People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (03-99) Online Edition .TOPIC 03-99 PT Index .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.lrna.org +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PAGE ONE: HOW WILL WE FIND JUSTICE? The ruling class has manipulated the debate about crime and violence so that the first impulse of many people is to think, "How can we deal most harshly with an offender?" This debate framed by the ruling class is aimed at how to move punitively against individuals as well as scare the majority into allowing the passage of another "get tough on crime" bill. "Recent revelations" about how jails don't rehabilitate and how many Death Row inmates are innocent have forced people to see clearly how the current justice system doesn't work. Greater sections of the American people are suffering from ever- worsening living conditions created by the ruling class. In the face of these conditions, a bold movement is currently spreading across the nation to completely reorganize the way we address when a harm is done. Restorative Justice is a movement focused on the people aspect of crime, said Jane Otte, executive director of Prisoner and Family Ministry at a recent Illinois conference. Restorative Justice (sometimes called Balanced and Restorative Justice) is rapidly capturing the imagination of many communities. The concept is simple and profound. In a typical restorative-justice session, the victim (as well as the victim's family), offender (with his or her family), and community meet. The victim speaks about how the harm affected him or her. Community members listen and talk about how the harm affected them as well. The offender then is allowed to speak. All this is done in the spirit that all people -- victim, offender and community -- have value in society. Harm is no longer individualized; so-called crime is understood to be a direct result of the conditions created by the ruling class. There is the overall recognition that the true well-being of our society is best guaranteed through the restoration of people's relationships one to another. Our community is not being strengthened or restored. The American people are being harmed. There's virtually no mention of the "violence" of a Savings and Loan scandal that this ruling class is making us pay for -- to the tune of more than $500 billion -- while it cuts assistance to poor families. More than $40 million was spent on the presidential sex- capades and other matters while homelessness and unemployment are rampant. Can you say crime? What's true is that the "home of the brave" is being turned into the modern-day "prison house" of nations. Yes, an expansion of internal national-security laws is taking place so as to control the growing discontent of the people. That's the ruling class's justice. However, right alongside is the development by the people of alternative methods of resolving conflict and the harm people suffer. If we listen closely, the overall struggle for restorative justice can only be guaranteed through the development of a new society free of want and deprivation. Restorative justice as a philosophy is one way of looking at taking power by the people. It's about relationships between people. Isn't our real battle about restoring those relationships when they are impaired, nonfunctional or violated? When people are harmed, an entire community is involved. We know the ruling class has created the conditions for the real violence of hunger, unemployment and homelessness. It's about time we take care of our communities instead of letting the current rulers "take care" of us. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 Editorial 1. SPEAK OUT! IT'S TIME TO ENTER THE DEBATE Focus on International Women's Day 2. WOMEN ON THE RISE 3. I'VE COME A LONG WAY BABY AND I WANT IT ALL! 4. TWO DECADES OF "FAMILY VALUES": THE UNRAVELING OF OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT 5. TODAY'S WOMAN FIGHTING FOR HUMANITY News and Features 6. CAMPAIGN AGAINST SWEATSHOPS TAKES CAMPUSES BY STORM 7. CALL FOR NATIONAL PICKLE BOYCOTT: FLOC: TURNING UP THE HEAT! 8. ARE THE BLIND THE ONLY BLIND? 9. MAY 1: A DAY FOR BOTH BREAD AND RIGHTS 10. CAMARADERIE AND EDUCATION: AN "EYE-OPENING REALITY" Spirit of the Revolution 11. SPIRITUALITY IN AMERICA Announcements, Events, etc. 12. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA/PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE RADIO [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/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO 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. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Editorial: Speak out! .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 1. SPEAK OUT! IT'S TIME TO ENTER THE DEBATE Politics! Whether it's national politics or office politics -- the word brings a look of disgust to the face of most Americans. As the impeachment ordeal recedes into history, we are breathing a collective sigh of relief. Yet the fact is that politicians have a major impact on our lives. What they will decide about destroying Social Security will have extremely serious consequences. What they have already decided about health care and public assistance to the needy has cost many Americans their lives. The reality is that who rules our country is a life-and-death question! During the impeachment proceedings, various groupings were mobilizing their forces and preparing to continue the struggle in the coming period -- the period leading up to the presidential elections in the year 2000. While the right-wing groupings behind the impeachment fight didn't succeed in removing Clinton, they were quite successful in gathering and consolidating their forces. At the same time, a growing number of politicians have been preparing to enter the coming presidential primaries. As usual, the current crop of would-be candidates leaves a lot to be desired. While former Senator Bill Bradley tries to show us his compassion for the poor, he continues to maintain that he is fiscally prudent. In other words, he doesn't intend to spend any money on our problems. Then there is conservative activist Gary Bauer, a former Reagan administration official, aiming to be the candidate of the right wing. In between there are many others, mostly fighting to occupy "the middle." One dangerous development is the talk of the conservatives bolting the Republican Party if the presidential nominee is not to their liking. An independent party of the extreme right could become an influential platform