****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 24 No. 12/ December, 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. 12/ December, 1997 Page One 1. NO MCJOB, NO WELFARE ... NEW TIMES CALL FOR NEW IDEAS! Editorial 2. THE PEOPLE BEGIN TO TAKE THE OFFENSIVE News and Features 3. HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, NIKOLAS DAYMON HARTLEY! (DETROIT STRIKERS ON SON'S 2ND B'DAY) 4. A 19-YEAR-OLD GETS 2,771 VOTES FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD 5. 'DIALOGUE ON POVERTY' EXAMINES CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA ECONOMY 6. 'CALL TO ACTION' DENOUNCES CORPORATE MEDICINE 7. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 8. EVENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY UNITE ARTISTS AND UNIONISTS: FESTIVALS RECLAIM LABOR'S HERITAGE 9. STUDENTS PLAN CAMPUS TEACH-INS TO EXPOSE CORPORATE POWER 10. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A DEMOCRACY OF CONVENIENCE 11. NEW, INDEPENDENT VOICES ARISE FROM THE MILLION WOMAN MARCH American Lockdown 12. TRIBUNAL WILL PUT A SPOTLIGHT ON CASE OF JAILED U.S. JOURNALIST 13. POEM: I GRIEVE FOR A HERO Culture Under Fire 14. AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVE MARSH (PART I): CORPORATE CONTROL OF MUSIC Letters, Announcements, Events, etc. 15. A READER ASKS: HOW DO WE IMPROVE THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE? 16. MOVING ONWARD: FROM THE MYTH OF RACE TO THE REALITY OF CLASS 17. CUTTING EDGE: TECHNOLOGY, INFORMATION CAPITALISM AND SOCIAL REVOLUTION >From the League 18. THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA: WHAT WE ARE AND WHY ****************************************************************** 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: NO MCJOB, NO WELFARE ... NEW TIMES CALL FOR NEW IDEAS! Everyone can see that computers and other kinds of technology are replacing human labor. In November, for example, McDonald's Corp. announced that it will be replacing the "McJob" with the "McRobot" on a test basis in 500 restaurants across the United States starting in 1998. According to the Associated Press, here is what your replacement can do: "In plain sight of the customer, a computer-monitored machine dumps frozen fries into a basket that in turn is dunked into hot oil for cooking. Then the machine shakes the fries and dumps them into bins for serving. Robot machines elsewhere prepare drinks, and computers instantly convey orders to preparers. Many restaurants carrying such technology promise to deliver orders in two minutes; most arrive in far less time. "The computer even 'senses' increases in customer traffic and orders workers to make up particular sandwiches in advance. It also can perform analyses that tell owners the right number of workers for any given hour of the day or week. "The technology promises to change the way the company does business in the United States, executives told analysts attending the biennial meeting." In other words, McDonald's will make a fat profit from replacing all those low-wage workers -- rising as much as 75 percent through 2002. That's the main new idea of the new class of capitalists and the bourgeoisie who are bringing technology into the workplace. With this tool in their hands they have the idea that they can sell necessities such as food without having to pay any wages -- the robots will do the work and you will pay for the stuff. Unless, of course, all those hamburgers are going to be bought by the millionaires and billionaires. But even if they can buy them all, can they eat them all? Meanwhile, you go hungry and homeless. Where will you get the money to pay for the hamburger, or the clothing or the housing? In many areas of the United States today, there just ain't no jobs. Also, there's no more welfare, thanks to Bill Clinton. Where will you get the money? The replacing of these workers -- such as those from McDonald's -- is producing a new class of people whose need for a hamburger and other necessaries absolutely cannot be met by paying money. Clearly, the needs of the new class certainly can't be met by adopting the ideas of the capitalists. Is there anything wrong or bad about a robot serving a burger? No. In fact, it's wonderful. The robot which does that task frees the human being to do something else more interesting and worthwhile with his or her life. But personal freedom in conditions of absolute poverty isn't really freedom or living. Something more is needed. Sooner or later, the revolutionary idea will have to triumph that production without humans demands distribution without money. In the case of the hamburger, that means the McDonald's robot which makes and serves the meal must give that meal -- not sell it -- to whoever needs it. The growing class of proletarians cannot depend on the capitalists to do that. It is only the proletarians themselves who can make that burger and all other things produced by technology free for all. ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: THE PEOPLE BEGIN TO TAKE THE OFFENSIVE There is no denying that we've reached a moment of transition, both in the development of the economic crisis in this country and the world, and in the evolution of the class struggle. The recent economic turmoil in Asia and in the global financial markets is just a taste of what is to come, and an indicator of how deep and fundamental is the underlying crisis. Globalization, which is erasing the national borders and turning the world into one giant investment colony for the capitalists, isn't just a policy -- it's the necessary course that capitalism has to follow in its search for a place to expand, and it marks the final stage of capitalism. We are certainly not going to see the capitalist system collapse next week, but the massive amount of speculation that is going on worldwide -- in stocks and bonds, in currencies, in real estate -- is testimony to the fact that the capitalists are less and less able to profitably invest in anything productive. Since human labor is the source of profit, the ongoing downsizing and elimination of labor from the workplace is lowering the profitability of productive investment and causing huge amounts of capital to shift into speculation, while at the same time eliminating consumers from the marketplace and causing a glut of unsold goods. People without jobs don't buy much. It is this speculation that has built up the massive financial bubble worldwide that is now beginning to burst, as evidenced by the devaluing of Asian currencies and the global fall in stock market values. And it is this speculation that is telling evidence that we are living in the final years of the capitalist system. If the plunge in the financial markets shows what time it is economically, the recent UPS strike and the public's reaction to it give us a sense of the political implications. The central issue in the revolt of the UPS workers was the need for UPS' many part-time employees to have full-time work. These part-time workers are part of the new class of throwaway workers and permanently unemployed that is being born out of the application of electronics to production. Their standing up to fight, and the sympathetic reaction of the majority of Americans, is, like the falling stock markets, a sign of things to come. The new class of those being abandoned by high-tech capitalism -- the low-wage and part-time workers, the unemployed, the homeless, the welfare recipient, the workfare slave -- is beginning to gather itself to take the offensive. This will happen in fits and starts, but it is happening. Besides the UPS strike, there are other signs: the recent march of the poor and homeless to take their plight to the United Nations; the plans of people around the country to raise the question of economic rights during the upcoming campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Labor Party's 28th Amendment campaign to put the right to a job or income in the U.S. Constitution. Given that technology replacing labor spells the end of capitalism, the struggle of the new class of poor can have only one ultimate goal -- the reorganization of society on a communal or