People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (01-00) Online Edition .TOPIC 01-00 PT Index .TEXT .BODY ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 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 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 Page One Editorial 1. A NEW YEAR WITH A NEW VISION News and Features 2. BATTLE OF SEATTLE: NO COMPROMISE WITH GLOBALIZATION 3. MARCH OF THE AMERICAS: AN UNERASABLE IMPRINT ON OUR CONSCIENCE 4. VOICES FOR NORTHTOWN 'SPRED THA NOOZ' 5. A WORKER'S LIFE: THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES Spirit of the Revolution 6. WHY THE WORLD IS FALLING APART: THE IMPACT OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY Announcements, Events, etc. 7. MISCELLANY [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 01-00 Edit: A new year with a new vision .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: A NEW YEAR WITH A NEW VISION As we enter the year 2000, many anticipate it with fevered anxiety hoping the Y2K scares will not come to fruition. Others, wondering what possibilities the new year will bring, congregate with friends and families to discuss new year's resolutions: a better paying job, a better home, a better education, better health, and much more. For revolutionaries all over the world, we look back at what we've been able to accomplish, the many movements that have dramatized the global discontent of the physically, mentally, and economically malnourished poor and working classes of the world. Massive social awareness and the violation of human rights have spawned an array of spontaneous movements in order to secure the immediate needs of the people. All of which mirrors the willingness of the suffering, and those fighting against unnecessary suffering, to unite and actively demand that their government take responsibility for the citizens of their country enslaved by corporate interests. The global struggle is reflected in movements such as Chiapas, Mexico, where the Zapatista Army of National Liberation has been fighting since 1994 against the government and the federal army, relentlessly demanding justice, democracy, and liberty for the poor indigenous people of Mexico. Like Mexico, Brazil's political and economic climate has made it impossible for poverty and injustice to remain unaddressed. Last January's economic crisis in Brazil has yet to relieve its citizens from the fear of successive devaluation and hyperinflation. Ahead of most Latin American countries, Brazil is known for its large and well-organized grass- roots movements. The Landless Movement (MST) has staged protests throughout the country in objecting to the government's economic policy and demanding land reform. Along with MST, organizations such as the National Land Reform and Settlement Institute (INCRA), the Federation of Agricultural Workers and the "Voice of Freedom" radio station, have to empower and mobilize the poor and working classes. Since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, there has been a global upheaval fighting to hamper the development of the global market controlled by a handful of billionaires. The latest demonstration against the WTO in Seattle is reflective of an exponentially growing mass of poor, organizing to make their presence known, to rip through the media barricades and to force the world's rich to confront the invisible sector of their society. Although demands may be met as a result of the protest, the truth of the matter is that it's the capitalist system that licenses the WTO, therefore, the root of the problem is not so much the WTO, it is the system itself, which only renders power to the rich. Like the protest in Seattle against the WTO, the March of the Americas served to expel the geographical barriers through the alliance of the world's poor. Poor and homeless families from the United States, Canada and Latin America marched 400 miles for an entire month to protest against the U.S. government for violations of economic human rights. The march helped to reinforce the social awareness that has been conceived by the new class. People from all over the world are being pulled by economic circumstances into the program of the new class. How then do we bring together the various activists from the many scattered spontaneous movements, and foster a common vision in order to work toward the reorganization of society around the new forces of production? The creation of the Labor Party in 1996 was a necessary stage for the revolutionary movement and a giant leap in the direction of securing political independence for the employed and unemployed working class. After meeting at its First Constitutional Convention in November 1998, the convention of 1,300 delegates was able to establish an organizational plan focused on education and recruitment. The Labor Party therefore plays a crucial role in facilitating the development of social awareness into social consciousness within members of the working class by educating them about their economic interests. As we approach the new millennium, we are in a very strong position for the introduction of new ideas that will help to consolidate this new class. We must politically educate this new class in order to restructure society as a whole, and reclaim the power from the bourgeois supremacy. We must be aware that there should be no fissure between various spontaneous movements, and it is to our benefit that we work toward a common goal. By severing relationships with other active movements rather than working toward cohesion and understanding of who holds the power, we make it easier for the ruling class to continue to dictate our lives as we exhaust our bodies from fighting for the crumbs. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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 01-00 Battle of Seattle: No compromise with globalization .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 2. BATTLE OF SEATTLE: NO COMPROMISE WITH GLOBALIZATION By Traviss Thomas On Tuesday, November 30, 1999, tens of thousands of protesters weathered the cold and the cops in Seattle to bring the truth about free trade and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the international public's attention. Their success, in essence, means that free trade will never be the same, though what it will be is still in question. But the anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle actually began days earlier. I had the opportunity to lend my voice to the multitude at one such demonstration on Sunday, November 28. At least a thousand protesters gathered at the top of Seattle's Capitol Hill to march to the Gap clothing store in the downtown area. The protest was organized to highlight the Gap's thousands of sweatshops in over 50 countries. Organizers and participants handed out fliers detailing the miserable conditions in which Gap employees live and work in Third World nations. Global Exchange lecturer and author Kevin Danaher was also on hand to encourage the throngs of downtown shoppers to boycott the Gap and to demand an end to sweatshops. By design, the demonstration was about more than the Gap. Organizers used the portable public-address system to remind participants and passers-by that the abuses of the Gap are only the effects of "free trade," carried out to its most extreme extension as it is by the WTO. The demonstration was, therefore, also used to encourage the crowds to attend Tuesday's anti-WTO marches. The protest which I attended on Sunday was a sign of what would follow on Tuesday, but by then I would be back in Oklahoma organizing one of the many solidarity demonstrations that took place around the country that day. While non-violent protesters were being forcibly dispersed by police in Seattle, activists at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, and at many other universities, were educating students about not only the threat posed by the WTO itself, but also about the broader agenda of those in power. The WTO's program of total liberalization of trade restrictions is only one example of the escalating struggle between the world's rich and the rest of us. In the last 20 years, the automation of industrial labor and the transition to a service economy in the United States have been redrawing the lines in society. The small class of super-rich who own society's resources and machinery now have less and less need for the working and middle classes. The trend that we are witnessing -- and of which the WTO is only one example -- is that global capital is trying to remove any and all barriers to its wealth and domination. In this way, the WTO's program is really just the logical extension of an illegitimate system, which places profits before human needs. Though many of the thousands (possibly millions) around the world who demonstrated against the WTO may not have perceived the WTO's mission in such broad terms, the conflict which ensued in Seattle shows the lengths to which the world's elites will go to protect their positions. As radio journalist Amy Goodman pointed out on Democracy Now!, the violent response of the Seattle police shows that free trade and globalization, as the WTO sees them, will require the application of a police state. In other words, the WTO leaders do not want compromise. We must be equally vigilant and steadfast about what we want. The challenge to activists and all varieties of people who value justice is to realize the conflict of interests being played out over the WTO. The WTO is not a lone case of business elites "going too far." Rather it is an example of the growing audacity of the rich and powerful in carrying out their mission of total control of the world. The success of protesters in Seattle at shutting down the WTO talks does not mean that the struggle is won. That day will come only when power has been decisively wrested from those who now hold it and given over to the democratic control of the people for the fulfillment of human needs. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ LRNA WELCOMES PROTESTS AROUND WTO MEETING The huge protests against the World Trade Organization's meeting in Seattle were a reflection of a confrontation which is gathering momentum -- the confrontation between the world's rich and the world's poor. The creation of the WTO in 1995 was one expression of a new reality -- the development of a global market and of an international ruling class in a world where production takes place with qualitatively new productive forces -- electronics. This reality is creating a worldwide proletariat. Today, the members of this new proletarian class have more in common with each other than they do with the ruling classes of their own country. The WTO is often described as an "international economic Supreme Court." Just as the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions before the U.S. Civil War which protected slavery, so today the WTO's decisions strengthen the rule of a handful of billionaires. But just as the Supreme Court was not the cause of the problem in the early 19th century, so today the WTO is a symptom of the disease and not the disease itself. In the 19th century, decent people bitterly condemned