****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 24 No. 11/ November, 1997 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. 24 No. 11/ November, 1997 Page One 1. EVERY DAY CAN BE THANKSGIVING Editorial 2. COOPERATION VS. COMPETITION Spirit of the Revolution 3. 'WE NEED TO TAKE A STAND' WITH THE POOR: CHRISTIAN STUDENT LEADER DESCRIBES FIGHT FOR ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS News and Features 4. NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD RUNS FOR BOARD OF EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA: 'MOLD THE EDUCATION OF THE FUTURE' 5. FOSTER FARMS WORKERS STRIKE OVER HEALTH PLAN 6. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION OR SEGREGATION: WHO BENEFITS? 7. VETERANS DAY 1997: TIME TO UNITE THE FIGHT FOR VETS' HEALTH CARE 8. ACROSS THE WORLD, DOCKWORKERS STRIKE IN SOLIDARITY WITH LIVERPOOL'S WORKERS 9. ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT FORMED IN MEXICO 10. WHAT'S THE STORY WITH INFLATION? 11. LEARNING WITH NATURE -- LRNA CAMPING SCHOOL IS A GREAT SUCCESS 12. DEMOCRACY TEACH-IN '98: CHICAGO MEETING WILL PLAN ANTI- CORPORATE TEACH-INS 13. AS GAP WIDENS BETWEEN RICH AND POOR, HOW DO WE CONFRONT GLOBAL MISERY? 14. THE LEGACY OF ELIJAH LOVEJOY: LET TRUTH RING OUT! 15. TEN YEARS AFTER HAROLD WASHINGTON 16. QUALITY HEALTH CARE: HOW IT MIGHT LOOK Women and Revolution: Visions for a New America 17. TAKING 'THE NEXT STEP': ORGANIZING SCHOOL MOBILIZES LEADERS OF POOR AND HOMELESS >From the League 18. THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA: WHAT WE ARE AND WHY Announcements, Events, etc. 19. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA ****************************************************************** 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, send a message to pt-dist@noc.org with "Subscribe" in the subject line. For electronic subscription problems, e-mail pt-admin@noc.org. ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** 1. PAGE ONE: EVERY DAY CAN BE THANKSGIVING Thanksgiving is one of the few times of the year when a sense of sharing momentarily replaces the individualism that is otherwise the hallmark of American society. The dog-eat-dog ideology of competition is temporarily put aside, and we embrace strangers as brothers and sisters. If we're lucky enough to have enough income, we celebrate our society's abundance with a big meal, and we invite others to share it with us. Why can't every day be Thanksgiving? With a technological revolution under way that every day is giving us the ability to produce more and more with less and less labor, why is anyone homeless or hungry? Why does anyone have to do without education or health care? With the abundance this society has, why should we cling to the idea that we have to compete with one another for jobs and income and the necessities of life? Technology is a two-edged sword. In the hands of the ruling class, it is slashing jobs and income and yielding untold suffering for millions. In the hands of the people, it could mean an economic paradise, a cooperative society where no one is allowed to suffer. Electronic technology makes such a cooperative society both necessary and possible. But we, the people, cannot secure the political power necessary to build such a society if we are still thinking with our enemy's ideas. This Thanksgiving, let's begin to reclaim the ideology that is really represented by Thanksgiving. Let's take to heart some basic facts. There is plenty of food, housing and everything else to go around. We need not compete with one another for the necessities of life. Why should a handful of billionaires own and control the means to produce what we need while millions of us suffer? Surely we can run this society by ourselves, cooperating with one another, and ensure a high standard of living for everyone. And in place of the dog-eat-dog ideology of the ruling class, we will have the revolutionary ideology of those who are forced by their circumstances to struggle for a new society -- an ideology that says "I am the keeper of my brothers and sisters, not their competitor." For more on Thanksgiving and the spirit of cooperation, see the editorial on page two. ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: COOPERATION VS. COMPETITION Competition is killing us. "Us" in this case is the vast majority of the people -- those who, whether we're employed at the moment or not, have to sell our labor power in order to buy what we need to survive. >From the moment we're old enough to listen, we're taught that there isn't enough to go around and we have to compete for what there is. It's every person for themselves. If you want to get ahead, you have to beat the next person out. We're trained to see our fellow workers, whether in this country or other countries, as competitors. We're told competition makes for efficiency and productivity, and that hard work is rewarded. If you're poor, it's your own fault; you weren't smart enough, or you didn't work hard enough. It's dog-eat-dog, and to the victor go the spoils. A little compassion and humanity, a sense of brotherhood, is allowed at times like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but after the holidays it's back to being dogs. This is the ideology the capitalists promote. But it could be Thanksgiving year-round, both in terms of the sense of humanity and in terms of all of us sharing the abundance of our society. For this to happen, the people must have the political power necessary to reorganize society as a cooperative society. The good news is that things are changing in such a way as to both demand and allow for such a reorganization of society. Capitalism pits workers against one another. Today's globalized production means competition between every sector of the world's workers. This is driving down the standard of living of workers worldwide. Between 1989 and 1993, the median family income of U.S. workers fell every year; by 1993, it was down by $2,700, or 7 percent, compared to 1989. Yet between 1983 and 1989, the richest 1 percent got 62 percent of the new wealth that was created, while the bottom 80 percent got only 1 percent of the total gain in marketable wealth. The competition that is supposed to give us such rewards isn't doing us much good. Labor-replacing technology coming into the workplace, combined with global competition, is throwing millions permanently out of work or into lower-paid jobs. This process is creating a new class of destitute people who are more and more outside the capitalist system and are compelled to fight for a new kind of society. Thus the economic revolution is setting the stage for political revolution. The fall in our standard of living is causing millions of workers who used to loyally support the capitalist system to question the system. Yet while the new technology is creating an unprecedented growth in poverty, it is also creating an unprecedented abundance. We are more productive now than we've ever been. Take that Thanksgiving turkey for instance -- the United States produces more than 6 billion pounds of turkey a year, or almost 300 million turkeys! And that's just one category of food. As of September 1, there were 884 million bushels of corn stored on and off the farm in this country. Why is anyone allowed to go hungry at any time, let alone at Thanksgiving? It's been estimated that, of the 126 million jobs in this country, 90 to 95 million of them will be automated during the next two decades. A broader and broader mass of people is being hit by the impact of technology and globalization. These people are in fact revolutionaries, but most of them don't know it yet. It's up to those of us who are conscious of what is going on and what needs to be done to educate these potential revolutionaries so they understand the possibility and necessity of building a cooperative society in place of the dog-eat-dog competition of capitalism. In a cooperative society, the means of producing the necessities of life would be owned in common by all of us. No one would be allowed to do without anything they needed. The new technology could be used for our benefit rather than against us. We could have full, cultured lives. But if we are going to realize this vision of a cooperative society, we must unite around the victims of the capitalist system -- the new class of poor that is being created. Most of us are headed toward becoming members of this new class. Our collective interest lies in building a new, cooperative society. High technology is giving us the means to do it. Our anger at the moral outrages being committed by the capitalists will give us the will to do it. ****************************************************************** 3. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: 'WE NEED TO TAKE A STAND' WITH THE POOR: CHRISTIAN STUDENT LEADER DESCRIBES FIGHT FOR ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS [Editor's note: Below we print the latest contribution to our regular column about spirituality and revolution. This edition's column consists of excerpts from an interview with Brooke Sexton, who has been working with her church since she was 12 years old, and now attends Eastern College, a small Christian college outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sexton grew up in Philadelphia and works with the Philadelphia- based Kensington Welfare Rights Union. In September, the KWRU began mapping out a campaign to document how people's economic human rights are being violated in the United States. The campaign will call attention to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [Some of its provisions calling for the protection of people's economic human rights are listed on page 5.] The way this country treats its poor is a clear violation of the people's human rights. The KWRU campaign will begin on December 10, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration, and culminate when the documentation is presented to the United Nations next June. Below, Sexton describes how she came into contact with the KWRU and her role in the campaign.] People's Tribune: How did you become involved with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union? Brooke Sexton: The day that the KWRU moved into St. Edward's Church because the tent cities were getting too cold, there was an article in the paper about them and how the [Roman Catholic] Archdiocese was going to kick them out. As a Christian, I thought that that was extremely ironic, that it was pretty hypocritical for the Archdiocese to do that. The church was supposed to be a refuge for God's people. I went down with a couple of friends. The next day, we brought 20 people down, and the next day 20 more. By the end of that week, we had 150 students. We decided that we couldn't let [ouster of the KWRU from St. Edward's] happen, that it was wrong. We started a group called the YAHT Club -- "Youth Against Homelessness Today." We decided to support the KWRU in what they were doing. I joined the KWRU in the March for Our Lives to the U.N. in June. I was in charge of getting the food. It was very exciting. It was an attempt to break the media blackout, since people don't know what's going on. We wanted to let people know that they're not alone and that they can fight. It was exciting to see the support of the unions, and be able to bridge that gap because for so long the trade unions and the poor had been at war, when we should be fighting together. We are fighting for the same things. People's Tribune: What is your vision for this country and the world? Brooke Sexton: I'm fighting for a world where no one knows what it is to be hungry. That's the world I'm fighting for. I'm not sure if it is possible, but I don't think we can have it otherwise. A lot of people don't think it is possible for everyone to have, yet clearly there's enough for everyone. People need to become confronted with the reality of what's going on with welfare reform, see the faces that go along with that hurt. It'll shake them up. The People's Tribunal in June [1998] is going to bring faces and the stories. We need to mobilize for it and everyone can do it. We need to ask ourselves: What are we doing? What can we do? We need to take responsibility, take a stand. ****************************************************************** 4. NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD RUNS FOR BOARD OF EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA: 'MOLD THE EDUCATION OF THE FUTURE' [Editor's note: Alberto "Beto" Sandoval is a 19-year-old college student determined to make a difference as an alumni of the Merced Union High School District. He is a candidate for the Board of Trustees election on November 4. He is challenging two incumbents who have been there 8 and 12 years on the high school board. He represents the vibrant youth of today's new America, anxious to have a voice in the decision-making for a relevant and appropriate education.] By Alberto 'Beto' Sandoval MERCED, California -- As the new millennium is about to begin, we must prepare ourselves for the future! Not only must we prepare ourselves; we must prepare all young people to become the leaders of tomorrow. The industrial labor force is quickly diminishing and the technological revolution begins to show its weary head. Now we must begin to build relevant education for everyone, especially young people. Through hands-on activities and computer literacy, young people (students) will be able to enter the world with an opportunity to succeed. And the only way this will happen is by participating in the educational process, which is why I decided to run for the high school board of education. I truly believe that young people will be the leaders of this new world and that is why I am a candidate. I am only 19 years of age, but my new, fresh, and creative ideas have promise in molding the education of the future. We must give all young people the opportunity to lead because if we don't, our future society will not be as grandiose as we might anticipate. Support and encourage participation because that is the only way we can prepare. ****************************************************************** 5. FOSTER FARMS WORKERS STRIKE OVER HEALTH PLAN By Sal Sandoval Livingston, California -- Over 2,000 Foster Farms workers went on strike October 8 after final deliberations between their union and the plant expired. Two days earlier the workers had overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer by the company, primarily because of an increase in cost to the employees on their health plan. This company, which processes over 400,000 chickens per day, has steadfastly refused to negotiate. In addition, sources state that the company has canceled health coverage for the striking workers. The workers continue their peaceful picket of the facility, despite replacement workers being bussed in under protection of police forces from seven counties. Supporters are giving the strikers food and donations. The workers and community residents are asking that the public boycott Foster Farms products until the company deals with them fairly. [Editor's note: The Foster Farms strike was settled shortly before the People's Tribune went to press. We will have more on this in our next issue.] ****************************************************************** 6. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION OR SEGREGATION: WHO BENEFITS? By Abdul Alkalimat There is considerable evidence that Americans are turning against affirmative action even while continuing to believe in democracy and fair play. A majority of whites are against affirmative action, but most black people are for it. Why? What can we do to get back on track? Affirmative action is based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Passed in 1868, the 14th Amendment aimed at extending citizenship rights to the former slaves and guaranteeing them "equal protection of the laws." In 1896, the Supreme Court used the amendment to justify segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson. Half a century later, in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the Supreme Court reversed itself and used the same amendment to support integration. Today, anti-affirmative action proposals like Proposition 209 in California and segregationist rulings such as in the Hopwood case in Texas use this same 14th Amendment. Economic change helps explain this pendulum swing. The 1896 Plessy decision came when cotton production ruled the lives of black and white sharecropping tenant farmers. Keeping blacks and whites apart prevented them from standing together and challenging exploitation by landowners. The Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, that separate was equal below the Mason-Dixon Line, helped keep Southern labor divided and uneducated. The 