cooperative basis, where goods are distributed according to need, not ability to pay. The new technology at once demands a new society and makes it possible to have one. No one can say for sure how many years of life are left in the capitalist system, but we one thing is certain: It won't collapse of its own weight. It will take the conscious activity of conscious people to eliminate this system and build in its place a society where no one is homeless or hungry or uneducated. We can be sure we are going to face resistance. A section of the Democratic Party and other forces are gearing up to channel the people's struggle in directions acceptable to the ruling class. At the same time, the elements of a police state are steadily being put in place to contain the struggle with force should all else fail. Revolutionaries have a particular role to play in helping keep the struggle on track. We have entered a time when everything depends on what people think, on what they understand is the root of the problem and how to deal with it. The role of revolutionaries is to spread the ideas of class consciousness and class unity that will allow the struggle to reach a successful conclusion. Our role is to theoretically understand the world, to be active as teachers and purveyors of new ideas, and to articulate the ideology of the new class. ****************************************************************** 3. HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, NIKOLAS DAYMON HARTLEY! [The following was written by former Detroit newspaper workers Margaret Trimer-Hartley, who now works for the Michigan Education Association, and Daymon J. Hartley, who works full-time for the locked-out workers. Their son Nikolas was born Oct. 5, 1995 and was one of the first babies born to strikers.] We're among the lucky ones, Nikolas. We're not on strike anymore, technically. We are healthy. Our family is whole, and we're not on the brink of losing our home, our cars and our ability to put food on the table, as we were for so many months. However, that doesn't mean that our battle against Detroit's newspaper villains is over. Far from it. Now, 27 months into this war, we are technically locked-out and fired. Your mom has been fired from the Free Press once; your dad is fighting three separate firings from the same paper. The bosses we once worked beside, joked with, and tried our damnedest to please, concocted a list of egregious lies about us. They were particularly rabid toward your dad. They said he did such things as "coercively videotape" scabs going to and from the jobs they stole from us. They said their Nazi-like security goons captured him on videotape. Yet when he viewed the tape, it was clear that he was the man carrying and photographing a small child, you! The lies don't hurt us like they used to. We actually can joke now about how it seems those bosses are trying to kill us, bury us and dig us up so they can kill us again, and again, and again. We just won't die. We may be battle-scarred, but we will prevail. Sadly, it could take years. That's OK. You've shown us how quickly the years pass. You've taught us to soak up every moment of every day, even the most difficult ones. We talk often about how it seems like just a moment ago we were planting big, "Welcome to the World" kisses on you. We've mixed a lot of labor lessons in between "Stellaluna," "The Prince and the Pauper," and "Miss Spider's Tea Party." We want to be sure you grow up with an understanding and an appreciation of your working-class roots. We want you to know who really built this country and created all the wealth. And yet these same working men and women have never earned their fair share. Instead, they've been beaten and killed for trying to get back what they put into the system. In the newspaper strike alone, some 70 strikers have been injured by company thugs and police officers, and 20 have died -- many, no doubt, from stress-related illnesses. That's why we keep fighting. Every generation needs someone to stand up for the honest, decent, hard-working men and women and against the ruthless capitalists driven only by the power of the dollar. We were so lucky to have inherited lessons, strength and pride from the struggles of your great-grandparents and grandparents, who fought before us and who stood by us, if only in spirit, every step of the way. We hope this fight we are waging will carry on that legacy. As you can see, it isn't merely an event in our lives, but it is an expression of our love for you and our hope for the future of your generation. ****************************************************************** 4. A 19-YEAR-OLD GETS 2,771 VOTES FOR CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD By Gloria M. Sandoval MERCED, California -- Although the 2,771 votes he received were not sufficient to get him elected to the Merced Union High School District Board of Trustees, Alberto "Beto" Sandoval is still very satisfied with trying. "I needed to get more well-known," he said. "I've learned a lot about how things work." He had studied about politics in high school just one year before and now he has had "hands-on" experience. Beto Sandoval ran on a platform calling for relevant education for all. He knows about young people getting turned off or being pushed out of schools. It almost happened to him. He was part of that at-risk population. He knows that young people are the future leaders of our society and must be prepared for this role as we enter the 21st century. Beto defied the odds. His age was both a help and hindrance. He comments that those individuals 45 years of age and older would tell him: "Aren't you a little young to be running for office? What do you know about education?" On the other hand, people he spoke to who were from 18 to 35 years old praised him when they heard about his candidacy; they would congratulate him for being so young and interested enough to run. Another inspiration that he remembers was a high school teacher who told a classroom full of seniors: "You will be the future leaders of this country so prepare to take leadership." He had a few comments about the many things he learned as a candidate. He realized it was not as easy as he first thought. When asked what he would do differently, he answered: "I would fund raise to be able to spend more money on the campaign and would involve more young people to help me as a committee." When asked why he thought only 26.3 percent of the registered voters actually voted, he replied: "People just don't know what school boards do or even that they are elected." Beto tried to educate people as he spoke to them about his candidacy and was surprised that many didn't know this information, especially if they had sons or daughters as students. Beto wonders why there is not more voter education provided to the people. He adds that the political education he has gained from discussing and reading with the League of Revolutionaries for a New America has helped to motivate him and encourage his political participation. And he says he will be ready to go another round as a candidate in the future! ****************************************************************** 5. 