>But this does not end the threat of new NATO intervention in
>Yugoslavia, as the NATO leaders have now made clear.
>
>- 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
>contactWorkers 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: <00db01c000dc$8c604b60$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Palestinian-Israeli talks: Why U.S. pushed for one-sided
>settlement
>Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 22:01:20 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="Windows-1252"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
> Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Aug. 10, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>Palestinian-Israeli talks
>
>WHY U.S. PUSHED FOR ONE-SIDED SETTLEMENT
>
>[Adapted from a talk by Richard Becker at a July 28 Workers
>World Party meeting in Los Angeles.]
>
>To listen to the corporate media during the two weeks of
>July talks at Camp David among Palestinian Authority Chair
>Yasir Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and U.S.
>President Bill Clinton, one would have had the impression
>that neither the Israelis nor Palestinians would compromise
>on the issue of control over Jerusalem.
>
>At the talks, Israel offered the Palestinians
>"administrative control" over some of the eastern districts
>and outskirts of the city. But Israel would keep all of
>Jerusalem as its "eternal and indivisible" territory.
>
>The Palestinians didn't accept that. It wasn't an issue of a
>compromise. It was like the Israelis were saying, "I'll take
>everything you have and then I'll offer to conditionally
>give you back a very small part of it, and if you don't
>accept it, you're being unreasonable."
>
>There was no provision or "compromise" at all for any right
>of return for all the Palestinians who were expelled in
>1948, 1949 and 1967.
>
>Once the talks collapsed, the Clinton administration and its
>spokespeople, marching in lock step, blamed the
>Palestinians. Barak was saluted for his "bold and
>courageous" moves, for going into "previously uncharted
>territory." But it was said that Arafat wouldn't meet him
>halfway and stuck to his old positions.
>
>The negotiations were supposed to be the culmination of the
>process known as the Oslo Peace Accords that have been going
>on since 1991. The real question is, what were these
>negotiations over? What is the peace process really about?
>What's being negotiated?
>
>Camp David Accords
>
>In 1978 and 1979, to further its agenda to dominate the oil-
>rich Middle East, the U.S. government undertook the so-
>called peace talks known as the Camp David Accords.
>
>They were not peace talks at all, any more than the current
>ones. This was an attempt to divide the Arab countries, to
>pull Egypt, the biggest Arab country, away from solidarity
>with the Palestinians, and to subordinate Egypt to the
>United States.
>
>In the aftermath of the Camp David Accords, Israel invaded
>Lebanon and killed 30,000 Palestinians and Lebanese people.
>The Israeli occupiers drove the Palestine Liberation
>Organization out of Lebanon and occupied half of the country
>until they were forced to withdraw earlier this year.
>
>All through this period, the United States and Israel
>refused to entertain the idea of a Palestinian state. Why
>were they so opposed to it?
>
>Because the imperialists knew, and know today, that
>Palestine is an issue in the hearts of people all over the
>Arab world, that it is at the top of the people's agenda.
>They are afraid that even a small Palestinian state would
>become a center of revolution in the Middle East.
>
>Then, in 1987, there was the Intifada, or uprising--huge
>demonstrations, but not just demonstrations. The Intifada
>turned into a permanent state of rebellion by the
>Palestinian people against the Israeli authorities in the
>occupied West Bank and Gaza.
>
>Dual power came into existence. The Israelis, with all their
>billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry, could not crush the
>Palestinian uprising. The Intifada continued for five years.
>
>But something else happened in that period: a major shift in
>the world relationship of forces. In 1991 the U.S. war on
>Iraq was a defeat for the whole Arab world. The same year,
>the Soviet Union collapsed. The USSR had been the key
>strategic ally of the Palestinian movement.
>
>The Oslo Accord
>
>Based on those events and the fact that it was unable to
>crush the Intifada, Washington decided that it was a
>fortuitous time to open peace talks. The first Oslo Accord
>was in 1993. The agreement was very unfavorable for the
>Palestinians, much worse than anyone--the bourgeois
>nationalist Fatah, the Islamic Hamas, or the Marxist Popular
>Front for the Liberation of Palestine--would have accepted
>earlier.
>
>The Oslo agreement didn't call for full statehood for the
>Palestinians. It was a very unfair, uneven treaty. But
>Arafat's Fatah, the biggest Palestinian group, took the
>position that, in the changed world situation, this was the
>best that could be achieved and that it would eventually
>lead to the establishment of a state.