1954 Brown decision came after the mechanization of Southern agriculture ended sharecropping as a labor system. Forced off the land, black people migrated to the industrialized cities. Factory work required more literacy. The court ruled that separate was inherently not equal, and education of blacks and whites proceeded to improve and expand. As the economy continued to grow and the black liberation movement pressed forward, new affirmative action policies in higher education began to guarantee black people a share of seats in each entering class. This allowed each college to recruit a diverse student body and graduate a diverse pool of professionals to work in public and private sectors at both the community and the national level. Now things have changed, and today we see "equal protection of the laws" serving segregation. The Hopwood ruling in Texas argued that giving blacks preferential treatment in admissions was reverse discrimination and violated the 14th Amendment. Going a step further in California, anti-affirmative action forces (led by a black University of California Board of Regents member) initiated and got the voters to pass Proposition 209, which outlaws affirmative action as a state policy. What is the economics behind this pendulum swing? High-tech, professional-level jobs are in demand, but most new jobs are temporary, part-time, seasonal, and/or minimum wage. Yet higher education is still geared toward an expanding job market. The result is an effort to downsize education to match the downsized corporation: tuition increases, expanded use of mandatory but biased standardized tests, a rejection of open enrollment and bilingual education, and an overall decline in institutions of higher education. If blacks stop getting a share of the seats, will economic security and opportunities for higher education continue to expand? No. So when whites turn against affirmative action, they are agreeing to be divided and uneducated. When 1 percent of the population owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent, it should be clear that what everyone needs is more jobs and more education. Our society is corrupted by centuries of racist oppression against people of color, especially including the enslavement of the African Americans. The reason to defend affirmative action is to prevent racism from once again blinding us to our collective interest in justice and economic security for all. ****************************************************************** 7. VETERANS DAY 1997: TIME TO UNITE THE FIGHT FOR VETS' HEALTH CARE By Bruce E. Parry Across the country, small groups of veterans are banding together to fight the decrease in services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The groups are local and uncoordinated. The leadership of the struggle on the national level is held by the very conservative national veterans organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Disabled Veterans of America and the Vietnam Veterans of America. They work mainly through the legislative process, through their "friends" in Congress. This lack of coordinated national struggle means that the veterans themselves have no political power independent of the ruling class of this country, which is represented by the two main political parties. More veterans are seeking care through the VA as they age. This is for two reasons. The first is that older people confront more medical problems than younger people. Therefore, they require more medical care. The second is that conditions that were tolerable earlier in life, become intolerable later and demand to be treated. This, too, requires more medical care. Take the example of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, previously known as battle fatigue, shell shock or Vietnam syndrome. The VA estimated that as time passed, the number of veterans seeking care for PTSD would shrink. The idea was that "they'll get over it" and as they got over it, fewer would seek help. Wrong. It turns out that as people get older, their lifelong defense systems -- workaholism, alcoholism, drugs, gambling, sex, violence and other compulsive behaviors -- tend to be less effective, to stop working. Therefore, more veterans seek care for the traumas they experienced during war. This is true of veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf and anywhere else. If not dealt with, the trauma remains. Between 1989 and 1994, more than 36,000 veterans went into VA PTSD programs for care. This does not include vets who went to Vets Centers, older veterans treated in geriatric programs (the majority of WWII and many Korean vets), those seen in other mental health clinics, those who did not continue in care after an initial visit or two to the VA, or those who sought help outside the VA. Such a massive influx of patients requires increased resources on the part of the VA medical system to deal with this long-term disorder. Those suffering from PTSD need both short- and long- term treatment. They are generally treated by short-term intensive care (either in- or out-patient) followed by long-term, less frequent individual and group therapy. Yet, in the prevalent political atmosphere of budget cuts and restrictions, no further funding for such programs exists. What VA PTSD clinics have been told seems perfectly reasonable: They may not have a waiting list to treat new patients coming into the system; they must see new patients right away. In fact, the only way that is possible, is to restrict or cut off patients from longer- term care. Some programs restrict PTSD patients to as little as 16 weeks care. This is obviously insufficient. The normal combat tour in Vietnam was 12 or 13 months. The combat trauma festered for 25 to 30 years. There is no cure for PTSD, just improved coping skills. The idea that veterans can change 30 years of their lives in four months is preposterous. Thus, the current budget crisis continues to mean a reduction in health care for veterans. Veterans know this. Veterans have to coordinate and combine their isolated struggles. That requires organization, education and communication on a class scale and in opposition to the Republican and Democratic parties. These are the tasks the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA) and the People's Tribune have taken up. Join and subscribe, respectively. Or at least write us for more information. [Bruce E. Parry is a Vietnam combat veteran.] ****************************************************************** 8. ACROSS THE WORLD, DOCKWORKERS STRIKE IN SOLIDARITY WITH LIVERPOOL'S WORKERS By Jack Hirschman LIVERPOOL, England -- Two years ago in Liverpool, England, 89 dockworkers went out on strike because of an overtime pay dispute. Their small company was part of a larger one -- the Mersey Docks and Harbor Co. (MDHC). When 329 workers from MDHC joined their picket line, their bosses sacked them. All told, 500 workers were locked out. For two years, these workers have fought the lockout. They've gathered international support in a time of downsizing, with the result that, on September 8, after a call for solidarity, worldwide port closures, work stoppages and rallies were held. On the West Coast of the United States, ports were immobilized from Seattle to San Pedro. In San Francisco, a rally was held at the British Consulate. Because of strictly enforced anti-union laws in England, there was very little support for the strikers there. Within the orbit of British rule, only Belfast came out in solidarity with the dockworkers. The mainstream British press has virtually blacked out news of the struggle. There were port closures and work stoppages in Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and actions in India and Japan as well. Some ports went on strike for a shift or two, some for 24 hours. The catalyst was solidarity with the struggle of the Liverpool Dockers, since theirs has been the longest lockout. But the struggles in ports the world over are becoming more and more similar. Terry Teague of the Liverpool Dockers described the situation as "the globalization of privatization." Liverpool has become a symbol for "all who are determined to resist the threats of casual labor [part-time work], mass sackings and the deregulation of our industry." Part-time workers were brought into Liverpool after the 500 dockers were fired. In other ports, dockers have been fired after disputing the use of