****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 20 No. 2 / January 11, 1993 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Christmas Day fire kills 3 trapped in power plant STOP THE "SILENT SLAUGHTER"! It happened in Newark, New Jersey, but it could have happened anywhere. It happened on Christmas Day, but it goes on every day in America: the silent slaughter of workers on the job that has claimed two million lives in the last 20 years. Joseph Eley, 41, Michael McLoughlian, 25, and Andy Motichka, 25, desperately tried to break the steel-wire reinforced windows of the O'Brian Newark-Cogenerating Plant, but failed. The three perished December 25 when fire and deadly smoke raced through the fuel-oil burning facility. Firefighters had to break down locked metal doors to reach the men, and could have gotten there sooner had not hard times in Newark forced the shift-closing of the nearest fire station. Must 1993 continue the destruction of the lives and health of those forced to work in unsafe, toxic (but highly profitable!!) conditions? We say, NO! For more, see editorial, story 1. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 20 No. 2 / January 11, 1993 To see the article, type a period (dot) followed by the number. Editorial 1. THREE WORKERS IN NEWARK WHO DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE News 2. JUSTICE RECEIVES ANOTHER MAJOR BLOW! 3. FREE THE MAHONE ONE! 4. BUSH PARDONS IRAN-CONTRA CROOKS; POOR PEOPLE ROT IN PRISON 5. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR. WATSON DEDUCE: POLICE STATE IN U.S.A. 6. THE TWO FACES OF "WHITE COLLAR CRIME" Culture 7. POEM I: I DON'T CRY ALONE ANYMORE 8. POEM II: FREE FROM THE WELFARE CUTS Columns and features 9. DEADLY FORCE: BARRICADING OUR STREETS, (AND OUR RIGHTS) 10. CALL TO FORM ORGANIZING COMMITTEES... 11. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: THREE WORKERS IN NEWARK WHO DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE Christmas morning, 1992, inside the O'Brian Newark-Cogenerating Plant in Newark, New Jersey. There were only three workers inside that building, working on a family holiday that would be their last. They were Joseph Eley, 41; Michael McLoughlian and Andy Motichka, both 25. Before long they were fighting for fresh air as thick, smoky fumes, believed to be from burning fuel oil, filled their lungs and their bloodstreams. The plant, owned by the John Brown Co., burns fuel oil and natural gas to produce energy for local businesses and Jersey Central Power and Light. On the one day the plant's windows needed breaking, they wouldn't because they were wire-reinforced. "They obviously tried breaking them with chairs, and you can see the pockmarks on the glass," said Newark fire department spokesman Larry Krieger, who also said that firefighters on the outside needed sledgehammers to open the same windows. Krieger said "There's no direct exit that you could just open a door and get outside." That could have been the end of the story, but for a couple of additional details. According to the Associated Press: "Offices of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were closed Christmas Day, and a call to an OSHA answering service was not immediately returned." And: "David Giordano, vice president of the Newark Firemen's Union, said that firefighters could have arrived at least five minutes earlier if the nearest station had not been closed during that shift as part of a rotation of cost cutting measures." Something similar happened in 1991 at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. There, 25 hard- working, low-paid employees perished in a flash fire because the owner had locked the fire escape doors. Nationwide outrage over this corporate atrocity led to the conviction of the chicken plant owner and his associates. But these disgraces are not uncommon in a land where workers' safety has been trampled by business greed. They are happening at a time when conditions for workers in New Jersey are being pushed down to the level of those in North Carolina. An investigation of this fire and the conditions preceding the fire is in order. Those responsible for the safety of those workers should be brought to account. Those guilty of criminal negligence should be prosecuted and punished. ****************************************************************** 2. JUSTICE RECEIVES ANOTHER MAJOR BLOW! Border Patrol agent acquitted of all charges! [From the Tribuno del Pueblo, sister paper to the People's Tribune] TUCSON, Arizona -- Last April the nation expressed its shock and outrage at the verdict in the Rodney King case -- a case where the guilt of the police involved was witnessed by millions of people. Now once again, the judicial system shows us its true face by dropping all charges against INS patrolman Michael Elmer who brutally shot Dario Miranda Valenzuela in the back as he crossed the border and then attempted to hide his body. Elmer's own partner, who was a witness to the shooting, was threatened by Elmer not to reveal what had happened. The jury in the federal District Court in Tucson made its decision based on the defense strategy of promoting prejudice and fear -- the same as in the King case. But instead of painting the image of the "black drug dealer," they whipped up hatred of the "illegal drug dealer" to allow for the murder of a man who had committed no other crime than to fight for