From jdav@mcs.comMon Jan 2 20:10:15 1995 Date: Mon, 2 Jan 95 11:25 CST From: James Davis To: pt.dist@umich.edu Subject: People's Tribune (1-9-95) Online Edition ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 2 / January 9, 1995 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 2 / January 9, 1995 Page One 1. HUNGER GROWS AMID PLENTY Editorial 2. CLINTON'S SPEECH RINGS HOLLOW News 3. 'WELCOME TO THE NIGHTMARE': PESO'S FALL DEEPENS MEXICO'S ECONOMIC CRISIS 4. TEXAS OFFICIAL CALLS DEATH OF CHILDREN 'AN ECONOMIC PLUS' 5. STUDENTS LIST HOPES FOR THE NEW YEAR 6. THE LAST MILE Special Feature 7. DEATH ROW: THE LAST MILE Culture Under Fire 8. THROWAWAY KIDS: TURNING YOUTH GANGS AROUND Announcements, Letters, Events, etc. 9. LETTER: READER RESPONDS TO CALL FOR COMPASSIONATE WELFARE REFORM 10. CALL FOR A SECOND CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE 11. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** PAGE 1: HUNGER GROWS AMID PLENTY America's poor stand in a Christmas food line while agribusiness slurps from the public trough By Jack Hirschman SAN FRANCISCO--In what was perhaps the largest one-day food giveaway since the Great Depression, more than 12,500 people were given Christmas food bags by Glide Memorial Church here. The line for the food distribution extended over six city blocks! San Francisco, according to recently released Food Bank reports, has 90,000 who are steadily suffering from hunger and 60,000 more who are at risk of hunger at some time during the course of a month. Many are young people and the elderly, but the statistics include people of all ages and races and from everywhere. Why? The people are being robbed by high rental costs that leave next to nothing for food; by welfare cuts that make living with the dignity of a full belly impossible; and by a system of profit- driven corruption. In fact, homelessness has increased by 23 percent in the San Francisco Bay Area in two years and hunger by more than twice that amount. It is public knowledge that children who haven't eaten the night before and who come to school with empty stomachs fall asleep by 10 a.m. They have to be fed cookies out of their teachers' pockets in order to wake up and work. Not to forget: Christmas giveaways come once a year. Hunger is every day for more and more people. And this is not only in San Francisco. It is happening across the whole country. Every day this rotten capitalist system shows more and more people to its favorite receptacle -- the garbage can. Or to its favorite bed -- the morgue. Let's make 1995 the year of the mass demands -- not some double talk about "revolution" from a Congress made up of millionaires. A real revolution that comes from the getting together of all the "collectives of alone" that this system and its government exploit and starve and kill. Let's make the necessary be! ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: CLINTON'S SPEECH RINGS HOLLOW In a speech on December 15, President Clinton proposed a "middle- class bill of rights." Simply put, this means that families with children under 13 who earn up to $75,000 a year would be eligible for a tax credit. A tax credit is a straight subtraction from tax owed. For those earning up to $60,000, Clinton's proposal would amount to just $500 per year. Millions of Americans, however, are just too poor to qualify for these "middle class" rights. Just in case his listeners didn't immediately guess who will be left out of these "rights," Clinton gave a clue in his speech. The president denounced those who "take advantage of the rest of us ... by breaking the law, abusing the welfare system and flaunting our immigration laws." It seems that undocumented immigrants and welfare recipients are not part of this "middle class." Neither, apparently, are the unemployed, the homeless or low-wage workers. These "middle-class tax cuts" will be paid for by bleeding the already anemic programs for the poor. So, when a whole new crop of people from the "middle class" become unemployed in 1995, they will find that these "rights" don't mean a thing without a secure, good-paying job. That's what Larry Archer of Lepanto, Arkansas learned when he lost his factory job after his wife became ill with ovarian cancer. With three children to support and his wife needing surgery, Archer turned to public aid, with no result. A few days before Thanksgiving Day 1994, Archer, desperate and unarmed, robbed $4,000 from a bank. As Archer found out, being in the middle is like nesting atop an icy slope. The speedy slide to the bottom can happen at any time. Business Week says that 75 percent of the members of the "middle class" fear losing their jobs in 1995. A united fight waged both by those who find themselves teetering on this slippery slope and those who have already landed at the bottom of the economic heap can be a strong political force in the country. Such unity would strengthen the fight for the rights of all members of society to a job, a home and food. Such unity would open possibilities for a brighter future in which the victims of today's technology could become the rulers of technology and all it produces. ****************************************************************** 3. 