to win over sections of the American people to a fascist ideology. As usual, none of the politicians maneuvering to run in the primaries comes close to representing those of us struggling to make ends meet. We never have a real choice. It is quite understandable that the voter turnout for the 1998 elections was the lowest since 1942. But again, we must point out, who rules our country is a life-and-death question! For those of us falling deeper into poverty, those of us getting sick over the possibility of losing our jobs, and those of us who want a decent life for everyone, there is something that can be done. We can speak out and enter the debate during this period leading up to the elections. We can offer the American people a real choice, a vision of what could be possible if this country was run in the interests of all of its people. There is an alternative to our current system -- an outdated system of private ownership of the real wealth of the country that leaves the overwhelming majority of Americans struggling to survive. We can speak of the need for sweeping, fundamental change; of the need and possibility of building a society based on cooperation rather than competition; of the potential for everyone to have a comfortable and cultured life. The challenge is to begin a crusade for a new America, to take a vision of a hopeful future to the American people. ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Women on the rise .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 2. WOMEN ON THE RISE By Ethel Long-Scott As hard as women struggle to improve life for themselves and their families, they deserve better. It's getting harder to reconcile what we are told about the "improving" position of women and their families with the expanding family tragedies that so many of us see, and the troubled people that so many of us know firsthand. The research says that what we see and what we know is right on. But we keep being told that opportunities still abound and that people who aren't lazy or stupid have never had a better chance to earn a comfortable standard of living. The trouble is, our so-called political and business leaders and most of our financial experts and journalists are not telling us the truth. These people, who get so upset when President Clinton lies, will not tell us that we have reached the stage of electronic production where we can ensure a good life for everyone. But we can't get to that good life for everyone under capitalism, which requires that global capitalists first create and then exploit the needy. It's tragic to see so many otherwise smart people refuse to look at all the wonderful possibilities that eliminating capitalism would open up. If we wanted to, we could start creating a world without want, without racism or national hatreds, without sexual oppression or human exploitation. Because cutting-edge technology has finally given society the means to produce an absolute abundance, it now can build a society based on cooperation where the material and cultural needs of people are satisfied. There are powerful arguments to prove this. Neither the lives of most people nor reliable studies support the lies about how wonderful the U.S. economy is. If we spend much time in the real world, experience tells us that women and children are having more and more trouble making ends meet, even with more than one job. And if you can't find a job -- as more and more people can't -- then forget it. The research supports our real-world experience. A recent survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors confirmed that families are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population, accounting for 36 percent of the total nationwide. The vast majority are single women with children, although many intact families are also out on the streets. This is happening as our elected political representatives do the bidding of the global rich and powerful, who grab more of the wealth. A few federal statistics show how astonishingly capitalism steals from the poor to give to the rich. * The richest 1 percent of Americans have more net worth than the bottom 90 percent. * The net worth of the two richest Americans, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is more than the net worth of the poorest 200 million people. * From 1983 to 1995, only the richest 5 percent of U.S. households saw a real increase in net worth. The bottom 40 percent of households saw an 80 percent cut in net worth. Women and children, always the most destitute and disenfranchised under capitalism, are becoming more impoverished under global capitalism. As the value of labor power is reduced to zero, female single heads of households are being thrown away because it's cheaper for capitalists to invest in computer-controlled machines than in people. Women must piece together several part-time, no-benefit jobs and still earn less than their male counterparts. Criminalization of the poor is increasing. Is it any wonder that 80 percent of incarcerated women are in for nonviolent crimes of necessity: alleged welfare fraud, prostitution, or neglect for children they can't feed or shelter? For the smallest provocation, women from the new class of poor are pushed out of public housing. All this misery comes from structural changes in capitalism. Computers make it possible to produce goods with little or no labor. That has brought an economic revolution and changed our world forever. Capitalism's No. 1 goal is profits. But as workers lose their jobs to machines, their income drops and they lose their ability to buy. Capitalists are increasingly forced to increase their exploitation in order to keep their profits up. They also use more and more of their money for speculative investments that don't create jobs, and produce wealth for no one but themselves. The worldwide poverty is due not to material shortages but to capitalism's requirement that the means of production must be privately owned. We have seen the disastrous results in the Asian and Brazilian economies, and we will see it in the United States. Increasingly employed and unemployed women are caught up in this crazy scheme that benefits only the rich. President Clinton and a bipartisan Congress dismantled the last vestiges of the federal safety net, just like the supranational financiers and megamerged corporations wanted. They wanted the tattered and inadequate net completely dismantled because they didn't want to pay anything for workers they no longer needed. This change in the social contract brought huge numbers of "street families," much like the closing of the mental hospitals had produced "street people" in the 1970s and 1980s. The growing polarization between the global rich and the global poor is making a new politics possible, one that makes private property public. A new women's movement reflecting a new class of poor people is rising to reclaim the moral high ground, inspire our people, and bury forever the idea that it's OK for owners to rip off workers. [Ethel Long-Scott is a leader and advocate in the woman's movement. She has been a community organizer for nearly 30 years and is also a member of the LRNA Steering Committee.] ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 I've come a long way baby .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 3. I'VE COME A LONG WAY BABY AND I WANT IT ALL! By Liz Monge I remember my first introduction to a women's studies class when I first entered the university I graduated from. Full of anger, ethnic nationalism, anti-male sentiment and lofty ideals of what the women's movement should be; I was bitterly disappointed when I saw the syllabus only contained one Latina, author whose poem was "optional" reading. As a young Latina, I took it personally and was not encouraged by being considered optional. Needless to say, I've come a long way, baby, and my involvement as a student and as a revolutionary has withstood such backward obstacles. In many instances, the concepts of race, class and gender were thrown around in classrooms, discussions and politically correct conferences. Seldom were they understood with the depth or within the historical context of their development that would have answered many of the questions that left me unsettled. (There were few exceptions.) Take, for example, the Equal Rights Amendment that has undergone many transitions since its origin in the 1920s up to its present working draft of the 1990s. With over 70 years in the running of this country's women's movement, it has never been passed. Why? Because in passing such an amendment, government would have to address and end all the exploitation and oppression of the most vulnerable sectors of society and, quite frankly, that would work against the economic interests of the ruling class, which they will do anything to protect. Most important is the manner in which the debate has been framed for women's issues in this country. Historically, the women's movement has had the direction of middle-class to affluent women. In this regard, some progress has been made for women in some sectors of society and this even included the development of some social programs for women on the lower strata of the socio- economic ladder. But gone are the days of the Civil Rights movement in this country when reforms were possible and the resources for concessions were still available. In the current state of affairs, with a global economic crisis and the devastation of the social contract, an attempt to pass such an amendment would seem almost futile. Especially when the mainstream of the leadership of the women's movement seems to have aligned itself to the same political party that is executing all the legislation that is hurting the most vulnerable sectors of society: women and children. My intent is not to overlook the things that the ERA calls for, like ending discrimination, establishing equal pay, or guaranteeing equal rights. My intent is to look at the big picture and understand the possibilities we have today. As a young woman of the 1990s, I understand it's going to take much more than an ERA to address women's issues today. I don't want just an ERA, I want it all! The conditions women face today require that we think on a global scale and call for a complete reconstruction of society, of social relations; they push us to a battle of understanding that transcends the lines of gender. What we are talking about is the survival of humanity. In order to achieve the things we want, the heart of the leadership of the women's movement is emerging from those women that have the most at stake: those who have been marginalized and forced to find means to survive outside of the system that can no longer and will no longer meet their needs. In their struggle, they have concretized all the issues that the ruling class deems "family values" and "personal responsibility." The time has come to redefine what it means to be a woman today under the historical conditions that are our reality. There couldn't be a more exciting time in history to be a woman; a time that finally leads us to the reality of the liberation of women as the liberation of humankind. The destruction of the current system we live in is calling for the opportunity to create the kind of society we've always wanted. Let us collectively embrace the struggle we face today to enjoy the fruits of life that so many have valiantly fought to cultivate. ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Two decades of "family values" .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 4. TWO DECADES OF "FAMILY VALUES": THE UNRAVELING OF OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT By Kay Forest, Ph.D. It's been two decades since conservatives introduced their moral crusade for "family values." Yet today we can hardly applaud the state of the family in the U.S. unless it is to remark on the amazing ability of millions of women, men and children to carry on despite the unraveling of our social contract. Much of family-values rhetoric focuses on education and marriage as the keys to a successful family life. True, many high-school dropouts and single mothers are poor. But this is only part of the picture. An obsession with individual behavior obscures the inadequacies of the larger social structure, even when families are working hard to play by the rules. Take the example of wages. Wages and salaries constitute 90 percent of all family income. But in the 1970s, men's real wages began to fall. Many fathers found themselves underemployed or flat out of work, while more mothers began to work or to work longer hours. The net result, however, was that family income inequality increased. Between 1980 and 1997, the top fifth of families saw income growth from $55,000 to $137,080; the middle fifth increased from $24,800 to $53,616; while the bottom fifth only grew from $10,400 to $20,586. By 1997, almost 16 percent of families with children lived below the poverty threshold. Almost half of these included married parents. Forty percent of all families lived at or below 220 percent of the poverty threshold, in