> > WW News Service Digest #34 > > 1) NY mayor's orders cops to raid homeless shelters > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Lessons from the struggle to desegregate the military > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) Vieques to Navy: 'Clean up DU shells' > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) The Hiett case & the U.S. war in Colombia > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >This digest is sent to you because you are subscribed to ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To switch to the non-digest, standard mode, E-mail to ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Message-ID: <006f01b1f67c$99dba3c0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] NY mayor's orders cops to raid homeless shelters >Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1988 17:39:52 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Feb. 3, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >GIULIANI'S LATEST ATROCITY: COPS RAID HOMELESS SHELTERS > >By Gery Armsby >New York > >Hundreds of people in New York's homeless shelters awoke >Jan. 19 to pre-dawn police raids. > >Mayor Rudy Giuliani has again exhibited the malicious >extremes of repressive force he will go to in his attacks >against the poor. This most recent ploy was concocted at >City Hall using old bench warrants and banking on the >increased likelihood of homeless people turning to shelters >during a blistering cold night. > >In short, the raid was a cheap trick to entrap 125 >homeless people who have had past run-ins with the cops. > >It was widely reported that many of the outstanding >warrants used in yanking people from the shelters were based >on minor violations such as "public urination," "mistaken >identity," and "turnstile jumping." In some cases the >warrants were four or five years old. > >Most of those arrested, including a high percentage of >women, were held for hours, made to wait again in crowded >courtrooms, then processed and released--often with their >charges completely dismissed. This indicated that the raids >were meant to create as much hassle and demoralization as >possible for the targeted homeless women and men. > >After coming under heavy fire from activists throughout >the city for the move, Giuliani told reporters at a press >conference that the raids were aimed at "making the shelters >a safer place for the homeless." > >Giuliani's statements fooled almost no one in the five >boroughs of New York City. It is widely observed that >hizzoner the mayor doesn't care one bit about the safety or >wellbeing of the city's poor and homeless people. > >He is the very same mayor who in October unveiled a >program of forced labor in the shelters. There, non- >compliance with workfare assignments is met with threats of >jail and/or loss of one's children to foster care. > >And he is also the very same mayor who, during the >November and December "shopping season," unleashed the NYPD >against people sleeping on the streets. Cops made multiple >sweeps resulting in hundreds of arrests. > >When it comes to city voters, in his bid for higher >political office, he needs to play to conservative >contributors from other parts of the state. > >During the New York Senate race, he has chosen to use the >homeless issue in New York City to showcase his racist, >anti-poor tactics to the most reactionary elements in the >state and the Washington establishment. > >Bourgeois politicians and bosses around the country have >long been plotting and practicing ways of "dealing with" >homelessness, from enforcing nuisance ordinances to out-and- >out evicting the homeless by force from public parks and >vacant, blighted buildings. > >Giuliani garnered national attention recently with his >thoroughly exploitative work-for-shelter initiative. Now >reactionary politicians from other cities are waiting to see >if they can get away with following his lead. > > - 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: <007501b1f67c$b8e35d80$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Lessons from the struggle to desegregate the military >Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1988 17:40:45 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Feb. 3, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >PART 2: "DON'T ASK DON'T TELL": > >LESSONS FROM THE STRUGGLE TO >DESEGREGATE THE MILITARY > >By Leslie Feinberg > >[Part 1, in the Jan. 20, 2000, issue of Workers World, >analyzed the waffling and weaseling by Democratic >politicians on the question of gays in the military.] > >Who will lead the battle to overturn the bigoted ban on >gays in the military? Perhaps some in the lesbian, gay, bi >and trans movement may be searching the horizon for a >Franklin Roosevelt or a Harry Truman to sign an executive >order overturning the discriminatory policy. Roosevelt >signed an order banning racist discrimination in the defense >industries; Truman issued an executive order officially >ending segregation in the military. > >But neither president penned these orders out of the >goodness of his heart or because he suddenly awoke to anti- >racist consciousness. They signed on the dotted line because >of the pressure of a powerful and militant mass movement by >African Americans during the 1940s. > >In 1940, Black civil-rights leaders began their grass- >roots campaign to overturn Jim Crow in the armed forces and >racist discrimination in the munitions