****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 25 No. 3/ March, 1998 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.mcs.com/~league ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is now available on the World Wide Web at http://www.mcs.com/~league +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Page One: TEXAS EXECUTION FACTORY TAKES ANOTHER VICTIM WILL CHILDREN BE NEXT? Karla Faye Tucker is already fading from most people's memory. She was the young woman convicted of murder who found Christ while in a Texas prison then was executed by lethal injection on February 3. Texas leads the nation in executing prisoners -- 37 died by state- administrated poison last year alone. Texas authorities have dealt death to three people on one day and to mentally impaired prisoners as a matter of course. Nobody held out much hope for mercy on Karla Faye despite the fact she was a woman. As expected, she got none. Texas, by example, is leading the country to accept almost without question government execution, particularly when it's applied to those who happen to be poor and whose legal defense is, therefore, often a cruel joke. Who will be next? Children -- unless the people stop it! Don't believe it can happen? Consider this: With Texas basically legalizing the lynch mob and many so-called leaders of society (including the president) condoning the speedy killing, the stage is already set. When a youth is tried as an adult, it means he or she can be punished as an adult. This could include capital punishment. Already, several state legislatures are entertaining laws allowing for the execution of 14-year-old or even 12-year-old children! When you ask, "What is this country coming to?," look to Texas and remember Karla Faye Tucker. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 25 No. 3/ March, 1998 Editorial 1. THE IRAQ CRISIS: IS WAR IN THE INTEREST OF AMERICA'S POOR? Spirit of the Revolution 2. SPIRITUAL CRISIS IN A REVOLUTIONARY'S LIFE News and Features 3. CLINTON'S RACE INITIATIVE: WHAT ARE THE MOTIVES BEHIND IT? 4. CALIFORNIA GROUP AMONG THOSE PUSHING FOR RECOGNITION OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS 5. DOCUMENTING THE ABUSE OF ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS: A STORY OF POVERTY IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY Focus on International Women's Month 6. A NEW DAY FOR WOMEN: THE PATH TO PROGRESS IS CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS 7. 'DEADBEAT DAD' OR UNEMPLOYED FATHER? 8. 'MY GRANDMOTHER WAS A HERO TO ME' American Lockdown 9. NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO FIGHT THE BATTLE ALONE! Culture Under Fire 10. U.S.: A TRAVEL THROUGH HISTORY -- STEVE DARNALL AND ALEX ROSS DISCUSS THEIR GROUND-BREAKING COMIC >From the League 11. PRESS CAMPAIGN GETS RESULTS! 12. THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA: WHAT WE ARE AND WHY Announcements, Events, etc. 13. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE AUDIOTAPES PRESENT A VISION OF A NEW AMERICA Letters 14. NETWORKING ON THE LEFT 15. SYSTEM IS 'THROWING MY GENERATION AWAY,' SAYS PRISONER [To subscribe to the online edition, send a message to pt- dist@noc.org with "Subscribe" in the subject line.] ****************************************************************** 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. EDITORIAL: THE IRAQ CRISIS: IS WAR IN THE INTEREST OF AMERICA'S POOR? "What we are doing is so all of you can sleep at night." That's how the U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, justified the Clinton administration's frantic preparations for war in the Persian Gulf in late February. Albright made her remark at a "town meeting" in Columbus, Ohio on February 18. She and two other senior government officials had gone there to sell a skeptical audience on the Clinton administration's policy. We have one question: Exactly who is this "all of you" that you're talking about, Ms. Albright? Is it the homeless men who sleep very unpeacefully at night underneath Chicago's Lower Wacker Drive? Is it the one million children whose innocent sleep was disturbed so terribly by your employer, Mr. Clinton, when he cut their families off welfare? Is it the millions of Midwesterners who lose sleep every night worrying about how they will pay their bills after being "downsized" in the "heartland" which you deigned to visit for a few hours on February 18? Secretary Albright and her colleagues William Cohen and Sandy Berger told their audience in Columbus that the U.S. government was preparing for war because it wants to protect "us" from dangerous chemicals and bacteriological agents. Really? Does that "us" include the residents of Chicago's Altgeld Gardens, a public- housing development surrounded by so many toxic waste dumps and chemical plants that the area is known as the "toxic doughnut"? Or the homeless of Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, some of whom have no place to lay their heads at night but shelters infected with super-virulent forms of tuberculosis? Or the millions of victims of what has come to be known as "environmental racism" in America? No, despite the disingenuous statements of Albright and her colleagues, the Clinton administration's campaign against Iraq has very little to do with weapons inspectors -- and a whole lot to do with a battle to control the world economy. To understand the real motives of the U.S. government, we should keep in mind an old truth: War is a violent way for countries to implement their national policy. For the U.S. government, implementing national policy means economic globalization -- under the hegemony of the United States. When the Middle East policies of the U.S. government left the government of Iraq outside U.S. influence, Russia, France and Germany filled the vacuum. Each one of these countries has had economic interests in the region for a century. Iraq -- which contains the second-largest deposit of the world's known oil reserves -- already owes tens of billions of dollars to these countries for military equipment, oil drilling, and domestic orders. Additional contracts worth billions more are just waiting to be signed. A change of government in Iraq would cancel those orders and debts. It would open the door to investment controlled by the United States. In addition to killing tens of thousands of innocent people with bombs, there will be other "collateral damage" from a U.S. war against Iraq. By further consolidating global capitalism, such a war would destroy what little responsibility the U.S. government still has left to provide for the poor. And billions of dollars will be poured into the U.S. military to use during the war and its aftermath. It is ordinary Americans who will feel the effects of that -- in their pockets and their stomachs. A war to pry open the economic door to Iraq so that the billionaires of the United States can get inside is not in the interests of the victims of downsizing and economic restructuring in this country. Let's send the Madeleine Albrights of the world a message, loud and clear: We have no interest in such a war and we oppose it. ****************************************************************** 2. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: SPIRITUAL CRISIS IN A REVOLUTIONARY'S LIFE By Fanya Baruti As I faced 52 years to life in prison for possession of 0.11 grams of crack cocaine, I was devastated. The court had given me a chance six months prior to my May 8, 1997 arrest. The prior arrest brought me a year drug diversion after facing 25 to life. Under the current arrest, I faced the old sentence and the new one -- two 25 to life terms plus two years enhancement for something I never understood. I was in denial. I even tried to convince those who knew I was hooked on crack cocaine that I was framed. In court, I took on the responsibility of representing myself. I didn't need a public pretender trying to convince me to take a deal or go to prison for life! If I was going to go to prison for life, I was going to represent myself. The "three strikes" law was no longer something I worked against in the 1994 elections. The "three strikes" law was no longer part of a speech given by myself to high-school youth or adults. Now the "three strikes" law was my reality before one of the most dangerous courthouses in the United States. Because of my addictive behavior and my arrest, I became isolated from my family and extended family. When I asked those I knew for assistance and comfort in my criminal proceedings and sickness, some came to my aid and others closed the door. It was a learning experience that I'll always remember. However, the major learning experience came upon me when I was at my lowest point. I thought that I was stronger than I had been. I was supposed to be a warrior, a fighter. I confessed to being a revolutionary by any means necessary. I was supposed to be demonstrating fatherhood. I was a mentor, a hard worker; I had integrity. I had a sense of purpose and a sense of direction. But one thing I did not have was spirituality in the forefront of my life. And since I didn't have the spiritual awareness in front of me, I had nothing. Everything that I thought I was, that I wanted to become, was Fanya's dream. The county jail was a living hell. As I prepared my defense with the necessary lawyer's fire, it began to become overwhelmingly difficult. The two judges that I had to face in the cross fire denied my most important motions. I exercised my rights and exhausted all my measures to be effective. The judges practically informed me that, once the preliminary hearing got underway, I would surely be bound over, and the district attorney's office assured me that they would give me all of the 52 years to life sentence. I faced a vindictive prosecution and I was the bullseye on the DA's target. I came to realize that I needed help. I gave up my status as "propria persona" and requested an attorney. Little did I know that God's ministering angels were at work for me (see Hebrews 1:13-14). I went to God sobbing, asking for forgiveness for running away from wanting to live. I asked God to help me in my time of need. There I was in the Los Angeles County Jail surrounded by a population filled with men and women fighting the "three strikes" law. Those who chose to plea bargain were getting outrageous sentences, with 80 percent of that sentence to be done in prison. Those who took their chance fighting their cases and lost received 25 years to life and more. Thus, I too was fighting for my life on a wing and a prayer. But I could not fight alone. I needed the Judge of Man to take my case. I needed a source of power to prevail that would not change. I once trusted in man, but man has always let me down. I needed not to be forsaken. I needed to be comforted. I needed the freedom that Christ Jesus gives. I needed the guidance of the Holy Spirit. On a personal level, I prayed. And when I prayed, I submitted my body, mind, heart and soul unto my Creator. My God heard me and answered my prayer of sincerity. It wasn't until I gave myself up completely that I began to understand what it meant to be revolutionized. Jesus too was a revolutionary. His example became the prime example for me to follow. As a man, I began to live in a new creation. I knew the fallacy of man, so I picked up the holiness of creation. When I studied history, in addition to looking around today, I recognized that the two forces, good and evil, have never changed. Time and events have changed, but not the good and evil in man. All of which is written in the Scriptures. Taking heed of this living phenomenon is to take heed of what man contends with today, and how he responds tomorrow. I found God's word never to change. Therefore, when I walked back into the courtroom with a God-sent alternate public defender, in front of a superior court judge where a preliminary judge was supposed to be, the judge didn't even believe the abuse of the "three strikes" law in my case. She exercised her right under a new law to remove my strikes without hesitation. I even pleaded guilty to both charges before she handed down her decision. I acted on faith. I also spoke the truth, knowing that the truth would set me free. Not from the chains, but inside my temple I was free. The officers who came to court back to back eight straight times to testify against me never had an opportunity to utter one word for the record. In fact, when the four officers walked into the courtroom, I knew from their expressions that God had granted me a victory. Before the judge handed down her sentence, my character witnesses -- Steve Texeira, Ronnie Byrd, Mardi Webster, and Juliette Robinson-Slaton, an attorney -- spoke well on my behalf. Plus a representative from BRICKS/KICKS Drug and Alcohol Center pleaded with the judge to let me enter their rehab for a year. To my surprise, the judge gave me three years probation with one year rehabilitation. What happened to me was the spirit and power of God. But the only way God got involved was because he knew my heart. He knew my cry was not a game. In my spiritual warfare, I asked for Jesus' grace to save me. Most of all, God knew that He was not finished with me yet. My faith without works is dead. Therefore, my future will speak for itself with my works. Today I am a better revolutionary than I ever was. I understand what being a child of the Creator is all about. I can testify to God's mercy. It took me nearly four decades to learn his holy promise. Now my work is to help others so they won't have to wait as long as I did to follow the footsteps of Christ our Lord. [Contact the Spirit of the Revolution column via e-mail at spirit@noc.org] ****************************************************************** 3. CLINTON'S RACE INITIATIVE: WHAT ARE THE MOTIVES BEHIND IT? By Brooke Heagerty "Will we become not one, but many Americas, separate, unequal and isolated? Or will we draw strength from all our people and our ancient faith in the quality of human dignity, to become the world's first truly multiracial democracy. That is the unfinished work of our time, to lift the burden of race and redeem the promise of America." -- President Clinton, announcing his Initiative on Race in the summer of 1997. Clinton promoting "racial reconciliation"? Is this the same man who used years of anti-black propaganda to eliminate entitlements for millions of poor women and children, the elderly and the disabled? Is this the same man whose administration has witnessed a phenomenal rise in prison numbers, primarily among young black men? The same man who is proposing a juvenile crime bill which scapegoats our children as "predator youth"? Just what is happening here? We would be wrong to view Clinton's Race Initiative as one more phony exercise. It represents a crucial component of the Clinton administration's global agenda. For Clinton and others whose interests lie in advancing the global economy, discrimination is, as Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan stated at Jesse Jackson's recent Wall Street dinner, another "barrier preventing the free flow of capital and people to their productive employment," distorting the "setting of wages and prices and the distribution of input." For those who seek to succeed in the highly competitive environment of the global economy, they argue, a multiracial work force, particularly at the level of the skilled and professional worker, is essential. Samir Gibara, chairperson and chief executive officer of Goodyear Tire and Rubber, echoed the sentiments of other executives in his comments to the December 3 "town meeting" sponsored by the President's Race Initiative. "In our company," he said, "in the last two or three years, we were able to move much faster than our competition to set up companies in China, in India, in the Philippines, in South Africa, in Poland. To the extent that you have a diverse force, it is a competitive advantage." To dismantle the barriers to competition and the free flow of capital and to make available those workers still needed for the global economy, the legacy of racism and discrimination must be confronted. But it must be confronted in such a way that the ruling class is able to achieve its goals without relinquishing the weapon of racial division. As conditions worsen for millions of Americans, white and minority, this weapon continues to be the ruling class's most potent means of keeping people confused as to their own interests and weak in the face of a united enemy. Clinton and the global interests he represents are faced with shaping society to meet their needs while at the same time maneuvering to control the social response to worsening conditions. One side of their strategy is to unify and organize their own class forces throughout society to support and defend their interests and policies. The vision of a "multicultural democracy" that Clinton is promoting through the Race Initiative is a vision of a world that serves the rulers. It is a world in which the rich, the skilled and the affluent, regardless of color, are rewarded while millions who are no longer needed to work, regardless of their color, are eliminated from the equation. The other side of the rulers' strategy is to prevent any kind of unity from developing among the new class, a class whose members increasingly have no ties to the capitalist system. This class -- made up of people of all colors -- is being formed from the disintegration of the system itself, caused by the widespread application of labor-replacing technology. Clinton's Race Initiative offers no plan to address the spreading poverty among these Americans or to relieve the suffering of millions of families -- white and minority. On this matter, the president has been eerily, if predictably, silent. To the degree these Americans in poverty exist at all to the rulers, they are only reviled and punished, viewed as beings who must be convicted, incarcerated and controlled. The Race Initiative is part of a massive propaganda machine which seeks to maintain the fiction of separate agendas based on color in order to blind the growing numbers of people in poverty to their common economic plight. In the past, petty social privileges granted to the white poor over the black poor made unity impossible. The poor could not unite when they were unequally oppressed and exploited. The hitherto unknown equality of poverty of the new class -- a poverty that knows no color -- is something new in our country. Today, the basis for real unity among the workers exists. The ruling class knows that as long as it can continue to sow division and disunity in the new class, then the rulers can undo the threat the new class poses for the capitalist system. Thus, the rulers will be free to do whatever they want without fear of challenge. People's response to the Race Iniative shows their yearning for community and their desire to put an end to violence and hatred. We must not allow the rulers to set the terms of the debate. The unity of the new class united around distribution based on need is the only way of thinking that reflects the reality of material conditions and the potential of the new technology. It is the only way of thinking which truly expresses the interests and aspirations of the majority of the world, regardless of color, as they struggle for not only their immediate needs, but a world forever free of want and fear. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ New LRNA pamphlet MOVING ONWARD FROM RACIAL DIVISION TO CLASS UNITY By Brooke Heagerty and Nelson Peery 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 humanity. $3.00 ea., plus $1 postage. Bulk discounts (free postage): 10% (2-10 copies), 15% (11-25 copies), 20% (26-100 copies), 30% (100+ copies). Send orders and payment to: People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654-3524. Read the pamphlet online at http://www.mcs.com/~league +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 4. CALIFORNIA GROUP AMONG THOSE PUSHING FOR RECOGNITION OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS [Editor's note: December 1998 marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While there will be various "official" activities and observances designed to call attention to the issue of civil and political rights, a number of individuals and organizations are trying to force the government to acknowledge that we, the people, also have economic rights -- including the right to food, housing, income, education and health care. Among the organizations pushing for the recognition of economic rights is the Oakland, California-based Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. The People's Tribune recently interviewed Anuradha Mittal, policy director of Food First.] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Tell us about Food First. ANURADHA MITTAL: Food First is an alternative, outside the beltway, people's think tank, with a mission to take action to end the injustices that cause hunger, poverty and environmental degradation throughout the world. We do this through research, analysis, education and advocacy both about the underlying causes of these problems and new ways to address them. PT: What's the rationale behind promoting the idea of economic human rights? AM: A recent nationwide survey revealed that approximately 30 million Americans are hungry, at least 12 million of whom are under 18. Hardest hit among poor Americans are children under six -- one in four lives in poverty, the highest level of child poverty among industrialized countries. Americans are hungry because they are poor. The percentage of Americans living in poverty [according to official figures] has increased from 11.6 percent in 1970 to 14.2 percent in 1994. In 1996, President Clinton signed the draconian Welfare Reform bill. The Urban Institute has predicted that the new law will push an additional 1.1 million children into poverty, and by 2002 an additional 2.6 million people below the poverty line. The same legislation also denies food assistance to noncitizens, expanding the number of people denied the right to food. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) guarantees a full range of economic human rights, which includes the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services. Yet the figures that I am citing show how far the U.S. has fallen short of our commitments under the UDHR, and how far from acceptable our social conditions and social policies, such as the Welfare Reform bill, really are. The continuous flagrant disregard for people's economic welfare and rights demands a strong and well-resourced response. The economic rights campaign's call to action is that necessary response in the U.S. We are also building a strategic alliance. We are currently working with over 160 groups across the country in an effort to help create a shared agenda. PT: What sorts of organizations have endorsed the campaign? AM: The campaign has been endorsed by a very diverse group. While there are thousands of groups across the country addressing issues that clearly fall under the ambit of the UDHR, these groups do not presently use the language or the tools of human rights. At the same time, groups working for the realization of political and civil rights tend to be far removed from organizations addressing poverty, hunger and social justice issues, and fail to perceive the possibility of a shared agenda. Our campaign, "Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come!," has brought together Washington, D.C. think tanks with grassroots labor, human rights, women, immigrant, faith-based, anti-hunger, poverty and homelessness groups and other community-based groups working on issues of economic and social justice to recast the fight in the human rights context. PT: What do you hope to accomplish? What will be the end product? AM: The campaign will reveal that hunger, poverty, homelessness, inadequate health care and education, and low wages in the U.S. are all violations of basic human rights. To publicize this, we have activated the Black Congressional Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and the Hunger Caucus of the Congress to organize a congressional hearing in the Bay Area on May 2, and a national hearing in Washington, D.C. in September on violations of economic, social and cultural rights in the U.S. The over-arching objective of the hearings is to provide a forum in which to demonstrate the failure of the U.S. government to promote and protect economic and social rights in the U.S. The testimonies presented will define, document and make visible the myriad of domestic human rights violations in the U.S. Through the congressional hearings we seek to illustrate that human rights violations occur routinely here in the U.S., still one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and to recast the issues of hunger and poverty in the U.S. as issues of basic human rights. We also want to provide a forum for underrepresented groups to address these issues using the concept of human rights, and to galvanize moral outrage via media coverage. And we hope to create more favorable conditions for a much-needed shift in policy direction that will ensure economic, social and cultural rights for all in the U.S. Also, our