the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision (which declared slavery to be legal throughout the United States). At the same time, they worked to abolish the property relations which made that decision possible -- slavery. The opponents of slavery held meetings, wrote books, gave speeches, and published newspapers to alert the American people to the wrongs of slavery and the ominous rise in the power of the slaveholders. Those of us fighting to change a reality personified by the WTO should learn from the opponents of slavery. While opposing every move of our enemy to increase its power, we should also tell the world that the problem can only be solved by abolishing the system itself. Today, for the first time, the conditions exist to bring that abolition about. The new electronic technology makes a world of plenty possible, a society without hunger or backbreaking labor, a life where the talents of people can be used to satisfy the material, intellectual, spiritual and cultural needs of all. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America seeks to join with all who want to carry this message far and wide. The battle to expose the WTO is one part of the fight to abolish the property relations which the WTO protects, the fight to create a new world where the distribution of the necessaries of life is organized according to need. -- League of Revolutionaries for a New America .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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 01-00 MARCH OF THE AMERICAS: .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 3. MARCH OF THE AMERICAS: AN UNERASABLE IMPRINT ON OUR CONSCIENCE By Liz Monge There is no doubt the March of the Americas left an indelible mark not only in our hearts, but in our consciousness and understanding of poverty and its consequences worldwide. It wasn't only about a march. It was about sharing experiences, history, and a commitment to a struggle that affects all -- a struggle that must lead us to a better world. During the march, participants shared their personal experiences, organizational efforts, and created bridges to deeper levels of understanding about each other and what we all share in common. The following narrative interview with Omayra Morales is such an example. Crossing the Andean mountains from the city of Miraflores in Colombia, Omayra joined the Kensington Welfare Rights Union to demand justice for the poor. She is one of the main leaders of the organization CODEVIMA (Comite por la Defensa de la Vida y Medio Ambiente), an organization founded in 1994, which struggles to protect the lives of cultivators of the coca leaf and the environment of the Guarido zone in the jungles of Colombia. Their main purpose is to educate the world about the struggles that come with the "War on Drugs" and its impact on the people of Colombia. Look for the future issue of the People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo that will share a more in-depth insight into that struggle. PT/TP: How is it that you came to join the March of the Americas and what has impressed you the most? OMAYRA MORALES: My participation in this march is directly linked to some work I did this past year with two other women from the Andes, one from Peru, the other from Bolivia, and myself from Colombia. We were doing a tour throughout the U.S. to raise consciousness about the issues that plague our countries. We want everyone to know about the violations that come with this "War on Drugs" -- as it is called -- and how it affects our civil populations. We believe that the only way to resolve these issues is to invest socially in the people, not kill them or violate their human rights. It was in the process of this tour that we met the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU). At this point I had already become aware of issues in the United States, when, as a participant to speak at the United Nations, I met Marsha Gurnet. She is an organizer from the state of Vermont. She is a woman who, because of her fight with AIDS and drug addiction, had her children taken away. Today, she is in recovery and has gone clean for five years. While under arrest, and at a point where she could not handle anything, the government took her children away from her. When I heard her story, I remembered mine as well. Although they are not the same, we share a lot in common. Her as a "consumer," me as a "producer." It made me realize that in the middle of everything we get the raw end of the deal, especially as women. Marsha cannot have her children because the government took them away. I cannot have my children because my house was burnt twice by the paramilitary troopers and, in that last instance, my two children almost died because they were inside. Being that I am on the death list of those paramilitary troopers, I was forced into the decision of sending my children to an unknown city for safety. From that point, KWRU kept in contact and here we are. What strikes me the most is the hidden poverty of white people in this country. What terrifies all of us is to know that things are so bad, and even though in Colombia things are awful, they are not hidden. Here [in the U.S.], poverty is covered up. And at the same time the contrasts are so striking. We never imagined we would see the kinds of things we saw during this march. That areas could be so horrible and in such poverty. Yet an example of contrast was that there could be a house falling apart and a nice car parked in the street with someone on a cellular. We had to look twice. The hidden poverty we think of when we are not from the U.S., is often thought of as affecting only black people or people of color. But the reality is another. Whites are also part of that poverty. That poverty that goes unnoticed by the rest of the world and is hidden by this country. In Colombia, blacks and whites are poor all the same. It now turns out that this country [the U.S.] also has an issue of poverty in its midst. That was the biggest lesson of all. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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 01-00 Voices for NorthTown 'spred tha nooz' .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 4. VOICES FOR NORTHTOWN 'SPRED THA NOOZ' By Marshall Blesofsky LONG BEACH, California -- A few months ago, "Voices for NorthTown" expressed a vision of a new America brought to the public by the artists of North Long Beach working with the Long Beach chapter of LRNA. SPRED THA NOOZ, representing the new Hip-Hop generation, pioneering a message of Hope in a society which makes young people a throw-away generation, shared the stage with songstress Janice Sanders, actor and poet JERALD LANCE FERRELL, poet Clyde Flowers, and the SOPHIST PLAYERS. Young people are plagued by an epidemic of violence brought on by a society in which there is no longer a place for them. Gang violence, police violence, the violence of neglect face today's youth. But some young people are fighting back with a vision of a new America. Sandwiched between Compton, California and what Snoop Doggie Dogg calls the LBC (Long Beach City), NorthTown is a neglected but essential part of the Long Beach community. Voices for NorthTown demonstrates the need for the development of art and music programs for and by our young people. Voices for NorthTown attempts to send a message of what America could be like if the technology used today for profit could be used for the betterment of our neighborhoods and all our people. It is a message of hope and of unity in the face of the incredible power of the owners of globalized capital. The Long Beach Chapter is planning another event. The subject of that meeting will be 1000 to one. In the last 10 years, the city of Long Beach has spent $197 million of redevelopment money on the downtown area and $200,000 on NorthTown. This comes to 1000 to one. This money is used to finance projects to promote tourism and trade in the downtown. What they actually accomplish is lining the pockets of the already rich at the expense of the poor. Find out about this and more from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 30, 2000 at the Coffee Tavern, 539 E. Bixby Road. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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 01-00 A Worker's Life .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 5. A WORKER'S LIFE: THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES By Alma Ramirez Daddy always wanted us to travel. When he was home he would say, "Some day we'll all go to Hawaii and sit on the beach and sip on tropical drinks." Mama and I would laugh. We laughed and imagined the summer coastal heat tanning our Midwest skin. I think of that now as we travel to see him. I don't think he planned for our journeys to take place in this matter -- him sitting there so tired. I think he wished things could've been different. I sure miss him. He's there, and mama and I are here, and the car ride seems hours away. When we finally arrive, mama and I sign in to see him. The place always seems so cold and from the distance we hear loud sounds of machinery. The wailing and the piercing sounds always cause mama to cover her ears. I don't think she likes this place. She would rather have daddy at home with us. We don't go to church anymore, there's just no time. Every Sunday is dedicated to seeing daddy. But the visits, they last only about half an hour. At least that's how mama says it when she tells daddy, "It's ridiculous how we get to see you for only half an hour." For me, I'm just glad that I get to sit on his lap again. He carries me, and he hugs mama and cries when his arms are wrapped around the only two people that keep him sane. I watch him. His fingernails darkened from the dust of labor. His hair also whitened, either from the dust or old age. I think it's because he worries about us. He tells mama, "Just a few more weeks until the mandatory overtime slows down, and I'll be home on the weekends." And, when the words come out of his mouth, mama's head falls to his shoulder. She cries and daddy wipes the tears. I watch the other men and their families, and I think they're sad too. They hold on to each other, and sometimes I hear the children and wives sob. But me, I'm just glad I get to see daddy on Sundays, and he's glad also. He doesn't let his worries take away from our time. We sit and eat the lunch that mama and I carefully packed for this Sunday. It's daddy's birthday and we cooked all his favorites. While daddy watches the timekeeper, mama and I put the candles on the cake. We begin to sing, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birth ..." and the timekeeper, the man who controls our half-hour, pulls on the buzzer and daddy's birthday is over. He blows out his candles, all but one. I watch the flaming candle melt into the whiteness of the cake, and I wish a wish for daddy. I tightly close my eyes, "I wish daddy's work would let him come home," and with all my 7-year-old might I blow out the last candle. [A member of the PT/TP board wrote this short narrative. She was inspired to write it after hearing of an actual situation from an auto-parts supply factory in Norwalk, Ohio.] .