From jdav@noc.orgWed Apr 12 17:48:26 1995 Date: Wed, 12 Apr 95 15:32 GMT From: Jim Davis To: pt.dist@noc.org Subject: People's Tribune (4-10-95) Online Edition ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 15 / April 10, 1995 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: pt@noc.org ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NOTE: The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is now available in the peoplestrib conference on Peacenet. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 15 / April 10, 1995 Page One 1. FIGHT FOR A SOCIETY THAT CARES FOR ALL WOMEN AND CHILDREN! Editorial 2. WHAT'S BEHIND THE ATTACK ON SOCIAL PROGRAMS? News 3. LAWYER CONDEMNS DOUBLE EXECUTION IN ILLINOIS: WE MUST SAY 'NO' TO THE HOLOCAUST IN OUR MIDST 4. YOUNG WORKERS IN L.A. OCCUPY DOWNTOWN CENTER TO DEMAND THEIR RIGHTS 5. STOP THE PARADE OF COWARDS! 6. CHILDREN RALLY AT THE CAPITOL AGAINST CUTS IN LUNCH PROGRAMS 7. CALIFORNIANS TELL FEINSTEIN: OPPOSE CUTS IN WELFARE PROGRAMS 8. NEW CONGRESS STAGES AN ASSAULT ON THE CARDBOARD BASTIONS OF THE POOR AND HOMELESS 9. WHO PAYS THE TAXES? American Lockdown 10. NEXT WEEK, FROM 'AMERICAN LOCKDOWN': THE LUCASVILLE UPRISING, TWO YEARS LATER Culture Under Fire 11. THE MEN OF NOMMO: POETS FOR REVOLUTION 12. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** 1. PAGE 1: FIGHT FOR A SOCIETY THAT CARES FOR ALL WOMEN AND CHILDREN! Hundreds of thousands of women and men are converging on Washington April 9 to Rally for Women's Lives. Women and children are at the heart of a rising class of more than 80 million Americans in poverty. In the face of the current attacks unleashed by the ruling class of millionaires and billionaires, all must answer: We will not turn back! Under the control of the wealthy class, the White House, Congress and the state governments are getting ready to make, or have made, serious cuts in public aid programs, cuts that will hurt millions of people who have little or nothing. These so-called public officials shamelessly argue for these cuts in the most obscene ways. During the floor debate in the House on the welfare "reform" bill, at least two legislators -- one of them a millionaire -- compared poor children to alligators and wolves who have to be forced to fend for themselves. This is their justification for starving poor children? In addition to these attacks on social programs needed by impoverished women and their families, there is the accelerating turn toward a police-prison state in America. In 1994, women -- many of them mothers torn from their children -- entered the nation's prisons at a faster rate than men, according to a recent CNN special report. Is this the way we want the social crisis we are living through to be solved? Or do we want to challenge these inhuman and immoral solutions being pushed on us and say NO! In the same spirit of the April 9 rally, wherever we are -- in our cities and towns, places of worship, schools -- we must organize and fight for a future in which women and children are not excluded from the abundance of this world, but are welcomed to have as much as they need to live. To refuse to go back means not just keeping what's already been gained, but also to go forward to this new and better world. ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: WHAT'S BEHIND THE ATTACK ON SOCIAL PROGRAMS? [Editor's note: On March 24, the U.S. House of Representatives dealt a severe blow to social programs which have existed in this country since 1935: it passed the so-called Personal Responsibility Act. To help put this ominous move in context, we print excerpts below from a speech given by veteran revolutionary Nelson Peery. Peery spoke March 4 at a plenary session of the Midwest Conference on Technology, Employment and Community in Chicago.] I would like to skip a description of the millions of homeless, the tens of millions of jobless, the acres of burned-out neighborhoods, the slaughter of our youth, the "in your face" looting of the public treasury, the decline of education and the threatening complete elimination of social services. The important thing is to understand why this is happening. When and why did government grow big with the alphabet programs? When and why did it suddenly need to shed itself of these programs? The major task of government is to create the structural programs and policies that allow the economy to function. When the government was the instrument of the farmers, that government did the things necessary to protect and expand the farm. The Indians were cleared from the fertile lands, slavery was protected and extended, shipping lanes for export were cleared and frontiers expanded. As the farm gave way to industry, the government transformed itself into a committee to take care of the needs of industry. Government began to grow. Industry needed literate workers, so the school system expanded. The army needed healthy young men to fight the wars brought on by industrial expansion, so a school lunch program was started. As industry got big, a Department of Housing and Urban Development provided order to the