>
>The left, with whom we have much sympathy and political
>agreement, opposed the accord, viewing it as the negation of
>true Palestinian sovereignty.
>
>We in Workers World Party have our viewpoint and sympathy,
>but we also view this as an issue for the Palestine
>liberation movement to decide upon. That is an essential
>element in respecting the Palestinian people's right to self-
>determination.
>
>These negotiations were supposed to end with a final
>settlement in May 1999. Israel continually stalled and tried
>to make a bad agreement worse.
>
>Finally, Arafat announced that on Sept. 13, 2000, the
>Palestinian Authority would declare an independent state,
>regardless of the outcome of the talks.
>
>The Clinton administration brought the Palestinian
>leadership to Camp David II to force them into an agreement
>before then.
>
>The U.S. aim in the talks
>
>Washington's real aim is not justice or a just settlement in
>all of this. Nor is the U.S. government an honest broker
>playing a neutral role.
>
>To one side, Israel, Washington has given hundreds of
>billions of dollars in aid. This side serves as U.S.
>imperialism's junior partner and as an instrument of
>domination in this strategic region, "an unsinkable aircraft
>carrier," as Israel has sometimes been called in the past.
>
>On the other side are the Palestinians, who have received
>nothing but hostility from the United States. What the
>United States wants is stability, but it's the stability of
>oppression, the stability that assures Wall Street's right
>to exploit the area and its people.
>
>What will happen after the talks' collapse and the
>Palestinian Authority's promised declaration? It's a big
>question.
>
>On July 28, Clinton announced that the United States wants
>to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as a
>punishment for the Palestinian's refusal to capitulate at
>Camp David. This would amount to an official U.S. stamp of
>approval for the illegal annexation of all of Jerusalem.
>
>Clinton's announcement has enormous implications,
>particularly for people in the Islamic world. Jerusalem, it
>is often pointed out, is a city that has sites of great
>importance to three religions: Judaism, Christianity and
>Islam. But Jerusalem was also an overwhelmingly Arab and
>Muslim city until very recently. Now Israel has seized all
>of the city and its surroundings.
>
>The position that Washington is taking may produce any
>number of responses in the next period. We must be on alert.
>The Palestinian Authority says its plans to go forward with
>the Sept. 13 declaration of statehood.
>
>With towering imperialist arrogance, Clinton has warned the
>Palestinian Authority against taking "unilateral actions."
>Has any truly independent state ever come into being except
>by "unilateral action"?
>
>Until the Palestinians have real self-determination, until
>they have a real independent state, the struggle is going to
>continue. The working-class, anti-war, anti-racist and
>progressive movements must give their unconditional support
>to the Palestinians in this critical period.
>
>- 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)
>
>Copyright � 2000 workers.org
>
>
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <00e101c000dc$d02589a0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Anti-protest plot: Lawsuit charges gov't conspiracy
>Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 22:03:14 -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
>-------------------------
>
>WASHINGTON
>
>Protesters charge gov't conspiracy
>
>By Brian Becker
>Washington
>
>A class-action lawsuit charging the U.S. government with a
>conspiracy to violate the rights of thousands of
>demonstrators in Washington last April was filed on July 27
>at the United States District Court here.
>
>The lawsuit's filing received extensive media coverage in
>Washington, including reports on major TV stations and a
>prominent article in the July 28 Washington Post.
>
>The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the organizations
>Fifty Years is Enough, Mobilization for Global Justice,
>Alliance for Global Justice, International Action Center,
>and 12 named individual plaintiffs.
>
>The lawsuit will be a class action. That means it will seek
>damages on behalf of all those who were arrested, whose
>offices were broken into, whose property was confiscated, or
>who were beaten by police.
>
>More than 1,200 people were arrested during the weekend of
>April 15-17. The arrests took place at big protests against
>meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank
>and in opposition to the emergence of a prison-industrial
>complex.
>
>Lawyers from the Partnership for Civil Justice, American
>Civil Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild are
>representing the plaintiffs.
>
>"We are filing this lawsuit in advance of the protests
>scheduled at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia and
>the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. The suit should be
>a signal to the authorities in those cities not to engage
>the same planned and implemented strategy to disrupt the
>right of dissenters to exercise their First Amendment right
>to assemble and protest," said lawyer Mara Verheyden-
>Hilliard at a news conference outside the U.S. District
>Court Building.
