****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 9/ September, 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: LABOR DAY 1999: A VISION OF UNITY During September we celebrate Labor Day, a very significant date, that commemorates the birth, growth, victories and failures of the working class of the United States. Taking into consideration the working and living conditions of the majority at the beginning of the century, we could say that there have been some improvements. However, the improvements cannot be isolated from the sacrifices. Many people sacrificed and had the courage to unite and confront the injustices, risking their freedom, their safety and their lives, to win what was right then and still is now. Despite the improvements, as we come to the end of the century, we continue to witness a dramatic decline in the living and working conditions of the U.S. worker. People work longer hours, two to three part-time jobs are being taken on by heads of households, while less money is being made, and the struggle to survive continues to manifest itself in the most devastating and immoral standard of human life. The ruling-class propaganda portrays the economy as "booming," but the real boom is the crashing blast of the fallen living conditions of the majority of Americans. Where does it all stop? While the working classes of the world have been the producers of the wealth, they are no longer willing to be the chess pieces on the game board of a ruling class who manipulates every move by creating a society of people who fight against each other along ethnic, political and social differences. In a game in which the only winners are a handful of billionaires and the biggest losers are the working class and their families, the working class find themselves dissatisfied with their lives and are rising to a call for action. Again, where does it all end? It ends with us. It ends with the realization that the time to act is now. The time to focus on a vision of community for all is now. Individual struggles are not in and of themselves individual. As people, our struggles and our vision need to be in common. A song by the great Cuban poet and singer Silvio Rodriguez demonstrates the ineffectiveness of people working alone. In his song "The Tale of the Three Brothers," he tells a story of three brothers who attempt to go out into the world to conquer and build their destiny. The oldest of the brothers was smart and prudent, he had great plans to persevere and build a future filled with wealth and prosperity. He was always a careful traveler, and so he spent the majority of his time looking down, extra cautious of any rocks or bumps that could cause him to fall. Because he spent all his time looking down, he never acquired a vision of what lied ahead. The second of the brothers, was considered the visionary. He was always looking forward, careful not to lose sight of what lied ahead. However, he too could not actualize his vision, since he often fell and stumbled by never looking down. The third brother, the youngest of the three, was also very smart. He figured that by walking with one eye looking up and the other eye looking down, he would not make the same mistakes as his older brothers. But after walking for a while, his vision became distorted. He became disoriented and could not tell where he was going. Like his brothers, he did not go very far. The moral of the story is that people need to share a common vision, unite and walk together, and only then will justice be won for all. We must fight for our right to live and build a future filled with prosperity. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 9/ September, 1999 Editorial 1. LABOR DAY '99: A NEW KIND OF POLITICS News and Features 2. INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS WAGE WAR ON BIODIVERSITY AND FOOD SECURITY 3. A REVIEW OF ERIC FONER'S THE STORY OF AMERICAN FREEDOM 4. REMEMBER ANTIETAM! A CIVIL WAR BATTLE CONTAINS LESSONS FOR TODAY 5. EDUCATION: MUCH MORE THAN A JOB American Lockdown 6. RUDY ROSALES-HUITZILOXIPE: I WILL NOT CAPITULATE Spirit of the Revolution 7. A NEW MORALITY FOR A NEW WORLD Music/Poetry/Art 8. POEM: FEVERED LINES >From the League 9. STATEMENT BY THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA: THE DANGER OF WAR Letters 10. LETTERS Announcements, Events, etc. 11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA 12. I WANT TO SUBSCRIBE! [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. ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL LABOR DAY '99: A NEW KIND OF POLITICS [The People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo reflects on the status of Americans this Labor Day, as people watch the parades, some take a day off work, and others enjoy the last sunny days of another summer.] Labor Day hearkens back to the days of an industrial America. During the heyday of industry, a huge labor force was necessary for production. The American labor force was composed of unions for "this" particular trade or organizations for "that" particular sector of the population. Especially after World War II, the economy of an industrial United States allowed for these types of politics to thrive. Although some people were shut out from the wealth, the majority of the people enjoyed the most incredible living conditions the world has ever seen. Those days are becoming a distant past. The advent of electronics, under capitalism, means a large labor force is unnecessary for the production of the goods and services. Although the people are disoriented (some are still clinging to past strategies and tactics), a new kind of politics is arising. The new politics arising must reflect the new demands of a global economy. We live in a global economy. If labor is becoming more or less superfluous throughout growing sectors of the economy, the whole system of capitalist production has to be called into question. In the past, for example, labor could strike and had a good chance for success. With globalization, however, corporations can take their businesses to the furthest corners of the planet in order to maximize their profits. The capitalist class holds all the cards. It can implement cutbacks or move companies across borders to maintain staggering profits. Even in the face of cutbacks, they still need people to buy the goods produced. As they lay off more people, they're finding it harder to unload their goods. There is a serious disruption. For the first time in more than 60 years, there is serious talk of the inability of the capitalist system to continue functioning. The labor market is changing dramatically. In 1996, for example, 60 percent of new jobs were contingent labor such as home work, part-time work, contract