chaotic, burgeoning cities. As industry moved outward, a Department of Transportation brought order to the transportation chaos. Government became big government to serve the needs of industry as it became big industry. The workers were kept relatively healthy and the unemployed were warehoused in such a manner as to keep them available for work. New means of production changed the game. Not only were expanding sections of the working class superfluous to production, but the new mode of high-tech production no longer needed a reserve army of the unemployed. Nor did it need healthy young men for an infantry war. As industry gave way to the new electronic means of production, it downsized. The government had to follow suit. If we knew the consequences of our actions, we probably would not get out of bed in the morning. The scientists pursuing their craft could hardly visualize what the engineers would do with the marvels they were creating in the laboratory. The engineers, as they applied the marvels of science to the workplace, probably never understood the effect it would have on the capitalist system. Nor did the capitalists, in their scramble for the market and its profits, understand the effect they were having on history. As the application of these new scientific marvels to the workplace expanded, a new economic category, the structurally unemployed, was created. One hundred and fifty years ago, Marx and Engels coined the term "the reserve army of the unemployed." This was the reserve to be thrown into production as the need arose. The structurally unemployed are something different. They are a new, growing, permanently unemployed sector created by the new, emerging economic structure. The economists, their inquiry tainted with racist ideology and unable to understand the difference between the reserve army of the unemployed created by industrial capitalism and the structural, permanent joblessness created by robotics, came up with the term "underclass." Racism allowed for this term to be quickly and widely accepted. The so-called underclass is, in fact, a new class. History shows that each qualitatively new means of production creates a new class. Previously, each new class has been the owners or operators of the new equipment. This new class, created by robotics, is not simply driven out of industry, it is driven out of bourgeois society. The social system is under attack as the electronic revolution destroys its economic underpinning. This underpinning is value created by the expenditure of human labor. In proportion to the use of robotics, the new system becomes more productive and less able to distribute that production. We stand at the end of pre-history. Wageless production cannot be distributed with money. The contradiction between the modes of production and exchange has reached its limit. Production without wages inevitably results in distribution without money. This objective economic demand will sweep aside any subjective or political system that cannot conform to it. Communism moves from the subjective arena of the political and ideological into the realm of the objective and economic. Since there are no concrete economic connections between today and tomorrow, consciousness plays the decisive role in this revolution. How will the movement acquire this decisive consciousness? As with all changes of quality, it must be introduced from the outside. An organization must be built for the specific purpose of bringing this consciousness to the new class, and not only the new class. Since we are entering a social revolution, this message must be taken to all of society. Today, in the robot, we have an efficient and willing producer capable of freeing up humanity so they may fully commit themselves to the age-old struggle for a cultured, orderly and peaceful life. Any person who has been forced onto the streets by the private use of robotics cannot help but visualize the possible world wherein robotics is used for the benefit of society, rather than by individuals whose only interest is profit. Humanity stands at its historic juncture. Can we who understand today visualize tomorrow with enough clarity to accept the historic responsibilities of visionaries and revolutionaries? I think so. Humanity has never failed to make reality from the possibilities created by each great advance in the means of production. This time, there is no alternative to seizing tomorrow. ****************************************************************** 3. LAWYER CONDEMNS DOUBLE EXECUTION IN ILLINOIS: WE MUST SAY 'NO' TO THE HOLOCAUST IN OUR MIDST By Maria Elena Castellanos It was the second day of spring, March 22. It was the last day of life for Hernando Williams and James Free. One black and one white, one followed the other into the death chamber. The state of Illinois killed them in the first double execution carried out by that state since 1952. Before their deaths, the Chicago Conference of Black Lawyers beamed a public light on the unfairness and illegality of both death sentences. The unconstitutional, racist selection of an all- white jury in Williams' trial