From jdav@noc.orgFri Mar 1 11:55:08 1996 Date: Fri, 1 Mar 96 05:42 GMT From: Jim Davis To: pt.dist@noc.org Subject: People's Tribune (3-96) Online Edition ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 23 No. 4 / March, 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. 4 / March, 1996 Page One 1. THE '96 ELECTIONS: GET SCARED, GET ANGRY, GET INVOLVED! Spirit of the Revolution 2. 'A MORNING IN GOD'S WORK': PROTESTANTS OPPOSE ATTACKS ON WELFARE News and Features 3. ELECTIONS '96: A BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS 4. DEATH IN THE WINTER: WHY? 5. 'IF YOU HAVE MONEY, YOU CAN GET JUSTICE': AN IMPRISONED BLACK PANTHER SPEAKS OUT 6. BORDER POLICY KILLS AGAIN: BRING DOWN CRUEL LAWS! 7. HOMELESSNESS HAUNTS STANDING ROCK -- LAKOTA NATION: MIRROR OF AMERICA 8. GRIEVING VICTIM OF CALIFORNIA FIRE IS ARRAIGNED IN COURT Focus on the New Women's Movement 9. A NEW WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IS RISING UP FOR A NEW AMERICA 10. BREAKING THE STEREOTYPE OF THE WELFARE RECIPIENT 11. AIN'T WE AS PRECIOUS? 12. POEM: HE'S STILL MY SON Deadly Force 13. POLICE ABUSE: THE ROOTS AND THE RESOLUTION Culture Under Fire 14. 'REWIRING OUR NETWORKS' CONFERENCE PLANNED >From the League 15. ORGANIZE THE MILLIONS OF FIGHTERS FOR JUSTICE Announcements, Events, etc. 16. CORRECTION ****************************************************************** 1. PAGE ONE: THE '96 ELECTIONS: GET SCARED, GET ANGRY, GET INVOLVED! Pat Buchanan's victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary on February 20 set off alarm bells and led to wake-up calls across the country. The spokespersons for minorities, women, the trade unions and the poor issued panic statements. How could this fascist win? What does it mean? He won because the Christian Coalition provided the ideological ground troops for the door-to-door canvassing, guaranteeing that the right wing got to the polls. More importantly, Buchanan won by demogogically stirring up the deep economic fear held by the workers. When asked about job losses, Lamar Alexander truthfully replied that jobs are not going overseas, they are disappearing through downsizing at the rate of 10 percent per year and we just have to live with it. Buchanan attacked free trade, big business and abortions, promising to bring jobs back and create new ones. As in the rest of the country, many of New Hampshire's workers are becoming marginalized and fear unemployment. They cast their ballots for jobs, even if it meant voting for fascism. The New Hampshire Republican primary shows how hard the people have been hit by the "quiet depression." It also shows the huge educational task that faces serious revolutionaries. The first task is to resist the inevitable call to again accept the "lesser of the two evils." This time, we will not be stampeded into Clinton's corral. The results of the New Hampshire primary indicate that it is time for serious educational and organizational effort to build a national workers' or people's party to resist the evils, be they greater or lesser. The election: A battle for hearts and minds For more on the elections, see Story 3. ****************************************************************** 2. 'A MORNING IN GOD'S WORK': PROTESTANTS OPPOSE ATTACKS ON WELFARE By Chris Mahin [Editor's note: Below we print the latest contribution to our regular column about spirituality and revolution. We encourage readers to submit articles to this column and to comment on what appears here.] ELMHURST, Illinois -- "Poverty is the enemy, not the poor people themselves." ... "The corporations have the power." ... "We need to become more politically active." ... "We need to let Christians in America know that they have a choice." These were just a few of the many heartfelt comments made when 150 religious activists gathered at the First United Methodist Church here on January 27 to voice their opposition to the destruction of welfare programs. The Saturday morning event was called "Poverty and Welfare: A Christian Response." It brought together clergy and lay people from both Chicago and the suburbs. The program was sponsored by Protestants for the Common Good, a local organization launched in December 1995 to provide a Christian voice on public issues different from that of the Religious Right. Elmhurst, a suburb west of Chicago, was chosen as the site of the meeting because it is in the legislative districts of James A. (Pate) Philip, the president of the Illinois Senate, and Lee Daniels, the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. One of the nation's most prominent Protestant ministers, Dr. William Sloane Coffin, delivered the keynote speech at the conference. "If a system enriches the few, impoverishes the many, or endangers the planet, it must be changed," Coffin declared. At five workshops, the conference participants debated and refined a document called "A Statement on the Problems of Poverty and Welfare Reform in the State of lllinois." That statement declares: "As Christians, we are deeply concerned about the human impact of these economic problems. We fear that deeper cuts in state services and programs will lead to more misery ... and even greater inequality between rich and poor." The workshop I attended included a lively discussion on strategy. The participants talked about the huge strain that Pentagon spending puts on the federal budget, the strangle hold which corporate money has on the electoral process, and the global character of today's economy. They debated how to counter negative media images of poor people and affirmed the importance of using the Internet, videos and books. At the meeting's conclusion, Greg Dell of Chicago's Broadway United Methodist Church declared that if the whole group acts on the suggestions developed at the gathering, everyone who participated can truthfully say, "We have spent a morning in God's work." For more information about Protestants for the Common Good, contact William Lovell at 312-243-8300. ****************************************************************** 3. ELECTIONS '96: A BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS By R. Lee [Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles on the elections.] The 1996 election campaign is a struggle for the hearts and minds of the people. It is a battle between hope and fear. We can use it to take a giant step on the path of hope, toward a just, prosperous society for us all. How we -- employed and unemployed -- can best participate in the electoral process will become more clear in the months ahead, but we must participate in it and vote. By not voting, we legitimize the rule of people such as House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Clinton. We must begin to cut the ties that bind us to our enemies, and develop our own independent voice. And our participation will help educate, organize and unite us, will steel us for the battles that lie ahead. All the Republican candidates, as well as Clinton, a Democrat, shamelessly attack the poor and pander to the "middle class" -- those workers who still have jobs or who until recently had jobs. They tell outrageous lies against the poor. Pat Buchanan, a Republican, is the most extreme in this tactic. But all the candidates basically talk the same trash. Their goal is to unite what is left of the middle class around a fascist program of rule by force. Such a program is designed to serve the interests only of the wealthy and powerful. Both parties have their plans for slashing the safety net for the jobless; they each have their version of the "war on crime," which amounts to stripping the people