From jdav@noc.org Fri Aug 30 23:59:50 1996 Date: Fri, 30 Aug 96 13:25 GMT From: Jim Davis To: pt.dist@noc.org Subject: People's Tribune 9-96 (Online Edition) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 23 No. 10/ September, 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. 10/ September, 1996 Page One 1. NO ONE UNTOUCHED BY WELFARE REFORM 2. WHAT THE REAL TERRORISTS ARE DOING Editorial 3. LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD! 4. GREENS GATHER IN LOS ANGELES: LRNA SENDS GREETINGS Spirit of the Revolution 5. MUMIA ABU-JAMAL ON OUR CHURCHES ARE BURNING 6. THOUGHTS ON MUMIA, COMMITMENT AND JUSTICE News and Features 7. LIBEL SUIT ENDANGERS FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 8. LABOR PARTY PRESS PUBLISHES FIRST ISSUE 9. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY: FATHER LOSES TWO SONS IN A SPAN OF 90 DAYS Focus on Welfare Reform 10. NO ONE UNTOUCHED BY WELFARE REFORM NEW STRATEGIES NEEDED IN FIGHT AGAINST WELFARE 'REFORM' MAIN FEATURES OF THE WELFARE REFORM BILL WELFARE BILL A 'BETRAYAL OF CHILDREN' NO VETO, NO VOTE! WELFARE 'REFORM' ATTACKS ALL WORKERS, SAYS LABOR PARTY A WOMEN'S BUDGET IS NEEDED DON'T SUPPORT BACKERS OF THE WELFARE BILL! VOICES FROM THE FRONT CONDEMN THE WELFARE BILL: 'WE STAND AT A DECISIVE CROSSROADS' DID YOU KNOW THAT... CONGRESSMAN CALLS IT AN ATTACK ON CHILDREN Focus on America's campuses 11. FALL 1996: AMERICA'S CAMPUSES: WHAT CAN BE DONE? STUDENTS GATHER TO BUILD POWER NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: DOWNSIZING, RESTRUCTURING COME TO CAMPUS NATIONAL TEACH-IN PLANNED THE EDUCATIONAL CRISIS: IT'S A CLASS ISSUE MORGAN STATE STUDENTS DEMAND QUALITY EDUCATION American Lockdown 12. ANNIVERSARY OF AN ASSASSINATION: GEORGE JACKSON LIVES! >From the League 13. AMERICA'S FUTURE: BARBARISM OR PROGRESS? 14. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** 1. PAGE 1: NO ONE UNTOUCHED BY WELFARE REFORM This summer, a gorilla at a zoo in a Chicago suburb saved an injured boy's life by cradling him in her arms and carrying him to safety. The gorilla showed more compassion than our government did when it enacted the cruel welfare "reform" law. How can an animal know from instinct that it has a responsibility to the needy, but human beings act as if they do not? In the electronic age, the introduction of labor-replacing technology means there are not going to be jobs for everyone. The idea that people being pushed off welfare will find work is nonsense. The wealthy ruling class is doing away with the welfare state because they don't need it anymore and because it cuts into their profits. The voices on pages 5-8 speak to the truth that no one is untouched by welfare "reform." We have to look for new leaders from among those in the struggle for a new America that cherishes its people. See story 10. ****************************************************************** 2. PAGE 1: WHAT THE REAL TERRORISTS ARE DOING The terrible tragedy of TWA Flight 800 was an opportunity the enemies of democracy have waited for. With no evidence or witnesses, they began to terrorize the people by stating that we are under attack by foreign (read: Iranian) terrorists. Then they told us we will have to give up our liberties in order to have security. As the body of the plane is recovered and examined, it appears that we are indeed under attack -- but by the same old terrorists -- the money-grubbing capitalists who love the almighty dollar more than your life. Evidence has suggested that the plane may have exploded because TWA gambled with lives to save inspection money. This evidence hasn't slowed the drive to cripple and destroy our freedoms. The key freedom of a people is the right to publish their views. With this freedom, all else can be defended. Without it, liberty is a sham. Recently, the progressive, working-class-oriented paper, the National Catholic Reporter, was sued for $30 million for exposing the hypocrisy of a company, once the Milwaukee area's largest industrial employer, which has laid off many workers and moved jobs to Mexico and the largely non-unionized South. Meanwhile, in Georgia, an 18-year-old "anarchist" was jailed and is facing 20 years imprisonment for publishing his views of the government. He is charged with advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. All revolutions begin with a dying ruling class attacking the liberties of the people, especially their right to free speech. In the 1830s, the agents of the slave power decided to kill the Rev. Elijah Lovejoy in order to stop his publishing the horrible truth about slavery. At that point, the people understood the question was no longer limited to achieving freedom for those already enslaved, but maintaining the liberty of those still free. History is repeating itself. Last year, we were in a struggle for the rights of those downsized into poverty by this selfish, money- crazed, dying ruling class. During this past year, millions of the poor have begun to awaken. To control them, the ruling class must strip the rights of all. We are no longer in battle simply for the economic rights of the poor. The new slave power has fired the opening round and we have moved into battle for the basic political rights of the American people. ****************************************************************** 3. LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD! By General Baker As we approach Labor Day 1996, the working class is under attack like never before. Layoffs and plant closings are still being announced by major corporations as they continue to downsize with impunity. In most corporations, the small core of so-called loyal workers is being maintained as part-time, two-tier and contingent workers' ranks soar. The temporary hiring agency Manpower has become the largest employer in the country, replacing past giants such as AT&T, IBM and General Motors. As we approach this Labor Day, every section of labor finds itself under attack. Currently, 500,000 autoworkers are negotiating a new contract in an attempt to slow down the downsizing and outsourcing brought on by the electronic revolution sweeping the country. As we approach this Labor Day, non-unionized workers work under the threat of coming home every day with a pink layoff slip in his or her hand. As we approach this Labor Day, public housing residents are caught watching as high-rise buildings are demolished in the name of the new urbanism and new legislation is put forward attempting to repeal the Brooke Amendment, which would remove the 30 percent ceiling on adjusted income for rents. As we approach this Labor Day, the thousands of AFDC recipients are beginning to stir as President Clinton ends "welfare as we know it," forcing thousands of children into the streets hungry. As we approach this Labor Day, thousands of documented immigrants will no longer be eligible for food stamps. As we approach this Labor Day, the striking workers at the Detroit News and Free Press are still being permanently replaced after 13 months of struggle. The social contract, the set of relationships, institutions and understandings that flow from the way goods and services are produced, has been broken. Gone are the ideas of pay for performance, pro-family workplace, a job with a lifetime of learning and a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. The old social contract, even with its inadequacies, extracted a certain amount of loyalty from the working class because the rules seemed fair. How long will a level of loyalty continue under the current onslaught? In the words of Frank P. Doyle, executive vice president of General Electric Co., "We did a lot of violence to the expectations of the American work force. ... We downsized. We de-layered. And we outsourced." On the other hand, the social safety net is being removed from under us. As the new so-called welfare reform bill is enacted, the same principles which are underlying the end of the social contract are at work here: Increase or maintain the same level of corporate welfare, but throw thousands of families into the streets by eliminating aid to families already living in poverty. The working class is beginning to stir. The attack on the safety net could be the spark to light the fire. Already, campaigns have been launched declaring, "no veto, no vote," because the president signed the welfare bill. Already, hunger strikes have been started, marches have been called, arrests have taken place at protests