part-time workers. We know that the capitalists care only about profits -- they are not concerned about fired workers. That is why the struggle against privatization is so very important. Only when the docks are publicly owned and run in the interests of the majority will the scourge of layoffs and misery end. Look at our experience in the United States. Though the UPS strike was a victory, the fact is that 15,000 workers have lost their jobs since or will lose them. Only when the system of private ownership is overturned will there be real justice in the world. This is not an empty hope. The dockers of Liverpool have inspired a whole world. I had the good fortune to meet with some of the leaders of the dockers on September 8 while I was on a reading tour in England. The dockers greeted me especially warmly, as one of my poems on their struggle is part of a video documentary that was produced. This documentary has been shown in many countries, revealing just how inspiring the fight of the dockers is on a global scale. On the same day I met the dockers, Jimmy Davis, general-secretary of the workers organization formed after their lockout, gratefully responded to a letter announcing that nearly $30,000 had been raised by longshoremen in the United States to support the dockers. Only three days earlier, Sue Mitchell had returned from Libya, where her organization, Women of the Waterfront (WOW), received an award from the Libyan government for its work in human rights. It also received a large donation to help the dockers. Workers will pitted against other industries in the future in their struggle for survival. As the global thugs of capital consolidate their power, so must the peoples of the world begin to organize and participate in the downfall of globaloney capitalists. Indeed, when I talked with Kevin Bilsborrow, one of the dockers in Liverpool, and compared their resistance to the newly formed Labor Party in the United States, he smiled broadly and said, "We're honorary members of the U.S. Labor Party." Just as anyone fighting against downsizing, privatization and the injustices they breed is an honorary member of the Liverpool Dockers. ****************************************************************** 9. ZAPATISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT FORMED IN MEXICO [Editor's note: Below we print excerpts from a statement issued by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.] To the people of Mexico: To the people and governments of the world: Today, September 12, 1997, in the month of the nation, 1,111 indigenous Zapatistas and thousands of indigenous people from all over the country have arrived to the front of the great palace of the federal government to say our word. We arrive all the way from the mountains of the Mexican Southeast to here. We are men, women and children. We represent the 1,111 indigenous communities which form the base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. We have come to the city of Mexico and the first thing we want to do is to salute its inhabitants. We salute the city of Mexico which belongs to the people. We salute the city which works and struggles to be better. We salute the city which could and knew how to rebel against the bad government. We salute the city which defeated the state-party and opened hope for a peaceful, profound and true change. We want to salute the people of the capital. Not those who are criminals and government. Not the powerful who humiliate and make this city into a hell. We want to salute the rebels, the ones who do not conform, the ones who fight back, who demand, who do not keep quiet, who listen. We salute those who make this city a space for rebel dignity. Salute all the men and women who made it possible for us, who are barely a handful of indigenous people who live in a corner of the country, to come all the way here to say our word. And this is our first word upon our arrival in the city of Mexico: Health to all of you brothers and sisters of the capital! To all of them we want to say "thank you." All of you are those who allow this nation to still have hope and to have pride and honor in being called a Mexican. We have come all the way here and we did not arrive alone. With us, at our side, come thousands of indigenous people from many parts of Mexico. Our voice and theirs is the same voice which claims justice, demands liberty and democracy. The brothers and sisters of the National Indigenous Congress march together with the Zapatistas. We have walked together with a single banner. The banner which demands that there no longer be a Mexico without us. Mexican men and women: We have come here to demand that Mister Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon keep his word. We demand he fulfill what he signed at the negotiating table in February of 1996. We demand he pull back his soldiers from the indigenous communities of all of Mexico. If he is not going to keep his promise, then we say he should speak clearly to the people of Mexico. No more deception by speaking of peace. We are not willing to be belittled. We are not willing to be deceived. We are not willing to return to the corner of abandonment and misery without hope. If Zedillo is a man of his word, let him fulfill it and let the law recognize our rights as Indian peoples. If Zedillo cannot keep his word, let him make war on us and fill with bullets what he cannot fill with reason. If he is not going to make war, then he should take his soldiers out of our communities. Those soldiers are far from their families, their mothers, their wives, their children. Why does he keep them here if all they do is bring in prostitutes, alcohol and drugs to our communities? While the federal soldiers persecute those of us who are Mexican, the great rulers are selling our nation to foreign capital. National armies should defend the people and not help the sale of our national sovereignty. If Zedillo wants peace, let him keep his word given to the Indian peoples and take his soldiers back into their barracks. If he wants the war, we Zapatistas know how to fight with honor and bravery, because we have a very powerful weapon which the government does not have. That weapon is called dignity. With this weapon no one and nothing can defeat us. They can kill us or jail us. But they will never defeat us. They will never get our surrender. Mexican men and women: On our side is the Mexico of Miguel Hidalgo, of Jose Maria Morelos, of Francisco Javier Mina, of Leona Vicario, of Vicente Guerrero. On our side are the heroes, the ones who gave birth to this nation, the ones who defended it against invaders and who today fight at our side to construct a Mexico with democracy, liberty and justice for everyone. [O]ur struggle belongs to everyone. That is why we cry, "For everyone, everything. Nothing for us." That is why we shout there must be government by obedience. That is why we want a peace with justice and dignity for all Mexicans. That is why we come to demand that Mister Zedillo keep his word and take his soldiers back into the barracks. That is why we come to remind the nation that we are indigenous, that we are rebels, that we have dignity, that we will continue to struggle, that we will not surrender. >From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast, for the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee, General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation: Insurgent subcommander Marcos [Translation by Cecilia Rodriguez, NCDL.