>partnerships. This would include same-sex contracts between >family members like mother-daughter businesses or powers of >attorney. > >In addition to these bigoted measures, the right wing is >behind many other initiatives to disallow other rights for >lesbian, gay, bi and trans people. > >In Oregon, activists are battling Ballot Measure 9, which >would prohibit any positive or even neutral mention of >homosexuality in the public schools, including community >colleges. The impact of Ballot Measure 9, if passed, would >compound the oppression and violence already faced by >lesbian, gay and bisexual youths. And trans youths of all >sexualities would also become targets in many schools and >communities. > >Research shows that the effects of these initiatives reach >far beyond just changing the law. In communities where these >measures are launched--whether successful or not--anti-gay >and anti-trans bashings double, as do racist, sexist and >other bigoted attacks. > >As Workers World Party's presidential and vice-presidential >candidates, we offer our unconditional solidarity to those >in the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities--from Dade >County, Fla. to Las Vegas, Nev. --who have been fighting >these long battles. We can see the results that their hard >work has yielded. In Vermont, civil unions between same-sex >couples are now permitted. And in states like Maine, >Maryland, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, initiatives that >support same-sex marriage are pending. > >As women and socialists we understand that in a capitalist >system such as the U.S. the state exists to protect private >property. The subjugation of women is an integral part of >capitalism. Those who do not conform to traditionally >restrictive, patriarchal nuclear families--strong, >independent women and lesbian, gay, bi and trans people--are >a direct threat to the balance of power. And the prejudice, >violence and laws that promote these "family values" are >instruments of class rule. > >As women of color we share a common enemy with lesbian, gay, >bi and trans people--many of whom also experience sexism and >racism. The same forces behind this bigoted legislation are >also pushing back affirmative action in a similar state-by- >state assault. > >Our response to vicious attacks against oppressed >communities is to build a united, multinational people's >movement. The gay liberation movement took to the streets >during the historic Stonewall Rebellion in 1969. And since >then the lesbian, gay, bi and trans movement has continued >to demonstrate what we also know: Our ability to fight the >right wing lies in our collective power. > >That's why we are running an activist campaign. It's not >about getting the most votes; it's about building the >struggle for liberation. > >- 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: <008b01c0408d$a5ab3080$0a00a8c0@linux> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Fidel Castro on U.S. elections >Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 23:17:47 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 2, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >FIDEL CASTRO ON U.S. ELECTIONS > >Excerpted from an Oct. 11 interview by the Canadian >Broadcasting Corporation. > >Reporter: But we have a little question: We want to know: >the elections in the U.S. are in a month's time. >Who is the best president for the Cuban people, Bush or >Gore? > >Fidel Castro: I suspected you were going to ask me something >like that. And I'm going to try and answer you as elegantly >as possible. I don't like either of them, and I'm thinking >of doing the same as the majority of Americans do on >election day: going to the beach and not voting. > >I am absolutely neutral; no, not neutral. I'm against both >of them, I'd like another candidate. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <009301c0408d$bff450c0$0a00a8c0@linux> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Milwaukee student paper asks: Is voting the answer? >Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 23:18:31 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 2, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >MILWAUKEE STUDENT PAPER ASKS: IS VOTING THE ANSWER? > >[The following editorial appeared in the Oct. 19 edition of >the UWM Post, the independent student newspaper >on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. Reprinted >with permission.] > >IS VOTING THE ANSWER? > >This question often goes unanswered in the middle of any >given election cycle. It is especially relevant when a >presidential campaign is underway. > >As we write, voting campaigns are underway across campuses >nationwide, including UWM. > >Does voting make a difference? > >Here, instead of giving another "go vote" pitch, we would >like to pose some questions like those above to see if >voting is in fact in the best interests of students. We will >focus on the presidential campaign currently underway, but >we feel the issues here can be extrapolated to any given >U.S. election in any form. > >Students and young voters in general have always been hot >around election time. Those of the working class and >oppressed communities are often in vogue during this time >too. Politicians like Gore and Bush will say anything to get >elected and when they do they will sell out those who voted >for them, except for those who really control the political, >economic and social climate, of course. > >Numerous articles and books, including the landmark book, >"Market Elections: How Democracy Serves the Rich" by Vince >Copeland, document and prove this. This is more than evident >in regard to African Americans in the United States. From >slavery to Reconstruction to labor struggles, African >Americans have been sold out time and again by politicians >claiming they stood for them. > >But once in a while we get some refreshing and candid >honesty. > >In the article "It takes more than a president to affect the >economy," published in the Oct. 10 Milwaukee Journal >Sentinel, Bloomberg News Service reporter Chet Currier >shines a spotlight on the central issue. > >"Political leaders of all ideologies know where the power >lies. Witness how deferentially they treat Alan Greenspan >and the Federal Reserve he chairs. Rock that boat, and >you're likely to drown," writes Currier. > >He continues: "If anybody tries a policy move that threatens >serious mischief for the economy, count on the markets to >react swiftly and emphatically." > >There in all its glory (on the business pages of course) is >the nugget: the market rules. If a politician tries to enact >any reforms, much less revolution, that politician will be >crushed by those who dictate and control the market economy. > >For students this should be an alarming admission. For all >the dedicated hard work that students do to get politicians >elected, Currier tells us that it doesn't matter. Those who >own and control know this and laugh all the way to the bank >and elsewhere when the energy of the people is diverted into >election campaigns. It's time that students get wise to