'DIALOGUE ON POVERTY' EXAMINES CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA ECONOMY By Marshall Blesofsky LONG BEACH, California -- On October 18, a Dialogue on Poverty was held at the Pacific Coast Campus of Long Beach City College. Organized by the Long Beach Area Coalition for the Homeless and the California State University at Long Beach Department of Social Work, the conference drew over 100 participants. Participants were greeted by the president of the coalition, the Rev. Leon Wood, who said, "Our elected city officials were invited, but they chose not to join us." THE CITY COUNCIL AND CITY MANAGEMENT'S RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS Gov. Wilson announced the formation of a task force to deal with what is expected to be the worst winter because of El Nino. The task force denied use of state National Guard facilities by homeless people for emergency shelter during the winter season. This was done just a few months before the beginning of the cold, wet weather season. Wood, executive director of Christian Outreach Appeal, asked the City Council to "find a place for homeless people somewhere in the districts." The first time Wood addressed the council on this issue, a councilperson made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The next time he addressed the council, a representative of Supervisor Don Knabe's office came forward and promised to help find temporary shelter for homeless people during the winter season. The major responsibility for the Cold, Wet Weather Program is Los Angeles County. The City Council has shown interest in limiting social services in the downtown area. On February 13, a day of infamy, the City Council shocked the homeless service community with a moratorium for the downtown area called PD 30. The moratorium affects only tatoo and massage parlors and social service providers. Any other profitable business is allowed. Legal Aid attorneys have determined that this represents discriminatory zoning of the city against the disabled, the poor and the disadvantaged. Dennis Rockway, told me "Zoning is about how land is used, not who uses it. The city, by defining social services, is setting up a special category. By setting up special zoning rules for social services, the city is allowing rich people to get services, for which they pay, and denies services to poor people, because these services are free." The moratorium was scheduled to be approved by the planning commission in October but a visit by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department has delayed its implementation. Justice Department representatives met with people in Long Beach who felt the city was denying them their civil rights by passing discriminating zoning rules. The Justice Department representative also met with the city attorney's office. This has put the brakes on the Planning Commission's adoption of the moratorium. Clients of Legal Aid are ready to go forward with a suit as soon as the Planning Commission adopts the moratorium. WELFARE REFORM? The moratorium comes soon after President Clinton signed the welfare reform legislation into law. States must implement this law and are taking welfare benefits away from thousands of legal immigrants and disabled children. Homeless service providers have already been deluged by people in need. The moratorium has already made their work harder. At the Dialogue on Poverty, Congresswoman Juanita Millender- McDonald, representing Long Beach and Los Angeles, spoke of her opposition to the federal welfare reform act. She said that she was elected to represent the people -- that includes all the people of California. She told the crowd of her meetings with Bill Clinton where she reminded him that her district had almost 50 percent unemployment and was not affected by the bull economy. She told us that Clinton would tell her, "Please keep reminding me about the poverty in your district. I need to hear how your constituents live." Juanita McDonald is a good person who is fighting for Watts, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Lynwood. A video was also sent from Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Democrat from Minnesota. Wellstone is traveling across the country for the 40th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's tour of the United States when the poverty of the rural South, Appalachia and the farmworkers of the West Coast was exposed. He praised the coalition and regretted his absence. Both Juanita McDonald and Paul Wellstone are fighters who are fighting the good fight. They represent a political party which has turned its back on the poor, the homeless and on immigrants. The Democratic Party has even turned its back on the social service providers who used to be one of its strongest supporters. Clinton is part of the Democratic Leadership Council, which took over the Democratic Party after the defeat of Dukakis and Jesse Jackson. Clinton won his election by taking up Republican issues and making them his own. The diverse crowd of homeless providers, students, welfare recipients, and homeless people broke up into workshops, discussing the effects of welfare reform, the health crisis among the poor, poverty and its effects among youth and jobs -- who's got the jobs? There was a feeling of energy and power from these assembled. Dr. Dale Weaver of California State University at Long Beach summed up the problems facing poor and homeless people and their allies as politics. Plans were made to keep the spirit of the dialogue alive and to start putting pressure on our politicians. There were also plans to find ways for the disenfranchised to get involved. [The Long Beach Coalition for the Homeless meets the first Wednesday of every month at the United Way Building (3515 Linden Avenue), or call the Christian Outreach Appeal at 562-432-1440 for more information.] ****************************************************************** 6. 'CALL TO ACTION' DENOUNCES CORPORATE MEDICINE By Salvador Sandoval On December 3, 1997, the "Call to Action" by the Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care will be issued in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association. Issued by physicians, nurses, and allied health care providers, this statement is a protest against the corporate takeover of medicine. Its stated purpose is to call for an immediate halt to for- profit conversions of medical facilities, as well as to restart the health care debate, which had died after President Clinton abandoned efforts to reform health care in America. Below are the five principles of the Call to Action: 1. Medicine and nursing must not be diverted from their primary tasks: the relief of suffering, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of health. The efficient deployment of resources is critical, but must not detract from these goals. 2. Pursuit of corporate profit and personal fortune have no place in caregiving. 3. Potent financial incentives that reward overcare or undercare weaken doctor-patient and nurse-patient bonds, and [sic] should be prohibited. Similarly, business arrangements that allow corporations and employers to control the care of patients should be proscribed. 4. A patient's right to a clinician of choice must not be curtailed. 5. Access to health care must be the right of all. At the recent November meeting of the Physicians for a National Health Plan, which typically precedes the annual American Public Health Association convention, the Call to Action was announced as the kickoff to a massive campaign to inform the American public and enlist its support in this highly moral issue. There will be a symbolic "Boston Tea Party" with dumping of corporate annual reports immediately following a press conference on December 2. A satellite hookup around the country the following week will involve health care professionals in the debate. And events including teach-ins are planned through May of 1998. These efforts are admirable and should be supported. In order to get in touch with a member of the ad hoc committee in your area, please contact Dr. Bernard Lown at P.O. Box 398008, Cambridge, MA 02139. ****************************************************************** 7. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS +----------------------------------------------------------------+ To mark the upcoming 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1998 is the "U.N. Year of Human Rights." During the coming year, various groups around the country will be taking actions to focus attention on people's economic rights and to show how those rights are being violated by the economic and political system in this country. Economic rights are at the core of the Universal Declaration (reprinted on this page), which provides that everyone has a right to a standard of living adequate for their health and well-being. (See Articles 23, 25, and 26.) -- The Editors +----------------------------------------------------------------+ [December 10, 1997 is the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Strike a blow for your economic human rights; cut this page out and post it in a prominent place.] UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS PREAMBLE Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, Now, Therefore, The General Assembly proclaims This Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. ARTICLE 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ARTICLE 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. ARTICLE 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. ARTICLE 4: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. ARTICLE 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. ARTICLE 6: Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. ARTICLE 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. ARTICLE 8: Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law. ARTICLE 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. ARTICLE 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. ARTICLE 11: (1) Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offense on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offense, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offense was committed. ARTICLE 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. ARTICLE 13: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. ARTICLE 14: (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non- political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. ARTICLE 15: (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. ARTICLE 16: (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. ARTICLE 17: (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. ARTICLE 18: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. ARTICLE 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. ARTICLE 20: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association. ARTICLE 21: (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. ARTICLE 22: Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international cooperation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality. ARTICLE 23: (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. ARTICLE 24: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. ARTICLE 25: (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and 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. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. ARTICLE 27:(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. ARTICLE 28: Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized. ARTICLE 29: (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. ARTICLE 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 8. EVENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY UNITE ARTISTS AND UNIONISTS: FESTIVALS RECLAIM LABOR'S HERITAGE By Lew Rosenbaum CHICAGO -- The sun shined brightly as three young men on the roof of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union (UE) building here, pulled up the ropes holding the blue tarpaulin in place. As the crowd cheered, the recently completed mural on the side of the UE building was uncovered. The young men had assisted lead artist Daniel Manrique Arias on the project. Manrique had come from Mexico City to design and paint this bold mural. It was a follow-up to a mural painted on the building of the Frente Autentico de los Trabajadores (FAT) by U.S. muralist Mike Alewitz. The significance of the project is that unions are beginning to realize the new period of globalism that poses new problems and raises new possibilities. One of the possibilities is that the cultural battle becomes part of the battle for everyday survival. This was demonstrated this summer as festivals celebrating the juncture of labor and the arts were held in Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago. The Labor Arts and History Festival, held in Seattle during May, transformed the 26-year-old Folklife Festival with films, seminars and music performances. The festival included a performance by Pete Seeger. He spoke to a reporter from Real Change, a newspaper published for and by the homeless: "I'm really lucky to be alive and I'm really glad that I can see, as I did this weekend, literally hundreds, thousands, of people coming along to realize that music and dancing are part of making the world and the future. ... It's very much something in the present, ... but nevertheless you feel yourself a part of a long chain of history." In San Francisco, LaborFest has been held on July 5 for the last three years, the anniversary of the San Francisco General Strike in 1934. July 5 is known as "Bloody Thursday" because of the police murders of the strike supporters. In Chicago, the climax of the mural project was the central focus of a weeklong Labor Arts Festival. The festival was co-sponsored by the Guild Complex, a cross-cultural arts organization, along with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the UE and Unite unions, and Labor Beat. In Chicago, as in Seattle and San Francisco, the festival took place in a city rich in labor tradition. The globalized economy along with the polarization of wealth and poverty facing Chicago's workers have brought cultural, labor, and community organizations together to seek their common interests and to search for new ways for expressing their interests. The festival opened up with an art exhibit featuring 20 Chicago artists and a retrospective exhibit of the photography of locked- out Detroit newspaper striker Daymon Hartley. The festival also screened the new documentary "Poverty Outlaw" and videos produced by Labor Beat. The "Sandburg Slam" poetry reading featured Molly Culligan (reading the work of Meridel Le Sueur), John Starrs and Brenda Matthews. The festival concluded with a workshop among participants: "What next for artists?" The controversy that emerged in the workshop mirrored the controversy in society. Everyone agreed that the times today are profoundly different from when they began working. For Roman Villareal, whose powerful mixed-media sculptures framed the area in which the workshop sat, the prospects are bleak. He told the group that he cannot lie to the young people he works with. They won't make big money as sculptors, and they can't go back to the big steel mills of South Chicago (where Villareal used to work). "I'm a worker, and I'll always be one. But I'll never trust the unions again." His distrust of any form of collective action and his inability to see any sign of hope for the future reflected the heart of the issues that the festival hoped to address. When people can no longer work, how do we create alternative means of instilling self-worth and of encouraging contributions to society? On the other hand, writer Nelson Peery (author of Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary) saw the transitional time as hopeful, with the electronic tools as potential means of liberation. "Why should we have to sweat on those rotten jobs in the steel mills anymore?" he suggested. What artists can provide is a vision beyond the destruction of today toward the possible. John Weber, a founder of the Chicago Public Art Group whose mural adorns the inside of the UE building, posed a question to artists. He said that he didn't know what would work in the current era, but he was certain that artists had to do different things than they did in the past. While artists have their individual experiences, the common experience is economic revolution. The social transformation demands changes in the artists just as it demands changes in society. The cross-border mural project of the UE and FAT, these festivals, and the Cultural Workers and Artists Caucus of the Labor Party are beginning examples of new forms of organization. They represent the coming together of a new labor movement and the work of the artists. The first stage in this seems to be reclaiming our history and heritage. As the African proverb has it, "Until the lions have their own historians, histories of the hunt will glorify the hunter." We are grooming these historians, writing and painting and singing these histories. And in doing so, as muralist Alewitz says, we "agitate, educate, and inspire." ****************************************************************** 