proposition 184. It is not just about change in production orchestrated by a few, but about a revolutionary struggle for control of that change and who benefits. On December 1, Ernesto Zedillo was installed in power in Mexico. On December 8, the PRI candidate is scheduled to be installed as governor in Chiapas. In Mexico, the government forces and the democratic forces are locked into a collision course. Control and repression in Mexico is basically no different than the control and repression in the inner cities and housing projects or the police brutality rampant throughout the United States. The fight for democracy, civil rights and the struggle for survival has no borders or nationality. The economic wealth exists to end poverty the world over. The problem is who controls that wealth and therefore power. ****************************************************************** 5. MINNESOTA'S POOR PROTEST AT GOVERNOR'S MANSION By Mark Thisius St. Paul-- Over 120 poor and homeless people organized by Up & Out of Poverty Now! and the Welfare Rights Committee marched Thanksgiving week on the governor's mansion in Minnesota to protest growing attacks on the safety net. Republican Gov. Arne Carlson recently won his second term as governor by attacking social spending. Carlson, like other candidates across the country elected in the Republican landslide, promised to cut social programs and build more prisons. This message may have played well to the middle and upper classes, but it was soundly rejected by the poor and homeless people who marched to the governor's mansion on a bitter and cold November 26th. Birgid Williams of Up & Out of Poverty Now! told the rally crowd: "I'm not going to let any politician make me homeless again without a fight. We can't and won't let Arne Carlson off the hook if he cuts our benefits. We must and will stay in his face!" Several speakers from the large Minnesota Hmong community stated their solidarity with all poor people and promised to fight any new attacks on welfare recipients. This was the third march on the governor's mansion in the last four years of the Carlson regime and the first blacked out by the major media. The blackout reflects the growing conspiracy between the corporate media and the corporate government to control the debate over social spending. Despite the blackout, the spirits of those attending the march was high. We feel the tide is turning in breaking the denial and apathy in our low-income community. Virtually every march participant agreed to help organize a mass protest against government attacks on our rights on the first day of the Minnesota legislature in January. For more information on the growing poor people's movement in Minnesota, contact Mark Thisius and Up & Out of Poverty Now! Minneapolis/St. Paul by calling 612-645-7421. ****************************************************************** 6. 'NIGHTLINE' REPORT FROM PRISON SHOWS INJUSTICE OF SYSTEM By George Bru MOBILE, Alabama -- Of all the situations that are befalling American society, none are more disturbing or disheartening than the obvious "breakdown" of our moral and ethical standards. Each of us throughout the course of our lives must contend with, make choices, and state our opinions on issues of crime, poverty, morality, ethics, etc. Collectively, we will have an opportunity to choose. We can choose the ideas and opinions of the socially conscious and God-fearing, from whom all sources of true knowledge and wisdom stem. Or we can choose the individualistic and selfish motives that drive the characters and souls of the damned who inflict suffering and pain on the poor and underprivileged. _The second pain which will afflict the souls of the damned in hell is the pain of conscience._ (James Joyce). The ABC News program "Nightline," hosted by Ted Koppel, recently was broadcast for three nights from within the walls of the Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. During the discussions, the panel of judges, lawyers, consultants, prison wardens, etc., expressed their opinions. None of them had any profound solutions to the problems. The prisoners were also given an opportunity to respond. It was obvious from their testimony that few are behind those walls for reasons any more justifiable than any one of us who are on the outside. It is society's makeup and society's failures that have caused most of the inmates to be locked up and no one stated that observation more eloquently than did Koppel with his closing statement. He said: "A crime is never the actual beginning of a story. It's simply the event that seizes our attention and stimulates our fears. "There will be some of you, no doubt, over the course of the next few weeks, who'll communicate to me the many shortcomings of our series. I will try not to follow the example of the late congressman Wayne Hays, whose response to angry constituents was a brief form letter that said: 'Dear sir or madam: You may be right.' "Instead, let me take this opportunity to tell you what I consider to be my greatest failure in this series: an inability to focus on content. Crime doesn't happen in a vacuum. If we were obliged only to deal with sociopaths who commit crimes [for] the simple satisfaction that it gives them, the solutions would be relatively easy. But we are disproportionately hard on the poor and the ill- educated in this country. "It is absolutely true that even within that disadvantaged segment of our society, there are more honest men and women by far than criminals. But to be poor and uneducated in America already constitutes two strikes and to automatically sentence someone to life on a third strike without regard to circumstance or context is unjust, imprudent, and will not solve the problems. "That's our report for tonight. For all of us here at ABC News, good night." For us at the National Organizing Committee, we think we have some answers. If you are interested, please call 312-486-0028 or write us at