> WW News Service Digest #149 > > 1) Vieques, south Korean fighters meet at Maehyang-ri > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Mumia on Cuba's justice system > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) What is Marxism all about? Part 2 > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) On the picket line: 8/10/2000 > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 5) Review: 'Saving Private Power' > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- > Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 10, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >'Let's chase away U.S. military' > >VIEQUES, SOUTH KOREAN FIGHTERS >MEET AT MAEHYANG-RI > >By Berta Joubert-Ceci >Maehyang-ri, south Korea > >It was the morning of Wednesday, July 19, in the village of >Maehyang-ri and we were sitting outside on a terrace, our >legs crossed in the Korean manner. We were listening to >Ismael Guadalupe, leader of the Committee for the Rescue and >Development of Vieques in Puerto Rico, and to Chun Man Kyu, >leader of the Maehyang-ri Task Force for Closing the U.S. >Bombing Range, exchange stories about their respective >struggles. > >Suddenly their voices were drowned out by the roar of an >approaching U.S. F-18 fighter plane. > >As the noise grew nearer, the plane suddenly appeared right >above our heads. With a series of deafening blasts, it >strafed its target about half a mile away. > >This writer cannot describe with words the raw emotions of >those few seconds. After my muscles thawed, I was able to >see the impact on the tight faces of the rest of the >delegation. Suffice it to say that the intense hatred for >the U.S. military that surged in all of us could have >brought down that plane with sheer will. > >Our delegation was visiting Korea as part of the >International Investigative Commission on Civilian Massacres >recently formed to look into and expose the killing of >Korean people by U.S. forces during the Korean War. > >Other delegates from the U.S. were Karen Talbot, co-editor >of Covert Action Quarterly; Sharon Black-Ceci from the >Baltimore International Action Center; Jeff Bigelow, a union >representative from the American Federation of State, County >and Municipal Employees; Korean War veteran Walter Black; >Korean-American student Paekyon Yim, and this writer. >Admiral Elmar Schmaeling, a former NATO general from Germany >who opposes the NATO/U.S. nuclear policy, joined us in >Seoul. > >The military exercises extended throughout the day. Since >1951 the Pentagon has been using small islands off the coast >of this village to practice bombing. Maehyang-ri is located >on the west coast of south Korea, very close to the border >with the north. The planes practice there because it >simulates an attack on north Korea; they would have to fly >an equal distance from their base. > >The bombing range is now the property of Lockheed-Martin, >which manages the base for the U.S. military. They bomb five >days a week, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. At night, they >frequently use flares, disrupting the residents' sleep with >both intense noise and light. The planes fly so low, close >to the treetops, that the villagers have taken to flying >kites to disorient the pilots. > >The impact on people's lives has been devastating. Besides >many physical illnesses, including an increase in cancer, >the villagers have experienced an increased number of >suicides and violent outbursts. Chun told us that, as a >result of the noise, his own father had committed suicide. > >At one point, Chun lifted his shirt to show a thick, >reddened scar that extended five to six inches below his >navel. > >"I also tried to kill myself. I stabbed myself seven times >in my stomach with a kitchen knife and then cut my wrists so >I could bleed more and die," he said. "But I survived, and >after these experiences I have no fear anymore. I might be >killed or go to jail, but I have to struggle against this >for the future of my children. > >"I have concluded that the loud noise of the bombing >practices is even more harmful mentally than physically," >Chun said. "The bombing noise is the unseen weapon." > >At a nearby junior high school, 80 percent of the children >with violent behavioral problems come from the village of >Maehyang-ri. > >Guadalupe and Chun compared the situations in Vieques and in >Maehyang-ri. After hearing the first shooting of the day, >Guadalupe said, "I can't believe this. In Vieques you can >hear the detonations from afar, but not as intense as this. >And you definitely cannot see the bombing because there are >at least eight miles between the bombing range and the >civilian area." He added that in Puerto Rico, the planes >don't fly over the civilian area. > >Later on that day Guadalupe was very moved by hundreds of >students who came to a rally to demand the closing of the >military base. The police had blocked the road to prevent >the young people's buses from getting into Maehyang-ri. But >that did not stop them. The students got out of the buses >and marched the long trek, walking up and down mountain >roads in very hot and humid weather. > >They reached the rally site in front of the base's gate >marching vigorously, chanting and carrying huge flags with >slogans calling for the ousting of U.S. troops from Korea. > >The police presence was immense. Busloads of these >repressive forces kept pouring into the area by the >hundreds. Different types of police forces, all Korean, >surrounded the building of the Maehyang-ri Task Force where >we were staying. As in Puerto Rico, the local police are a >shield for the U.S. military. Contrary to Puerto Rico, >however, many of the Korean police are young conscripts who >have to serve in either the military or the police force. > >The spirited rally took place in the afternoon as the >thunder of planes rolled through the skies over Maehyang-ri. >Every time a plane flew overhead, speakers referred to it in >apparently "strong" Korean words and gestures that triggered >almost equally thunderous applause from the crowd. > >>From 6-year-olds to former political prisoners now in their >seventies, everyone knew the "U.S. Troops Out of Korea" >song. It was the passionate thread that linked all of us in >one voice. The first part of the song translates as: "The >Japanese were chased away, then the U.S. came