People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (10-99) Online Edition .TOPIC 10-99 PT Index .TEXT .BODY ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 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: America's shame: Children in poverty Is there anything more precious to us than our children? We would sacrifice anything, deny our own happiness in order to secure theirs. And is there anything else that ties us so profoundly to the world far beyond our own family or our immediate community? So then how do we feel when we learn that almost three million children today in America live in extreme poverty, an increase of almost one half million since just last year. (Extreme poverty means about $6,400 a year in income for a family of three, or about $123 a week.) And this growing poverty isn't because of bad or irresponsible parents, like the government is always telling us. According to a Children's Defense Fund study, it's because the government has ended welfare and cut food stamps. And while these millions are falling deeper into poverty, the rest of us are right behind them. We can try to spend our lives fearing the future or "taking care of our own" like the rulers of this country tell us to do. We can try to forget the shame we feel about an America that allows any child to go hungry, let alone one child in four, as is the case today. Computers and robotic technology are daily proving that society can end this animal-like existence. This technology makes possible a cooperative society that provides equally for all. A handful of billionaires and a rotting and immoral system is all that stand in our way. So which are you going to make happen? A world that condemns your children and all the children of the world to a dark and forbidding future? Or one in which they will have everything they need to live the life you have always wished for them? The choice is as simple as that. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 Editorial 1. ONE CLASS DAY News and Features 2. GLOBALIZATION'S VICTIMS PREPARE TO CONFRONT THE WTO 3. THE ROAD TO ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS : MESSAGE FROM THE LOW-PAID, LAID-OFF, AND LOCKED-OUT 4. "UNKNOWN QUANTITIES" RELEASE: CARTOONISTS RALLY FOR MARCH OF THE AMERICAS 5. ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION: WHO'S RESPONSIBLE? WHO PROFITS? HOW DO WE END IT? 6. 140TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATTACK ON HARPER'S FERRY: WHAT CAN TODAY'S FIGHTERS LEARN FROM JOHN BROWN? Spirit of the Revolution 7. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: POVERTY IS AN INSULT TO CREATION Music/Poetry/Art/Media 8. OZOMATLI: 'THE FUTURE OF MUSIC' 9. POEM: PRISONER AM-8335 AND HIS LIBRARY OF LIONS 10. GRASSROOTS MEDIA NETWORK UNITES PEOPLE IN COMMUNITY RADIO Announcements, Events, etc. 11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA 12. 2ND ANNUAL CHICAGO AREA PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO BENEFIT DINNER 13. JOIN WITH OTHERS TO MAKE THE VISION OF A WORLD OF PLENTY A REALITY [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 10-99 Edit: One class day .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: ONE CLASS DAY Apasha laughed aloud. M. Ezili, the guide, smiled at her. "No, it is true, Apasha. It was ridiculous but true. At one period, 225 people had more wealth than the poorest 6.5 billion people on earth!" "But why? What could they do with it all?" "They must have been real fat with so much!" volunteered Soka from the back of the class. "Well very few people ever saw them," said M. Ezili, "but in reality they had the best in food, health and spent fantastic sums to keep themselves looking young and beautiful." Images of thin even pinched people in dark confining clothes materialized against various glamorous settings recreated from the vast anthropological databases. Ezili dialed down the images as the class muddled over these discrepancies and mysteries. She was used to this confused response. The children always had difficulty with this so-called globalization period of history. Older periods with their pompous kings and queens and lowly peasants seemed easier to understand given the backward primitive technology of those times. But the madness of the globalization process in the early part of the higher-technology period made no logical sense to them at all. "Let's take a little break." Guide Ezili suggested. Apasha and Soka stepped through the insulator veil into the garden where the other children had gathered. "If all those resources were controlled by just a few people, then all the starvation and disease in those times that we're learning about was really a crime not an accident." "Yes," added Soka, "and they say the water, air and even atmosphere became poisoned because making money was their only rule! They almost took every thing down with them." "I want to go back to class and find out what stopped the disaster!" said Apasha. "Whatever it was, I'm glad it happened!" smiled Soka. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Globalization's victims prepare to confront the WTO .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 2. GLOBALIZATION'S VICTIMS PREPARE TO CONFRONT THE WTO By Chris Mahin When the trade ministers of the world's most powerful economies gather in Seattle later this year, they will be greeted by protests from some of globalization's victims. A diverse coalition of groups representing environmentalists, trade unionists, farmers and students will protest on November 27-30. These actions will culminate in a huge rally and march on November 30 to mark the opening of the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization. Organizers promise that there will be music, giant puppets and street dancers, as well as thousands of demonstrators, including: laid-off steel workers, teamsters, longshoremen, and other industrial workers. The series of events could be the largest protest against globalization ever held in the United States. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a powerful global agency founded in 1995. It acts as a sort of supreme court of international commerce, overruling laws or procedures that restrict international trade. It has forced countries to change the laws they have enacted to protect the environment, public health and domestic production. Students have been particularly active in the efforts to publicize the protests in Seattle. On October 5-7, the fourth round of the Democracy Teach-In will take place on numerous college campuses. The focus will be on educating people about the WTO and preparing for the Seattle protests. "It's time to organize Democracy Teach-Ins in our communities and on our campuses so we will know the WTO's agenda and how to be ready to meet them in Seattle," declares a statement issued by the Teach-In's organizers, the 180/Movement for Democracy and Education. Other student groups are also organizing students to attend the protests in Seattle. Student activists point out that the WTO could have a very destructive effect on education. Unlike its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO does not set rules simply for trade in goods; it also sets rules for other kinds of trade, including intellectual property. Since education is now a $1 trillion industry, and the United States exports billions of dollars worth of education and training services, the WTO's decisions will affect students as well as workers