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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 01-00 Spirit: Why the World Is Falling Apart: .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 6. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: WHY THE WORLD IS FALLING APART: THE IMPACT OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY by Jesse Ballinger, West Los Angeles Chapter of LRNA According to Webster, technology is "the totality of the means employed to provide objects necessary and desirable for human sustenance and comfort." Technology is anything that makes human beings more productive or their quality of life higher. It is also the current state of development of the means of production. All previous technological revolutions provided humanity with labor-assisting devices of increasing productivity. The technological revolution that we are at the beginning of today, which is centered around the microchip, is without precedent in the history of man in that it has provided us with a labor- replacing device, that is to say that the microchip is replacing people in production. Let's look at society. A society is organized around its means of production. It dictates how the things that are produced get distributed, what the rules are in life; it sets the property relations. Various educational, legal, political, military, and religious institutions come together in a society to help define and nurture a morality that will not threaten the property relations. But what happens when the means of production are fundamentally and forever altered? Society must be fundamentally and forever altered as well. The process of destruction of the old society, which we see all around us today, is the beginning of this change, clearing the ground for the construction of a new one. What are some of the examples of this destruction? The explosion of homelessness, imprisonment, and bankruptcy are some. The decline in quality education is another. The ripping down of the social safety net and talk of dismantling Social Security are others. Automation receives zero in the form of wages. Since we are being forced to now compete with automation, the rest of our lives will be spent watching wages fall toward this level. Automation is driving wages toward zero. Poverty is no longer something that occurs on the fringe of society. Author and Cornell University Professor Thomas Hirschl estimates that 58 percent of all Americans who are alive today will experience poverty in their lifetime. Production must be distributed. Yet, as wages fall and greater and greater amounts of the world's work are shifted onto the shoulders of automation, it should be clear that money will not be in the hands of the majority of America's and the world's people to obtain the necessities of living. This, then, spells an end to the system of distributing the necessities of life on the basis of money and opens the door for the only remaining way to distribute these necessities -- need. Production with less and less human labor, more and more demands distribution without money. Only a communist society can do this. If we like, we can look upon the word communist as a contraction-- like the words "can't" or "won't" -- it is just a shorter way of saying "communityist." Simply put, a communist believes that nothing should come before the needs of the community. The history of mankind could be summed up as the history of managed scarcity. "How do we distribute when there is not enough to go around for everyone?" becomes the question around whose answer the issue of property relations has been resolved. Today, high technology is wiping scarcity from the face of our planet like a spilled drink off the bar at closing time. I want to make clear that this technological revolution is destroying the very thing "scarcity" that gave rise to privilege and class in the beginning. It is impossible to overstress the importance of this for it is the very essence of our times. The concepts of "scarcity" and "wealth" become more and more meaningless as humanity turns to face the dawning of absolute abundance. The question to be decided by the coming generations is, how do we distribute this absolute abundance? Now, let us put aside talk of the historical importance and implications of this technological revolution and let us talk about what is right. Did Christ not implore us in the Gospels: "I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; was a stranger and you took me in; was naked and you clothed me; sick and you visited me; imprisoned and you came to see me." (Matthew 25:35-36) How on earth are we going to give food to the hungry, some three billion of the world's people now, if we leave these new computerized, roboticized, super-productive means of production in private hands? The intelligent and serious mind begs for a real answer to that question. Everywhere you look there is a disaster of the spirit. A nationwide collapse of our moral center. A collective unanswered yearning to find something we can believe in. The ancient cultures of the world held to a time-tested truth, "What you resist, persists." It is time to stop resisting and accept the unreformable evil of this system so that we may turn our energy to the birthing of an altogether new thought for the world. We must be the prime mover of a new consciousness and a new morality for the American people. Many centuries ago, the Buddha taught: We are what we think All that we are arises With our thoughts With our thoughts We make the world What is our thought today? Is