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 'WE WANT OUR DIGNITY': RISING POVERTY SPARKS ACTION BY MEXICO'S POOR By Laura Garcia Imagine 10,000 women, men and children assembled in one place in the capital city of Mexico, shouting "Zapata Vive!" "Todos somos Marcos," "No estan solos," and "Nunca mas un Mexico sin nosotros!" Yes, with these cries of "Zapata lives! ... "We're all Marcos," and "Never again a Mexico without us!", the poor of Mexico gave notice to President Ernesto Zedillo and the whole world that they will not sit idly by as their country is pillaged by foreign investors as well as their own rulers, a situation that has left Mexico one of the three Latin American countries where poverty is on the rise. More than 22 percent of Mexico's population is poor. So we need not ask what brought thousands of revolutionaries to Mexico City. They came in droves -- by bus, car, plane and even on foot, to let their voices be heard. Three events took place in Mexico City in the fall of 1997 that show the political maturity of Mexico's revolution. The first event was the march of 1,111 Zapatistas who came to give notice to President Ernesto Zedillo. Their message: "Only when you remove the Mexican army from our villages and implement the San Andres Agreements for autonomy will we put down our arms." The second event was the founding of the Frente Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional [Zapatista National Liberation Front]. In September, 3,000 women, men and youth from every corner of Mexico -- Sinaloa, Chiapas, Michoacan, Yucatan, Baja California Sur, Guerrero, the list goes on -- gave birth to the Zapatista Civiles. The Frente will be a legal, peaceful political organization. The EZLN will not be part of the Frente because "peace is still too far away" for the Zapatistas in Chiapas to put down their arms. The Frente's political-action program will be centered around such demands as jobs, housing, land, education, health care, democracy, justice and liberty. The third event was the convening of the Second National Congress. There, 6,000 indigenous delegates -- Purepechas, Nahuas, Zapapotecos, Tzotlizes, Yaquis, Mayos and Huicholes -- met to discuss and draft a plan of action around the implementation of the San Andres Agreements. With poverty, hunger, and repression on the rise, Mexico is a country in the throes of revolution. These conditions are fostered by an economic system where the chase for money is more important than human lives. When I asked one of the Zapatistas in Mexico City why they are fighting, he simply responded: "Because we're dying. Because we want peace. We want our dignity." I think we can all agree that that's not too much to ask for. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 10. WHAT'S THE STORY WITH INFLATION? By Bruce E. Parry Ph.D. A lot of people wonder what the story is with inflation. Inflation never left. It has averaged 5.2 percent during the 1990s. One hundred dollars in 1990 is worth about $83 in 1997. That's a loss of one-sixth in seven years. The capitalists control the money supply. They keep up a low, steady rate of inflation to invisibly cut workers' incomes day by day. The downward pressure on workers' income is also a continuous upward pressure on capitalists' profits. The capitalists themselves admit that inflation transfers wealth to them from workers. Inflation works. Weekly earnings of employed workers have been falling for decades. Real weekly earnings in 1996 were lower than in 1959! Inflation isn't the only reason wages are falling. Another is unemployment, which drives down the wages of those still working. The key is that this system works against workers. Every day, in every way, capitalism puts wages, benefits, income, pensions, and welfare grants under pressure. The only way to get rid of this threat to our lives is to get rid of capitalism. ****************************************************************** 11. LEARNING WITH NATURE -- LRNA CAMPING SCHOOL IS A GREAT SUCCESS [Editor's note: Members of several Southern California chapters of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America held a camping school in September. Many brought family members to the school. Here they share their experience with us.] LOS ANGELES -- Around a campfire, an article from the Tribuno del Pueblo was being discussed to music. A rock song talks about the factory life. Another song says "don't give up" to a worker who is unemployed and has given up on the American Dream. Finally, "If I Ruled The World" by a group called Nas, shares a vision of no courts, no police brutality, and a society that shares its wealth. The next morning, the sun rolled over green mountains and birds began their morning songs as campers started coming out of their tents. "Good morning. What a beautiful day!" were the greetings over fresh coffee and hot chocolate. This was the site of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America's three-day camping school that was filled to capacity. The adults had class sessions and the kids attended other activities. The camping area was in the mountains and yet walking distance to the ocean. Everything was shared. Members brought extra tents for families that didn't have them and LRNA chapters took charge of different meals. "We lived like a family, the way it should be, the way it will be someday," said April, a member of the area's largest chapter. The classes discussed key points that people are grappling with. One class concentrated on the lessons of the American Revolution. Ten years of activity -- dumping tea, protesting, etc. -- did not produce the change that the colonists needed. Not until they understood the need to overthrow the king and their colonial status, did a true revolutionary change occur. The propaganda tool that was crucial to this happening was a little pamphlet by Thomas Paine called Common Sense. The campers debated today's situation and how the same question is crucial. Will the struggle continue on the road of protest politics for a few more crumbs here and there? Or will the struggle be injected with new ideas so that it can truly make a change for mankind? The People's Tribune's article on the role of the press was used for a second class. The key issue debated here was how are we going to use our press to wake up millions of Americans? Not just the poorest of our society, but also those people who are a paycheck away from joblessness and homelessness. We are in the same boat, whether we know it or not. We are the new revolutionary force that can change America. This camping school was a great success. LRNA's role is education and we are trying to be creative about how to take up this critical task. ****************************************************************** 12. DEMOCRACY TEACH-IN '98: CHICAGO MEETING WILL PLAN ANTI- CORPORATE TEACH-INS By Chris Mahin CHICAGO -- Some will come from well-known universities like Harvard, Cornell and Georgetown; others from technical colleges and high schools. Some will be long-time activists; others brand- new. But for all their differences, they'll have one thing in common: a deep commitment to expose the role of corporate power in today's world. That was how the "November Organizing Conference" of the National Teach-In on Corporations, Education and Democracy was described recently by several of its organizers, in phone interviews with the People's Tribune. The conference is attracting "a lot of new activists, which is really exciting," said Amy Mondloch, a teach- in organizer in Wisconsin. Beginning October 31, about 300 students will meet at the University of Chicago for three days to plan teach-ins on corporate power. "All of them understand that there is something wrong and they see a threat to democracy in the United States," said Robert Miranda of Milwaukee. Miranda expressed hope that the teach-ins will bring together a "diverse coalition" of students. In October 1996, thousands of students on more than 40 campuses across North America participated in the first National Teach-in on Corporations, Education and Democracy. The conference will plan for a second teach-in which will take place on March 1-7, 1998. "We want people to leave [the conference] with the ability to hold teach-ins on their campuses," said Mark Piotrowksi, the campus organizing director at the Center for Campus Organizing in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Teach-in organizer Ben Manski declared that he would consider the conference a success if "when people go home, they have all the materials they need or know where to find them." Manski explained that conference organizers decided to hold the gathering at the University of Chicago -- known for its conservative economics department -- in order to dramatize the gap between institutions of higher education and the communities they are supposed to serve. "The University of Chicago is emblematic of that," Manski said. We urge our readers to support the conference and the teach-ins. Those wishing to attend can register as late as October 30 by calling the Center for Campus Organizing at 617-354-9363. The conference will open at 3 p.m. on Friday, October 31 at Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th Street, Chicago. [The author would like to thank Amy Dalton, Leonard Minsky and Cedar Stevens for information they provided for this article.