and farmers. (For instance, the WTO could rule that a country cannot subsidize college loans for its students because that would be a "non-tariff barrier to trade.") The activities designed to expose the WTO will begin on November 27, when the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) presents a teach-in on "Economic Globalization and the role of the World Trade Organization." This event will feature 35 speakers from around the globe. The IFG is a non-profit alliance of activists, scholars, economists, researchers and writers. The massive protests planned for the WTO meeting are another sign that a confrontation between the world's rich and the world's poor is gathering momentum. Today, the globalization that the WTO personifies is a sign that society is living through an economic revolution. As the International Forum on Globalization has pointed out (in a statement on its Web site), the process of globalization is "the most extreme restructuring of the planet's social, economic and political arrangements since the Industrial Revolution." Today, for the first time in history, technological innovations have given society the means to produce an absolute abundance. However -- as the WTO's victims know only too well -- the new wealth generated by these changes is not being shared by all. Instead, obscene riches are being accumulated at one pole of society, while an increasingly brutal poverty is created at the other. Revolution in the economy makes revolution in society inevitable. However, the outcome of this social revolution is not inevitable; it will depend on the consciousness of the millions who want to create a better world. That's why events like the protests at the WTO meeting are so important. Our society can either move toward a police state that upholds repression and enforces suffering or it can move forward to a new stage of human development that cherishes and nurtures the lives of all. In America, people are beginning to fight out this choice with a sense of economic and class identity. Their success will depend on a very broad consciousness of class and political interests. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America seeks to join with all who want to carry far and wide the message of hope for humanity -- the message that today society can be reorganized so that the abundance is distributed according to need. Such a society built on cooperation guards the well-being of its people, not the profits and property of a handful of billionaires. We welcome the efforts to expose the WTO. We urge all those readers of the People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo who can, to attend the events in Seattle and other cities. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ DEMOCRACY TEACH-INS WILL EXPOSE CORPORATE POWER AND WTO In early October, teach-ins to expose corporate power will take place on campuses across the United States. They will constitute the fourth round of the Democracy Teach-In, which began in October 1996. This year, the focus will be on the danger represented by the World Trade Organization. Events will take place at campuses including the University of Pittsburgh; Duke University; the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa; and the University of California at Berkeley. The Democracy Teach-In is sponsored by the group 180/Movement for Democracy and Education (180/MDE), a chapter-based organization formed at the Campus Democracy Convention in November 1998 after three years of Democracy Teach- In organizing. At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, teach-in organizers are planning a forum on October 6 on corporate globalization, the WTO and education; and a gathering on October 7 to mobilize for the protests at the WTO ministers' meeting in Seattle. (At noon during each day of the Teach-in in Madison, there will be street theater on the central library Mall on campus.) In the South, the members of the Campus Democracy Collective at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville are organizing a Teach- In with workshops on October 6-8. Then, on October 9-10, they will host a joint Southern regional meeting called by 180/MDE and another campus activist group, the United Students Against Sweatshops. Among the speakers at the Southern conference may be a representative of the students on strike at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo welcomes this latest round of the Democracy Teach-In. We urge all our readers to help publicize the work of the Democracy Teach-In in whatever way they can. [For more information about the protests against the World Trade Organization, or to find out more about the Democracy Teach-In, contact: 180/Movement for Democracy and Education Clearinghouse, 731 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703. Phone: 608-262-9036; Fax: 608-251-3267; e-mail: clearinghouse@tao.ca; web site: www.corporations.org/democracy. For more information about the Southern regional conference, phone: the Campus Democracy Collective at 501-587-0094 or 501-571-3536.] .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 The road to economic human rights .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 3. THE ROAD TO ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS : MESSAGE FROM THE LOW-PAID, LAID-OFF, AND LOCKED-OUT By the Philadelphia Survival Committee of LRNA TWO AMERICAS -- THE POLARIZATION OF WEALTH AND POVERTY The new age of electronics is making it clearer every day that there are two Americas. In one lives the class of the Bill Gates', the propertied and wealthy. In the other lives the class of the Katie Engelses, the dispossessed and downsized. "It isn't that I never worked," said Katie Engels, "I've worked since I was 14 years old." She was testifying at a Congressional hearing on growing hunger, poverty and economic insecurity in the U.S. as human rights violations. Katie is an impoverished white mother and the president of a multiracial organization of poor and homeless families, the Philadelphia-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union. "With the jobs that are out there you're not making enough to live. When you're hungry, it's really hard. ... Mothers go hungry at night so their children can eat. You have to find a way to feed your kids no matter what it takes. And if it takes going in people's trash cans, I have no pride when it comes to my kids." In Bill Gates' America, it's a different story. In this current market run-up, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' personal wealth reached nearly $100 billion, a figure greater than the gross national products of entire nations. In the U.S., the three richest individuals have a total wealth equivalent to the incomes of 106 million people combined. This polarization of wealth spans the globe. According to the Economic Policy Institute, in 1997 the world's 477 billionaires had as much wealth as 52 percent of humanity. The United Nations says that more than half the world's population exists on less than $2 a day. An economic system that creates individuals like Gates while millions in this country and billions in the world go without food, health care and housing is not ingenious. It is insane. POLARITY MEANS STRUGGLE Gates and Engels represent the growing moral and political conflict between the private-property-rights of global capitalists and the human rights of the global poor. The struggle to abolish poverty today is