>battle cry be heard far and wide: "Avenge Shaka, free
>Mumia! Justice for J.R. Warren! End the racist death
>penalty and stop the lynchings now!"
>
>Rainbow Flags for Mumia, the lesbian, gay, bi, two-spirit
>and trans organization to free Mumia Abu-Jamal will have
>contingents denouncing racist and anti-gay lynchings at
>every major event 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: <021301bff9bb$f07eb6e0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Okinawa: Resistance to war criminals summit
>Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 20:20:17 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="Windows-1252"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>OKINAWA: RESISITANCE TO WAR CRIMINALS SUMMIT
>
>By Gery Armsby
>
>Meetings held in Nago, Okinawa, July 21-23 by leaders of
>the Group of 8 countries were met with militant resistance.
>
>A massive presence of 22,000 police, drawn mainly from
>other parts of Japan, met the demonstrators and held the
>island under "coercive police order" during the three-day
>Summit of Eight. The seven imperialist countries that
>control the world's economy and monopolize its wealth--the
>United States, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Canada and
>Italy--plus Russia make up the G8.
>
>Unable to approach the isolated and heavily guarded
>meetings in large numbers, protesters still had a huge
>impact on the weekend when nearly 30,000 people surrounded
>the 11-mile perimeter of Kadena Air Force Base, a U.S.
>military installation bigger than any other in Asia. The
>action drew world media attention to mass sentiment in
>Okinawa against the U.S. military.
>
>The demonstrators' demands included condemnation for the
>U.S. soldier charged with sexually assaulting a young
>Okinawan girl on July 3 and a halt to the construction of a
>new U.S. Marine Base in Nago City.
>
>Demonstrations held throughout July opposing the summit
>were organized by the Okinawa Federation of Students' Self-
>Governing Associations, the Antiwar Youth Committee in
>Okinawa, the Japan Revolutionary Communist
>League/Revolutionary Marxist Faction and others.
>
>Since World War II, Okinawans have lived day after day
>with the hazards of U.S. training maneuvers and all of the
>problems endemic to the heavy presence of U.S. military
>personnel, which currently number 26,000 troops. These
>problems include violence against women, reckless driving
>and disregard for the Okinawan people.
>
>Recently the Washington officially acknowledged it is
>storing depleted uranium weaponry throughout the island
>bases. Depleted uranium, a waste product of the uranium
>refinement process, is both toxic and radioactive, and is
>dangerous to humans.
>
>A statement made by members of the Okinawa Committee for
>Struggles Against the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit denounced the
>G8 Summit as a "gathering of war criminals."
>
>The group also appealed to anti-war activists around the
>world, saying "we express our ardent solidarity with
>friends who are struggling for removal of U.S. military
>bases in various areas including South Korea, Philippines
>and Puerto Rico. Let us fight against imperialist military
>alliances led by the U.S. including NATO and the U.S.-Japan
>alliance."
>
> - 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: <021901bff9bc$042402e0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Russia: Young fighters against capitalism jailed
>Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 20:20:50 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="Windows-1252"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>RUSSIA: YOUNG FIGHTERS AGAINST CAPITALISM JAILED
>
>By Bill Wayland
>
>The crisis of capitalism in Russia has sometimes forced
>the government of President Vladimir Putin to act sternly
>toward individual capitalists who have moved much of the
>country's wealth into Western banks.
>
>When it does so, there are howls of outrage from the State
>Department and the U.S. corporate media. Such was the case
>in May, when the Russian state briefly jailed
>multibillionaire Vladimir Gusinsky.
>
>When partisans of socialism and the working class are
>imprisoned, however, the silence is deafening.
>
>Over the past five months, the Federal Security Bureau,
>Russia's FBI, has arrested five young revolutionaries on
>spurious charges of planting bombs near FSB offices in 1998
>and 1999.
>
>The five--Nadezhda Raks, Tatiana Sokolova, Larissa
>Romanova, Andrei Sokolov and Igor Gubkin--belong to the
>Revolutionary Young Communist League-Bolshevik (RKSM-B).
>Raks and Sokolova, who are also activists in the Russia
>Communist Workers Party (RKRP), have been held since
>February.
>
>They deny all charges, and no evidence has been presented
>against them.