and the mitigating, non-violent military record of Free had rendered both death sentences unjust and unlawful. But these cries of reasoned protest fell on deaf ears. The United States Supreme Court allowed a technicality in the timing of Williams' appeals to prevent Williams from challenging this discrimination in the courts. Each time the U.S. Supreme Court puts its rubber stamp of approval upon these court-ordered lynchings, it kills part of the constitutional safeguards that protect us. I, together with Paz Montoya, witnessed the execution of his son, Ramon Montoya, by lethal injection on March 25, 1993. It was a horrifying murder! As a lifelong warrior for the rights of my oppressed, but never vanquished, people and as a trained advocate, I believe that we can and must stop the ongoing Holocaust in our midst. First, we must recognize it as a modern, American Holocaust. Second, let's identify the economic and political causes fueling the accelerating executions and the growth of death-camp prisons in this country. Let us analyze, compare and distinguish those social factors and peculiarities of rising fascism in America in 1995 from those which gave rise to other fascist regimes in other epochs, such as those of Nazi Germany, the Deep South in the 1880s, South Africa, etc. Third, let's outline a general strategy with specific goals and tactics that will allow for a program of action by those falling victim to increasingly police-state laws and practices. For just as the waning song of the canary warned coal miners of odorless lethal gases approaching, so too do the tragic stories of the 2,800 people on Death Row and the frustrated cries of the 1 million people behind bars in this country serve to warn the rest of society of the approaching suppression of all legal rights -- the approaching lethal gas of fascism. This is the lesson ignored by many Germans during the rise of the Third Reich -- the true goal of that police state was not the arbitrary imprisonment of a handful, but the destruction of the legal rights of all Germans. The Texas legislature is currently debating a proposal to cut off the genitals of certain sex offenders. Might this type of punishment in our prisons be compared to the Nazis' punishment of skinning a death-camp prisoner and converting his "curiously tattooed skin" into a lamp shade? Yes, there is an ongoing Holocaust and fascism spreading in our midst! This is just an outline of a plan of action. Such a plan is only part of an even larger program of action which must address the need to replace the oppressive, decaying political-economic system which lies at the root of a nascent fascist state. It is within this context that I invite poems, proposals and plans, ideas and information, from organizations, families and individuals for the purpose of abolishing all Death Rows and death camps in America. On March 22, deep in the heartlessness of Texas, I watched two children, one black and one white, trace the line of a monarch butterfly as it danced in the dying light of an orange sun. It was hard to tell who was the more endangered species -- the children or the butterfly. [Please send your proposals, plans and ideas to abolish Death Rows in America to the attention of the NOC in Chicago, or to the attention of the author of this article: Maria Elena Castellanos, Attorney at Law, Binational Network Against the Death Penalty; phone: 713-222-7517; fax: 713-650-9620. Prison inmates may send sealed, confidential statements, marked "legal mail -- do not open" to Mrs. Castellanos' law office at: 1300 Main, Ste. 1135, Houston, Texas 77002. Unless otherwise indicated, all names and personal data from prison inmates will be respected as private and not for public dissemination.] [Maria Elena Castellanos, a constitutional-rights and criminal- trial lawyer in Houston, has helped organize demonstrations involving thousands of anti-death penalty protesters. Part of her testimony before an international tribunal investigating the death penalty in the United States appears in a recent book, "The Death Machine," published by Amnesty International USA. For copies, call 212-807-8400.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Chicagoans protest executions By Rich Capalbo CHICAGO -- On March 22 at 12 a.m., the state of Illinois staged the double execution of James Free and Hernando Williams. The following observations are from members and supporters of the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty. They made the comments as they were gathering at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral, preparing to travel to Stateville Prison for a protest vigil against the gruesome, inhumane event. Amy Lewis: I have only two points. First, "thou shalt not kill." Second, it's just unfair and racial. Robert Raglan: It [the death penalty] is un-Christian. It can't be justified. The Rev. Janet Ragland: Why should the Legislature become murderers to punish murder? Charles Carney: It is wrong to kill people to show that killing people is wrong. It is cruel and unusual punishment to the nth degree. If you want to know a society, look at its prison system. We are a society that uses legalized murder. That doesn't reflect well on our society. The Rev. S. Michael Yasutake, Ph.D., Chicago Inter-Religious Coalition Against Racism: When an individual kills someone, we recognize that it is something wrong. When the state does it, when government does it, it justifies killing. The death penalty is cruel and against international law. The U.S. is defying that law. It's time for people opposed to step out. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 4. YOUNG WORKERS IN L.A. OCCUPY DOWNTOWN CENTER TO DEMAND THEIR RIGHTS By Dianne Flowers LOS ANGELES -- As we go to press, youth workers from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps are occupying a youth center in downtown Los Angeles. Several have lost their jobs for organizing a union, the International Community Workers United, to demand affirmative action and workers' rights. On March 9, Carmelo Alvarez, the only Latino director of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, was placed under citizen's arrest by Lisa Martin, the Anglo director of the East Los Angeles Hammel site, for trying to establish a community herb garden to teach the youth to heal themselves. In response, youth workers occupied the Peace and Justice Youth Center on Fourth Street in downtown Los Angeles. The administration of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps ordered the youth workers to vacate the center because they exercised their First Amendment right to protest. Alvarez supported the protest, declaring: "They are occupying this building because they are standing up for something they believe in. A lot of them have given up their jobs because of it." "When I went to the garden," Alvarez said, "I was asked 'By what authority are you here?' I said, 'By the authority of God. He gave us the earth, the seed, the sun.' And by His authority, we're here at this center." Lilia J. Ramirez, one of the young leaders of the protest, told the People's Tribune: "This program, the LACC, they just lure kids. Why don't they give them good jobs? They just have cleaning jobs. I came into the corps because I was on General Relief. I thought they were going to help me with my scholarship. I see nothing -- it's 'Work, work, work; shovel, shovel; here's a broom.' "Carmelo helped us get consciousness, but he doesn't tell us what to think and do. The kids, we run this center. The kids who are hired make the program, not the administrators. That's why we created this center, so we could raise the kids to another level of consciousness. "We tried to form a council so we could form the programs to our needs. Most of the LACC staff leadership talks down to the youth. ... I can't live with myself, seeing that. We could have taken our money and left [rather than be fired because of the occupation] but we had a different level of consciousness. ... Let's fight the enemy that's keeping us down, not each other." To the young leaders at the Peace and Justice Center: The National Organizing Committee stands with you and honors you. Your fight for decent jobs, for equality, for control in your community and on your own job, is a fight for all of us -- Americans of every color. It's a crime that we are poor. Everyday, more homeless people walk our streets and more children go to school hungry. Why? Because this capitalist system doesn't need our labor -- it's using computers and robots instead. So we lose our jobs and those of us who are lucky enough to keep working are working for so little that we can't feed our families. It's happening across America. Yet our country is wealthy. It has the technology and the human resources to set us free now. Why not? Because, just like you are fighting to control a building where the youth in your community can be at peace, we are all forced to fight for control of our country so that its riches and a life of happiness and peace are guaranteed to every man, woman and child. With your songs and banners, your prayers and your hugs, you point the way for all of us -- to our dream of justice and peace, of real democracy for all humanity. Your struggle tells us that the future we dream of is possible today. Peace and Justice Center -- Viva! ****************************************************************** 5. STOP THE PARADE OF COWARDS! By Steven Miller OAKLAND, California -- California's anti-immigrant Proposition 187 is currently held up in the courts until at least September. The proposition requires teachers, school personnel and health care workers to turn in people even suspected of not being legally documented. They must also turn in their families, even though an individual might be a citizen. If the courts find Proposition 187 constitutional, what will you do? Will you follow this fascist law, become a snitch, even though you disagree with the law? Or will you violate the law and risk some (as yet unspecified) legal sanctions? The ongoing battles around Proposition 187 are taking new forms. The pro-187 forces are intent on creating a climate of fear. Suddenly, you must produce a birth