work, etc. The largest employer was Manpower, a temp agency. We're turning into a society of temp and part-time workers with no health care or other benefits. Right now we, America's labor force, are in a transitional period. With electronics, the cycle in which workers are paid wages and, in return, use these wages to buy goods, is being broken. Totally automated production is not here yet, but it is the direction we're headed in. This is the contradiction that is disrupting the system. Will the new politics reflect the need for a system that in the age of robots distributes goods to all? Although we are transitioning out of the old politics based on segmentation, we need not reject all the lessons learned. We should build on past achievements and be clear about the direction America is headed. Productive might can be under our control; when the capitalist class tries to break us up on the basis of skin color, gender, etc., we must instead clearly focus on what is happening as a result of the new technological developments and respond as a class. Labor Day '99 finds the American people in crisis. As with every crisis, the old expression still holds: Where there is danger, there is opportunity. The time has come to make poverty and want memories of a cruel past. The People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo is dedicated to the understanding that if we can organize ourselves as a class, as opposed to based upon "this cause" or "that trade," the victory of a new world, free of poverty, is possible. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 2. INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS WAGE WAR ON BIODIVERSITY AND FOOD SECURITY The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) reported that a new technology is ready for commercial application that threatens the freedom to produce food. This technology is called Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURT) and is owned by a small number of companies in the industrialized countries -- primarily the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The companies modify the plants and seeds through genetic engineering so that the seeds will become sterile and will not grow properly unless certain chemicals purchased from the seed and chemical megacorporations are applied each year to the fields where they grow. The term "terminator" is applied to this technology because these sterile seeds will not produce food without special chemicals. Many countries such as India, Norway, Ecuador and the Ivory Coast have made strong efforts within the United Nations to establish a moratorium on these technologies, because if they are used, the developing countries' sovereignty over their agricultural systems will be seriously threatened. The life or death of the seeds of farmers all over the world will be in the hands of a few corporations and they will be able to use the technology to control the seeds and their traits indefinitely, as well as the economic and political viability of whole countries by controlling their food supply. Recently in the U.N., the scientific body of the Biodiversity Convention (the SBSTTA) adopted a decision favoring the commercialization of these technologies. The decision also restricts the rights of countries to impose national bans on the terminator technology by tying the bans to trade sanctions. Trade sanctions are the latest weapons of mass destruction used to commit genocide in places such as Iraq or Yugoslavia when the megacorporations feel they are not being allowed to extract enough profits from a country's people. This decision threatens the Biodiversity Convention that was founded in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. At that time, it was hailed as a victory for individual national sovereignty over their biological resources. Says RAFI Program Officer Edward Hammond, "The SBSTTA decision provides a policy framework for the GURT- owning countries to force sterile seed technology on the rest of the world." During vigorous debate, one representative of the seed industry presumed the rights of a country in the U.N. debate and proposed an additional resolution to restrict farmer's rights to save, exchange and sell farm-saved seed. Saving seeds is a 12,000-year-old practice which has let farmers control food production to this day. The chairman rebuffed him, but this is an indication of how aggressive industries are becoming in their thirst to control the food production of the world for their profit. Shortly before the debate ended, the U.S. delegation made an ugly and aggressive remark that put the question of moratoriums and trade sanctions to rest. The United States bluntly threatened trade sanctions on any countries imposing a moratorium on the terminator technology and expressed a willingness to use the World Trade Organization to force the terminator down the world's throat. This is agro-terrorism. Plant suicide traits can be turned on or off at will by the application of certain fertilizers or herbicides. By threatening to halt the export of the chemical, a country like the U.S. could hold an importing country hostage and force them to comply with U.S. trade rules. The June 1999 issue of Scientific American warned that economic warfare on crops and livestock is both easy and likely. The head of the United States Department of Agriculture research service, Floyd Horn, was quoted in the American press last week as being alarmed by the prospects of agro-terrorism. The next meeting of the SBSTTA is in January, when it should reconsider this embarrassing decision. Then much more effective, more appropriate and much better recommendations can be submitted for approval at the next meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. [RAFI is an international nongovernmental organization headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with affiliate offices in Pittsboro, North Carolina. RAFI is dedicated to the conservation and sustainable improvement of agricultural biodiversity and to the socially responsible development of technologies useful to rural societies. RAFI is concerned about the loss of genetic diversity -- especially in agriculture -- and about the impact of intellectual property rights on agriculture and world food security. For more information, contact:] RAFI 110 Osborne Street S Suite 202 Winnipeg, Manitoba MB R3L 1Y5 Canada Tel: 204 453-5259 Fax: 204-925-8034 E-mail: rafi@rafi.org Internet: www.rafi.org ****************************************************************** 3. A REVIEW OF ERIC FONER'S THE STORY OF AMERICAN FREEDOM by Lew Rosenbaum Freedom remains one of the most sacred, inviolate concepts in the mind of most Americans. Think of our national symbols, like