>
>The five have been denied rights guaranteed under Russia's
>Soviet-era laws. Raks was not allowed to see a lawyer until
>six weeks after her arrest. Sokolova was only allowed to
>see her relatives twice though the law allows fortnightly
>visits. The prisoners'letters have been sent out after six
>weeks rather than in the three days the law requires.
>
>Raks was born in Ukraine in 1973. Despite the destruction
>of Soviet power, she remained loyal to the ideals of
>socialism and the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1993 she moved
>to the Russian city of Kaluga, where she worked as a
>schoolteacher. She revived the Soviet children's
>organization Young Pioneers and reorganized summer Pioneer
>camps, which had disappeared after the fall of the Soviet
>Union. In 1997 she organized a teachers' strike in Kaluga.
>She is also a writer for the RKSM-B newspaper Bumbarash.
>
>In a letter from prison, Raks said, "We have chosen our
>way and found our mission in life, like our grandmothers
>and grandfathers during the [Second World] War. I do not
>want to be a lackey. I am glad I have nothing to be ashamed
>of before those Soviet people who gave their dearest
>possession, their lives, for the future and for Soviet
>power."
>
>A Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
>Fighting for Socialism has been formed and held a rally in
>support of the five in central Moscow June 15. "Stop
>political repression against communists" and "Stop the
>prison state from jailing the innocent" were among the
>slogans at the rally.
>
>Protests against the jailing of political activists in
>Russia may be emailed to the Ministry of the Interior at
>Ministry @MID.ru, the FSB at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and to President
>Putin at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Protest
>
>letters can also be faxed to Putin at 011-7-095-206-02-66.
>
>The committee asks that copies of the protests and letters
>of support be sent to N.G. Raks, E-20, p/ja 201, Moscow,
>Russia 111 020.
>
> - 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: <021f01bff9bc$2848f0e0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] On the picket line: 8/3/2000
>Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 20:21:50 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="Windows-1252"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>ON THE PICKET LINE
>
>WICHITA BOEING WORKERS VOTE UNION
>
>Clerical and technical workers at Boeing's Wichita, Kan.,
>plant voted on June 29 to join the Society of Professional
>Engineering Employees in Aerospace. The 4,200 salaried
>workers make up roughly one quarter of the company's
>Wichita workforce. They include general office workers,
>technicians, designers, drafters, systems analysts,
>planners and programmers. About 94 percent of eligible
>workers voted, according to the union.
>
>By voting for SPEEA, the workers joined ranks with 22,600
>Boeing engineers and technical workers who belong to the
>union nationwide, including 1,300 Boeing engineers in
>Wichita. They have also made the Wichita facility--with
>16,600 workers--the most heavily unionized aircraft
>manufacturing plant in the country.
>
>Two previous attempts to unionize the workers, in 1987 and
>1988, were unsuccessful. But this time Wichita workers said
>the inspiring strike by SPEEA engineers at Boeing's Seattle
>operation was an important factor in their decision to vote
>for the union.
>
>"It helped a lot of employees realize SPEEA was a strong
>union and they could be proud to be part of that," said
>Boeing worker Daniel Mengoni.
>
>Nevertheless, the vote was close, with 1,924--50.9
>percent--voting for the unionization and 1,859 against.
>This led the company to appeal the vote to the National
>Labor Relations Board in a last-ditch attempt to thwart the
>union victory. Boeing charged the union with violating
>election rules and complained about the balloting
>procedures of the NLRB, which ran the election. The union
>has disputed the company's allegations, which will be
>investigated by the NLRB.
>
>JANITORS' JUSTICE FOR GOLDEN MARK
>
>An energetic campaign by New York's largest janitor's
>union has cost anti-union Golden Mark Maintenance lots of
>business. Citibank, Cooper Union and a number of large
>office buildings have kicked the cleaning company to the
>curb in favor of unionized cleaning operations. Unionized
>janitors make about $15 an hour with benefits, while Golden
>Mark pays a paltry $6.50 to $7 an hour with few or no
>benefits.
>
>As part of its strategy to win justice for janitors,
>Service Employees Local 32B-32J has thrown up picket lines
>and held meetings to pressure mega-bucks building owners to
>drop Golden Mark. The campaign involves rank-and-file
>janitors and reflects a new, activist approach by the local
>since it was put into trusteeship by its parent union.
