>Manhattan's Union Square to Washington Square, the heart of
>New York University's campus, on April 13. The workers had
>walked off construction sites throughout New York to
>protest NYU's use of a non-union contractor to build new
>dormitories. Four giant inflated rats stood outside the NYU
>library facing President L. Jay Oliva's office. Arrayed
>behind the rats, workers chanted, "Shame on you, NYU." It
>was the second mass labor protest against NYU in recent
>weeks, and organizers said there are more to come until NYU
>starts using union labor. Speakers also blasted the
>university administration for trying to block graduate
>employees from unionizing.
>
>To no one's surprise, on April 14 Provost Harvey Steadman
>announced that NYU would appeal the National Labor
>Relations Board regional director's recent ruling
>recognizing the graduate workers' right to collective
>bargaining. The university sought to prevent the scheduled
>April 24-26 unionization vote from taking place. Steadman's
>statement claimed strong faculty support for denying the
>workers their right to union representation. Yet just the
>day before he had been sent a letter signed by hundreds of
>faculty members imploring the bosses to recognize the
>workers' democratic rights and "accept whatever choice
>graduate students make in this month's vote on
>unionization." Voting on union representation did begin as
>scheduled April 25, after the labor board rejected the NYU
>administration's attempts to block the vote.
>
>NURSES DEMAND PRISONER CARE
>
>Nurses protested outside Wisconsin prisons April 13 in
>solidarity with prisoners' demands for decent health care.
>Members of the United Professionals for Health Care union
>who work in the prisons say they are horrified at the state
>of medical care for prisoners. The situation became widely
>known in February, when Michelle Greer, a young African
>American woman, died at Taycheedah Correctional
>Institution. Greer had an asthma attack in the prison
>dining hall. She pleaded for medical help. Her pleas were
>denied. She collapsed, and died clutching her inhaler. In
>another case, according to one of the Taycheedah nurses,
>the prison infirmary ran out of insulin, leaving diabetic
>prisoners at risk of death. Along with the lack of
>supplies, inadequate facilities, and prison officials'
>indifference, protesters said, understaffing makes it
>impossible to provide adequate medical care to the
>prisoners. Outside Taycheedah on the 13th, protesting
>nurses released balloons in memory of Greer. Union
>representative LeNore Wilson said, "This symbolic gesture
>will be our way of asking the state of Wisconsin,
>department of corrections to ... [take] immediate steps to
>improve the provision of health care in the state penal
>system."
>
>LABOR FOR IMMIGRANTS
>
>On April 1 in New York, the AFL-CIO held the first in a
>series of forums on conditions facing immigrant workers.
>The forum followed the labor federation's recent move to
>call for full rights for all immigrant workers. It kicked
>off a national campaign for those rights. Hundreds of
>workers and union representatives came to the event, held
>at the headquarters of Service Employees Local 32B-32J.
>Many workers told wrenching stories of outrageous
>exploitation and the difficult struggle to survive. They
>included South Asian cab drivers, Haitian home health
>aides, Central American housekeepers, Chinese restaurant
>workers and African grocery deliverers.
>
>AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson led
>the forum. She said, "All working people deserve dignity
>and have the right to a voice in the workplace" regardless
>of whether they are first-generation immigrants or "their
>families came here on slave ships or on the Mayflower."
>Saying, "We need a new amnesty program for all," Chavez-
>Thompson called the forum "the starting point [for] the
>labor movement." She concluded with a canine reference to
>bosses who super-exploit immigrant workers: "It's time for
>the labor movement and all others to stand up for immigrant
>workers and all others in the work place. Let's get serious
>and take these dogs on!" Similar forums are set for
>Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.
>
> - 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: <001f01bfb253$6542f5a0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] 10,000 Haitians march against NYC police brutality
>Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 23:23:03 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the May 4, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>ACROSS BROOKLYN BRIDGE:
>10,000 HAITIANS MARCH AGAINST COP BRUTALITY
>
>By G. Dunkel
>New York
>
>"Rip out Giuliani's roots"--in Creole, "Giuliani, rache
>many�k li"--was the sentiment expressed by the 10,000
>mostly Haitian people who marched April 20 from Grand Army
>Plaza in Brooklyn across the Brooklyn Bridge to rally in
>front of City Hall in lower Manhattan.
>
>The demonstrators started gathering at 8 a.m. The rally
>finished after 5 p.m.
>
>Ray Laforest explained, "Thousands of Haitians obviously
>felt that protesting against police brutality, and [New
>York Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani's role in promoting it, was
>worth losing a day's pay." Laforest is a labor unionist and
>a leader of the Haitian Coalition for Justice, the group
>that organized the protest.
>
>Giuiliani was the main target of protesters' anger. Signs
>in English read, "Giuliani violates human rights,"
>"Giuliani, the new Hitler," "Stop and frisk Giuliani, book
>him up for racism," and "Volpe move over and leave room for
>Giuliani." Justin Volpe was the police officer who pleaded
>guilty to torturing Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant;
>Volpe is now serving a 30-year sentence for that crime.
>
>Daniel Simidor, who chaired the rallies at both ends of
>the march, said, "Giuliani killed Patrick Dorismond twice:
>once with a bullet and the other with his mouth." At the
>opening of the first rally, he said, "This is a protest
>against police brutality inflicted on any person of color"-
>-Haitian, Jamaican, Latino or African American.
>
>Dorismond, a Haitian American worker, was killed March 14
>by an undercover cop. In a "sting" attempt, the cop's
>partner had demanded that Dorismond sell him drugs. When
>Dorismond angrily refused, he was shot.
