People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (06-00) Online Edition .TOPIC 06-00 PT Index .TEXT .BODY ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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. 6/ June, 2000 Editorial 1. JANITORS STRIKE SPOTLIGHTS AMERICA'S WORKING POOR News and Features 2. NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED UNITY 3. A VISION OF A WORLD THAT COULD BE 4. 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRES AT KENT STATE AND JACKSON STATE 5. GARY GRAHAM BEING TREATED BRUTALLY BY THE PRISON SYSTEM OF THE 'COMPASSIONATE' GOVERNOR BUSH 6. COMRADE BRIAN MCQUERREY, 1944-2000 7. HISTORY THEY DIDN'T TEACH OUR CLASS IN SCHOOL! (MADISON AND MARX COMPARED) Spirit of the Revolution 8. A KINGDOM THAT WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED Announcements, Events, etc. 9. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE RADIO [To subscribe to the online edition, send a message to pt- dist@noc.org with "Subscribe" in the subject line.] ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. For free electronic subscription, send a message to pt-dist@noc.org with "Subscribe" in the subject line. For electronic subscription problems, e-mail pt-admin@noc.org. ****************************************************************** .TOPIC 06-00 Edit: Janitors strike spotlights America's working poor .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: JANITORS STRIKE SPOTLIGHTS AMERICA'S WORKING POOR The recent national janitors strike spotlighted America's working poor. It brought into the open the situation of many Americans who are barely making ends meet with their measly wages. A growing sector of Americans is working two jobs, six or seven days a week, shifts 12 hours long. And at the end of the workday, they still worry how they are going to pay the rent or take the kids to see a doctor. So 100,000 janitors went on strike across the United States, including those in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Their message resonated with all Americans: good full-time jobs with living wages and affordable health insurance. The janitors strike exposed the two workforces being created by the new technology: stock-option millionaires and "invisible" toilers too poor to afford rent. The janitors work in some of the most profitable high-tech companies in the world, like Cisco or Sun in California's Silicon Valley, yet they live in garages. Many work two other jobs to feed their families. They have no health care, a major issue in the strike. The companies say they will not take any responsibility for workers' living standards since the janitors are not their employees. The janitors represent a growing sector of poor in America. Though they work, they can barely make ends meet. They are part of the new class, which is forming. What is this new class? Look around. You see them everywhere. Early in the morning, they are on the expressways, on buses or trains, on their way to work. They're the ones who clean the offices at night, pick up the garbage, serve you your "Happy Meal." They are also the ones who are sleeping in the park because they have no home. Or are in line waiting for the day-labor office to open. In the new class are the regularly employed, working at minimum wages, like the janitors. Then there are the part-time and temporary workers, known as throw-away workers. This sector now comprises about 30 million, or one-third of the workforce, the numbers having tripled in 10 years. These workers are paid 70 percent of what people doing comparable permanent jobs earn. Not only do they not have benefits, they have no set work schedule. Their jobs include high- tech software designers, office workers, janitors, taxicab drivers, adjunct college professors, home health care, food processing, etc. It is said, for example, that the U.S. food industry would collapse without these temporary workers. At the very bottom are the destitute. They live by picking up cans, sleeping in shelters or doorways, standing in the cold, competing for day labor made possible by the explosion of wealth and the construction boom in the cities. Today up to 50,000 Chicagoans rely on their labor. Day laborers are paid in cash (they are often cheated) and are harassed by the police or jailed for standing on street corners waiting for work. Those members of the new class who are working might say they don't have anything in common with those at the bottom. Think again. A million jobs are lost every year due to downsizing and corporations moving jobs abroad. This includes blue-collar jobs and white-collar jobs. It points to the direction things are heading as technology develops. This new technology is bringing changes to the whole world at the speed of lightning. No one questions that we're living in a brand new world brought about by a dime-sized microchip. Computer-driven technology and the Internet open up the possibility of two different kinds of worlds. In one world, the mighty dollar rules, and a few millionaires harness the wonders of technology, while in the other, those who are being replaced by this wonderful technology are scavenging for any kind of work they might find. But there's the possibility for a new, different kind of world that can be created with this new technology -- if the new technology and everything that comes with it is owned in common by society. How can we get there? The new class of poor can be the vehicle to get there -- whether regularly employed or holding temporary jobs or scavenging for work. But only if it's united as a class around a common political goal to rid America of its poverty. Relying on this program to end poverty, society can be rallied around the need for a different kind of America; one where human relations are put first, because there's abundance to go around for every one. It is this that we must focus on, creating a moral explosion of anger against a system that forces people to eat garbage when there's plenty of homes and food, and linking this response to the objective force that can take society toward a cooperative society -- the new class. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 Now more than ever we need unity .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 2. NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED UNITY "United we stand, divided we fall." "A house divided against itself cannot stand." "Divide and conquer!" What is the germ of truth running through these sayings? Even young children understand these concepts, yet unity of people seems like a wishful fairy tale. For millions of Americans today, life is a constant hustle for the buck. Everything depends on it -- your family's health and very existence often seem very insecure. If the money stopped for a month, two weeks, a week, you and your family would possibly be brought to the brink of homelessness. From our position in society closer to the poorest 50 percent, we who have to look for work to live often find ourselves feeling hostile because our lives involve long work hours, sometimes two jobs, and even then no guarantees. What happens when somebody maybe a little poorer comes into this job market from Poland, Korea or Mexico? Well the same thing that happened when blacks came north from the South in search of jobs, or Europeans crossed the ocean. The newcomers are met with suspicion and hostility because they seem to pose a threat and we're told they will work cheaper. Well, the reality today is very different and the world more complex than ever. We desperately need to think about what's going on and study the question of unity. Our future depends on it. The truth is, the mass migration of peoples in the past made a lot of sense for those times. Firstly, there were jobs! Factories were booming and mills needed workers by the millions. We are living in very different times. Today and yesterday are similar in that there is one section of society that is very rich and own the business and there is one section that is not wealthy, maybe on the edge of poverty, and is lucky if it owns the roof over top and a car to get around in. Millions have less than that. Today the only section of society that's united is the wealthy owners (capitalists). They operate huge banks and corporations with boards of directors and planners from America, Europe and Asia. They are united in trying to get the most profit out of their enterprises and they are united in safe-guarding their position with armies, police, and, probably more importantly, the control of information (Cliche-truth No. 4: "The pen is mightier than the sword"). Meanwhile, those of us at the lower end of society are disunited. Hell, many hate those who don't speak, look or dress exactly like themselves and, in truth, hate or feel threatened by half of those who do speak, look and dress exactly like themselves. Clearly, the working people of this world are in a trick bag of prejudice, fear and division. And the truth is, that is exactly what keeps us on the bottom generation after generation while a relatively small portion of society continues to laugh at us all the way to the bank. Can we stop the cycle of ignorance, fear and division? For the first time in history the answer is: maybe yes! The economy today is different than for any generation in history. Technological advances have created a global economy thousands of times faster and more productive than ever before. The truth is, identical goods and services can be offered anywhere in the world and any worker is just as good as another and just as replaceable as another as far as the global bosses are concerned. The capitalists want to move wherever it is cheaper for them to produce, often building the most modern plants in countries recently considered backward. Poor working people have become, by the billions, suddenly interchangeable and disposable. You, reading this, you are disposable as far as the global capitalist is concerned. Your American citizenship or your white face (if you have one) doesn't mean much anymore as far as business is concerned. So if all you have to hold onto is your belief that you're superior to somebody else, God help you buddy, you're in for a big surprise! In the immediate future, we have to challenge all ideas that have divided us: black from white, brown from yellow, etc. These ideas are plainly worn-out. We seek unity not because it's some kind of sweet idea, but because it is a necessary step in challenging the plans of those who would reduce us to animals scratching for crumbs. The global working class is in the beginning stages of awakening from the stupidity and brutality of the past. When we prepare ourselves in unity, we will quickly sweep away the tiny group of parasites who rule the world today. What a great world we have to look forward to. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 A vision of a world that could be .