the "Statue of Liberty" and the "Liberty Bell." Ask your next-door neighbor to define "freedom," and you'll often hear words like "Bill of Rights" and "freedom of speech." Yet, it is false to assume that all Americans are guaranteed their rights. An example is the case of Mumia Abu Jamal, journalist and death- row inmate, whose rights were violated on August 12, 1999, when the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections terminated a call as he commented on the imminent release of the Puerto Rican political prisoners, during an interview for "Democracy Now," Pacifica Radio's news magazine. According to prison policy, Mr. Jamal is allowed two fifteen-minute phone calls per week. When Mr. Jamal demanded to know why the call was terminated, the response was, "The order comes straight from the top." Once again, Mumia describes, "The state reacts to my speech by the act of silencing." A new book by Eric Foner, "The Story of American Freedom," traces the roots of this fundamental concept of "freedom," to pre- Revolutionary times. Eighteenth century settlers, fleeing political and religious oppression in Europe, sought a freedom that was based in early religious scripture: subservience to God meant freedom. The opposite, seeking the pleasures of the flesh, was the absence of freedom. Serving God's will opened the path to true freedom; serving the devil led to slavery. Only as the century drew to a close, and the conflict with England became impossible to avoid, did the terms of the discussion of freedom change from its spiritual character to a political and economic relation to England. The metaphor of slavery entered the popular debate: The newly forming colonies called bowing down to British despotism the same as slavery. Two crucial features shaped the debate. First, colonial revolutionaries debated the new meaning of the word. Freedom was seen as the right to engage in the political life of the nation (e.g., hold office, vote and contribute to the decisions made by society at large); or, freedom was the right of the individual to be isolated from interference by society (e.g. the government). In the first instance, the free man is free only so far as he contributes to the common good (and at this time in our history, the debate included only white men of property). In the second, freedom meant to pursue one's individual goals independently of the common good. Secondly, most Americans saw freedom as holding land. This century drew to a close the analogy between working for wages and working as a slave. The factory system was in its infancy. Revolutionaries talked about wage-slavery as opposed to working for wages. They believed that wages perpetuated dependency on the employer. The wage worker was in some way inferior. Everywhere, ownership of property was required to vote or hold political office. Similarly, the only way one could expect to pursue one's personal goals independently of the policy was by gaining property. A third feature, which permeates the background of any discussion of freedom, is the contradiction between a "free people" which condones and even encourages slave holding. While half the runaway slaves during the revolution ran to the British army for protection from the plantation owners, the other half saw their salvation in the establishment of a "free" America. Foner's book starts with these contradictions and follows the developing battle for freedom in America. A labor movement, which began with the slogan of the abolition of the wages system, originally saw economic independence as the key to freedom. For these early leaders, the end of wages meant that everyone became a "yeoman farmer" -- self-sufficient. Once the majority of "producers" in the country were "laborers" -- i.e., worked for a wage -- workers came to see the actual inability of the emancipated worker to be free in an economically unequal society. Their leaders came to view a fair wage as the road to "independence." Clearly, the Union victory in the Civil war forever changed the rhetoric of freedom. The "market revolution" and the rise of the consumer economy changed the meaning of freedom to the right of personal indulgence. The changes in the economic character of the country also called forth political and social movements such as the women's movement, the populist movement, the labor movement, and the civil rights movement, which took up their own causes inscribing liberty on their banners. Neither political nor economic freedom was possible without equality. The Story of American Freedom, as Foner points out, is not over. There is irony in the word "story". Story is as much myth as reality, subjective, depending on the angle of the person telling it. The teller of a story can influence it and change it according to their own interpretation. Just as white property owners interpreted freedom differently than their black slaves, so do Mumia and his imprisoners disagree on what rights he's entitled to. "No people can escape being bound, to some extent, by their past. But if history teaches anything, it is that the definitions of freedom and of the community entitled to enjoy it are never fixed or final. ... [W]e can decide for ourselves what freedom is." Lew Rosenbaum leads a book discussion series called "The Politics of Our Imagination." Eric Foner's "The Story of American Freedom" is the topic for the September discussion. The sponsor is the LRNA Rogers Park Chapter. [Write the People's Tribune or e-mail rosetree@popmail.mcs.net The next meeting of this group takes place during the 1999 Chicago Labor and Arts Festival, Sunday, September 19, 1999 at the Peter Jones Gallery, 1806 W Cuyler, 2nd Floor, Chicago IL.] ****************************************************************** 4. REMEMBER ANTIETAM! A CIVIL WAR BATTLE CONTAINS LESSONS FOR TODAY By Chris Mahin It was the bloodiest single day of fighting ever to take place in North America. On that day, more than 2,000 men gave their lives to halt a slaveholders' army. Within days of their sacrifice, the first step was taken to abolish slavery in the United States. The Civil War's Battle of Antietam -- which took place 137 years ago this month -- deserves to be commemorated by all those fighting to transform society today. In a sense, the process of abolishing unjust property relations in this country began on September 17, 1862 on a battlefield near Antietam Creek in western Maryland. Twelve hours of hard fighting by brave soldiers that day gave the Union Army a victory of sorts. That gave Abraham Lincoln the political protection he needed to begin steps that would transform the Civil War from a defensive war to save the Union into a revolutionary war to abolish slavery. Five days after