> > WW News Service Digest #132 > > 1) Juan Miguel Gonzalez honored > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) WW review: 'Living Like the Saints' > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) 'Market Elections' and General Custer > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >JUAN MUGUEL GONZALEZ HONORED: >HOW CUBAN WORKER RESISTED U.S. BRIBES > >Greg Butterfield > >On July 5, over 5,000 people packed the Karl Marx Theater >in Havana to pay tribute to a revolutionary worker: Juan >Miguel Gonzalez, parent of Elian Gonzalez. > >Before an audience that included millions watching on >television, President Fidel Castro declared, "A small boy >and a humble Cuban father, whom very few people knew just a >few months ago, came back converted into gigantic moral >symbols of our homeland. > >"[Gonzalez's] conduct was filled with glory and he gained >for always the admiration of his people." > >President Castro presented Gonzalez with the Carlos Manuel >de Cespedes medal, named for an 18th century Cuban >independence fighter. It's one of the socialist nation's >highest civilian honors. > >Gonzalez had tears in his eyes as President Castro pinned >the medal on his jacket. He received a standing ovation. > >Gonzalez's 6-year-old child, Elian, was kidnapped by the >U.S. government after he was found floating in an inner >tube last November. For a time Elian was held hostage by >right-wing Cuban exiles in Miami. > >Gonzalez, a 31-year-old worker from Cardenas, traveled to >the United States with his family to win his son's freedom. > >Demonstrations by millions of Cuban youths and workers >regularly demanded Elian's return and supported the >Gonzalez family's fight. > >Protests were also organized in the United States by the >Committee to Return Elian Gonzalez to his Father in Cuba. > >Polls showed that more than 75 percent of people in the >United States thought Elian should be allowed to go home. > >Finally, Washington relented, and on June 28, the U.S. >Supreme Court let Elian and his family fly back to Cuba. > >"I owe this to all the people of Cuba," Gonzalez said. "I >have not done anything out of this world. I have done what >any father would have." > >Solidarity worth more than money > >Elian didn't attend the ceremony. The boy is adjusting to >life outside the capitalist media spotlight. He's >surrounded by family, friends and teachers. > >But a huge portrait of Elian's smiling face formed the >backdrop for his father's award. > >Gonz lez said it was nothing special that he stood firm >and rejected U.S. pressure and bribery. > >The anti-communist Miami Cubans offered him $2 million to >stay in the United States with Elian, he said. > >Gonzalez called the bribe "offensive." > >It might be hard for a worker in the United States to >imagine how it could be "nothing special" to turn down $2 >million--especially when it's being offered by people who >have power over your child's life. > >It was, as Gonzalez said, the solidarity of the Cuban >people that made it possible for him to stand firm. > >There are hardships in Cuba. Many of them are the results >of the 40-year U.S. blockade, which prevents basic things >like food and medicines from being imported. > >Cuba is a poor country. Because of the long history of >colonial underdevelopment while Spain and the United States >ruled there, the country's economy is still largely >agricultural. > >Those hardships, along with the exclusive treatment >awarded to Cuban �migr�s by the Cuban Adjustment Act, are >part of a conscious U.S. policy to try and undermine Cuba's >socialist system. > >It was this deadly combination that pushed Elian's mother >to risk her son's life and her own by taking a raft to >Florida. She drowned--another victim of U.S. aggression >against Cuba. > >But the fact is, most Cuban workers have heroically >resisted the blockade, the bribes and all the Yankee >attempts to destroy the great social revolution that >unfolded beginning on Jan. 1, 1959. The vast majority of >Cubans have rallied to their socialist government. > >The revolution has meant homes, food, education and health >care for all. It has brought about the highest literacy >rate in Latin America and the lowest infant mortality rate- >-lower even than many U.S. cities. > >It has created a society of cooperation and solidarity >where the working class rules. > >That's the society Juan Miguel Gonzalez grew up in. It's >the revolution he stood upon when he fought for his child. > >And it's the socialist future he wants for Elian. > > - END - > >(Copyright 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: <002301bfef92$16845c20$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] WW review: 'Living Like the Saints' >Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:55:20 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >WW REVIEW: "LIVING LIKE THE SAINTS" > >"Living Like the Saints" >By Liston Pope Jr., >N.A. Gilbert & Sons, New York, 1996, 300 pages > > > >By Deirdre Griswold > >Considering the great dramatic content of revolutions, it >is remarkable that so few novels have been written about >them. There can be no other explanation than the tremendous >counter-revolutionary pressure under which Western >capitalist culture is warped and stultified. > >Even the French Revolution--a great social overturn, but >one that went no further than establishing a bourgeois >republic--gets more knocks than praise in European >literature, most notably in Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two >Cities." The promise of its memorable opening sentence--"It >was the best of times, it was the worst of times"--is >frittered away on a plot shackled to the British >bourgeoisie's compromise with monarchy. > >The best-known novel about the U.S. Civil War--the closest >thing to a social revolution in this country, although it >fell short of real emancipation of Black people--was the >thoroughly reactionary and racist "Gone With the Wind." > >It is a joy, then, to pick up a book with the somewhat >unlikely title of "Living Like the Saints" and find that it >is a beautifully written narrative about the Nicaraguan >Revolution. Liston Pope