ultimate goal is to get the U.S. to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. We want to clearly establish the universality and indivisibility of human rights. [For more information, call Food First at 510-654-4400, send e- mail to foodfirst@igc.org or check out Food First's Web site is at www.foodfirst.org] ****************************************************************** 5. DOCUMENTING THE ABUSE OF ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS: A STORY OF POVERTY IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms including: * The right to just conditions of work, at living wages, with the right to form and join trade unions (See Article 23). * The right to well-being of person and family; encompassing basic rights to food clothing, shelter, and medical care, in addition to security from circumstances beyond our control (examples given include sickness, unemployment, disability, and old age) and the protection of mothers and children regardless of birth status (See Article 25). * The right to an education, directed to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms (See Article 26). By Joy Butts [Editor's note: The article below was submitted by a reader in Philadelphia as a contribution to the effort to document the abuse of people's economic human rights in the U.S. We urge our readers across the country to submit similar stories to the People's Tribune.] December 10, 1998 marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many people are talking about and organizing around human rights during the year-long commemoration of this event. Very few, however, will talk about economic human rights -- the right to food, housing, clothing, and the right to a job at a living wage. Throughout the history of the U.S., stories of people struggling for survival in this country have been silenced. Many people in other countries do not believe that poverty really exists in the United States. Today, any discussion of economic human rights is being swept under the rug to make way for welfare reform. The following story was collected in the documentation process being carried out by the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Poor People's Embassy which was established by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union in 1996 to represent the legislative and policy needs of the poor as they lead the fight for economic human rights. The reporting of these events first appeared in the Daily News (New York), March 21, 1997. Sharon Villafna was seven and a half months pregnant. She had a two-year-old daughter, Shyana. For almost a month and a half, Sharon had been battling the vicious shelter system after being thrown out of her apartment. Her landlady, with six adults in two bedrooms, had needed room for her own family. Since she became homeless, Sharon had pleaded her case at the Emergency Assistance Unit (EAU) five times. Often, she and others would wait as long as two days for assignment to a conditional residence in a shelter or a hotel. Conditional status only lasts 10 days. Once an application for longer-term shelter is denied (and most are), these women have exactly four hours to return to the EAU to appeal to a hearing officer. Typically, women report, word of denial arrives in the middle of the night. When women are housed at the EAU, they bring their children and earthly possessions, but not their food. The policy of the Department of Homeless Services is not to allow food in the EAU. So, food must be left at the door or given away. Essentially, mothers must trade food for a chance at shelter. On March 16, Sharon was sent back to an EAU shelter. Several days before entering the shelter, she had spent her WIC check and food stamps in one place at one time as many women do. She couldn't afford transportation to shop around. On March 20, she was still trying to convince the city that she was truly homeless. For two days she and her daughter had eaten nothing but coke and orange soda. "Why would I want to live like this?" she said. A tear streaked down her face as the baby sprawled across her pregnant belly. "I understand how people could want to kill themselves." A pediatric nurse practitioner, Karen Coutrier, who does rounds at city shelters encountered Sharon outside of her shelter. Coutrier had seen everything on the streets, the worst that children can endure, but nothing prepared her for that afternoon. "Children were starving," she said. "American children." This was desperate. "Please feed my baby formula. I been through the system like six times. I can't make no milk for my baby. We ain't had nothing but soda for two days. I lost 12 pounds, and I'm due to deliver in May." The nurse verified that the pregnant woman had lost 12 pounds between the time she left and returned to the shelter. She went to the store and bought Sharon and the baby food with her own money. Coutrier saw 21 families that day. "Kids were crying from hunger," she said. "Crying sounds different when they cry from hunger. And the way they eat. Say you give a toddler some animal crackers. She'll pick. She'll stop. She'll pick. Toddlers are very picky eaters. But Tuesday, I give a little girl, two years old, a whole box and she eats it all without stopping, one cracker at a time. This little girl was starving." "The last time I saw kids crying from hunger was in Ethiopia in 1985," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, a New York doctor who does the same rounds as Nurse Coutrier. "But this is New York 1997, and we're absolutely outraged by a system that leaves kids actually crying from hunger." No money. No food. No home. It is time to tell the stories of poor and homeless people across this country who have been denied food, housing, medical care, and a right to a job at a living wage -- time to collect these stories and bring them to the attention of the world. These stories are an indictment of the U.S. government and the system it upholds. This column will appear on a monthly basis. Please document and tell the stories of the economic human rights violations that are happenning in your part of the country. Help the American people hear what is going on today and raise the issue of economic human rights in this time of deepening poverty in the midst of extreme wealth. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 6. A NEW DAY FOR WOMEN: THE PATH TO PROGRESS IS CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS >From the editors International Women's Day was born of the struggle of women garment makers in a sweatshop in New York in 1911. Trapped in a horrible fire behind locked doors, 146 people perished, but the factory owners were acquitted of any wrongdoing. In their memory, on March 8, people all over the world sum up the unique contributions women have made to society. This recognition is important. It is just as important, however, to state what the future holds for women and why. Women are more than one half of society and the majority of the new class of the poor. They will in a major way determine the future of America and the globe. A NEW WOMEN'S MOVEMENT The day has passed when we can talk of women as a monolithic group -- a people held together by a common cause and effort. When we speak about women today, we mean a movement based on the majority -- those workers who are politically in transition and economically losing ground. Today, economic and social differences are becoming clear as a tiny section of women "make it" and the majority don't. Ideological differences are arising to express these class contradictions. This is not to say that the historic cause of women's equality that arose centuries ago with the first class society has ended. In fact, as our rulers wash their hands of any responsibility to the poor and enact ever more fascist laws, conditions for women are taking a turn for the worse. To understand the social motion of women, we must see it in its political context within the system of capitalist exploitation of labor. Capitalism created a huge, cultural, legal, ideological and political superstructure ("society") to facilitate the exploitation of men and women. To achieve the maximum profit, a nuclear family evolved, headed by the man as breadwinner. Women's work revolved around doing the chores, preparing the meals and taking care of the kids so that the man could get to work each day. The imposition of the ideology of women's inferiority, coupled with