> WW News Service Digest #152 > > 1) Market Elections: How Democracy Serves the Rich > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) On the picket line: 8/17/2000 > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) Lesbian/gay/bi/trans community: Where do Dems & GOP really stand? > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) Mumia on the Democrats: 'A party by and for business' > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 5) WWP candidates wage struggle campaign > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 6) Ellen Andors: Teacher, videographer, revolutionary > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 7) Cuban union leaders tour U.S. > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 8) Protests condemn decade of U.S./UN sanctions on Iraq > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 9) What lesser evil? > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >MARKET ELECTIONS: HOW DEMOCRACY SERVES THE RICH > >["Market Elections: How Democracy Serves the Rich," by >Vince Copeland, World View Forum, New York, 296 pages, >illustrated with index, $18.00. Available from >www.leftbooks.com] > > > >By Gery Armsby > >There is a growing current among activists today to fight >the U.S. political and corporate establishment head-on >rather than rally behind seemingly progressive or "lesser- >evil" candidates. > >The demonstrations in Los Angeles to protest at the >Democratic National Convention are proof that this >opposition is on the move. That organizers chose the >Democratic Convention as a target shows their conscious >determination to build an opposition that has an >independent character. > >Is this a new phenomenon? > >Over two centuries, the Republican and Democratic parties >have evolved into well-oiled machines. They have dominated >U.S. electoral politics and supplied the presidential >candidates--virtually from the beginning. > >Vince Copeland's "Market Elections: How Democracy Serves >the Rich" provides a vivid account of the class forces >behind U.S. elections and political appointments. And it >reveals how the working people, in various ways and at >different points in U.S. history, have intervened. > >Whole libraries are filled with books that romanticize >U.S. so-called leaders and the times in which they ruled. >Some ramble about the "greatness of character" of this or >that president, while others are filled with innuendo. Some >biographies and histories immortalize individual leaders >for things they didn't really do and others ignore >significant contributions altogether. > >It is rare that a history book is published to help >explain the class character of each presidential bid; to >show what the schisms between Democrat and Republican >reveal about the weight the working class carries; and to >detail the wheelings and dealings of the party bosses that >often lead to setbacks for the people. > >Copeland's material--originally published as two separate >series of articles in Workers World newspaper--provides a >vital class view on this subject. From the period of the >pro-slavery Democratic Party, which formed the core of >political power for the class of chattel slave owners, to >the New Deal Democrats under FDR, this materialist history >of the presidential elections leaves the reader with no >illusions about the Democrats. > >Charting the early history of the "anti-slavery" >Republican Party leaders through the rigged election of >Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, "Market Elections" >demonstrates how the Morgan and Rockefeller elites dictated >just how far the revolution of Black Reconstruction in the >South could go: > >"Reconstruction took place entirely under the aegis of the >Republican Party. Where the Republicans retreated, the >Democrats advanced and re-established lynch law. > >"However, Wall Street and the majority of the Republican >leaders were against dividing the estates, even during Wall >Street's Radical period. This was partly because of >Northern finance capital's pre-war ties to the slave-owning >South and partly because they were frightened at the idea >of dividing up property--that could lead to communism!" > >Copeland weaves together a narrative of the inner workings >of capitalist politics with an eye for detail. It seems as >though his attention to seemingly minute episodes comes >from an optimist's intuition that the littlest, most >overlooked particulars can reveal great lessons. And his >book is full of lessons. > >Perhaps the most valuable lessons are those about the >great betrayal of 1876 that smothered Black freedom and >virtually legitimized Klan rule in the Southern states. > >In the election of that year, the Republican Northern >industrialists made a deal with Southern reaction to get a >Republican election in return for ending Reconstruction. >Copeland explains how both parties used the issue of >corruption to line up the support of disgruntled white >workers and farmers. > >But it was a shell game. Wall Street got even richer while >any prospects of Black-white unity against the Robber >Barons were being crushed. > >What better chapter in history to place before today's >anti-corporate movement. It raises the challenge--how far >will we get fighting the bosses of a globalized economy >without struggling to end racism and human slavery in the >prison-industrial complex first and foremost? > >Copeland died in 1993, before he could finish writing all >he had wanted to about this subject. Had he lived to see >the emerging movement in Seattle, Washington, Philadelphia >and Los Angeles, he would have had creative ideas to meet >the challenge of helping the movement remain independent of >the machinations of the big parties. > > - 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: <00f101c0070f$9eb77160$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] On the picket line: 8/17/2000 >Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 19:22:03 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >ON THE PICKET LINE > >BAY AREA HEALTH WALKOUT > >On Aug. 3, less than a month after health-care workers in >the San Francisco Bay Area staged a one-day strike on July >6, they hit the bricks again--this time for 48 hours. >Thirty-four hundred members of Service Employees Local 250 >struck. They picketed in front of hospitals in San >Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Daly City and Lake County. >The workers are demanding a contract from the Sutter Health >and Catholic Healthcare West chains, where the last pact >expired three months ago. The central issues are staffing >levels and job security. > >A CONCRETE EXAMPLE > >Teamsters Local 682 has been on strike against 100 >construction companies in the St. Louis area since late >June. Workers who drive concrete trucks are demanding a >$1.05 wage increase. Will they get it? One thing is for >sure: Their strike is hurting the bosses. Leaders of the >Associated General Contractors of St. Louis complained Aug. >3 that the walkout has shut down at least $820 million >worth of projects. Another reminder that nothing can be >built without the