P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647. ****************************************************************** 7. KIDS LOSE OUT IN S.F. NEWSPAPER STRIKE By Jack Hirschman SAN FRANCISCO -- Hundreds of poor news kids -- many of minority families -- who distribute the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner newspapers are losing their jobs in the aftermath of a "settled" 11-day strike of several unions against the newspaper management. The young deliverers, most of them in their teens, earn about $200 a month to help themselves and their families keep the wolf from the door. Without such income, many families will be forced onto welfare. Demands to keep the news kids working were listed with the overall demands of the striking workers. But as Kristen Bachler, head of the city's Delinquency Prevention Commission, said: "We lost the arbitration in March which took the kids' rights out of the contract, and the unions were never allowed to put the kids issue on the table during the negotiations." The firing of the kids is part of management's double-crossing the strike-ending agreements in order to steal the victory from the workers. The strike has been a bitter one, with goon squads hired by the bosses to escort replacement workers into the plant and distribution centers. When it was over, management began firing workers outspoken during the strike; retaining replacement workers and firing those who opposed them; and making deep cuts in the ranks of the truckers (Teamsters union Local 921) who were at the heart of the strike demands, and with whom the news kids worked. This back-stabbing is part of management's ongoing strategy to isolate the Teamsters, and create a situation where one newspaper will have to sold to the other -- in a corporate sellout that would dump hundreds of working journalists, pressmen, Teamsters and more news kids into the street. It's for that reason that there are continuous bitter feelings and anger in light of the settlement. The strike, in the year of the 60th anniversary of the last general strike in the United States, aroused widespread solidarity all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Part of that solidarity, which was translated into righteous picket lines, was because the issue of the delivery carriers was on the line, even if not at the negotiating table. Management has threatened any further strike activity with immediate firing and even police action! Management "settled" when Mayor Frank Jordan said he would pull his massive police force from its security role: It was costing too much money. The mayor and the bosses cut a deal; the strike ended; verbally, at least, the workers' demands were met; there were victory cries. All of which was undercut as management began its double-crossing. Neither the Chronicle nor the Examiner has held a compassionate view of the survival plight of poor and homeless people. Nor do they now, with respect to the news kids. But this dramatic strike period in San Francisco is far from over. Though a victory has been robbed by the usual crooks, a people's solidarity has also been aroused. ****************************************************************** 8. WELFARE REFORM IS LIFE-THREATENING: CAN WE SPEAK OUT? By Jan Lightfoot HINCKLEY, Maine -- The Homeless Crisis Hotline and studies done by other organizations identify economic causes as a contributing factor in 65 percent of the cases of women and children who are homeless. Ending welfare could be disastrous. So, we ask if other welfare and advocacy groups throughout the nation would be willing to join us in a Washington, D.C. march? January 16, 1995, when Martin Luther King's birthday is celebrated, would be a great day to parade in front of our White House. If there is to be a "welfare reform," let it be one of compassionate caring, based on non-judgmental love rather than punishment. Hospitality House Inc. has written President Bill Clinton asking that welfare mothers be allowed to speak to him about real reform so that every woman and child can "fare well." But don't hold your breath. With the deluge of Republicans, we need the noise of AFDC mothers willing to fight like tigers for their young. Thirty years ago, other penniless freedom fighters marched and won! Just 1,000 parents and advocates marching should bring faces to even the meanest-spirited lawmakers, making it more difficult for lawmakers to heap injury upon parents and children. This idea is a huge undertaking. It will take something big to prevent this life-threatening change from taking effect. Perhaps groups can get bus companies to donate transportation. The 1960s freedom marchers were also broke but they made it to Washington. Can we? Any group or individual who is interested, contact Jan Lightfoot at 1-800-438-3890 or 207-453-2986. Presently, this is only an idea; we need people to turn it into a reality. [Lightfoot is the director of Hospitality House Inc. which operates the Homeless Crisis Hotline in Hinckley, Maine.] ****************************************************************** 9. NO SECOND FOR REICH'S PROPOSAL By Leslie Willis Labor Secretary Robert Reich fired back at Republican proposals to cut food stamps, food supplements to women and infants and the school lunch program. Reich suggested, "Why not target corporate welfare?" President Clinton campaigned in 1992 on such rhetoric and most Republicans ranted and raved about "pork." Still, the Labor Secretary can't get a second on his proposal to cut $45 billion in corporate welfare. Studies examining the underbelly of our government have discovered that only a small amount of our taxes fall into a tin cup for the poor. Most of our dollars sink into the silk-lined pockets of the wealthy. Even the Democrats' research uncovered tax breaks to corporations totalling $111 billion over five years. It's obscene for our government to debate the existence of life- saving programs like food stamps when we spend $33 million to pump sand onto