>
>`WE SAY FIGHT BACK'
>
>Vladimir Francois, who organized security for the march,
>declared at Grand Army Plaza: "If the cops say get back, we
>say fight back. We are within our rights to march."
>
>The cops did not arrest anyone during or after the march.
>When they tried to force the marchers onto a narrow
>sidewalk at City Hall, there was a standoff until the cops
>gave the rally more space.
>
>Contingents from Mount Sinai Medical School, Hunter
>College Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM), Medgar
>Evers College, the International Action Center, Jubilee
>2000, the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, and
>the Friends and Family of Yang Xin Huang were among the
>non-Haitians who joined the march.
>
>Some 500 cops with riot helmets marched alongside the
>demonstration and two, sometimes three, helicopters hovered
>overhead. Despite this attempt at intimidation, the march
>grew from 1,500 people when it stepped off to over 8,000
>when it reached the Brooklyn Bridge.
>
>The spirit, the chants, the songs, the abundant Haitian
>flags waving and wrapped around heads and bodies, the
>dancing to the sounds of the drums and trumpets, and the
>chants that described what the people wanted to do to
>Giuliani dispelled the cops' intimidating presence.
>
>>From the front banner to the two rara bands that attracted
>youths to the end of the march, many people carried signs
>demanding a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, the African
>American journalist who has been on Pennsylvania's death
>row for the past 19 years. Most of the signs about Abu-
>Jamal asked people to go to the May 7 rally at the theater
>at Madison Square Garden.
>
>When Larry Holmes, representing Millions for Mumia and the
>International Action Center, asked the crowd at the rally
>who had heard of Mumia, almost every hand was raised.
>
>Patrick Dorismond's mother, father, sister and brother all
>spoke to the crowd. Many of the Haitians present had tears
>in their eyes when Marie Dorismond said in Creole: "We must
>stand up and fight for our rights. Help me find justice for
>my son."
>
>Andre Dorismond, his father, said: ""Keep the pressure on,
>keep the pressure on."
>
>Abner Louima talked about how Black people are viewed by
>police.
>
>"We are tired of being portrayed as drug dealers, we are
>tired of being portrayed as criminals," Louima said. "We
>want to be judged for our actions, not our skin color."
>
>The Rev. Al Sharpton had a prior speaking engagement in
>Philadelphia. Sharpton and his National Action Network held
>several rallies the same week protesting police brutality.
>About a dozen people, including Sharpton, were arrested at
>those rallies after conducting civil disobedience, such as
>blocking entrances to buildings.
>
> - 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: <002501bfb253$854c40e0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Hearing on German role in NATO's aggression on Yugoslavia
>Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 23:23:57 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the May 4, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>HEARING IN HAMBURG:
>GERMAN ROLE IN NATO'S AGGRESSION ON YUGOSLAVIA
>
>By John Catalinotto
>
>Just as in the United States, there is a movement in
>Germany to indict its own ruling class for carrying out the
>war against Yugoslavia.
>
>Some 350 people gathered April 16 in Hamburg, Germany, to
>examine the role of the German government and German
>officials in NATO's war of aggression against Yugoslavia.
>
>The hearing was the second held by the committee preparing
>an International Tribunal on NATO's War Crimes against
>Yugoslavia for June 2-3 in Berlin. The first hearing was
>held in Berlin last Oct. 30.
>
>Representatives from 13 countries, including the United
>States, Russia and Yugoslavia, participated.
>
>Wolfgang Richter, chairperson of the Society for the
>Protection of Civil Rights and Human Dignity, told
>reporters the focus on Germany made this hearing
>noteworthy. He called attention to the April 1999 call,
>signed by 60 individuals, that soldiers in the Bundeswehr
>refuse to fight in Kosovo. Most were later acquitted of any
>charges stemming from this call.
>
>Richter also noted the discussion of the media's role in
>fomenting and building support for the war. He mentioned
>that Rolf Becker from the union of media workers
>contributed to this discussion. Horst Schmitthenner from
>the metalworkers' union IG Metall spoke on the union
>movement and the war.
>
>Among the other speakers were former German Democratic
>Republic Ambassador to Yugoslavia Ralph Hartmann, who
>examined Germany's role in the Balkans and especially in
>provoking the breakup of Yugoslavia.
>
>At a time when U.S. imperialism believed it could swallow
>up Yugoslavia whole, German imperialism instigated the
>dismemberment of the former socialist federation.
>
>Dr. Matthias Kuentzel, whose book "The Road to War" was
>recently published, focused on the particular crimes of the
>German regime. "No country was more responsible for
>lighting the fire that started this war than Germany," said
>Kuentzel.
>
>Yugoslav General Consul Miroljub Milanovic said: "All who
>believed this war is over are mistaken. ... The bombing has
>stopped, but the war against Yugoslavia continues."
>
>The Hamburg jurist Dr. Heinz-J�rgen Schneider demanded
>that the evidence be used not just politically but to bring
>those responsible for the war to justice.
>
>The June 2-3 International Tribunal will be European in
>scope. It is expected to bring hard evidence against NATO
>war criminals, not only those from Germany but those from
>the United States and other NATO countries.
>
>A delegation from the German committee will then
>participate in the June 10 International Tribunal scheduled
>for New York. There former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
>Clark will bring 19 charges against political and military
>leaders of NATO countries--with special focus on U.S.
>leaders--for crimes against peace and humanity, and war
>crimes.
>
> - 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)
>
>
>
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