'WELCOME TO THE NIGHTMARE': PESO'S FALL DEEPENS MEXICO'S ECONOMIC CRISIS By Allen Harris Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation put it best when he opened his last major communique of 1994 to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo with these words: "Welcome to the nightmare." Because of the Zapatista rebellion in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, foreign investors in the new Mexico became nervous about their money in late December. Anxious to get out before they got burned, they dumped Mexico-linked securities onto the stock market and dumped Mexican pesos on currency markets, driving down the peso's price in relation to the dollar. The Mexican central bank spent billions of U.S. dollars it had in its reserves to buy back as many pesos from the market as it could. But the sellers sold more pesos faster than the central bank could buy them. Mexico ended up depleting its dollar reserves. On Tuesday morning, December 20, Mexico let the peso fall 15 percent against the dollar. On Wednesday evening, December 21, Mexico let the peso float freely -- moving on supply and demand -- until markets stabilized. The peso fell further. The price of the peso fell about 25 percent from 3.6 to the U.S. dollar on Monday, December 19 to 4.7 on Friday, December 23. Billions of dollars worth of foreign money invested in Mexico were thus wiped out. Mexico's finance minister, Jaime Serra Puche, hurried to New York on Thursday, December 22 to meet with top government and banking officials. The meeting was closed to the public, but the Dow Jones News Service characterized it as "a venting session for bankers who face billions in currency-related losses." During the meeting, Serra Puche put the blame for the peso's troubles on the rebellion in Chiapas and the view in the markets that Mexico will fall behind in its foreign debt obligations in 1995. To redeem himself in the investors' eyes, Serra Puche promised to launch a new round of privatization in Mexico. The U.S.-Canadian-Mexican ruling class wants to solve the economic-financial crisis in Mexico on the backs of the Mexican masses. This way, all of Mexico will become even more like Chiapas. Welcome to the capitalists' nightmare: Mexico in the age of the Zapatistas. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ CURRENCY MARKET DEEPENS POVERTY By Allen Harris The currency (or foreign exchange) market is the world's largest market. More than $1 trillion changes hands daily. The growing power of this market helps push the world's toilers deeper into poverty and oppression. WHAT IS THIS MARKET? Like the stock and bond markets, the currency market affects everyone living under capitalism. Unlike the stock and bond market, no one has authority over it. It does what it wants. The three most important currencies traded are the U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen and the German mark. In principle, anyone with a telephone, a computer terminal and money to wager can play. Most traders can be found in commercial and central banks, investment houses and large corporations. Every second during the trading day, deals in certain currencies are made at certain prices. Computer buttons are pushed and huge amounts of money flash across the world. This sends currency prices up and down. Capitalists and capitalist-controlled governments watch the market and make their decisions as best they can. WHO ARE THE PLAYERS? The dominant forces in the market are the biggest U.S., European and Asian commercial banks and wealthy individual speculators. The market in recent years has defeated governments as powerful as those of the United States, Britain, France and Italy, forcing them to devalue their currencies, to lower the prices of those currencies on the market. In late December 1994, Mexico became the latest country to be beaten. WHAT IS DEVALUATION? For ordinary people, devaluation amounts to a cut in income. In just two days, the Mexican people's income was cut by about 25 percent as a result of the government's giving up control of the peso to the market. The Mexican government is under pressure from foreign financiers to keep wages down. The Mexican people are expected to make do with still less and work harder to export more goods to countries with richer currencies than theirs. THE DEVALUED DOLLAR A similar thing is going on here in the United States. In early 1985, the U.S. dollar was at an all-time high against the Japanese yen, trading at about 260 yen to the dollar. Goods imported from Japan were very affordable, while competing goods made in the United States lost out. At the same time, the government went deep into debt with foreign banks, borrowing billions to fund the federal budget. Toward the end of 1985, the dollar began declining. Today it is worth less than 100 yen. It may fall further. CAPITALISTS MAKE US PAY THEIR BILL Individuals who can't pay their bills get their stuff repossessed or are evicted onto the street. The United States is too big to tow away, and you can't evict 260 million people by shoving them into the ocean. So, Americans pay through steady devaluation. The rulers who made the United States the world's No. 1 debtor nation must make good on their obligations, but they will do it at our expense. They will cut out social programs, downsize away our jobs and try to force us to live on less under police-state conditions. A SOLUTION FOR US But as this happens, more and more products are being made by high technology instead of by humans. These goods pile higher while we sink deeper into poverty. Those goods are separated from us by capitalist rule, which says we must pay the capitalists with their money to have the goods. The capitalists are relying more and more on their "market forces" and their police power to back up their rule. Only by ending capitalist rule can we put an end to the nightmare of poverty that the toilers of Mexico, the United States and the world are living through. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 4. TEXAS OFFICIAL CALLS DEATH OF CHILDREN 'AN ECONOMIC PLUS' By Maria Elena Castellanos, People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo correspondent HOUSTON -- "The death of a child ... is an economic plus," wrote Texas insurance commissioner J. Paul Hunter recently in explaining why he thinks life insurance for children is a waste of money. Hunter continued: "Think of the reduction in future costs for food, shelter, education, clothing and so on. I know this sounds heartless, but that's an economic fact." You bet it sounds heartless! And it sounds like the cold-blooded ideas of a typical state official. Note that George W. Bush just won the Texas governorship after running, in part, a "blame the children" campaign. Bush's campaign promises included "reforming the welfare and the juvenile justice systems," by, in effect, cutting more children and their unemployed mothers off welfare. He also called for "building more youth jails." Bush's draconian "family values" sounded even meaner on November 15 when he announced his "hang-'em high" choice for the secretary of state for Texas. Bush nominated Tony Garza, the Republican judge from Cameron County who believes the death penalty should be applied to 13-year-old children. So you see, J. Paul Hunter was obviously voicing the opinions of a lot of ruling-class officials or he would not still be the insurance commissioner! Isn't something outrageously wrong with an economic and political system that considers the death of children to be an "economic plus"? For sure! Apparently, this system believes that robots, computers and high technology have made our children valueless, unemployable, profit- margin-absorbing parasites who are "expendable." Clearly, we must organize ourselves and our children in more effective ways in order to defeat this inhumane, cannibalistic system that seems hell-bent on dragging our children into an early grave. We can do it! We stand on the shoulders of giants -- our parents and grandparents who struggled to give us life. Give the gift of truth, hope and organizational power this new year. Give the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo and an introduction to the National Organizing Committee. ****************************************************************** 5. STUDENTS LIST HOPES FOR THE NEW YEAR By Jon Rice CHICAGO -- I am the adviser of a student activist group at a local university. This Christmas, the group sat down to discuss a wish list for the coming year. Here's what we decided to work for in the new year. We envision a world of more equitable distribution of power. We want to see respect for and acceptance of the youth of today, with a trust in their abilities and an encouragement of their sense of empowerment. We want to subvert the vision of the world which the current U.S. politics offers us now, one in which the have-nots are in jail or abused of their basic self-respect while those who have can behave immorally without repercussions (a la Oliver North). We will work to undermine such a nightmare-in-the-making and hopefully will derail it. We want to see a government that stands up for the poor all over the world, not just for its own national interests. We want a society that provides for people's health ahead of profits. We think it unconscionable, for example, that the chlorine industry spends $132 million to promote the production of chlorine while poly-chlorinated bi-phenyls create cancer. We desire a world where greed is restrained by values of moral decency and the use of brutal suppression is itself suppressed, by whatever means are necessary. We want to build and enhance our own feeling of community to limit our own selfish interests for the good of the whole, and to see that spirit of community spread across the continent, irrespective of race and gender. We live for these goals and recognize that to fight for them makes life worth living. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ THE WORLD SHOULD WAKE UP ... By Simuel Wade 13 years old DETROIT -- The world should wake up and smell the coffee. People are being laid off from their jobs and being cut off welfare. They [the rulers] want to say that you can get a job. That's why they are cutting welfare. The wealthy get most of it, instead of the schools. The schools need things like computers, paper, pencils, etc. Also, we should try to get the homeless off the streets. That's why the People's Tribune is trying to get into your head now. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 6. THE LAST MILE By Johnny 'ByrdDog' Byrd, #175145 [Editor's note: Johnny "Byrd-Dog" Byrd, 30, convicted on perjured testimony and sentenced to death 11 years ago, was scheduled to be executed March 14, 1994. At the last minute, he was granted a stay of execution. According to Dick Vickers of the Ohio Public Defender's Commission, Byrd is a victim of gross prosecutorial misconduct whose struggle for a new trial has riveted the attention of prisoners and the public alike. Now, from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, where hundreds of inmates staged the "Lucasville Uprising" of Easter Sunday 1993, Johnny Byrd reveals the political intrigues that landed him in the Death House and recounts his dramatic brush with the executioner.] LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- Sunday, March 13, 1994, at 12:35 p.m., exactly 35 hours and 26 minutes before my scheduled, state-sanctioned murder, the "Death Row Escort Squad" arrived at my cell, saying "It's time, ByrdDog." "Strip," said