industries. African >Americans were still reeling from the Depression. Black >workers suffered far more as a result of the capitalist >crash than white workers. > >An estimated 19.4 percent of Black men were jobless in >1940 compared to 12.4 percent of whites. And 35.9 percent of >Black women were unemployed compared to 23.8 percent of >white women. In big cities in the South, two-thirds of Black >men were employed, compared to three-quarters of white men. > >In the Northern urban areas with the biggest Black >populations only 45 to 56 percent of Black males were >employed, compared to 63 to 73 percent of white males. Those >cities were New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, >Cleveland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and >Indianapolis. > >And apartheid-like segregation was not limited to the >military. In Chicago, New York, Detroit and Philadelphia, >African Americans were virtually excluded from living in 80 >to 95 percent of the neighborhoods. Most lived in areas that >had over 90 percent Black residency. > >Where people live is also largely determined by where they >can find jobs. The so-called defense industries and their >surrounding neighborhoods were literally all-white enclaves. > >In 1940 only 5.4 percent of workers in the 20 major U.S. >wartime industries were African Americans. The federal >government was absolutely complicit in this racist >discrimination because these industries were dependent on >federal contracts. > >Airplane manufacturers flat-out refused to hire African >Americans in their plants. In 1940 there were only 240 >African Americans among the 100,000 workers in the aircraft >industry--and most of them were janitors. > >Ten New York war production plants employed 29,215 >workers--only 142 of whom were African American. > >That same year, half the defense manufacturers polled by >the U.S. Employment Service said they would not hire Black >workers. > >Segregation and racist discrimination were entrenched >policies within the War Department, as well. > >In September 1940, Congress passed the country's first >peacetime draft bill. The maximum number of draftees called >to active duty was set at 900,000. More than 16 million men >were compelled to register for the draft in October. > >"With so many men available," notes gay historian Alan >B�rub�, "the armed forces decided to exclude certain groups >of Americans, including women, Blacks in the Marines and >Army Air Corps, and--following the advice of psychiatrists-- >homosexuals." > >The Navy only allowed African American men to serve as >stewards and mess-hall attendants. Fewer than 5,000 of the >230,000 men in the Army were Black. > >There were only two Black combat officers in the Regular >Army and none in the Navy. Five hundred out of 100,000 Army >reservists were Black. > >Asa Philip Randolph (1889-1979) was one of the most >influential leaders of the movement to desegregate the >military and end racist discrimination in hiring by the >defense industry. Randolph helped found the Brotherhood of >Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. > >In his early years, Randolph was a socialist. He said that >that his discovery of socialism as a young man was "like >finally running into an idea which gives you your whole >outlook on life." > >That outlook had made Randolph take a stand against U.S. >involvement in WW I. In 1918, socialists like Randolph and >Hubert H. Harrison attacked that war as imperialist in >nature. Randolph and other civil-rights leaders had been >denouncing racism in the armed forces and the defense >industry since WW I. > >In September 1940, at a Sleeping Car Porters convention, >Randolph issued a resolution calling for an end to racist >segregation in the armed forces. > >Eleanor Roosevelt, attending the convention, set up a >conference at the White House for Randolph and other civil- >rights leaders. On Sept. 27, 1940, President Franklin D. >Roosevelt and leading officials of his administration met >with Randolph, Walter White from the NAACP, and T. Arnold >Hill from the National Urban League. > >The Black leaders reportedly put forward their demand: the >immediate desegregation of the military. But the Democrats >betrayed them. > >Randolph biographer Sally Hanley wrote, "The Roosevelt >administration was afraid that an order barring racial >discrimination would upset southern congressmen and their >constituents, and it was unwilling to make changes." > >Instead, Hanley explained, the White House issued a news >release about the meeting stating that Randolph, White, and >Hill had approved the military's segregation policy. "The >three men were outraged by the false statement, and it was >only with difficulty that they were able to clear their >names before the black community." > >In January 1941 Randolph issued a call for a "thundering >march on Washington" powerful enough to "shake up white >America." The stated goal of the march, set for July 1, >1941, was to end segregation in the military and to win jobs >for African Americans in the defense industry. > >Randolph said the "leaders in Washington will never give >the Negro justice until they see masses--10, 20, 50 thousand >Negroes on the White House lawn!" > >The response was electrifying. People from around the >country wrote to the Sleeping Car Porters' headquarters in >New York asking for information about how to take part in >the march. A big group of prominent