From jdav@noc.orgMon Jan 22 15:47:28 1996 Date: Sun, 21 Jan 96 23:02 GMT From: Jim Davis To: pt.dist@noc.org Subject: People's Tribune (1-22-96) Online Edition ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 23 No. 2 / January 22, 1996 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. 23 No. 2 / January 22, 1996 Page One 1. WHO'S DESTROYING AMERICA? Editorial 2. WHO WILL BUILD A NEW AMERICA? Spirit of the Revolution 3. REVOLUTION AND NON-VIOLENCE News and Features 4. PHILADELPHIA HOMELESS ARE 'TEACHING AS WE FIGHT' 5. THIS GOVERNMENT IS NO BETTER THAN JAMES WATT 6. MARYLAND DISABLED WIN PARTIAL VICTORY 7. CHICAGO HOMELESS: A BRIGHTER FUTURE 8. THE U.S. CONGRESS ATTACKS SOCIAL PROGRAMS: INCREASING THE SUFFERING OF THOSE WHO ALREADY SUFFER 9. MORE FROM BEIJING: WOMEN'S CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS SHARE THEIR VISION OF A NEW WORLD 10. DECATUR AND THE STALEY STRIKE: IS THE 'WAR' OVER? American Lockdown 11. PT RESPONDS AS CALIFORNIA PRISONS CENSOR JOURNALISTS: THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WAR IS THE TRUTH 12. CRUEL AND UNUSUAL AT SHAWNEE PRISON Deadly Force 13. 'JON, WHY ARE YOU CRYING?' NEW BOOK TELLS OF BRUTAL COPS, BRAVE CITIZENS Culture Under Fire 14. OLLIE HARRINGTON: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A REVOLUTIONARY The Future is in Our Hands 15. 21ST CENTURY COMMUNISM: HEAVEN ON EARTH About the League 16. ON BEING 'HISTORY'S RUBY': HOW AND WHY WE MUST BUILD AN ORGANIZATION OF REVOLUTIONARIES Announcements, Events, etc. 17. THREE STRIKES LAW AGAINST WATTS 18. NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA 19. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** 1. PAGE ONE: WHO'S DESTROYING AMERICA? 1996 is a time to face the truth: The America that we were taught to believe in -- the place where everyone was supposed to have a chance -- is being destroyed. Every day, more people are tossed out of work, while huge sums of money pile up in the bank accounts of the richest one percent of the population. Take the now well-known case of AT&T Corp., for example. That corporate giant made more than $2 billion in profits last year, but that didn't stop it from ruining the new year for thousands of its employees. After AT&T announced that it will eliminate 40,000 jobs, the price of its stock skyrocketed and the Dow Jones industrial average posted its biggest gain in seven months. The defenders of the status quo tell us that if we get a good education and work hard, we can succeed. But well-educated, hard- working people are tossed out of work every day. It's not the folks at the bottom end of the economy who are ruining this country; it's the economic class which rules from the very top. Society has to be re-organized to end control by this tiny group of parasites. We need a new American revolution -- and it is coming. If you love this country, join the League of Revolutionaries for a New America and help spread that message far and wide. [For more information about how you can join the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, see story 18.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ DID YOU KNOW THAT... In the 1950s, 75 percent of the people trusted the U.S. government "to do what is right most of the time." Today, barely 20 percent feel the same way. This could be seen as bad news, but it indicates the start of a new movement to realize the goals of freedom and justice for all Americans. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: WHO WILL BUILD A NEW AMERICA? "Our grandson needed blood for open-heart surgery on December 14. Not only was a rare blood type needed, but the donations could only be made one or two days prior to the surgery. What to do? "Calls went out. Friends, relatives, schools, churches and the Internet were contacted. We were getting calls from people all over the country. People wanted to help this helpless baby whom they had never met or, in most cases, a family they did not know." (Northbrook, Illinois) This small act to save the life of a helpless baby shows the decency and humanity of the American people. Hope for our country lies in the hands of these Americans, because with their deeds, they show that it is cruel to turn your back to human suffering; that it is inhuman not to care. At times like this, when the social fabric of America is unraveling, we need more people who do give a damn, not only about one baby's life, but about all of America's children. This is particularly true when the powers that be turn their backs in our desperate hour of need. What kept our country together in the past? Jobs did. In the past, the majority of Americans had a job to feed, clothe and house their families. A job gave people dignity. Maybe not all received high wages, but food on our tables was not lacking. It was employment that kept the flame of hope burning steady. But what do we see today? Millions of us face the new year either still unemployed or newly jobless. Over 400,000 people were laid off in 1995. And while continuing corporate "downsizing" threatens most of us with unemployment, government budget cuts are shredding the social safety net that might have cushioned our fall, and which, meager as it is, remains the only source of income for millions. Homelessness -- the final stop for the unemployed -- is growing by leaps and bounds. Women and children are condemned to live in the streets like stray dogs, while armed police stand between them and perfectly usable vacant buildings that could house them. It is these nightmarish images that tell us that a revolution is coming to America. No one can stop it. It is coming out of the past -- not simply from injustice, but from profound changes in the economy brought about by replacing workers with robots. These changes are producing a new, growing, destitute class of people that cannot exist within the old order. It is those that cannot exist within the old order who are the hope for tomorrow. It is they who are answering the cry of America's children. They are joining together to understand the cause and effect of what's happening to our country, and to forge a vision of a new America. Join the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, an organization made up of people like you; an organization like the people who answered the call to give blood to that baby in Northbrook, Illinois. People who care, people who know that if something has to be done to save the children, they have to be part of the solution. (By the way, the baby's operation was a success.) ****************************************************************** 3. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: REVOLUTION AND NON-VIOLENCE By Sandy Perry [Editor's note: Below we print the latest contribution to our regular column about spirituality and revolution. It was submitted to the People's Tribune in response to the article "Pacifism, prophesy and revolution" by Chris Faatz in our December 11, 1995 edition. We encourage readers to submit articles to this column and to comment on articles which appear here.] SAN JOSE, California -- I first read "A Plea for Captain John Brown" by Henry David Thoreau in 1969, at age 20. I was raised as a Quaker and had already applied for draft exemption as a conscientious objector. Thoreau's famous essay was first delivered as a speech in 1859, only two weeks after John Brown and a small band of men attacked a federal arsenal in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain guns to help liberate slaves. In the essay, Thoreau declares: "It was [Brown's] peculiar doctrine that a man has a perfect right to interfere by force with the slaveholder in order to rescue the slave. I agree with him. ... "I think that for once the Sharps rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. ... "What sort of violence is that which is encouraged, not by soldiers but by peaceable citizens, not so much by laymen as by ministers of the gospel, not so much by the fighting sects as by the Quakers, and not so much by Quaker men as by Quaker women?" After reading those words -- and experiencing the social upheaval of the time -- I could no longer in good conscience consider myself a pacifist. I withdrew my C.O. application, although I continued to oppose the Vietnam War and never did serve in the military. Since that time, I became Marxist in my world outlook. I believe that the path to a non-violent world cannot necessarily itself be completely non-violent -- although it is always our responsibility to reduce casualties and human suffering as much as possible. Virtually every revolution in history began as self-defense -- people arming themselves to prevent massacres and torture by the ruling authorities. It would be immoral, in my opinion, to discourage people from doing this. The extraordinary technology of today's world makes it possible to comfortably house, clothe, and feed every human being on the planet. Our real challenge is to create an economic system which distributes society's wealth equally, on the basis of human need, not private profit. The violence in our city streets, our prisons, our media, and even our families is reaching unprecedented intensity. We need all the non-violence we have just to prevent poor people from killing each other. What action the poor will take against the wealthy -- who create and cruelly perpetuate their miserable conditions -- remains to be seen. The prediction in John Brown's final words, contained in a note he passed as he mounted the gallows, is as chilling today as it was when he made it: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done." This proved to be the absolute truth in 1861-1865. How true it remains now is partly beyond our control. Millions of poor people are being locked into what Jack London called "labor ghettos," and they are embarking on a revolution for social justice. Whether this revolution becomes violent or not depends largely on the level of violence that is unleashed against them first. The role of people of conscience, whether we are pacifists or not, is to find the moral clarity, intelligence, and courage to influence this revolutionary process as much as we can. This will only happen if we are intimately involved in it. If it is possible to prevent bloodshed, it will all depend on the effectiveness of our activity. [Sandy Perry is a member of the Community Homeless Alliance in San Jose, California and of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America.] ****************************************************************** 4. PHILADELPHIA HOMELESS ARE 'TEACHING AS WE FIGHT' 'We have many ... discussions about why these things are happening. We put different ideas into folks' heads. Keeping people's stomachs full and helping explain what is happening in the country, to them and to their neighbors. That's what's attracting them.' -- Cheri Honkala By Andy Willis and R. Lee [The People's Tribune recently interviewed Cheri Honkala of Philadelphia, who is executive director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and co-chair of the National Welfare Rights Union. She is one of the leaders of a struggle for housing in Philadelphia that has recently resulted in some 60 homeless families taking over an abandoned church and a number of vacant, federally owned homes. Below are excerpts from the interview.] "We hold 30 HUD properties as well as an abandoned church owned by the [Catholic] Archdiocese. Two weeks before Christmas, we began moving families into federally owned housing for the holiday. The church we are in right now is very cold, so we wanted to at least provide the families with not just a house, but heat for the cold winter months. "Every section of society has been involved -- every religious background from Muslim to priests to rabbis -- to doctors to roofers and plumbers just about every section of society is beginning to take a position around the issue of poverty and homelessness. We are calling it the Underground Railroad Project, where we are taking people from homelessness to housing and basically trying to keep people alive. "The homeless we deal with today are easier for your average Joe to identify with. A lot of these folks had stable employment in their life, worked, came from skilled backgrounds. We have people from every color of the rainbow. The main thing that attracts folks is they are identifying with a group of people that are posing solutions to problems. One way that is expressed is through putting families into abandoned houses. But there are many more things we are doing simultaneously. We have many study circles, discussions about why these things are happening. We put different ideas into folks' heads. Keeping people's stomachs full and helping explain what is happening in the country, to them and to their neighbors. That's what's attracting them. "Folks that are involved in this struggle are clearly asserting their right to something more than a space on the floor. They are developing the consciousness that there is plenty to go around in terms of housing and food, and there is no reason why these families should have to remain on waiting lists or be doomed to a city shelter that has a whole array of health and safety hazards. "Our role [as leaders] is to continue to teach as we fight. To stop fighting is to stop breathing and to stop teaching is to stop breathing as well, and I think that we have to be doing both of those things simultaneously. "There is a lot of day-to-day kind of tactical lessons that we are learning that can be transmitted through the People's Tribune. It is also letting people know that fundamental change in this country is needed. The PT is the only paper that speaks to the essence of this fundamental change. People need a paper that helps them explain what is happening. The PT helps describe some of those changes and continues to play a wonderful role in terms of identifying who the enemies are in this process." [Cheri Honkala is available to speak through the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau's "Women Crusading for a New America" campaign. Call 312-486-3551 or write P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654.] ****************************************************************** 5. THIS GOVERNMENT IS NO BETTER THAN JAMES WATT By Allen Harris James Watt has a sentencing date for March 12. Seems he'd gotten into a little trouble in the years since he resigned as Ronald Reagan's secretary of the interior back in 1983. You remember him, don't you? He was the man who in one breath insulted America's blacks, women, Jews and the disabled; who never saw a strip mine he didn't like; who frolicked