in Washington. Lines are being drawn to frame the contour of the combatants. The same forces which combined to attack the social contract are the very forces uniting to eliminate the safety net. Let the struggle be joined. This Labor Day, let us all march together. We are victims. Let our voices be heard! [General Baker is available to speak through the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau.] ****************************************************************** 4. GREENS GATHER IN LOS ANGELES: LRNA SENDS GREETINGS +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PLATFORM BACKS INDEPENDENT POLITICS Our Party's first priority is to value-based politics, in contrast to a system extolling exploitation, consumption, and non- sustainable competition. We believe in an alternative, independent politics and active, responsible government. We believe in empowering citizens and communities. We offer hope and a call to action. -- from the Draft Green Platform '96, Call to Action +----------------------------------------------------------------+ [Editor's Note: The following letter was sent to Green Gathering '96, a convention of the Greens held in Los Angeles in August.] Congratulations and greetings to your Gathering and Congress. The destruction of society and the earth itself are becoming so widespread that millions are being drawn into the fight against the current state of affairs. Today, as never before in this country, the American people's sense of justice and morality is becoming united with the steps they have to take to fight in their own self-interests. The Greens have consistently been an important part of the conscience of this country. This election year, as the American people begin to take important steps toward political independence, your convening provides a significant vehicle for their political awakening. We wish you well in your deliberations, and we invite you to use the pages of our national press, the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo, to get out your message to our diverse and active readership. Sincerely, General Baker, Chair, Steering Committee, League of Revolutionaries for a New America +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 5. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: OUR CHURCHES ARE BURNING By Mumia Abu-Jamal [Editor's note: Below we print a statement issued by imprisoned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal about the wave of church burnings sweeping America. As a radio reporter, Abu-Jamal worked hard to expose brutality within the Philadelphia police department -- until he was accused of killing a cop, convicted in a trial marked by numerous irregularities, and sentenced to die. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have demanded that he be given a new trial.] WAYNESBURG, Pennsylvania -- Outrage mingled with fear runs like a hot wind through black America as one church after another burns to the ground. The outrage, and the fear, is wholly justified. Yet one wonders: Where was the outrage, the anger, the voices of protest when one body after another burned, when limbs broke into flame, when blood boiled on smoking flesh on Mother's Day 1985? On that day, in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, the state massacred 11 men, women, and babies. Where was your outrage then? Is your real estate more precious to you than life, the estate given you by God? Yes, our churches are burning, but if you truly look around, you will also see fires burning in the hearts of millions of black Americans -- men and women pressed down by endless chains of daily harassment, unrelenting humiliation, government-sanctioned war, and the hellish fight for survival in those quickly sprouting black villages across the land called prisons. Where is outrage for these fires? Yes, our churches are burning. But can't you see the flames that eat at our souls? What will you do about those fires? Ona MOVE! Long Live John Africa! ****************************************************************** 6. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: THOUGHTS ON MUMIA, COMMITMENT AND JUSTICE By Ruben Ayala RIFTON, New York -- From my very first conversation with Mumia Abu-Jamal several months ago -- it took place, as every one since, on Death Row, in a tiny cubicle divided by a glass wall -- it was clear that he and I both shared the same root concern: that the Movement must be totally committed to the fight against injustice. If any of us examines our faith, our spirituality, our life's path -- whatever each of us might call it -- we will find that deep down, all of us yearn to put aside our differences and focus on the basic issues of justice and mercy. There are many different ways to express our faith. But sometimes it seems that our understanding of God is so narrow that unless we are able to compress it into a definition, we fail to recognize it. Why is it that we allow words to blind us to what is going on in a person's life? God does not have only one way by which he touches the human spirit. He comes down his own secret stair, as George MacDonald writes, into the life of each individual. The important thing is not how he comes, but the fact that he comes. I mention this in regard to the following: I am a member of the Bruderhof communities, and Mumia is a supporter of the MOVE family. I am not his lawyer or his spiritual adviser. But because we are both committed to the fight for justice, we are friends -- and more than that, we are brothers. There are plenty of people, perhaps especially "good" middle-class people, who claim to fight for justice. I do not doubt that many are very sincere. They go to rallies; they read the alternative press. But what do they do for justice on a daily basis? How is justice worked out in their personal lives? There is always a tendency for rallies, acts of civil disobedience, demonstrations, etc. to become mere social events: gatherings where emotions are kindled, but not necessarily followed up by action. It is dangerous, I feel, to kindle an emotion but not express it in action, to recognize the truth, but not be obedient to it. If I allow my emotions to carry me where my will and actions do not follow, I am living falsely. And that is even worse than living in ignorance, for I cannot plead ignorance as an excuse. Maybe that is why one feels such a depth in a person like Mumia: Here is a man whose commitment is the servant of his purpose; a man whose insistence on speaking out for justice, liberty, and human dignity have driven him to the brink of death. If our convictions cost us nothing, let us be suspicious of them. Mumia's willingness to die for his is an expression of the level of commitment each of us must seek. For more information, contact: Ruben Ayala Woodcrest Bruderhof Box 903/Route 213 Rifton, New York 12471 Phone: 1-914-658-8351 URL: http://www.bruderhof.org/ ****************************************************************** 7. LIBEL SUIT ENDANGERS FREEDOM OF THE PRESS By Chris Mahin A $30 million libel suit filed in a Milwaukee court this spring dramatically illustrates just how fragile freedom of the press has become in America -- and how important it is to speak out in defense of that freedom. On one side of this legal battle is Briggs & Stratton Corp., a company which had $1.29 billion in sales in fiscal year 1996 and was once the Milwaukee area's largest industrial employer. On the other side is the National Catholic Reporter, a highly respected newsweekly. The company claims that the newspaper committed defamation in an article, a graphic, and a column published in December 1994. The article was called "Briggs & Stratton layoffs tear family hopes: Profit-boosting action includes move to Mexico." It described how Briggs & Stratton workers in Milwaukee might be affected by a company plan to lay off 2,000 workers and move their jobs, possibly to Mexico. The column stressed the importance of using moral principles when making economic decisions like the ones Briggs & Stratton faced. It was written by Thomas C. Fox, the editor and associate publisher of the Reporter. Fox's column began like this: "This week's cover story shows with stunning clarity how corporate decisions hurt ordinary people and what they reveal about decisionmakers who live in either denial or moral blindness. "Corporate America has responsibilities that go beyond maximizing next quarter's profits." Fox then continued: "What makes this