the ranks of the working poor. How could this be? Job creation averages 270,000 a month! Unemployment is 4.3 percent! Yet two-thirds of new jobs are in the lowest-paid service-sector. Unemployment is unevenly distributed, with some states' county rates in double-digits. And last year, the Senate defeated a minimum-wage increase, although the current minimum earns a full-time dual-earner family $21,400 before taxes. Yes, 27 percent of job growth is in the high-paying professional specialities; but these jobs require at least a bachelor's degree, an opportunity shared by less than one-in-four adults. During this era of job loss and shrinking wages, divorce rates and family violence have also galloped forward. Persistent financial strain is a major source of family dissolution as well as woman and child battering and increased substance abuse. And for some, these contribute to homelessness. In the early 1990s, approximately 3 million families doubled up and another 14 million paid half or more of their monthly income for rent -- the edge of homelessness. The proportion of Americans who are actually homeless is the highest since the Great Depression. Almost half of homeless mothers have histories of domestic violence. Moreover, in 1998 the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that new welfare cuts are linked to a significant rise in hungry and homeless families, many with young children at risk of malnutrition, physical abuse and emotional neglect. Children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Is there good news? Well, millions of women, men and children carry on despite the unraveling of our social contract. But these trends cannot continue indefinitely without ultimately eroding their resiliency. And they are us. [Dr. Kay Forest is a professor of sociology who specializes in marriage and the family.] ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Today's woman fighting for humanity .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 5. TODAY'S WOMAN FIGHTING FOR HUMANITY By Laura Garcia International Women's Day is the proper time for women to reflect on their status in society and the tasks ahead. For me, the rights of women and the well-being of the family and children go hand-in- hand. You can't talk about one without the other. That's why I would like to contrast my mother's struggle to uplift her family out of poverty with mine. Women today have the same goals as the women of my mother's generation: to be able to take care of our families in a secure, happy environment -- free of hunger, deprivation and injustices. The only difference between my mother and me are the conditions in which we wage our fight. My mother is the daughter of a campesino in rural Mexico. She was born in 1927. Her life -- plagued by misery, poverty and injustice -- mirrored the life of all women in her economic and social position. At 27, no longer able to stand the poverty in which she was raising my sister and me, she migrated North, crossed the border and got a job as a domestic worker. She made the ultimate sacrifice a mother can do, leaving her children, so that she could go in search of the means to provide for her children. It took her almost 10 years to bring us to her side. But she did, and I came to the United States in the 1960s. Here, I went to school, graduated from high school and went to college. When you look at my mother, you see a proud woman. To her, she's a success. Her daughters, as she puts it, "have made it." The content of the times allowed my mother to succeed in her fight. It was the time of industrialization and capitalism needed plenty of workers to labor in the fields, the factories, steel mills, etc. Today, my dream for my two sons is the same dream my mother had for me. I, too, want a happy and secure future for them. Yet, the content of the times is different. This is not the time of industrialization, where jobs were abundant. This is the time of downsizing, closed factories, abandoned steel mills. Workers have in fact become an endangered species. The technological revolution that creates a never-ending amount of goods and services, is also eliminating jobs. And without a job, a worker has no future but the streets. On the other hand, we're also witnesses to the marvels of this technology. We can see the potential of using it to end hunger forever, to end homelessness and to provide an opportunity for all to have a cultured life. So my fight, together with others, is to figure out how we are going to make it -- and, by the way, I don't mean just women, but all of humanity. The attitudes and beliefs of the American people have to change. Changing the hearts and minds of the American people is the main purpose of the People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo, the publication I'm editor of. Visionaries are needed whose work will bring about a new morality -- a new morality that says that a human being has the right to food, shelter and clothing. Margaret Mead once said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." She's right. And we're not alone. We're standing on the shoulders of giants -- our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers. While they fought to integrate into the capitalist system -- to win the right to vote, to fight for equal pay, to break with traditional roles -- our fight has to be to reorganize society around a different economic system. What America needs is a system where human needs are the priority, instead of the profits of a few. We need a cooperative society that will distribute the necessities of life according to need. That's what time it is. This is the only way we can secure the future for our children in America and the world over. ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Campaign against sweatshops takes campuses by storm .