in the acid rain. Yep, that guy. Well, he's back in the news. According to the Associated Press on January 2, after Watt left the Reagan administration, he went into the consulting racket -- excuse me, business -- specializing in seeking federal aid from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which under Reagan was headed by Samuel Pierce. The Reagan era ended with a huge corruption scandal inside HUD. A five-year investigation of the scandal by a special HUD independent counsel already resulted in 16 convictions of other people and more than $2 million in fines. Then came Watt's turn in the investigation. He was in big, big trouble. He was under federal indictment on 18 felony counts of perjury and making false statements to cover up his activities as a consultant. He lied to the FBI and withheld documents he had from a grand jury. He was really in a legal swamp, it seemed, up to his assets in alligators. Then suddenly, miraculously, the swamp drained. Who drained it? The government. They made a plea bargain with Watt. All the felony counts were dropped and in exchange for pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of withholding information and documents from a grand jury in June 1990 he will face no more than six months in jail and a fine of $5,000. How did Watt luck out? He had help. His lawyer was William Bradford Reynolds, who had been head of the civil rights division of Reagan's Justice Department. Reynolds indicated that Watt benefited from a switch in HUD independent counsels. The previous counsel, Arlin Adams, who had netted the 16 convictions and $2 million in fines, was replaced by a new counsel, Larry Thompson, who made the deal that lets Watt walk. Thompson said the deal "advances the interest of the government in avoiding protracted litigation." In other words, the government didn't want to try Watt. Watt had other help. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, sitting in Washington, dropped five other charges against Watt in December. Those charges involved Watt making false statements to a House subcommittee which had been investigating corruption in HUD. Let's add this up: Watt was accused of lying to a federal grand jury, the FBI and Congress! In March, he goes before Lamberth with his government plea bargain and will get his slap on the wrist from Judge Lamberth. And that's it. We live under a government that's no better than James Watt. The homeless freeze and starve on the streets while HUD homes stand empty. HUD-controlled housing projects are little more than prisons of poverty. This outrageously sleazy deal with James Watt should be enough to bring out the revolutionary in every American who believes this country should stand for equal justice, equal rights and an end to poverty. ****************************************************************** 6. MARYLAND DISABLED WIN PARTIAL VICTORY By the Northeast, Gilford and Essex chapters of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (Baltimore) BALTIMORE, Maryland -- On December 8, 1995, it was announced that the state of Maryland was going to restore some of the "takebacks" that Gov. Parris Glendening had stolen from the poor and disabled last winter. A "shame" campaign has been raised in the holidays to emphasize the need for better health care. Since February, Americans for Disability Assistance (410-467-3262) has followed the governor, repeatedly asking him to restore the Disability Assistance Loan Program funding ($157 per month) that he cut. Several ADA members have been arrested trying to talk to the governor, and the trial should be attended by all those opposed to balancing the budget at the expense of the disabled. On December 15, ADA demonstrators skirted state police goons by singing holiday carols [see the carols reprinted on this page] to the governor and those gathered for the statehouse Christmas party. Earlier in the week, the group had demonstrated in front of Glendening's Baltimore office. Whether the governor was taking to the radio airwaves or meeting with disabled people, ADA was present to place a coffin at his feet, ask politically tough questions and make their demands heard. The state of Maryland's decision to restore some of the takebacks is in great part due to the diligent efforts of ADA. Steve Walden of the Gilford chapter of the LRNA and Annie Chambers met with Mayor Kurt Schmoke and, in addition, Steve Walden met with Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend to demand restatement of the cut funds. ADA spokesperson stated that ADA was glad some of the money was restored, but would not stop until all disability payments for the poor were restored. She pointed out that even full restoration was not sufficient to meet the needs of Maryland's poor and disabled. Watch the People's Tribune for a schedule of planned events aimed at restoring aid to the poor and disabled in Maryland and for times and locations of ADA members' trials. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PARRIS THE GOVERNOR (to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer") Chorus Parris the Governor is a slimy little mole with a sack of gold for his corporate pals and heart made out of coal. It must have been that November day when Sauerbrey barely lost, when Parris turned around and cut the poor; All principles he tossed. Chorus Then he restores 100 bucks and thinks he's really kind. This measly sum is not enough; he must've lost his mind. Chorus Let's help the Gov. to see the light and give more cash today. He has to, cuz it's only right and we won't go away. Chorus +----------------------------------------------------------------+ JOY TO THE POOR (to the tune of "Joy to the World") Joy to the poor, Modell is come to squander our tax dollars. There will be no aid, for men without a trade. More hunger and homelessness, More hunger and homelessness, More hunger and homelessness. Joy to the poor, the net is gone. Go find some scraps to eat. Don't ask Parris for more, unless your team can score. Don't let the poor and disabled freeze, Don't let the poor and disabled freeze, Don't let the poor and disabled freeze. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 7. CHICAGO HOMELESS: A BRIGHTER FUTURE By Maurice O'Neal CHICAGO -- There's no respect for the homeless in the shelters; the service providers are abusive, the lodging and food are inadequate and there's no assistance for getting out of homelessness. If the homeless had the power, they would treat all people as individuals, try to understand each person's needs, start programs to help people get out of homelessness and have the homeless run the programs. The homeless are angry over the cuts in federal spending in needed social programs. Angry that the government would think the homeless would take the cuts lying down. The homeless also would feel panic and depression because their only means of support was being taken and there would be no way to fight back. They would feel hopeless and helpless. What would they do? Protest, write letters, fight back, pray and who knows what else? If this country is to truly live in a golden age, then it must be all of us who do so, and not the chosen few who pull the strings which keep the average American from making a decent, honest living for themselves and their families. But where do we start? We