week's story on Briggs & Stratton particularly painful is that among the decisionmakers involved -- among those seemingly blind to the consequence of their choices -- are Catholics educated in Catholic institutions." In a letter about the case written to his colleagues in journalism, Fox made these points: "The suit claims that by identifying company officials John Shiely and George Thompson III and company attorney Thomas Krukowski as Catholics, we violated their privacy rights. It claimed we libeled and defamed them by questioning their adherence to Catholic social teachings. "First, there was no defamation in the article, column or graphic illustration. Second, we think the suit is an attempt by Briggs & Stratton to muzzle its critics and to intimidate the press. ... "The story we published was solid; the opinions I expressed in my column were protected by the First Amendment." Fox's letter called the suit "preposterous." He's right. This lawsuit shows just how ominous an attack has been launched on civil liberties in this country today. The suit was filed just weeks before authorities in Atlanta, Georgia arrested an 18-year- old anarchist simply for advocating his ideas. It comes at a time when legislation supposedly designed to combat "crime" and "terrorism" is being unveiled. Much of this legislation seriously undermines civil liberties. It's imperative that we all speak out to defend freedom of the press. One small way to begin would be to write the executives of Briggs & Stratton and tell them exactly what you think of their lawsuit. The company mailing address is: Briggs & Stratton, P.O. Box 702, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-0702. ****************************************************************** 8. LABOR PARTY PRESS PUBLISHES FIRST ISSUE The Labor Party, which held its founding convention June 6-9 in Cleveland, Ohio, recently issued the first edition of its paper, the Labor Party Press. The issue includes coverage of the convention, a copy of the Labor Party program (A Call for Economic Justice), a copy of the party's constitution, and information on how to join and build the Labor Party. The preamble to the party's program states in part, "We are the people who build and maintain the nation but rarely enjoy the fruits of our labor. We are the employed and the unemployed. We are the people who make the country run but have little say in running the country. We come together to create this Labor Party to defend our interests and aspirations from the greed of multinational corporate interests. ... We offer an alternative vision of a just society that values working people, their families and communities." Among other things, the program calls for a constitutional amendment to guarantee everyone a job at a living wage, universal access to quality health care, access for everyone to quality public education, an end to corporate welfare and making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. To join the party and subscribe to its press, write The Labor Party, P.O. Box 53177, Washington, D.C. 20009. Categories of membership dues are: $20, regular membership/renewal; $10, unemployed/retired; $50, sustaining member; $100, Five Score Club. Phone: 202-234-5190. FAX: 202-234-5266. E-mail: lpa@labornet.org. ****************************************************************** 9. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY: FATHER LOSES TWO SONS IN A SPAN OF 90 DAYS By Laura Garcia Rudy Buchanan Sr. was struck by tragedy in 1995. His two sons, ages 18 and 22, were killed within a span of 90 days. The youngest died a victim of street violence, the oldest at the hands of the Phoenix, Arizona police. In April of this year, I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Buchanan at the National Unity Summit in Washington D.C. Our interview was interrupted at times by the tears and the emotion ripping his soul. As a mother of two sons, the same ages as Mr. Buchanan's two dead sons, I felt his pain. I also couldn't help but wonder whether I would endure such loss as bravely as Mr. Buchanan. When asked how he copes with the deaths of his two sons, Mr. Buchanan, in a voice hoarse with pain, answered: "It's been hard. I didn't invest time, money and love for the police to come down and bring them down like dogs." What has been difficult for Mr. Buchanan and his family is that to this day they haven't received a satisfactory answer as to why the police felt it necessary to unload their guns into Rudy Buchanan Jr. "No one has come down to the community, to the Buchanan family and said anything. If they would've come and showed a little courtesy, stating that they didn't know what had happened, but they were going to investigate, it would have eased our pain. But no, and they question why I'm coming out so aggressively." Mr. Buchanan is justified in demanding an answer. After all, he was not a stranger to the Phoenix police department or the city officials. On the contrary, Mr. Buchanan, before his sons' deaths, had worked for six years as a parole officer. He had also been active in the Phoenix area for years. Yet, to date, no one has explained why one Buchanan son met such a tragic end at the hands of the police. Rudy Buchanan Jr. was shot 89 times in the back, the front and neck, through his heart and lungs. When police internal affairs investigators asked why they fired, the officers said they felt their lives were in danger. Mr. Buchanan's answer to that is: "Whose life was really in danger? They had a helicopter with a beam spot on my kid at about 11:30 or so at night. Twenty officers surrounded him, with semi- automatic guns." It's been almost a year since his oldest son's death. "What helps me," Buchanan says, "is to go to the cemetery and talk to my kids. I also find strength when people tell me, 'We're with you' -- that regardless of who and what my son was, he was a human being, an American. "So I mourn a little." Mr. Buchanan has a special place from which to look at America. It is the blood of his ancestors -- African and Mexican -- that have put him in such a special place. Their blood has soaked the pages of U.S. history. It is from this corner of America that he sees an "America hurting." The root of this pain, he says, is that, "across the country, the police departments have levels of misconduct, police brutality, racism." He warns us of the danger ahead: "America is going in a different direction, when we should be getting over a lot of this. America will go through some trying times before the year 2000." Yet Mr. Buchanan has hope: "It can be rebuilt. But we need the right kind of folks. My hope and the hope of my group is to fight all kinds of situations that the police are involved [in], particularly outrageous, gross incidents. We are going to fight so that people can see there're people that can still assist them." Mr. Buchanan concluded this interview committed to the fight for justice. "We're going to continue the fight. People are hurting all over behind these kinds of incidents. If you leave them unaddressed, and don't challenge them, they are going to continue. "That's the bottom line." [Call the Citizens For Improved Community-Police Relations for more information, 602-872-9722.