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 6. CAMPAIGN AGAINST SWEATSHOPS TAKES CAMPUSES BY STORM By Nora Rosenberg At BJ&B, a Korean-owned sweatshop in the Dominican Republic, more than 2,000 workers, mostly teen-age girls and young women, spend 56 hours a week stitching Champion baseball caps. One worker told the U.S. garment union UNITE: "When you get in trouble, the managers will grab your face and smack you on the head. There is one that goes around with a stick and will hit you on the head with it." The women worry their managers will touch them inappropriately. No one dares to drink the "drinking" water. The prospect of ever purchasing one of the caps they sew is nonexistent. With an income of $40 per week, they are unable to cover basic living expenses. When workers tried to organize, management retaliated with mass firings. Thousands of miles away, the cap sits on a shelf in a university bookstore, dangling a $19.99 tag. It is embroidered with emblems of school pride: a university's name and logo. Will the consumer ever wonder about the hat's history? Will she know that of the $19.99 she paid, the worker received 8 cents? Can she ensure better conditions for these workers? Student activists across the United States have taken up this cause. In the last year and a half, a national movement has taken dozens of campuses by storm. These students are willing to do whatever it takes to convince their universities to adopt codes of conduct -- standards that companies must adhere to in order to renew their licensing agreements. "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Sweatshop labor's got to go!" Chants can be heard across campuses from college greens to presidents' offices. Leafleting, rallies and now a wave of sit-ins in presidents' offices have culminated in commitments to improve these conditions. Some of the more contentious issues have been resolved in compromises at Duke, Georgetown and the University of Wisconsin after takeovers of their presidents' offices. Hundreds of students on almost every Ivy League campus rallied February 16 and 17 to express their demands to a task force of administrators. Last spring, Duke University and Brown University passed codes of conduct. These codes require the companies that universities license with to comply with basic labor standards. In the last decade, many apparel companies have adopted codes of conduct as public-relations tools. The collegiate codes are designed to do more: They contain provisions for independent monitoring, a process through which outside groups regulate factory compliance through worker interviews and factory inspections. In July, activists from dozens of colleges and universities met in New York to discuss strategy and structure for the sweat-free campus campaign and to organize into a national coalition, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). This group has subsequently expanded dramatically. The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), a for-profit middleman between hundreds of licensing companies and 160 universities, recently drafted a code and monitoring mechanism for its licensees and member universities. Duke, Georgetown and the University of Wisconsin are all part of the CLC and are pressuring it to adopt full-public-disclosure and living-wage provisions. The Ivy League Council of Presidents has assigned a body of licensing directors the task of drafting a monitoring solution and individual schools are working on codes. But the sweat-free campus campaign has deemed these efforts inadequate. To begin with, the voice of the university community has been tokenized. Students have been denied representation or even participation on the CLC and Ivy League task forces time and again. The universities' own expertise has not been tapped. For a code to be effective, it must allow for workers to receive enough purchasing power to cover at least the very basic living essentials. USAS activists are committed to getting all new codes to include living-wage provisions and all existing codes to add them. The monitoring must be performed by credible non-governmental organizations. Systemically, what is more important than monitoring is public disclosure. Such transparency would require companies to provide the university community with basic information -- names, addresses and contact information -- of contracting and subcontracting factories. This is a necessary check on the entire system. Activists on close to 100 campuses have participated in the campaign. Juxtaposing the lives of the producers and consumers of collegiate apparel reveals the striking discrepancy between poverty and privilege. American students enroll in universities and graduate four years later with innumerable opportunities; teen-age workers enlist in manufacturing plants and find themselves out of work four years later. Unfortunately, the sweatshop conditions uncovered at BJ&B are not exceptional; they typify the garment industry. We can be influential if we exercise our collective power as consumers to demand corporate responsibility. Almost every material object we encounter is an artifact with a history of human labor. We must question the nature of that history and demand that these goods come from workplaces that respect human, civil and labor rights. It is ironic that allegedly enlightened universities, many of which have mission statements that value community stewardship, engage in behaviors that promote exploitation. For our school logos to truly represent excellence, they must be stitched under sweat-free circumstances. The only sweat involved in a sweatshirt should be the proud sweat of the athlete who wears it, not the suffered sweat of the workers who produce it. If you are interested in working on the Sweat Free Campus campaign at your school, please contact Nora at Nora Rosenberg@Brown.edu or Ginny at GCOUGH@uniteunion.org Nora Rosenberg works with United Students Against Sweatshops and the Brown Student Labor Alliance. ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 FLOC: Turning up the heat! .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 7. CALL FOR NATIONAL PICKLE BOYCOTT FLOC: TURNING UP THE HEAT! By Alicia Espinoza Faced with corporate management that refuses to budge, a union of migrant farm workers conducted a meeting in Durham, North Carolina, to decide whether to launch a national boycott next year of Mt. Olive Pickle Co. products. One-hundred-thirteen church, labor, and community activists, all backers of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO (FLOC), decided to begin the boycott immediately, launching a series of public events on March 17 if the North Carolina-based firm has not signed an agreement by then. Mt. Olive Co. officials have thus far refused to bargain a contract with FLOC to improve the wages and conditions of the migrant workers who harvest pickling cucumbers for the firm located in Mt. Olive, North Carolina. Union President, Baldemar Velasquez, explained: "We are confident that Mt. Olive Co. CEO William Bryan will eventually come to the table because FLOC is in North Carolina to stay. Mr. Bryan can sit down with us at the table now, or after a crippling national boycott of his company's products, but one way or another we will win a contract!" Over