lived in Nicaragua for several >years in the 1980s. He dedicates the book to Nora Astorga, >the guerrilla fighter whose daring exploits especially >thrilled women, and who survived Somoza's prisons only to >die of cancer not long after the revolution. > >There are well-drawn central characters in this book, >whose lives of struggle and sacrifice should move even the >most blas� North American reader. Pope portrays with >tenderness and love those who never lost hope but persisted >in their resistance to the gut-wrenching ferocity of the >Somoza dictatorship. He deftly weaves in the connections >between the state, the oligarchy and their patrons in >Washington. > >But surrounding the central characters is an aroused >multitude. The story focuses on insurrections in the city >of Masaya, a hotbed of Sandinista sentiment and >organization. The battles are a neighborhood affair. >Everyone knows who to turn to, how to pitch in and help the >experienced guerrilla fighters, who occasionally filter >into the city and as mysteriously disappear again. > >Many of the heroes are children, including the >unforgettable character of Alma, who takes up the cause >when her brother, a revolutionary poet, is snatched up by >Somoza's National Guard for imprisonment and sure torture. > >The title indicates that Liston wrote largely for >religious progressives inspired by the Central American >revolutions and liberation theology. But he is not a >compromiser and does not spare reactionaries in the church. >His depiction of the role of the leading priest in the >city--based on a true character--will surprise you. > >The Nicaraguan Revolution was one of the casualties of the >tide of reaction that swept over the world in the 1980s. >While there's no question that the people had fought for >the same kind of profound restructuring of society achieved >by the Cuban Revolution, the Sandinistas got rid of Somoza >but were never able to uproot the bourgeoisie. The rich and >privileged kept up a constant sabotage of the revolution >from within, aided by U.S. imperialism from without. > >All the more reason not to forget the tremendous struggles >and victories of the revolutionary period. Pope's book >makes them come alive with passion, wit and humor. > >It is available at leftbooks.com or by writing to Liston >Pope Jr., P.O. Box 237132, New York, NY 10023-3031. > > - 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: <002901bfef92$370680e0$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] 'Market Elections' and General Custer >Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 21:56:16 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >LETTER TO THE EDITOR: "MARKET ELECTIONS" AND GENERAL CUSTER > >I'm very much fascinated with reading the Workers World- >published book, "Market Elections" by Vince Copeland. This >book, I think, breaks new ground in explaining how the U.S. >"market" political system was built, and is an important >contribution to U.S. history. > >Copeland shows the importance of the electoral struggle >and crisis of l876, when Black people in the South were >sold out. For in 1877, as Copeland says, the capitalists >under President Rutherford B. Hayes halted Reconstruction >in the South by withdrawing federal troops, known as the >Great Betrayal. The Klan then had a free hand to unleash >terror and take away Black people's rights. > >But another factor in the struggle was General Custer of >the Seventh Cavalry. This is written about in the book >"Crazy Horse and Custer, the Parallel Lives of Two American >Warriors." Custer had long been mentioned for president >since Civil War days, when he was a racist pro-slavery >Democrat general who happened to fight for the North. His >hero was Gen. McClelland, who he first served under. > >But in 1876, the ruling-class New York Herald under >publisher James Gordon Bennet was pushing hard for Custer. >120 prominent New York Democrats signed a petition against >Democratic contender Tilden, because Tilden wanted to bust >up the leadership of Tammany Hall. This petition was widely >published. > >As the Seventh Cavalry rode out looking for the "hostile" >Lakota's in l876, it is documented that Custer told his >Native scouts that if they won the battle up ahead that he >was going to be the next "great white father" and they >would receive his considerations. > >As they approached the Little Bighorn Custer refused to >take along extra heavy guns. They would slow him down and >he was in a big hurry. He rode his troops all night and >when they got to the Little Bighorn they were very tired. >But Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull might have whipped them >either way. > >The Battle of Little Bighorn took place one day before the >Democratic Convention was to open in St. Louis and Custer's >crushing defeat was probably a huge shock that upset the >electoral calculations of l876. It might have been hoped >that Custer could ride into the White House in a blaze of >glory. > >But even with Republican President Hayes the capitalists >effected the Great Betrayal of 1877. And also in l877 the >last of the Lakotas and their allies were forced to >surrender and Crazy Horse was captured and murdered. This >ended the last great Native war of resistance on the plains >and opened the way for the railroads and "manifest >destiny." > >Custer's defeat was such a shock that as Leonard Peltier >recently said, they still haven't gotten over it today. The >government is still attacking Native people for it, Peltier >said in a recent interview in the Boulder Weekly. > >This is shown by the fact that exactly 99 years later, on >June 25, 1975, one-eighth of the South Dakota Pine Ridge >Reservation was signed over to the transnational uranium >companies for strip mining. > >The following day, June 26, Peltier and other American >Indian Movement members were forced to defend themselves >against a massive FBI-led firefight on Pine Ridge, a so- >called "crime" for which Native warrior Peltier is still in >prison. > >Jim McMahan >Seattle > > - END - > >(Copyright 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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