From jdav@noc.orgMon Nov 20 20:04:50 1995 Date: Tue, 21 Nov 95 19:58 GMT From: Jim Davis To: pt.dist@noc.org Subject: People's Tribune 11-27-95 (Online edition) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 34 / November 27, 1995 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: pt@noc.org ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is now available on the World Wide Web at http://www.mcs.com/~jdav/league.html +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 22 No. 34 / November 27, 1995 Page One 1. THE MEDICARE CRISIS: WE WANT THE SAME HEALTH CARE THAT CONGRESS HAS! Spirit of the Revolution 2. NEW BOOK CHALLENGES CHRISTIANS TO STAND AGAINST EXPLOITATION News and Features 3. NO SHAME, NO STONE UNTURNED: ATTACKING THE ELDERLY AND THE POOR: A KIND OF REVERSE ROBIN HOOD 4. SEEKING JUSTICE FOR THE OAKLAND 12: A MOTHER'S STORY 5. PERSPECTIVES ON THE MILLION MAN MARCH 6. THANKSGIVING IS A TIME FOR GIVING 7. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: CLASS POLITICS AS USUAL 8. NGO FORUM ON WOMEN IN CHINA: CAUCUS HELPS SHAPE DEBATE ON THE U.N. PLATFORM OF ACTION 9. THE RIGHTS OF FARMWORKERS ARE IN DANGER: WHO WILL BE NEXT? 10. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE OF ZAPATISTAS ATTACKED IN MEXICO: CECILIA RODRIGUEZ RAPED IN CHIAPAS 11. DRUGS: PART II -- DEMAND AND THE PROBLEM OF REHABILITATION American Lockdown 12. THE ROLANDO CRUZ CASE: HEROIC EFFORTS WIN A VICTORY Deadly Force 13. AS S.F. COPS CLAIM ANOTHER VICTIM, VOTERS SIGNAL 'WE'VE HAD ENOUGH' Culture Under Fire 14. POWERFUL NEW INSURGENT COUNTRY MUSIC 15. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE [For information about the PEOPLE's TRIBUNE, see the "Purpose of this Conference", topic 1 in the peoplestrib conference. For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist-request@noc.org] ****************************************************************** 1. PAGE 1: THE MEDICARE CRISIS: WE WANT THE SAME HEALTH CARE THAT CONGRESS HAS! After food, clothing and housing, there is probably no more basic need than health care, especially for the elderly. Just ask 66-year-old Doris Brisson of Mesquite, Texas. Like millions of other seniors, she depends on both Medicare, the government health care program for the elderly, and Medicaid, which provides health care for the poor. She lives on $512 a month in Social Security payments and $20 a month in food stamps. "What I can't get free from the doctor, I do without," she told The New York Times recently. "By the end of the month, I'm begging dinner invitations from friends. If anybody asks me to spend one more dollar for my health care, well, I guess I'd just have to quit going to the doctor altogether." She may have to do just that if the Republicans in Congress have their way. They've approved a plan to cut what would have been the normal growth in Medicare and Medicaid by a combined total of $440 billion over seven years. They also want to force the elderly into so-called "managed care" plans, which save money by restricting your access to health care. Studies have shown that almost 1 million elderly poor people would lose some of their health coverage if the Republican plan becomes law. And the only alternative the Democrats have offered is their own set of cuts. It's an outrage, particularly when polls show a majority of Americans oppose these cuts. It's bad enough that someone like 70-year-old Orpha Andrukite of Washington, D.C. , is reduced, after 30 years of working as a nurse, to living on $484 a month in Social Security and $17 in food stamps. But now she has to worry about losing her Medicare and Medicaid. And then there is 80-year-old Irma Valentine of Flushing, N.Y., a former waitress who does without arthritis pain killers because neither Medicare nor Medicaid cover them. "I'm miserable and I'm scared," she told a reporter. "If they ask me to give up any more, what would I take it from? From nothing?" In a society with the most modern medical care available, shouldn't you have the right, when you're 80 years old, to be free of pain and fear? Shouldn't all of us, young and old, have the right to the best possible health care, simply because it's available? Don't we have the same value, as human beings, as the millionaire politicians who are voting to cut our health care while giving subsidies to their rich friends? If we ignore injustice, then we become an accomplice to the crime. The system that is perpetrating this outrage must go. We can and must end it and build in its place a society based on justice for all. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America, which publishes the People's Tribune, is committed to educating people to the necessity of building such a society. Join the League, and help build an America we can all be proud of. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Cutting the elderly's health care is especially outrageous when you consider that sleazy characters like former congressman Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois and former senator Bob Packwood of Oregon, who left Congress in disgrace, get to retire with full benefits, including access to the best health care. It's even worse when you consider that these health cuts are being made in the name of balancing the budget, while other provisions have been added to the budget bills for the benefit of such interests as oil and coal companies. One provision would relieve dozens of companies of their legal obligation to help finance health benefits for retired coal miners! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Did you know that... California prison guards, the best paid in the nation, earn nearly $10,000 a year more than the average public school teacher in the state. Guards need only a high school diploma or its equivalent and earn more than a tenured associate professor with a Ph.D. in a California public university. Since 1980, California has built 18 prisons. Its prison population has increased to 134,106, from 23,511. During the same period, the number of guards has risen to 23,359 from 4,800. Source: New York Times (November 7, 1995) +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 2. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: NEW BOOK CHALLENGES CHRISTIANS TO STAND AGAINST EXPLOITATION [Editor's note: The book review below is the latest contribution to our regular column about spirituality and revolution. We encourage readers to submit articles to this column. We would also appreciate any comments readers may have on the articles which appear here.] [Why We Live In Community by Eberhard Arnold, with two interpretive talks by Thomas Merton. Plough Publishing, Farmington, Pennsylvania, $5.] Usually, in my reading, I find that a "once through" is more than enough -- it's rare that I find myself reading something over and over, with each reading deepening its challenge to my life, and increasing my astonishment at its profundity. Such has been the case with the little book Why We Live in Community by Eberhard Arnold, a German Christian pacifist and founder of the Bruderhof movement. On the surface, Why We Live in Community explains why Arnold and his followers have taken the route of intentional community, of sharing all goods in common, of working and living collectively in all affairs -- in short, of modelling themselves after the early Christian disciples as recounted in the Book of Acts, of recapturing, as they would put it, the Christianity of the early church. As Arnold writes, "The light of the early church illuminated the path of humankind in only one short flash. Yet its spirit and witness stayed alive even after its members had been scattered and many of them murdered. Again and again through history, similar forms arose as gifts of God, expressions of the same living Spirit. ... Communities pass away. But the church that creates them remains." It's out of the depths of this incredible vision and witness that Arnold writes. But Why We Live in Community is actually much, much more than simply an argument for living a life of community, as central as that may be for the sisters and brothers of the Bruderhof. It is also a rousing, slap-in-the-face challenge to those of us who, while perhaps more worldly in our living arrangements, would still choose the route of radical discipleship to Jesus and his teachings. While outlining the ways that his vision