this >ruse and start organizing themselves into a mass movement >that is based on struggle. > >We congratulate students on the great work they are doing, >and of course legislation needs to get passed that lifts the >most oppressive burdens off the heads of the working class >and oppressed. > >But until students start organizing on a massive scale that >is focused on the economic system as the central problem we >will be voting until the cows come home and then some while >those who own and control laugh and profit some more. > >If Currier isn't enough to convince, some things to ponder >are: Why are student voting campaigns being sanctioned by >MTV, universities and other institutions of the capitalist >system? Why is Ralph Nader being bandied about in the >mainstream press instead of being simply ignored? > >Students on this campus will have a unique opportunity to >hear from a presidential candidate that is running largely >to point out much of the fallacies laid out above. > >Monica Moorehead, the 2000 Workers World presidential >candidate, will be on campus with her running mate Gloria La >Riva Oct. 25 to offer students an alternative. They are not >running to win the election, but to show that the system is >the fundamental problem. > >We suggest students seriously consider third-party >candidates like Moorehead/La Riva who are pointing out the >real reason for the majority of the world's misery: >capitalism. > >See the Web site www.uwmpost.com for more on the WWP >candidates' visit. > >- 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: <009b01c0408d$d6a55620$0a00a8c0@linux> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Gus Hall >Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 23:19:09 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 2, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >EDITORIAL: GUS HALL > >he death on Oct. 13 of Gus Hall, leader of the Communist >Party USA from 1959-1999, has been the occasion for the >capitalist press to dip deeply into their wells of poison >ink. Their obituaries are only an excuse to ridicule and >revile the very idea that socialism is possible, that the >working class can run society. > >Of course, they pretend to pay respect to Hall's proletarian >origins. His parents were impoverished Finnish immigrants in >Minnesota. His father, a miner, early on joined the Wobblies- >-the International Workers of the World. In 1927, Hall's >father recruited him into what was then called the American >Communist Party. By then Gus Hall had worked sunup to >sundown in the woods as a half-starved lumberjack, and knew >what exploitation was first-hand. > >He became a steelworkers' organizer during the Great >Depression, and was a founder of the United Steel Workers of >America. That was a period when plants had shut down in the >capitalist countries and tens of millions of workers were >unemployed, spurring the fight for industrial unions. > >>From the sarcastic tone of the bourgeois obituaries on Hall, >one would think that exploitation is now a thing of the past >in the United States, and that anyone who believes in the >class struggle is under a delusion. But let the writers for >the giant media corporations go out into the real world and >they will find that, despite the fabulous growth in wealth >for the top 1 percent of society, low wages, long hours, >union-busting laws and rotten working conditions are still a >grave concern for tens of millions of workers. > >Hall studied in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s and came >away dedicated to building a socialist society. Much >amazement is expressed that this "quintessential American" >should have remained devoted to the Soviet Union, even after >its downfall. It is worth thinking about, surely. > >The contrast between the USSR and the capitalist world was >electrifying in the 1930s. Just when bosses all over Europe >and the U.S. were tossing workers out by the tens of >millions, the Soviet government was putting millions to work >building new industries under its first five-year plan. > >This young worker from the U.S. took away with him a basic >devotion to the new system. What so irks the ruling class is >that all the reverses of the USSR failed to shake his >convictions. He was convinced that the problems came not >from the Soviet leaders but from the enemies of the >revolution--and in that he was mainly correct. > >Workers World Party has had many, many differences with the >Communist Party over the years. Some have to do with the >degeneration of the great Bolshevik Party that began soon >after Lenin's death. > >But probably the most important difference is over the >attitude communists should take toward the "liberal" >bourgeoisie. In the struggle to revive a fighting movement >against capitalism, Workers World has always called on the >workers and oppressed to organize independently and not rely >on any segments of the ruling class. > >Our differences are clearly seen in relation to the >Democratic Party, which is a trusted instrument of the >imperialist bourgeoisie even as it creates an image >appealing to the workers and oppressed. The CPUSA presents >the Democratic Party as a lesser evil, predicting that a >Republican electoral victory would be tantamount to a right- >wing takeover with fascist overtones. This has been their >position for many years, and in effect amounts to support >for the Clinton-Gore Democrats who gutted welfare, deeply >cut other social programs, gave the Pentagon the billions it >wanted, and carried out imperialist wars in Africa, the >Middle East and Yugoslavia. > >It should be remembered that the harsh anti-communist >campaign called the Cold War, which so tore up the Bill of >Rights, began under the presidency of a Democrat, Harry S. >Truman. Gus Hall himself was one of 12 CPUSA leaders >indicted in 1948 under the Smith Act gag law, and he spent >eight years in jail for his views. The Smith Act had earlier >been used under Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt to imprison >18 leaders of the Socialist Workers Party because of their >opposition to World War II. > >Whether Democrats or Republicans are elected, it is militant >struggle, not the ballot box, that forces concessions out of >the ruling class and can change the course of history. > >A new generation of communists is being born in reaction to >the cruelties of capitalism. It is sensitive to the issues >that face the working class today: economic exploitation, of >course, but also racism, sexism, oppression of lesbians, >gays, bi and trans people, imperialist wars, immigrant >bashing, the destruction of the environment and all the >other ruling-class crimes that have led to so many >progressive grassroots movements. > >It needn't be held back by the shortcomings of earlier >movements, but it should pay due respects to all who have >spent their lives in the struggle to overcome this vicious >system of decaying finance capital. > >- 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) > > > > > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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