>Local 32B-32J represents 55,000 cleaners, elevator
>operators and door staff in New York's glitzy office towers
>and residences. It plans to organize 20,000 more metro area
>janitors in the next three years. Many of the janitors are
>immigrants and workers of color.
>
>"We went directly to owners and said they had some
>responsibility to pay these people decent wages and not
>hire contractors who paid people so poorly," trustee
>Michael Fishman told the New York Times.
>
>The union's largest victory was at Citibank, where 135
>jobs went to a union contractor. Other buildings that have
>dropped Golden Mark include the Louis Vuitton building on
>57th Street, 61 Broadway in the financial district, 361
>Lexington Ave. in midtown, and Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza--
>for a total of about 200 jobs now filled by union workers.
>
>Golden Mark is threatening a lawsuit accusing the union of
>using illegal methods to hurt the company's business. But
>the local is standing by its members' rights to picket and
>otherwise exercise free speech to convince building owners
>to hire union contractors who pay janitors a living wage.
>
>FLIGHT ATTENDANTS WANT `FAIRNESS AT DELTA'
>
>Delta Air Lines flight attendants are seeking support for
>"An Appeal for Fairness at Delta" to bolster their campaign
>to join the Association of Flight Attendants. At the March
>AFL-CIO Working Women's Conference in Chicago, Delta flight
>attendants described the harsh and misleading management
>tactics the airline has used to undercut their organizing
>drive.
>
>Delta has subjected cabin crews to forced one-on-one
>meetings with supervisors, held mass mandatory meetings at
>hubs around the country, and distributed anti-union videos
>to dissuade the 20,000 flight attendants from going union.
>Altogether, the world's most widely flown airline has spent
>more than $1 million on anti-union consulting firms that
>specialize in crushing organizing drives.
>
>Now Delta's flight attendants are fighting back with a
>public appeal--a six-point pact that speaks out against
>company intimidation and supports the right of Delta
>employees to choose union representation without fear of
>retribution. The aim of the appeal is to show widespread
>public support for fairness for Delta flight attendants and
>to pressure the airline to remain neutral during the
>organizing drive.
>
>"On the one hand, flight attendants are being offered a
>carrot--raises, early retirement and computers--to `change'
>their minds about forming a union," says the appeal. "On
>the other hand, flight attendants are being hit with a
>stick--prevented from talking to each other about their
>union, isolated for speaking out and bombarded with
>misleading company mailings and videos." Copies of the
>appeal are available at the Unions@Work community at
>www.workingfamilies.com and can be signed online or printed
>and mailed in.
>
>FREELANCERS PICKET BOSTON GLOBE
>
>Freelance writers, illustrators and photographers held an
>informational picket outside the Boston Globe on July 24 to
>expose the paper's attempt to cut into their livelihoods.
>The freelancers were protesting the Globe's coercive demand
>that they sign away their rights to all past present and
>future creative works.
>
>Freelancers earn most of their income from creating
>original articles, illustrations or photographs. Many
>freelancers also count on the added income they earn each
>time their copyrighted work is reused, either in print or
>on the Web. But publishing has consolidated into a huge
>capitalist industry with its predatory eyes on Internet
>profits. Publishers like the Globe are now pushing "all
>rights" contracts to avoid paying freelancers when they
>reuse their work on the Web.
>
>In June, the National Writers Union and the Graphic
>Artists Guild--both affiliates of the Auto Workers union--
>and the American Society of Media Photographers jointly
>filed a class action lawsuit against the Globe. They are
>seeking an injunction against the paper for "unfair and
>deceptive trade practices."
>
>"The last thing we need is more sweatshops in cyberspace,"
>said Elizabeth Bunn of the Auto Workers. "The power of new
>technology should be harnessed to empower creative workers,
>not used as a club to recreate `my-way-or-the-highway'-
>style working conditions reminiscent of the 19th century."
>
>The freelancers have also reached out to legislators for
>support. In a joint letter to the Globe, some Massachusetts
>Congress members stated, "While freelance creators receive
>none of the benefits of employee status, all-rights
>contracts effectively appropriate 100 percent of the value
>of their work as though they were employees." Rep. Barney
>Frank echoed their sentiments in his own letter to the
>Globe. Readers can go to www.nwu.org for more information
>on this unfolding campaign.
>
>
>
> - 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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