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ LRNA WELCOMES TEACH-IN CONFERENCE [Editor's note: Below we reprint the full text of the statement sent by the League of Revolutionaries for a New America to the Democracy Teach-In's November Organizing Conference.] October 19, 1997 To: The Democracy Teach-In participants Congratulations on the convening of your November Organizing Conference. With your teach-ins, you are undertaking an ambitious and important mission. The obscene and brutal polarization of wealth and poverty threaten democracy, equality, and every other ideal that the American people hold close to their hearts. A government that is becoming less and less responsive to the survival needs of poor America is becoming more and more responsive to the profit needs of corporate America. Such a dangerous situation calls out for organizations and actions like yours. We wish you well in your proceedings. We offer to you the pages of our newspapers, the People's Tribune and the Tribuno del Pueblo, to publicize your activities and to reach out to our diverse audience with your message. General Baker Chair, Steering Committee League of Revolutionaries for a New America +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NEW VIDEO TO BE SHOWN AT TEACH-IN CONFERENCE The November Organizing Conference being held in Chicago to plan teach-ins on corporations will view a new video which examines the role of corporations in education. The video is called "Fiction: Classrooms Without Walls?" It critically examines the role of "distance education." Included in the video are excerpts from the Ameritech "Superschools" program, AT&T's "Vision of the Future," the Disney Institute and Celebration and the "choice" campaigns, aimed at privatizing education, one of the country's last remaining "democratic" institutions. [For more information about the video, contact Todd Price at taprice@students.wisc.edu.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 13. AS GAP WIDENS BETWEEN RICH AND POOR, HOW DO WE CONFRONT GLOBAL MISERY? By Francis C. Scudellari The gap between rich and poor continues to widen. That is the conclusion of a Census Bureau report released last month. Of the wealth generated in the United States over the past six years of the "recovery," 99 percent went to the top 20 percent of all wage earners. The mass media have reported the statistics, but they haven't provided an explanation. The introduction of electronics into the manufacturing process has created the possibility of production without labor and precipitated an extreme redistribution of wealth. Corporations have seen increased profits due to the use of more efficient means of production, communication and transportation and the influx of generous relocation incentives. Those who can find work must accept declining wages and fewer benefits. Those who can't, must also do without any form of government assistance. Politicians eager to lure private investment offer businesses tax breaks, eased regulations, new infrastructure and tighter security, all at the expense of social spending. The policies of international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization are also contributing to this new concentration of wealth, promoting an economy in which private-property interests are allowed to operate unfettered, a world in which goods, jobs and money are able to flow freely across borders. We are at a crossroads. If we stand by while our governments pursue their current policies favoring private-property interests over those of the larger community, such basic rights as food, shelter, clean air and water, health care, education, and cultural expression will soon become the exclusive domain of the rich. The extreme inequality, irrational waste and mass misery will worsen. Millions more will live on the streets despite the availability of excess housing. Children will continue to starve as food rots on store shelves. The creative talents and energies of billions will be silenced by inadequate education and health care. If, on the other hand, we take control of our society, and reorganize society to meet the needs of each man, woman and child, we can enjoy a world of abundance, of peace and prosperity. Now is the time to forge a vision of a new society -- a true community in which no one will ever again lack the basic necessities of life. ****************************************************************** 14. THE LEGACY OF ELIJAH LOVEJOY: LET TRUTH RING OUT! By Chris Mahin Exactly 160 years ago this month, an event took place which shocked the conscience of America and led directly to the Civil War. Although it is barely mentioned in most schoolbooks, the murder of editor Elijah Lovejoy on November 7, 1837 is one of the most significant events in U.S. history. The life of this courageous opponent of slavery should be celebrated by all those who love freedom. Elijah Lovejoy might have led an uneventful life if he had been born in a peaceful time, but his era was anything but peaceful. He lived in a moment of history marked by intense conflict between the legislative representatives of the slave states and free states. This battle for control of the Union was particularly bitter in the Midwest. In 1828, Lovejoy began to feel the effects of this "irrepressible conflict" when he moved from his native Maine, a free state, to St. Louis (located in the slave state of Missouri). Lovejoy, the son of a minister, became a partner in a St. Louis newspaper. His early articles dealt with subjects like the evils of tobacco, whiskey and breaking the Sabbath. However, Lovejoy's priorities changed after he went to study for the ministry at Princeton University. There, he came under the influence of America's leading opponent of slavery, the impassioned Boston minister William Lloyd Garrison. Lovejoy returned to St. Louis in 1833 and became editor of the St. Louis Observer. His position was uncompromising: Slavery is sin and should be abolished. When the newspaper's office was destroyed by a mob, he was forced to flee across the Mississippi River to Alton, in the free state of Illinois. When Lovejoy's printing press arrived in Alton, the crate was tossed into the Mississippi River by a mob. Although some of Lovejoy's friends begged to him to refrain from discussing slavery, he continued his agitation. Twice more, presses used to print his newspaper were destroyed. Then, on the evening of November 7, 1837, a drunken mob of 200 people attacked the office of the Alton Observer. Five slugs from a double-barreled shotgun killed Elijah Lovejoy as he tried to protect his printing press. Lovejoy's assassins were freed by the local authorities. The death of this 35-year-old editor and minister set off a chain of events which transformed America. Former President John Quincy Adams called Lovejoy America's first martyr to freedom of the press. Lovejoy's murder convinced John Brown that slavery would never be abolished by peaceful means; Brown began planning how to counter the violence of slavery with violence. Elijah Parish Lovejoy was the kind of person who emerges when a society is in crisis. At such moments in history, individuals step forward who are capable of seeing further than the average person can. Fired with a sense of mission, these leaders are the first to feel deeply about the moral choices facing society. They sense the answer to a problem and fight to make others grasp it. They search for ways to shake the mass of people out of their complacency. Such leaders have always seized the weapons of the printed page and the speaker's platform and used them to win people to new ideas. Sometimes, these leaders pay a terrible price for their devotion, falling in the struggle as Elijah Lovejoy did. But their victory lies in the minds which ultimately get opened as a result of their relentless agitation. Lovejoy's heroic death helped people understand that slavery was wrong and that it endangered the freedom not only of the slave, but also of the people of the North and West as well. The abolitionists of the 19th century felt an obligation to protest the most horrific wrong of their generation. They understood that economic, social and political issues ultimately express themselves as moral choices. Today, this country once again finds itself in the midst of economic dislocation and social strife. Just as in the pre-Civil War era, these issues