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The following 13 police officers were involved in the killing of Rudy Buchanan Jr.: Sgt. Kirk Fitch #4686 Off. Phillip Roberts #4520 Off. Fred Santos Jr. Off. Mathew Verthein #5881 Off. Michael Clawson #5442 Off. Michael Carmody #5634 Off. Jennifer Laroquee #5585 Off. Bill Martin #5613 Off. Donald Cunningham #5396 Off. Donald Bent Sgt. Charles Kessler #2414 Off. Jack Shaffer Jr #4697 Off. Joseph Tomoy #4883 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 10. NO ONE UNTOUCHED BY WELFARE REFORM Dear Readers: The new welfare "reform" bill is ushering in a new stage in American history. The voices on these pages speak to the truth that no one is untouched by welfare reform. On this page and inside this special section we print statements about this attack on the people from leaders in the struggle for a new America. Some statements were given to the People's Tribune in interviews, while others are excerpted from public statements. We hope this issue will help you educate and mobilize your communities in the fight for a new America. Call 312-486-3551 to order bundles of People's Tribunes to distribute in your community. The People's Tribune Editorial Board +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NEW STRATEGIES NEEDED IN FIGHT AGAINST WELFARE 'REFORM' >From the People's Tribune Editorial Board The voices of outrage, anger and fear on these pages confirm one truth: welfare "reform" is ushering in a new stage in American history. The bill ends the federal government's responsibility to assist those in need, the foundation for the modern welfare state. The next step is dismantling all entitlements. We know the Republican Party's role in shaping this inhuman legislation. But the Democratic Party, the "party of labor, minorities and the poor," also went along with it. The major task of government is to create the social programs and policies to keep the economy working. In the past, industry needed workers, so the capitalists created social programs to keep workers going between jobs. But today, labor-replacing technology and a global economy mean permanent job cuts and falling living standards. Lester Thurow, a capitalist economist, pointed out that, for the first time in history you can now make anything anywhere on the face of the globe and sell it everywhere. "Why should I pay an American physicist $75,000 a year when I can get a Nobel Prize winner in the Soviet Union for $100 a month?" he asked. For the capitalists, these economic changes demand an end to the welfare state. The capitalists won't pay for labor they don't need, and the cost of welfare reduces profits. In the past five years, this process of introducing new technology and globalization has devastated millions while creating 53 new billionaires in the United States alone. It is this filthy-rich class of people that the Democratic and Republican parties serve. The welfare legislation will hit hard, especially in the most populous states. Faced with the certainty of widespread social unrest, the president and Congress are hurrying to pass new "anti- terrorism" bills that can get you thrown into prison for your political beliefs. And the welfare bill allows for selective cuts that could pit people against one another. The handwriting is on the wall. Today, high technology means we can win a world of plenty for all. But we will have to fight for it, and independently of the twin parties of capital. While some may feel the Democrats are still the lesser of two evils, the facts speak otherwise. Investor's Business Daily reports that the income gap between rich and poor has actually widened under President Clinton, with the wealthiest Americans' income climbing 21 percent. Downsizing of the poor, and of formerly secure workers, is proceeding rapidly, with the Democrats' blessing. And Clinton began dismantling welfare long before passage of the bill, by granting 43 states permission to begin their own welfare cuts. The American people can be won to an understanding of who the real enemy is and to a vision of hope in a new society. Standing together, we can strike a blow for an America free forever of want, race hatred, sexual oppression and human exploitation. We offer the pages of the People's Tribune as a means to strike this blow. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ MAIN FEATURES OF THE WELFARE REFORM BILL * Ends 61-year-old federal guarantee of cash assistance for the poor. * Abolishes AFDC, JOBS Program and Emergency Assistance (Title IIIA of the Social Security Act.) This is the first time in history that the Social Security Act has been touched. * Gives welfare money to states as block grants. Grants cannot be used to fund families without minor children; unmarried parents under 18 with a child who does not live with an adult and stay in school; families who have been on aid for two consecutive years with no job; or families who have been on for a lifetime. Governors decide who is eligible. * Food stamps: Unemployed adults aged 18 to 50 with no dependents are eligible three months of every three years, if they're working 20 hours a week. Food stamps are reduced to 66 cents per meal from the current 80 cents. * Documented immigrants: Bill denies SSI (Disability Assistance), food stamps and Medicaid to documented immigrants, including the elderly and disabled. * SSI (Social Security Disability): Stricter eligibility excludes thousands of disabled children. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WELFARE BILL A 'BETRAYAL OF CHILDREN' [Excerpts from a statement by Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund.] President Clinton's signature on pending "welfare reform" legislation ... will leave a moral blot on his presidency and on our nation that will never be forgotten. This legislation is the biggest betrayal of children and the poor since the Children's Defense Fund began. By announcing that he would sign a bill that is virtually the same as the two he previously vetoed, the president has signaled support for a conference bill that is worse for children than the Senate bill. Let us stand up, together and determined, and build a movement so powerful for our children that no politician will ever again feel free to politically abuse them. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NO VETO, NO VOTE! >From the National Welfare Rights Union Board The National Welfare Rights Union, along with millions of other patriotic Americans, was led to believe that President Clinton would not support legislation that would threaten the lives of children. Once again, when faced with the choice of protecting poor people or protecting this rich system, he wavered and locked arms with the upper class, legitimizing the suffering, torture and annihilation of millions. The time for partisan politics is over. The time to forgive and forget has passed. The time for strategy and action is at hand. Our national organization, which represents the growing mass of unemployed and poor, issues these words in solidarity with all who will no longer stand by and let America continue to be two countries -- 5 percent who have, and 70 percent who have not! If the president believes that the road to re-election is over our disenfranchised and hungry bodies, he must also know that our response will be unexpected and measured. Since he has signed this punitive welfare legislation, we must urge our constituency not to vote for him, come November. We will participate only in congressional and local politics. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WELFARE 'REFORM' ATTACKS ALL WORKERS, SAYS LABOR PARTY The National Council of the newly formed Labor Party, in a statement issued August 22, said, "Welfare is not the problem; the real problem in America is the lack of sufficient jobs with decent pay and benefits. "'Welfare reform' attacks all working people, not just those whose benefits are cut. Despite the proponents' claim to the contrary, the legislation's so-called workfare provision will allow for replacing regular jobs, paying wages and providing benefits, with slots filled by recipients of public assistance who will work in exchange for their meager grants instead of wages. This so-called welfare reform will effectively depress workers' wages as well. "The Labor Party stands squarely and absolutely opposed to all this sort of 'welfare reform' and its agenda of dividing the American working class by demonizing those people who have been pushed to the margins of the corporate-dominated economy. We expose this abominable legislation for what it is: a veiled attack on all American workers." At its founding convention in June in Cleveland, Ohio, the Labor Party approved a program calling for, among other things, an end to corporate welfare and the constitutional right to a job at a living wage. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ A WOMEN'S BUDGET IS NEEDED [A statement from Marilyn Clemmons, executive director, U.S. Section, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.] Whether it's nurses or teachers, or secretaries, the jobs are gone. We're going to challenge the federal budget with a Women's Budget and say to Democrats and Republicans, you can't keep giving us this. Women have been balancing budgets forever with the scraps. Now we want a whole new cake for everyone, but we'll bake it ourselves. We'll also be relating to the global economy. After Beijing, it's clear that all our issues are connected. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ DON'T SUPPORT BACKERS OF THE WELFARE BILL! Excerpts from an appeal by the Women's Committee of One Hundred. >From now until the election, whenever you receive a donation request from the presidential campaign, a political action committee, a list or a candidate who voted for the welfare bill, tell them you are engaging in your own "transfer of wealth." Donate the money you would ordinarily give them to battered women's shelters and other advocacy groups that work on behalf of poor women, and to the handful of members of Congress who had the courage to vote against the welfare bill even though they were up for re-election. Contact us at 202-336-8345. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ VOICES FROM THE FRONT CONDEMN THE WELFARE BILL: 'WE STAND AT A DECISIVE CROSSROADS' [Editor's note: Some of the statements excerpted on this page are from interviews with the People's Tribune, while others are taken from public statements.] ANNIE CHAMBERS, long-time activist and spokesperson for the poor in Baltimore: Public housing, the projects as we know it for poor people, is no more. It used to be if you had no income your rent was zero. Now no income means automatic eviction. More people will be homeless. The middle-income people will become the new welfare recipients. People are scared because of the new "one strike and you're out" law. A loud party or a late payment, and you're out. How are people supposed to live? GLORIA SANDOVAL, volunteer staff, Equal Rights Congress, in Merced, California: Merced County has 40 percent of its population on some kind of assistance. The welfare department spends $10 million a month. I perceive a lot of devastation. There's already a lot of immigrants that have never gotten help. July 1997 is supposed to be the trigger date. But preparations, counting bucks, figuring out how to screen people out, will begin now. Right now people feel good about the reform. They don't understand what it is. There will probably be layoffs of welfare workers, and as there is less money to spend in the community, it will trigger even more layoffs. LEONA SMITH, president, National Union of the Homeless: Our mayor [in Philadelphia] put a cap on shelter beds for the homeless. He says he needs money for emergency beds for winter. Since people can survive better in summer, he'll shut down now. So now we're seeing more women and babies sleeping in the park, and the system says it's OK. We're filing a lawsuit against the city to say open those doors. I'm seeing new levels of participation now because it's the working class being affected. NJERE ALGHANEE, Georgia Welfare Rights Union: We're beginning hearings all over the state on increasing the minimum wage in conjunction with the "America Needs a Raise" campaign. We have formed coalitions that include public housing residents and welfare reform resisters. We're hearing from groups daily on how they want to link up. ANN WILSON, director, National Jobs with Peace. Wilson is from Wisconsin, one of the first states trying to eliminate AFDC: Now is the time for a campaign that calls the question: "Now that you've eliminated welfare, where are our jobs?" Call about our November 22-24 National Summit on Jobs, Poverty and Welfare Reform in Milwaukee at 414-933-8808. The goal will be to create a national campaign for job creation. RENEE PECOT, director of programs, Women's Economic Agenda Project, Oakland, California: Picture Alameda County, California, where 55,000 jobs have left the area in 10 years. Of 350,000 residents, half are on aid. Child poverty increased 22 percent from 1980-90. Households headed by women are 63 percent of those living in poverty, and the AFDC grant value has dropped 27 percent since 1989. People say, "It's good it ended. It made people lazy. Immigrants get too much money." But the reality is unless we come together to fight for a new "social contract" where no one is expendable, we don't have a future. LESLIE MARMON SILKO, author: The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 is a genocidal act directed at the most helpless members of our communities, the children, the elderly and the ill. Malnutrition kills as surely as bullets, only malnutrition takes longer and causes far more suffering. The U.S. government perfected malnutrition as a genocidal weapon more than 100 years ago during the "Indian Wars." SYLVIA MITCHELL, executive director, Oregon Human Rights Coalition: In Oregon's Jobs Plus workfare program, a company hires a worker for 32 hours a week and the state reimburses the employer at minimum wage. The worker still has to look for permanent work the other eight hours. Since food stamps are "cashed out" [converted to cash to pay wages] for those in the program, some say their child's nutrition has suffered. Normally, if you worked for minimum wage, you'd be eligible for food stamps. Jobs Plus also applies to people who receive unemployment insurance, which is a group that has not been included in workfare before; if you receive under approximately $10,000 a year in unemployment benefits, you have to participate. JODI BUSHDIECKER ATWOOD, minister of Christian education, Brecksville United Church of Christ, Brecksville, Ohio: As a nation, I believe we stand at a decisive crossroads. We must choose what kind of society we shall live in and pass on to our children: one where narrow self-interest is the guide for social policy, or one where community interest and justice for all serve as core values for our collective life. I believe those of us who profess and seek God's realm "on earth as it is in heaven" are called to work for welfare reform that focuses on eliminating poverty and the damage it inflicts on children, on their parents, and on the rest of society. CINDY MCDONALD, Prince Georges County, Maryland area chapter organizer of the National Welfare Rights Union and the National Union of the Homeless: Some of us have been awake for a long time and others are just waking up now to the fact that everyone is entitled to the bounty of the system which they live in, and that any government which doesn't provide for the basic needs of the people is corrupt. Any system that continues to support the oppression of others, especially through the use of such harsh means as starvation tactics and homelessness, needs to be stopped. Our government implemented a penalty law against the Nazis called the Nuremberg Law for inhumane treatment of its people, for lack of food, housing and basic necessities. We should now be considering the violations of these same conventions by our own government. We need to redirect the focus of our national attention toward the plight and the needs of the American people, and away from the system of lies, of wealth, evil and greed. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ DID YOU KNOW THAT: * In 1994, $100 billion was spent on federal subsidies and tax breaks for corporations, while only $25 billion was spent on Aid to Families with Dependent Children. * Wisconsin spends about $300 million per year for welfare cash assistance and over $1 billion a year on tax breaks for subsidized loans and grants to businesses. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CONGRESSMAN CALLS IT AN ATTACK ON CHILDREN Congressman Charles B. Rangel, D-NY, said in a press release, "The bill is the most radical and mean-spirited attack against the poor that I have witnessed during my service in government. By dismantling the social safety net for our children, the elderly and the poor, it would be a moral catastrophe. I appeal to you and all the bishops of the United States ... to warn our lawmakers against this abdication of morality and justice." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WOMEN & REVOLUTION: VISION FOR A NEW AMERICA The People's Tribune proudly announces the launching of a new column, "Women & Revolution: Vision for a New America." Its purpose is to open debate on all issues concerning women today. We see it as a place where women can discuss and debate strategies for winning women's equality and improving women's status.This is critical to our playing our historic role of leading in the building of a new America. Send your articles, 300 words or less, to People's Tribune Women's Desk, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois, 60654-3524. ****************************************************************** 11. FALL 1996: AMERICA'S CAMPUSES: WHAT CAN BE DONE? The same crisis gripping society is gripping the campuses. How could it be otherwise? Our system of education plays a central role in preparing our country's work force and promoting ideas about why things are the way they are. So, as economic changes take place, the nature of the work force which higher education must produce also changes. As social conditions change, a battle of ideas about the meaning of the change inevitably emerges on the campuses. The crisis in higher education affects both students and college employees. At a time when the few decent jobs which exist require more education than ever, college is more costly (and less accessible) than ever. College teachers and researchers are being hit hard as well. There are fewer of them and those who remain are paid less. The "back to school" coverage on these two pages of this issue of the People's Tribune tries to answer two questions: Why are things so bad? What can we do? Modern, electronic technology is literally labor-eliminating. It takes fewer laborers, although mainly highly educated ones, to produce what the capitalists can sell. Electronic production is bringing about an economic and social crisis. It is creating a class that is permanently without work, whose members are increasingly denied education and other necessities of life. This is the underlying cause of the crisis in education. The articles on pages 10 and 11 of this edition deal with a variety of situations and struggles at different institutions, both public and private. They describe a political offensive which the rulers of this country are carrying out. It must be countered politically. Real politics will take the unity of millions of us against the handful of billionaires who would deny us the necessities of life. We offer the pages of the People's Tribune as a collective forum where this unity can be forged. The struggle of those who have no stake in the present system carries the energy to overturn it. A battle of ideas about the cause and solution of the crisis is emerging on campuses everywhere. In the People's Tribune and elsewhere, we will reveal how campus struggles are part of a revolutionary response to the crisis which will make possible a new, cooperative society of such abundance that humanity will be free from hunger, homelessness and backbreaking labor and where learning will be a central, joyful part of life -- The Higher Education Committee of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America +----------------------------------------------------------------+ STUDENTS GATHER TO BUILD POWER By a People's Tribune Correspondent ITHACA, New York -- Student activists from 15 campuses met at Cornell University here on August 10 and 11 to discuss how to fight education cutbacks, sexual harassment, and racism on campuses throughout the Northeast. The meeting was organized under the auspices of the Boston-based Center for Campus Organizing, with the theme of "Building Progressive Student Power." Below we print excerpts from comments by some of the participants. JONATHAN MAWDSLEY, Cornell, one of the conference organizers: "People are interested in learning what's going on, what works at other universities, not just to make noise, but to make things happen. I sense a lot of common goals, and many want to work towards a national progressive student network." JAMAL WATSON, Georgetown University: "It is encouraging to be here now because the level of activism has grown around affirmative action. At Georgetown, there are only three black professors. ... If the university made the same commitment to recruit qualified black faculty as they do to the basketball team, things would be different." TRACIE MCMILLAN, New York University: "I think coalition politics are needed to build a counterattack to the right-wing agenda. There is conservatism in the media; it's everywhere. [President] Clinton is moving further to the right. Even universities are moving away from democratic control. Education should be democratic, but it's not." RUSTY STAHL, George Washington University: "We want to boost student activism in Washington as a masthead of national student activism, and we would like to get a loud voice for progressive student activism in D.C., to get the word out to students around the country." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: DOWNSIZING, RESTRUCTURING COME TO CAMPUS By Jeremy Rocklin BOSTON -- Because colleges and universities are tied to the economy and the politics influencing it, and seem to be becoming more so as tuition rises, financial aid and affirmative action come under attack and corporations infiltrate the academic community, "downsizing" and "restructuring" are now being experienced at many schools. Northeastern University is a specific, but by no means isolated, example. In the midst of Northeastern's budget slashing (or "restructuring," as the administrators making these decisions call it), we see the politics controlling the larger society played out. This past spring, at the end of the quarter, when students and teachers were consumed by finals, it was announced that the Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies program would be cut 77 percent. At the same time, the African American Studies department has also come under attack. It is no accident that as these programs and departments face these political cuts, Northeastern has just received a new president, Richard Freeland, who was part of the team of administrators who "downsized" multicultural studies within the City University of New York. At Northeastern, and across the country, universities and colleges are operating with a money-and-power, divide-and-conquer mentality that renders students and teachers expendable, and sometimes turns them against each other. This is all too similar to the way governmental and business elites work to turn us against one another in the larger society, when we have the same objective interests. As a student and member of a larger community, my hope is that students across the country work together, not only on campus, but in cooperation with members of their surrounding communities, in opposition to the attacks on the education, culture and economic livelihood of us all. Quality and diverse education should not merely be a fundamental right, but a celebration; and we must work together in the fight to make this so. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NATIONAL TEACH-IN PLANNED By Chris Mahin CHICAGO -- An enthusiastic meeting of organizers from student, environmental and social justice groups took place at the International Conference Center here in mid-August to plan a National Teach-In on Corporations, Education and Democracy. The teach-in will be held from October 13 through October 19 on college campuses and in community halls across the country. The teach-in is intended to bring together those who have struggled against corporate rule and those who are concerned about the harm caused to families, communities, ecosystems and individuals by corporations. Organizers hope the teach-in will give millions of people the opportunity to join a movement to shift power away from corporations. We urge our readers to support this effort. For more information contact: Ben Manski Democracy Unlimited of Wisconsin Cooperative 29 East Wilson Madison, Wisconsin 53703 phone: 608-255-6629 e-mail: brmanski@students.wisc.edu +----------------------------------------------------------------+ THE EDUCATIONAL CRISIS: IT'S A CLASS ISSUE By Chris Brady EUGENE, Oregon -- Tuition is going up, aid is decreasing, and the sector of the populace hit the hardest is least able to withstand such drastic measures. Why? Even the mainstream press admits that the rich are getting richer. The stock market is at an all-time high. The economy is robust; the communist enemy of freedom is vanquished. Maybe there's more to that last bit ... . Here's the icing on the gravy: The rich are getting richer more rapidly, and more and more public wealth is being privatized so that it can be bought up by them. It's happening here, in Russia, in Chile and China. The concept of rights becomes more and more individualistic and bound up with the rights of privately owned property. As less and less of the rest own any property of any substantiality, their power and rights only diminish further. Our schools are being taken away from us -- art and music classes, the very teachers themselves. Environments conducive to learning -- in school, in the home, in our culture -- are not even considered. Instead, the whole apparatus of force of the state is directed at students as potential threats. In the eyes of the Establishment, kids are