workers. > >GEMEINHARDT STRIKE > >Ask anyone who plays a wind instrument. A Gemeinhardt >flute or piccolo is a beautiful thing. They'll also tell >you it's not cheap. Yet the people who manufacture 60,000 >of them a year have seen their pay steadily cut since the >1980s. On July 29 all 140 workers, members of Teamsters >Local 364, walked out on strike at the Elkhart, Ind., >plant. They are sticking together against the company's >plan to cut piece rates for 22 of the workers. The >company's offer--which workers rejected in a three-to-one >vote--also included a pay freeze for the rest of the >workers. Gemeinhardt reverted from an hourly wage to a >piece rate six years ago. > >CHEVRON STRIKE SETTLED > >"This is a great example of what can happen when union >workers stand up for one another across borders and across >industry lines." That's the analysis of Mine Workers Vice >President Jerry Jones. He added, "Solidarity is what won >this strike." The strike against Pittsburg & Midway Coal >Co. was settled at the end of July, with workers voting to >ratify the new pact the first week in August. The walkout >had begun May 14 at the company's McKinley mine located in >the Navajo nation near Window Rock, Ariz. Two weeks later >workers at the Kemmerer, Wyo., mine joined the walkout. > >Pittsburg & Midway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron >Corp. Chevron employs workers all around the world. And >those workers threw their weight behind the Mine Workers >strikers, via the International Federation of Chemical, >Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions. Closer to home, >the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy union, >which represents some 2,000 U.S. Chevron workers, also >mobilized its members to support the strikers. > >5-STAR WIN > >Workers at Chicago's Five Star Laundry had to strike for >six weeks to win them. But they have their union--UNITE-- >and their first contract. The workers, mostly immigrants, >toil in a big industrial facility where many hotels send >their laundry. Working conditions are awful. That won the >attention of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker >Justice, which issued a report that drew support from other >religious and community groups. Strike rallies built >solidarity, and the workers won improvements in wages, >benefits and working conditions. > >EQUALLY OPPORTUNE UNION BUSTERS > >The Republicans, their convention in Philadelphia >finished, and Democrats, theirs in Los Angeles about to >begin, have behaved pretty much the same when it comes to >unions. First, in July, the George W. Bush campaign scabbed >against the strike by actors in television and radio >commercials. Bush filmed a TV commercial using scab actors, >despite an earlier promise to the Television and Radio >Artists and the Screen Actors Guild not to. > >Then, in August, came word that the Al Gore forces would >run the Democratic Party convention's operations out of the >Loew's Hotel in Santa Monica. Workers there have been >demanding union recognition. The hotel's owner, Jonathan >Tisch, refuses to recognize the Hotel and Restaurant >Employees or negotiate for a contract. > >This same multimillionaire Tisch, chief executive of Tisch >Hotels, is heir to a $21.5-billion megalith that also >includes Lorillard Tobacco. And it's the same Tisch who has >personally donated more than $150,000 to Gore and the >Democrats since 1998. His Santa Monica hotel, which refuses >to give the workers decent pay, recently donated $125,000 >to a campaign to stop that city from enacting a meaningful >living-wage law. > >A number of Democratic luminaries attended an Aug. 4 union >rally at the Loew's Hotel. Yet these same pols and their >cohorts will stay there or do business there during the >convention. The union has held off on calling a boycott of >Loew's during the convention. Apparently, having endorsed >Gore and the Democrats, union leaders feel it would be >inappropriate to put them in an uncomfortable spot. It's a >sadly predictable result of looking for solutions for the >working class from a party of the owning class. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > >Message-ID: <00f701c0070f$be688a80$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Lesbian/gay/bi/trans community: Where do Dems & GOP really >stand? >Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 19:22:56 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >LESBIAN/GAY/BI/TRANS COMMUNITY: >WHERE DO DEMS AND GOP REALLY STAND? > >By Elijah Crane > >During the past three presidential campaigns, the >Democratic Party has courted the lesbian, gay, bi and trans >community with empty promises. > >Meanwhile, the Republican Party still promotes anti-gay >initiatives. The party not only denies equal rights to >lesbian, gay, bi and trans people, but also advocates the >arrest of people on the basis of sodomy laws. > >Such was the case at the Republican National Convention in >Philadelphia. For the first time ever, an openly gay >congressperson, Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, addressed the >convention from the podium. According to the Chicago >newspaper Outlines, Phil Burress, head of a Cincinnati- >based anti-gay group, wrote to the RNC demanding Kolbe's >arrest. > >In another first, a national organization for gay and >lesbian Republicans called the "Log Cabin Republicans" was >allowed to participate in the RNC. The group was denied >this privilege at previous conventions. > >But Rep. Kolbe and the "Log Cabin" group didn't have to >look any further than the front row to be reminded of the >Republican Party's attitude. A group of 25 Texas delegates >at the front of the audience removed their cowboy hats and >bowed their heads in prayer as an act of protest against >Kolbe. One of these Christian Right representatives held up >an anti-gay sign that was displayed widely on television. > >Texas Gov. George W. Bush's record on gay issues cannot be >ignored. Not only does he oppose gays in the military, >same-sex marriage and the Employment Non-Discrimination >Act; he also supports backward sodomy laws in cases >involving same-sex couples. > >There is not much more support to be found in the >Democratic Party. While some lesbian, gay, bi and trans >groups cheer on Democratic candidates, they must be >reminded that it was President Bill Clinton who signed the >Defense of Marriage Act making same-sex marriage illegal. > >Clinton is also credited with enacting "Don't ask, don't >tell" after campaigning on the promise to lift the ban on >gays in military. According to the Servicemembers Legal >Defense Network, gay bashings and harassment have >skyrocketed under this policy to a record high of 968 >documented cases from February 1999 to February 2000. There >are many more cases that go undocumented because of >intimidation and fear of expulsion. > >Dishonorable discharges also continue to increase >dramatically. The Pentagon ejected lesbian, gay and >bisexual people at a rate of three per day in 1999. Women >are discharged at twice the rate of men, though they only > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