of all rights and creating a police state; both parties have attacked people of color and immigrant workers as the source of the country's economic and social problems; Democrats and Republicans alike blame the people for the "moral crisis" in our country. Both parties have written off a whole section of our people -- the poorest of the poor, those who are being made permanently unemployed by technology and global competition, and those who are about to become permanently unemployed. Both parties are playing strictly to the middle class, telling them that the poor are a millstone around their necks, dragging them down. The increasingly wealthy ruling class of this country, which operates through both the Democratic and Republican parties, has to tell the middle class something, after all. If the middle class isn't turned against the poor, it will turn against the ruling class. It will demand a new system. The way the campaign is going -- especially Buchanan's early successes in the Republican primaries -- should be a warning to all of us, and a call to action. We cannot abandon the voting booth to the fascists, whether they are Republicans or Democrats. Those of us who are jobless and struggling to survive, as well as those who are worried about their jobs, have common interests and common enemies. Our common interest is survival and progress. Our common enemies are the wealthy ruling class and their fascist allies. We must see clearly what the strategy of our enemies is. And we can and must use the elections to strengthen ourselves for the battles to come. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CAMPAIGN '96: DO THE EARLY VOTERS REPRESENT AMERICA? With Campaign '96 in full swing, the newspapers and airwaves are full of commentaries about what a grand exercise in democracy is supposedly taking place. But do the states which conduct the first (and often the most important) caucuses and primaries really represent America? The first caucus was held in Iowa, a state with only 4.5 million people. Only 585,000 Iowans are registered Republicans and only 100,000 of them turned out for the caucuses. Bob Dole won in Iowa with fewer than 30,000 votes. New Hampshire's population of 1.1 million people is 98 percent white. The Granite State has an unemployment rate of just 3 percent. Fewer than 200,000 people voted in the primary there on February 20. Patrick Buchanan won the New Hampshire primary with fewer than 60,000 votes. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WELFARE FOR THE RICH 'IT'S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID' (CANDIDATES) Seven in 10 voters believe the economy is stagnant, in a recession or depression. One in 10 workers is now a "contingent" worker. (They expect their job to last less than one year.) There has been an 89 percent increase in the use of temporary workers. Last month two jobs were cut every minute -- 24 hours a day. Thirty percent of those polled by the Los Angeles Times said someone in their household would lose their job in the next 12 months. Capitalism's new social contract is being invented. It will be a "virtual organization:" no permanent assets, no permanent jobs, just a shifting set of relationships with customers and suppliers. "Corporate restructuring is more than an economic shift. It is a social revolution." Now is the time to get these revolutionaries together! ****************************************************************** 4. DEATH IN THE WINTER: WHY? CHICAGO -- Again, this big, troubled city on the American prairie was overtaken by the worst of the winter season. Again, record cold temperatures cut through the thickest of clothing. Again, thousands of people suffered and many died. Who was that dead man they found in a boxcar in a railroad yard on the far South Side? The papers didn't say; just that he was frozen and probably homeless. Did Wladyslawa Cukiernik, 88, and Archie Yeck, 78, deserve to end their years in their freezing apartments the way they did? Forced to turn off their heat in order to save money? How come this had to happen again this winter? Like it did last winter. Like it probably will next winter, unless ... How come the mayor, who awes us with his power when it comes to repression of the poor and weak, meekly explains that he cannot prevent the giant local utility, "People's" Gas, from shutting off service to those who cannot pay their rates? And what does People's Gas mean when its spokesman says it cannot just give its service away, even when the temperature rises to only 6 below zero, and the wind chill factor makes it feel eight times as cold? What are they saying? They are saying: no money, no life. What kind of system makes a human being who needs heat, or housing, or food, pay money to someone who possesses those necessities? An inhuman, murderous system. What kind of rulers will not use their political power to see to it that no one, regardless of the ability to pay, is denied the necessaries of life? Rulers who are unfit to rule. Do we need more proof than the deaths of Wladyslawa Cukiernik, Archie Yeck and the man in the boxcar? Next winter, will you end up the same way? Or will you decide to take the first step toward working, struggling and fighting to replace an economic and political system which has taken too many precious lives already and replace it with one in which we are all free to live for free? +----------------------------------------------------------------+ POEM the light [I dedicate this to Junior Scott, age 72. Last Christmas Eve he died in his '79 Ford LTD where he lived with his wife Myrtle, a home so cramped they often also slept in abandoned buildings along the waterfront.] Right before that I dreamed that whole stretch of the city had been abandoned and hundreds of squatters were living in the buildings. I saw in their busted-out windows the flickering lights of beginning I didn't know it then, but Junior was about to go there to join his friends and comrades; 142 more would join him, sent by the cold and brutal indifference, dispatched by murder and suicide. Now they construct a future for all of us with useful golden nails They are a new class arising, on both sides of time. They send their dreams down to the loneliness deeps of abandonment and despair. Here in the dark of the year -- for the Elders and for the Child -- we organize for that light -- Sarah Menefee, San Francisco ****************************************************************** 5. 'IF YOU HAVE MONEY, YOU CAN GET JUSTICE': AN IMPRISONED BLACK PANTHER SPEAKS OUT By Robert Birt, Annie Chambers and Mike Brand [Editor's note: Eddie Conway was a member of the Black Panther Party 25 years ago when he was arrested as part of the nationwide FBI attacks on the Party. He is still in jail; a local committee in Maryland is working to free him. He spoke with the People's Tribune recently.] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Do you have anything you want to say before we ask specific questions? EDDIE CONWAY: I have been a political prisoner in Maryland since 1970. The attack on the Black Panther Party was part of the FBI COINTELPRO probe to disrupt and destroy the progressive movement. I was accused unjustly of the murder of one police officer and an assault on two other police [officers]. I could not receive a fair trial at that time because of the political climate in America. Today, we have come full cycle. The things that people were struggling for at that time remain major problems in America today. The relation of police forces in poor and minority communities is unchanged: If you have money, you can get justice; if not, you can't. PT: Most people are struggling just to survive. Why should they be sympathetic to lifer issues? EC: Long-term incarceration becomes less effective after a certain age, about 50. There have been a lot of studies showing that, at a certain point, people are less likely to break laws or become recidivist. Beyond that point, incarceration, which costs $22,000 per year per inmate, starts to be counterproductive. Prisons in America are used to control the mass of the people for the rich and as a source of surplus labor to control the labor force. Right now, prisons seem to be our major growth industry. PT: What was the role of Panthers? Why were they attacked? EC: The Panthers raised the consciousness of the community about police brutality. That sparked the most attention in the community. The Panthers started to design programs to address needs of the community. That raised the contradiction of what the system was not doing for the community. I think it was these survival programs that caused the government to focus on destroying the BPP. PT: How has the prison system changed? EC: When I was first incarcerated, the prison system was run and controlled mainly by brutality. Over the years, criminologists have discovered behavior modification. Now prisons are run mainly by psychological inducements backed up by force. Most interactions between prisoners and guards are now verbal exchanges about the loss of this privilege or that privilege. In the '70s, prisons were mainly to isolate those individuals the ruling class could not control. Today, prisons are also used to bolster the economies of rural white communities. When the factory moves out, they replace it with a prison. Repression is growing. For example, this area [Jessup, Maryland] is now a concentration camp. When I first arrived here, you could look out and see grass and rolling hills. Now, in every direction, there are prisons and more prisons, gun towers, spotlights, razor wire and 7,000 prisoners where there were 2,000. PT: What political role do you play in prison? EC: I work very closely with the ACLU in relation to keeping the conditions of the jail at some level of human standards. I work with the lifer organization. I am active in two discussion groups: One is radical and political; one is strictly academic and intellectual. PT: Do you have any other comments? EC: The mistake that was made during the '60s and '70s was that we did not form a united front. We saw different groups attacked individually throughout that period: The Panthers were attacked, the American Indian Movement, the United Farm Workers. I am of the belief that fascism is here. When it comes, people panic and try to form united fronts to protect themselves and it's too late. If we form networks now, we will have a basis to protect us against right-wing attacks, whether they are paramilitary or come from the government. [For information about efforts to free Eddie Conway, call 410-467- 4769 or 410-276-7221.] ****************************************************************** 6. BORDER POLICY KILLS AGAIN: BRING DOWN CRUEL LAWS! They had made it across. All 15 of them. The men had hiked along a rocky, steep, and treacherous ravine to enter the United States. And now the immigrants were four miles north of the border in California, in a rural section of southern San Diego County. They were tired, thirsty, but hopeful. Their silent prayers and desperate determination had gotten them this far. Nothing would stop them now, they thought. But they were wrong. Suddenly, they were spotted by Border Patrol agents. They were ordered to sit -- nine did. But six men could not sit. These six were too hungry for a new life. They had reached the promised land; they could not go back. So they ran, report the border agents. The immigrants ran only eight to 10 feet before falling 120 feet into a ravine. One man died instantly, it was reported. The other five men miraculously survived the fall with injuries. All the detained immigrants will be deported if they are found to be in the country illegally. This tragedy is a direct result of Operation Gatekeeper which has increased personnel, resources and technology for the Border Patrol and other immigration authorities, making illegal border crossings in the San Diego-Tijuana area harder than ever. But federal officials admit that there are signs that the economic situation is compelling more Mexicans to risk trying to cross. In fact, while border crossings had reportedly dropped by 50 percent in response to Operation Gatekeeper, the number of attempted border crossings has suddenly increased by 25 percent once again. The effects of Operation Gatekeeper confirms that our country's "get tough" border policies don't stop immigration, they only drive people to take more desperate measures to try to escape their misery. As a nation we must wake up to the cries of the immigrants. Too many have perished. They have suffocated, trapped in desert boxcars. They have drowned in irrigation canals. They have been crushed to death, losing control in high-speed chases fleeing immigration officials. They die slowly every day, their lives drained from them in cruel sweatshops and fields across this land. But they are not defeated. Like modern-day slaves, they head north in search of justice and freedom. And like the abolitionists of yesteryear, the only moral response is to greet them with open arms and to bring down the laws that take away their dignity and rights as human beings. -- Reprinted from the Tribuno del Pueblo, February 12, 1996. ****************************************************************** 7. HOMELESSNESS HAUNTS STANDING ROCK -- LAKOTA NATION: MIRROR OF AMERICA By Anthony D. Prince Microcosm: A diminutive, representative world; a system more or less analogous to a much larger system. -- American Heritage Dictionary STANDING ROCK INDIAN RESERVATION, Lakota Nation (Fort Yates, North Dakota) -- On the side of a small hill, the grounds of the Indian cemetery are overgrown with weeds. The wind kicks up clouds of dust as Lakota Treaty Chief Richard Grass stoops down at his grandfather's grave. A few feet away, the only tombstone of any prominence marks the grave of Lt. Bull Head, the policeman who killed Chief Sitting Bull in 1890 on the orders of the U.S. government. The neglected state of this burial ground mirrors the disregard by that same government toward the people living below, residents of one of the poorest communities in the United States. Here, 60 miles south of Bismarck, North Dakota, at the end of a one-road peninsula on the edge of the Missouri River, is Standing Rock, population 9,000. In June of last year, Dr. Abdul Alkalimat and I visited Standing Rock as invited participants in an International Tribunal Against Genocide organized by the Lakota Provisional Government. We found more than genocide, more than the systematic destruction of a people. We found a microcosm of America itself. WHITE HOUSE LETTER You would think that a descendent of John Grass, the great Lakota chief who met with nine U.S. presidents, would get something more from Bill Clinton than a form letter. But that's all the reply that Richard Grass received last year, after he challenged the president to live up to the International Conventions against Genocide. Grass demanded the withdrawal of the troops, bureaucrats and corporations who have collectively cost the lives of tens of thousands of Native Americans. "Thank you for sharing your views," responded Clinton. "It's important for me to know how you feel." I wonder if the president knows how Agatha Holybull feels. In the winter of 1991, this