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 3. A VISION OF A WORLD THAT COULD BE Statement from the League of Revolutionaries for a New America Stop for just one moment and look around you. Notice the woman running to drop off her child at day care before a long day of work, the half-asleep janitor throwing out the trash, the line of jobless people hoping to be the first in the day-labor office, the homeless man lying on the park bench, the grandmother at the pawn shop, and the father asking his son to pick the lotto numbers for the week. Who do you see? Do you see your neighbor, a family member, a friend, an acquaintance, or even yourself? The truth is, times are getting harder for the majority of us, and the only thing that binds us all is hope, hope that one day we'll find that perfect job, that we'll always have food, clothing, shelter, and maybe even a little quality time with our family. Can this ever be possible? The answer is yes. Never in history have we witnessed the great abundance that today's technology has made possible. What one hundred laborers produced thirty years ago, can now be produced by a computer and a handful of robots. So if there truly is an abundance of resources, why are so many people struggling to make ends meet? Despite the fact that we are now able to produce an abundance of resources, the problem lies in the way the system structures the distribution of them. As it stands, only those with enough money can subsist in a society competing with itself for declining, part-time, minimum-paying jobs. As the use of advanced technology causes the number of jobs to decrease, the number of unemployed poor increases. These people, perhaps friends, family, or even yourself, are forming a new class whose labor is no longer needed for the production of resources. This new class must fight to change the powers that govern our society, for capitalism is destroying our society by misusing technology for profit rather than freedom. The rich alone cannot buy enough to keep the system running, and every day fewer people are able to afford the goods that secure the profits of the wealthy. The system will inevitably collapse, and it must be replaced by a new one. Society is being reorganized around the computer and the robot. It's not a question of whether society will be changed; the question is, who will dictate the nature of the new society? It's up to us to decide what the nature of this new society will be. We must educate and empower ourselves so that we may learn how to build a cooperative society, in which we all work together to make sure that everyone is clothed, fed and sheltered. We cannot let this system convince us that only a selected few can monopolize the nation's wealth, while millions continue to grow hungry, helpless, frustrated and ignored. We shouldn't have to walk past the homeless man on the street because there's nothing we can do to help, ignore the child begging on the street because we simply can't give anymore, or resort to immediate band-aid solutions to poor health care, unemployment, welfare, and inequality. What can we do? We must not allow ourselves to become desensitized to the social injustice pervading our society as a product of the capitalist culture. As the rich continue to get richer, they will do anything in their power to mask the reality of their practice and their strategy. It is possible to envision a new world where all men, women, and children can reap the benefits of the abundance made possible at this point in time. If resources were to be distributed based on need rather than wealth, then no one would have to go hungry, and no one would have to work their lives away just to stay alive. Computers, technology, and robots can be used to free us from the physical wear of extensive manual labor, rather than to fuel the profits of an elite few. We are the creators of this new world, and the conditions for it are unfolding right before our own eyes. Reforms are no longer enough to provide the basic necessities for the rapidly growing number of poor. We must fight for the reorganization of our society as a just society. We must begin now to politically educate ourselves so that we have the tools to make our vision for a cooperative society a reality. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "As it stands today, America is like a giant haystack. What is a haystack but a pile of dead grass in which a large mass of hay at the bottom supports the few at the top? Those on the bottom are crushed under the burden of supporting the relative comfort enjoyed by those few free-standing pieces of hay on the top of the pile. What I envision is a field of living grass that bends in the wind, and leans on each other in order to survive crisis. This is why I am a revolutionary." -- Dru Clark, LRNA member, student activist and organizer +----------------------------------------------------------------+ .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 30th anniversary of Kent State and Jackson State .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 4. 