individuals--community >and union leaders--joined Randolph to form a March on >Washington Committee. > >In March 1941, Randolph issued a statement about the need >for this march. He wrote, "In this period of power politics, >nothing counts but pressure, more pressure, and still more >pressure." > >Randolph was criticized by some for insisting that only >Black people march. But he answered that there are some >things that Black people must do alone. He called on white >supporters to line the route of march and cheer on their >African American sisters and brothers. > >With enthusiastic support from the Black press and >communities, the March on Washington Committee took its call >to action to the masses. Randolph visited barbershops and >beauty parlors, restaurants and bars, pools halls and street >corners to talk to people in their own neighborhoods about >the need to rally for this march. The crowds that listened >grew. > >As July 1 grew nearer, the Roosevelt administration began >to waver. Federal officials sent a letter to defense >industry executives asking them to make more of an effort to >hire African Americans. Randolph replied that the president >must issue an executive order "with teeth in it." > >At the request of the Oval Office, Eleanor Roosevelt and >New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia tried to persuade >Randolph to call off the march. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to >Randolph, "I am afraid it will set back the progress which >is being made, in the Army at least, towards better >opportunities and less segregation." > >In a matronizing tone she admonished Randolph, "one must >face situations as they are and not as one wishes them to >be." > >Joanne Grant, editor of Black Protest, wrote that it was >similar to President Abraham Lincoln telling Frederick >Douglass and other Black leaders petitioning the federal >government for equal pay for Black soldiers in the Civil War >that "the country was not ready." > >On June 18, President Roosevelt again met with Randolph at >the White House to pressure the civil-rights leader to halt >the mass mobilization. Then, on June 25, Roosevelt finally >issued Executive Order 8802 formally ending employment >discrimination in government and defense industries. > >The order also set up the Fair Employment Practices >Committee to investigate complaints about discrimination and >set up grievance procedures. > >Three days later, Randolph announced he was canceling the >march. > >[Next: How the battle to desegregate the military was won.] > >Sources: Allen, Robert L. "The Port Chicago Mutiny" >(Warner Books, Inc.: New York, 1989); Berman, Peter M. and >Mort N. Bergman. "The Chronological History of the Negro in >America" (New American Library: New York, 1969); B�rub�, >Alan. "Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and >Women in World War Two" (Plume: 1991); Grant, Joanne, ed. >"Black Protest: History, Documents, and Analyses 1619 to the >Present" (Fawcett Publications, Inc.: Greenwich, Conn., >1969); Hanley, Sally. Introduction by Coretta Scott King. >"A. Philip Randolph" (Chelsea House Publishers: New York, >1986); Hutchinson, Earl Ofari.. "Blacks and Reds: Race and >Class in Conflict 1919-1990" (Michigan State University >Press: East Lansing, 1995); Jacoby, Tamar. "someone else's >house: america's unfinished struggle for integration" (Basic >Books: 1998); Marable, Manning and Leith Mullings, eds. "Let >Nobody Turn Us Around" (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, >Inc.: New York, 2000); Rose, Arnold. "The Negro in America" >(The Beacon Press: Boston, 1957). > > - 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: <007b01b1f67c$cdcf3340$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Vieques to Navy: 'Clean up DU shells' >Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1988 17:41:20 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Feb. 3, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >VIEQUES TO NAVY: "CLEAN UP DU SHELLS" > >By John Catalinotto > >Residents of Vieques are demanding that the U.S. Navy >fulfill its responsibility to the local environment and >clean up depleted-uranium shells it fired on the island. > >In early January, Navy spokespeople admitted firing 263 >shells reinforced with DU during practice runs in Vieques >"by accident." They said Navy forces were able to recover 57 >rounds, leaving 206. > >Activists on Vieques don't believe the tests were an >accident, since they know the Pentagon closely monitors the >use of DU shells. And they charge the Pentagon is covering >up other incidents in which the radioactive munitions were >fired on the island. > >New York Democrat Rep. Jose Serrano has called for a >congressional investigation. "The use of cancer-inducing >depleted uranium on Vieques must be investigated through >federal hearings," he said. > >DU shells are reinforced with uranium-238, a byproduct of >the process that makes atomic bombs or nuclear fuel. The >dense DU makes the shell capable of penetrating steel. But >when it strikes the steel, it burns and sends radioactive >and poisonous uranium oxide into the air, where it can be >inhaled or ingested. > >Iraqi doctors have reported increases of childhood >leukemia, other cancers and birth defects in the area of >their country where U.S. forces fired almost a million DU >shells. DU is also suspected of being a cause of Gulf War >Syndrome. > >U.S. forces also used DU shells