one. A number of men stood in front of my cell, nervously watching as I shed my clothing, perhaps for the last "strip search" of my life. After going through the usual routine of "lift 'em and spread 'em," I got dressed, backed up to the cell door and was handcuffed. While this was going on, an eerie silence had settled over the entire cell block. There was none of the usual boisterous yelling, laughter, loud radios or TVs playing -- nothing but complete silence. Then, as I backed out of my cell and started on that long walk, the cell block erupted into a cacophonous uproar. "Stay strong," "Good luck," the voices yelled out to me. As I bid them farewell, I vowed, "I'll represent us all well, no matter what happens. Stay strong!" meaning that I would not grovel and whine, as some involved in the process would like to see. Along the way, as I walked down the long main corridor, loud voices raised in solidarity and encouragement greeted me as I passed each cell block. The shouts from the cell blocks caused my escorts, and the numerous guards who lined the corridor, to become alarmed. The fear and terror of the past riot was still fresh in their memories. In an effort to make me speed up the leisurely pace I had assumed, meeting each and every eye along the way, they started walking faster. I maintained my stride, and soon they slowed down, resigned to the pace I had set. ROBOT-LIKE PROFESSIONALISM Upon arriving in J-1 Super-Max, I was once again strip-searched and my regular Death Row clothing was exchanged for Death House clothing. "Odd," I thought to myself. "What difference does what one is wearing have on the fact of one's impending death?!!" The atmosphere of the Death House was smothering, suffocating, as if there was a shortage of oxygen. Everyone moved as if in slow motion, their every move seeming to have been thoroughly rehearsed, learned, robot-like professionalism. Now, for the first time in over 30 years, they, the elite Death Squad, had been called upon to commit murder in the name of the state of Ohio. In some of their eyes, I saw fear, concern and revulsion; in others, sadistic glee. Looking at each one of them with steady, unblinking eyes, I sized them up individually. Shortly after entering the death cell proper, my attorneys arrived to inform me as to the current state of my situation. We discussed this at great length, and I felt confident that everything possible was being done to halt the insidious plot to murder me that had been set into motion by the state of Ohio. After enjoying the time spent with my lawyers, I immediately contacted my woman and, later, other family members on the phone that had been provided. I attempted, as best I could, to assuage their worries and fears. With each one I tried to explain the situation, based on my knowledge and information provided me by my lawyers. This was very difficult, given the fact that they all were well aware of the appeal process. They knew this latest attempt by the state of Ohio to murder me was simply a political move, and not based upon law. I still wanted to calm their fears, give them strength, and assure them all that everything was under control and my lawyers on top of everything, every move the state was trying to make. 'BLUE MONDAY' For the most part, I remained in constant contact with my woman and family by phone. I was permitted to have a couple of short visits with my lovely woman, engaging in spirited conversation with some of the people who had come down from the Ohio public defender's office and was truly touched by them. At times, there were periods when time seemed to stand still, then suddenly speed up. I was offered food, but refused to eat, fearing that it may have been "doctored up" with drugs to make me less resistant and responsive. This refusal was not based on some unreasonable paranoia, but through years of incarceration. I know first-hand just how devious prison officials can be, and I wasn't about to take any chances! The whirlwind of activity continued around me and, as night approached, there was no thought of sleep in my mind. Throughout the night, I was on the phone talking to people I haven't heard from in years, everyone expressing their support, love, concern and pledging their assistance. Monday morning, March 14, 1994, was indeed a "Blue Monday" for us all as we learned of the apparent, unprecedented and mean-spirited tactics being employed by the "Honorable" Carl Rubin, the judge assigned to my case. It seems that even though he had had my writ of habeas corpus and motion for a stay of execution before him since March 7, he decided to wait until the "eleventh hour" before making a ruling -- knowing full well that the situation was critical, and time was of the essence. An example of the insidious plot he had hatched in his muddled mind began when he instructed two of my attorneys to meet in his chambers at noon. At the conclusion of the meeting, he informed my attorneys that he would deny my motion for a stay of execution and that he would issue his ruling at approximately 3 p.m. -- nine hours before my scheduled execution! He made this ruling with full knowledge that it was legally wrong, but in keeping with his own "personal" feelings about the length of time my appeal was taking. As he stated on one occasion, "[T]here comes a time when all of this must come to an end." Now he had appointed himself the Supreme Litigator, usurping the power of the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as that of his own district court. Had it not been for the tireless efforts of my attorneys, who fought gallantly, he may well have succeeded. Through their efforts, an emergency panel of the Sixth Circuit Court convened and issued a stay of execution around 6:30 p.m. 