the past 18 months, more than 2,000 workers have signed FLOC authorization cards in the area. Mt. Olive Pickle Co. is the largest pickle company in the South, and the second largest in the U.S. behind Vlasic Corp. Although the firm has traditionally marketed its products only in the South, it has recently begun an aggressive campaign in major Midwest cities, making it more vulnerable to a boycott, according to FLOC. Velasquez concluded that: "We had to boycott Campbell Soup Co. for seven years before company officials agreed to negotiate, but they finally did. Bill Bryan is saying the exact same thing today that Campbell Soup Co. officials said in 1985 -- that his company doesn't directly employ farm workers, but only contracts with farmers for a crop. Mt. Olive Co. is a leader in this industry, and any time Mr. Bryan wants to exercise that leadership, he can decide to sit down and bargain an agreement. Until he does, we'll keep turning up the heat." For more information on the boycott or other FLOC activities contact: FLOC, AFL-CIO 1221 Broadway Street Toledo, Ohio 43609 Phone: 419-243-3456 ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Are the blind the only blind? .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 8. ARE THE BLIND THE ONLY BLIND? By Alma Ramirez In a recent movie, "At First Sight," a young man regains his sight through a surgical procedure after being blind for many years. While adapting to the changes of his regained sense, he attempts to connect words he has always known with the objects, or the pictures of things he has never seen. He begins with the basics like an apple, a can and a door. The images were familiar to him when he was blind, but they no longer have any meaning to him. He can see, but in a sense he is still blind. As the reel progresses, he begins to grapple with more difficult images. One of those images being that of a homeless man. To the young man, the term "homeless" had been just that, a word. A word without meaning because he had never seen an actual homeless person. He could not envision what the term meant when he was blind and he still could not envision the idea of homelessness. After watching this particular scene, I could not help but ask myself, "Have the American people lost their sight?" In the movie, it was obvious that the blind man could not articulate what a homeless person was, because he had never seen one. But at the same time, is it wrong to say that many people have walked past the destitute poor that are living on the bone-chilling streets of America, and have not thought to look back. Even worse, many of the American people claim to never have seen a homeless person, except of course, on the movie screen. It is not enough to just look at something, but we need to see. We need to look beyond the obvious, like the blind man did, and see that there is something blatantly wrong with the word "homeless." How can someone be without a home? The idea, the word, need not exist. People do not need to be without homes or food or health care. All of those necessities, and more, are possible. The blind man was able to see what was wrong only after he had regained his vision, but we need to see things for the way they are now. Homelessness, hunger and illness exist and they cloud the lives of many in America -- the same people who helped build America and who still have hope for their America. So with that, we must begin to question our role as "proud" Americans. Do we continue to walk as if we too are blind and not recognize the chaos that our country is undergoing, or do we regain our most important sense, our vision? We need to not only look at the disarray of our country, but we need to also see that there are possibilities and that there is a vision to be regained. Even technology has advanced enough to cure the blind of their blindness. But who, or what is going to cure the American people of theirs? ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 May 1: A day for both bread and rights .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 9. MAY 1: A DAY FOR BOTH BREAD AND RIGHTS By Jan Lightfoot The struggling nonprofit Hospitality House Inc. in Maine is asking Congress to declare May 1 National Economic Freedom Day. This will be a day when we financially poor people join together and speak out for OUR RIGHTS, as in our right to freedom of speech as well as enjoying the right to self-determination. Or to achieve our right to a livable wage as set forth in the 50-year-old United Nations charter called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This compact was signed on behalf of the United States by President Carter on October 31, 1977. Whether or not lawmakers officially set aside this day of celebration for we poor people, WE CAN MAKE IT OUR OWN DAY to call out for human rights. Hospitality House Inc. will host a journalism contest called the Economic Freedom Awards. The deadline for nomination of media articles that uplift the image of poverty or reveal the daily life of and barriers faced by the poor is March 31, 1999. Fees for each article will range from $5 to $25, according to what is affordable. People under poverty can write a line saying that and enter for no fee. The winners will be publicly awarded a plaque in Augusta, Maine, the state capital. It will be a media event. Any group from New England to Hawaii can host an event to focus public attention on the need for RIGHTS for us in poverty. At the beginning of the 20th century, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said words to the effect of: Americans can only enjoy as much freedom as the weakest among us are allowed. ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Camaraderie and education: .