9. STUDENTS PLAN CAMPUS TEACH-INS TO EXPOSE CORPORATE POWER By Chris Mahin CHICAGO -- "I see signs not just of a conference, but of a movement." That's what student organizer Ben Manski told his fellow activists on October 31, as an important conference to plan campus teach-ins on corporate power got underway here. By the time the conference ended on November 2, the indications that a new student movement is beginning in the United States were plentiful indeed. About 200 students from 25 different campuses attended the "November Organizing Conference" of the National Teach-In on Corporations, Education and Democracy from October 31 - November 2. The conference at the University of Chicago included workshops, caucuses and plenary sessions designed to prepare students to organize teach-ins on corporate power on their campuses in early 1998. "We have a charge," Manski told the conference, "and that charge is to transform our generation." The conference was an important first step toward realizing that goal. The conference included members of Youth for Justice at Western Connecticut State University, the Students United slate at Cornell University, the Progressive Student Alliance at the University of New Mexico, the Greens at the University of Wisconsin, the Student Environmental Action Coalition at Stanford University, and the Students for Real Democracy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The spirit of the conference was summed up well by one participant who has spent years working with student activists. "I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with you," Dennis Brutus told the audience at the poetry reading which concluded one day of the conference. Brutus, an award-winning South African poet, was jailed on the notorious Robben Island prison for his opposition to South Africa's apartheid regime. During the struggle against apartheid, he worked closely with students in South Africa, Britain and the United States. "It's a privilege to be associated with the enthusiasm, the dynamism and the idealism that students show," Brutus declared, to loud applause. The qualities of enthusiasm, dynamism and idealism were much in evidence throughout the weekend. The workshops were marked by lively discussion. At caucuses and plenary sessions, conference participants earnestly grappled with the questions of how race and gender fit into corporate domination of our society. The purpose of the "November Organizing Conference" was similar to that of an earlier conference convened by Teach-In organizers in August 1996. About 40 people attended the 1996 meeting at the International Conference Center in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. The work there helped guarantee the success of the first round of teach-ins in October 1996. More than 10,000 students on dozens of campuses took part in those teach-ins. This year's conference was an important first step toward ensuring that the Democracy Teach- in meets its goal of involving hundreds of thousands of students in teach-ins on corporate dominance from March 1-7, 1998. We urge our readers to support the teach-ins and help make that goal a reality. [For more information about the March 1-7 teach-ins, contact the Democracy Teach-In Production Division at 608-262-9036, or send e-mail to brmanski@students.wisc.edu.] ****************************************************************** 10. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A DEMOCRACY OF CONVENIENCE By Chris Faatz The United States of America. The greatest democracy the world's ever known. Everyone, every citizen, from the poorest to the wealthiest, regardless of opinion, politics, religion, gender, sexual orientation, is entitled to her or his voice and to full participation in the decisions that Make our Country Great. Baloney! The United States of America. One person, one vote; unless you want to vote for something other than the rigged two-party system that caters to the needs and desires of international capital and its agenda of ruthless plunder. In fact, the whole shebang's rigged against any voices rising electorally -- and democratically -- against those deeply entrenched powers. The United States of America. A democracy of convenience, where the ruling classes can, at will, lay aside all pretense of legality and smash any and all who oppose them. In World War I, "the War to Make the World Safe for Democracy," the target was the Industrial Workers of the World, the Socialist Party, and pacifists. In the 1920s, during the Palmer Raids, it was the early Communist movement and foreign-born radicals. In the '40s, it was anyone who dared speak out against the war, using the "legality" of the anti-communist Smith Act to send labor and left leaders to prison for sedition. In the late '40s and '50s, the McCarthy reign of terror was used to virtually destroy the American Communist Party, rooting its members and supporters ruthlessly out of unions, the entertainment industry, academia -- everywhere. People were driven to suicide -- and others, such as the Rosenbergs, victims of a massive frame-up, were out-and-out murdered. In the 1960s, COINTELPRO was used to wipe out the Black Panthers and seriously maim the American Indian Movement, and the forces of law and order descended like the wrath of god on protesters against the U.S. empire's war against Vietnam. Segregation, lynch law, the stealing of native lands, the Tuskegee syphilis "experiment," the sterilization of Native American and Latina women, the Scottsboro Boys, Angela Davis, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Black Liberation Radio, Leonard Peltier, the dumping en masse of hazardous waste in communities of color -- the whole history of this country is one of distorting "democracy" to strip the people of everything, to smash their every attempt to better themselves, and to shore up the anti-human system that rests like a giant leech on our backs. And, all of this was -- and is -- legal. Democratic. In accordance with law and order. This isn't democracy, this is dictatorship, dictatorship by a class that uses the facade of democracy to perpetuate its injustices against the vast majority. But, for the first time in history, real democracy is within our grasp -- if we only dare to organize, to reach out and take it. A democracy based on neighborhoods and workplaces, where each and every person has a voice and where the bottom line is that society is organized not to give megabillions to the few, but to ensure that all of us are granted the inalienable right to develop each and every aspect of our personality, of our character, of our dreams as individuals in community. The economic underpinnings necessary to support such a vision are there. The vision itself is like a city on a hill, burning with such a brightness that we can hardly dare look lest we be blinded by our desire and by our need. What, then, brothers and sisters, are we waiting for? ****************************************************************** 11. NEW, INDEPENDENT VOICES ARISE FROM THE MILLION WOMAN MARCH By S. Reid +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "I know that it feels a kind o' hissing' and tickling like to see a colored woman get up and tell you about ... women's rights. We have all been thrown down so low that nobody thought we'd ever get up again, but ... we will." --Sojourner Truth +----------------------------------------------------------------+ On a cold and rainy October 25, hundreds of thousands of women, mainly African-American, converged on Philadelphia to celebrate the Million Woman March. They came because people talked to each other on the phone, in beauty salons, in supermarkets and on the streets. That so many women came together, with so little publicity and money, proves we are living in new times. Today in America the average age of a homeless person is nine years old. Homelessness among women and children is the fastest-growing sector. Communities are being destroyed with downsizing, welfare "reform," and poverty. In critical times, people search for the independent voices that address the problems they face. This is what the Million