the needs of capital, kept this relationship intact. In the past 30 years, the system has opened up to women, in part as a result of women's struggles and in part as a result of technological changes that let women leave their dependency on men and enter the work force. Women won the legal right to have jobs with equal pay, to own property and to control businesses. Today, however, most women are still denied social and political equality by the capitalist system and many are losing the relatively small economic gains they had made. THE WAY OUT There can be no further progress for women -- for humanity -- until class politics becomes the force that guides our struggle for a new world. Why? Because we are leaving an era based on the exploitation of human labor and entering an era marked by the end of work. Each new robot makes more workers -- men and women -- superfluous to the profit system. As the base of capitalist society -- the exploitation of labor -- disintegrates or is shifted overseas, the social superstructure will become vulnerable. But, no superstructure willingly leaves the scene of history. It must be thrown out. This can happen only when its base disintegrates. We are approaching such a decisive moment in history. As robotics and globalization attack the capitalist base, a new class of men, women and children outside the accepted relations of capital is forming. This is the army that will finish off this capitalist system based on exploitation and race and sexual hatred. But, to be effective, this army needs to be educated and given a vision of the future -- a cooperative society where men, women and children live in peace and harmony in a world of plenty. Above all, the class must be made class conscious. It must achieve the understanding that common people can gain political power and run society in its interests. Also, it must be purged of sexism, racism and all ideas that keep people socially unequal. On the other side are the fascists, who are getting their opportunity too. Their principal ideological weapon is racism, but ideologies that strive to keep women unequal are also used. Our side's ideology is class. Who will win depends on who educates. Ideologies do not simply die; they must be pushed out of existence by new ideas. Class consciousness -- class unity -- is at last the new idea to liberate women as it liberates all of humanity. Celebrating International Women's Day means dedicating ourselves to this task. ****************************************************************** 7. 'DEADBEAT DAD' OR UNEMPLOYED FATHER? By Cheri Honkala Every morning, across the United States, the hunt begins: Fathers are dragged out of homes, handcuffed and incarcerated. Mothers cry in welfare offices while child-support-enforcement workers demand answers to the dozens of questions as to the whereabouts of the father. Child support is the latest arena in the battle to overhaul America's welfare system. The target being used to make this conquest is the newest scapegoat for the ruling class since the Welfare Queen -- the Deadbeat Dad. This new up-and-coming stereotype of the nation's poor has quickly become an excuse for the poverty-stricken state of America's underbelly. Simplification of this country's poor is not original. It's a tactic that has been seen before. Pinpoint an effect of poverty that is understandably shared by the victims and create a stigma around it. Pin the blame on the victims, or on a subgroup of the victims, and the real culprit is not only cleared of doing wrong but is looked to for solutions. By painting the picture of the Welfare Queen, the media furthered the idea that there was only one type of person that received welfare and that she was to blame for her own situation and for the situation of the thousands of other welfare recipients. These suggestions were meant to cause a tear in solidarity among the nation and the poor. Likewise, with the newest addition to the list of vilified scapegoats, the male figure in poverty-stricken households, the individual male in poverty is being pegged as the reason why poor women are poor and have no help with their children. As a part of this new emerging class, we as women need to recognize what and who the real reasons behind our plights are. We need to rise up together and stop allowing ourselves to be used and misrepresented by the rich women of this country who represent the whole of America's RICH just as we represent the whole of America's POOR. It is said that the misery of poor women is caused by the negligence of poor men. I say it's high time that we begin to testify to the truth -- to expose the accusations for the lies that they really are. None of us will benefit from filling the nation's jails with our fathers, brothers, and sons who have been denied the right to a job that would enable them to pay for the proper support of their child. As poor women, let us fulfill our leading roles in history by not integrating into a system that is killing our brothers and sons. Let us bury a system that forces us to visit our sons, fathers, and brothers in jail or at their graves. Just as slavery destroyed a man's ability to parent, so too does capitalism. Let's not fall for the capitalists' game of incarcerating our brothers. Instead, let us join forces to make a link that will enable us to successfully fight for power so that our children can be raised by both their mothers and their fathers in a country where everyone prospers. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ POWERFUL WOMEN SPEAKERS WITH A MESSAGE YOU MUST HEAR "Cheri Honkala opened my eyes to the injustices of a world that can easily feed every human being, but refuses to do so. Cheri is a wonderful woman of great strength who refuses to sit and watch children die of starvation." Lilia Sanchez, University of California, Riverside WHO IS CHERI HONKALA? * Executive Director, Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU); Co- Chair, National Welfare Rights Union; member of the Interim National Council of the Labor Party. * A leader of the "March for Our Lives," a 125-mile march of poor women and their families from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia to the United Nations in New York to protest human-rights violations caused by welfare "reform." * Chronicled in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Zuchino's new book, "Myth of the Welfare Queen" and featured in Skylight Picture's award-winning documentary, "Poverty Outlaw." * Helped lead the KWRU to a historic position as an affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Healthcare Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO. HEAR Cheri Honkala talk about the "Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Freedom Buses." Send $5 to People's Tribune Audiotapes, Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654-3524. Tape is compliments of Mike Thornton, Radio KVMR-FM. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ MEET OTHER POWERFUL WOMEN SPEAKERS: ETHEL LONG-SCOTT is spearheading the fight for poor women in California as Executive Director of the Women's Economic Agenda Project. BROOKE HEAGERTY is co-author of a new pamphlet, "Moving Onward: >From Racial Division to Class Unity." MARIAN KRAMER, co-chair of the National Welfare Rights Union, has been in the front lines of the fight for women and for the victims of poverty for more than 30 years. LAURA GARCIA is editor of the People's Tribune, a newspaper that voices the demands of the women, men and children struggling for survival and a new, cooperative America. To invite these speakers to your city, call People's Tribune Speakers Bureau at 773-486-3551, or write to Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, or contact us by e-mail at speakers@noc.org or visit our Web site at http://www.mcs.net/~speakers +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 8. 