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRES AT KENT STATE AND JACKSON STATE TODAY WE CAN HONOR THE FALLEN BY AGITATING FOR THEIR CAUSE By Chris Mahin [Editor's note: On May 4, Chris Mahin of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America attended the events held at Kent State University to mark the 30th anniversary of the massacre there during the Indochina War.] KENT, Ohio -- Visiting the Prentice Hall parking lot at Kent State University here on the morning of May 4, I felt as if I was standing on holy ground. Exactly 30 years before -- on May 4, 1970 -- four students were shot dead in that parking lot by National Guardsmen during a protest against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia: Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder. Later that day, a memorial rally was held on the Kent State campus to remember those four young people, the nine other Kent students who were wounded that day, and the two people killed on May 14, 1970 at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi -- Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green -- and the 15 people wounded there. This country owes a great debt to all those who, for 30 years, have organized and participated in memorial services every May for the dead of Kent State and Jackson State. They have fulfilled a sacred obligation -- the duty of the living to protect the good name of the fallen and the sanctity of their graves. It is right to do this. But, ultimately, as Lincoln said when dedicating the cemetery at Gettysburg, no memorial service can hallow or consecrate the ground of Kent State and Jackson State. The blood of those who fell there has already consecrated that holy ground. The beautiful young people who were cut down here and at Jackson State 30 years ago were fighting for something that human beings have dreamed of and yearned for since the beginning of time -- a world without exploitation, without poverty, without racial and national hatred and sexual oppression. If those of us who are living cannot consecrate the ground on which they stood, then surely we can and must -- again, as Lincoln said -- take from these honored dead increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last, full measure of devotion. May 4, 1970 and May 14, 1970 belong in history as links in a long, unbroken chain of resistance to oppression on this continent. The first link in that chain was forged just days after the first European settlement, with the first counterattack by the native peoples. It was followed by the magnificent defiance of Crispus Attucks and the other sons of the New England poor who were shot dead in the Boston Massacre of 1770; by the unflinching courage of Elijah Lovejoy, the anti-slavery editor killed by an angry mob in 1837; by the burning zeal of John Brown; and by the revolutionary passion of Albert Parsons, August Spies and the other Haymarket martyrs of Chicago. We could make the same moral point about the killings at Kent State and Jackson State that the great New England orator and abolitionist Wendell Phillips once made about the death of Elijah Lovejoy. Phillips said that the killing of Lovejoy sounded the death knell of slavery in America just as surely as the death of the patriot leader Joseph Warren at Bunker Hill had sounded the death knell for British rule in the 13 colonies. What Phillips meant was that after Lovejoy's death, even those who would have preferred to remain politically asleep were forced to face the most profound moral question of their generation. So it was, too, after Kent State and Jackson State. We should declare proudly of those who fell on this campus and at Jackson State what Thoreau said of John Brown: "He was like the best of those who stood at Concord Bridge once, on Lexington Common, and on Bunker Hill, only he was firmer and higher principled. ... They could bravely face their country's foes, but he had the courage to face his country herself, when she was in the wrong." But if there is, in fact, one unbroken chain stretching from the Native American resistance at Jamestown, through King Street in Boston, to the Prentice Hall parking lot on this campus and on to Alexander Hall at Jackson State, then part of what we owe the dead of May 1970 -- and ourselves -- is a searching examination of where we are today, and what the next link in that chain will be. Today, we see destruction all around us. The world has changed immeasurably since 1970. But in the midst of all the destruction, something new is emerging. Today, the electronic revolution has created a world without borders. The development of computers and robotics is making production without human labor possible. Food can be grown virtually overnight. Houses can be built in a matter of hours. In the hands of the people who ordered the killings at Kent State and Jackson State, the computer only means more electronic surveillance. But in other hands -- in the hands of the majority of humanity, the ordinary people who were shocked by those killings and wept for the fallen -- the computer could mean universal education. These developments mean that the kind of world that the students who were slain in May 1970 hoped for and died to help create -- the kind of world that so many people down through the ages have struggled and sacrificed for -- is now actually possible. As production increasingly takes place without human labor, a new class of poor people is being created. This class lives completely outside the system. All over the world, the rule of this planet by a tiny handful of billionaires is being challenged. Today, the finest tribute that we can pay to those who fell in May 1970 is to imbue this country with revolutionary agitation and propaganda. This means something different than reacting defensively to the attacks of this country's rulers. It means spreading a new vision far and wide -- the vision of a society made possible by the development of the new productive forces: a society without exploitation. One hundred and forty years ago, when the Commonwealth of Virginia was preparing to execute John Brown, the writer Henry David Thoreau issued a warning. "Plant this hero in the ground," he predicted, "and out of that planting will come a new generation of heroes." Today, the most significant homage we can pay to those placed in the ground in the terrible spring of 1970 is to guarantee that Thoreau's prophecy is fulfilled for them, just as it was for Captain John Brown. If we carry out agitation far and wide, a new generation of heroes will emerge. And as it does, we will be able to say to every one of those who fell at Kent State and Jackson State the promise of the Spanish Civil War song: "Rest well, beloved comrade; the fight will go on until we win." .