start by changing things for those of us who need the help and resources the most. We start by finding ways to end homelessness. Ask the experts. Those who are not only living it, but surviving it. They have the solutions necessary to end their own homelessness. Write your elected officials in Congress and tell them you don't like the fact that they are making America a country of bureaucratic liars. Tell those officials you're tired of them taking your tax dollars and making themselves rich, while taking away the food from the mouths of the poor and the needy. Let them know that getting your vote depends on them showing that they are on the side of the people that they are suppose to serve. At the rate things are going, America will wind up serving the rich and powerful, while the rest of us will live in a poverty the likes of which has never been seen. It is up to all of us to set the course of humanity straight on what is needed to be done to help our fellow man rather than hurt all of our chances for a brighter tomorrow for not only us, but for our children. Let's leave them with a future they can be proud of. [Maurice O'Neal is program director of Homeless on the Move for Equality (HOME).] ****************************************************************** 8. THE U.S. CONGRESS ATTACKS SOCIAL PROGRAMS: INCREASING THE SUFFERING OF THOSE WHO ALREADY SUFFER By Dean McNary GARY, Indiana -- The Republicans are railroading the American public and the Democrats refuse to throw the switch. Wherever we turn, we are told of the "tough choices" we must make. Unfortunately for the working class, the poor, and the other struggling segments of society, this translates into "you must give more of what little you have." Our noble public servant Newt Gingrich and his gang of devolutionaries talk about tough cuts, while they seek to further enrich themselves and their pitifully small constituency. They are not for the American people, simply for American corporate greed. They speak of revolution, but their efforts are a regression into fascist policy. Newt speaks of cutting the Head Start program and the child lunch program at the very same time that he throws a $50,000-a-plate dinner for his tax-free political organization. I don't know about you, but I can't afford to buy a house for $50,000, let alone spend that much on dinner. I doubt that I can afford to spend that much on food in my entire life. I had toast and yogurt for dinner. If you were to take a companion on such a sickeningly extravagant dinner date, as I'm sure most did, the tab would come to a staggering $100,000. Boy, that would feed a lot of the children who will go hungry if Newt gets his way! I have not made $100,000 in the past five years, and I am more fortunate than many of those being asked to sacrifice further. When will our sacrifice be enough? When we are all homeless, hungry, and disenfranchised, except for the few seated at the table of the financial czars, eating $50,000 dainties and sucking the juice off their fingers, just as they have sucked the sweat from our bodies and the spirit from our souls throughout the years. TOUGH CHOICES FOR WHOM? Do we hear of tough cuts, tough choices, for those who enjoy a standard of living so far above the average that it's laughable? Do we hear of empowering our youth, educating our people, repairing our infrastructure, caring for our elderly, eliminating poverty? We do not. We hear only of cutting what little money is being spent to address these issues. Have we heard the fascist regime which disguises itself as the Republican Party, when confronted with the hard realities of its policies, say: "We will adjust our policies in the interest of fairness?" We have not. Their motive is personal and corporate greed, and nothing less than complete dominion and absolute financial control will satisfy it. THE DEMOCRATS Then we have that great bastion of social justice, the Democrats, sitting on the egg of complacency. The few Democrats who offer the truth simply get run over by the Republican juggernaut. Most Democrats are lame ducks who have forgotten how to fly. If the Democrats were to represent the truth, how much harder it would be for the Republicans to hide the devastating consequences of their policies. Even with a manipulated mass media, it would soon be obvious that only the wealthy will prosper under the Republican plans. But, no, the Democrats compromise on every major issue. Many have defected outright to the other side. Who were these people serving in the first place if they jumped ship so quickly? How committed are Old Bill and his fellow Dems to social progress if they bow down before the Mighty Newt and say "How may we placate thee?" The current Republican Congress and the Democrats' inability to oppose it represents perhaps the most serious threat to the well- being of the American people that has ever existed. The middle class is deteriorating rapidly. More people live in poverty than ever before, especially children. Everyone who does not possess significant wealth -- and that's about 95 percent of us -- faces dire hardship. If you are poor, especially one of the minority poor, you are part of an endangered species. It is frightening; it is sickening; it is reality. WAKE UP, STAND UP, RISE UP Anyone who claims to stand for equality, justice and prosperity had better wake up, stand up and rise up -- and do it quickly. Otherwise, we will all find ourselves enslaved. And our children too will know suffering and hardship that they do not deserve. We must fight not only to awaken our brothers and sisters who are already poor or homeless, but also to raise the consciousness of the middle class and the working class. We must appeal to the 80 percent of the public which is being screwed by the corporate class and its political serving boys. These people are being bled dry and lied to every day, just like us. If we wait until they are starving and homeless to appeal to them, it will be too late. United, we stand; divided, we fall. Remember that, comrades. We must strive for unity with all our countrymen and women who are being exploited, whether they realize it or not. That is part of our mission, to organize and educate, no matter where people stand on the economic ladder. Wake up! Rise up! It is time to move. Whether we form a workers' party, or vote while the current system exists, or simply march loudly and with commitment, we need to move now and keep moving. Workers of the world, unite! Welcome to the real revolution, my dear friends and fellow oppressed. Peace to you all, even amid our great struggle. [Dean McNary is a member of the Gary, Indiana chapter of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America.] ****************************************************************** 9. MORE FROM BEIJING: WOMEN'S CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS SHARE THEIR VISION OF A NEW WORLD Dear Readers, For some months now we have been running interviews with women who participated in the NGO Conference on Women held in Beijing last September. Our intention is to share with you, our readers, our excitement and sense of power at seeing so many women from all over the globe come together to build a better world. Each woman we interviewed on this page told us about their vision of a new world. Future articles will cover the issue of domestic violence and more. We welcome your comments on our coverage and encourage your continued financial donations. Sincerely, Laura Garcia and Sandra Reid, reporters for the People's Tribune in Beijing. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ FROM IRELAND: "I represent a women's group, Media and Entertainment. We run an illegal radio station for women in the west of Ireland, My House, which has a radius of only about 3 miles. I feel very strongly that all women should have access to running their own radio stations. It isn't a question of women learning how to use mainstream media but a question of women controlling the media for themselves so they can say what they like for as long as they like without a controller. The people, if they listen, can now have a choice. ... Education is the key to the future." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ FROM THE PHILIPPINES: "This is the first time I've been out of my country. I'm from Manila, which is most famous for its educational system. We come from the tribal communities there. What really is devastating is that when you grow up in the rural areas and go to do college studies in the cities, you find that when you talk with your ancestors that the history is different. The books are not telling the truth. We need to correct all the books. Let someone from our place write the books and incorporate that in the curriculum of the educational system. That would be a great accomplishment for our kids. We are here to help in shaping new policies for the betterment of the world, to have equality, peace for everyone." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ FROM MINNESOTA: "I'm here because I've never gone anyplace and my family decided that Mom was going to go somewhere. I'm trying to meet at least one woman from every country in the world." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ FROM SOMALIA: The chairperson of Save Somali Women and Children. "I came here to share with our sisters from all over the world our feelings and our need for equality, development and justice. We have been in civil war since 1990. We appeal to the outside world. Our women and children need your help. Our vision for the whole world is peace, love and unity." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in Minneapolis: "For our 80th birthday we decided to do a peace train to the Beijing Conference. We went through Eastern Europe and Asia for 22 days. Along the way, we met with women's groups and talked about peace and justice issues. I feel we did not solve any of the world's problems -- but we lit a lot of sparks. I envision a women's peace movement less involved with "inner peace" and more involved with women who can't feed their kids; fair wages; distribution of the world's resources so everybody gets to eat. What is so wrong with that?" +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Speaking Campaign Women crusading for a new America >From Beijing to the grassroots battles, women are leading the fight for a New America. Book your speaker now for Women's History Month. Call 312-486-3551, or write to: People's Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, or send e-mail to speakers@noc.org. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 10. DECATUR AND THE STALEY STRIKE: IS THE 'WAR' OVER? By Rich Monje, Unit chairperson, Local 15271-05 USWA, and editor of the Tribuno del Pueblo DECATUR, Illinois -- On December 22, workers of the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company here in this southern Illinois town voted to return to work. The Staley workers had been locked out for some two and one-half years. They were forced to accept the same contract offered before the lockout started. The Staley strike and the strikes of the Caterpillar and Bridgestone-Firestone workers were concentrated in Decatur. Decatur became known as the "War Zone" or "Strike City." The strikers organized many rallies and conferences that brought workers from across the country to support the striking workers. They sent workers known as "Road Warriors" out to educate and mobilize support throughout the country. These union locals, the workers and their families fought long and hard. Their sacrifice cannot be measured against whether they won or lost. In our amalgamated local (Danley was once out on strike for almost a year), we sent support to the striking workers. We marched around and shouted slogans and sent monthly financial support. In many locals many workers ask the question what will it take to win? Many say, "More militancy. We should have ..." Staley workers had the right idea. America is a "War Zone." A war is going on. But who are the combatants, the fighters? Is it just Staley, Caterpillar and Bridgestone-Firestone? Take a look around. What about the 40,000 just laid off at AT&T? Or the rest of the "downsizing" taking place across the country? Or the increasing attack by Republicans and Democrats alike on the safety net once available to unemployed workers? Some of the international unions present the solution as "organize the unorganized." But organize them to do what? There is no avoiding the fact that the capitalist system has changed and it no longer will support a unionized sector. The system will drive down the standard of living of all workers, employed and unemployed, to maintain a system of profit. This system has never been in our overall interests. It most certainly is no longer in the interests of the unionized worker. We are going to have to organize the workers as a class. We are no longer only concerned with the money in contract negotiations. Or "what happened to my grievance?" It is our future and the future of our children we are fighting for. Every step we take must be to politicize our brothers and sisters. We will have to close ranks around a new vision, not of the 1930s, but of what is possible today with the wealth we created in this country. We will need the passion and commitment of the '30s and of the striking workers of the "War Zone." ****************************************************************** 11. PT RESPONDS AS CALIFORNIA PRISONS CENSOR JOURNALISTS: THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WAR IS THE TRUTH By Anthony D. Prince, on behalf of the Editors The audience at Northwestern University was shocked into a hushed silence as the horrible image of a human being -- blistered and bloody from third-degree burns -- came up on a large video screen. >From behind the camera, a national television news magazine covering allegations of torture at California's Pelican Bay State Prison had captured dramatic, irrefutable evidence of an inmate deliberately scalded nearly to death by correctional officers. Months later, a federal court judge would hand down a searing condemnation of Pelican Bay officials for widespread brutality and abuse. I was in the audience that night. As a reporter whose beat includes the prison world, this piece of outstanding, unnerving journalism drove home the significance of a free press in a country that prefers to hide injustice, especially injustice behind bars. So it was the words and the image of that horribly maimed inmate that I remembered when I learned that officials of the California Department of Corrections had completely barred reporters