our thought, only a world without hungry children and without people living on the street is worth living in? Is our thought, only a world with clean skies, oceans, and lands is worth living in? Is it our thought, only a world full of optimism and genuine excitement for the future is worth living in? Is it our thought that the fight for such a world is the true path to a life successfully lived? Is it our thought, what you have done unto the least of these you have done also unto me? Is it our thought, from each according to their ability, to each according to their need? If we want it, then we must do much more than visualize a better world, we must stalk it -- in our minds. In periods of momentous transformation, like the one we are in right now, everything depends on what the people think. We must be the creators of a new human being. A human being that refuses to accept that things have to be this way, that knows there is a better way and has some idea how to get there. Technology is destroying the world as we know it, and is affording us the opportunity to build it all over again on a new, higher, this time human foundation. If not this, what else can you imagine we were put here to do? I ask you, does a higher calling exist? In 1999, with the entire economy on the verge of fiscal collapse, the fight for this new world is the fight for economic communism -- the distribution of the necessities of life on the basis of need -- and such a fighter for this world, like millions upon millions of the world's people before her, is a communist. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CLARIFICATION: the Spirit of the Revolution column in the December issue of the People's Tribune/Tribuno de Pueblo was written by Sandy Perry. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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 01-00 Miscellany .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 7. MISCELLANY +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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 institutional subscription. My check or money order for $25 is enclosed. Name Address City/State/Zip Phone E-mail Send this coupon to: People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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. Send this coupon to: LRNA, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 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! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "VIACOM proposes takeover of People's Tribune Radio" Not really, we wouldn't let them anyway! But if you want something other than what the corporate media has to offer, then tune in to People's Tribune Radio. You can listen to the program at http://www.ptradio.org. For a free copy to take to your community radio station, call: 800-691-6888 or e-mail flr@jps.net or speakers@noc.org .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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 01-00 Speakers: Building Class Unity .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 8. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT RACIST: BUILDING CLASS UNITY African American History Month Speakers February 2000 TOPICS AND DISCUSSION POINTS: * How Do We Move From Racial Division to Class Unity? * March of the Americas: The Poor of the Hemisphere Fight for Economic Human Rights * Why a Police State is Taking Over Civil Government and the Role of New Ideas of Cooperation * Racist Killings vs. The Struggle for Class Unity * African American Liberation: Why Class Unity is the Path of Progress * Why the Black Bourgeoisie is the Worst Enemy of the Black Masses * Why the Poor Represent Hope for a Totally New World * The American People are Not Racist: Racism is a Terrible Problem * What is a Revolutionary? What do Revolutionaries Do? * Why it's Time to Redefine 'Work' * The Poor Leading the Fight for Quality Public Education in the Electronic Era * Understanding Globalization: The Fight for a World Based on Cooperation, Not Competition of wealth by need +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SPEAKERS for a NEW AMERICA * Ethel Long-Scott - Director, Women's Economic Agenda Project * Nelson Peery - Author, "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary" * Kiesha Smith - Student, LRNA Organizer * Galen Tyler - Organizer, March of the Americas and of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union * General Baker - Labor Leader and Chair, Steering Committee, League of Revolutionaries for a New America * Brenda Mathews - Poet, Playwright about Teens in Inner-city Schools * William Watkins, Ph.D.Professor, Writer on Corporate Control of Education in America * Marian Kramer - Co-Chair, National Welfare Rights Union Our speakers bring a vision of a unity in the struggle for a new cooperative society. Send for a free brochure or check out our web site http:// www.mcs.net/~speakers. Call 800-691-6888, e-mail speakers@noc.org, or write People's Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Nelson Peery Speaking Tour Nelson Peery, author of "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary" and founding member of LRNA, will tour California during African American History Month in February, 2000. To book speaking engagements at churches, colleges, community and youth groups, call 800-691-6888 or e-mail speakers@noc.org +----------------------------------------------------------------+ .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; 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. ******************************************************************