proud grandmother was forced to burn surplus commodities and her own clothing in a wood stove just to survive. "They wouldn't give me another propane tank," she told the Tribunal Against Genocide. "They said I'd used up my allotment for the month." Or take Germaine Tremmel, a mother of four, a spiritual adviser and a combat veteran who feels betrayed by the government she served as a paratrooper in the Persian Gulf War. "Do you think Washington, D.C. is going to notice the epidemic of tuberculosis? The blood disorders? The brain tumors and diabetes? It's all coming from this contaminated water," Tremmel said. "The earth can't contain any more of this poison." Meanwhile, as in cities and towns across America, Standing Rock is haunted by the specter of homelessness. The lack of housing here has meant incredible suffering. According to Tremmel, it is not unusual for 20 families to be packed into a single, crumbling shack of chicken wire and stucco. With the official winter jobless rate at 65 percent and virtually everyone dependent on federal programs, cuts in the U.S. Housing Department budget could mean death sentences. Despite being forced to veto $6.6 billion in reductions last June, Clinton has made no promises for the future. "Nothing is safe," said Ruth Jaure of the National American Indian Housing Council. GENUINE LEADERS RESIST Must the people of Standing Rock live in the shadow of such economic and political threats? Richard Grass, Germaine Tremmel, Agatha Holybull and the rest of the Provisional Government say "no." They're backing up their words with action -- like last June's Tribunal Against Genocide and efforts to house the homeless in nearby Rapid City, South Dakota. Increasingly, the Provisional Government, re-established in 1991, is winning the respect and loyalty of the people. By acting on behalf of the impoverished Lakota people, these leaders objectively represent every community in this country which has been neglected or preyed upon economically. After all, how different is the experience of a Lakota woman forced to burn her possessions to stay warm from that of thousands of Americans left to suffer this winter's deadly cold without federal heating assistance? How different is the police brutality dished out to young Lakotas from the abuse common to every city and town in the country? The entire class of jobless, semi-employed, marginally surviving Americans is being pushed to the level of the Indian reservation. And by whom? By the same ruling elite of thieves whose crimes began with the slaughter of the Native Americans, the enslavement of the Africans, the theft of half of Mexico and the vicious exploitation of the European immigrants. As Richard Grass says, "The entire system is a self-perpetuating vicious cycle from which there is no escape and a wall at every turn to catch people up in their net." Convinced that reform is impossible, the Provisional Government regards the U.S. government as completely illegitimate. Can any of the 70 million Americans living in poverty, shamelessly looted from and abandoned by that same government have a different view? The cause of the Lakota and the cause of those millions is one and the same. NOT SATISFIED We left North Dakota convinced that the suffering and resistance there are a concentrated expression of what's true in the streets of Chicago, the little towns of Pennsylvania, the backwoods of the South and all over "the other America." Standing Rock derives its name from the legend of an abandoned Arikara woman who refuses to break camp with other villagers after her husband takes a new wife. As a result of her stubbornness, she turns into a stone, the holy rock that now stands 10 feet from the Missouri River. In 1996, it is the Lakota people themselves, abandoned by the federal government, who are refusing to budge. Their struggle is the embodiment of the legend for which their home is named. That is the kind of spirit that moves Germaine Tremmel, among many others. "I'm tired of compromising," she said, as a dark look crossed her usually sunny face. "I'm teaching my people not to be satisfied." ****************************************************************** 8. GRIEVING VICTIM OF CALIFORNIA FIRE IS ARRAIGNED IN COURT [Editor's note: Below we print excerpts from a press release from the Women's Economic Agenda Project.] OAKLAND, California -- Rena Raybon, the grieving mother of five children lost in a tragic fire, appeared in Oakland Municipal Court here on February 20. "Do you know what it's like to have to grieve for five children, whom you have bared the pain of bringing into this world and then have to be faced with charges of a tragic fire that swept their lives away? The district attorney has shown no moral or decent regard for poor people by pursuing a conviction of this mother and not the slum landlord in this case. Rena Raybon and her family are indeed victims of this great injustice," said Renee Pecot of WEAP. "The Women's Economic Agenda Project has taken on this case because we understand that this is an indictment against all of us, especially against poor women. We are being criminalized when tragedies happen, as the eroding of the economic base of our country drives Americans further and further into poverty," articulated Carolyn Milligan, operations manager at WEAP. Dorothea Lawyer, board president of WEAP, responded that, "The point many have missed is that Oakland has a higher proportion of accidental housing fires than other Bay Area cities. And those children, who included a 15-year-old and the youngest 8 months, might have gotten out alive if the apartment had breakaway security bars on the windows, like the law requires. Instead the owner was allowed to secure them so they couldn't be opened from the inside. That turned the apartment into a firetrap." According to the community members who witnessed the tragedy, the 15-year-old girl who was at the bedroom window was desperately trying to escape from the fire through the window that had bars on it that could not be opened by a release mechanism. While this child was desperately trying to escape, people were throwing water on her to keep her from burning. This tragedy and injustice will continue because the law does not want to deal with the underlying problem -- poverty, slum landlords and no decent, affordable housing. What kind of person would put the lives of women and children in jeopardy for a release mechanism that cost $85? This landlord has not shown any remorse toward this mother and the law has not gone after the landlord, and yet the law may be seeking action against her. The district attorney should go after the people who put firetraps up for rent. The media should perform its watchdog role by urging the district attorney to stop scapegoating the victims of unsafe housing, and work at making the supply of low-income housing safe and legal. ****************************************************************** 9. A NEW WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IS RISING UP FOR A NEW AMERICA By Cheri Honkala A country in which women, men and children can be free from want and hunger is now possible in America. With poor women leading the fight, the face of the women's movement is beginning to change and encompass all women's issues. Today we are organizing for health care, for housing, for real equality and for the right to provide for our children. We are seizing the time, and with our fighting and our educating of the American people, we can win the fight for power in this country. We can have a new America -- one where we can be free to thrive in a world of