his survival. The law-enforcement agencies are becoming more powerful and violent. Each time an obviously unjust court decision is permitted they are given the green light to utilize brute force against the people. In Los Angeles, after the rebellion in April, the police department promised to never again allow the people of Los Angeles to take to the streets in protest. On December 14, they proved their commitment, assaulting, beating and arresting dozens of people who were simply organizing and distributing flyers. In Detroit, the police who beat to death Malice Green have still not spent a day in jail or paid a nickel in bonds. This economic system can no longer provide jobs for a growing number of people. Under these circumstances, the government clearly plans to control us by using violence and oppression. In defense of our rights, in defense of our very lives we have to raise our voices in protest. The decision in the Elmer case cannot be accepted. We need protests, letters, wide mobilization. We will not allow the justice system to sanction the murder of anyone simply for crossing the border! Address letters of protest to: William Barr, Department of Justice, 10th Street & Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530. For more information, contact the CRLA Foundation: Nancy Martinez (800) 553-4503 or (209) 237-3944 in Fresno, California. ****************************************************************** 3. FREE THE MAHONE ONE! LOS ANGELES -- On February 20, 1993, Billy Cerveny, revolutionary, poet, and leader of the Auranti Indigenous People's Movement (AIPM) will begin his latest battle for justice. This time, however, his life hangs in the balance. Cerveny, 31, is charged with homicide in the stabbing death of a pesticide manufacturer in the small town of Mahone, West Virginia. If convicted, he could face execution. As his trial looms closer, more and more citizens have become convinced that Cerveny is merely a scapegoat in a McCarthyite purge aimed at those who challenge the existing power structure. Cerveny's battles with capitalist inequities began almost 20 years ago, as a boy growing up near Fairbanks, Alaska. His tribe, the Aurantis, had been decimated by the encroachment of the white man and his hunt for profits. By the mid-1980s, only a small number of Aurantis survived, and their lives and culture were threatened by big business and its lust for the bottom line. In 1984, Billy started AIPM, a community group committed to the return of native lands and fair restitution for all that has been taken by force from the Auranti people. The group believes that justice will not be done until society itself is reordered. Cerveny says, "the means of production must be in the hands of the people. We will not rest until there are no slaves or slave-drivers, but only workers, united." Incarcerated several times on false charges of sexual assault and disorderly conduct for his efforts on behalf of his people, Cerveny remains unbroken. "I am not afraid, for I know my struggle will not die with me." Unfortunately, Cerveny may now have reason to fear. He cannot afford to pay his astronomically high bond, and so remains incarcerated, despite a worsening liver condition. Comrades across the country have lent support to his struggle for justice, but so far it has not been enough. Please help free this indigenous hero. Please send letters of support to: The Free the Mahone One Campaign; 133 West Channel Road; Santa Monica, California 90402. No contributions will be accepted, but copies of Cerveny's collection of poems, _Blood of the Wolf Resistance_, will be sent to all those who write to express their solidarity. ****************************************************************** 4. BUSH PARDONS IRAN-CONTRA CROOKS WHILE POOR PEOPLE ROT IN PRISON They lied to Congress. They committed perjury and, finally, they were indicted for their part in covering up the Iran-Contra scandal. But on Christmas Eve, former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others were given full pardons by President Bush, whose own role in the arms-for-hostages deal could have been exposed had his pals stood trial. While these criminal members of the ruling class will never see the inside of a jail cell, thousands of poor people remain behind bars for committing "crimes" of survival, i.e.., taking food, shoplifting clothes, and working side jobs while on welfare. Take Johnell Warren, who is serving 25 years in the Florida State Penitentiary for taking two cuts of meat from a supermarket. Nobody pardoned him. Or the thousands doing time for being hooked on drugs that the Iran-Contra crooks allowed into this country in the first place. In fact, Iran-Contra revealed that behind the legally-elected government there exists an illegal shadow-government of military officers (Col. Oliver North, Adm. Poindexter, etc.), arms merchants, international drug traffickers (the proceeds of arms sales to Iran went to aid the Nicaraguan Contras who dealt drugs), and a host of CIA employees and ex-employees. More than just protecting himself and his pals, Bush's main motive in granting the pardons is to hide this clique from further public view. Bush may be gone, but his gang is not. Once again, the real criminals walk while the prisons fill up with the victims of poverty. All of the Iran-Contra conspirators should do time! It is the people rotting behind bars just for trying to survive who should be set free! ****************************************************************** 5. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR. WATSON DEDUCE: POLICE STATE IN U.S.A. Dr. Watson: After reading Friday's paper, December 18, 1992, about the conviction of the 2 out of 3 police officers who took part in the conspiracy to harass and beat street people, Holmes, I have come to the conclusion that America has turned into Hitler's Germany. Especially where I read that the police officers were commanded on-the-job to prowl Gastonia [North Carolina] by night in search of street people, using CB radios when they found one, beating them and dousing them with coffee or hot oil or pee. We can only assume, Holmes, that it was all 'cooked up' at the police station by the chief of police and all the other police officers before they set off on their night shift. Sherlock Holmes: I must say, Dear Watson, we've got Hitler's Germany on our hands here. It looks like the Gestapo is king in America, old boy. Watson: There's no denying it, Holmes. What we saw on the videotape with the Rodney King beating is running rampant in every town across America. Holmes: Well, it's too late to start sensitizing the police _force_ in America. They must sanitize it; shrink it down to size (ego, that is). The police officers in America have gotten 'too- big-for-their-own-britches,' dear Watson. They must begin now to shrink down the police power to the people themselves and even disarm the police _force_ as we do here in England. Watson: Wasn't that the reason America split from the colonies, Holmes, to police themselves and live free to sleep and eat wherever and however they wanted to? Holmes: Yes, and a good example of what the police should do in America is being done in Miami, Florida, right now. They have marked off safe areas for the homeless to sleep and keep their belongings from theft, all under the protection of the police, _not_ the destruction and beatings we have been reading about. Watson: Well, all I can say, Holmes, is that it should be done now, before American troops come back from Somalia and find themselves in a Home War. [Dialogue written by Mary Uebelgunne of North Carolina.] ****************************************************************** 6. THE TWO FACES OF "WHITE COLLAR CRIME" By Jan Lightfoot FAIRFIELD, Maine -- White-collar crime is a non-violent crime. To skim off funds not belonging to you is a white-collar crime. It's a crime achieved by the pen, rather than the force of a gun or other crude methods. White-collar crime is usually associated with the class of upper incomes. They have access to other people's finances. But even the poor can have circumstances that force them to commit white-collar crimes. The material for this article is based on interviews with those near the top of the poverty level. They are still uncaught for any criminal activity. For the most part, the people interviewed are honest people who for lack of funds must resort to breaking specific laws in order to survive. The poor seldom steal for expensive cars, swimming pools in the backyard or extravagant food. They steal just to have clunkers, to keep clean, to eat and have a roof overhead. Any person who can afford a checking account can be a white-collar criminal. When someone is aware they lack funds to cover a check, yet writes that check, they commit a non-violent white-collar crime. Of course, when an upper-class person draws from non- existent funds, they are merely "writing themselves a loan." Arbitrary rules and laws make the same activity not only a crime in one instance, but also more costly to the poor. Bank rules allow people of higher income's to write checks, which aren't covered by funds, without becoming criminals. The same activity by a poor person is called "negotiating a worthless instrument." It is a crime. Those of greater incomes have a feature of banking called "overdraft protection." They receive an automatic loan that protects them from ever bouncing a check. The poor person must pay exorbitant overdraft fees. Sometimes as high as $60 for each check. The law books protect against discrimination on grounds of lack of income, yet banks may require an arbitrary minimum income limit before issuing a credit card. This requires a poor person to lie and commit fraud to obtain credit or to challenge the constitutionality of such a requirement in courts for countless years. So in practice, those lacking funds are sometimes illegally, but effectively, discriminated against, by the application of two sets of standards. PART II Some poor people are guilty of crimes of forgery or fraud. This is done only in order to survive. But some states have laws which subsidize entire industries. The insurance industry is one such upper-class welfare industry. It is these laws that often create the need for the poor to commit fraud. For example, many states require all automobiles to be insured. Maine now requires a certificate as "proof of insurance" before registering any vehicle. Some of those without enough funds have acquired fake forms. Others utilize copy machines to duplicate the required certificate. Many just do without the basics (like food and medicine) in order to be able to drive to work. When the federal Clean Air law goes into effect, such forgery of certificates might also follow. Before