from conducting in-person interviews with state prisoners. "We did this because we didn't want to have inmates becoming celebrities and heroes," states J.P. Tremlay, assistant secretary of the department, justifying the ban and pointing to a handful of recent interviews with well-known California inmates as "proof." But the journalist community of this nation has not been fooled. "Prisons are public institutions," says Peter Sussman, president of the Northern California branch of the largest and oldest association of reporters in the United States, the Society of Professional Journalists. "Especially at a time when prison issues are near the top of the public agenda -- and when the state Department of Corrections has lost high-profile court suits challenging treatment of high-security and mentally ill inmates -- it is imperative that the media have unfettered access to the prisoners whose rights have been upheld in court." I would go my colleague one further: This ban aims at concealing from the public the truth about the record numbers of Americans now behind bars -- 1.5 million, of which 130,000 are in California where poverty, desperation and "three-strikes" laws promise even more. This ban aims at shrouding in secrecy the true nature of the "prison/industrial complex" whose grip has made the California Correctional Officers' Association the most powerful political lobby in the state, costing taxpayers millions. This ban aims at subjugating the First Amendment rights of us all to the reactionary self-interest of the prisoncrats and sets a dangerous precedent for all state agencies (especially the criminal justice system) to dictate what the public will and will not be told. It is said that "the first casualty of war is the truth." Well, there is a war in this country, between a ruling elite that can't feed, house and employ millions of people and those who are being pushed to desperation and increasingly winding up behind bars. Will the first casualty of this war be the truth? We urge all those who understand the significance of these anti- democratic, police- state measures to hold firm. The People's Tribune, and specifically "American Lockdown," will continue to do what we have done all along: report the side of the story that the ruling class doesn't want you to know. We intend to join the immediate struggle to overturn California's ban on face-to-face inmate interviews, but, like our fellow journalists, we will not be intimidated by it. The struggle continues. ****************************************************************** 12. CRUEL AND UNUSUAL AT SHAWNEE PRISON By Anthony D. Prince VIENNA, Illinois -- Banging on steel doors, screaming and yelling, Ira Lee's cellmates joined his cries for help October 17 when a corrections officer crushed Lee's hand so severely that half of his little finger was amputated. Lee, a People's Tribune inmate correspondent at Shawnee Correctional Facility, had only minutes before been improperly denied certain items from the prison commissary by a certain Officer Jennings. As the guard turned his attention to an adjacent cell, he allegedly slammed Lee's steel cell door while Lee's hand was still on the frame. As Lee cried out in pain, Jennings walked away and refused to summon emergency aid until Lee's cellmates began raising hell. Later, after finally receiving treatment, Lee filed a grievance charging staff misconduct as well as cruel and unusual punishment. What happened to Lee was never made known to the general public, but the same Illinois criminal justice system that landed him in prison was recently in the national spotlight as Rolando Cruz, a man who spent 11 years on Death Row for a murder he didn't commit, was finally released late last year. The mountain of perjured police testimony and obvious prosecutorial misconduct involved in that case had won Cruz broad public support. The case of Ira Lee, also illegally framed and convicted (and now disfigured), is hardly known. What happened to Ira Lee behind the thick walls of the Shawnee Correctional Facility was not a matter of life and death, as was the case with Cruz, but it left him with a permanent disability. The cases of Ira Lee and Rolando Cruz -- one in the national spotlight, the other cloaked in obscurity -- occupy two points on the same scale of cruelty and unusual punishment that is the American criminal justice system. Note: On January 9, Ira Lee called the People's Tribune office and told us how prison authorities responded to his grievance. Lee's request for compensation was denied. His request to have the officer relieved of his duties was denied. Lee is appealing the ruling to the Administration Review Board in Springfield, Illinois. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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. 'JON, WHY ARE YOU CRYING?' NEW BOOK TELLS OF BRUTAL COPS, BRAVE CITIZENS By Anthony D. Prince David Key Parrish has written a powerful, true saga of a justice struggle that rocked the quiet, middle class community of Columbia, Maryland six years ago. When police broke up a 1990 party attended by 19-year old Jon Bowie and his twin brother, Mickey, use of excessive force led to formal charges of brutality that galvanized Jon's family, and especially his mother, Sandra Bowie Keyser. But when Jon began receiving anonymous death threats and the Bowie home became the target of mysterious would-be vandals, the stage was set for the tragedy to follow. Four months later, Jon Bowie's body was found hanging from a length of steel cable from the backstop of the baseball diamond where he once played. David Key Parrish, the author of this newly released book, was his coach, his friend and, after his death, a relentless seeker of the truth. In "Jon, Why Are You Crying?" available from Green Feather Publishing, author Parrish spans the nearly six years during which he, Sandra, and David Rogers, a local minister, spearheaded a sometimes lonely, sometimes popular but always determined campaign to learn the truth about who killed Jon Bowie. The reader goes along for this wild ride that includes FBI moles, psychics, prison informers, the Rodney King beating, and the critical role played by the Bowie case in the convening of the National Coalition for Police Accountability. Parrish writes in a painfully personal, completely honest style, revealing his own "loss of innocence" as he watches Columbia police, Howard County, the state of Maryland and finally the U.S. Justice Department engage in one whitewash after another. Relying on a self-professed "photographic memory," he has reconstructed entire conversations and recalled minute details that fill this true story with more intrigue, twists, turns and raw human drama than any work of fiction. This reporter was one of the few who learned early on of the Bowie case and reported it out. For me, it was the image of Sandra Keyser, the diminutive mother and grandmother gathering 2,600 signatures on a petition. It was the picture of white victims of police brutality who seek out the local NAACP which in turn takes up their case without hesitation. It was a story of a community called "New America" and David Parrish's journey here to find a better world than the Deep South from which he came -- only to confront the worst nightmare of his life. But ultimately, "Jon" is an affirmation of soaring faith and confidence; of commitment to justice in the face of obstruction, of trust in people when reliance on the system proves fruitless. Early on -- long before Mark Fuhrman, long before Rodney King -- the story of how Columbia stood up for Jon Bowie was a side of the police abuse issue that challenged the stereotype. Now, the man in the best position to tell that story has told it. If you care about this country and the role of the police in it, then "Jon, Why Are You Crying?" is essential reading. 