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 10. CAMARADERIE AND EDUCATION: AN "EYE-OPENING REALITY" Leo Carillo Park, Los Angeles -- It was a cool and very dark Friday evening at a campsite just north of Los Angeles. Revolutionaries were arriving for the first night of a three-day camping retreat in the hills of Malibu Canyon where we all came together to live in a community that looks after and supports the needs of all its members. This was the 2nd Annual Los Angeles Area LRNA Camping School. October 9-11, 35 revolutionaries, young and old alike, took part in what could be described as nothing less than "eye-opening reality." Friday night, people did their best to set up tents for shelter from the elements in pitch darkness. Those that were able to arrive early assisted those that could not get to the campgrounds before sundown. This was just an early tip-off to what types of camaraderie we were to see during this retreat from the ills of our current society. We were looking to see many of the same faces that came to last year's school, and we were not disappointed. We also had quite a few new and unfamiliar faces in attendance. Just about every LRNA area chapter was represented, and each played a very important role in the outcome of the weekend's scheduled events. The school got under way with Saturday morning's breakfast that was prepared by members of the East L.A. chapter. While the first meal of the day was being prepared, others helped those who had just arrived by carrying camping equipment and setting up tents. The area office gave an early morning welcome and the first study session began. People from different walks of life mixed easily, attended all study sessions, and participated in group workshops. We had about a 90-minute break for lunch that was prepared by the Glendale chapter. After which we continued with part two of our discussion. The weekend included many study sessions and some very good debates. One of which originated from a San Pedro chapter member's statement regarding LRNA's unseen role in the community, "We talk a good game, but what are we doing so that people know who we are and what we're about." Immediately there was discussion regarding past and current activities in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. One of our members raised a point regarding how we are trying to reach out to lower income and homeless families so that they too can see the documented injustices that are occurring worldwide. The discussion was ignited when a woman simply stated: "that sounds like a great approach to reach those that are already living this unfortunate reality, but what is your approach for those like myself who are middle-income, doing well, and going to be harder to convince. You will never reach people like me by using the same approach you use for the less fortunate and those already living this reality." This statement raised a few eyebrows and many members went into deep thought over it. It was getting late and we needed to prepare for dinner, so we ended that session and began winding down for the evening. Once again, sharing the duties and the wealth, members of the San Pedro chapter prepared a wonderful dinner and everyone ate well. As the evening grew darker, the bone-chilling night air made itself right at home. We all gathered around the campfire for what could be described as a "spiritual walk" through the Malibu Canyons. We were honored to have a recent graduate in social anthropology, whose personal interest is the preservation of cultural and natural (environmental) history. A. Solorio led us in an Afro-Cuban welcoming chant that was imported through the pain of slavery into Latin America's struggles by way of Cuba. The chant is a prayer, asking the earth to welcome our presence. During this song and presentation, one of our members noticed that a young lady was shivering cold, so unselfishly he gave her his cold weather jacket to help fight off the elements. When morning came, the members from the East L.A. chapter prepared another fantastic breakfast. Afterwards, we were given an excellent opportunity to hear from two women living at two separate poles of society, yet we needed to be clear on how to reach both of them without losing either in the process. Both women were asked to talk about their daily realities and their concerns for this society. They both graciously accepted. The time that both women gave the collective was invaluable, we gained some insight on how to reach both poles of society, but the most interesting thing was that they both wanted the same thing from their government, the same basic things from life itself. They wanted to be confident that they could earn a decent wage, keep a roof over their heads, provide for their children, have good health coverage and above all, be happy. This is not unobtainable! We have the means and the technology to do it. We must take control of those means and put them in the hands of the masses of people that can directly benefit from this great technological wealth that, at this point, is only serving the few. One other note, the L.A. Area Office presented Steve Teixeira and Cynthia Cuza with plaques, thanking them for a job well done as past AO members. Being part of the area office is a ton of time consuming work, and they both made it all seem so easy. Thank you both! -- LRNA Los Angeles Area Office ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Spirituality in America .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 11. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: SPIRITUALITY IN AMERICA [Editor's note: This is the latest contribution in our Spirit of the Revolution series. Please send us your comments or articles to: Boxholder, Box 2166, San Jose, California 95109. E-mail to spirit@noc.org] By Daniel Berrigan There may be some people who think that spirituality is intrinsically antithetical to political action, but I've been privileged to meet many thousands of people of faith whose lives have been dedicated to testifying to the word of God through social protest and acts of intervention against illegitimate authority. Most recently, some of us have been arrested repeatedly at a notorious war museum, the naval vessel USS Intrepid, a pest house anchored in the New York Harbor. ... We've been involved both here and in other places around the world where human rights are violated and where war is being waged. What sustains us in all this is our reading and study of the Bible, and our faith. Religious faith has been particularly important because it seems to sustain itself in moments when society is experiencing a recession of hope. Religious faith joins us to a much longer and tested human phenomenon than American culture can offer. The enticements to get in lock step with the dominant culture are enormous and the pressures to fit in are enhanced by icons of greed and violence. We need saints and prophets to withstand the dominant culture -- and those are rarely supplied by the "alternative" streams in American culture. A lot of people find it difficult to sustain their commitment to their own highest ideals because America has so successfully imbued its citizens with the notion that the highest goal is success. "Success" is such a weasel word. The goal of success is so very different from the dominant thrust of the Bible -- there are few success stories in