in Bosnia in 1995 and >against Yugoslavia in 1999, but the brass have refused to >tell United Nations investigators how many were used. > >On Vieques, incidents of cancer among the residents are >26.7 percent higher than in the main island of Puerto Rico, >according to a 30-year study released several years ago by >Puerto Rico's Health Department. > >Dr. Rafael Rivera Castano, an epidemiologist at the >University of Puerto Rico, said, "In Vieques, there are no >factories that contaminate the air. The only explanation is >the environmental contamination we've found--lead, arsenic, >chromium and now radioactive contamination from depleted >uranium--which only comes from the bombing and exercises of >the Navy." (Jan. 13, Fox News) > > - 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: <008101b1f67d$34ce6340$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] The Hiett case & the U.S. war in Colombia >Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1988 17:44:13 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Feb. 3, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >A MAJOR COVER-UP: >THE HIETT CASE & THE U.S. WAR IN COLOMBIA > >By Deirdre Griswold > >Which takes precedence in the U.S. media: Nielson ratings >or the strategic interests of U.S. imperialism? > >Most of the time, it appears that network ratings drive >the media's sensationalism. But there's a truly sensational >bit of news that hardly any newspaper or network seems to >want to touch. > >It involves a drug smuggling case. All the elements are >there for a juicy, long-running story. > >A U.S. national, Laurie Anne Hiett, has been charged with >sending four shipments of heroin from Colombia to the United >States. She surrendered to federal authorities in August and >was freed on bond after pleading not guilty. > >But that's just the beginning. What makes this case truly >sensational is how the heroin was shipped here. It was >mailed from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. > >And why was Hiett able to use the embassy's mail service? >Because she is married to U.S. Army Col. James Hiett. > >And what was the colonel's job? > >He was the commander of the U.S. Army's anti-drug >operation in Colombia. The top man. > >You can't get a more sensational story than that. How come >none of the commentators are talking about it? How come >there are no screaming headlines? No enraged editorials? > >Well, some might say, give Laurie Anne Hiett her day in >court. Maybe this is all a mistake. Didn't she say she's >innocent? > >But the New York Times of Jan. 20, in a small article on >page four of the Metro section, reported that Hiett is now >expected to plead guilty in a plea bargain. Nobody--the >prosecution or her lawyers--could be reached for comment. > >The plea bargain, of course, conveniently keeps this case >from going to trial, where all kinds of questions could be >asked. > >This amazing case is being swept under the rug at the very >same moment that the U.S. government has announced it is so >distressed by Colombian drug trafficking that it will spend >$1.6 billion on aid, most of it to the Colombian military, >to deal with this scourge. > >Colombia now ranks third on the list of countries that >receive U.S. military aid. > >Secretary of State Madeleine Albright went to Colombia >personally to announce this huge increase in helicopters, >weapons and U.S. Special Forces "trainers" to invade this >South American country. She used the occasion to attack the >revolutionary groups that have been fighting for deep social >change, calling them "narco-terrorists." > >Albright's protestations to the contrary, it should be >perfectly clear that U.S. intervention in Colombia has >nothing to do with drugs. If Washington had one drop of >sincerity on this issue, the government would have >immediately put Col. Hiett and his whole crew on trial. But >instead, Hiett has been "relocated" to an unnamed location. > >Several years ago, a general in Cuba was charged with >involvement in drug trafficking. His past record of bravery >and his personal acquaintance with President Fidel Castro >made no difference in how he was treated. In fact, the Cuban >government took this case extremely seriously precisely >because of his high position. The general was tried, found >guilty and executed. > >There is no drug problem in Cuba today. > >Has that ever happened to the real drug kingpins in this >country--the bankers who launder billions of dollars in drug >money, the "front men" who run so-called legitimate >businesses as covers for drug dealing? Or is it the petty >dealers, the small-time users, who fill the prisons? > >The U.S. political-military establishment has concocted >the phony "war on drugs" to divert attention from what it is >really doing in Colombia. The mission is the same as it was >in Vietnam, or at the Bay of Pigs. It is to prevent an anti- >capitalist popular movement from transforming Colombian >society. > >The mission is to stop a socialist revolution that is long >overdue, not just in Colombia, not just in all of Latin >America, but in the world as a whole. > >That's why all the big-time editors at the media >conglomerates, which today are the biggest of big >businesses, have conspired to treat the Hiett case as non- >news. > > - 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) > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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