Maine altered the mandatory insurance law, it was estimated that 90,000 Mainers avoided purchasing insurance. There are an estimated 200,000 people living under the poverty level. Common sense tells us the rich insure their cars. But half of the poor could not afford to comply with the insurance laws. Legal assistance agencies are understaffed. They are also busy on housing and food issues; they lack the resources to fight on automobile issues, even though the rural poor need cars to get groceries. Most states require yearly inspection of cars. This is to protect the public safety. When a poor person's car needs $300 of work done in order to pass the inspection, they might have to buy inspection stickers from shops which sell stickers for $20 to $35. This is fraud, yet it is often survival. The poor must choose between going hungry or without medicine or committing fraud on a government which designs laws against those without financial means. It is white-collar crime because the pen and not a gun is used, but if caught, the punishment is harsher than the upper-income white-collar criminal, who steals not to eat, but to eat in style. PART III Police are less likely to take seriously complaints filed by women, the poor and people of color. Citizenship rights require that a citizen injured by illegal conduct has a right to bring criminal charges. The police have a duty to arrest or summon the culprit. When battered women seek to press charges, police treat them as if the women, themselves are to blame. Their rights are treated as if they are non-existent. Police refuse to press the assault charges. Law enforcement officials consider such acts domestic rather than criminal in nature. Cops also hate the paperwork which comes with a complaint. Some people of meager means who are victims of theft have been told by police that the theft is a "civil matter". This blatant refusal by the police to do their duty is in itself illegal. It is an act of oppression. Some states recognize that it is criminal when officials misrepresent the law or fail to carry out their duty. Those states have laws against that conduct. Maine's laws call such misconduct "official oppression." If police are reluctant to take actions against ordinary assault and thief by others, they certainly will refuse to serve a summons on a city official or a fellow officer. In such cases civil rights action must be applied. It is wise to have a witness who will testify if the officer refuses to do his job. Legal action can be brought without a lawyer if you cannot afford one. If enough folks assert their rights, the cops will stop worrying about the paperwork. They might be more concerned with the work involved with citizens fighting for their rights to press charges. There are some places and a few lawyers around that help you educate yourself enough to bring legal action. One place which assist with self education is Hospitality House Inc., P.O. Box 62, Hinckley, Maine 04944 or call 1-800-438-3890. Hospitality House Inc. deals with homelessness and we have recognized that unequal justice is a root cause of homelessness. ****************************************************************** 7. POEM I I DON'T CRY ALONE ANYMORE By Diane Johnson I don't cry alone anymore I won't cry alone anymore I am not alone anymore because I couldn't feed my kids today I am not alone because I don't have a place to stay What do I say, to the people who made the world this way I don't cry alone anymore I won't cry anymore I might not be able to pay my utility bills on time But damned I won't let you make me feel that's a crime You rob from us and steal and kill and do it all at will But that's all right, because we are learning how to fight What do I say to the people who made the world this way I don't cry alone anymore I won't cry alone anymore You have done us oh so wrong, for so damn long But today we are 75 million strong, and it won't be much longer before you realize that we are strong What do I say to the people who made the world this way I don't cry alone anymore I won't cry alone anymore So when you think that I am out and down You better learn how to look around Because 75 million of us are going to knock you down. What do we say to the people who made the world this way We don't cry alone anymore We won't cry alone anymore. ****************************************************************** 8. POEM II FREE FROM THE WELFARE CUTS By Debbie Weitzman Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Philadelphia Will we be free? When will it be? Free from the welfare cuts Free from welfare trying to change and rearrange our lives Free of the streets we may roam Free of the box we call home Free of no heat we might seek Free of no meat we don't eat. Free of no bread we don't have. If you're on welfare you have to wait For a drink of water you don't rate Until you're rich with china plates. ****************************************************************** 9. DEADLY FORCE: BARRICADING OUR STREETS, (AND OUR RIGHTS) +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you, the front line fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486- 3551. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ POLICE STATE TACTICS NOT REALLY AIMED AGAINST DRUGS By Anthony D. Prince LAWRENCE, Massachusetts -- It wasn't until somebody shot at a cop here on Springfield Street that the barricades went up and the police started using "the drug war" as an excuse to tag every car and driver in a four-block area. It is a proven fact that the majority of dope dealing goes on in the wealthy neighborhoods, not in places like Lawrence. But you won't find the barricades and cops crawling all over the wide streets and manicured lawns of the rich and famous. You only find police-state tactics in places like Lawrence, an old mill town where everybody is out of work and hungry and the cops work overtime and look nervous. In Lawrence, the police seal off the streets, write down the license number of every car that comes into the Springfield Street neighborhood and mail you a threatening letter if you drive in. Maybe the money going down the drain to pay for this operation could be better used providing jobs. "This is a trend you are going to see more and more," says Gerald Arenberg, executive director of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. But he hasn't said anything about the involvement of the _cops themselves_ in drug-dealing scandals in Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Oakland and other places. He hasn't said anything about the citizens whose doors have been smashed in and "mistakenly" killed in "botched" drug raids. He hasn't said anything about the fatal beating of Detroit's Malice Green, an unemployed worker suspected of possessing crack cocaine. When the cops were through smashing in Green's forehead, all that spilled out of his lifeless hands was a piece of paper. The tactic of barricading neighborhoods has been used in Chicago, Los Angeles, Decatur, Illinois, Berkeley, California, Miami and Portland, Oregon. The dealers simply move across the street and what remains are poor people imprisoned in their own homes. That's the reality of it, the reality that Lawrence, Massachusetts will soon know. ****************************************************************** 10. CALL TO FORM ORGANIZING COMMITTEES... ...TO ESTABLISH AN ORGANIZATION TO EDUCATE, ORGANIZE, AND FINALLY LEAD THE MASSES IN THE INEVITABLE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR SOCIETY Sisters and brothers, The American people are under attack! Our communities are under siege. In the cities, the rural areas and the reservations from Selma to Watts, conditions are all the same. Jobs are minimum wage and factories continue to close. Unemployment benefits are a joke and welfare benefits can't feed our children or pay our rent. Some of us are forced to live in the streets like animals. Our communities are flooded with drugs and alcohol. Our children have no future. The police arrest, beat and kill us. The politicians and their political parties don't represent us. They are tied by a thousand threads to the real estate developers, the banks, the rich, the powerful and the rest of the capitalist class. A system that cannot feed, clothe and house its people does not deserve to continue to exist. We can and must organize to replace it. How? By preparing the people to take this country from the exploiters and run it in our interest. This calls for a national organization that will: * Root itself among the oppressed, the exploited, the homeless and the hungry of all colors and nationalities. * Develop a national long-range vision, strategy and plan for victory. * Educate the people on the situation we face, who the enemy is and how to fight. * Coordinate the varied scattered fights so that we can have an impact. * Build a structure that is in line with our local and national needs. * Develop the tools necessary to win: publications, schools, cadre, etc. This organization would be made up of the leaders of our scattered fights; those who want to develop a national analysis, strategy and resources; those unwilling to compromise with a system of exploitation, hunger and misery; those who want to win. Having discussed the Open Letter written by Marian Kramer and General Baker, we, the undersigned, call upon all who understand this need to join us and form Organizing Committees to establish an organization of revolutionaries. In the spirit of Nat Turner, John Brown, Sojourner Truth, Joaquin Murrietta, Chief Crazy Horse, Lucy Parsons, Albert Parsons, Malcolm X and others too numerous to mention, we make this call. Abdul Alkalimat Nacho Gonzalez Ethel Long-Scott John Slaughter Leona Smith ****************************************************************** 11. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published weekly in Chicago, is devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate those millions on the basis of their own experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it. Join us! Editor: Laura Garcia Publisher: Lenny Brody To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, IL 60654 Respond via e-mail to jdav@igc.org Reach us by phone: Chicago: (312) 486-3551 Atlanta: (404) 242-2380 Detroit: (313) 839-7600 Los Angeles : (310) 428-2618 Washington, D.C.: (202) 529-6250 GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is available at many locations nationwide. One year subscriptions $25 ($35 institutions), bulk orders of 5 or more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, tel. (312) 486- 3551. WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, tel. (312) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. ******************************************************************