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 Gary Graham being treated brutally .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 5. GARY GRAHAM BEING TREATED BRUTALLY BY THE PRISON SYSTEM OF THE 'COMPASSIONATE' GOVERNOR BUSH By Mark Clement Ricky Jason has been faithfully visiting and communicating with Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) for over a year. They corresponded so regularly that Ricky became concerned when he hadn't received a letter from him recently, felt something was wrong, and immediately set out to see Gary on the morning of May 9. He got to the prison at 8 a.m. and was forced to wait almost 45 minutes for them to bring Gary out. While using the restroom, Ricky overheard the racist guards laughing about Gary having used up his last appeal and that "now we can execute that nigger." When finally allowed to see Gary, Ricky Jason, along with witness William Butler, did not even recognize him and said to each other: "Man look! God have mercy! What happened?" Gary was covered in filth with his shirt ripped, looking as though he had been wallowing on the ground. He had a huge knot over his eyebrow and was shaking like a leaf, stuttering and asking for food. Gary wanted to know how Ricky got in; they had put him on restriction so that only a lawyer, minister or media person could see him. All regular visits have been stopped. Ricky told Gary to just hurry up and tell him what had happened in case the guards came in and forced him to leave. Gary told Ricky that the day the execution date was set, guards came to his cell with their heads covered with hoods to conceal their identity. They said, "Let's go, Graham" and Gary said, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm innocent, I didn't do nothing." The Guards told him he had to be moved to the next phase, tear gassed him twice, and beat and dragged him to the other room, where Gary passed out. The guards took everything from Gary, his radio, his typewriter, even his underwear. Gary had a large box of mail ready to be sent out and the guards said they were not going to let Gary's mail go out and these many, many letters have not been seen since. Gary said he hadn't eaten and that the chaplain has to be present when he eats or does anything at all. They are trying to cover up all this sick torture they are putting on him and Gary feels totally isolated and vulnerable to racist attacks by the guards. Ricky said as soon as he got home, he called the warden and was kept on hold for 30 to 40 minutes. He called back later and they did the same thing to him. Ricky said he hadn't slept at all that night and was extremely worried and upset about Gary's condition that day and who knows what of his condition today? Said Ricky: "They are dragging him down just like they did James Byrd. Gary Graham is a leader and that is why they are so scared of him. We got to stand up and do something right away! If they're beating him down now, imagine what they will do to him [in June] when his execution date is closer? The racism in the prison is very easy to see, the guards are brutal and I haven't slept worrying about the condition I saw Gary in and what may be happening to him right now. We need to call into the warden, the president, Governor Bush, anyone and everyone and stand up and stop this torture and this execution. Gary Graham is innocent and they know it!" Please lend your support by passing this on as far as possible. Anyone who has media credentials, please work on getting in to see Gary. His condition must be monitored regularly and his story must go out worldwide, ASAP! Pam Africa is calling on all supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal to also support Gary Graham at this critical time! Send letters to: Governor George W. Bush Office of the Governor Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711 Phone: 512-463-2000 Fax: 512-463-1849 Internet: www.governor.state.tx.us/email.html Board of Pardons and Parole Gerald Garrett, Chairman Price Daniel, Sr. Building 209 W. 14th Street, Suite 500 Austin, Texas 78701 Phone: 512-463-1679 Fax: 512-463-8120 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SHAKA SANKOFA IS INNOCENT Shaka Sankofa, formerly Gary Graham, 38 years old, has been on death row in Texas since 1981 for a murder he says he did not commit. He was scheduled for execution on June 22, having come within hours of being murdered by the state of Texas in 1993 and in January 1999. He was accused of robbing and fatally shooting Bobby Grant Lambert, 53, outside a Houston supermarket. He had been arrested a week after Lambert's killing on unrelated robbery and assault charges, but was charged with killing Lambert on the word of a woman who -- under very questionable circumstances -- said she witnessed the crime. Three other people witnessed Lambert's shooting in 1981 but could not identify Shaka as the killer. Four other people have signed affidavits swearing Shaka was with them, miles away from the scene, at the time of the crime. These four people were never called by Shaka's court-appointed trial attorney to testify at his trial. As a result, their testimonies have never been heard by a jury. What's more, the fatal bullet did not match the gun prosecutors alleged Shaka used to commit the crime. Further details can be found on Amnesty International's website at: http://www.amnesty-usa.org/abolish/ua109.00.html +----------------------------------------------------------------+ .