'DAMN JUSTICE, GIVE US THE BODY!' Not to be outdone, Ohio Gov. George Voinovich personally contacted his friend, Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher, to form a pack. They went to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking them to dissolve the stay of execution and order my murder to occur as scheduled. This move was purely political, both having political aspirations with elections coming up, knowing how profitable jumping on the "kill us quick" bandwagon is. After the U.S. Supreme Court, in its entirety, had been convened, they declined to lift the stay of execution at approximately 11:30 p.m. Everyone breathed a great sigh of relief, including, I might add, the correctional officers who had been present throughout the whole ordeal. Around 12:20 a.m. Tuesday morning, I was again escorted -- this time back to Death Row. Again, the corridors were filled with loud cheers and good wishes, but it was when I arrived back on the "row" that I received the most thunderous ovations. Everyone had been following the events closely as they unfolded over the TV and radio, and were all aware that I was coming back. In the aftermath of Judge Carl Rubin's machinations with my case, he was removed from further involvement. This indicates and validates my previously held suspicions that he was overtly prejudicial towards me and my case, as well as all Death Row prisoners, and was losing his judicial temperament. To him, the bench from which he's supposed to make decisions based upon law had, instead, become a soapbox upon which he had climbed to orate about his personal convictions! For those chomping at the bit for my death, complaining about the length of time my appeal was taking, it doesn't matter whether I'm innocent or not: all they want is to have their blood-lust sated. Nothing else matters. "Damn justice, give us the body!" they cry. THE JAWS OF THE BEAST Many people have written and asked what it's like being on Death Row, being sent to the Death House, and coming within 30 minutes of being murdered by the State; why I refused to eat my "last meal," and why I chose the electric chair instead of lethal injection. I will try to answer these questions based on my experience, as I'm sure it differs from some others who have been as fortunate as myself, to walk into the very jaws of The Beast and walk out again. Sadly, this has not been the case for many throughout this country who are similarly situated. Being on Death Row, in and of itself, is a form of death. The environment sucks the life from you. The passing of a single day, at times, can be but the blink of an eye, or as long as a heartbreaking life. Then there's the drudgery, the soul-wrenching monotony of staring at the same steel and concrete, the same people, ad nauseam. Being taken to the Death House is, in a way, a relief. Finally one is afforded the opportunity to confront one's killers, who cowardly hide behind the mask of shamelessness; to look into their eyes, smell their raw fear and feel one's own strength being pitted against the ultimate sanction: Death. As for the so-called last meal, and my refusal to eat it and other meals -- as I said earlier, after years of conditioned paranoia, coupled with the exigencies of events going on around me, eating was the furthest thing from my mind. I chose the electric chair because I refuse to give any credence to the State's attempt to contrive a rationale for its murders by offering a lethal injection as a "more humane" form of murder. If they were going to kill me, I was intent on making it as ghastly as possible for all who bore witness to it. What went through my mind during those 36 hours were thoughts of my woman, people that I care about and love, and what my death would do to them. I was hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Those 36 hours were devoted to the ones who I care about and love. I had to keep my wits about myself because, as I saw it, it was on me to give the ones I love and care about strength. I had to maintain courage in the face of adversity, so that their burden would not be overbearing. Their love and support had sustained me all this time, and it was my turn to show them and give them strength. A HOLOCAUST There is a plague in this country that is being controlled and manipulated by politicians, judges, prosecutors, police, professional victims, and victims' rights groups. Until society faces what's really going on in this country and starts wanting real answers for what's going on in our streets, a number of innocent people are going to be put to death or imprisoned for the rest of their lives. This attitude of "lock them up and kill them" is not the answer. Who do you think are going to be the ones filling our Death Rows, prisons and jails? Open your eyes before it's too late. The future of this society is at stake until you the people take off your blindfolds and look at the real problems, dealing with them rather than sweeping them under the rug with a quick fix that has never worked. Crime is nothing new. The way it is dealt with is a reflection of the society we live in. The reflection I see is a holocaust against the poor and less fortunate. To all the brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers who are on Death Rows, in jails and prisons throughout this country or struggling to get through the day to put food on the table: Stay strong and don't give up. Stop turning on each other and