necessarily and immediately a political struggle. It is a struggle across color and along class lines. It is a struggle over power and wealth. The struggle of the poor and unemployed of the U.S. is part of an emerging globalized struggle of the new class of the dispossessed. The beginning stirrings of the low-paid in Canada, the struggles of the Zapatistas of Mexico, of the urban poor and embattled students of Indonesia, the unpaid workers of Russia, the unemployed workers of France, the landless workers of Brazil, the downtrodden in Columbia, are expressions of the same emerging class content of the times. This growing moral and political conflict is emerging as a major strategic concern. Global capital's ability to project its economic and political influence worldwide currently depends on its control and use of the U.S. government, the most powerful government globally. However, the global capitalist rulers are increasingly threatened by the eroding moral authority and prestige of the U.S. government at home and abroad. In every part of the world, the struggles of the dispossessed come up against the economic, political and military might of the U.S. government, which serves as a crucial support of the domestic class enemies of these struggles. These world struggles are compelled to seek out and strike a blow at the Achilles' heel of U.S.-backed oppression. This Achilles heel, this weak point, is the politics and morality associated with the increasing economic insecurity among the masses of the U.S., at the bottom of which is the new class of the low-paid, laid-off, and locked-out. There is growing sentiment that increasing poverty in the midst of plenty in the United States is simply wrong. In a recent survey, 57 percent of Americans said that dealing with the problems of poverty should be a top priority. The social position of the majority of humanity compels them to question bourgeois morality and moves them toward accepting a new morality that is based on their own class interests and points the way to a new future. This can only mean the poor internationally uniting in mutual assistance with the struggles of their class sisters and brothers in the U.S. whose new socio-economic position places them at the Achille's heel of the common global enemy. In today's struggles against poverty wages, utility shutoffs and increasing evictions, the impoverished can no longer garner legitimacy from the federal government and the Democratic Party, as did past movements of the poor in such struggles as the 1930s' CIO movement and the 1960s' Civil Rights movement. Indeed, it is precisely the federal government and the Democratic Party, acting in the interests of the capitalist class, that are responsible for the latest attacks on the general welfare of the people. Therefore, the program of struggles and demands of the dispossessed must seek moral legitimacy and political leverage elsewhere -- in the international arena. The struggle of the dispossessed in the U.S. can leverage the deepening international moral crisis to its advantage domestically. An effective tactic being taken up by the dispossessed is documenting and dramatizing the stories of economic human rights violations in the U.S. -- stories of violations of the common standards set globally by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, moral standards reaffirmed by the increasing life-and-death struggles of the impoverished world majority. These violations represent a moral indictment of the U.S. government for rejecting the founding creed of this country and abdicating its responsibility to ensure the health and well- being of its residents. The daily and deadly assaults on the poor, aided by the new federal and state "welfare reform" policies, expose the government as the bloody hands of the rich. The continuing organizing campaigns, tribunals and marches to the United Nations initiated by poor and homeless families -- protesting economic human rights abuses in the U.S. -- are receiving growing support and respect from around the country and internationally, from every walk of life. If consciously kept on strategic course, the legitimacy and leverage garnered by the struggles of the dispossessed will present tremendous opportunities for winning step by step the strategic fight for the hearts and minds of the American people. THE IMMEDIATE TASK OF REVOLUTIONARIES Every political struggle begins with the battle for the hearts and minds of the people. The bulk of the 260 million people in the United States are going to have to have their minds changed if poverty is going to be abolished. In the U.S., one form this moral and ideological battle will take is a redefining of the founding creed of this country according to present conditions. Today, the guarantee of "the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" for everyone can only mean the abolition of a system that produces "haves" and "have-nots." The movement of the poor must be given shape and consciousness so it can obtain the moral legitimacy and political leverage necessary to exert mass influence. Portrayed as "lazies," "welfare queens," and as a "black underclass," etc., the dispossessed have been cast as the villain and not the victim of their plight, and thus denied moral and political credibility. Although there is growing economic insecurity among the mass of the people in the United States, they-- including the people who shape their thinking -- remain pragmatic. To influence them and those among them trying honestly to tell the truth, effective propaganda use must be made of the emerging practical movement and morality of the new class of the dispossessed. This can only be ensured by revolutionary propagandists keeping closely in tune and inseparably connected to this essentially global and revolutionary process. This means that revolutionary writers and teachers must maintain a "grand strategic" perspective of the whole staircase as well as each step of this process. The immediate step or situation places them at the vital pivot of the process. Their immediate task is to identify and give conscious expression to especially those arising tactics that help recruit the emerging revolutionaries who are taking up the task of making the current struggles of the poor and unemployed conscious of their global and revolutionary role. The task is to teach these teachers and organize them as propagandists of the embattled propertyless mass. The arising tactics are those that tend to combine the historical, global, philosophical, moral, strategic and immediate elements of the practical struggles in a way that make them schools most favorable for effective revolutionary propaganda. Economic life is the environment for the political thinking of the workers. With the new electronic technology making more and more workers permanently unemployed, the opportunity arises to change the political thinking of the workers. The private ownership of electronic technology, which is causing the accelerated concentration of purchasing power in fewer and fewer hands, threatens a worsening of the world economy and its eventual collapse. As a result, the present smaller skirmishes will inevitably erupt into massive social dislocations and struggles that will make those of the 1930s' Great Depression look like a picnic. Positioning and preparing for such developments requires relying on those tactical movements that make for effective revolutionary educational work. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ MARCH OF THE AMERICAS WILL DRAMATIZE U.S. ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS Poor and homeless families from the United States, Canada, and Latin America will gather in Washington, D.C. October 1 to begin a 30-day "March of the Americas" from Washington to New York. The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, spearheaded by the Philadelphia-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union, will be joined by poor and homeless families from across the Americas in filing the first legal brief in history against the United States of America for economic human rights violations. The brief will highlight violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 23, 25 and 26, due to downsizing, welfare reform, and cuts in education. These three articles guarantee each person the right to medical care, housing, food, clothing, education and a job at a living wage. The March of the Americas will begin at 10 a.m. October 1 in Lafayette Park in front of the White House with a rally and speakers. At noon, the poor and homeless families will march to the Inter-Americas Commission to file the brief. After this, the marchers will turn their backs on Washington and march to the United Nations in New York City over the entire month of October. The March of the Americas will be met on November 1 in New York by representatives from the United Nations, including Anne-Marie Lizin, the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty. [For more information, write P.O. Box 50678, Philadelphia, PA 19132 U.S.A.; phone 215-203-1945; FAX 215-203-1950; e-mail: kwru@libertynet.org; or see the KWRU Web site at www.libertynet.org/kwru] .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 "Unknown Quantities" Release: .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 4. "UNKNOWN QUANTITIES" RELEASE: CARTOONISTS RALLY FOR MARCH OF THE AMERICAS Funny Valentine Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of "Unknown Quantities" a comic book created to commemorate the 1999 March of the Americas. More than 40 artists and writers have contributed material to the 64-page "Unknown Quantities," including: Alex Ross, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Tom Tomorrow, Time magazine cartoonist Jim Siergey, Roberta Gregory, Donna Barr, Jay Stephens, Mitch O'Connell, Hilary Barta, Jon Langford (guitarist for The Mekons and The Waco Brothers), Heather McAdams, Bryan Talbot, Wayno (a regular contributor to Tower Records' Pulse magazine), and Funny Valentine Press publisher Steve Darnall, whose writing credits include the critically- acclaimed DC Comics' series "Uncle Sam." Although "Unknown Quantities" isn't going to be released to the general book-buying public until December, Chicagoans will have a chance to buy the book -- and meet some of the contributors -- on October 1 (6-8pm), when Chicago Comics (3244 N. Clark; 773-528- 1983) will host a special gathering to celebrate the March and the book. "The idea was to create something to entertain, and hopefully inspire, the marchers," Darnall says. "Everybody deserves art, and we wanted to make sure that these marchers got some kind of recognition for their efforts." Although many of the cartoonists were interested in addressing the social and political issues of poverty and homelessness, there were no editorial prerequisites for contributors. So it is that you'll find Alan Moore's harrowing essay "Sidewalk Jockeys" alongside Jay Stephens' whimsical "Jetcat." Editorial cartoonist Tom Tomorrow ("This Modern World") weighs in with a sardonic look at health care and the global economy, while Gary Gianni offers his adaptation of O. Henry's ironic "The Cop and the Anthem," and Wayno and Heather McAdams offer their respective tributes to music legends Tom Jones and the Louvin Brothers. And so it goes. "I told the creators to view this as the equivalent of a mix tape," Darnall says. "When you make a mix tape for someone, there are some great records that you include because they relate specifically to how you feel -- then there are some you include just because they're great records." [For more information about the October 1 6-8pm "launch party," contact Chicago Comics at 773-528-1983. Guests of the World Wide Web stay at the Web Page of Empty Love http://www.wraithspace.com/emptylove] .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Environmental destruction: .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 5. ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION: WHO'S RESPONSIBLE? WHO PROFITS? HOW DO WE END IT? By Traviss Thomas There is a trend in the environmental movement to place blame for environmental destruction on the individual. Those who support this tell us that if only everyone would recycle their trash and ride a bike to work, the environmental crisis could be averted. In fact, the environment is being pillaged not by individuals who are careless with their garbage, but by giant corporations profiting from environmental exploitation. Corporations have worked hard to manufacture this trend. Corporate "greenwashing" campaigns emphasize the superficial environmental efforts that some corporations make. For example, the Coca-Cola Corporation has devoted a branch of its public relations department to Coke's environmental image. Coke donates money to America Recycles Day and to college-campus recycling programs. Several corporations champion recycling. The effect is to redirect the focus of the debate away from corporate environmental exploitation and onto a topic where corporations appear actively pro-environment. Without greenwashing, the debate might focus on the oil industry's suppression of alternative energy advances or on the clear-cutting practices of the paper industry. The broader effect of corporate greenwashing is that it hides the true objectives of corporations and distorts the public's impression of the place that the environment has in a capitalist system. Corporations exist in order to create profit. In spite of the pro-environmental sympathies that some CEOs may (or may not) have, each business must turn a profit to survive. Natural resources, then, are treated as potential commodities, not as necessities of human survival. The environment has no monetary value until it is made into something that can be sold, so the interests of corporations are inherently at odds with any efforts to conserve or protect the environment. What is truly insulting is that while corporations are destroying our environment, corporate greenwashing implies that we are actually to blame for this destruction. To create demand for their products, corporations engage in tremendous amounts of advertising. The consumer culture that this advertising creates increases the toll on the environment. It is a rarely noticed paradox that Coke encourages recycling while at the same time promoting consumption. The illusion that Coke, and big business in general, tries to promote is that consumers themselves, not corporations, are the source of consumer culture. The mainstream media, themselves giant corporations, do virtually nothing to expose the fallacy of corporate concern for the environment. When newsworthy events take place that might reveal corporations' tendency to destroy the environment whenever profitable, the media will resort to active suppression of facts. For example, Project Censored, a media watchdog group, cites the corporate anti-environmental crusade as one of the most ignored stories of 1991. Identifying the real culprits in the environmental crisis is essential to solving the problem, but recognizing the inherent conflict between corporate interests and environmental protection is only the first step. The liberal viewpoint -- that by restraining corporate capitalism the environment can be adequately preserved -- falls short of a comprehensive understanding of the situation. Regardless of the restraints placed on corporations, it will always be profitable to exploit the environment so long as capitalism exists. Only in a society devoted to meeting human needs -- not profit -- can the environment truly be utilized efficiently and respectfully. [Traviss Thomas is a student at the University of Oklahoma at Norman, where he works with the Student Action Network and Our Earth, the campus environmental organization.] .