of Christian community should function -- witnessing to the coming of the Kingdom now, in total obedience to Christ's teachings, and under the power of the Holy Spirit -- Arnold also illuminates the all-too-often forgotten moral and ethical, as well as spiritual, obligations of those who choose to walk Jesus' narrow path. Jesus put it rather strongly -- choose God, or choose Mammon. No one can serve two masters at the same time. And it's at this point that Arnold breaks out of an already-radical, although limited, vision of the separated community, and pushes it forward into an active, prophetic witness against a society that degrades, dehumanizes, commodifies, and rips the souls from the vast majority of its members. As Arnold puts it, "If we possess faith, we will no longer judge people in the light of social custom or according to their weaknesses, for we will see the lie that stands behind all the masks of our mammonistic, unclean, and murderous society." And, "we take our stand in the spiritual fight on the side of all those who fight for freedom, unity, peace, and social justice." In Arnold's clear, compelling, and articulate vision of discipleship, the children of God, the brothers and sisters of the Christ that is alive in all of us, are called to witness on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal and others on Death Row. They are called to witness against those who blindly grovel at the altar of greed, while millions sleep under bridges at night. And they are called to witness against a system that prioritizes profit and war at the incalculable expense of the vast majority of its citizens, and the planet itself. In short, as Arnold writes so eloquently in Why We Live in Community, the true Christian -- the true disciple -- is called to witness to a society where love, justice, compassion, and human dignity are the order of the day, rather than the exception. Where the object of worship is the God of love and community, rather than the god of Mammon and exploitation. The challenge is huge, but the rewards are immeasurable. "It is an exceedingly dangerous way, a way of deep suffering. It is a way that leads straight into the struggle for existence and the reality of a life of work, into all the difficulties created by the human character. And yet, just this is our deepest joy: to see clearly the eternal struggle -- the indescribable tension between life and death, man's position between heaven and hell -- and still to believe in the overwhelming power of life, the power of love to overcome, and the triumph of truth, because we believe in God." And to that, a hearty "amen." [Chris Faatz is a religious socialist and pacifist and member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He lives near Portland, Oregon. Why We Live in Community is available for $5, postage paid, from Plough Publishing House, RD2 Box 446, Route 381 North, Farmington, Pennsylvania 15437-9506. For more information on the Bruderhof, or for a free subscription to their excellent magazine, The Plough, write to the same address.] ****************************************************************** 3. NO SHAME, NO STONE UNTURNED ATTACKING THE ELDERLY AND THE POOR: A KIND OF REVERSE ROBIN HOOD By Rick Tingling-Clemmons WASHINGTON, D.C. -- One again, the mean-spirited, Republican- controlled, goose-stepping amoral organization -- better known as the U.S. Congress -- has slapped our poor and elderly citizens in the face. That distinguished body took the wallets and purses of our nation's seniors and needy in a true mugging by demonically cutting the safety net programs that provide Medicare and Medicaid to our seniors and poor. These unforgivable cuts have turned back the gains of the 1960s, when it was deemed shameful to have so many uninsured people in such a wealthy country. Congress has just passed the largest health care cut in history, at a time when public health systems are in crisis and the health care industry is being restructured. Millions are losing their health care insurance along with their jobs and many formerly contained diseases (such as tuberculosis and measles) are making a reappearance. Under the guise of "saving" the programs, this often-misinformed and mostly Republican leadership wants to take $270 billion out of Medicare, a health care program for the elderly, and $182 billion out of Medicaid, which provides long- term care services as well as health care to the very poor. And why would such barbaric cuts be necessary? The answer can be found in the budget reconciliation Bill. The reconciliation bill would shift the funds obtained from cutting health care and other services for a huge tax cut for the rich. To add insult to injury, the bill also contains proposals to raise taxes on working families. The bill gives additional breaks to businesses while cutting aid in all areas of necessities -- food, housing, health care, education -- to the poor and working poor. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1995 will severely compromise health care in its proposals to: * double the Part B premium, raise its deductible to $210 by the year 2002 and raise the eligibility age to 67; * limit home health care services; * close rural and urban hospitals; * give Medicaid to the states and limit services to the handicapped; * eliminate Medicaid for older people in nursing homes; * raise taxes on low-income working families; and * cut food stamp assistance to the elderly and poor families. The elderly who were on the front lines, working during the heyday of industrial commerce and technological innovation that produced much of this nation's great wealth, are now the frontline victims in that most are not able to work and are mistakenly seen as helpless. Congress' actions are reminiscent of predators stalking for prey -- they look for the very young or the very old to attack, for in the animal kingdom, at the beginning and near the end of life is when animals are most vulnerable, and, while valued by the herd, often expendable. This action, while reasonable in the animal kingdom, is viewed as a cowardly act in the civilized world among humans. This act alone definitely proves the "family values" talk of the Republicans to be empty rhetoric. To justify their efforts to "help" the "poor and suffering" rich, Congress has tried to blame the poor and elderly by saying they "cost" society too much; that they are ripping off the top 1 percent of the population that is the most wealthy, controls 40 percent of the U.S. economy and pays virtually no taxes! But what is the truth about Americans, who through their work, helped to build this great country? That group of residents who are now witnessing people of their children's and grandchildren's generations who are proposing to make their "golden years" unbearable? Here are some facts. The average retired male received $735 in monthly Social Security benefits in 1993; the average retired female received $562. In 1993, half of older men had incomes of less than $15,000; half of older women had incomes of only $8,600 in that year. Forty-five percent of elderly living alone or with non- relatives in 1993 had incomes of less than $10,000 a year. Furthermore, for people on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the federal payment is only $458 for individuals and $478 for couples. This is below the poverty line. In 1990, the poverty rate for people over 64 was 12.2 percent. Another eight percent were classified as near-poor (126 percent of the poverty line). More than 20 percent were poor or near poor; 80 percent have incomes of less than $26,000. Only five percent of the elderly have incomes of more than $50,000 a year. The average monthly Social Security benefit for retired workers for selected years (men and women): 1950 - $395, 1980 - $717 and 1993 - $674. It is reported that if we spent 15 percent less each year on the defense budget, we could abolish poverty. For example, the seven- year appropriation requested for the B2 bomber (something the Department of Defense itself does not want) is $18 billion! The slogan of the Gray Panther organization is "Age and Youth in Action." This sounds like the call to action we need: for all people -- young, middle-aged and seniors together -- to stand united, to stop this attack on our poor and elderly. [The information in this article was furnished by the Gray Panther organization of Metropolitan Washington. Rick Tingling-Clemmons serves on its steering committee. You may call the Gray Panthers at 202-347-9541 for more information.] ****************************************************************** 4. SEEKING JUSTICE FOR THE OAKLAND 12: A MOTHER'S STORY Amanda Campbell of Oakland, California wrote the three articles on this page. Her 27-year-old son, Maurice Herring, was among more than 50 black men arrested by the FBI, DEA and other agencies in an "anti-drug" operation in the summer of 1994. All face drug distribution charges, and all have been labeled "career criminals" and charged under the infamous "three strikes" law. Under this law, they could face life in prison. Because the men are brought in for court hearings 12 at a time, they have collectively been dubbed the Oakland 12. In her son's case, says Campbell, police coerced a woman into implicating him by threatening to take her children. She also says at least one police officer involved in the arrests has a history of falsifying evidence. Though her son is no longer charged with conspiracy, prosecutors are still trying to convict him on drug charges. "All I'm fighting for is justice and fairness," she told the People's Tribune. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WAKE UP, MY PEOPLE! My first thought was to write a piece "A Mother's Dilemma," on how a son, caught up in the activities of this time, thought his actions would only affect his life personally, and how wrong he really was. But instead my heart leads me in another direction. I am a Black American Female and my concern is for our black men in prison, most of whom are faced with the new three-strikes law. We as Black Americans must wake up. We must not take what is being thrown at us as if it were a grain of salt. We must fight back. Fighting back is not an easy task; we have to start some place, and I think it's time for us mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, grandmothers and anyone else who is concerned to join together and support our young people. We can support them by making our presence visible when our children are hauled into court. I know we think we're above going to court to support our children, especially if they've done something wrong. Most of us feel that "he has made his bed, so let him lie in it." But he didn't make his bed by himself; we all helped. We helped when we allowed the government to take prayers out of school, when we allowed the government to educate our children on child abuse (stopping us from being able to discipline our children the way God instructed us to). We can't whip them, but the police can beat them upside the head with nightsticks, put dogs on them, shoot and kill them in the name of the law. Doesn't that strike you as something being wrong? Now we're at what some consider a new stage, but is it really? They placed 12 young black men on trial for a conspiracy to distribute drugs and want to give them life in prison. Can somebody please tell me what's the difference between drugs and Prohibition in the '20s? Did they confiscate their homes, money, businesses, etc.? Did they put them in jail for life? No, they didn't, and the very money they didn't take was the money they [those arrested] used to defend themselves and won. Now, we have young black men with no money or assets in jail with a white public defender to represent them, and we expect our legal system to do right by them. Wake up, my people (mothers, fathers, preachers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc.). Wake up! We need you to make your presence known, fill the courtroom with concerned black people and see what's being done to our black children. Give them some hope and let them know they are worth being cared about. Let them know you care. A mother of one of the 12 and all of the 12. Love you. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ A MOTHER'S DILEMMA I'm the mother of three young men. I'm black, divorced, unemployed, not on public assistance, and work hard doing odd jobs to support my family. I taught my children to love God, respect me and respect others, and to obey God's law and man's. Now this is what they were taught, but once they became 18 years old they decided to do their own thing. Most of our young men feel they can take a chance and disobey the rules, and it won't affect anyone but themselves. But who has to worry about the late-night calls from the jail house, about waking up nights screaming out their names and crying, not knowing if they're dead or alive? Young men and women, can you tell us parents whatever you do out in the street only affects you? This is a mother's dilemma. My story is not unique. And I believe the majority of the young black men in prison had a similar background. But let me tell you my story. On August 2, 1994, at approximately 11 a.m., four FBI agents armed with machine guns came to my house. They told me they were looking for someone called Alfonzo. I told them no one lived here by that name, nor did I know any Alfonzo. The agent said, "Someone informed us that he was known to frequent this address," and asked if they could search the premises. Because I had nothing to hide and knew that no Alfonzo lived here, I allowed them in. I called my oldest son, Maurice Herring, to share what had just happened. We talked for a minute, because he was getting ready to take his family fishing. Later that day, I found out that 10 FBI agents armed with machine guns came to his house and arrested him. Those officers who came to my house were really looking for Maurice. They came to my house armed, gained entry under false pretenses, and attempted to intimidate me. I later found out the case on my son was indeed similar to what they tried to do to me. They went into another young woman's home, said they found drugs in her home, and told her to sign a "consent to search form" after the search stating that the drugs were my son's. They tried to link him to a conspiracy, which didn't succeed. Now he's being held on the illegal search evidence (the drugs). My son is still in pre-trial, they're still unsure of the charges and he's still not home with his family. He has a new 10-month-old daughter and he's been in jail for 13 months. Now this is a mother's dilemma. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WE NEED HELP I was a student at Laney College in 1976, ... [and] I remember going to the Oakland Museum to see the first black art exhibit I'd ever seen in my life. In fact, it was the first art exhibit I had ever seen. One particular picture caught my eye. You see, this picture was of black people of all ages and shades looking up as if to God or the heavens while they were being sucked into a bottle. Their facial expressions were passive, like that's the way things are, or sheep being led to slaughter without a fight. That's what's happening to us today. We are so involved with our own life struggles that we can't or couldn't see what the politicians in power were actually doing. Between Ronald Reagan, Pete Wilson, Proposition 13 and the three-strikes law, it's a wonder we all aren't locked up. The new three-strikes law is swallowing us up, and we don't even know it or is it that we just don't care? This law has the appearance of fighting crime by putting drug dealers, thieves, "career criminals," poor and uneducated people away for life. Am I wrong, or do we live in a state, or should I say a nation, where dogs, cats, mice, monkeys and whales hold more value than a human being? If a dog is hungry and attacks a man for food, the people of power say "poor, hungry doggie." If a man is hungry and robs a store for food, they say "lock him up in a cage for life; he doesn't deserve anything better." Where is America's compassion? I dare to say there is none for poor people or people of color. I urge you not to give in to this three-strikes law. Let's not go down the tube without a fight. Help us fight for our families' and your family's future. We as people helped make this society what it is by not voting when we could have, not uniting and standing up against those that make decisions about our lives (the president, governor, large corporations and anyone else) who wish to believe we aren't worth being treated better than the animals they love and protect. Help us fight this three-strikes law; whether you believe it or not, it's knocking at your door, by way of a lost job, lost housing, hunger, or no hope for a future. We need your help! If you can't vote, then picket, make signs, write letters, stuff mail, help us any way you can, but help. Help us stop this three- strikes madness. Get jobs for our people, and a decent education. Help us get justice, equality, fairness and due process. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 5. PERSPECTIVES ON THE MILLION MAN MARCH +----------------------------------------------------------------+ OVER ONE MILLION MARCH ON WASHINGTON By Professor William H. Watkins On Monday, October 16, over one million men and women gathered on the steps of the Capitol and surrounding monuments for one of the largest demonstrations ever seen in the United States. For as far as the eye could see, an ocean of mostly men sporting union T- shirts, fraternity jackets, clerical collars, bow ties, and African cloth came to join in this gathering of celebration, protest and direct action. As the organizers had articulated, many came out to demonstrate racial pride, the hope for unity and to protest negative public images of the African American male. Clearly, black males are tired of being blamed and scapegoated for all of society's problems. Demonstrators wanted it known that they are not the cause of increasing joblessness and expanding poverty. Nor are they to blame for the cruel and inhumane legislation and public policy now being established. Marchers unanimously celebrated the strength and heart of the black man in America who has survived the rigors of slavery, peonage, the hangman's noose and the business end of the police "billy club" for the last several hundred years. Beyond the celebration of black pride, this was a demonstration of protest. Throughout the crowd, signs and chants against police brutality, joblessness and unfair treatment could be seen and heard. Marchers wanted to put the government on notice that we cannot accept the continuation of misery and suffering. We recognize that millions are now without jobs, money, health care, homes and acceptable standards of living. Finally, this was a march of direct action. Participants resolved to return to their communities to organize. All agreed that we must act decisively in this dangerous period. Covenants were made to organize, protest, register voters, support independent parties, and do whatever is necessary to push forward the struggle for survival, advancement, dignity, and equality. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SOME THOUGHTS ON THE MILLION MAN MARCH By Rick Tingling-Clemmons WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Standing on the grassy knoll near the Capitol building, one could see the Washington Monument gleaming off in the distance over a vast sea of African American men. This gathering was the response to a call by Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam for 1 million African American men to come to the capital on October 16 to help solve the problems in the black communities. It was the largest gathering of African American men ever recorded and also included men and women of all races. People took off work and made their way to the march. The world watched in awe. As an African American male who has been part of teams of organizers to bring supporters on a range of issues to the Mall on at least ten different occasions, I can honestly say there were more people there than I had ever seen at one time. And never have I seen that many African American men participating in a march of any kind! The media used every means to discourage participation in the Million Man March -- a continuation of their "divide by misinformation" scheme. This scheme attempted to trivialize the march -- first by ignoring it; then by labelling Farrakhan an anti-Semite; and finally characterizing the march as an endorsement of Farrakhan. The attack on the march was framed as a debate, but failed to disguise the class interests expressed by media owners and commentators. These distortions are used in assessing the role of big business interests who report record profits and massive layoffs on the same page of the newspaper. Similar distortions and lies form the content of congressional speeches and proposals. These distortions become the foundation of public policy as welfare is shown as a problem stemming from a valueless black community rather than an economic system that has no use for workers it cannot employ. If we cannot be used to boost profits, our value has expired along with the need to devote any resources to sustain our communities. The current welfare reform proposals that passed both houses of Congress emphasize punishing the victims of poverty. This is not just a black community problem. It is class warfare. The age-old scheme of divide and conquer is a key arsenal of the rich to feed the growth of fascism. Boosting profits and keeping up the status quo is that group's main interest. The possibility of the Million Man March being a success was in direct defiance of the capitalists' attempts to deter and misdirect the people's movement for unity and social and economic justice. News reports and talk shows inaccurately portrayed the march as being against Jews and women -- not what it was for. Reports hinted at possible danger to residents of Washington, D.C. The final insult was lying about the number of participants. There have been a number of criticisms of the march. In my opinion, none of them should have kept people from participating. This march is a milestone in the struggle against racism and economic exploitation. For those who want to embrace a vision of a society where our energies are harnessed to resolve society's problems, the League of Revolutionaries for a New America invites you to join us in the struggle for justice. As Frederick Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand -- it never has and it never will." ****************************************************************** 6. THANKSGIVING IS A TIME FOR GIVING By Simuel Churches, local grassroots organizations, working people: Give help to the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed and homeless people in time of need. Provide them with food and clothes ... which is the godly thing to do! Sharing is caring. That's what they say this government system is supposed to do, this government which has committed genocide against the people under this dog-eat-dog system. And the government has no answers but, once again, to blame the people for the miserable situation that the system has put them in (and is working to keep them in.) No answer but to bring down communities. No jobs, Medi-Cal, welfare or Social Security. No education or future for the youth. Nothing but police abuse, building prisons and other measures that target the people that built and fought for our country. It is up to the people to take action! [Simuel wrote this article while visiting Chicago. He lives in Oakland, California where he distributes the People's Tribune.] ****************************************************************** 7. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: CLASS POLITICS AS USUAL By The Women's Economic Agenda Project OAKLAND, California -- The American people are the losers in the government shutdown. Margaret Gordon of the Construction and Trade Training Program in Oakland had this to say about the latest political shenanigans going on in Washington, D.C.: "While it is clear there is no sign of intelligent life in the Congress, hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to be permanently downsized through re- engineering. No government or business accountability exists anywhere. Each attack on entitlement programs is death for another group of people expendable by the standards of sleazy politicians doing the bidding of the rich." Americans everywhere are asking, "Who do we owe $4.9 trillion dollars to?" It certainly doesn't get spent on social needs: * Our education system has been cut back for the last 30 years because investment in youth is too costly. * Reform of welfare grants and health care means shifting money to tax breaks for the rich. * One out of four children is living in poverty. * 30,000,000 Americans depend on some kind of food subsidy to make it through the month. * Many working Americans don't have any health