'MY GRANDMOTHER WAS A HERO TO ME' By Laura Garcia [Editor's note: Laura Garcia, editor of the People's Tribune, recently joined her husband Jose Garcia, loved ones and friends who gathered in mourning to say goodbye to her mother-in-law. These are her reflections on that sad occasion.] Israel stood there facing us, struggling with his words. "Don't wait until one of your loved ones dies, for you to tell them your love," he said. In a voice charged with emotion, he looked at the coffin and said, "I love you grandma." Then, Angel, another one of her grandsons, walked up to the podium, to say his last farewell to his grandmother Ramona. In his words, he said what his grandmother meant to him. "She was the one that kept my family together," he said. She showed him love with her kind words -- "Quieres comer?" ("Do you want something to eat?") -- or by simply putting her small, broken-down body -- merely five feet tall -- next to his and saying: "Mira que grande estas! Estas mas grande que yo!" (Look how tall you are! You are taller than me!") "My grandmother was a hero to me," concluded Angel. As he said these words, I looked over at the coffin where Dona Ramona rested. From my sitting position, I could only see her furrowed face, traces of age, labor and sorrow. Angel had described her well: she was a hero. She had displayed great courage in struggling to keep her family together and well until even her last dying days. When the nurses would bring her food, she would tell those who were in the room, "Your brother is hungry." She was referring to her son, who had fallen prey to the influence of drugs. Also, a few days before she died, she confided where she had hidden her life's savings -- $550 -- and said: "When Mickey gets out, give him $300. You can do with the rest whatever you want." Mickey was her youngest son, who will soon finish a nine-year prison sentence. Dona Ramona's life is no different from the millions of heroic mothers and grandmothers who are struggling every day to keep the family together. Yet forces beyond them are destroying the family and making their struggle an uphill battle. In particular, the economic foundation of the family is steadily eroding. Jobs are becoming harder and harder to get because of the downsizing of the economy due to the new technology in the way goods and services are being produced. Even those lucky enough to have a job are being forced to work two jobs so they can barely bring home the basic necessities a human being needs to survive. The government is rapidly passing laws through which it abdicates its responsibility for the people's well-being. This is especially true for the poorest of the poor: women and children. A case in point is the Welfare Reform law. Nonetheless, the heroines of our society -- our grandmothers and mothers like Dona Ramona -- don't give up because giving up would mean giving up on their own flesh and blood. So, it is their life of example that must keep shining the way as we struggle for the type of society they envision for their families. Afterwards, as Angel cried and trembled in my arms, he kept asking, "What is going to happen to my family?" This is the same question that every youth in America is asking now since they see the writing on the wall: a society that doesn't care much about them and would rather imprison them than educate them. Dona Ramona fought for what society should provide her with to raise her family: a job. She earned a living with back-breaking labor and with little help from any machinery or tools. This is how she and her husband modestly provided for her nine children. Seven of those nine are among the lucky Americans who still hold jobs. Yet the specter of layoffs and economic insecurity hovers over her 34 grandchildren and God knows what will happen to her 32 great-grandchildren. Today's generation has a new challenge. Back-breaking labor is not going to do it anymore. Neither is education and training, though momentarily those who are lucky to be educated can hold back the specter of unemployment. But reality is reality. Today, there's new machinery and technology that can do the job faster and quicker. In fact, society is moving toward a jobless way of life. So what are we going to do? The answer is simple, though it is easier said than done. We must find a way for the new technology to service the physical, intellectual and spiritual needs of society. Anything short of this will mean the killing off -- whether in the streets, by hunger or in prison -- of the new generation of children. We must keep our eyes, energies and efforts focused on the new society that is possible with the new technology. We must remove the blocks that stand in the way of this society. Only in this way can we keep hope alive. ****************************************************************** 9. NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO FIGHT THE BATTLE ALONE! By Ramiro Rodriguez [Editor's note: Ramiro Rodriguez, 22, is a young leader who has been in the Cook County Jail in Chicago for more than a year awaiting trial. He now is in Division XI of the jail's Maximum Security Unit. Ramiro has been active in Youth Struggling for Survival and Video Machete since a few years prior to his incarceration. He continues to teach and help others in the jail, and back in the world, through his letters, poems and talks. This statement was written by him to let the world know he is still battling to be strong for himself and his community. A father of three children, Ramiro hopes to inspire everyone to struggle for peace, justice and true equity for all in this country.] CHICAGO -- Sitting here in my desolate world, pondering on my accomplishments, despite my dilemma, I realize the impact I have made on my community. I have had setbacks in my life; I will not deny this. Regardless, no matter what the situation has been, I have never stopped being committed to easing the struggles of the youth and the rest of my community. I mention the youth because they are the foremost leaders of tomorrow. The work I have done in Youth Struggling for Survival (YSS) and Video Machete (VM), two groups I have helped organize, has opened the mind, heart and eyes of many an individual to the hardships that my community faces every day. Helping recognize these hardships is a step in strengthening my community. I have acknowledged the fact that dramatic changes need to occur, especially since we have lost so many powerful and influential young leaders to death and imprisonment. My poetry and my expressive writings have been my main tools. While I have been in here, I have sent out 11 expressive writings to Video Machete about my feelings and thoughts. They put video images to my writing and presented that tape, along with other tapes from the youth, to different cities around the country, including the CineAccion Film Festival in San Francisco. The feedback from this has been tremendous. It has shown that no matter how hard the system tries to keep me down, I will prevail because I have the vitality to go against the oppression. I have also helped organize to send some youth and adults from YSS to Los Angeles to be a part of a music and arts festival last December sponsored by Rock-A-Mole! (rhymes with "guacamole") and held at the Unity Arts Center in the Pico Union community. If anything, I have strengthened my community more with the correspondence I have had with so many people. Knowing we are not alone in battling the conflicts of our community gives us hope for peace. The love and care of each person is what strengthens a community. Some of the issues we are facing include a lack of proper education and the inability to obtain the resources to receive this kind of education. We also have to deal with the exploitation and degradation of the youth, police harassment and the lack of funding that is necessary to keep my community prospering. The public school system has always been a poor foundation in helping the youth, yet this is supposed to be the basis for their development. We need to implement a program that will allow the youth to acquire the knowledge that is imperative for them to survive. One of the reasons we have not been able to change the public school system is the way the school board and government keeps our schools in ragged conditions. With all the technology out there, they are still giving the schools limited access. Our children are not supposed to suffer like this. Knowledge should be free to all. Another main concern of mine is the way the youth have been taken advantage of in the past decade -- victims of abuse at home, violence in the street, drugs and jails. I have had to go through my own turmoils. Of course, my experiences have made me wiser. Our children should not have to go through all this distress just to stay in existence. We have to bring out the spirituality of our cultural differences and to share with others the uniqueness of our diversity. Another problem in my community is the