stand united against the oppressors and raise your voices in unity! ****************************************************************** 8. THROWAWAY KIDS: TURNING YOUTH GANGS AROUND Part Two By Luis J. Rodriguez [Editor's note: Below we reprint the second part of an article which originally appeared in the November 21, 1994 edition of The Nation.] Gangs are not new in America. The first gangs in the early 1800s were made up of Irish immigrant youths. They lived as second-class citizens. Their parents worked in the lowest-paid, most menial jobs. These youths organized to protect themselves within a society that had no place for them. Other immigrants followed identical patterns. Today the majority of gang members are African American and Latino, and they face the same general predicaments those early immigrants did. But today something deeper is also happening. Within the present class relations of modern technology-driven capitalism, many youths, urban and rural, are being denied the chance to earn a "legitimate" living. An increasing number are white, mostly sons and daughters of coal miners, factory workers or farmers. Los Angeles, which has more gang violence than any other city, experienced the greatest incidence of gang-related acts during the 1980s and early 1990s, when 300,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in California. According to the Gang Violence Bridging Project of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles, the areas with the greatest impoverishment and gang growth were those directly linked to industrial flight. At the same time, the state of California suffered deep cuts in social programs -- most of them coming as a result of the passage in 1978 of Proposition 13, which decreased state funding for schools after a slash in property taxes. Since 1980, while California's population has jumped by 35 percent, spending for education has steadily declined. Yet there has been a 14 percent annual increase in state prison spending during the past decade; the state legislature has allocated $21 billion over the next 10 years to build 20 new prisons. Almost all areas in the United States where manufacturing has died or moved away are now reporting ganglike activity. There are 72 large cities and 38 smaller ones that claim to have a "gang problem," according to a 1992 survey of police departments by the National Institute of Justice. Chicago, also hard hit by industrial flight, has many large multigenerational gangs like those in L.A. What has been the official response? In Chicago "mob action" arrests have been stepped up (when three or more young people gather in certain proscribed areas, it is considered "mob action"), as have police sweeps of housing projects and "gang- infested" communities. Recently there have been calls to deploy the National Guard against gangs, which is like bringing in a larger gang with more firepower against the local ones. This, too, is not a solution. I agree that the situation is intolerable. I believe that most people -- from the Chicago-based Mothers Against Gangs to teachers who are forced to be police officers in their classrooms to people in the community caught in the cross fire -- are scared. They are bone-tired of the violence. They are seeking ways out. First we must recognize that our battle is with a society that fails to do all it can for young people -- then lays the blame on them. It's time the voices for viable and lasting solutions be heard. The public debate is now limited to those who demonize youth, want to put them away, and use repression to curb their natural instincts to recreate the world. I have other proposals. First, that we realign societal resources in accordance with the following premises: that every child has value and every child can succeed. That schools teach by engaging the intelligence and creativity of all students. That institutions of public maintenance -- whether police or social services -- respect the basic humanity of all people. That we rapidly and thoroughly integrate young people into the future, into the new technology. And finally, that we root out the basis for the injustice and inequities that engender most of the violence we see today. Sound farfetched? Too idealistic? Fine. But anything short on imagination will result in "pragmatic," fear-driven, expediency- oriented measures that won't solve anything but will only play with people's lives. Actually, the structural/economic foundation for such proposals as I've roughly outlined is already laid. The computer chip has brought about revolutionary shifts in the social order. The only thing that isn't in place is the non-exploitative, non-oppressive relations between people required to complete this transition. I know what some people are thinking. What about being tough on crime? Let me be clear: I hate crime. I hate drugs. I hate children murdering children. But I know from experience that it doesn't take guts to put money into inhumane, punishment-driven institutions. In fact, such policies make our communities even less safe. It's tougher to walk these streets, to listen to young people, to respect them and help fight for their well-being. It's tougher to care. To be continued. [Luis J. Rodriguez, formerly of Los Angeles, now writes from Chicago, where he directs Tia Chucha Press. His most recent book is Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. (Touchstone).] ****************************************************************** 9. LETTER: READER RESPONDS TO CALL FOR COMPASSIONATE WELFARE REFORM [Editor's note: The following letter was written in response