care. * Prison building continues to be the fastest-growing and most costly industry as an answer to poverty and hunger rather than jobs. Dorothea Lawyer, board president of the Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP), commented that, "Elected politicians making $125,000 a year with an excellent health care plan and retirement plan of $90,000 -- even if they're forced to resign because of unethical behavior -- now declare that they're the lower middle class. The only beneficiaries of a recovering economy and their balanced budget are the rich who continue to get larger tax subsidies, pay no taxes and soon will be the only ones who can lobby Congress with millions of dollars of their bribe money. It's no wonder the polarity between the rich and poor is larger now than at any other time in the history of mankind." Renee Pecot, program director of WEAP, said, "We are witnessing class politics as more and more of the wealth of this country is being distributed to the rich and the shameless. It is clearly the upper class that is in charge of Washington politics as usual. What do politicians have to fear that they had to tack on an amendment to the balanced budget making it illegal for non-profits to lobby Congress, who have their funding cut? The war on the poor continues and the freedom of all Americans is being eroded." [For more information about WEAP, write to WEAP, 518 17th Street, Suite 200, Oakland, California 94612.] ****************************************************************** 8. NGO FORUM ON WOMEN IN CHINA: CAUCUS HELPS SHAPE DEBATE ON THE U.N. PLATFORM OF ACTION By Laura Garcia The official count was that 40,000 women from 180 countries met in Beijing, China in late August and early September. They took part in the Fourth World Conference on Women and the NGO (Non-governmental organizations) Forum '95. They met to discuss how to bring peace, equality and economic development to the world. The theme of the NGO Forum was "Looking at the world through women's eyes." As members of our delegation to the Forum started mingling and networking with our sisters from the United States, Japan, Mexico, Kenya and China, we began seeing the same gleam in each other's eyes and the same commitment to the betterment of our lives. Imagine the absolute "power surge" that hit everyone when we saw that we were all part of a powerful group of women from every continent, nationality and race and of every hue and size and age! >From the get-go, women at the NGO Forum, the gathering of non- governmental (and mainly community-based) organizations, began strategizing about how to affect the Platform of Action. The Platform of Action is the document which was to be adopted by the other women's conference meeting in China, the conference composed of official, government delegations -- the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women. The Platform of Action is a document that the United Nations and national governments are supposed to use as a guide in setting public policy. It provides activists and fighters with benchmarks with which to measure progress in their own countries and communities. While non-binding, the document provides a kind of moral compass, a way to ensure standards of equality for women and girls. Understanding that there can be no sexual equality without racial and ethnic equality, Barbara Arnwine, the executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Adjoa Aiyetoro, the executive director of the National Committee of Black Lawyers, immediately set to work to form a caucus made up of women of color from the United States. After many a meeting and heated discussion among Asian-American, Latino, African American and Native American delegates, the first Women of Color Caucus was born at the NGO Forum on Women. The U.S. Women of Color Caucus focused on three priorities in meeting with the official U.S. delegation to the U.N. Conference. The first priority was the issue of racism, the rights of indigenous peoples and immigrants' rights. The second was poverty and economic justice, including the impact of international debt on women in developing nations. The third was health and environmental justice. The meeting with the U.S. delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women was the first such meeting in the history of the international women's conferences. "It was a strategic move to meet with the U.S. delegation," Arnwine said. "We have a responsibility to our constituencies to petition our government to represent our interests." "The U.S. is in the position to influence other nations and truly be a world leader," Arnwine explained. "Our principal concern is to assure that the rights of women are legally enforceable." "As people of color, we are not minorities," noted Winona LaDuke, the co-chair of the Indigenous Women's Network and a representative at the meeting with the U.S. delegation. "On a global level, we represent the majority of the people of the world." Mililani B. Trask, a Native American from Hawaii, spoke about the importance of unity. She pointed out that because of disunity, women of color have failed to affect the other U.N. conferences. Celina Romany, a law professor representing the Latin Rights Initiative, praised the coming together of women of color and the designing of alternative language for the official document. Romany called this "a very important step." "It takes from provincial and local construction of what color and racial discrimination are all about," Romany said. The founders of the Women of Color Caucus pledged to continue working together in the United States. "We're watching the convening of something truly historic," said Ethel Long-Scott, the executive director of the Women's Economic Agenda Project in Oakland, California. "We are seeing the birth of a new women's movement for parity and justice -- social, economic, and political -- with working-class women and women of color as the core leadership," Long-Scott pointed out. [Laura Garcia is the editor of the People's Tribune. Women who participated in the NGO Forum on Women in Beijing are available to speak to your group. Call the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau at 312-486-3551 or send electronic mail to: speakers@noc.org. For more information about the U.S. Women of Color Caucus, call Barbara Arnwine at 202-662-8600, Fax 202-783-0857.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ THE MAJORITY OF THE WORLD'S POOR ARE WOMEN * Worldwide, 60-80 percent of the people in poverty are women. * About 60 percent of poor adults in the United States are women. * Women earn 75 cents for every dollar men earn. African American women earn 64 cents; Latinas earn 55 cents. * One in every five households with children is headed by a single parent. Most single-parent families are headed by women. More than one-third of all female-headed families live in poverty. * AIDS has become the leading cause of death among women aged 35- 44. * Worldwide, domestic violence is the leading cause of death among women 14 to 44 years of age. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 9. THE RIGHTS OF FARMWORKERS ARE IN DANGER: WHO WILL BE NEXT? By Salvador Sandoval, M.D. MERCED, California -- The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a measure which supposedly "levels the playing field" between farmers and farmworkers. It overturns a 1990 Supreme Court decision which stated that injured farmworkers could sue under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act even after receiving state workers' compensation payments. The measure was promoted by Rep. Calvin Dooley, a Democrat from Hanford, California and the California Farm Bureau Federation. The measure next goes to the U.S. Senate before it can be signed into law. Although it is not readily known if there have been many lawsuits, recent lawsuits on behalf of three farmworkers killed near Firebaugh, California in September 1995, and another lawsuit stemming from the injury of nine farmworkers in Fresno in 1993 sparked the initiative in the U.S. House. What the announcements on the progress of this measure in the U.S. Congress do not show is that there has never been a "level playing field" between farmers and farmworkers in this country. And it is the farmworker who has taken all the jeopardy. What is not stated is that farmworkers have the same coverage