plenty. Electronic technology means this vision is no longer a blur. A new women's movement is rising up for a new America. ****************************************************************** 10. BREAKING THE STEREOTYPE OF THE WELFARE RECIPIENT By Laura Garcia Tamar Lewis is a member of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and the mother of a four-year-old boy. In her daily activities she has taken up the huge task of educating people that a welfare mom "is worth something." Her life breaks the stereotype -- or more accurately, is a good profile -- of what is a welfare mom. She's in her early twenties, is going to school, and yes, she's working. "I don't work outside my home," she told the People's Tribune. "I choose to do that. My son is real young. My most important job right now is to take care of him until he goes to school and I graduate from college." When some of her friends tell her she needs to get a real job, she responds, "I have a full-time job. I rationalize with them that what I'm doing is work. They still fight with the idea that you have to have a job outside your home. On the one hand they understand; but on the other, they still can't come to the realization that I deserve to get help from the government. "The conception people have is that I'm sitting at home watching soap operas all day, spending my food stamps on beer, not taking care of my child. But my child is very intelligent. He's taken very good care of. "When I go down to the WIC office, they talk to me like if they are surprised that he's in good health. But that's my work and I do a good job. Their focus is to get you into any kind of job, whether that job has any kind of future or not, so they can make the facade to the public that they are making lazy welfare people be responsible for themselves. "Unfortunately, people believe the stereotype of the welfare recipient, especially when they don't know any. They do come into contact with welfare recipients, though; but they don't know it. People don't volunteer that information [that they're on welfare] because of that stereotype. "A person who goes to school, gets good grades and is paying attention to school certainly doesn't fit what they are told. I have people in the classroom that would make derogatory comments about welfare mothers in front of me, because they don't think I'm one. But they won't say it in front of an African American woman that is dressed like they think she should be dressed, and that woman might not be on welfare." Yes, it's true, Tamar Lewis does not fit the stereotype of the welfare recipient. In fact, none of the welfare recipients do. That is, unless they are owners or CEOs of corporations, or military contractors -- it is these groups who get over $100 billion in government subsidies, while the poor get a measly $14.4 billion, or about 1 percent of the federal budget. ****************************************************************** 11. AIN'T WE AS PRECIOUS? By Maureen Taylor Sojourner Truth was a hero fighting against slavery and the second class position of women in her day. She stands as a beacon, her spirit and courage still intact, as some of those fights she fought back then are still raging today. One favorite speech given by Ms. Truth was the address given at the 1851 Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Sister Sojourner must have made quite a statement with her extreme height, her black skin, her deep voice and her Quaker high- collared dress. The setting was dramatic. The men in the crowd were unruly, adamant about women "not" organizing to gain equality and intent on making this emancipated slave feel unwelcome. If such a woman were to give a similar speech today, it would probably sound like this: To our elected ladies and gentlemen, may I beg to say a few words, specifically about equality and rights, from a poor person who enjoys neither. I have as much brain power as any rich man, and can think as much as the next one. I have worked, cleaned, cooked, driven the children, balanced the checkbook and have kept the utilities on with less than what minimum wages are. Can any one of you do this? I have heard much about you wanting to break something you call a "cycle of dependency." As members of Congress, don't you depend on the people to keep you in office, to provide free rent and food, to give you unlimited postage and 24-hour free transportation? Aren't you dependent on us for your lights and gas, your air conditioning and telephone service, and all the health and wealth you can get from us? Aren't you and your children as precious to God as me and mine? And about the question of "equality" -- if a poor woman has a little pint full of equality, and you are used to a full quart, why can't she keep her pint full? You seem to be afraid of equal distribution of the wealth, seem to fear we will take too much. But poor folks only want what equality our little pint will hold. We ain't used to being greedy, so our thinking don't hold toward hoarding from others like you all have done. Now, about poor men, who seem to be confused and don't know what to do. Don't you see that if poor women have justice and equality, you too are gonna be better off? Your own justice and equality will be more secure and there won't be so much trouble. The Bible says that the meek shall inherit the earth. That means that those who are poor, humble and with Christian ways will be victorious over those who worship wealth and greed and who practice vindictive and punitive ways. Jesus never sent the poor away, but sought out their company and named them among this friends. Remember, Jesus was homeless at birth, and ended up in a barn in December. We women will continue to fight the good fight, and to those men who are on our side, God bless and keep you all strong and brave. Politicians are in a tight place where only defeat can live. More and more organized poor women are coming into this fight, along with organized poor men. You politicians are truly being wedged between an historic rock and an unpleasant hard place with no way out. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WOMEN CRUSADING FOR A NEW AMERICA SPEAKING CAMPAIGN Many of the women on these two pages -- fighting on the front lines of the battles for housing, welfare, equality and more -- are available to speak at Women's History Month events in March. For details, call the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau at 312-486- 3551 today. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 12. POEM: HE'S STILL MY SON >From the moment you taken your first breath, i loved you unconditionally, with ten fingers, and ten toes, a face that would warm the heart of a lion, you were mine and mine alone, You were my awaited gift from God, my prince whom i vowed to protect, from all the evil of the world, you were my diamond in the rough, a precious gem more valuable than life itself, i would lay down my life and die for you, God had opened the heavens and blessed me with an angel, While watching you grow, i imagined what life would be like for us, sending you off to school, deciding what to fix for lunch, or discovering your many talents, it was us baby, you and me against the world, As i hold you in my arms, resting you close to my breast, i feel the strength of your heart as it beats close to mine, your heart beats as that of a warrior, ready to do battle, willing to conquer all that is positive, destroying anything negative, the years rapidly pass, i now look into the eyes of a young man, every time he looks at me, his eyes ask me, mama what happened, i reach out and embrace him, no matter