Woman March was about. It is no accident that it was led by women. Women everywhere are forced to the forefront of the struggle for a better world. African American women, because of the history of slavery, are at the core. Although the march addressed many issues such as the CIA spreading crack cocaine, conditions of female inmates and health care, the theme of "repentence" has been criticized by some women participants. Today a whole generation is being discarded because of the power of a handful of billionaires who have no concern for humanity. They are the cause of our suffering. We have nothing to atone for. The Million Woman March, and all such efforts, are a springboard to teach that society's problems cannot be resolved without addressing poverty and the homeless woman on the street. This is where our rulers are vulnerable and where we can attract the greatest numbers of people. Poor women are rising to the challenge and taking their place in the leadership of this growing movement. The People's Tribune encourages our readers to join these independent voices and to utilize our paper to talk about women's equality and a new world. ****************************************************************** 12. TRIBUNAL WILL PUT A SPOTLIGHT ON CASE OF JAILED U.S. JOURNALIST PHILADELPHIA -- People from throughout the world who believe in truth and justice will descend on Philadelphia's Blue Horizon Saturday, December 6 to witness the People's International Tribunal for Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Initiated by the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the tribunal will investigate the government's conspiracy to silence, deny justice to and take the life of Abu- Jamal. An outspoken journalist and people's advocate, Abu-Jamal was convicted of the murder of a Philadelphia police office and now sits on Pennsylvania's Death Row. The tribunal will consist of an international panel of prominent jurists, political leaders, labor and community activists, cultural figures and others concerned with truth and justice. The panel will hear the facts of the case and expose the evidence that was suppressed in Abu-Jamal's trial. Witnesses who were barred from the courtroom will be called to testify on their personal experiences with police corruption and racism. Representatives of other political prisoners, families of victims of police brutality and the death penalty, and former prisoners will also participate in the historic tribunal. People are organizing worldwide to attend this important event in the "City of Brotherly Love." "The government has used false charges, a fraudulent trial, brutal imprisonment and has imposed the death penalty in an effort to silence our brother forever," explained Pam Africa, coordinator of the tribunal who has fought for a new trial on behalf of Abu-Jamal since 1982. "We want people to understand that this is not just about Mumia. The conspiracy against Mumia is part of a larger pattern of police brutality, corruption, racism and disparity in sentencing the poor. Only through a mobilization of the masses demanding truth and justice for Mumia and all political prisoners will the conspiracy be exposed." Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge has stated publicly that he will sign the death warrant if the state Supreme Court denies the motion for a new trial. Given the makeup of the court and the narrow body of evidence allowed, the prospects for a new trial are dim. The Ad Hoc Coalition for a People's International Tribunal for Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal was formed to organize the tribunal to raise the consciousness of the people and bring the facts surrounding this case to light. [The People's International Tribunal for Justice for Mumia Abu- Jamal will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 6 at the Blue Horizon, 1314 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia. For more information about the Tribunal, call 215-476-5416.] ****************************************************************** 13. I GRIEVE FOR A HERO (after a poem by Carl Sandburg) You have a right to your grief I, to mine. I don't condemn the sorrow you hold For the past-time princess, who Aspired to consort with the crown of England and Found how hard the facets of his jeweled heart. Celebrity creature of the spectacle she strove to escape Now she lies in state, body broken, borne to a Royal funeral. Millions watch, cast tears, And pay the bill of their own policing. You have a right to your grief For a past-time princess Excommunicant from Windsor Who late bent down to embrace the poor, And breathed life into a stale monarchy. I'll grieve for Aldape Guerra, Whose broken body too lies interred But unheralded, Destroyed in a car crash A rural road in Monterrey, Mexico his last bed. Hillary Clinton, Whose lovely eulogy Evokes tears in her readers' eyes: Where were your speeches When Aldape fought for freedom On Death Row? Soy inocente! His words rang out in the courtroom Demanding justice. Texas judges turned a deaf ear To Aldape and to those around the Despairing world for whom Soy inocente! Rallied spirit and rage. Fifteen years Aldape lived on Death Row (Diana you might say lived in her own prison; you have a right to your belief). Fifteen years he fought to free himself He fought for all immigrants. Tomorrow the Spencer family Count millions in charity gifts Doled out sadly, safely from Behind wrought-iron gates That hide their landed estates. Windsor takes the boys back to Scotland. Aldape's mother, his family Return to their work in the fields, Their work when they have it in Maquiladoras owned by heirs Of English crowns. His family will pinch pesos to bury him. They will sigh that his long travail -- Nearly half his life in jail -- Now is over. They will thank the Lord Aldape breathed the free air of Mexico Before he died. You can have your grief; I grieve for a hero. -- Lew Rosenbaum ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CULTURE UNDER FIRE Culture jumps barriers of geography and color. Millions of Americans create with music, writing, film and video, graffiti, painting, theatre and much more. We need it all, because culture can link together and expand the growing battles for food, housing, and jobs. In turn, these battles provide new audiences and inspiration for artists. Use the "Culture Under Fire" column to plug in, to express yourself. Write: Culture Under Fire, c/o People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 or e-mail cultfire@noc.org. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 14. AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVE MARSH (PART I): CORPORATE CONTROL OF MUSIC [The following is the abridged first part of a two-part interview, which will be continued in the next issue of the People's Tribune.] By Scott Pfeiffer Best known as Bruce Springsteen's biographer, Dave Marsh has been a radical music journalist since his teen years in the late 1960s, when he co-founded Detroit's underground rock mag Creem. During the 1980s, he helped organize Art Meets Labor conferences and in 1983 launched the newsletter Rock & Rap Confidential, which quickly established itself at the crossroads of music and politics. RRC spearheaded a campaign to end corporate sponsorship of rock tours and was instrumental in the creation of Artists United Against Apartheid's "Sun City" record. His primary crusade since the early 1980s has been organizing against censorship. SCOTT PFEIFFER: Today the music industry is dominated by six huge multinational corporations (Time-Warner, Sony, Philips Electronics, Seagram, Bertelsmann AG and EMI), and yet, in your recent article ("U2's Crash: Why Pop Flops") in The Nation's "National Entertainment State III" issue (August 25/September 1), you still find reason to believe that, in the hands of an Ani DiFranco or a Rage Against the Machine, the music can be a form of resistance. What do these new performers imply for corporate control of the music? DAVE MARSH: I don't think it's them, I think it's their audience. I think it starts with the audience. Ani DiFranco and Rage Against the Machine have intentions