in. We thought >it would be liberation but they were the same people. Let's >chase them away, chase them away. Chase away the U.S. >military. This is our land. Let's chase away the U.S. >military." > >[Berta Joubert-Ceci is originally from Puerto Rico and has >been active in Vieques support work in Philadelphia.] > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <001f01c00189$0c80f860$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Mumia on Cuba's justice system >Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 18:36:09 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- > Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 10, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row > >ON CUBA'S JUSTICE SYSTEM > >By Mumia Abu-Jamal > >"The common law of this country remains the same as it was >before the Revolution." > >--Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth (1799), U.S. Supreme Court. > >United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Ellsworth, >speaking just over 20 years after the American Revolution, >gave voice to the inherent conservatism of the American >judiciary, which sought to protect the interests of the >established, by appealing to the laws (and legal precedents) >of a nation that was just defeated in battle: England. > >This same conservative, and indeed repressive, spirit has >led the courts into disasters throughout U.S. history, like >the 1857 Dred Scott decision (saying slaves brought into >free territory remained slaves, and that Blacks were not >U.S. citizens), the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling (1896) (which >upheld racial segregation as constitutional), and the 1883 >Supreme Court holding that invalidated the Civil Rights Act >of 1875, which gave Blacks equal rights in public >accommodations and jury duty. > >In these, and literally hundreds of other cases over 200 >years, the courts conserved a constricted, repressive status >quo, not freedom. Indeed, the struggle for freedom from >state repression is ongoing, for the courts have been, and >in many ways continue to be, the enemies of freedom and >liberty. > >Let's examine another example of law and revolution. Let's >look at a nearby neighbor: Cuba. In October 1999, several >leading Cuban jurists came to San Francisco as guests of the >National Lawyers Guild national convention. At a public >forum called "Crime and Justice in Cuba," hosted by the >International Peace for Cuba Appeal, Dr. Ruben Remigio- >Ferro, president of the Supreme Court of Cuba (the >equivalent of the American Chief Justice) and Dr. Mayda >Goite, former assistant attorney general of Santiago >province (the island's second largest metropolitan area, >located in Cuba's southeast region), held forth on their >country's criminal justice system. > >Speaking just 40 years after Cuba's revolution, the two >described a system that sounded far more humanistic than >America's. And while Chief Justice Ellsworth noted the >continuity of British common law despite the American >Revolution, Cuba's president judge of the Supreme Court >spoke of the clean break represented by the Cuban >Revolution. Dr. Remigio spoke of important structural >differences: > >"There are profound differences between the justice system >of Cuba and the judicial system of the United States. In the >first place, the origins of each are historically distinct. >But the most important differences are based on the >perception of how things should be organized in the judicial >system. In revolutionary Cuba, justice is administered by >the people. This is not just a slogan. > >"In Cuba, the idea of an impersonal judge doesn't exist. All >the courts are composed of professional judges and lay >judges. Lay judges are peasants, workers, professionals, >housewives, university students, who form the judicial >panels along with the professional judges. They have the >same rights to make decisions on the cases that are >submitted to the courts. > >"Lay judges are elected by neighbors, trade unions, and >other mass organizations. They serve for 30-day terms. Their >presence on the court assures that justice is not just >administered technically, but that it reflects popular will >and sentiment." (Drs. Remigio & Goite, "The Cuban Criminal >Law System and the Social Role of Cuban Prisons," Guild >Practitioner [57:1] Winter 2000, p. 32) > >Dr. Remigio was himself elected to the Supreme Court by a >national constituent assembly. As an Afro-Cuban, the son of >peasants from a "humble background," the president judge >leads a court that he could not even address before the >revolution. > >When Pope John Paul II recently visited Cuba, President >Fidel Castro remarked on his years in law school, before the >revolution, when he wondered why there were no Black faces >there. In Cuba, the revolution didn't mean continuity, but >profound transformation. > >Dr. Goite spoke on both sexism and racism in pre- >revolutionary Cuba, where women were regarded as little more >than objects of male pleasure. A free and independent Cuba >has led to a state where women now constitute over 60 >percent of the labor force in the fields of education, >science, health, technology and culture. > >Dr. Goite explains: "Cuban women have had a substantial >impact on society. This has been achieved only because they >have had the opportunity to study and develop themselves. >... Cuban women have become indispensable to society. For >example, in the law school of the University of Havana, >there are currently 1,225 students who are studying law and >1,005 of them are women." (Guild Practitioner, p. 34) > >If Dr. Goite's figures are right, that means over 82 percent >of the present class in the nation's largest law school are >women! It is doubtful that any comparable U.S. law school >can make that claim. (Further, Cuba, which views education >as a human right, provides it for free!) This is not to >portray Cuba as some sort of paradise, for after 40 years of >a crippling embargo by the U.S., and a decade after the >collapse and betrayal of the former Soviet Union, it is >clearly in the grip of serious economic problems, which they >have called the Special Period. > >Yet, even so pressured, this remarkable society is serving >human needs, creating more doctors per capita than any >nation on earth, and expanding the realm of human liberty, >rather than, as the U.S. has done, becoming the prison house >of nations, with over 2 million people in American jails. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > > >Message-ID: <002501c00189$6809e480$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] What is Marxism all about? Part 2 >Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 18:38:42 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 10, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >WHAT IS MARXISM ALL ABOUT? > >Part 2 of a series > >By Deirdre Griswold > >Some things about modern life just can't be hidden. The rich >are getting ever richer. Poor people overflow the jails. >Racist cops terrorize communities of color. Public services >wither while colossal sums are spent on the military and the >police. > >Whole nations are pushed deeper into debt slavery by >transnational super-banks. The assault on the environment >threatens life on the planet--while little is done about it. > >Is it any wonder there's a growing anti-capitalist movement? >This system is decaying, and people are struggling to >survive as its poisons spread. > >But what's the alternative? Just being against something >isn't enough. What can replace capitalism? > >Just asking the question leads to a discussion of socialism-- >a society where production can be planned to meet human >needs because it has been broken out of the stranglehold of >private ownership. > >PLANNING FOR PROFIT OR FOR PEOPLE? > >Modern social life requires large-scale planning, >communications and movement of goods. Without this complex >social interaction involving millions of people, things >would grind to a halt. The population of most U.S. cities, >for example, would starve without food constantly being >brought in from agricultural areas--often thousands of miles >away. > >The problem today, however, is that economic planning is >geared to the needs of profit-making, privately owned >companies. They unilaterally make life-and-death decisions-- >to hire and fire, to move plants and offices from one place >to another, to produce what sells for a profit versus what >people need. > >In a system where private capital is dominant, does it mean >the state plays no role? No, even when all you hear from big >business and the politicians is "privatization," the >capitalist state still steps in to build roads, for example, >or fund space exploration. No individual capitalist can make >money in these areas but they all need highways, >communications satellites, and so on to function. > >This kind of state intervention into the economy is okay >with the capitalists. It's no threat to the profit system. >In fact, they need it. They only want to privatize those >areas where they can squeeze out profit. And often it's >profitable only because the government is really subsidizing >the operation--like the companies that exploit prison labor, >for example. It takes tens of thousands of dollars a year to >lock someone up--much more than to send them to college. > >Prison labor wouldn't be profitable at all except that tax >dollars pay the bills while private companies reap the >profits. > >A lot of people confuse capitalist nationalizations with >socialism. But nationalizations like the ones carried out by >labor party governments in Western Europe after World War II >actually helped capitalism. That's not what the rulers fear >and dread. > >What gives them nightmares is the fear that the workers who >built the means of production will become organized, >politically conscious, and powerful enough to pull this >small class down from its pinnacles of power--as happened >with socialist revolutions in Russia, then in China, and >more recently in Cuba. > >For at least 150 years, workers have been fighting to pull >the plug on capitalism and build a socialist society. The >socialist movements started in Europe because that's where >the industrial revolution began. By the 20th century, the >growth of capitalism around the world--often forced on other >countries by colonial domination--had spread Marxism to the >Third World, where it was embraced by hundreds of millions >of oppressed people. Revolutionaries in Asia, Africa and >Latin America then added their own experiences and ideas to >the doctrine of how to bring down capitalist rule and >construct a better society. > >HOW MARXISM GOT STARTED > >Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were German socialists. They >were also revolutionaries. During their lifetimes, being a >Marxist meant being a revolutionary socialist. > >There had been socialists around for a long time, but they >were mostly utopians. These were people who believed that if >they could set up a model society somewhere, they would >inspire others to join them. This new society of equals >would grow, they thought, until it prevailed over the >cruelties and injustices of class society. > >In the 19th century quite a few utopians came to the United >States from Germany, England and other countries in Europe, >got some land, and set up communities whose members shared >what they produced. Some were religious, others were not. > >Although they remained separate from the rest of society, >some of these utopian communities set a precedent that >others followed later on. New Harmony in Indiana, for >example, proved that kindergartens, free schools, and other >services could free women to play a broader social role-- >something that the conservatives of that time ridiculed and >vigorously opposed. Eventually these progressive advances >were adopted all over the United States. > >Marx and Engels were not utopians, but they studied these >movements carefully and learned from both their achievements >and their mistakes. They were especially interested in the >work of Robert Owen, a textile manufacturer who set up a >model community called New Lanarck. It managed to produce >efficiently at the same time that it eliminated the worst >features of the factory system. The long hours and hellish >conditions that had driven so many workers elsewhere to >exhaustion, alcoholism and crisis in their personal lives >were eliminated, and the workers themselves--women and men-- >decided how the community would be run. > >While they sympathized with these movements, Marx and Engels >saw that they didn't help the vast majority of the workers, > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