the private beaches of Miami hotels. How can we seriously talk about cutting food supplements for women and infants when we spent $11 million to build a private pleasure boat harbor in Cleveland? We must end corporate welfare before it puts an end to us. ****************************************************************** 10. CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS GIVE POLICE MORE POWER By Dino Lewis SACRAMENTO, California -- By now, everyone in America knows of the great victory that the rich and the powerful won over the poor people in the 1994 elections in California. What you may not know is that this victory made California the first police state in America. With the passing of Propositions 187 and 184, you now must sit down, shut up, get out or go to jail. Now, all over California, the watch dogs and overseers of the rich and their money are celebrating their victory. They are doing this by tightening their control over the people. In Merced, public school students are forced to take off their coats, purses and backpacks and put them on their desks and leave the room while the dogs check them for drugs and guns. On a Monday last November in Sacramento, my son Willie Lewis Jr. was playing with some smaller children in a creek that is less than a block from our house, when for some reason (not clear to me), the police unleashed an attack dog on this group of unsuspecting kids. My son, being one of the oldest, saw the dog going after a five-year-old boy. He intercepted the dog, and for this act of heroism he was rewarded with a beating from the police and dog bites up and down his leg. This is a clear message to me that the ruling class of California feels that it can do whatever it wants to do to the poor people of our community and no one had better resist. This is unacceptable and we, the residents of the Morrison Creek community, had better come together and develop a voice so that we can have some control over what goes on in our community. The more control they have, the more abusive they will become. So, if we let them get away with this, we can start preparing for the death of our children, because next it will be guns, not dogs. [For more information and to get involved in the fight for your rights, contact: Dino Lewis, 34 La Pera, #3, Sacramento, California 95823, or call 916-395-3801.] ****************************************************************** 11. A PRISON INMATE TAKES UP THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE Dear People's Tribune: Praise God! I never thought that I would find you. I have told several hundred people of how they are just warehousing people here and everyone seems just to say "Yeah, sure." I thought at first, for 20 months now, that it was I who was just losing it. Until I read a paper of yours dated September 12, 1994 ["American Lockdown," the Special Prison Edition of the People's Tribune]. I thought: Surely someone besides myself can see what is happening. But then it was just like no one thought I was telling them the truth. Well, today I got this paper from a guy in the next dorm. I read your whole paper without putting it down. It is really a good truth. I feel that getting this paper today has given me a reason for hope. Somehow I trust that I can be a help to the cause in the future if not right now. But I know we need to get this paper spread all over the U.S.A. and I am going to write to everyone I know and ask them to subscribe and have them ask friends. I will do everything in my power and God's power to help to circulate this paper. It is a very good truth you are writing, and I want it known throughout the United States. If there's anything I can do to help, please write and let me know. I want to help in any way I can. Thank you and God bless you all, Cleo Goodwin, No. 391145-F-4-208 Gulf Correctional Institution Wewahitchka, Florida ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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: RESIDENTS CONDEMN THE HIRING OF COP WHO BEAT KING By Anthony D. Prince CULVER CITY, California -- "I would never interfere with the way the police chief runs his department," said Mayor Albert Vera, referring to the new man on the job, Timothy Wind. Wind, you may remember, was one of four Los Angeles cops charged in the Rodney King beating whose acquittal helped spark the bloodiest civil uprising of the century. Fired by former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates and refused re-instatement by current Police Chief Willie Williams, Wind found that the savage stomping and billy-clubbing meted out to King and his subsequent termination was no bar to becoming the community service officer August 23, in this small town tucked in L.A.'s western corner. But a few people here did interfere, though so far unsuccessfully. "I first saw it in the local throwaway," said Adele Siegel, a 78- year-old retired school teacher. "I was very upset. I didn't know anyone else who was aware of it to talk to about it. I was very happy when Gary Silbiger [a friend and local immigration attorney] called me to tell me there were other people who felt the same way." Siegel did more than get mad. She and about two dozen other Culver City residents got organized. Calling themselves "The Committee to Remove Timothy Wind," they collected more than 700 signatures on petitions in a short time and confronted the City Council. In the packed chamber, public comment against Wind's hiring outnumbered supporting comments 6 to 1. Despite the protests, council members took the same hands-off approach as the mayor. "Of course [Wind] needs a job," declared Siegel. "He might try using up all that pent-up energy by swinging an axe to chop wood." In a letter to the Culver City News, residents James and Susan Anderson wrote: "We shudder to think about the symbolic meaning [of] hiring Timothy Wind. Does it mean you can kick and beat a fellow citizen, get exonerated for those brutal actions and then be hired to the