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Harper's Ferry .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 6. 140TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATTACK ON HARPER'S FERRY: WHAT CAN TODAY'S FIGHTERS LEARN FROM JOHN BROWN? By Chris Mahin "I think that for once the Sharpe's rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them." Those defiant words were spoken by the writer Henry David Thoreau in 1859, just days after John Brown and a small band of abolitionists attacked the town of Harper's Ferry. Because October 1999 marks the 140th anniversary of that milestone in the struggle against slavery, it is important that we remember what took place there and examine what lessons it contains for today. On the night of October 16, 1859, 22 armed men attempted to take control of the town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. (It was in a region that would become the U.S. state of West Virginia in 1863.) Seventeen were white; five were free African Americans. All were deeply committed opponents of slavery. Their plan was to seize the federal arsenal in the town -- which contained more than 100,000 firearms -- and use the weapons to spark a slave rebellion. Due to a number of tactical mistakes made by the raiders, their plan failed. The group was quickly surrounded by Virginia militia forces and a contingent of U.S. Marines. Four townspeople and a marine died in the fighting. Ten of the raiders (including two of Brown's sons) were also killed. After 36 hours, John Brown and several of his comrades were captured. The raid on Harper's Ferry was the culmination of decades of struggle against slavery. For almost 30 years, decent people in the North had denounced slavery and appealed to the South to end the practice. Their appeals fell on deaf ears. Opponents of slavery were physically assaulted and even murdered. As the defenders of slavery became more and more arrogant and violent, the movement against slavery began to polarize. Out of the bitter, armed conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas in the 1850s emerged John Brown, a leader who advocated physical resistance to slavery. Brown ultimately came to believe that abolitionists should "take the war to Africa." That is, to arm the slaves. Brown's view was a minority position. When news of the violence committed by his band at Harper's Ferry first reached the North, the raid was condemned even by opponents of slavery. But when the state of Virginia put Brown on trial just one week after the raid -- before his wounds had healed or his volunteer attorneys had arrived from Boston -- public opinion in the North began to change. As his trial proceeded, even Brown's enemies had to acknowledge the great dignity, courage and sincere religious conviction that the anti-slavery fighter displayed in court. On October 30, 1859, a Virginia jury found Brown guilty of murder, treason and inciting slave insurrection. On November 2, Brown defended his conduct, saying that his actions had been in defense of God's "despised poor," and were "not wrong, but right." Then he defiantly told the court: "Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country ... I submit; so let it be done!" Then Judge Richard Parker sentenced him to be hanged. Public meetings were called all over the North to denounce the sentence. In Boston, the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson told a cheering crowd that Brown was "this new saint" whose hanging "would make the gallows as glorious as the cross." On December 2, 1859, Brown rode to his execution ground in a wagon, seated on his own coffin, commenting on the beauty of the countryside. Fifteen hundred soldiers were present to guard the field where Virginia executed this old man, a farmer who faced death with courage and serenity. Church bells rang out throughout the North. While the attack on Harper's Ferry was a defeat in the military sense, it achieved its political goal of helping to end slavery. The North's sympathy for John Brown outraged the defenders of slavery and helped push the South to secede, making the Civil War inevitable. Today, there is much we can learn from the boldness of those who raided Harper's Ferry. Those 22 men lived at a time when society was in crisis; so do we. They had a vision: Mobilize the "despised poor." Obtain weapons and place them in the hands of the victims of a terribly unjust economic system. Have faith in the militancy of the poorest section of society, for when it moves, the very best elements of all of progressive humanity will then be free to move too. Thoreau captured the spirit of the Harper's Ferry raid with his comment that finally the weapons were to be in the hands of those who could use them. Today, we live in a world where weapons need to be placed in the hands of the "despised poor" once again. But here we should remember another of Thoreau's comments about John Brown. Thoreau observed that the Virginia authorities did not gain much when they took Brown's rifle away from him when they captured him at Harper's Ferry. After all, Thoreau pointed out, Brown still retained "his faculty of speech, a Sharpe's rifle of infinitely surer and longer range." Today, there is an arsenal which needs to be seized by revolutionaries -- the arsenal of political science. There is a weapon inside that arsenal that revolutionaries need to grab and distribute to anyone willing to receive it -- the weapon of political clarity. Today, we honor John Brown and his comrades-in-arms best when we use our "Sharpe's rifle of infinitely surer and longer range" -- our "faculty of speech" -- to speak and write and agitate against a system where a tiny handful of millionaires rules society and, every day, creates more of the poor that John Brown strove to defend. If we do that, history will truly be able to say that while John Brown's body is buried in his family plot in North Elba, New York, his soul really does go marching on. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Spirit of the Revolution .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 7. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: POVERTY IS AN INSULT TO CREATION by Gary MacEoin [Editor's note: The following are excerpts from an article recently published in National Catholic Reporter. It is important to note that, since the 1960s, economic globalization has caused widespread poverty to extend into the so-called developed countries as well, including the United States.] Dom Helder Pessoa Camara, retired archbishop of Recife and Olinda in the parched and impoverished Northeast of Brazil, a brilliant thinker and one of the Catholic church's most inspired and charismatic leaders of the 20th century, died Aug. 27 at his modest home in Olinda. He was 90. Under his moral leadership the Catholic church in Latin America moved from its traditional support of the wealthy landowners and business elite to a preferential option for the poor. When the Second Vatican Council assembled in Rome in 1962, Dom Helder participated as an auxiliary bishop of Rio de Janeiro. Although at age 53 one of the youngest of the more than 2000 participants, he quickly emerged as a leader. Wearing a wooden cross over a simple black cassock, he urged his fellow bishops to give their silver and gold pectoral crosses to the poor and drop such titles as eminence and excellency. He helped create a small think tank headed by Cardinals Pierre Gerlier of France and Giacomo Lercaro of Italy that became known as the church-of-the- poor group. Although shunned by bishops from the Anglo-Saxon world, some of whom saw the group's ideas as merely a device to extract a higher level of aid for the missions, the group attracted widespread sympathy and support. In 1965, two weeks before the end of the council, Dom Helder summed up the group's findings: "Almost 2000 years after the death of Christ, at a time when the Declaration on Religious Liberty is to be promulgated, nearly two-thirds of humans live in a sub-human condition that makes it impossible for them to understand the true meaning of liberty. ... Underdevelopment has plunged Latin America and the whole Third World into a situation unworthy of the human person; it constitutes an insult to creation. A revolt by Latin American Christians against the church is inevitable if the church sins today by omission, in an hour of oppression and slavery." The press loved the tiny, almost emaciated Brazilian who gave interviews in a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish, and French, and who made himself understood more by his exuberant gestures than by his words. An article in Vozes de Petropolis in 1968 sums up his thought in five short paragraphs: "The church must overcome that magic and fatalistic Christianity that she has transmitted to the Latin American masses; a religion preached to men without freedom easily becomes a magic and fatalistic one; there should be real hope here on earth, not only an otherworldly reward. "The church must speak clearer and louder to the rich and powerful. They often mistake a stratified disorder for law and public order. "The church should encourage the use of lawful nonviolence, a democratic political pressure. "The social revolution necessary in Latin America presupposes a social revolution in North America; there is a problem of justice in the relations between a developed and an underdeveloped world. "The church should stop thinking that this implies an intrusion into politics, realizing rather that it is her duty because it deals with the common good and relates directly to world peace." Dom Helder practiced what he preached. When I visited him in 1969 in Recife, to which he had been promoted as archbishop five years earlier, he welcomed me to the single room that was both his living and working space -- the sacristy of an old church no longer used for public worship. He slept next door behind the altar in the church. One of the Oblate missionaries from the United States with whom I was staying was taking me one day to a meeting at which the archbishop was speaking. He braked the car unexpectedly and pulled over to the curb. Dom Helder opened the door and got in. My friend later explained that the bishop had no automobile. When he wanted to go somewhere, he simply went out on the street and waited until a passer-by gave him a lift. By this time Dom Helder had become a non-person in Brazil. The military dictatorship, which with U.S. support overthrew the constitutional presidency in 1964, had in the interval muzzled the press and abolished labor unions and all other bodies that shielded the weak and voiceless from arbitrary mistreatment. Although many church lay leaders and clerics were among the victims of the repression, Dom Helder alone protested publicly. He continued the call for fundamental social changes such as land distribution and access to education until the military regime banned all news coverage of him. While silenced at home and the recipient of many death threats, he traveled abroad as often as possible to denounce the torture and killing of innocent people. In 1985 the military was forced to withdraw to its barracks and return control to a civilian government. A 21-year period of terror ended, in no small way due to activity by church leaders. Perhaps the most important contribution of Dom Helder to the church in Latin America was his role in the creation of the Conference of Latin American Bishops -- CELAM. This made possible the 1968 meeting at Medellin, Colombia, in which Dom Helder again played a prominent part, helping to formulate the document that denounced the dependence of the people on internal and international power structures maintained by intolerable institutionalized violence. Medellin coincided with the first flourishing of liberation theology, which insists -- as Dom Helder had done -- that Christ came to free us from the sins of hunger and oppression too. Dom Helder soon emerged as a leading proponent of the first theology developed cooperatively by Catholics and Protestants since the 16th-century Reformation, a position he maintained until his death. He defended the use of class analysis as the central and indisputable element for understanding the social situation, insisting that one could use the insights of Marxism without becoming a Marxist. His response to those who denounced him as "the red bishop" serves as a perfect synthesis of his world view: "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint; when I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." [Reprinted with permission from National Catholic Reporter. Subscriptions are available at 115 East Armour Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64111-1203, or by phone at 800-333-7373] [Spirit of the Revolution is printed monthly, and depends on articles, comments, and criticisms from readers. If you have something to contribute, feel free. Contact us: c/o Boxholder, P.O. Box 2166, San Jose, California 95109 or by e-mail at spirit@noc.org] .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Ozomatli: 'The future of music' .