what happens this child, now a grown man remains my gift, the world looked at the color of his skin, and damned him before he even tried, the hood took him from me, the homeboys raised him for me, the streets became his sanctuary, he was a king the people were his subjects, subjecting them to his hate, jealousy, confusion, leaving no room for errors because whatever he wanted he took he was a master at playing the game, he robbed, he stole, he would kill a nigger without thinking, he'd put a gun to your head, pull the trigger and watch you die, he'd even sing a song, die nigger, die, die nigger die, this boy was cruel, a heartless low-down nigger, somebody you would love to pistol-whip publicly, and let them know I ain't takin' your shit no more, this was the brother you personally wanted to pull the trigger, and watch him die, watch him take his last breath, and scream, die nigger, die die nigger die, die nigger, die nigger, and when he closed his eyes you felt free, felt safe, felt vindicated, he got what he deserved, it's known fact, even the bad people of this world, belong to somebody, somebody's father, somebody's uncle, somebody's brother, somebody's cousin, and somebody's son, they all belong to somebody, and yey as i embrace my child, the villain, the murderer, the gangsta, the nigger, the nigger you love to hate he still remains my child, my gift, my son, when i walk down the street, people look at me, shaking their heads, i hear 'em talking that's that nigger's momma, apple don't fall too far from the tree they ought to lock her up, hell she raised him, yeah i raised him but you, you, you taught him to steal, not me, you reeled him in, then turned and spit him out, you set him up, and left him hanging, it's not my fault, i tried everything humanly possible any mother could do, i prayed, i preached, i beat his ass every time i thought he needed it, but my child succumbed, he fell for the oke doke in the streets, listening to the niggers the homeboys his partners I won't give up on him, I won't turn my back, because he's mine, my gift, my child, he's my son, it takes a village to raise a child, but somebody in the village felt they could do better than i. --Brenda Matthews ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "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. POLICE ABUSE: THE ROOTS AND THE RESOLUTION On March 3, 1991, the Rodney King beating set into motion a historic chain of events. Now, five years later, the People's Tribune asks eight outstanding, grassroots leaders from around the country "Where do we go from here?" Compiled by Anthony D. Prince CHICAGO -- Mary Powers doesn't look like one of the most feared women in town, yet the diminutive grandmother is just that -- at least as far as some Chicago police officers are concerned. "Our work as activists is certainly cut out for us," says Powers, who as the founder of Citizens Alert has spent almost 28 years documenting police abuse. "I don't know when it has seemed as much of a challenge as it does now." "Every day, I talk with people from around the country reporting police abuse," she continues. "It's part of the national mood, these mean-spirited attempts at legislation, the criminalization of the poor, the homeless, anybody with an Hispanic-sounding name. The civil liberties and all the things our country stood for are going down the drain." But Powers, who also chairs the National Coalition on Police Accountability, has confidence in another side of America, a side evidenced recently at Chicago's Seward Academy. "It was a beautiful thing," she says, describing how the community closed ranks after 13-year-old George Risper was pushed to the ground in front of his school, kicked and subjected to racial epithets by a beat cop calling himself "Bulldog." "The community was led by three teachers, a black, a white and a Latino," she continues. "They turned every classroom into a civics lesson. The police put massive pressure on them, but they held firm." Though the punishment hardly fit the cowardly crime ("Bulldog" was briefly suspended and forced to pay restitution), the real victory was the example of unity, compassion and sense of shared mutual concern that the Seward community set for the battles that lie ahead. "From our standpoint," says Powers, "we are going to not only continue to document each individual case, but develop new strategies to meet this great challenge." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SOUTH CENTRAL, LOS ANGELES -- Even before billy club cracked bone in the Rodney King case, Theresa Allison's nephew fell victim to police deadly force. Working hard to unify the warring factions of young people in the Watts community, Henry "Tiny" Peco was gunned down by police in 1990. As he lay dying, he is said to have asked his killers, "Why are you doing this to me?" Today, Allison, the founder of Mothers Reclaiming Our Children, (Mothers ROC) has an answer. "This is a police state. Didn't [former Los Angeles police detective Mark] Fuhrman make the remark '`We are God'? The laws are only to benefit the police department." "I think our whole problem now is economic," she continues. "They are telling a black person or any poor person, white or Latino, it's fine for police to beat up a human being. They live and profit off our backs." What's the next step? Allison says its all about unity and holding the police accountable, something the people, not the government, are going to have to do. "That's our hardest problem, to come together and fight this vicious disease. Our people -- black people, all poor people -- they don't see a future, they don't even see a present. Let's deal with today." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PHILADELPHIA -- Will Gonzalez heads the Police-Barrio Relations Project in a city legendary for the brutality of its cops. "We are letting it happen," he says, pointing out that "the frustration is so deep against crime and violence that sometimes with no more than one thought, some in the community support officers who violate the law." Gonzalez points to the 1985 Philadelphia police bombing of MOVE, an act of terror that took the lives of 11 members of the group, including five children, and destroyed 85 homes. "There wasn't the outrage there should have been," he says, contrasting the massacre to the recent incident involving John du Pont, an heir to the wealthy du Pont family fortune, who barricaded himself in his suburban Philadelphia mansion after allegedly shooting a guest to death. "They [the police] allowed him to spend the weekend before they eventually flushed him out," said Gonzalez. "The mechanics are there for the people to play a role," he continues. "The district attorney's refusal to prosecute cops is a double standard, but the district attorney is an elected person -- we can do something about that. There is a vacuum of leadership of people trying to tackle this thing. We need to raise the consciousness of opportunities for change." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ MILWAUKEE -- John Gorski, a suburban engineer, and his wife Jean, a schoolteacher, never expected to find themselves at the center of a growing movement against police abuse until 17-year-old Jason Gorski was falsely arrested, handcuffed and beaten in a police van in 1991. Today, they help direct ROAR, (Restore Our American Rights), an organization dedicated to fighting all forms of official misconduct and brutality. "When I first saw the Rodney King beating," says Jean Gorski, "I thought the guy must have done something to get that beating. But after what happened to Jason, I looked at it with a whole new perspective. You don't have to do anything 'wrong' to be abused by police." "What we never expected," she continues, "was ordinary people coming up to us and relating incidents [of police abuse]. All the people told the same stories over and over again from different parts of the city. What happened to Jason was no fluke." In this old-line industrial city, where plants have laid off heavily and hard times abound, it's not hard to see just who the Milwaukee police protect and serve. "It's about money," says John. "The people that have the money control the politicians and the system. The city spends $300,000 to $500,000 annually to cover up police misconduct. Use of force reports are considered 'secret' and 'protected.' Police personnel records are considered outside the public record, so when an individual policeman is named in a complaint, the jury never sees the bigger picture." In fact, that picture involves the future of this country, and includes a suburban, working-class couple who learned that no one is immune. When their son's wounds had healed, the struggle of John and Jean Gorski had only begun. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ UNION CITY, California -- Cornelius Hall has paid the highest price a father can pay. On November 15, 1992, his son Jerrold was shot dead by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police in a case that shocked the community and propelled the elder Hall, a Navy veteran and a human relations commissioner for Union City, into the leadership of the fight. "BART is under nobody's control," says Hall. "When we began organizing to get a transit police review board in Oakland, they [BART management] threatened to move their corporate office somewhere else." "Big business is cutting more and more jobs, making more and more money," says Hall, explaining the roots of brutality. "There are more and more layoffs, consequently more people are unhappy, and therefore you need people to control them and that's the police. They work for big business. They are the intimidators." While convinced that police terror won't end until the system in which it is rooted is overturned, Hall advocates specific measures to bring the people into struggle. "We need to start electing people sympathetic to our cause and pass laws that will correct this problem, like an amendment to the police accountability bill that would allocate money to fund review boards with broad subpoena powers to bring these people to justice. We need laws with teeth that will stop police who use excessive force from going from one department to another." "Rodney King was beaten, but he's still alive," says Hall. "My son is dead. There are other kids who are going to be killed. People say, 'What can one person do?' But as a group we can force these things to stop." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CULVER CITY, California -- Geri Silva has been at this for a long, long time and she's seen all the talk come to nothing insofar as police abuse is concerned. "We had the [1992 King verdict] uprisings after which we had the commissions and all the posturing by the authorities and politicians and nothing has changed," says Silva, who spent nearly 20 years as director of the Southern California Equal Rights Congress. In that time, rivers of blood and mountains of broken promises have convinced her that people must take matters into their own hands. A starting point is the defense of the growing class of people who seem to be constantly under attack, those who the system is criminalizing so as garner public support for repressive, police- state measures. "We've got a homeless leader, Mr. Ron Taylor, who's going to be speaking tonight," says Silva. "He's fed up with the frivolous, constant police harassment they constantly endured. He's proposing a civilian review board, not a 'legally sanctioned' institution requiring a ballot measure, but a body of people who establish themselves to judge the police." Summing up, Silva refuses to condemn people, especially the young, who act against oppressive authorities. "We're redefining how you look at it," sums up Silva. "And if that means stepping outside the law for some people, than so be it." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SYRACUSE, New York -- "We have to take this very seriously," says Nancy Rhodes, the woman who spearheaded a furious campaign to establish this city's first-ever civilian review board. "These police guilds, Fraternal Orders of Police and so-called benevolent associations are highly disciplined and very coordinated at the state and national level. We have had the spectacle here of legislators saying openly that they're scared of what these lobbies might do to them. That sounds pretty close to a police state to me." Rhodes voices alarm at the ability of the police, organized as a political force as well as an armed force, to impose their will on civilian bodies. "Part of what is so dangerous about [the police unions] is that most of us have been organizing at the local level, around ordinary people and we have not been around these complex legal arenas. It's where we are the least organized." But Rhodes also recognizes it's not just about the police. "They [the police] are only the most visible agent of other forces, larger tendencies and structures that we have to uproot. But at the same time, this is a way for ordinary people to become involved in the whole idea of social control, how the state is intruding into their lives. We have to hold these two thoughts in our minds at once: to stop police violence and also to keep in mind the long view, the larger perspective of where we are going with this." ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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. 'REWIRING OUR NETWORKS' CONFERENCE PLANNED [Editor's note: From March 29 to April 1, an important conference on "Rewiring Our Networks: Cultural Equity in the 21st Century" will be held in Berkeley, California. The meeting will discuss the impact of the Information Age and how to find solutions to its problems which ensure cultural democracy and diversity. The conference will be hosted by the National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture and by the National Coalition of Multicultural Media Artists. Below we reprint excerpts from the "Information and Communication Technologies Bill of Rights" developed for the conference.] WHEREAS: In order for a democratic society to be healthy, just and strong, all of its people must have universal access to all of its essential rights, and ... WHEREAS: Universal access involves not only the wiring of houses or communities to the larger network of the NII [National Information Infrastructure], it also includes the affordability of equipment (computers, modems, etc.) that people will use to access information, (affordability of the monthly rates; an individual's or organization's level of media literacy; the availability of training; and most importantly, an understanding of information age applications, whether it is for education, economic development determining employment opportunities, accessing public services, participating in government decisions, or their own personal interest, and ... WHEREAS: The rights of universal access to free speech and important information are as essential as the right to vote, if our democracy's people are to make informed decisions that advance their own development as responsible members of the society, advance the well-being of their families, advance the quality of life in their communities, and advance the justice, liberty