'Jon, Why Are You Crying: A Work of Non-Fiction' by David K. Parrish is available to People's Tribune readers for only $11.95 from Green Feather Publishing. To order it, write to P.O. Box 370, Columbia, Maryland 21045 or send a fax to 410-992-5843. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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. OLLIE HARRINGTON: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A REVOLUTIONARY By Abdul Alkalimat Ollie Harrington (1912-1995) was a political cartoonist who used satire to expose the foibles and social evils of capitalist exploitation, racism, and imperialist plunder. He was a kind and gentle man who achieved greatness because of his artistic talent, his commitment to disciplined work habits, and his ideological commitment to the promise of socialism. Ollie died on November 2, 1995. When such a comrade dies, it is necessary to sum up key lessons we can learn from their life. In this way, each of us can have life after death. Ollie Harrington's life personified the contradictions of American life. His mother was from Hungary and his father was African American. One teacher, Miss McCoy, called him and a friend up to the front of his class, and because they were the only blacks in the class, declared that "these two, being black, belong in that there trash basket." On the other hand, Mrs. Linsky encouraged his artistic creations, saying: "They are very, very good, and never believe anyone who says they are not." Ollie said that his cartooning began in his daily drawings of Miss McCoy, as an act of resistance! Ollie created one of the classic personalities of black art. Along with Jess B. Semple created by Langston Hughes, Bootsie was a personality known by black people throughout the United States. Every week, the Bootsie cartoons appeared in the most important black newspapers, the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender. Bootsie dignified and honored the wisdom of common people, and celebrated the resistance to racism and poverty codified in the common sense and "mother wit" of the urban black community. When Ollie created and directed the public relations office of the NAACP, he was exemplary in his commitment to the masses of black people. Ollie was longtime friends with Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Charles Drew and Richard Wright, among others. But hew was also persecuted by the U.S. government. He was forced to leave the United States and become an expatriate, first in France and then in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Ollie was no fool and no apologist. He married in the GDR and worked to build socialism, but did not refuse to see countertrends. He used to say that while the big Nazi officials went to West Germany, a bunch of the little Nazi types stayed in East Germany. Before he died, he had been assaulted on a number of occasions by right-wing youth in the former GDR after the Berlin Wall came down. Ollie was a long-distance runner. His recognition extended from 1940, when Life magazine featured recent art graduates from Yale University, to 1995 as he continued to draw cartoons for the major humor magazine in the former GDR and for the People's Daily World newspaper in the United States. Through over 50 years of people's art, Ollie Harrington made a major contribution to our political consciousness and spirit of resistance. Long live the lessons of Ollie Harrington! ****************************************************************** 15. 21ST CENTURY COMMUNISM: HEAVEN ON EARTH [The purpose of this column is to show that it is possible for the human race to feed, clothe, house, educate and care for itself now on the basis of equality, justice and peace. The resources, technology and knowledge exist. What we lack is the political and economic -- the social -- organization to do it. We invite readers to submit articles that help prove that, "The future is in our hands."] By Joyce and Lenny Brody Some of us revolutionaries in the League of Revolutionaries for a New America are communists and Marxist-Leninists. People ask us how we can still be communists after the "fall of communism." As communists, our opinion revolves around the difference between 20th century communism and what could be called "21st century communism." While there is a link between the two communisms, there are also significant differences. The communist movement in the 20th century was mainly a way for a country to industrialize, with as many of the benefits of modernization as possible going to the working classes. In the United States, industrialization was under the control of the capitalist class. It took a 300-year reign of terror to accomplish this process -- from the near elimination of the Native American population, to the brutal exploitative period of slavery, to the sweatshops and tenements of the early 1900s. In Russia, China and other "communist" countries, there was an attempt to modernize from agriculture to modern industry, with a minimum of the kind of suffering experienced by the older industrialized countries like the United States, England and some of the other European countries. In today's world, 20th century communism is no longer needed. Modernization in some form has come to every corner of the world. While the new communists of today carry on the traditions from the past of building a society that benefits the majority, not just the tiny capitalist class, we have different goals. The new electronic technology makes possible a society where every family and each person can have all the goods and services they need for a comfortable and productive life, a society based on abundance. But this is only the foundation. The real goals of the new communists are to use this foundation for a true flowering of the human intellect and spirit. It is within our grasp to create a society where every child can experience the joy in discovering our artistic, musical and literary heritage. It is within our grasp to create a society where every young adult can experience the excitement of education, physical sports and community contribution. It is within our grasp to create a society that respects, honors and learns from its elders. It is within our grasp to create a society where work is not drudgery, but an expression of an individual's interests and goals. We can create a society where learning and creativity become a lifetime experience. ****************************************************************** 16. ON BEING 'HISTORY'S RUBY': HOW AND WHY WE MUST BUILD AN ORGANIZATION OF REVOLUTIONARIES By Brooke Heagerty [Editor's note: The following is an excerpt of remarks delivered at the League of Revolutionaries for a New America's Area Office Conference held in November, 1995 in Chicago. The conference marked a