the Bible. The story of Jesus in particular is one of loss, failure and capital punishment. The biblical message is one of sustaining faith in possibility even when the power of the forces of the current establishment seem to be overwhelming. So my brother can spend nine of the last 30 years of his life in prison, and yet still keep up his spirits, write, and have a worldwide correspondence, and keep at it without being crushed by the system because he is connected to this biblical faith. ... ... Nobody can sustain him or herself in the struggle for a nonviolent world on the basis of the criterion of immediate success. The Bible gives us the long view rather than the expectation of a quick fix. All of us are in grave danger of being infected by this American ethos that good work brings quick change, rather than the old spiritual notion that good work is its own justification and that the outcome is in other hands than our own. Of course, I'm aware that there is a kind of spiritual movement growing in America today that is divorced from a tikkun* perspective, with people uninterested in anything outside of their own inner feelings. ... Some of this spirituality is aimed at claiming one's own turf and immunizing oneself against the misery of the streets. It is very upsetting to me to be in some spiritual retreat centers and experience this attitude, the radiating affluence, self-satisfaction, and isolation from the suffering of others. ... The price that one pays for this kind of spirituality is being out of one's own time and place in the universe, out of the sphere of the ethical, and being part of a shrinking minority of people on this planet who can afford to be selfish and buy immunity from the lot of humanity. ... Needless to say, those who are in the command positions of the American corporations and the military have no objection to this kind of spirituality -- from their standpoint it's fine. ... Some people today argue that equanimity achieved through inner spiritual work is a necessary condition for sustaining one's ethical and political commitments. But to the prophets of the Bible, this would have been an absolutely foreign language and a foreign view of the human. The notion that one has to achieve peace of mind before stretching out one's hand to one's neighbor is a distortion of our human experience, and ultimately a dodge of our responsibility. Life is a roller coaster and one had better buckle one's belt and take the trip. This focus on equanimity is actually a narrow-minded, selfish approach to reality dressed up within the language of spirituality. Open up the book of Jeremiah and you do not find a person looking for inner peace. What the prophet (and those inspired by the prophetic tradition) seeks is to be faithful to God in the midst of a maelstrom of suffering and setback. Jeremiah is crying out, and at wit's end, and then is filled with ecstasy and sees the promise -- he goes through mountains and valleys. That kind of richness I find very appealing, whereas the kind of spirituality that looks for a flat emotional landscape brought on by the endless search for inner peace and equanimity I find disturbing, a quest that goes nowhere. I once scolded Thich Nhat Hanh after I heard him speak at a church in Manhattan. I told him that from my observation his audience was composed of people seeking cheap peace of mind, and that he had not helped people understand that his own life, though having elements of inner peace, had been an enormous struggle. He didn't tell his own story and gave people the impression that life could be simply about little acts of kindness without any connection to the larger struggles for social justice. It's those struggles that lead us beyond the confines of personal life to connect with the realities of others, including others who are suffering and ... with whom we would not have contact (and hence, not have an opportunity to share acts of kindness) unless we consciously chose to seek them out. I know that the prophetic vision is not popular today in some of these spiritual circles. But our task is not to be popular or to be seen as having an impact, but to speak the deepest truths that we know. We need to live our lives in accord with the deepest truths we know even if doing so does not produce immediate results in the world. * tikkun (Hebrew): to heal, repair, and transform the world. [Excerpted from tikkun magazine, a bimonthly Jewish critique of politics, culture and society. Information and subscriptions are available from TIKKUN, 26 Fell Street, San Francisco, California 94102.] [Daniel Berrigan is a veteran Jesuit activist and author.] ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 03-99 Speakers For A New America .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** 12. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA: MAY DAY'S MEANING FOR TODAY Chris Mahin describes how May 1 became International Labor Day as a result of the bitter fight for justice waged by industrial workers during the 1880s. He examines what May Day means for everyone fighting the effects of globalization today. Chris Mahin is a member of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America who writes and speaks on historical topics. [Audiotapes are available of radio interviews with Chris Mahin on: "The Unfulfilled Promise of the American Revolution;" "Lessons of the Abolitionists' Fight Against Slavery;" "The U.S. Civil War;" and "The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson and the Defeat of Reconstruction." For copies, send $5 to People's Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654. Each tape contains two programs.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Speakers are also available for Women's and Latino Month celebrations, Democracy Teach-Ins, and more. For a free speakers brochure, call 773-486-3551, email speakers@noc.org, or visit our web site at http://www.mcs.net/~speakers/ +----------------------------------------------------------------+ People's Tribune Radio is a new monthly news and information program produced by the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. This month's show is on "Issues Affecting Families." For a free copy to take to your local radio station, call 1-800- 691-6888, e-mail flr@jps.net or speakers@noc.org +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 3/ March, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.mcs.com/~league Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ******************************************************************