as all other employees in only 14 out of 50 states. Eleven states have no workers' compensation for agricultural workers at all. The rest carry limitations that are not applicable to other employees. The passage of this anti-farmworker measure in the House comes at a time of massive dismantling of services and protections for all workers. Legal services, which serve poor urban and rural people are being drastically slashed in funding, so that suits become more difficult. Imminent closure of public hospitals or public clinics in New York, Washington, D.C., Tennessee and Los Angeles threaten everyone. Occupational safety and health for all workers is in serious jeopardy from budget cuts. Serious questions have to be raised about why these things are occurring. Whose interests do Dooley and other Congressmen serve? Is the financial security of large farmers, businessmen, and bankers more important than the health and safety of the American people? It is time that we look at these issues. It used to be that the majority of working people in this country could live relatively well, as long as they accepted that others had lesser privileges. Examples include the exclusion of farmworkers from compensation coverage in many states; their exclusion from collective bargaining in most states; and the difficulty in obtaining Medicaid and Medicare. And now they are moving to weaken them further. Services and protections for all are being jeopardized. We have to begin to look out for the common good. It is time that the old union saying "An injury to one is an injury to all" be resurrected. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WORKERS' COMPENSATION AND AGRICULTURAL WORKERS Workers' compensation was protection which passed initially to compensate injured workers or their families for injuries or death on the job, by requiring employers to carry insurance for injuries on the job. As a tradeoff, the injured workers were not allowed to sue for damages. Farmworkers were specifically excluded from initial workers' compensation coverage. And it was practically unheard of for them to initiate a lawsuit privately. The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act was passed in 1982 to deal with glaring deficiencies in farmworker housing, health, safety and transportation. It has never been fully implemented. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 10. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE OF ZAPATISTAS ATTACKED IN MEXICO: CECILIA RODRIGUEZ RAPED IN CHIAPAS Special to the People's Tribune On October 26, Cecilia Rodriguez and a companion were brutally attacked by several men near Lake Pojaj in Chiapas, the southernmost state in Mexico. Rodriguez and an unidentified companion were surrounded by armed men and robbed. During the assault, Rodriguez was separated from her companion and raped. One of the assailants told her, "You already know how things are in Chiapas, right? ... Shut up then, shut up ... or you know what will happen to you." Rodriguez is the official representative of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN) in the United States. She coordinates the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA which works in 30 U.S. cities. "We believe the attack and rape were politically motivated," the National Office of the Commission declared in a statement November 1. The statement pointed out that Rodriguez's visit to Chiapas coincided with another round of peace talks between the Mexican government and the EZLN. The statement called the assault on Rodriguez "an act of retaliation and warning to others in the international community who dare to speak out." The Commission urged all people of good will to ask the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City to investigate the incident and to register an official diplomatic condemnation with the Mexican government. "No woman, wife and mother like Cecilia should have to fear working for peace or social justice in any part of the world," the Commission declared. To protest this assault, write to Vice Consul, Third Secretary Nicolas Manring, U.S. Embassy, Mexico City, Mexico or fax the embassy at 011-525-525-5040. For more information, contact Maria Jimenez of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA at 713-926-2799. ****************************************************************** 11. DRUGS: PART II -- DEMAND AND THE PROBLEM OF REHABILITATION By Bruce E. Parry, Ph.D. [This is the second of two columns dealing with the issue of drugs. The first focused on the supply side.] Everybody knows drugs are out of control in America. The struggle against drugs and drug use is the struggle for a decent, safe, caring society. Why hasn't the problem of drugs been solved? There has been a war on drugs, there are campaigns to "Just Say No," there is education, and yet, there are drugs. Why? It is not because we, as a society, do not have the resources. It is not because people do not want to solve the problem or don't know how. The problems have not been solved because they cannot be solved under capitalism. Here is why. We aren't organized to do it. Government is run by business. Business buys government through campaign contributions, lobbyists and political connections made by money. This has been true for over 200 years. Our legal system is based on the rights of private ownership of business. To solve the problem of drugs, you have to want to solve the problem of drugs. But the government wants to solve the problem of profits. That's government's primary purpose under capitalism. Assuming they want to resolve the drug problem at all, they really want to solve the problem of ensuring hospitals are profitable. Of ensuring halfway houses are profitable. Of ensuring "legal" drug companies and hospital suppliers are profitable. Of ensuring advertising campaigns are profitable. And of protecting their social base by making sure there are plenty of police. No matter what they say, they just can't get rid of taking care of business. But drugs are profitable. And public education, health care, full employment, feeding the homeless and hungry, and special care for children are not profitable. Why do people want drugs? Because some people feel better on drugs than they feel when they do without drugs. Why? Is it just because drugs feel good or because life feels bad? It is because life feels bad. It feels bad because we are insecure. We never know where our next paycheck or our next meal is going to come from. We don't know for us; we don't know for our kids. We depend on having a job. But we have no control over whether or not we have a job. And if we can't work, we're dependent on public assistance. And the government is cutting everyone off. The kids see no future. But the truth is, neither do the adults. We're worried sick. Preparation for the future -- education -- is miserable. Classes are meaningless. They're way behind what we need to know in the age of electronics. Or they only teach what you need to know to be a rocket scientist. And there may be no jobs anyway. And all the "after-school activities" are gone, except some sports and Junior ROTC. That's why people use drugs. They see no future. They have no present. There's nothing else to do. Well, the reason there's nothing else to do is that in order to do things, someone has to pay for it. As a society, we always did that by paying taxes. Most of the taxes -- this was always the basis of the U.S. tax system -- were paid by businesses and the rich. Not anymore. Businesses are pressing government to cut taxes -- even to cut government itself! This is happening now because profits are being squeezed in the international, electronic economy. That's why there isn't any money. Well, we need to reorganize society. We need to run those businesses ourselves (publicly). Then we could take the profits they make (100 percent of them) to pay for schools, teachers, supplies and school programs and provide work for the millions who need jobs doing all the things we need done. And while they're at it, we can provide health care for all who need it -- including drug rehabilitation. Of course, at first, the expense of health care is going to sky-rocket. We haven't had any health care; we need to get well. We need rehabilitation. We need mental-health counselors. We need services. And we need prevention to take care of the