Antietam, Lincoln convened his Cabinet and announced that, if the Confederate states were still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, he would free all their slaves. Lincoln was true to his word and, on New Year's Day in 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This executive order freed only the slaves in those states or parts of states that were in rebellion. It did not abolish slavery throughout the United States. However, it transformed the nature of the war, and unleashed a process that led inexorably to the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which did abolish slavery throughout the United States. By the time of the Civil War, slavery in the United States was dominated by wealthy capitalists, most of whom owned thousands of slaves. This tiny elite represented about one percent of the population of the United States. They sold their cotton and other commodities on the world market and were an important part of the world capitalist system. Since the average price of a slave was $1,000 and there were 4 million slaves in the United States, emancipation removed $4 billion in value from the hands of capitalists. At its time, the abolition of slavery in the United States was the greatest blow to a form of capitalist private property which had ever taken place in history. (That remained true until the Soviet Revolution of 1917.) So, in a sense, the process of abolishing unjust property relations in this country began on the Antietam battlefield. The stage for the battle was set in early September 1862. Emboldened by several recent victories, General Robert E. Lee moved the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, a slave state that had remained in the Union. A major Confederate victory inside Union territory would strengthen pro-Confederate sentiment in the North right before the fall 1862 Congressional elections. It might also convince some European powers to intervene in the war on the side of the Confederacy. Lee believed that the commander of the Union's Army of the Potomac -- General George B. McClellan -- was cautious to the point of cowardice. Lee also thought that McClellan's army would be demoralized from recent defeats. As historian Stephen W. Sears has pointed out, these assessments were "only half right." McClellan was a supporter of slavery who constantly made excuses for why he would not fight the Confederate Army. At the Battle of Antietam, McClellan's conduct fully justified Lee's contempt for him. McClellan had learned Lee's plans and had more troops at his disposal than Lee did. Still, he refused to move decisively against Lee, and allowed Lee's army to escape after the battle. But if McClellan violated all the principles of warfare at Antietam, the same cannot be said for his soldiers. Forced to attack in "driblets" (as one Union general put it), the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac fought bravely. The courage of the Union troops was vividly demonstrated in the struggle to take "The Sunken Road" -- a small depression at the edge of a farm. After several attacks against this strategic position failed, the task of capturing it fell to one of the Union Army's most celebrated units -- the Irish Brigade. This unit was known for marching into combat behind emerald battle flags bearing gold shamrocks and harps. Shouting its battle cry ("Clear the way!") in Irish, the Irish Brigade advanced across an open field. Intense enemy cannon and rifle fire "cut lanes" into its ranks. Within minutes, hundreds of its soldiers were killed or wounded. Ever since, the Sunken Road has been known as the "Bloody Lane." In all, 2,108 Union soldiers were killed at Antietam; 9,549 were wounded; and 753 ended up missing. The carnage that day was so terrible that -- as one Union soldier put it -- "the whole landscape for an instant turned slightly red." This sacrifice saved the day for the Union; Lee was forced to retreat back into Virginia. There are moments in history when the future of humanity rests on what a relatively few people are willing to endure. September 17, 1862 was such a moment. The bravery of the Union soldiers that day did not end the Civil War. Lee's army would invade Union territory again, and the war would drag on for two more long years. The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, the fruit of Antietam, did not guarantee equality for African Americans or a just society. Eventually, the post-Civil War Reconstruction governments would be overthrown and the South plunged into a reign of terror which rivalled slavery. But acknowledging those grim facts should not blind us to the reality that, in a sense, the fight for a new America began at Antietam. The Union victory there transformed the Civil War into a revolutionary war to abolish one specific form of capitalist private property: chattel slavery. The finest tribute we can pay to those who died at Antietam is to finish their work. At Antietam, every soldier knew he risked his life if he drew enemy fire upon himself by picking up a flag dropped by a slain flag bearer. But battle flags in motion were absolutely necessary to signal the direction of troops, and so, time after time, a Union soldier picked up the fallen standard and raised it high again. In the Irish Brigade's attempt to take the "Bloody Lane," 16 of its flag bearers were shot dead, one after another. Today, "picking up the flag" means fighting to end the rule of all capitalists, just as those who served in the Union Army helped end the rule of one kind of capitalist, the slave- owning capitalist. When we fight that good fight, we pay our best homage to those who bled for freedom's cause 137 years ago beside a winding creek, on a day when the very landscape itself seemed to turn red. ****************************************************************** 5. EDUCATION: MUCH MORE THAN A JOB By Liz Monge I have had many memorable moments as an academic advisor. On one afternoon, I remember Sherry coming into my office in an absolute panic. Sherry, a returning student, a single mom with two kids and an honor roll grade point average of 3.8, typifies someone striving to achieve the American Dream. But what happens when the system starts to fail? Her quandary is that she has been forced to put off her educational goal of becoming a nurse to work the 20 to 30 hours required under Welfare Reform. It's been about two years since Sherry visited my office to share the bad news and she has yet to actualize her dream of becoming a nurse. She works the graveyard shift so she can continue with school and make time for her kids. She's had to give up extra- curricular activities -- all the things that comprise a "well- rounded" student -- such as the school paper that