certificate to get a driver's license. (This comes from an old law that was never implemented.) In Oakland, police now regularly put up checkpoints, where "suspicious" cars (old ones, cars full of teens, etc.) are stopped. People without proper driver's licenses are jailed and have their cars confiscated. While it is illegal for the police to work with the Migra [the Immigration and Naturalization Service], one of the first checkpoints was right in front of La Clinica de La Raza -- a refuge for undocumented workers. Only fools believe that those caught in the checkpoints are not reported to the Migra. The governor states that he wants to fire every teacher who does not implement Proposition 187. Throughout the state, there is a growing movement to refuse to comply with the law by any means necessary. This movement is being organized by education and health workers who understand that they themselves will be criminalized if the law takes effect. The movement is supported by teacher and public employee unions. We do not preach blind faith in the courts. We intend to organize massive opposition to 187 so that the courts will become "clearer" on the constitutional issues involved. Thousands of education and health workers are signing pledges to refuse to implement Proposition 187. However, only a very few public officials have stated their opposition. University of California-Berkeley Chancellor Chang Lin Tien has refused to come out against 187. This sorry example of public cowardice is the rule rather than the exception. In January, every school district in the state was ordered to send a letter to students' homes saying that Proposition 187 is not in force. Of course, it isn't in force. It's held up in the courts. Even the Migra isn't supposed to implement it. But none of these public officials said that they would not enforce 187 if it were found legal by the courts. The parade of cowards begins. If we do not force them to refuse to implement Prop. 187, they will set the stage for capitulation. What will they do when the governor threatens to cut off funds if they not implement 187? Just like the good Germans, they will be "just following orders." Force them out to defy 187! This will pressure the courts. In World War II, when the Nazis conquered Denmark, they ordered every Jew to wear a yellow Star of David. The next day, the king of Denmark appeared in public with a yellow star. Soon everyone was wearing them. Denmark was the only country where Jews were not deported to the death camps. This is the only way to defeat Proposition 187. ****************************************************************** 6. CHILDREN RALLY AT THE CAPITOL AGAINST CUTS IN LUNCH PROGRAMS By Toussaint L'Ouverture Tingling-Clemmons WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On March 19, I had a chance to give a speech at a rally at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. The rally was called "Our Children, Our Future," and gave me a chance to talk about how I and my brothers and sisters feel about what is going on with Congress, and the budget cuts against the poor and the tax breaks for the rich. There are nine of us -- but my brothers Richard and Langston, my sister Nzingha, and my parents Rick and Michele, all helped me to put my thoughts together. I was glad to participate because my parents always taught us to fight for justice and that there was something everyone could do. No justice, no peace! Below is the text of the speech, given at the rally on the west steps of the Capitol. Hello. I am Toussaint L'Ouverture Tingling-Clemmons. I am 10 years old and in the fifth grade at Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Washington, D.C. I talked to some of my brothers and sisters about what I should say before I came here. There are nine of us, from 7-year-old Langston to 37-year-old Debbie. We are all healthy, smart, talented, respectful, and nice -- at least I think so -- and we all ate or still eat school lunch and breakfast. My sister Nzingha and I were both WIC babies and in Head Start too. We all know that the banks and the rich have more money than children do. Our government should help everyone, not just the rich. Congress needs to invest more money to help the homeless, the poor, people without health insurance, and others in trouble. We don't think it's fair for Congress to threaten our food programs, the ones for kids and poor people. We kids have to learn to say no to a lot of things. Food shouldn't be one of them. After all, we are the future! ****************************************************************** 7. CALIFORNIANS TELL FEINSTEIN: OPPOSE CUTS IN WELFARE PROGRAMS By The Women's Economic Agenda Project OAKLAND, California -- On the eve of the Millionaire Club Senate debate on welfare reform, 200 parents, children and community activists will hold a rally at Senator Dianne Feinstein's office. They will put pressure on her to oppose proposals which will devastate millions of poor and hungry American women and children. The rally will be held on March 28 from noon to 1 p.m. Many participants at the rally will be wearing