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 8. OZOMATLI: 'THE FUTURE OF MUSIC' by Steve Teixeria and Moises Ruiz Okay, you're at home with the boob tube on for background noise- comfort and then you hear ... a Latin beat. An infectious beat. You focus on the commercial for "Edtv," starring all-American easybake heartthrobs Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, cuz you can't help being mesmerized by the clip's background music. It goes, "Como vez/como vez ..." with some Hip-Hop (till you don't stop) and more salsa with some rhyming interwoven. That yawn-inducing 1999 mainstream flick is forgotten, but that tune is still with us (hallelujah), and that band, Ozomatli, is a hit that is building momentum. The name Ozomatli was inspired from the God of Dance, in Aztec culture. Legions of fans from the groups hometown of Los Angeles -- for that matter all of Cali, north and south -- were no doubt delighted to hear their favorite party band bouncing from the TV. Yep, their sounds have seduced thousands. And therefore, their political messages have reached, changed and motivated thousands. The sounds: two turntables, groovin' bass, all-encompassing guitar, tabla, drums, percussion, alto sax, tenor sax, trumpet and trombone, (as said before) Hip-Hop and salsa, cumbia, nortena, songs in Spanish, raps in English. When put all together listeners writhe, snap, clap, smile and perhaps see the God of Dance plus so much more. Ozomatli's songs wrestle with issues such as police abuse, workers' rights, human rights, revolution. Despite the tenderness of network television's stance on outspoken politics, the 10-piece ensemble has made appearances on Conan O'Brien and Vibe. The latter talk-show (hosted by Sinbad) stint was a major coup, not only because they were playing on a nationally syndicated affair, but because they revealed to the nation how the musicians came together because of a strike. On March 12, 1995, along with fellow co-workers, bassist Wil-Dog staged a sit-in strike at his place of employment, the L.A. Conservation Corps (housed in the former site of an L.A. Emergency Response Unit Headquarters), in response to another co-worker being unfairly terminated. "The Conservation Corp is a poverty-pimp program," stated while recently on tour, "so the Clintons, Mayor [Richard] Riordan and Governor [Gray] Davis can say they're giving inner-city kids jobs. The staff has benefits, but none of the kids, so we got together and it was, Fuck this!" Various musicians showed up and played to support the effort. From this, the funky seed was planted and an awareness grew throughout the City of Angels. When Ozomatli appeared on Late Night with Conan, they carried a banner in support of political prisoner and writer Mumia Abu- Jamal. Their amalgamated sound got them on late night TV; their politics leave a deeper imprint. If fans disagree with Ozo's collective opinion, it's okay; they're not fascists. Such a disagreement was overtly expressed at a March 1999 event in which Ozo members implored the audience to remember the people dying in Iraq from U.S. bombs. "That's cool," Guitarist Raul Pacheco offers, " we're not going to kick you out. If someone had wanted to talk to me afterward, I'd have loved to." That mutual Ozo/audience respect is solid, due in largeness to their accessibility. Each show begins with a drumline a la Carnaval, wherein Ozo enters the venue just like everyone else, marching among the crowd to the stage. At gig's end, the comrades rejoin their fans, and culminate with a mind-blowing drum circle (sometimes sharing instruments with audience members). The experience is positive and communal and enchanting, much like Carnaval. When asked about the lunatic idea of partying around such serious stuff, Wil-dog fires back: "Why does the revolution just have to be about being serious? Fighting police brutality should be fun -- it is fun!" Ozomatli's eponymous full-length debut on Almo Sounds captures the rap, salsa and funk party-fun on disk. It has, charted impressively on Billboard's Latin Music 100, so the accountants can't complain. Technically, the group's talent has garnered enormous respect from fellow musicians, bagging them globe-wide tours with Offspring and more recently Santana and Mana. During one performance, Carlos Santana hailed Ozomatli, calling them "the future of music." Music trade magazines Guitar Player and Drummer have also highlighted Ozo's musicianship. To quote Raul, "The way to get any song across is to play it well. And with that song a message." .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Poem: Prisoner AM-8335 and His Library of Lions .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 9. PRISONER AM-8335 AND HIS LIBRARY OF LIONS --for Mumia Abu-Jamal SCI-Greene, Waynesburg, PA May 2, 1998 by Martin Espada When the guards handcuffed inmates in the shower and shoved them skidding naked to concrete, or the blueshirts billyclubbed a prisoner to wrench the gold from his jaw, to swirl KKK in his spat blood, the numbered men pressed their fingertips against the smooth cool pages of your voice, that voice of many books, and together you whispered in the yard about lawsuits, about the newspapers. From the battlements the warden trumpeted a proclamation: in every cell one box per inmate, twelve by twelve by fourteen, for all personal possessions. You say four blueshirts crowded your death row cell to wrestle seventeen cartons away, wrinkled paperbacks in pillars toppling, history or law collected and studied like the bones of a fossilized predator, a library beyond Carnegie's whitest visions of marble. One guard would fondle a book emblazoned with the word Revolutionary, muttering: this is what we're supposed to get. Today, after the hunger strike, you sit windowed in the visiting room, prisoner AM-8335: dreadlocks blooming like an undiscovered plant of the rain forest, hands coupled in the steel cuffs, brown skin against the striped prison jumpsuit, tapestry of the chain gang. I would rather be beaten, you say, than this assault on the life of the mind. You keep Toni Morrison's book in your box with the toothpaste. You stare through the glass at the towering apparition of your library, as if climbing marble steps. And you say: Giving up a book is like giving up a child, like parting with your own flesh. How do you choose between Beloved and The Wretched of the Earth. Your eyes pool. A single tear is the scarification of your cheekbone, a warrior's ceremonial gash on death row. Across the glass a reflection of the guards walking, small blue men patrolling your forehead. In the parking lot, I turn again towards the prison, walls ribboned with jagged silver loops of wire, and see a great library with statues of lions at the gate. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Grassroots Media Network .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 10. GRASSROOTS MEDIA NETWORK UNITES PEOPLE IN COMMUNITY RADIO by Sandra Reid The People's Tribune interviewed Comrade P. Odekirk and Tony Truong of the Grassroots Media Network (GMN). The group brings a message of unity to 130 radio stations, publications, community organizations, as well as individual filmmakers, journalists, and broadcasters. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO: Can you tell our readers about your upcoming conference? COMRADE P. ODEKIRK: The Grassroots Media Network is organizing the 2nd annual Grassroots Media Conference and Culture Jam for October 8 - 11, 1999 in Austin, Texas. We're using the suggestions and experiences from last year's very successful gathering to give folks a good mix of workshops and presentations, with topics ranging from the Zapatistas struggle to how youth read images in the media. TONY TRUONG: Also, we'll have musical performances, art exhibits, and, of course, the Grassroots Film and Video Festival, to make this a truly multi media affair! The film screenings will kick off on Thursday, October 7. The arts are a good way to get a message out to a wide range of people. PT/TP: Why is this conference important? PO: The Grassroots Media Conference & Culture Jam unites people involved in community-oriented media. It allows people from all over the country, as well as some from outside the country, to meet face to face, share information, and build a network for communication and mutual support. PT/TP: How has your group impacted the thinking of people in your community? PO: Our membership has grown from a few radio stations to over 130 radio stations, publications, community organizations, as well as individual filmmakers, journalists, and broadcasters. We have raised money for the independent union Fuerza Unida, the Zapatistas, and, in Austin, KO-OP Radio and last year's holiday dinner for the homeless. In our base city, we have banded together with a handful of other organizations to form Pueblos Unidos. We are now working on building a community center to serve various needs of the Austin community. TT: GMN gives people the sense of power in numbers. Often in progressive movements, people get burnt out from feeling like David going against Goliath. So when you know that someone else in another part of the world is involved in a similar struggle, it gives you hope. The GMN also helps people who are involved in different struggles to work together in solidarity. PT/TP: How did you get involved in media and why? PO: I started as a programmer with KO-OP Radio in 1995. Shortly after I was elected to the Board of Trustees, I discovered the labor dispute at Pacifica. At that time, KO-OP was airing Pacifica Network News. Therefore, I took the issue to the programmers, who decided to run a disclaimer about Pacifica News. Pacifica cancelled our contract. This gave us the opportunity to work with other media groups and produce our own news program and the creation of the Grassroots Media Network. My involvement in media has shifted from doing my music show to helping others gain a political voice in media. TT: My interest lies in film. To me, it's very important to give people the chance to see works that show real people living real lives and dealing with real issues. So many members of our society are marginalized and limited not only in their representation in the media but also in their access to controlling the media. This is especially true in film. The industry leaves it up to smaller festivals, like the Grassroots Film and Video Festival, to show films that are made about the struggles of the working class, people of color, gays and lesbians, etc. So, when I have the chance to work on the GFVF, it is both a challenge and a great opportunity. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Speakers for a New America .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA * Richard Monje, Special Projects Coordinator, UNITE! Union * Laura Garcia, Editor, People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo * Brooke Heagerty, Writer, race and class * Doreen Stabinsky, Environmentalist * Jonathan King, Biologist, Social Effects, Cloning * Chris Mahin, Writer, Historical Topics * Steve Wiser, Mumia's Spiritual Advisor * Cheri Honkala, Leader, March of the Americas * Ben Manski, Student Organizer * Steve Miller, Public School Teacher Our speakers bring a vision of a new, cooperative world. Send for a free brochure. Speakers for a New America will be at many events this year, from the March of the Americas for Economic Human Rights, to the anti-sweatshop and campus democracy teach-ins and the protests against the WTO, to African American History Month celebrations. To bring a speaker to your campus, contact People's Tribune Speakers Bureau. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ U. UTAH PHILLIPS * NELSON PEERY A live interview with songwriter and labor activist U. Utah Phillips and author/revolutionary, Nelson Peery. They debate rebellion, revolution, racism, class unity and how to achieve a new world dedicated to peace and justice. A Two-tape set. Send $15 donation to People's Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 or call 1-800-691-6888. People's Tribune Speakers Bureau 1-800-691-6888 or e-mail speakers@noc.org, or write People's Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ FOR THE PRICE OF A CUP OF COFFEE ... YOU CAN MAKE HISTORY. The capitalists won't fund ideas about what the world could be without them. LRNA is fighting for a cooperative world where everyone's material, intellectual and spiritual needs are fulfilled. LRNA relies solely on friends for financial support. An independent source of funds guarantees the truth will be told. Send your donation today! __ I want to donate $ ________ monthly __ I want to give a one time donation of $________ People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 2nd Annual Chicago Area PT/TP Benefit Dinner .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 12. 2ND ANNUAL CHICAGO AREA PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO BENEFIT DINNER October 23, 1999 from 6pm to 11pm (Dinner served at 7pm) UNITE! Hall, 333 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago Tickets: $15 per person $8.50 for students Let's imagine things can change: Ideas and Revolution Join us for an evening of dinner, celebration and conversation Featuring Luis Rodriguez An award-winning poet and journalist, Luis Rodriguez speaks around the country to standing-room-only audiences. His acclaimed memoir, "Always Running, La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.," tells the story of his former life as a gang member in Watts and East Los Angeles. He brings a vision of hope to all. For more information, please call 773-202-7012 .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 10-99 Join with others .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 13. JOIN WITH OTHERS TO MAKE THE VISION OF A WORLD OF PLENTY A REALITY Who is the League of Revolutionaries for a New America? We are people from all walks of life who refuse to accept that there should be great suffering in a world of great abundance. Together, we can inspire people with a vision of a cooperative world where the full potential of each person can contribute to the good of all. Together, we can get our message of hope out on radio and television, in places of worship, union halls, and in the streets. We don't have all the answers, but we are confident that together we can free the minds of the millions of people who can liberate humanity. Join us! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ I want to subscribe to the People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo. ___ Please send me a one-year individual subscription. My check or money order for $20 is enclosed. ___ Please send me a one-year institution subscription. My check or money order for $25 is enclosed. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ I want to join the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. ___ Send me a bundle of 5__ 10__ 25__ 50__ 100__ People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo to get out in my city. (Bundles are only 15 cents per copy) ___ Send me a membership kit so I can build a chapter of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America in my city. ___ I want a speaker in my city. Send me a "Speakers for a New America" brochure. ___ I want to make a financial donation. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Name Address City/State/Zip Phone E-mail Call us at 800-691-6888 or write to LRNA * P.O. Box 477113 * Chicago, Illinois 60647. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 26 No. 10/ October, 1999; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654; Email: pt@noc.org; http://www.lrna.org Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers. ******************************************************************