future and reduce costs the real way: by improving health! Only a system that is not run by profits can do that. That's why the League of Revolutionaries for a New America is dedicated not to just any New America, but to one where we govern ourselves. Where we -- instead of business people -- are in control of the government. Where jobs, education, health care, housing and food are a right! ****************************************************************** 12. THE ROLANDO CRUZ CASE: HEROIC EFFORTS WIN A VICTORY By Rich Capalbo CHICAGO -- In this time, when two social classes in America are pulling apart; in this time, when right and wrong are being defined by the size of one's bank account, one of the have-nots, Rolando Cruz, won some justice recently in Illinois. Cruz is the young man who, until recently, had been on Death Row since 1985, convicted of a murder he did not commit. Cruz and two other men were accused of the 1983 murder of a 10- year-old girl, Jeanine Nicarico, in DuPage County, west of Chicago. Cruz was acquitted Friday, November 3, in his third trial, 10 years after his first conviction. The decision was a "directed acquittal" in a bench trial. The prosecution case was so weak (as it had been all along) that DuPage County Circuit Judge Ronald Mehling didn't have to hear the defense case to reach a decision. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Rolando's family, his legal team (including law professors and students from Northwestern University and Chicago's Kent College of Law), two officials who resigned rather than participate in the underhanded prosecution, and thousands of supporters, the Cruz case could not be brushed aside. Just as important as any courtroom strategy was the exemplary, dauntless journalism of Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn. He tenaciously turned the light on the dark and dirty little corner of injustice that this case represented. In a way, though, this acquittal is only a partial victory. Rolando Cruz is free, but so too are the criminal officials of the justice system, headed by Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan, who took away 11 years of Cruz's life and almost took away that life itself. But Cruz's acquittal is only a partial victory as long as the justice system in this country continues to populate the prisons and Death Rows with the poor. We are living in an age in which words like "justice" and "morality" are being defined in a society polarized by a troubled economy and in a political climate of unmistakable prejudice dividing the haves from the have-nots. The have-nots cannot claim many victories of late. The Cruz case gives us one to build on. When people of conscience from across the social spectrum realize that their own vision of justice depends on justice for the least of us, then powerful wrongs can be righted. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CRUZ RELATIVE SPEAKS OUT: 'THE TRUTH DESTROYED THEIR CASE' [Editor's note: People's Tribune correspondent Rich Capalbo interviewed Crystal Carbellos, the mother-in-law of Rolando Cruz, in mid-November. Below we print excerpts from her comments on the acquittal of her son-in-law.] "[The prosecutors] said that 12 years destroyed their case. I say that 12 years allowed the truth to come out. It was the truth that destroyed their case. "I can't describe the feeling to hear the judge say what we knew all along; factually innocent and legally innocent are different. "It's ironic that [DuPage Sheriff's Police Lt. James] Montesano [one of the original police investigators] is now telling the truth and is being punished. He's been suspended. It was OK when he was lying. The two cops who maintain the lie and protect [Illinois Attorney General Jim] Ryan are working. "Justice has been delayed. It's bittersweet, to be so happy and so angry. "This victory is not based on the system. It's based on the people who fought the system." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 13. AS S.F. COPS CLAIM ANOTHER VICTIM, VOTERS SIGNAL 'WE'VE HAD ENOUGH' By Anthony D. Prince SAN FRANCISCO -- Six days before voters would go to the polls and pass judgment on the police-dominated administration of Mayor Frank Jordan, another unarmed citizen -- this time, a 40-year-old white man -- was gunned down by "San Francisco's finest." The November 1 slaying of Edwin Sheehan brought to three the number of San Franciscans killed by police in the last five months alone [see accompanying story, this page] and brought into sharp relief the increasingly wanton behavior of the SFPD. "How could cops release him, and five minutes later they're killing him?" asked Sheehan's widow, Leslie, referring to an earlier police search of their apartment that turned up no drugs or guns. Minutes later, her husband, a reformed convict on his way to see his parole officer, was shot twice at point-blank range by a police sergeant who has twice been suspended for use of excessive force. The killing remained front-page news even as the city moved towards an election in which mayoral challenger Willie Brown Jr. had pledged to abolish a repressive, widely criticized police program developed by Mayor Jordan known as "Project Matrix." When the returns were in, Brown had outpolled the incumbent 61,709 to 57,081 and will face Jordan in a run-off. "I have seen the injuries inflicted on some of the people the police have targeted since the enforcement of Matrix II," Patrisha Vestey wrote the San Francisco Examiner, referring to phase two of the city's anti-homeless sweeps. "Jordan has criminalized people who have done no more than be down and out or different. I really don't think I can take four more years of this." Apparently, Ms. Vestey was not the only one. Voters also rejected a proposed juvenile curfew widely believed to have meant even more police repression (at an annual enforcement cost of $300,000), had it passed. "Put yourself in the shoes of 15- and 17-year-olds," declared high school students Raquel Moreno and Jose Luis Pavon of the Youth Uprising Coalition. "The officers approach and frisk you, asking your name, age and the reason you're out so late. You yell `What did I do?' and the next thing you know, you're being handcuffed and thrown into the back of a patrol car." Had the defeated Proposition L passed, the popular Hamilton Recreation Center would have been converted into a juvenile detention facility and anyone not picked up by parents by 5 a.m. would have been turned over to the so-called child protective service. Thus, the San Francisco elections were a barometer of growing public alarm over the police state tactics sweeping America's cities. In fact, such measures go beyond targeting "street people" and endanger the fundamental rights of all. For example, in nearby Lafayette, the city council passed an ordinance at the behest of a strike-bound hotel requiring anyone gathering on a public sidewalk to apply for a "special events" permit 10 days in advance and pay a $57 fee, among other restrictions. Members of Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 2850 went to federal court to block this union-busting tactic. Meanwhile back in San Francisco, it remains to be seen just how far Willie Brown, if elected, will go to rein in police abuse. Brown, like Jordan, is connected to a host of powerful downtown developers who have pushed for and benefited from this city's vicious anti-homeless, anti-labor police repression. In a city dominated by tourism, the political and economic system remains in the hands of powerful capitalists, at whose pleasure serve the police. The people must remain vigilant and not relax their guard. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SHOT IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD ... By Jack Hirschman SAN FRANCISCO -- The "assassination" (a term used by the victim's father) of 29-year-old, unarmed William Hankston by a San Francisco undercover cop makes it eminently clear to more and more people that the police are little more than the hired guns of the corrupt ruling class. Hankston, an African American, was shot in the back of the head on September 6 by Jessie Washington, who is also black, as he attempted to flee on a bike from an alleged drug bust. The Hankston killing, witnessed by many in the Ingleside neighborhood near its Oceanview Park area, is the second one in the past few months involving alleged police "execution" of unarmed men. Last spring, Aaron Williams, 38, was pepper-sprayed and allegedly beaten into a heart seizure after being confronted by San Francisco police, whom he reportedly resisted. The Hankston killing was even more blatant and cowardly and points up a fact: Suspicion of drug activity is being presented to the general populace as a license to law enforcement to kill human beings. Indeed, the so-called "war on drugs," which criminal politicians in cahoots with high-level gangsters and corporate interests have for years been using to both attack the poor and cover their own asses (i.e., far more money is spent on and invested in illegal drugs by rich people than by the poor) is actually a class war against the poor. In Hankston's case, the police attempted to rationalize away the murder by suggesting that though no drugs had been found on him, he had been swallowing some rock cocaine when the bust commenced. The same, with slight variations, had been attempted at the Aaron Williams investigations. Williams was presented as someone who had resisted the police arrest while on drugs, with the underlying implication that, in effect, it was OK to pepper-spray him, beat and kick him to a pulp and fling him into the paddy wagon mortally injured without calling for medics. The murder of William Hankston is another example of how the lethal forces of the capitalist class and its armed uniformed and undercover agents hold the power of life and death of ordinary people in their hands. The ultimate and terrifying irony is that it's the murderous machinery of capitalism itself that is rarely called to account. But that would not be if more and more of us insist upon that reckoning. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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, or e- mail cultfire@noc.org. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 14. POWERFUL NEW INSURGENT COUNTRY MUSIC By Andy Willis There is a fascinating new twist on country music that is popping up all over the nation. It's been dubbed insurgent country, or country-punk, but the tag is hardly important. What is great is where it comes from, and where it seems to be going. It draws its strength from the lives of the musicians themselves and the fact that life is contradictory and gritty. The music is not sterile or hokey like most formula country today. It is more like the real deal (Hank Williams, Jimmie Rogers, George Jones), with a punk energy that won't tolerate bull or phony sentimentality. We have reviewed a couple of the groups from this vein --The Bottlerockets and The Starkweathers -- and recently had an opportunity to talk with Jon Langford of the Waco Brothers. The Waco Brothers come from several other bands, including the Mekons, Bottlerockets, and Poidog Pondering, with the humble mission of playing intense music without the "big star" aspirations. The Waco Brothers' album "To the Last Dead Cowboy" (on Bloodshot Records) is an amazing amalgam of rowdy, hard- driving numbers and booze-stained heartbreakers. The whole album has the effect of a comfort to the soul, a deep, forgiving look at the not-so-bad guys and girls who end up on the hard side of life. In fact, the Waco Brothers dare to suggest that we screw-ups may not be solely responsible for our troubles. The lyrics of "Bad Times Are Coming Round Again" are really instructive: Black slaves shipped here in their millions Worked and died 'til freedom was won Now you look around for that freedom See it slipping down the barrel of a gun White men in grey suits lose all direction White men in hoods are back again Running in the '96 election Bad times are coming round again What's this? There's politics in them there lyrics! In fact, incorporated throughout the album is the belief that, as Langford put it, "Exploiting people is bad!" Jon Langford is from South Wales, the coal mining region so similar to America's Appalachian Mountains where poor people struggled to make a living in a dangerous and exploitative industry, where which side you're on goes beyond union or company and forms what's in your soul -- exploiter or exploited. Technology, politics and treachery have decimated the men and women of these places and the jobs are gone forever. Langford and I talked over coffee at Friar's restaurant about where we've come from and where we're going. He was a founding member of the Mekons during the rough-and-tumble origins of punk. "The whole punk thing in England was very politically charged," he said. "It was linked to things like the anti-racist movement. It had a lot of reggae in it, was multicultural, and was very much against the music industry. Looking back on it now, I'm amazed how focused it was, how clear it was and stood up for what we were trying to do, what a lot of bands were trying to do, that is, take music back. Music was these huge megagroups in the stadium, much like it is now. We disrupted that foundation of the music industry. People said 'We don't want that. We want a local group to be our favorite band. We want to see them once a week.'" Langford believes strongly that the community of music is hurt by an industry that's always looking for the next big thing, and that our "stars" are set-up like messiahs divorced from the community. "I don't think it's an accident. I get the impression with the major labels it's definitely part of the plan to homogenize everything." Trying to meld politics and music is a touchy business, with the music often sacrificed. Langford's encounters with some "Left" politicos in Britain were less than rewarding. "I joined a socialist group in England when the unemployment was going up and participated in the Right to Work campaign. I thought I could add my experience and a certain amount of expertise organizing bands and musicians. They couldn't believe I was so audacious to suggest that I could be anything but a foot soldier." Langford admires and defends the heroic tradition of the working class including the legacy and life of Karl Marx; it's the self-appointed zealots of the left he has trouble with. We understand completely, Jon! Sectarian division on the Left disturbs Langford, who knows that people have the standard of living they have today because many men and women organized, fought and even died for it. Jon Langford doesn't think we should trust our fate to the capitalists, as "Plenty Tuff Union Made" suggests: Risked a lot to live like humans Locked out, beaten and defamed No one said it was gonna be easy Plenty tuff and Union Made Cowards cringe and traitors sneer Like the class war never happened here But don't forget as the future fades Plenty Tuff and Union Made Jon Langford is an indomitable rebel spirit. I learned a lot just during our conversation. The music is a tonic, good for whatever ails you! If you want to be a fighter for humanity it would probably do you good to crank up the Waco Brothers to 100 proof on your box and then see them in your local club. If afterwards you want to join with your fellow revolutionary music lovers in an effort to get a really beautiful and healthy society; then call, write, or email the LRNA at pt@noc.org. ****************************************************************** 15. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published every two weeks 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: League of Revolutionaries for a New America, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028 ISSN# 1081-4787 For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist-request@noc.org To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests for bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, IL 60654 pt@noc.org Reach us by phone: Chicago: (312) 486-3551 Atlanta: (404) 242-2380 Baltimore: (410) 467-4769 Detroit: (313) 839-7600 Los Angeles: (310) 428-2618 Washington, D.C.: (202) 529-6250 Oakland, CA: (510) 464-4554 GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is available at many locations nationwide. One year subscriptions $25 ($50 institutions), bulk orders of 10 or more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, tel. (312) 486-3551. WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, tel. (312) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist- request@noc.org ******************************************************************