>
>"This lawsuit claims that federal and D.C. government
>agencies and officers unlawfully intimidated and harassed
>and disrupted the protests of April 15-17," said Arthur
>Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU in Washington.
>
>He noted that the 113-point complaint shows that the police
>and government "falsely portrayed protesters as threatening
>violence; maliciously closed the protesters' headquarters
>for pretextual fire code violations; confiscated protesters'
>political literature, banners and medical supplies;
>wrongfully barred protesters from demonstrating near the
>World Bank-IMF meetings; arrested hundreds of protesters
>without cause, and used excessive violence against non-
>violent demonstrators."
>
>Among the named plaintiffs in the suit is Larry Holmes, a
>leader of the April 15 march to "Shut Down the Prison-
>Industrial Complex" and "For a New Trial for Mumia Abu-
>Jamal."
>
>Police suppressed that demonstration of more than 1,200
>people, sponsored by the International Action Center.
>Without warning cops sealed the demonstration area and
>arrested 678 people in one of the biggest acts of preventive
>detention in recent history.
>
>Holmes said in a prepared statement: "The outcome of this
>lawsuit has far-reaching implications. We believe that the
>government and the police have embarked on a strategy of
>repression to stop, crush or marginalize the burgeoning
>progressive movement that gained world attention in the
>protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle
>last year."
>
>Holmes vowed that "the movement to end the racist death
>penalty and to win a new trial for Mumia will get stronger,
>not weaker, in spite of government repression."
>
>For more information about the lawsuit or the upcoming Sept.
>25 trial of demonstrators arrested in April readers can
>contact the International Action Center. Call (212) 633-
>6646, visit the Web site www.iacenter.org or contact the IAC
>at 39 W. 14th St., Suite 206, New York, New York 10011.
>Funds are urgently needed for this effort.
>
>- 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: <00e701c000dd$1a330ea0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] 'Hip-Hop vs. DNC' backs Mumia action
>Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 22:05:18 -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
>-------------------------
>
>San Francisco
>
>'HIP-HOP vs. DNC' BACKS MUMIA ACTION
>
>By Jime Salcedo-Malo and Monica Ly
>San Francisco
>
>On July 29, the International Action Center held a benefit
>show called "Hip-Hop vs. the DNC" at the Mission Cultural
>Center in San Francisco. The show raised over $700 to fund
>buses going to Los Angeles for the Aug. 13 National March
>for Mumia Abu-Jamal at the Democratic National Convention.
>
>The show was a huge success that brought out over 250 people
>in support of Abu-Jamal and the hip-hop movement. The event
>was dedicated to the memory of Shaka Sankofa/Gary Graham,
>who was executed in Texas June 22.
>
>>From its beginning, hip-hop music has been a powerful force
>of revolutionary resistance. In California, the hip-hop
>movement has been a vital part of the struggle, making its
>presence felt at rallies, forums and educational/cultural
>events.
>
>Yet with all the success activists have had using hip-hop as
>an organizing tool, the music and the culture still lack the
>respect they deserve. The corporate-owned media perpetuated
>sexism, racism, violence and homophobia in hip-hop as the
>music became commercialized in the 1980s. This
>commercialization of hip-hop has been a major setback to the
>culture, and has made it very difficult to develop a
>positive, revolutionary hip-hop movement from the
>grassroots. Nonetheless, progress is being made.
>
>"Hip-Hop vs. the DNC" was a positive example of how the
>music can bring together different people for political
>education and revolutionary entertainment. The show brought
>out some of the dopest hip-hop artists in the Bay Area,
>including Sayyadina, Lucha, Teknique, Anita de Asis, Oywalk
>and Natural Fact. The writers of this article, members of
>the IAC, also performed.
>
>IAC West Coast Co-Director Gloria La Riva talked about her
>1996 meeting with Shaka Sankofa. Fourteen-year-old high
>school student Sade Bonilla read Sankofa's last statement.
>
>"Hip-hop is like having a conversation with somebody," said
>Brother Los, MC of the Oakland-based Duo Company of
>Prophets, who gave a powerful and inspirational performance
>at the event. "It is a strong form of communication,
>especially in reaching the youth."
>
>The positive energy in the room showed that you can be
>revolutionary while getting your groove on.
>
>- 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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