helped blossom her so. You can see the wear and tear in her eyes. Her GPA has dropped. I wish Sherry's story were an exception. Countless lives come through my office in this predicament: the middle-class suburban housewife going through a divorce; the midmanager who's been downsized at a company he worked for 30 years and who needs to learn a new skill to get a job; or the 18-year-old who wants to be a full-time student, but has to work full time to pay for his education. I will tell you student activities at community colleges are on the endangered-species list. Many call it apathy, but most students are trying to meet their needs for survival. Not only is public education and higher education under siege by politicians and technocrats who want to privatize it, but, in the process, so is the student. Increasingly, high-school students and first-time college students are working more hours than ever. More than half of our 22,000 students go to school part-time, are in the majority women and have an average age of 29 years old. How we understand what a student is as a society has totally changed. Today, a student has a new face, and deals with many more complex issues and with mounting pressures. These new students are products of a new, rising class in America. A product of automation, they have to deal with the destruction of society's safety net, the elimination of welfare and health care, the advent of immigration reforms, and the downsizing of America as the powerful corporations seek profits in a global market. Something has gone fundamentally wrong. There are so many lives struggling to achieve the American Dream, to educate and better themselves, and all the odds are stacked against them. Something has to fundamentally change. Education is supposed to be about learning and contributing to society, and about growing as a person. One of the meanings of the word "university" is wisdom. Education has been reduced to much less, being in many instances the only hope for survival in a society that can no longer guarantee opportunity for all. What will this do to our future, our children, our culture? What will become of humankind if education continues to only be defined as a job in an increasingly jobless world? I don't even want to imagine. I would rather think of the endless possibilities of constructing a society that has the audacity to provide us all with the opportunities to learn and contribute to the wisdom of a better world. Liz Monge is an academic advisor and an editorial board member of the People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo, the newspaper of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. ****************************************************************** 6. RUDY ROSALES-HUITZILOXIPE: I WILL NOT CAPITULATE June 8, 1999 Dear People's Tribune: It has been a while since I have written you and voiced my support and praise for all you are doing. You have been running the article I had sent to Luis Rodriguez regarding Randolph Reeves and the preparation of his execution. The series is great, I just wanted to let you know that a Nebraska state senator (who I will not name due to prison mail censoring) has obtained a copy of the original journal that I wrote and passed it to all the state legislators with my permission and a bill was passed for a two-year moratorium for the death penalty here in the state of Nebraska, it has since been vetoed by Governor Mike Johanns, but there was a compromise that a two-year study will be conducted on the racially unbalanced executions and the entire concept of the death penalty. Your publishing the series has been a tremendous help in many respects in the quest of the abolition of the death penalty and the racist attitudes of government agencies and many politicians. I have been subjected to prison administration retaliation due to this as well as other political activities that invariably expose collusion and human rights violation. I will not capitulate. I am writing you to ask you if you would be willing to send copies of the People's Tribune that my article-journal to the lists of names of people I am enclosing with this communique. I am also enclosing a copy of my recent notice for my legal fund. !Que tu sol sea siempre brillante! Mexika Tiahui En la lucha, Rudy Rosales-Huitziloxipe +----------------------------------------------------------------+ JUSTICE FOR RUDY ROSALES Political Prisoner Rudy Rosales, 44699, a longtime Chicano activist leader, has been caged in the Nebraska State Prison for more than seven years. His only crime is being a respected and unswerving warrior for Chicano rights and dignity as a people. Recently, he was forced into a high-security segregation unit and suffered two strokes due to the negligence of Nebraska State Prison's medical department. An independent investigation by the State Ombudsman Office has proved fault and negligence on the part of the prison staff. Meanwhile, Rudy, along with other convicts, has initiated true change. One of the biggest victories is about to become state law- to have certified court interpreter-translators for non-English speaking prisoners, pre-trial detainees, immigration hearings, etc. Rudy continues to challenge the system and finally has the ear of a few realistic senators. Now his attorney, Cheryl Lechner, a single mother who works in a one-person law office, needs money to initiate various litigations against the Nebraska State Department of Correctional Services medical department staff and administrators on civil rights abuses, permanent injury, collusion (cover up), negligence and malpractice. Rudy has proven that his heart is with the people. He has heroically carried out life-saving work, even though incarcerated. Now we must do our part and help him win more legal battles. Please contribute what you can to cover court costs in the lawsuit on his behalf. All checks or money orders must be made out to: Cheryl Lechner Attorney at Law 303 N. 52nd Street, Suite 325 New Century Building Lincoln, Nebraska 68504. Please state on the check that the funds are for Rudy Rosales- Huitziloxipe Legal Fund. Sponsored by: Kalpulli Yetlanezi 204 Gregory Street #E Aurora, Illinois 60504 ****************************************************************** 7. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: A NEW MORALITY FOR A NEW WORLD By Brooke Heagerty, Ph.D. >From offices, to the shop floor, to food lines, people all over America are being drawn into a struggle for the moral life of the country. Revolutionaries must articulate a morality that represents the aspirations and conscience of our class and its claim to the world that is possible today, a world in which all can share a peaceful, stable, and cooperative society. What is morality and where does it come from? Morality is an inner compass which guides not only the behavior of individuals, but determines what is and what is not acceptable within a given society. Morality changes and develops as society changes and develops. It is rooted in the makeup and historical development of society itself. In a system of private property, morality is defined and shaped by the ruling class, which derives its wealth from the particular configuration of property relations and which holds the power to guarantee its continuation. Morality is enshrined within laws, social institutions, and ideas which permeate that society. Yet, it is not simply imposed. Morality could not play its role if people did not accept it, internalize it, and use it to guide their sense of right and wrong. Such conviction can be a powerful force. History shows that people will undergo any privation or suffer any cost, in the name of actions they believe to be morally just. Notions such as, "its a dog eat dog world," "some people are more deserving than others," or more profoundly, "human beings are only worth their ability to work," are moral precepts that express the underlying relations within capitalism. They serve to render acceptable the animal-like existence of the system and all the social ills that arise from it. We may oppose these values, yet as long as the capitalist economy was expanding and there was work to do, such a morality had a material foundation in which to flourish. The capitalists needed workers. They therefore defined a level of treatment which guaranteed the return of workers, defining a person's worth according to the availability of work. CAN MORALITY CHANGE? Morality can never be, and has never been, simply a "tool" of the ruling class. There have always been challenges to the dominant morality. History shows that it takes a change in the underlying relations of society for ideas to fundamentally change. These periods of history are usually times of great social upheaval, reflecting society's turmoil as it struggles to re-establish its bearings. Under such conditions a new morality arises, one that reflects what is new and developing in society. Let's look at the U.S. prior to the Civil War. Cotton was the foundation of the U.S. economy and millions of dollars were made from the use of slaves in its production. Upon this, there arose a "morality" that sanctioned as acceptable the violence and brutality required to keep slavery in place, making possible the continued exploitation of slavery and the profits made from that system. This effected not only the slaves, but permeated the very nature of southern society, giving it a violent and repressive character that has remained throughout its history. The abolitionists, and eventually many others, opposed this morality, arguing that slavery was against God because slaves were human beings and thus part of the Creator. On this basis, they assisted in intellectually and morally preparing an entire nation for civil war, a war made "inevitable" by the conflict between the slave system of the South and the free-labor industrial system of the North. Yet, it was not until the underlying productive relations were reformed, first with the abolition of slavery and later by the mechanical cotton picker, that the dominant morality concerning the ex-slaves and then the ex-sharecroppers changed as well. THE MORAL CRISIS OF CAPITALISM The "moral crisis" of America that we hear so much about is really a crisis of the capitalist system itself. The labor-replacing technology of electronics is permanently separating millions from productive work, rendering them, in capitalist terms, "worthless." All of society is being torn apart as the inability to live by selling labor comes into conflict with a society in which there is no other means of survival. Capitalist morality can only sanction the further devaluation of human life. We can see this in the relentless campaign to render acceptable the absolute destitution and even death of those who are now considered "worthless." As with the slave system before it, such a moral position affects more than the destitute. It debases the whole of society. We must see this morality for what it is -- a system of values that protect only the interests of the ruling class. A NEW MORALITY FOR A NEW WORLD The same thing that is destroying society is the very thing upon which we can build a new world. The material factors that divided the workers are being erased as electronics throws blacks and whites alike into poverty and eats away at the privileges of the past. Electronic production promises the possibility of real abundance, a world in which all can share in the fruits of society. Under these conditions, how is it possible to have a morality that dictates anything less than that all human beings are equal, worthy, and precious and that it is society's responsibility to nurture and protect them? This is our class morality. It separates us from the immorality of the capitalists and reorients our inner moral compass to the future, to the real possibilities, to not only the survival, but for the first time, the full blossoming of humanity. ****************************************************************** 8. FEVERED LINES by Don Curiel-Ruth [Break, Damn it, Break!] Break through this fevered stupor Caused by the infecting enemy Cutting us down in our prime There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal ... [May this our battle cry be] Our enemy introduces scarcity into the system: "Let the market deal with them" "It costs too much to print in Spanish" "What's wrong with you ... lazy?" There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal ... [That's right, that's the medicine] Capitalist bacteria turns our best fighting cells against us: "We have to vote the lesser of two evils" "That's been tried and failed" "What are you advocating ... violence?" There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal... [I've heard that somewhere before] They launch their offensive on a weak patient: "We need your donations for a new police helicopter" "I don't care if they're 14, execute them" "It costs too much to incarcerate ... how about a bullet to the head?" There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal ... [!Hechenle con ganas!] There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal... Heal the bodies starving from neglect Heal the minds poisoned by avarice and fear Heal the many spirits broken by needless division [The sweat now pours] It Broke ... We Broke Through ... ****************************************************************** 9. STATEMENT BY THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA: THE