suspects first and pupils maybe never. Vulnerable and fresh, they are the vessels filled by a world gone insane, for that is the pathological nature of a society that has no consideration for its continuity, for cause and effect, for complete ignorance and unconcern for itself. Our society is depraved. Is it ignorance? But how can we know? The media is owned. School boards and local governments are manipulated in the interests of profit and seem to be populated with real estate agents, bankers, car dealers, various entrepreneurs and their kept, socialite wives. The lessons kids learn in school are based on service to the dominant order, to a mythical "rugged individualism" over any notions of community. Scornful warnings about individual responsibility have eclipsed social responsibility. And it's not just in America. On my desk is a message from New Zealand complaining about the privatization of their schools, the increase in costs to ordinary folks. I knew a brilliant young woman when I was an undergraduate at Brooklyn College. She did well, held a 3.85 average, but she had an infant at home. And the CUNY cuts cut her out. What's a girl to do? That's a personal anecdote, but what about generally speaking? Riots of students in Turkey, Argentina, Belgium, France, Toronto, all for the same things: They are paying more or turned away from the very necessity this global techno-economy requires from its workers to get ahead: training, education, knowledge. Even as they fight, the mechanism that students struggle against thins their ranks. Well-off students just don't feel the same pressure. I wondered about why my fellow graduate students were not as distressed as I was over the threat to direct student loans -- until I discovered that many of them simply didn't need government assistance. Well- off students will remain. So it seems to be a class issue. The haves get more, and the have-nots get less. Poorer students turned out of the schools will no longer be "students," just unemployed youth with no secure future. What do they have to lose? Their chains. Yes, knowledge is power, and our public universities and schools are being taken away. But people are beginning to notice. The acquisition of knowledge is not restricted to school. Now is the time to exercise power. We must organize to maximize. We must take back our world and make a better society. One in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. [Chris Brady is a student of history and a worker in the collective which produces The Student Insurgent, an award-winning alternative biweekly at the University of Oregon.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ MORGAN STATE STUDENTS DEMAND QUALITY EDUCATION By Mike Brand BALTIMORE -- College students are scrambling for fewer and fewer decent jobs. The rulers of this country will not pay for educating workers they do not need, so public college education is increasingly underfunded. The historically black colleges and universities are being severely affected. This spring, students at Morgan State University here protested the lack of quality education offered to them. A group of them spoke to the People's Tribune. As Robert Lee and De Angelo White put it: "There is a nationwide backlash against public education. And nowhere is the suffering any greater than the historically black colleges and universities. We need an education to prepare us for corporate downsizing and a 21st century workplace. Affirmative action means that we need an education to let us be competitive." The students organized into the Morgan Political Action Coalition to carry out their struggle. The group is not affiliated with the Student Government Association, which the group sees as being guided by the university administration and unable to follow policies "in the interests of the whole school." The students' complaints are numerous. They include obsolete computer facilities and resources. Most significantly, the university administration has not been sympathetic to the students' criticisms. Instead, it has become the object of their protest. Below we print some of the students' statements. VINCENT WARE: The Education Department's two computer labs have been closed all semester. There is no Internet access to speak of. We need magazines, journals, construction paper, transparencies. They are sending teachers into schools unprepared to teach. Last semester, they announced an extra six-credit graduation requirement for this year's graduates. And the administration is not concerned about student needs. They do not take us seriously. ROBYN JONES: The English Department curriculum is at a high school level. I went to see a dean to get permission to take an independent study and was given a run-around. I was told that I had no grounds to see the dean. I work three jobs and carry 21 credits. They cannot tell me I am insignificant. SEYMOUR JAMES: The Spokesman, the school paper, is controlled by the SGA, which is controlled by the administration. The paper does not print articles critical of the administration or student government. They told me, "Don't anger the administration. They control our money." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ [This supplement was prepared by the Higher Education Committee of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, 700 East 33rd Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218. E-mail: mikenoc@aol.com] ****************************************************************** 12. ANNIVERSARY OF AN ASSASSINATION: GEORGE JACKSON LIVES! >From the editors Twenty-five years ago, on August 21, 1971, George L. Jackson, a 29-year-old leader of the Black Panther Party, died from multiple bullet wounds sustained during an alleged escape attempt from California's San Quentin State Prison. In fact, as fellow inmates would later testify, Jackson died as he had lived, as a revolutionary struggling to save the lives of others. The author of "Soledad Brother" and "Blood in My Eye" and a charismatic leader among prisoners and the oppressed generally, Jackson combined 10 years of participation in the prison struggle with the study and spreading of scientific socialism. In no small way, Jackson's persistent injection of anti-capitalist class consciousness into the movement was responsible for the emergence of a huge wave of prison struggles and uprisings across the country. His assassination is said to have helped touch off the September 9-13, 1971 rebellion at Attica State Prison in New York, prompting the bloodiest suppression of an inmate uprising in U.S. history. Today, as record numbers of Americans languish behind bars, as the political contours of America more and more resemble those he predicted with great foresight, George Jackson re-emerges as a towering figure in America's revolutionary legacy. George Jackson lives! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 'THEY WILL NEVER COUNT ME AMONG THE BROKEN MEN': THE POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GEORGE JACKSON By Jitu Sadiki LOS ANGELES -- I actually became aware of Comrade George a little over two years after his assassination. At the time, I was 17 years old and incarcerated in a segregated section of Los Angeles County Jail after a confrontation with police. When I came back from court that day, they had moved everyone out in my section, separated by race. At that point, I was the only African in that section, but next to me was a Chicano brother who had a copy of Jackson's book, "Soledad Brother," and he gave it to me to read. Years later, in September, 1976, when I was incarcerated in Soledad Prison, I began to find out more information about George and what had happened during that period and general knowledge of the prison movement. Conditions were extremely bad, prisoners really had no rights, the guards used their power to manipulate groups against one another, pretty much as they do now, but without the sophistication. The guards would routinely assault prisoners without repercussions. Years later, when I ended up in "O" Wing, the same type of conditions were there, but just slightly more sophisticated. There would be open conflict between the races, and the guards openly facilitated that conflict. In the summer of 1978, I was placed in solitary confinement. There were several incidents that happened that lengthened my stay and, in fact, there was a point where I believed I would never be released because of the commitment I had made to the