mistreatment of the youth at the hands of law-enforcement officials. You also have the mayor and other politicians praising the officials for their harsh use of force. As a young leader in my community, I have to take a stand on these issues because of the afflictions officials have put on me and others. Every day here in the county jail, I see how the police have unlawfully arrested people. We have to put a stop to their corruption. The thing about all these issues is that we have the ability to put an end to all this distress. The money and resources are out there. The committed and responsible leaders are available. We have to stop letting our government put barriers on our ability to overcome the tyranny. I do not know what my future will hold. I do not know if I will ever be coming out. In the meantime, I have to educate myself and be more aware of the needs of my community. This is the best way I can address the issues due to my predicament. The system may have my body, they will never have my mind. This is a time for me to start paying more attention to what is happening beyond these walls; to start creating a more productive and decent future for my children and for other children in my community. My words, my creativeness, my imagination, my compassion are all keys to help make the changes. I have to believe in myself. I have to believe in my community. I want to reach out to more people; to help educate more people. I want to let them know what is happening; to start disciplining, preparing, and informing everyone; to set up a network of revolutionaries from the young to the old. Every day the government is condemning us to cruel laws and rules. They are steadily trying to control us and enslave us. We have to take charge of our lives, to stop them from brainwashing us into thinking that everything is all right or we will lose and our children will lose. I do not know the full reward in writing this essay. Regardless, just getting the opportunity to express my concerns is reward enough. Even if one person takes heed to my sorrows, I can live on knowing that I, at least, awakened their soul. No one should have to fight the battle alone. Together we carry the vision to address these issues. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 10. U.S.: A TRAVEL THROUGH HISTORY -- STEVE DARNALL AND ALEX ROSS DISCUSS THEIR GROUND-BREAKING COMIC By Andy Willis The comic book is an art form invented in the U.S. Like jazz music it has spread around the world and is loved by millions. In this country, however, it is sometimes considered a form strictly for kids. Well let's dispel that notion right now. A friend of mine recently turned me on to a comic which is nothing short of a revelation. Hey! Make that revolution! You want serious subject matter? How about the crisis of spirit gripping America? How about 200 years of history that put us in the shape we're in? How about dealing with the future in the midst of the plague of poverty that is spreading throughout the country? Well, as they say in the comics: Gentle reader, read on! The work in question is called "U.S." (for Uncle Sam) and is by the Chicago team of writer Steve Darnall and artist extraordinaire Alex Ross. The story concerns the trials of a familiar-looking homeless man named Sam as he stumbles through the past, present and future of America, unsure of who he is and tortured by the whirl of visions and memories around him. Having read the two-volume set as soon as I got my hands on it, I found it moved like a movie in my hands. A few weeks later, over dinner, I got an interview for the People's Tribune which only deepened my amazement at what they had achieved. After reading this, first you want to know how this work ever saw the light of day because it is that controversial, and secondly how did they come up with this idea in the first place. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ALEX ROSS: Well, people who would be upset with this kind of material are really, for the most part, not reading comics to begin with. Or if they are reading comics, they are not likely to go into the reading the kind of material Vertigo (the publisher) normally produces. And something like this, the only way they would have picked it up is, honestly, based on my involvement because I had success in the mainstream. I was bringing attention from that over to this hoping to spread the wealth to the message we had to bring. STEVE DARNALL: We started talking about this six years ago, around the time of the Persian Gulf war. ALEX ROSS: Steve worked at this comic store I used to frequent downtown, and we would talk about various projects and characters that interested us. Steve said, "You know a character that I'd love to work with is Uncle Sam!" And I thought, "Yeah, me too!" Then we both more or less said at the same time we'd love to present him as a bum! There's some kind of magic in taking the icon of America and not so much defacing him, but actually putting him through Christ suffering the wounds of the world. He then becomes a more sympathetic character for all of our feelings and what we'd like to communicate through him if we do this to him. Then we can actually use him to tell some kind of powerful story because now he is somebody we feel like flag waving for because he's as marred as we are. STEVE DARNALL: The idea of feeling overwhelmed in this day and age is particularly universal. We're bombarded with information and "entertainment." Thomas Paine was more right than he knew! I try to remember the exact quote, ... "However much we are dazzled with light and show, reason will only say 'tis right." Or the voice of reason will always prevail and now there's no guarantee that's going to happen. People are afraid for the future, but they don't know where to lay the blame for that. Around the time of the assassination of President Kennedy, Vietnam and Watergate, people began thinking, "Gee we're not the giant we thought we were!" That's not the same as saying, "it's time to re-examine all of history," and see that this didn't happen in a vacuum. It makes sense to us that around the time of the mid-1960s, this spirit of America really started getting a kicking around. When it came time for America to feel "good" about itself again with the election of Ronald Reagan, the reason we felt good was not because we confronted the failings of the past and vowed never to let them happen again. It's because we kicked them away. We swept them under the rug. It's going to really be interesting to see what happens. For our part, one of the things we said at the beginning is if this thing tanks and the message we want to convey does not completely get through, at least we have some document that for 96 pages two people did what they could to stem the flow. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Thankfully, the editors at Vertigo who worked with Darnall and Ross did not try to alter the message, but worked only to make sure it came across full strength. Tackling the hard questions, but providing no simple pat answers, the work successfully manages to deal with farm foreclosures, undocumented workers, the growth of militias, the Waco fires and the Oklahoma City bombing -- all on the same page! The research and 18 months of loving work that produced these results should bear fruit. But don't take my word for it, this is really a read that is experienced. If you should happen to start a book discussion using the "U.S." as a focal point, let the authors and the People's Tribune hear about it. ****************************************************************** 11. PRESS CAMPAIGN GETS RESULTS! 