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 Comrade Brian McQuerrey, 1944-2000 .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 6. COMRADE BRIAN MCQUERREY, 1944-2000 By Sherri Kendersi May 24, 2000 marked the passing of Brian McQuerrey, a well-known comrade and founding member of the Communist Labor Party, after a four-month battle with lung cancer. Brian considered himself a Marxist-Leninist, studying long hours to learn the philosophy of these great minds, and organized in the revolutionary movement for several years. Mr. McQuerrey was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1944 and graduated from Punahoe Preparatory School. He attended Stanford University and the University of Colorado. He was an active member of the Students for a Democratic Society in the late 1960s and helped shut down the University of Colorado following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also a leader in protests that disrupted the university because of its support of the war industry, the CIA and the right-wing policies of University Regent Joe Coors and of San Francisco State University President S.I. Hayakawa. As part of further involvement with the SDS, Mr. McQuerrey was associated with the Weathermen for a short period of time and was an unindicted co-conspirator during the "Days of Rage" in Chicago in 1969. Brian McQuerrey was a veterans' rights activist, serving to upgrade discharges for fellow veterans. He was active in the United Steelworkers of America and the Communication Workers of America as well as in the International Association of Machinists. He became an organizer for the Communication Workers and was always a supporter of the rights of working men and women in the United States and around the world. Brian was one of the rare individuals who not only had convictions, but acted on them. His advice to his oldest son was to always be kind to others, a motto he lived by. Others who knew him well said he had a talent for bringing people together. A close friend commented that Brian was a revolutionary at heart who played an active role, however large or small, in history and that he never lost his convictions or hope for a better world for all. Mr. McQuerrey is survived by a daughter, Katherine McQuerrey of New York; sons Ethan of Baltimore and Nicholas of Brooklyn, New York; a brother, Eric Park of Anaheim, California; and his companion of five years, Sherri Kendersi of Uncasville, Connecticut. Brian McQuerry was to be laid to rest in Honolulu following a private family service. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 History they didn't teach our CLASS in school! .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 7. HISTORY THEY DIDN'T TEACH OUR CLASS IN SCHOOL! (MADISON AND MARX COMPARED) By Jack Stewart James Madison (1751-1836), was one of the founding fathers of the American Revolution, and the fourth president of the United States of America. He was also the prime mover and supreme intellectual at the Constitutional Convention. After signing the Constitution, he worked with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton in writing the Federalist Papers -- explaining the Constitution and supporting ratification. The "Federalist Paper No.10" consists almost entirely of Madison's views of economic interests and government. In that paper, Madison was primarily worried about political "factions" and their negative influence on popular government. He then goes on to explain what he believes to be the major cause of faction: "But the most common and durable source of factions has been the unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views." It may be useful to examine the word "property" as it was understood at that time in Europe and America. Property meant productive property (means of production) such as farms, ships, and commercial buildings. What the propertied classes did not include was people who worked for an employer and owned a "house." People who worked for an employer did not own "houses." The working class lived in bunkhouses or boarding houses. Home ownership for the working class did not become common until the New Deal. If you lived on a farm you were called "boy" or "girl." This is the origin of the term cowboy. The property owner was called "master." After the American Revolution, urban workers refused to call the property owner master, and started using a foreign Dutch term "boss." They felt that this was less degrading. However, the translation of the Dutch word "boss" is "master!" If you think that James Madison is beginning to sound like Karl Marx, you would not be the first to make that observation. Marx viewed the primary tension (faction) in society to be between the "owners of the means of production" (propertied classes) and the workers. Madison's first "most common and durable source of factions" is basically the same thing. There is also a relationship between Marx's view of the function of government in a capitalist economic system -- "government acts as the executive council of the capitalist class" -- and James Madison's political opinions. Madison wanted to eliminate one large cause of "faction" in government -- the working class! Most state governments had property requirements for voting and Madison spoke in favor of these requirements for voting in federal elections. Madison, as well as most members of the Constitutional Convention, believed that the only people who should have a legal authority (the franchise) to influence the government (vote) were property owners. However, members of the convention could not agree on exactly what property requirements there should be, and decided to rely on the states' voting requirements to protect property. Madison accepted this but worried about the future (quotes are from records of the Constitutional Convention): "Viewing the subject on its merits alone, the freeholders [property owners without debt] of the Country would be the safest depositories of Republican liberty. In future times a great majority of the people will not only be without land, but any other sort of property." The attitude of the "faction" that owned property towards the working class can be understood best from a quote from a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention -- the very wealthy Gouverner Morris. ("Gouverner" was his first name and not his title.) When speaking on the subject of the working class and the vote he said: "We should not confine our attention to the present moment. The time is not distant when this Country will abound with mechanics and manufacturers who will receive their bread from their employers. ... The man who does not give his vote freely is not represented. It is the man who dictates the vote. Children do not vote." Note that the employer is a man. Workers are like children! Since James Madison believed in private property he certainly cannot be called a Marxist. However, except for that one fact, I think that he and the other founding fathers saw the class basis of politics in much the same way. So OK, the working class has the vote! The sentiments of James Madison and Gouverner Morris were defeated. Between 1790 and 1840, universal white male suffrage was achieved. One major reason this occurred was because the new states created west of the original 13 opted for voting rights based on citizenship rather than property. I guess most of the farmers heading west had lost their original farm properties in the east. Of course the vote isn't everything. It is much more useful having the greatest media on earth! The United States has the most for- profit, corporation-owned, advertiser-influenced media of any industrial nation. With a media like that, any political issue that affected you or your family's economic and social well-being will be fully discussed, and you will be fully informed? And if anyone who "receives their bread from their employer" believes that, I would have to agree with Gouverner Morris about their mental and emotional age. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 A kingdom that will never be destroyed .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 8. A KINGDOM THAT WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED By The Simple Way Community Editor's note: The Simple Way is a small spiritual community based in North Philadelphia. It wrote the following after joining last fall's March of the Americas from Washington, D.C. to the United Nations in New York. The march brought together poor and homeless people from many countries to demand their economic human rights. We may disagree on politics, Republican or Democrat or anarchist. We may disagree on the role of the U.N. or of the federal government in ending poverty, or the correct response to Welfare and Welfare reform (we certainly don't all agree on politics here at the Simple house! but what, after all are politics? love). ... But we all agree on this, we must join the poor in their struggle, we must march with them on the streets, we must share in their freedom and liberation ... for theirs is the Kingdom. In the words of Ruth to Naomi: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16). And so we marched. Someone on the march had on a shirt that said, "Think Global, Act Local." That is the philosophy of our life, "small things great love" (momma Teresa). This past month we reversed our style, we Thought Local (we thought about the families in our neighborhood, struggling to survive, the villages in Latin America, the streets and squat houses ...) and we Acted Globally, straight to the U.N. But it is always a challenge to make sure we are driven by love, for what matters is not how much we do but how much love we put into doing it. For "we can sell everything we have and give it to the poor and surrender our body to the flames, but if we don't have love it is nothing" ... we can organize a national movement but if we don't have love it is nothing. We tried to shine love, from D.C. to N.Y. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer has taught us, the person who is in love with their vision for justice will destroy people along the way, but the person who is in love with people will create justice along the way. first a word from michelle ... The March of the Americas taught me much. But I think the experiences that I learned the most from were hearing the stories of the people from South, Central, and Latin America who joined us. They told stories about trying to survive under an oppressive, militaristic rule, as people who work the land. When their crops, land, and villages were destroyed under government orders, they had no choice but to move. To march. They marched, not so much to make a political statement, but out of necessity. They had to find someplace to go. The stories of these representatives made me consider the intense community that must have been created as their villages migrated together with a small food supply, in search of a new location. I know that Jesus walked, walks, with them. Jesus searches with them. Jesus is a part of their community. And Jesus cried with them as they cried when they walked through North Philly and thru Camden, N.J., seeing the poverty they never dreamed existed in the richest country in the world. Jesus walked with us in October. And we are still walking. a sneak peek into the mad mind of michael ... I was lucky ... from a particular point of view. I had the honor of being in charge of child care on the march ... I was able to see the march through the eyes of these children! When a reporter or marcher or person passing on the street would ask them why they were on the march, they immediately said, "Freedom" or "God doesn't want anyone to be poor" or "for all of our rights" (actual statements!). I was constantly reminded that Jesus said, "to enter the Kingdom, become like one of these children." I got to see Demitre milk his first cow. He couldn't hit the bucket for anything, but he sure could get a good stream flowing. Demitre kept everything in perspective for me on the march. When I was feeling bad we would play the "I love you" game. ("I love you, Demitre." "No, I love you." "No I love YOU." "No ..." and on, and on, and on). At the end of it all, I was being taught how to love by a 5-year-old. And, "at the end of it all," that's why I was on the march. Sure it was to: "Wipe out Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness." But it was more to teach me and people like me, that if we have that Demitre-type love, we would have a world without poverty, without hunger, without homelessness. A world of beauty, faith, hope, justice and the greatest of these ... love. storytime with shaner ... We met Condido on the march. We struggled to communicate, with my broken, southern-twang Spanish and his clumsy charades. Condido and I knew very few of the same words, but we spoke the exact same language. He was a prophet. He taught me about violence, about love, about the world's rotten system, about God's brilliant Kingdom. He taught me hope. This man who had seen more hopelessness than I could ever conceive, taught me hope. With fiery Truth in his eyes, he read me the Scriptures. He told me about Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel, and Daniel's interpretation of it (Daniel 2): "You looked, O King and there before you stood a large statue -- an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance." Daniel with Condido's help explained to me the significance of the statue. The kings of the earth make up the statue, the principalities and powers of this dark world. Daniel explains that kingdom after kingdom arises to rule the earth. And finally, the iron kingdom comes "crushing and smashing," for it is the strongest kingdom in the world (Condido and I simultaneously winked, knowing all too well which kingdom this was). But Condido's eyes blazed as he read the Scripture: "But the kingdom is divided. ... As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ... In that time, the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom that will never be destroyed." Condido's voice got louder. "It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the rock, the rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces." This is the meaning of the rock. And we stared at each other in silence. I believed it was true. He knew it was true. Tears welled up in our eyes. Blessed be the rock. Blessed be the Rock. [The Simple Way can be contacted at P.O. Box 14751, Philadelphia, PA 19134, by telephone at 215 423-3598, or at www.thesimpleway.org] .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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 06-00 People's Tribune Radio .TEXT ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org .BODY ****************************************************************** 9. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE RADIO Listen Up! This June - the sounds of Revolutionary Radio are in the Springtime Air! Can you hear them? PTR is producing three (3) 1/2-hour programs per month. * Program No. 1: Just health care with Dr. Salvador Sandoval * Program No. 2: The DNA Project/Fight for The Yuba * Program No. 3: "Dreaming Revolution" with author and poet Luis J. Rodriguez Let radio stations in your area know about People's Tribune Radio (PTR) and that they can download these programs for free at http:www.ptradio.org in RealAudio and MP3 format. For information, call 800-691-6888. Visit our web site at http://www.ptradio.org or call our producer, Mike Thornton, at 530-271-0804. E-mail flr@jps.net. .FOOTER ****************************************************************** This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 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. ******************************************************************