struggle. It was a quote from George that really helped me get through Soledad, Vacaville and San Quentin. He once said: "They will never count me among the broken men." REFORMS DISMANTLED George Jackson, as well as others across this country, ushered in a period of reform in the prison system, one that only lasted about five years. When I came in, the remnants of what they had done were still there, but you could see that the prison administration had begun to re-establish the control they had had, pitting groups against each other, allowing in the flow of drugs as a means of control. They dismantled reforms that had taken place in respect to higher education, different culture groups, things that had provided outlets and education that would assure that when you left prison you would do something more productive with your life. All those things were being dismantled when I entered the prison system and were basically eliminated when I returned to prison 10 years later. Today, it is definite that there is more repression. In terms of the prison struggle, the ruling class has been really successful in pretty much eliminating those who would be organizing. Most of them are isolated and separated and kept away from the general population. In the 1990s, I see a totally different mindset among prisoners. The type of prisoners who existed during George's time were awakened and conscious of the repression that they were subjected to. The mindset of the prisoners today is one of disorganization. Across the board, across racial lines, they have been so divided. BLACK AUGUST One thing that is important to note, related to the effort to keep the memory alive, is Black August, which began in 1979 to commemorate Khatari Gaulden, a San Quentin inmate who had been accused years earlier of murder while in prison and who had been acquitted, but was still kept in solitary even after his release date. During a 1978 football game, he received a head injury and was refused treatment. Eventually, he was transferred to an outside facility that lacked the resources to treat such an injury and died as a result. So a year later, we started Black August to keep alive the memory of those who had died as a result of their commitment to the struggle. Today, it represents an entire month committed to study, discipline and the memory of those who died. George Jackson's example is still relevant, and 25 years after his assassination, I feel it is important for people to revisit that period for guidance in what's ahead: an even more intense struggle because of the increase in technology and an overt effort to kill people's spirit. In my office I have a poster-sized picture of Comrade George that I look at every time that I walk in, and any business related to the organization -- paying bills, etc. The logo on our business books is a picture of George Jackson, the date of his birth and of his assassination. It's important to me as an individual to keep the memory of what he represented in front of me at all times. [The author is president of BACDO, the Black Awareness Community Development Organization, working extensively with current and former California prisoners.] ****************************************************************** 13. AMERICA'S FUTURE: BARBARISM OR PROGRESS? "This bill goes right to the heart and soul of our nation and its values." That's what Ohio Republican Congressman John Kasich said in late July in expressing support for the welfare "reform" bill that Congress has since passed and President Clinton has agreed to sign. We wonder: What values are those, congressman? Whose morality is it that threatens to make millions of women and children even more destitute and turn them into a slave-labor force available to the lowest bidder? Whose values are represented by an attack on immigrants, the elderly and disabled children? The morality represented by these welfare cuts is the morality of a wealthy and arrogant ruling class, and not that of the American people. The people of this country have a fundamental sense of compassion and human decency that is causing growing outrage over these cuts as the full implications of them become apparent. The American people have come to a fork in the road. One path leads to an economic barbarism embodied in the solutions put forth by the Democratic and Republican parties. The other leads to an economic paradise based on the wealth generated by the electronic revolution. Which path the people follow depends on what kind of leadership the revolutionaries provide. Labor-replacing technology in the workplace and the globalization of the economy are changing human life forever. From the perspective of the ruling class, the welfare state is no longer needed to keep workers alive between jobs, since there aren't any jobs. Continuing welfare spending "as we knew it" under these conditions means lower profits for the capitalists. So kiss the welfare state goodbye. It has been estimated that labor-replacing machines could eliminate more than 90 million U.S. jobs from a labor force of 124 million. Manufacturing productivity increased by 35 percent from 1979 to 1992, while the manufacturing work force shrank by 15 percent. What kind of society will result from this transition to the electronic age? That depends on who is in charge. The ruling class has already made clear, with the welfare bill and the ongoing elimination of constitutional rights, how they intend to deal with the unemployed. The billionaires are creating a police state to maintain their rule, while leaving the rest of us to barbaric conditions. But another future is possible. In the hands of the people, in a cooperative society, technology could free us forever from the need to labor just to feed ourselves. We could have more leisure time; a high standard of living; freedom from want, oppression and discrimination; unlimited access to education, culture and health care; cities that are clean, safe and beautiful; an environment free of pollution; and a world free of war. There will be upheavals in response to the elimination of the welfare state. Millions will be rapidly thrown into struggle in the months ahead. A political struggle is beginning. Revolutionaries must enter the political debate about which path America will follow. Our propaganda must rely on the strength and morality of the growing movement, a morality that declares it is unjust and unfair for anyone to be homeless or hungry, or to work two and three jobs and still be poor. This is where our rulers are vulnerable. Their representatives can only speak for a tiny, wealthy minority whose morality calls for imprisoning 10-year-olds and condemning the elderly to fend for themselves. We in the League of Revolutionaries for a New America take as our task the political awakening of the American people. If you agree that America can be a decent, compassionate, prosperous country in the hands of its people, join us. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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 four issues or $25 for a year. ____ Tribuno del Pueblo. $2 for four issues 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 __________________________________________________ +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA Speakers on this page have crossed the country, talking about the possibility of building a new America, free of want, with equality for all. If you are looking for leaders that bring clarity, hope and vision for Latino Heritage Month, African American History Month, or Women's History Month, call the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau today. Ask about outstanding leaders like Michele Tingling-Clemmons, an anti-hunger and welfare rights activist; Ethel Long-Scott, executive director, Women's Economic Agenda Project; Luis Rodriguez, poet, author, and youth organizer; Cheri Honkala, a leader of Philadelphia's tent cities; Marian Kramer, co-chair of the National Welfare Rights Union; Nelson Peery, author of Black Fire; General Baker, chair, Steering Committee, League of Revolutionaries for a New America; Ronald Casanova, author of Each One, Teach One, and many more. Call 312-486-3551 or write to P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, or send e-mail to speakers@noc.org. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 14. 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 ****************************************************************** unoc