of being disruptive to the "star- making machinery," as Joni Mitchell called it. I think that ultimately what they imply is that people who aren't performing will rise up out of the audience, which is in itself resistance. The real focus of the piece that I wrote is on people like U2 and Bruce Springsteen and Prince and Madonna and REM and Michael Jackson. If the models of corporate control were all that accurate, those people would not be crumbling just at the time when they've been cashing the biggest checks from the corporations. Even though it is true that the companies control a huge slice of the music business, somewhere in the 80 to 90 percent range, it's also true that five years ago they controlled more and that certain kinds of independently distributed music that are outside the direct marketing network of the large corporations have made some minor but significant inroads. What that implies to me is two things, the first of which is that there is resistance out there. Secondly, that a lot of the theories about what corporate control implies about the quiescence of the public are just wrong. People aren't as passive as we think that we are. On the Left, we talk ourselves into the idea that our failure to mobilize people is a result of people's disinterest in being mobilized. I'm not sure it's true. SP: The lead editorial in that issue of The Nation that we were talking about comments, "Sometimes fans of Bob Dylan or Bob Marley or Tracy Chapman like to think of popular music as a progressive force. It's not, of course. Music has always been a business, obsessed by hits and profits." However, the July issue of your paper Rock & Rap Confidential lays out a somewhat different version of musical history: "Throughout most of human history, music has been free." DM: That's absolutely true, and The Nation editorial is backasswards. For the first 10,000 years, there weren't any record companies. [For the] first 10,000 years of human history, we got along fine, and so did the music, without any record companies. If it's necessary to go right back to that, we can do that and still have records. Now there's a mission (laughs). SP: How do we get there? DM: At a minimum, it would seem to me that we have to create a society with a socialist economy, and I think it's all tied in with that. [U]nless you have a critique of capitalism, this attempt to say that certain things shouldn't be affected by capitalism -- that's the insanity of liberalism. Everything's affected by capitalism. We live in one system, we don't live in two or three or four. We live in one system, and that's more true now than it's ever been. The world lives in one economic and political system now, and it has variations. There's a difference between living in Singapore and living in the United States and living in Canada and living in France and living in Haiti. But that's in a spectrum, there's no break. Maybe if you get to Cuba there's a break. There's certainly not a break if you go to China. I think people need to get that through their heads, that there's one system. It's not like people can opt out of capitalism. It doesn't work that way. You're either gonna overthrow capitalism, or you're gonna live under it. And under is the right preposition. ****************************************************************** 15. A READER ASKS: HOW DO WE IMPROVE THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE? [Editor's note: Below we reprint the text of a very thoughtful letter we received in August from one of our contributors. We share it with our readers because it raises some very important questions about the direction of this newspaper. A response from the Editorial Board also appears on this page.] Dear Laura and all at the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo: These are just a few thoughts I had during the [Summer 1997] Area Office Conference [of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America] and during discussions with members of the editorial boards. The leading edge in improving the circulation of the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo will be an all-around increase in quality. The core of the papers has to be their revolutionary vision. "Vision" means more than scientific explanation of scientific fact. It has to inspire people intellectually, spiritually, politically, and emotionally. In order to do so, as all great revolutionaries have done, it has to link its science to the age-old traditions and moral aspirations of the people. The papers have already made definite efforts to do so, but need to make more decisive ones. One of the American people's most telling criticisms of politics is that is boring. All too frequently, articles in the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo live up to that reputation. As a result, some people (even some members of the LRNA) stop reading the paper, the same way that they tune out politicians on television. We have to fight for every single article to be a work of art, to reach out, shake people up, and touch their hearts and minds. Look at how MTV and TV commercials package their products: exciting, attractive, beautiful, even morally inspiring. All this for a crass sales pitch. Why can't we, whose product is the truth, do as well as they do? We frequently discuss the fact that our political conclusion -- that production without labor demands circulation without money -- is unique in American society today. Why can't we develop a form for propagandizing these new ideas that is equally new and unique? Haven't we heard that we can't put new wine in old bottles? In fact, we have to think about developing a form for the People's Tribune and the Tribuno del Pueblo that is so distinctive, so artistic, that no one will ever confuse us with "just another paper" again. We have to put an end to the idea that any article is "just an article." It is either a living, breathing life line from us (and our ideas) to society, or else it is just an obstacle. We need to discuss what we need from the organization to upgrade the paper: more graphics? photos? humor? color? more pages? literature? more contributions from the youth? Perhaps we should increase the price to at least a dollar (for those who can afford it) -- we need to convey the image that this is a quality paper which people should line up to buy when it comes to the area. Since the papers are monthlies, we have the time to pay attention to these questions, and no excuse for putting out "stereotyped party writing." Clearly, none of these questions can be resolved by an editorial board. All the League's members and our friends need to address them. Few organizations are as well-equipped as we are to do this. How many dozens of published writers do we have? How many artists? How many poets? What do we have to do to mobilize them? Sandy Perry San Jose, California +----------------------------------------------------------------+ THE EDITORIAL BOARD RESPONDS: WE NEED EVERYONE'S CONTRIBUTION Dear Readers: First, to Sandy Perry -- Thank you so much for your well thought- out comments, suggestions and criticisms! We decided to print Sandy's letter because the People's Tribune belongs to every League member and to every friend of the revolution out there. And also because the League of Revolutionaries for a New America is going to need everyone to put their shoulder to the wheel in order to take the paper to a higher ground. In fact, we want to use Sandy's letter as an appeal to every revolutionary writer, poet, and artist to help us produce a newspaper that's not just "another paper," but a publication that can become a beacon of light, spreading hope and giving a revolutionary vision of the type of society we so desperately need. Today, a new movement against poverty is growing across this country. But this growing movement cannot mature without a cause, a morality, a vision. This is why the revolution needs you -- the writer, the poet, the artist. With your words and your art, you can deliver to the people the clearest, sharpest, brightest vision of this movement's cause, its morality, its vision. A recent tragedy harshly reminded us that