'It lifted our spirits' to distribute the People's Tribune, says the chair of one LRNA chapter "It lifted our spirits to be able to go out and do something." That's how Dave Swartz described himself and his fellow revolutionaries after they sold the People's Tribune and its bilingual sister publication, the Tribuno del Pueblo, on January 31. Swartz was recently elected the chair of the West Los Angeles Chapter of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. The January 31 newspaper distribution -- organized by the chapter -- took place on a busy day at a large shopping center which draws people of all ages, races, and walks of life. For some of the LRNA members present, January 31 was the first time that they had ever sold the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo in so public a place. They were impressed by how eager many shoppers were to buy the newspapers. The January 31 distribution in West Los Angeles was part of a nationwide effort being conducted by the LRNA, the National Campaign on Circulation and Finances. The campaign began on January 1 and will continue through the Third Convention of the LRNA, which takes place in Chicago on April 25-26. All across the country, the chapters of the LRNA and the friends of the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo are working to double the circulation of the two publications and to raise money. The campaign is taking many different forms, as people find creative ways to circulate the revolutionary press: * In Philadelphia, copies of the People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo are distributed at study groups, in educational settings, and at speaking engagements. * In Baltimore, an inmate receives a bundle of newspapers and uses them in study groups in a prison. * In Detroit, one distribution team gets copies of the People's Tribune and the Tribuno del Pueblo into three bookstores, and has a regular route in a neighborhood. * In Merced, California, the publications are sold at flea markets and at small businesses. The campaign has begun to produce results. Since the effort began, the Southern California Area Office of the LRNA has increased its standing order of the People's Tribune by 175 copies. In Vancouver, Washington, a LRNA member has doubled his standing bundle order for the People's Tribune. In Alabama, a student has ordered a bundle of the People's Tribune for her entire class. The spirit of the campaign was summed up well by Dave Swartz. Commenting further on the January 31 distribution in West Los Angeles, he wrote: "Indeed, it was a great day! True, it was only a bit of a small thing done by ordinary people ... but then again, that is what it's all about, isn't it? We're looking forward to our future as a chapter and more activities as a collective." That's it exactly. -- The National Circulation Committee of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America ****************************************************************** 12. 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 short, 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 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 13. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE AUDIOTAPES PRESENT A VISION OF A NEW AMERICA Hear inspiring speakers present their vision of a New America on audiotape. We are proud to announce that audiotaped interviews of some People's Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo speakers are available for free on the Internet! Go to the League's web site at http://www.mcs.com/~league and click on "Resources for Revolutionaries." To purchase the tapes listed below, send $5 for each audiotape listed to the People's Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago Illinois 60654. A free brochure listing all of our speakers will be included with each order. (Complimentary tapes will be mailed to campuses seeking speakers and to the media.) Available tapes include: "Securing Economic and Social Justice in the Global Economy," "Building an Organization of Revolutionaries." Nelson Peery, author, "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary." "The Labor Party & the Fight for Labor Unity," Richard Monje, labor organizer and editor, Tribuno del Pueblo. "The Demise of Public Housing and the Struggle for a New America." Annie Chambers, founding member, National Welfare Rights Union. "The Economic Human Rights Campaign." Cheri Honkala, Director, Kensington Welfare Rights Union. "Homeless Organizers Speak." Richard Powell, Mobile (Alabama) Chapter of the Homeless Union; Ann Turner, Community Homeless Alliance Ministry, San Jose (California), Low-Income Support Network; Jackie Gage, president, Homeless Organizing Committee of Long Beach, California. "Attacks on Immigrants Affect Everyone." Gloria Sandoval, community organizer around issues concerning women and immigrant rights. "The Life, Death and Times of Malcolm X and Revolution Today." Abdul Alkalimat, professor, author, activist. "Proposition 209, Welfare Reform and the African American Community." Ethel Long-Scott, executive director, Women's Economic Agenda Project. "The Economy and the Welfare State." Bruce Parry, Ph.D., labor economist. "Police Raid Won't Silence Liberation Radio." Napoleon Williams, founder, Black Liberation Radio, Decatur, Illinois. "The Global Economy and Fascism." Brooke Heagerty, Ph.D, editorial board, Rally, Comrades!, and Jim Davis, author, "Work in the Digital Age." Many of the tapes are radio interviews by Mike Thornton of KVMR-FM radio, Nevada City, California. ****************************************************************** 14. LETTERS: NETWORKING ON THE LEFT [Editor's note: The People's Tribune received this interesting letter recently which we'd like to share with our readers.] I write this as a 23-year-old recent college graduate residing in Muscatine, Iowa. I've been searching for and applying for employment as a labor-union organizer, labor-union researcher, or in a progressive organization such as Citizens for Tax Justice and Peace Action, to name two examples. One thing groups like the League of Revolutionaries for a New America and others on the left should do more is network in the areas of employment and housing. I'm having a difficult time networking to find jobs in progressive organizations and labor unions. The left should focus more on this networking because if young people like me and older people looking to change careers can find jobs in social change organizations, it will be a better world for all of us. Collective living is definitely a topic the LRNA and other groups should address. Rather than renting separate apartments and working full time, revolutionaries could pool their money to buy a house or rent an apartment and take turns making money for the revolutionary collective. This is becoming harder to do, as real wages have declined, but it's still a possibility. On C-SPAN I heard a former Black Panther Party member say she did this in the '60s. She would do full-time, non-paid organizing and education for a year or two while her comrades worked paid jobs and then they would switch and she would do paid labor while they built the movement full time. I will go almost anywhere to find employment and build the socialist movement. If anyone would like to look into the possibility of starting a revolutionary collective with me in Chicago or someplace else, please write me a letter or send me an e-mail. Drew Chebuhar 2702 Becky Thatcher Rd. Muscatine, Iowa 52761 cheb@iastate.edu ****************************************************************** 15. LETTERS: SYSTEM IS 'THROWING MY GENERATION AWAY,' SAYS PRISONER [Editor's note: The People's Tribune received the letter below from a prisoner in a state prison. We have not published his name or specific location for his protection.] Dear People's Tribune: I would love to have the People's Tribune yearly subscription, or for a few issues, as possible. ... I was blessed to come across the November 1997 issue of the People's Tribune. After reading the article on Cooperation vs. Competition (pg. 2) -- even though I'm in prison -- now-a-days I can almost feel the pain those brothers and sisters felt back then because right now I am in the same situation. As I read about all the conditions and/or the treatment which those brothers and sisters soon got fed up with, I am also in that same situation right now. Here in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) we have brothers as young as 14 years of age trying to do time. The system is throwing away my generation and those after me away. Here at TDCJ we have no outside help. You can't even sue these prisons here because you may end up being gas. They treat families like they are incarcerated. They strip your sisters, mothers, and grandmothers and tell them to bend over. This letter is mainly to let you know I really would appreciate a free subscription. Thank you and God bless! ****************************************************************** 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 (773) 486-0028 ISSN# 1081-4787 For free electronic subscription, email: pt-dist@noc.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject. 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