come down to moral choices. In Lovejoy's time, the 10,000 families which controlled the largest Southern plantations (and owned most of the slaves in the United States) completely dominated the political life of this country. That handful of people, a tiny percent of the 30 million human beings then residing in the United States, were prepared to do anything necessary to maintain their political control. (They certainly showed that by killing Lovejoy.) Today, 1 percent of the population of the United States controls 42 percent of the wealth -- and 445 billionaires own 45 percent of the world's wealth. In the country where chattel slaves once picked cotton, welfare recipients in the "workfare" slave-labor program now pick up filthy debris from city parks with their bare hands. As in Lovejoy's time, the crying need of the present is for those who see further and feel deeper to step forward. Once again, it is time to shake people out of their complacency. It is time for words as uncompromising as those of Elijah Lovejoy and William Lloyd Garrison to ring out again from the speaker's platform and leap off the pages of the revolutionary press. History will never forget Lovejoy, the man who dared to challenge the political domination of the United States by 10,000 slaveholders. If we honor him for courageously speaking the truth that "slavery is sin" even in the slave state of Missouri, don't we have an obligation to speak truth to power today, to challenge the political control of this society by a small class of millionaires? ****************************************************************** 15. TEN YEARS AFTER HAROLD WASHINGTON Ten years have passed since we last saw Harold Washington, the great reform mayor of Chicago, who died suddenly on November 25, 1987. He was elected in 1983, carried into City Hall by the greatest grassroots political movement Chicago had ever seen. He was the real thing. Ten dramatic years after 1987, the tragic meaning of Mayor Washington's passing for Chicago is plain for all to see -- especially in the neighborhoods where the struggle to survive is cruelest. The polarization of wealth and poverty is more extreme than ever. The most basic public services are vanishing in the poorest parts of Chicago. Harold Washington the man is gone. Yet Harold Washington lives on within all conscious fighters for change. We who are still here and who cherish Harold Washington must assess what reform means in 1997. It means replacing poverty with abundance, opening all the wonders and treasures of this great city to all of its people and not just the privileged few. To mark the anniversary of the passing of Harold Washington, we print below excerpts from the statement on Washington's death which appeared on the front page of the People's Tribune 10 years ago. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The fight has just begun We've had a taste of our own power. For a few years we saw that we could and did count for something. We like the feeling and we are afraid we're going to lose it. The sense that we counted -- would be listened to -- meant more than the actual accomplishments of the past five years. Harold Washington is gone. Every great leader someday leaves the people. Real leaders prepare the people to carry on. We, the people of Chicago, are more prepared, more alert than ever before. We can thank Harold for re-establishing our sense of worth and dignity. We can and must carry on. That is what Harold Washington is all about. Those of us who intend to carry on must hold close to the lessons we have learned. We must be ready to take to the streets to enforce our will and demands. We will never again allow our enemies to choose our leaders. We must organize around issues -- not personalities. We must guard the unity that Harold created and reject any effort to undo it. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 16. QUALITY HEALTH CARE: HOW IT MIGHT LOOK By Steve Miller Bill Clinton got elected in 1992 by promising health care reform and putting 100,000 more cops on the street. Now our health care is brokered giant HMOs that make profits by closing hospitals. Why don't we just put 100,000 doctors to work instead and add twice as many other health care workers for good measure? The health care business in this country generates over $1 trillion a year in corporate-centered, profit-driven and severely restricted health care. Their bright-eyed spin doctors actually expect us to believe that it is really ok for a woman to have a breast removed and go home the same day! How society spends its collective wealth is really a series of choices. We have spent over $230 billion a year for 30 years on the military because our (corporate-bought) politicians tell us we have to make this choice. Well, let's just forget the profit motive for a moment. What is the best way to provide really good health care for everyone? It begins with two simple steps: 1. Give the human right to quality comprehensive health care the force of law. Lots of health problems originate with poverty, lack of food and education. Health care is really much more than medical care. These human rights need the force of law as well. 2. Forbid by law the obscene practice of making corporate profits from human misery -- in this case, exploiting illness to sell commodities. How does this work out in practice? Take one common problem that happens every day: non-emergency accidents. When people get hurt in accidents (say an automobile accident), most hospitals won't even treat a person who does not have a health carrier. Assuming you do get treated, you are going to have to pay insurance companies and lawyers for costly hassles over liability. Otherwise you pay the exhorbitant hospital costs (over $1,000 a day in the San Francisco Bay Area) or wind up on the streets. If all health costs were automatically covered as a right, society would save the vast amounts that haggling over liability costs each year. Insurance companies would disappear (not to mention a good number of lawyers)! Society's wealth could be re-directed to guaranteeing real health care. Please don't drag out the old line that this is too expensive. The government still subsidizes tobacco companies to inflict on society over a billion of dollars in medical costs. (If they are willing to pay $90 billion over 30 years, maybe they should just bail out Social Security forever?) The point is that these are choices society makes. What might community-centered, family-driven health care look like? Most doctor visits are for relatively small issues like colds, broken bones and check-ups. Easy access, community-based clinics can handle this level of care just fine. Most people in this country are no more than 10 minutes from a fast-food restaurant or a convenience store. Why shouldn't we be 10 minutes from a clinic that treats you for free with enough quality staff so there is little waiting? Community clinics would have the computer hook-ups and transportation to quickly send more serious cases to large central hospitals that are also designed for easy access. But medical care is more than aspirin and a quick X-ray. Lots of problems require a little (but not too much) medical knowledge. Right now this knowledge is all but kept secret so that somebody can profit from selling the services. Take living with a beloved elder who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease or some other chronic disability. A little training and some support services could make a family fairly comfortable. Community clinics could provide a staff of well-paid peer educators from teens to recovering alcoholics to the elderly with strong support services. In times of war, the U.S. government trains army medics in six weeks. Do you really think it's impossible to retrain our unemployed as a health support staff of well-paid teachers, caregivers, record keepers, computer experts, drivers and food- preparers? What better way is there to spend society's wealth than on supporting its people? The ideas and possibilities are endless! We have a world to win! ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WOMEN AND REVOLUTION: VISIONS FOR A NEW AMERICA The purpose of this column 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 at pt@noc.org +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 17. TAKING 'THE NEXT STEP': ORGANIZING SCHOOL MOBILIZES LEADERS OF POOR AND HOMELESS On September 5-7, the People's Tribune attended "The Next Step," an organizing school taught by poor and homeless leaders and sponsored by the Philadelphia-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union. The Next Step teaches the model of the poor organizing the poor to build a movement to end poverty. The school began the process of mapping out plans for a national campaign, to be kicked off December 10, to document violations of people's economic human rights and present this documentation to the United Nations. Below are excerpts of interviews with some of the participants. We asked them what the campaign symbolizes and also about their vision of a new society. Joy Butts, a member of the KWRU board of directors, heads the Poor People's Embassy in Harrisburg, representing the concerns of poor and homeless families in Harrisburg and at the United Nations. She will go to Geneva, Switzerland as an intern to pursue human rights work in 1998. Joy: "Until poor people understand that the reason they are in this situation is because of class, not race or gender, and that it is the economic system, there won't be any changes. The Economic Human Rights Campaign is a way of people becoming educated. We need to make people aware of their human rights and then start to address some of the problems that will change the country. In a new society, the country will be more open to new ways of education, of people coming together, learning from each other and sharing experience. So I see the campaign as an awakening in the mind, of people waking up." Dottie Stevens, vice president of the National Welfare Rights Union, is known as the "Mother of Welfare Rights." As an independent candidate for governor in Massachusetts, she ran on a platform to elect the victims of poverty to political office so that people could be educated about their class interests. Dottie: "I feel very encouraged. More people realize they are us and that they can be in this situation when they least expect it. So they in turn are organizing. And younger and younger people are joining our movement because of the future they see of no real jobs and pensions like we were raised to expect. Today, they're literally on their own. As I read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it says everyone should have a guaranteed annual income, housing, food, clothing and medical care. Imagine if those needs are taken care of. With the talent we have in this country, we could fulfill our potential, and only imagine what we could turn this world into." Devaki Leon is a nursing student, welfare recipient, single mom, and a member of the Tri-County Chapters of the KWRU. Devaki: "My main concern is to see that my community gets its needs met. It's a basic human right that people have a right to education and the freedom to work. Without transportation, where I live, no one can get to work or get the children to school, so poor people where I live don't have school for their children. I believe a lot of people will take this campaign and I am hoping it will awaken people." Patty Loff is a recent graduate with a degree in social work. Patty: "The conference was a great next step, for me. We're building a lot more leaders in the poor people movement and this laid an excellent foundation to go forward. A new society would have to include equity for all with no one in need of anything. I think it is possible, but will take a long time. But as long as people are committed to being a spoke in the wheel as opposed to expecting to get it all done themselves maybe someday it will happen." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ EXCERPTS FROM THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Article 23. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. ... Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. ... Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 18. THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA: WHAT WE ARE AND WHY The League is an organization of revolutionaries. * We are people from all walks of life, with various ideals and ideologies. * We are organized to awaken the American people to their growing poverty and the threat of a fascist police state. A police state is a society controlled by police forces who are above the law and responsible to no one but themselves. * We are organized to bring the people a vision of a peaceful, prosperous, orderly world made possible by the very automation and economic globalization which, in the hands of capitalists, threatens our existence. In a word, the League of Revolutionaries for a New America educates and fights for the transfer of economic and political power into the hands of the people so they can build a democratic, cooperative, communal society. HERE IS WHY -- Rapidly expanding automation is doing away with most human work and will pauperize the humans doing the work that remains. Capitalism has no use for and will not care for human labor when robotics is more profitable. Consequently, the growing mass of permanently unemployed people are sinking deeper and deeper into poverty. A huge global movement of the destitute is getting underway. The demand for the essentials of a decent life and no money to pay for them marks it as the world's first revolutionary mass movement for communism. (The American Heritage Dictionary defines "communism" as "a social system characterized by the common ownership of the means of production and subsistence and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.") This developing movement needs to understand its historic mission and how to achieve it. The No. 1 need of the revolution is for an organization of teachers, of propagandists who will bring it clarity. Only then can the people of this country save themselves from the threat of a new world order of poverty and oppression. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America has been formed to carry out that task. Historically, a revolution in the economy makes a revolution in society inevitable. We must prepare for it. If you agree with this perspective, let's get it together -- our collective experience, intelligence and commitment can change America and the world. Collectivize with us. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ I WANT TO JOIN! ____ 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 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 19. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA The People's Tribune Speakers Bureau represents speakers who are on every front of the battle against corporate rule and for a new America. The technology exists today to create a prosperous world for all. Call today to bring one of our exciting speakers to your city. Write P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois, 60654; e-mail: speakers@noc.org; call 773-486-3551; or visit our web page at www.mcs.com/~speakers/index.html. NELSON PEERY, author of "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary." LUIS RODRIGUEZ, the award-winning poet and author of "Always Running, La Vida Loca: Gang Days in Los Angeles." CHERI HONKALA, the leader of the 125-mile march of poor people to the United Nations to declare welfare "reform" a violation of human rights and to demand a living wage. JONATHAN KING, an internationally known molecular biologist and expert on the social implications of cloning who has long been concerned with developing science for human liberation, not profit. DOREEN STABINSKY, an assistant professor of environmental studies, who is an expert on energy, ecosystems, agriculture, pollution, economics, and the policymaking of corporations and international bodies. LIZ MONGE, an editor of the bilingual Tribuno del Pueblo, who has worked with urban peace networks of young people. ALBERTO 'BETO' SANDOVAL, editor of Germ, an underground zine for young people about the corruption of the educational system and everyday life. ABDUL ALKALIMAT, a professor of Africana studies and sociology who has made important contributions to the origins of the black studies movement and to technology and employment conferences. ****************************************************************** 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@noc.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject. 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@noc.org with a message of "subscribe". ******************************************************************