turning point for the LRNA. More than 30 representatives of LRNA Area Offices from across the country convened to share experiences of building the League in their cities, to discuss the mood of the American people and the movement and to make plans and commitments for further growth.] It is customary after a such a convening to sum up our discussion and our agreements. Our country is becoming full of discontented, restless, disoriented people. They are being driven by historical forces beyond their control and beyond, as yet, their awareness. The world they have known is turned upside down and they are being morally and spiritually challenged by the times. They are searching for answers. Right now, they are only hearing from the ruling class, which has convinced an alarming number to accept the steady but accelerating implementation of a police state. At the same time, technology offers the vision of a future which we can hardly imagine. The arising social struggle does not lack organizers, or militancy, or the courage of conviction. Only one thing is lacking: an understanding of the reality of the situation, who is friend and who is foe, and what must be done if humanity is to survive. The role we must play is that of teacher to the movement, but a certain kind of teacher: one who has the task of "introducing new ideas." We must appeal to the morality and sense of fair play of the American people as the means to educate and prepare them for the struggles that lie ahead. Everything about our organization -- its structure, its methodology, its organizational principles, its primary weapons (the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo) -- reflect this purpose of "introducing new ideas." What were the key points of our convening? Methodology: We took the first steps in building a working relationship between the National Office and the Area Offices, a relationship defined by our respective divisions of labor and our common approach of objective assessment, planning, evaluation and reporting. Structure: We agreed at the chapter system will connect us to the broadening movement and that it must be open, flexible and organized for political education. The Area Offices must oversee the building and expansion of the chapter system. They must provide assessments, evaluations and reports to the National Office and through it, to the rest of the organization. The National Office must work with the areas to get reports and plans, synthesize this information, and send it back out as political analysis and practical direction so that the entire organization is working as a coordinated whole. Integrated approach: The press, education, fundraising and building the League as a political organization are all essential parts of the same whole and must proceed together. Introducing new ideas: This cannot be done without political education. Education happens in many different ways, but the content of that education must always be the same. Our papers are our main weapons. We must get them out, get them paid for and must guarantee that they are the expression of the movement and not just its reflection. Decentralize the organization: All of these elements will allow us to create self-sustaining local organizations which, directed by our common Program and our common purpose, can expand and influence the social struggles as they develop and ultimately break out in a mass way. Sense of mission: At our Leadership School we learned of a young girl named Ruby Bridges. In 1960, this 6-year-old girl, under federal protection and in the face of continual harassment and danger, integrated an elementary school in New Orleans. This is what she had to say when she was 10, about what she did: "I knew I was just Ruby, just Ruby trying to go to school. ... "But I guess I also knew I was the Ruby who had to do it, go into that school and stay there, no matter what those people said, standing outside. "And besides, the minister reminded me that God chooses us to do his will, and so I had to be His Ruby, if that's what He wanted. "And then that white lady wrote and told me she was going to stop shouting at me, because she'd decided I wasn't bad, even if integration was bad; then my momma said I'd become 'her Ruby,' that lady's, just like she said in her letter, and I was glad. "And I was glad I got all the nice letters from people who said I was standing up for them, and I was walking for them, and they were thinking of me, and they were with me, and I was their Ruby, too, they said." (Chicago Tribune, Sept. 22, 1995) Now, some of us may see ourselves as God's Ruby. But I say we should all think of ourselves as history's Ruby: an instrument of something greater than ourselves, strengthened by our consciousness of this calling. It is with this sense of mission that we must return to build our chapters and our areas, to expand our influence and our treasury so that we can put an end to the waste and destruction, and live finally in a world where, in the words of the great revolutionary song, "we shall be all." ****************************************************************** 17. THREE STRIKES LAW AGAINST WATTS Event: Saturday, January 27/2-5 pm Robert B. Pitts Westminster Neighborhood Center, 1827 E. 103rd Street (Corner of 103rd and Wilmington Ave.) Watts, California. Speakers: ANTHONY WATERS: Group Coordinator for BACDO (Black Awareness Community Development Organization). Mr. Waters will speak about facing his third strike. NELSON PEERY: author of "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary." For more information call: 213-299-7518 Peace Up! ****************************************************************** 18. NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA Humanity is being reborn in an age of great revolutionary change. The tools exist to produce all that we need for a peaceful, orderly world. For the first time in history, a true flowering of the human intellect and spirit is possible. Our fight is to reorganize society to accomplish these goals. Our vision is of a new, cooperative society of equality, and of a people awakening. The revolution we need is possible. A great moral optimism is beginning to sweep this country as the poor, the oppressed, the decent-hearted, embrace this revolutionary mission and make it a reality. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America takes as its mission the political awakening of the American people. We invite all who see that there is a problem and are ready to do something about it to join with us. For more information, call 312-486-0028. Send the coupon below to P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647. ____ I want to join the LRNA. Please send information. ____ Enclosed is my donation of $_______. I want to subscribe! ____ People's Tribune. $2 for a two-month subscription or $25 for a year. ____ Tribuno del Pueblo. $2 for a four-month subscription or $10 for a year. (You can also get bundles of 10 or more copies of the PT or TP for 15 cents per copy.) Name ____________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip __________________________________________________ ****************************************************************** 19. 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 ******************************************************************