to an article by Jan Lightfoot of Hinckley, Maine in Volume 21, Number 50 of the People's Tribune. Jan Lightfoot is the director of Hospitality House Inc. which operates the Homeless Crisis Hotline. The article, "Welfare reform is life-threatening: Can we speak out?" called on readers to help plan a parade in front of the White House on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 16, 1995. The parade would be a demand for welfare reform that is compassionate, based on non-judgmental love rather than punishment.] Dear People's Tribune: I am in complete sympathy with the cause of welfare mothers. I teach in an inner-city school where most of our mothers, grandmothers, or caretakers of our children are on welfare and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Most of our children receive free breakfast and lunch at school. Also, I am the mother of a daughter who has a child and is dependent upon help from the state. There is no way that I could be responsible for her and her child. She is 31 years old and her daughter is 4 months old. If she had not lived with me during her pregnancy and afterwards, she would have been out on the streets. Still, I could not support them (i.e. health care, clothing, enough food, etc.) if she had not been dependent upon the meagre amount she received in food stamps and Medicaid. [My daughter] is now trying to work and take her child to work with her. She would not be able to pay rent or maintain a home and is presently living with a friend. Although she has much work experience and a few years of college, no job would pay her enough to support herself and her child, although that is her goal. She has had no help from the father, although he acknowledges the child. On the other hand, in my job as a Chapter I reading teacher, I have participated in the program Parents as Teachers. I go to the homes of some of our children. I've been at the school long enough to know that drugs are sold from their homes. Many mothers are addicted to drugs and give their children to sisters, cousins and grandmothers -- anyone who will take them. On a personal basis, I have come to be really fond of these mothers/caretakers, but deplore the fact that they have no opportunity to ever escape from their way of life. I understand why they do what they do, except I find it difficult to understand the child abuse which abounds from the homes of these children. I would like to march on Washington on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but I know there has to be other solutions to the whole situation. The problems of our society are much deeper: prejudice, lack of education and opportunities and even a belief that life could be better. I don't foresee the present administration or any other addressing the real needs of the people of our nation. Sincerely, Sylvia C. Dellinger [Any group or individual interested in the proposed march on Washington can contact Jan Lightfoot at 1-800-438-3890 or 207-453- 2986.] ****************************************************************** 10. CALL FOR A SECOND CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE The world is in the midst of revolutionary change. The smokestacks and assembly lines no longer dominate our landscapes. The jobs we once knew are slowly disappearing. We are being replaced by robots, computers, lasers and other new technologies in our workplaces. The capitalists are defending their profits and domination by being ever more ruthless in their policies towards the workers and the new class of the dispossessed. The system can no longer feed and house us or provide us with jobs. We must help develop the fighting capacity of the oppressed and the exploited through education and organization. At every opportunity we must go on the offensive and expose the capitalist system and uncloak our class enemy. We, the homeless, the welfare recipients, the unemployed, the youth, the minorities of all complexions and nationalities, women and other sectors of society -- in a word, the dispossessed -- must fight back if we are to survive. We are reaching out to revolutionaries who come from all walks of life. We are appealing to revolutionaries in the churches, in the media, in schools and colleges, in trade unions, in libraries, hospitals, in community organizations, and in discussion groups of all kinds. Revolutionaries are everywhere and we invite you to join us in fighting for a future of justice and economic security. We must destroy this system of private property. We have no choice but to create a new America free of exploitation and want. In order to do so, we need an organization that can educate. The National Organizing Committee has been in existence 18 months. We have experience carrying out our program, dedicated members who are revolutionaries, presses, and an educational system for our membership. It is time for us to do the following: * Sum up our experience; * Give our organization a name that reflects what we are -- an organization of revolutionaries; * Develop an organization that teaches our class who we are fighting, and what we are fighting for; * Evaluate our work and our organizational structure, and change it if necessary. Therefore, the National Council of the National Organizing Committee, in accordance with its bylaws, calls for the convening of a Convention of the National Organizing Committee, to be held April 29-30, 1995 in Chicago, Illinois. ****************************************************************** 11. 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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