the failure to have a vision means death. Recently, a mother of two children in Flint, Michigan wrote a note before putting a bullet through her head. The note read: "My children will be better off without me." She had asked to get one last item from the apartment which she was being evicted from. Then the shot broke the silence. This mother desperately needed a vision of a world where she could raise her two children. Where was that vision? Where was that truth? Who failed to give her hope? She needed us, the revolutionaries. We were not there. So no, we don't want to be "just another paper." We need a paper that shakes up every moral fiber of the American people, that questions the viability of an economic system that leaves us scarred by human tragedies like the one in Flint. We need a paper that will inspire those who see further and feel deeper. We appeal to the members and friends of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America to write for our presses and to distribute them. If you already do, we thank you. If you do not, please ask yourself why you do not. Find out the reason -- then let's work together to overcome the problem. But don't let anything block us from coming together to fuse our creativity, intellect, and love to produce the revolutionary paper Sandy is talking about. Our country and our people need it. The alternative is death: death in the streets, or from hunger, behind prison bars, or from a loss of hope in humanity. Sincerely, Laura Garcia, for the Editorial Board of the People's Tribune [Note: We'd like to hear other readers' comments on the issues that Sandy Perry raised. We will publish comments as space permits.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ YES! I want to be a part of history and bring a vision of a new America to the people. Sign me up now! Send me a bundle of People's Tribune to distribute every month: ___ 10 copies ___ 25 copies ___ 50 copies ___ 100 copies (You pay only 15 cents per copy) ___ I want to write articles. Send me more information. I want to make a monthly donation of: ___ $5 ___ $15 ___ $25 ___ $50 ___ $75 ___ $100 ___ Other $_____ Name Address City State/Zip Phone E-mail Send to People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654-3524 Phone: 773-486-3551 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 16. MOVING ONWARD: FROM THE MYTH OF RACE TO THE REALITY OF CLASS The most pressing political question that faces us today is how to unify the new class of the poor. In America, this means confronting the legacy of slavery, white supremacy and racism. The League's new pamphlet on racism, written by Brooke Heagerty and Nelson Peery, explains the development of race as an idea, how it was tied to an emerging European capitalism, its special development in the United States, and the way white supremacy and racism has been used to divide workers at every stage. It shows how today's technological revolution is destroying the material basis for racism and what revolutionaries must do to assist in its final destruction. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ This timely pamphlet provides clarity to a historic problem that has confounded academic analysis and corrupted our nation. I recommend it to all who want to understand the nature of racism in America today. -- Thomas A. Hirschl, Dept. of Rural Sociology, Cornell University At our seminar last night, by far the most popular item at the literature table was the new pamphlet on racism. The market for this is bigger than for anything else we've ever done. This is a real division to keep us divided. -- Dee Petty, community organizer and member of the San Pedro Chapter of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ FROM THE PAMPHLET: On the roots of 'race': "Society was not always divided according to 'racial' categories. Race and racism are special products of the capitalist era. For a long time, humans were bonded by tribal affiliation or religious allegiance. Stabilizing and uniting emerging capitalist Europe demanded a more virulent ideology. The declaration that God himself had chosen the 'white race' to rule, conquer and exploit the earth in his name provided that ideology." On the unity of the new class: "Today, the unity of the new class of the poor, united around distribution based on need, is the only ideology which truly expresses the interests and aspirations of the majority of the world. It is inspired by a vision of a world free from want and fear, where everyone will share in the fruits of humanity. Only on this foundation can a new morality flourish, one which demands the well-being of all as a right due to us as human beings. When the poor unite as a class around this program, no force on earth can stop them from transforming the world." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WHY THE AUTHORS WROTE THE PAMPHLET: As our speakers and teachers travel the country, the same questions come up: "What do we do about racism? How do we understand it? Will we ever be able to end it?" These are real questions that people are facing every day and the answers have real consequences for the future of humanity. --Brooke Heagerty Electronics is changing our world. Changes in the real world make changes in the social and political psychology of the people possible and necessary. Advancing the revolutionary process demands statements of clarity and purpose. None is more important than clarity on the myth of "race." This work is important for the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. -- Nelson Peery +----------------------------------------------------------------+ AUTHORS ARE AVAILABLE TO SPEAK! Order pamphlets now for African American History Month! Brooke Heagerty: A writer on women, racism, the police state, and the new class of poor, she coordinated 'Under Attack, but Fighting Back,' the first Poor Women's Summit held in Oakland, California. Her work in the legal system led her to write on the developing police state in America and, more recently, on globalization and its relationship to fascism worldwide. She is available to speak in the Midwest. Nelson Peery: Active in the revolutionary movement for 55 years, he is a founding member of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. He is the award-winning author of "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary." Peery is available to speak for African American History Month. He will be available in California during February. For speaking engagements, call the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau at 773-486-3551 or send e-mail to speakers@noc.org. Pamphlets are $3.00 each, plus $1 for postage. Bulk order discounts (FREE POSTAGE): 10% on 2-10 copies, 15% on 11-25 copies, 20% on 26-100 copies, 30% on 100 or more copies. Make check payable to the People's Tribune and mail to P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654-3524. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 17. CUTTING EDGE: TECHNOLOGY, INFORMATION CAPITALISM AND SOCIAL REVOLUTION A robot can build a car. But a robot cannot buy a car... Cutting Edge, edited by Jim Davis, Thomas Hirschl and Michael Stack provides an up-to-the-minute analysis of the complex relations between technology, work and societal change. Contributors include: Tessa Morris-Suzuki, George Caffentzis, Guglielmo Carchedi, Martin Kenney, Dan Schiller, Jim Davis, Michael Stack, Thomas Hirschl, Jonathan King, Sally Lerner, Nick Witheford, Ramin Ramtin, Gerardo Otero, Steffanie Scott, Chris Ballett, Abdul Alkalimat, A. Sivanandan, and Nelson Peery. "If you're looking for books for a gift list, this is one of the best I've read this year -- a great gift and a great read!" -- Dennis Brutus Available at bookstores. Or order by sending $20, plus $1 postage, to People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. ISBN#: 1-85984-185-6 ****************************************************************** 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 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 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". ******************************************************************