and prosperity of all of the society, and ... WHEREAS: When newspapers were a prime conveyor of that free speech and essential information, our forefathers protected the press with the First Amendment, to guarantee the broad distribution of that vitally important information, and ... WHEREAS: In our information age, free speech and essential information that gives meaning to events and projects opinions and attitudes of different groups to one another is core to economic survival and is increasingly supplied through continually developing networks of linked information and communication technologies, and ... WHEREAS: Our democracy has been badly damaged by government and private sector decisions that segregated free speech, essential information and essential rights according to color, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, language and economic circumstances, and ... WHEREAS: Our society has been adversely affected by marketplace decisions that base the availability of vital information on narrow, non-inclusive, short-term commercial interests, rather than on the long-term well-being of the society as a whole, and ... WHEREAS: The need for social justice in a society rapidly increasing in diversity requires that we end the way mainstream groups have fomented tensions by limiting the amount of information available to people and groups they view as non- mainstream, THEREFORE, the Community Highway Information Projects declares its belief that: * All people of the United States, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, have a fundamental right of universal access to the increasing proportion of free speech and essential information being delivered by technology. * The fact that expensive information and communication technologies are required in order to gain access to this free speech and essential information in no way absolves the society of its obligation to insure universal access for all of its citizens, in all of their diverse cultures, regardless of their documented or undocumented national status. * Just as newspapers are not accessible to people who cannot read, emerging media and information technologies are not accessible to people who do not know how to use them. As part of their fundamental right of universal access to free speech and essential information, people have a right to the necessary training in media literacy which includes the ability to analyze, evaluate and produce communication in a variety of forms. * In order to share the burden of cultural equity, economic development and democracy in our society, private companies that profit from distributing information through the new technologies must be responsible for providing support in the wiring, hardware and training to make a healthy society possible. Government policy should further this. * The right to distribute information essential to a sound democracy on these new technologies is vital, and must be protected. * The public should be fully involved in policymaking and must have full access to the information which makes those policies relevant to economic development, cultural equity and a democratic society. * Government must ensure the Rights to Privacy and Freedom of Expression throughout this technological transformation in order that the public continues to benefit from its First Amendment Rights. [For more information about the "Rewiring the Networks" conference, call the National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture at 510-451-2717 or send e-mail to namac@aol.com] ****************************************************************** 15. ORGANIZE THE MILLIONS OF FIGHTERS FOR JUSTICE All the adults were in jail. The marches had to go on. The leadership of the movement turned to its last resource -- the children. They marched, childish voices singing grown-up songs of liberation. They stopped -- face to face against Bull Connor's storm troopers. One of the cops bent down to a nine-year-old girl in the front ranks. He put his club behind his back and, with a patronizing smile, asked: "Just what do you want, little girl?" Unwavering, she looked up into his eyes and said: "Freedom!" This one word summed up all the diverse slogans and demands of a scattered movement. The movement consolidated and became political to the extent that it went beyond the individual demands of jobs, the right to enter a building or have a cup of coffee and accepted the strategic goal of freedom. Today, we are at the beginning of another great movement. As with all movements, this beginning is marked by a whole series of slogans and demands that come from diverse groups. From the scattered demands to release the various fighters for freedom who still languish in the prisons, to the struggle against dumping deadly toxic waste on the Native American reservations, the sum total of all this activity is the demand for justice. What do we mean by justice? We mean exactly what the dictionary states. Justice is "the moral principle determining just conduct." What is a "moral principle"? It is a principle founded upon right conduct rather than legalities. The government, the cops, the judges, the mayor -- those who rule our lives understand all this. Yet they deny us justice. They do not do right. They cover up their unjust activities with unjust laws. It is not right to execute a person whose innocence is proven too late to satisfy some law. It is not right that the children of the rich get a good education paid by tax dollars and poor children get a poor education paid by tax dollars. It is not right that people suffer the horrors of homelessness while housing is plentiful. It is not right that the government protects and maintains the conditions that result in literally thousands of our children being slaughtered every year. The list is endless. The rulers of this country will not grant us justice. Our choices are clear. We can submit to their unjust and immoral rule and sink deeper into drugs, murder, ignorance and economic slavery. Or we can come together and organize the millions of fighters for justice into one coordinated attack against this system. We can establish a society and economy based on the moral principles of equality, liberty and justice. To achieve these goals, we call upon you to join and build the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. ****************************************************************** 16. CORRECTION Dear Editor: I wanted to start by thanking the People's Tribune for getting the word out about Students Together Ending Poverty (STEP) in the February 3, 1996 issue. With a very limited amount of resources, it's quite difficult for us to spread the word about our organization and what we are about. I wanted to bring to your attention the inaccuracy in the article printed in the left-hand corner on page 5. The article states, "In addition to the housing takeover, STEP plans similar meetings in other parts of the country." While it is correct that several STEP Summit participants participated in the housing takeovers in Boston, they were not sponsored by STEP. The takeover was a part of the National Day of Takeovers sponsored by Homes Not Jails. STEP is currently discussing the possibility of holding other Summit meetings throughout the country. We would appreciate printing this letter, so as to avoid any further confusion. Sincerely, Jennifer Jones, Director, STEP Editor's note: We regret the error. ****************************************************************** 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 ******************************************************************