DANGER OF WAR [Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from a recent report to the Steering Committee of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. The entire report was adopted by the committee in Chicago in July.] China and the United States are on a historically evolved collision course that very likely will result in some kind of war. American imperialism has always viewed China as an important, even indispensable market for surplus U.S. production. They have demonstrated their willingness to go to war with major powers to keep that market available to them. Senator Richard Nixon's demand of "Who lost China?" was clear enough on how America's leaders view their relationship to China. The statement in 1949, that the Chinese conquered China, was not a laughing matter. It was the first time in over 100 years that foreign powers did not dominate the country. It is accepted fact that the principle reason for the conquest and colonization of the Philippines was to guarantee the "open door" to China's "illimitable" markets. Japan joined the Allies in World War I in order to secure a favored position in relation to China. At that point the U.S. moved to block her. After the Japanese invasion, the U.S. set about creating the politics of war in the East over who would control China. During the resumption of Civil War between 1946-1949, there was a real drive for intervention on the side of the KMT. This was not possible due to the international political climate, as well as the political situation in America. Since then, American armed might has been used to guarantee imperialist control of Taiwan and to use it for the counter-revolution when the political atmosphere will allow for it. The war in Korea was fought expressly to gain an assembly area on the border of China. MacArthur was simply the spokesman for a powerful bloc that wanted war with China then, before it grew too strong. Only their fear of Soviet intervention stayed their hand. Since they could not establish themselves on the Northern flank of China, they tried to establish themselves on the Southern flank. This is the real meaning of the war in Vietnam. Only their failure to understand the real nature of the Sino-Soviet conflict stopped them from all out war in Viet Nam with the invasion of China as its goal. The basic law of war is that the military cannot undertake missions that cannot be sustained politically. The bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade must be seen in this context. It is likely that official Washington had no hand in selecting this target. It is probable that a section of the CIA and military believed that they could test China's will by bombing the embassy. This accounts for the unbending position of the Chinese government in the demand for an investigation and punishment for the guilty. The U.S. cannot do this. We are clearly at the end of a long economic expansion with unheard of productive forces. The only way for the ruling class to avert a catastrophe is to guarantee a stable market for our production. This can be done by diplomacy that depends on internal counter-revolution or by war. The CIA estimated that China will surpass U.S. production in 10 years and will surpass the U.S. militarily in 15 to 20 years. This is the reason for the on-going China-bashing campaign. The pro-war group believes that war is inevitable and the sooner the better. The whole world knows that the bombing of China's embassy could not have been a mistake. The much ballyhooed "China stole our nuclear secrets" has been proven a hoax out of whole cloth. The next provocation was Taiwan's announcement that it would seek state-to-state relations with China. This is tantamount to a declaration of independence. If Taiwan declares independence, military action is inevitable. The U.S. has already stated it will intervene. It was in this respect that China recently announced that it has the hydrogen bomb and ways to miniaturize it along with the neutron bomb. The American jingoists believe that right now China's 15 to 20 nuclear bombs and missiles to carry them could devastate the West Coast, but is nothing compared to the thousands controlled by the U.S. This is the same mentality that voted for war with the U.S.S.R, believing that our 25 million lives lost against 68 million in the U.S.S.R. would give us victory. At this time the political situation in China is changing. The threat of devaluation of the currency along with the increased provocation on the part of the U.S. is again raising the question: Can the so-called hard liners capture power? Americans under estimate the Chinese. They do not understand their intense patriotic feelings, their determination to never again suffer the humiliation of imperialist occupation. China is not the U.S.S.R.. The struggle between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. was ideological. With China it is economic and deeply political. It is a question of who is going to control Asia. In summary, the drive for war with China is inevitable. The political conditions do not exist at the moment and may not for some time. Then again, the days of declaring and justifying war are over. It happens. ****************************************************************** 10. LETTERS INCARCERATION IS A COLD, SLOW DEATH I am imprisoned on Death Row. I have had the unfortunate experience of viewing broken and confused men firsthand. ... I fully realize what it is like to be disconnected from your family and your friends, to have your dreams shattered. The stories that you hear in prison about the judicial system and how it functions are extremely disturbing. The public will never hear these accounts, because the defendant usually has no means to reach society. Also, you must take into account the indifference that most people have to our desperate situations! Unless you have been touched by the prison system in some way, you can never know. A person who has been incarcerated (especially on Death Row), becomes just another statistic... trapped in the system, alone and indigent. The prisons are full of talented people. More often than society is aware of, these persons are railroaded into prison by way of a seriously faulty legal system. A person who is locked away in such a place has their humanity slowly eaten away, day by day. Being locked in a cell erases your smile and your happiness is replaced with fear, sorrow and hatred. Where you once were a warm and loving individual, you begin to see a sad shell of a person with little or no hope. Prisons are not designed to rehabilitate, they are no more than a zoo! Made to house people like animals ... often turning them into something other than humans. Incarceration is a cold