black and carrying large photos of children who would be hurt by the "Contract on America." Others will be "pall bearers" for "coffins" representing programs which will be eliminated under the proposals. Senator Feinstein will be one of the most pivotal votes in the Senate on welfare. Unlike most policymakers, she has not yet made her positions known. The victims of poverty who will be hurt by the reform proposals will speak out at the rally. This attack on America's austerity programs that workers have paid dearly into will cause hunger and death for poor women and children, while distributing more of the wealth that workers have created to corporate America. At least 28 community groups are co-sponsoring the rally. Another purpose of the rally is to give Feinstein a list of principles which families and community groups feel should guide true welfare reform. These include training and livable-wage jobs, decent affordable child care, housing and stopping the "trickle- down" bureaucracy of the present system by cutting out the extravagant administrative costs and service-providing poverty pimps and giving moms and children the money directly. [For more information, contact Renee Pecot at the Women's Economic Agenda Project at 510-451-7379.] ****************************************************************** 8. NEW CONGRESS STAGES AN ASSAULT ON THE CARDBOARD BASTIONS OF THE POOR AND HOMELESS By Kosta Karvounis CHICAGO -- With the advent of the new conservative Congress comes a less-than-conservative assault on welfare and social programs. The Young Turks of this new movement, like their predecessors, constantly preach from their self-proclaimed pulpits about the moral decay of the family. However, in their infinite wisdom, they choose to use the family as the fodder in their cannons of righteousness. These legislators are a new breed in tenure only, for their direction and focus are orchestrated by the old-guard marionettes. Unfortunately, rather than take up a new direction guided by conscience and common sense, these fledging politicians, like the old ones, choose the path of least resistance. It's much easier to storm the cardboard bastions of the poor and homeless than to scale the steel-encased embattlements of the rich. Armed with their three-piece suits, wing-tipped shoes and slicked- back hair, they march off to war, held in formation not by goose- step cadence, but by the rustle of money. What higher calling can one have than to rid the country of the evil pariah of poverty? One by one, the cardboard fortresses fall, the last heating grate is turned off, the last soup kitchen closed. The battle is won; the insurrection has been quelled. And as the smoke clears, comes a voice: "Gentlemen, please rise and say a prayer," bringing to an end this session of Congress. ****************************************************************** 9. WHO PAYS THE TAXES? By Bruce E. Parry, Ph.D. [Editor's note: Much of the information for this article came from Donald Barlett and James Steele's books "America: Who Really Pays the Taxes?" and "America: What Went Wrong?"] MYTHS THE GOVERNMENT PUTS OUT The politicians have put out many lies about taxes, including these: * Taxes are soaking the wealthy. * Those at the top of the economic pile are paying stiffer taxes than ever before. * Corporate America has a heavy tax burden. * Hefty taxes are discouraging investment and job creation. * High taxes are undermining individual initiative. * There is a desperate need for shared sacrifice. THE BOTTOM LINE Business owners, managers and the like do not create any value or wealth. They manage wealth that has already been created. That wealth comes from the actual labor of creating things (for example, pants, shirts, potatoes, mattresses, houses and cars) and providing services (for example, health care, transportation, food service). Profits, interest and rent come from the unpaid labor of those who actually do the work. All the wealth is created by those who toil for a living. The bottom line is that working people pay all the taxes. And the capitalist class even refuses to pay as much as those of us they are stealing from. THE SHIFT Over the last 40 years, the government, at the urging of business leaders from various industries, has changed the tax laws to transfer taxes: * from people who can most afford to pay to those less able to pay; * from corporations to individuals; * from foreign corporations to domestic corporations; * from foreign investors to American workers; * from multinational companies to smaller businesses; and * from the federal government to state and local governments. (State and local taxes already fall most heavily on those at the bottom.) THE TRUTH The truth is that: * The median (middle) income is about $35,000; half of households make more than this, and half less. That centers the middle class in those who make from $25,000 to $45,000. * 91 million individuals and families earn less than $75,000 a year; about 85 percent of Americans earn less than $50,000 a year. * Only 3 percent of U.S. households earn more than $125,100 a year; a little less than 200,000 people have incomes of over $500,000 a year. * Republicans promoted tax cuts for the "middle class" -- defined as those who made less than $200,000 last year. Clearly their "middle class" is different from the real middle class. * Democrats promoted tax cuts for a "middle class" defined as those who made less than $140,000 last year. Clearly their "middle class" is also different from the real thing. WHO PAYS THE TAXES? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It only makes sense, then, that those with more money should pay most of the taxes. The tax system was supposedly built on that principle. But the capitalist class -- business owners -- rules this country. Through their money, their political action committees and connections, they make the laws. So though they create none of the wealth, they are the wealthy. And they don't even pay a fair share of taxes. Over the past 50 years, the government has shifted the tax burden away from the rich and toward the poor. And the government -- at the urging of business -- has attacked and slashed social programs that primarily benefit poor and working people. They have done this in the name of cutting taxes. The rich pay a smaller share of taxes and, through corporate welfare and government subsidies, get more "public assistance" than the poor. They pay less than their share in every category of taxes: federal, state, local and sales tax. Federal tax: Corporations pay only 17 percent of the total income tax collection from families and businesses. It used to be 43 percent, almost half. The rich pay at a lower average income tax rate than the bottom 90 percent of the population because property income (profits, capital gains, interest and rent) is taxed less than wages (the income from real work). State tax: State taxes are usually income taxes based on federal taxes. They therefore favor the rich just as federal taxes do. States cut deals with many major corporations that make them exempt from state taxes. Local tax: Cities and counties depend primarily on property taxes. Property taxes tend to be higher in poorer areas (per dollar value of the property). Suburbs have higher taxes than cities. So the rich get a break. Corporate properties are often tax-exempt due to inside deals with local governments. Sales tax: State and local sales taxes hit poor and working people the hardest. We spend a larger percentage of our income just to survive. Since the rich spend a smaller percentage, sales tax is a smaller proportion of their income. ****************************************************************** 10. NEXT WEEK, FROM 'AMERICAN LOCKDOWN': THE LUCASVILLE UPRISING, TWO YEARS LATER What took place was a stand to let the world know we are still human and even though we broke the law, we aren't going to be just dogs down here in Lucasville. -- M.R. Bower, Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Lucasville, Ohio. Dear Readers: April 11 marks the second anniversary of the beginning of one of the most dramatic prison rebellions in American history: the 11- day siege at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville which began on Easter Sunday 1993. Two years later, the shock wave from the Lucasville Uprising continues to ripple through the state of Ohio and everywhere that America locks up the poor and the downtrodden. With 1.2 million people now behind bars and almost 5 million Americans under some form of judicial control, no one can afford to ignore the experiences, the words and the insight of the men who held out for 11 days against the brutality of the Ohio Department of Corrections. > What caused the uprising? > What has happened since? > How has the repression at Lucasville fed the growing epidemic of police brutality throughout the United States? > How and why were the events at Lucasville connected to the growth of poverty, neglect and injustice throughout this country? Next week, in a special People's Tribune feature, the men who lived through Lucasville tell their story. Don't miss it. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ I'm here to make it known to society, the courts: we are a million strong, and your actions dictate a million reactions. We're not going to just go away and, at the same time, we aren't going to keep accepting more and more stifling isolation and abuse. -- Michael Lee Wood, who was locked down in Lucasville at the time of the Easter rebellion, in a statement to the Court of Common Pleas of Scioto County, Ohio. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ A special appeal: Please help us publish and distribute 'Lucasville: Two years later.' The overwhelming response to the newest component of the People's Tribune, 'American Lockdown,' has meant new demands on our resources. If we are going to guarantee the publication and widespread distribution of 'Lucasville' and other important features, we need your help through a special pledge drive. Won't you please call and help with $5, $10, $25 or whatever you can contribute? Call 312-486-3551 with your pledge. Send your check or money order to: People's Tribune/American Lockdown P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, Illinois 60654 Thanks! ****************************************************************** 11. THE MEN OF NOMMO: POETS FOR REVOLUTION By Mike Brand BALTIMORE -- The Men of Nommo is an African American poets' collective comprised of people who listen, analyze and create art for real social change. They are talented artists who skillfully use various media to dramatically perform their work. That work is entertaining, dramatic, sensory and imaginative, political without lecturing. They strive for a combination of realism and mystery. They are a voice for revolution. The Men of Nommo recently presented "Locks and Links," their theatrical poetry performance, at the Metropol Cafe and Art Gallery here in Baltimore. They had much to say about many issues -- stolen African American culture, poverty, drugs, and the relationship between consciousness and oppression. An awareness grows from what they say: poor and oppressed people must understand the roots of their situation in order to overcome it. Mitchell Ferguson and Bashi directed and performed "Locks and Links." After the performance, they spoke to the People's Tribune about their work. MITCHELL: In contrast to most people who do art, we do not consider ourselves poets or artists. We consider ourselves builders. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Builders of what? MITCHELL: Of many things -- of infrastructure, of a sense of economy, and information necessary for growth and a sense of community. For us, the whole idea of Africa is not about a physical return to a place. It's about going back to self. It's important for people to understand that and not get alienated. We mean understanding where we came from. BASHI: We refer to Africa to re-establish culture. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: In what way does re-establishing culture help people fight against poverty and injustice? MITCHELL: It has everything to do with it. It has to do with the acknowledgment of self-determination and the knowledge that we as African people came from a rich culture full of greatness. BASHI: Growing up in this country, you are led to believe that there is only one way to organize society -- that is, competitive, capitalist society. If we acknowledge our African heritage, we come to understand that we were a communal people, and that our resources were, for the most part, distributed equally. That is not to say that we should romanticize the past. But we can take the basic fundamentals of that society and use that to establish one today that would defeat poverty, injustice and inequality. MITCHELL: Another thing for people to realize: without understanding the historical significance of Africa, it is not possible to understand European history. As artists, we want to show how people have been complicit with the things that oppress us. We do not want to make excuses. No "tea and sympathy." We want to take responsibility in order to develop a healthy ideal that is steeped in reality and practical activity rather than in illusion. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: In what way is the history of culture important? MITCHELL: One example is Picasso. He was interviewed about his work. He said, "Where did this idea about me inventing cubism come from? I do African art." The point is not so much who did what first; it is to understand the agenda of the people who "make" history for us. They do not understand that information and knowledge are for all of us to share. As poets, we cannot just deal with our emotional reality; we have to deal with our collective reality. We have to listen to the people. Ultimately, that is what the artist does. He is the voice of the people. I guess that is where the expression comes from: "I have found my voice." BASHI: The artist has an obligation to the uplifting of humanity. Some of the world's greatest artists have proven that: Richard Wright, Paul Robeson, Jean Paul Sartre. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: What holds humanity down? BASHI: I've lived in America all my life. This society alienates people from themselves, from other people and from culture. MITCHELL: Television stops people from hearing themselves. That is one of the ways they alienate themselves. We are educated to be consumers. Our concept is to give people alternatives. That can only happen through a sense of reason and logic. We want to show that reason and logic can be organic. If things are created, they stem from a natural stream of consciousness and awareness. Then ideas are formulated with less of an intellectual struggle, so that people can figure things out and have energy for the political struggle. As artists, we do not want to get caught up in self-indulgence and self-absorbedness. A lot of political people are so caught up in the theoretical aspects that they distance themselves from the people. ****************************************************************** 12. 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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