Culver City Police Department as a community service officer and be given a No. 1 ranking?" Meanwhile, on the streets, Siegel has heard enough stories of Culver City police harassment to know the problem goes even deeper than Timothy Wind. "A friend of mine said that her daughter was harassed by police at 10 o'clock at night and they scared the living daylights out of her. She said it was just terrible the way the police scared her for no reason," Siegel said. The hiring of policemen who have been fired previously for brutality or wrongful use of deadly force is a growing trend and says a lot about what direction this country is going in. In New Mexico, Officer Tom Lujan was hired as a sheriff in nearby Bernalillo after he shot and killed a 27-year-old emotionally disturbed man in Santa Fe. In Chicago, two police officers initially fired for being accomplices to the electroshock torture of suspects were re- instated with full seniority and back pay. Across the country, the most trigger-happy cops have little to worry about as they pick up paychecks in one town after the next. Meanwhile, back on the streets of Culver City, Adele Siegel refuses to bow to the City Council and mayor. Having been rebuffed on the hiring of Wind, Siegel now says her group's efforts will turn to establishing an ongoing effort to monitor police misconduct. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 13. POEM: FOR JACK HIRSCHMAN ON HIS 59TH BIRTHDAY For Jack Hirschman on his 59th birthday (and for every birthday after that) By Brooke Heagerty He never wanted to be no Robert Frost, okay. (And he left those others behind years ago). He didn't choose that road less travelled. No. He chose the other one, the road tramped by millions, churned and turned up by their heartache and daily courage, run blood red with their sacrifice and death. He didn't choose that road into some snowy wood. No. He chose the road that led to the streets. What price did he pay for this? What sacrifice did he make? None. This is where his heart, his conscience, led him. He speaks now, not as a lonely voice in the wilderness, but with the voice of millions. ****************************************************************** 14. LETTER: PT READER SUGGESTS WAYS TO RESIST THE WAR ON THE POOR Dear People's Tribune: The balanced budget is just another way of saying, "cuts to education and social services." The Republicans have only a slight majority in the U.S. Congress. If we can learn which Republican senators can be influenced to vote "nay" on the bad bills, we could have people from across the country writing and telling the senators their stories. We need a list of 10-30 Republicans most likely to be swayed to vote against the bad bills, and who among the Democrats is not likely to need convincing to vote against the bad bills. This would give advocate groups throughout the nation direction on where to target their letter campaigns. This can be accomplished by the People's Tribune examining where Congress stands on the issues of welfare reform and the acts to balance the budget, along with providing the addresses of representatives and senators. We also could use a listing of major reporters who deal with welfare or social issues. For example, Jennifer Dixon is the AP welfare reporter out of Washington and can be reached care of The Associated Press, 2021 K St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. The names and addresses of newswires would be useful for people writing press releases. Perhaps in the next bundle or two, the People's Tribune can ask distributors who know of local or national reporters who write on welfare or human interest stories to send in a listing from their areas. Perhaps a special issue on creating positive social change can be released. Maine has a new Economic Justice Coalition. What other groups have sprung up in response to "the undeclared war on the poor"? We need ammo to fight back. "The Undeclared War on the Poor: What Changes in '95?" might be a valid title for a special issue. - Jan Lightfoot Lightfoot is a spokesperson for the poor who lives in Hinckley, Maine. [Editor's note: We would like to hear from our readers. Can you help us with these projects? Do you have other ideas to share?] ****************************************************************** 15. SHOP WITH THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE! For subscriptions, make checks payable to the People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. Circle the type of sub you want and list the name and address below each item you check. We will send a card with the subscription. Let us know how you would like it signed. ___ Send a gift subscription to the People's Tribune. (____ $25 for one year or ____ $4 for 2 months) ___ Send a gift subscription to the Tribuno del Pueblo. (___ $13 for one year or ___ $4 for 2 months) ___ Send a gift subscription to Rally, Comrades! ($15 for one year). Make checks payable to Rally, Comrades! ___ I want to order an original People's Tribune cartoon by Andy Willis. Cartoons are available on a full range of topics. "Time Stepper" cartoons still available. $35 each. Send my gift subscription to: Name ____________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip __________________________________________________ Send order with payment enclosed to: People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 or call 312-486- 3551. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ___ copies of Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary by Nelson Peery, active in the revolutionary movement since the days of the Scottsboro Boys, a memoir about the experience of the black soldier in World War II. 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Include $1 postage for each item other than subscriptions. ****************************************************************** 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. 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