slow death that creeps into its victims from within their bodies and minds ... and then eats away their souls. James M. Heard H-96500/5EB-86 San Quentin Death Row San Quentin, California 94974 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SOONER OR LATER, WE WILL WIN Folks: June's People's Tribune just arrived and I've read your editorial "Morality is at the core of reclaiming our world." Excellent! With this understanding of our work, there is no question that over time, sooner or later, we will win. A fundamental lesson the Left must internalize from the 150 years since the Communist Manifesto is precisely the one you made. It is when our organizations, and we as individuals, are worn down and corrupted by the evil capitalist system and its anti-human "values" that we have lost and they, the ideas, have won. A reader +----------------------------------------------------------------+ POWER TO PEOPLE July 21, 1999 Dear Comrade/Friends of People's Tribune I tip my hat, raise my glass, and commend you for your concern, consideration, and effort in making the truth known to the multitude. My desire is for all concerned to be rewarded with blessings without number and all good things without end. Grow and Glow. Brotherman and Friend Darryl Thomas +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP! People's Tribune/Tribuno Del Pueblo: Free the land! Revolutionary salutations and a "mighty" clenched- fist salute. I am writing in regards to the newspaper, which I was blessed to read the other morning. I would like to receive the newspaper so as to remain abreast of the drum beat within the bowels of this kountry. When I get some stamps, I will donate a few because I know postage is very needed. Continue with the revolutionary spirit and know that your efforts do not go unappreciated. I'll be submitting articles periodically critiquing subjects that appear in the paper and things. I believe they can and will be useful. Until that time, CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP!! IN STRUGGLE Bro. Diallo +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CAPITAL EXISTENCE By James Heard I am Sitting here ... Every now and then I sigh. Once in a while I moan. I hardly smile ... Except to hide my pain . It's getting harder to think ... What if I am going insane? I can see the stress in the faces around me, Hear the sadness in their voices, Feel the depression surrounding me, Smell the fear... I am on Death Row. ****************************************************************** 11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA Our speakers bring a vision of a new, cooperative world. Send for a free listing of all of our speakers. Call 1*800*691*6888, e-mail speakers@noc.org, or write P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 The following are just a few of the topics our Speakers can discuss: LATINO HERITAGE MONTH Tribuno del Pueblo speakers Laura Garcia and Liz Monge discuss the significance of the Chicano movement to today's struggle and why standing on the side of the poor is key to building class unity and a new cooperative society. MUMIA ABU JAMAL Speakers include Steve Wiser, Mumia's spiritual advisor, and writer Chris Mahin, who discusses the case within the context of the electronic revolution that is creating a new class of poor and the drive toward a police state to control them. THE WAVE OF RACIST KILLINGS Brooke Heagerty and Nelson Peery, co-authors of "Moving Onward: >From Racial Division to Class Unity," address racial violence within the context of a changing economy and the drive toward a police state. They tell why simply being against racism is not enough today -- and why new ideas like class unity have to be spread. Also, Andrew Clark, a student from Bloomington discusses the protests he participated in against racist killer Benjamin Smith. THE MAI AND THE WTO Doreen Stabinsky, Ph.D, environmentalist, discusses how the World Trade Organization meeting will end up hurting the environment. General Baker, an internationally known labor leader, and Richard Monje, a coordinator for UNITE union, discuss garment workers, labor unity, and the new world that is possible. Jim Davis speaks about the MAI and the book he co-edited, "Cutting Edge: Technology, Information Capitalism and Social Revolution." MARCH OF THE AMERICAS FOR ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS Cheri Honkala, director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, talks about the upcoming march and why we all have to see ourselves as part of the growing movement to end poverty. DANGER OF WAR AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS League of Revolutionary for a New America speakers address the new kind of economic crisis developing, the development of a new realignment of forces, the dangers of war, and opportunities for revolutionaries. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ People's Tribune Radio is a monthly news and information program produced by the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. For a free copy to take to your local radio station, call 800-691-6888, e-mail flr@jps.net or speakers@noc.org +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ORADORES Por Una AMERICA NUEVA +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Nuestros oradores traen una vision de un mundo nuevo y equitativo. Para recibir un ejemplar de nuestros oradores llame al 1*800*691*6888, correo electronico speakers@noc.org, o escriba al PO Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 Los siguientes temas son algunos de los que pueden ser discutidos por nuestros oradores: * EL MES DE LA HERENCIA LATINA * JUSTICIA PARA EL CASO DE MUMIA ABU JAMAL * LA OLA DE ASESINATOS RACISTAS * LOS TRABAJADORES Y LA SOLIDARIZACION DEL MOVIMIENTO LABORAL * PELIGRO DE GUERRA Y POLITICA INTERNACIONAL * LA MARCHA DE LAS AMERICAS POR DERECHOS HUMANOS ****************************************************************** 12. I WANT TO SUBSCRIBE! __ $2 trial subscription (four issues) __ $25 for a year (You can also get bundles of 10 or more copies of the PT /TP for 15 cents per copy.) Name ____________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip __________________________________________________ Telephone _________________________________________ ****************************************************************** 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. 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WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, tel. (773) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. For free electronic subscription, email: pt-dist@noc.org with a message of "subscribe". ******************************************************************