> WW News Service Digest #192 > > 1) The Myth of Majority Rule > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 2) Moorehead-La Riva: Using Election to Build the Struggle > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 3) Intervention in Name of Democracy > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 4) 1876: Electoral College Crushed Black Freedom > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 5) > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 6) Gore Won't Say it but: U.S. Elections are Racist > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 23, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >THE MYTH OF MAJORITY RULE > >By Fred Goldstein > >The entire capitalist establishment are biting their nails >about the Gore-Bush dogfight over the White House. They're >aghast at the conflict's escalation as each side tries to >counter the other. > >But the tension in the boardrooms, media and think tanks >isn't over which candidate will come out on top. It's about >how the system will fare. > >Who wins and who loses undoubtedly concerns particular >factions of the ruling class. But the broader >establishment's anxiety is over how to insure--in the face >of all the contradictions and reported irregularities--that >the masses of people at home and abroad see the elections as >"legitimate" and that the "process" of so-called democratic >majority rule works. > >The capitalist media's job is to manipulate the debate so >that, whatever happens, bourgeois ideology triumphs and the >masses see the issues in the narrow framework defined by >them. > >MEDIA REMOVE RACISM FROM DEBATE > >In the quest for legitimacy, every detail of the balloting >process, electoral law and political maneuvering is being >chronicled by the corporate media. But one thing that has >been hermetically sealed off from the debate is the enormous >issue of racist disenfranchisement of millions of Black and >Latino people. This has been accomplished through laws >taking away the voting rights of those labeled "convicted >felons." > >In fact, none of the mainstream U.S. media picked up on a >story in the Guardian of Britain Nov. 14. It states, "Al >Gore may have lost America's presidential election not >because of a badly designed ballot, dubious counting >practices in Florida or the defection of Ralph Nader, but >because of the criminal justice policy he and Bill Clinton >have pursued for eight years." > >The article, using Sentencing Project statistics, shows that >4.2 million people were not allowed to vote Nov. 7 and that >about 1.8 million of them were Black. "The Clinton-Gore >administration," continues the Guardian, "has been heavily >criticized by penal experts for its 'war on drugs' which has >led to more than 400,000 people being jailed, a >disproportionate number being Black and Latino." > >The Guardian quotes Cedric Muhammed, editor of the >Blackelectorate.com Web site, who wrote that "if [Gore] and >his supporters are honest, they may have to blame the >Clinton-Gore administration and a criminal justice system >that locked up Blacks wholesale over the last eight years >for non-violent offenses." > >Sasha Abramsky, writing in Mother Jones Nov. 8, estimated >that three quarters of a million people in Florida alone >were disenfranchised because of the felon laws. Florida is >one of 13 states that bar people from voting for life if >they are convicted of a felony. > >In a pre-election Mother Jones article Oct.17, Abramsky >cited the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice, which >filed suit against this practice in Florida on Sept. 21. The >suit showed that more than 6 percent of Florida's voting-age >population cannot vote. > >'FELON' LAWS HEARKEN BACK TO JIM CROW > >The last time so many Black people were legally prevented >from voting, said a Brennan Center attorney, "was before the >Voting Rights Act, when you had literacy tests and poll >taxes and so on." > >"All of these laws were overturned," wrote Abramsky, "except >for the web of laws created in the late 19th and 20th >centuries, relating to those convicted of fel onies. These >laws were specifically designed by antebellum Southern >politicians to bar Blacks from the ballot box. Indeed, when >Alabama adopted such a law in 1901, John Knox, the >politician presiding over the constitutional convention, >stated that the aim of such provisions was to help preserve >white supremacy without directly challenging the >Constitution of the United States." > >It's estimated that 33 percent of all Black males in 13 >Southern states are disenfranchised as a result of this >legacy of slavery and segregation. > >If the Gore forces had wanted to, they could have long ago >made a huge issue out of this, and they probably would have >won hands down. But being representatives of the racist >ruling class first and foremost, just as the Bush forces >are, they would rather jeopardize their own chance for the >White House than to open up a struggle against the racist >denial of democratic rights for millions of Black and Latino >people. > >This is perhaps the most important social and political fact >brought to light by the election fight. And it cries out for >a voting-rights struggle to overturn these so-called >"felony" laws, as well as the "tough-on-crime, war-on-drugs" >policies of the Reagan-Bush and Clinton-Gore years. These >are vicious forms of racial profiling. > >Furthermore, Gore, Warren Christopher, William Daley and >other high Democratic officials have not addressed the >exclusion of ballots and the racist harassment on Election >Day in heavily Black districts of Palm Beach county. They >haven't addressed the sit-in by Black students from Florida >A&M, Tallahassee Community College and Florida State >University against the Democrats' arch-enemy, Bush loyalist >and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Nor have >they denounced the racist pro-Bush thugs who attempted to >block a West Palm Beach rally called by Jesse Jackson. > >MYTH OF 'MAJORITY RULE' > >Rather than focus on fundamental issues such as racism, the >capitalist media have the entire population riveted on the >increasingly ugly details of the political knife fight >between the capitalist parties. > >What the media are really fighting to preserve is the >fundamental concept, drummed into the head of every school >child, that democracy means the majority rules and the >masses of people get their legitimate political >representation through the two-party electoral process. > >If Bush should win the electoral vote with a minority of the >popular vote, this would call into question the Electoral >College system. The ruling class, much to its dislike, might >have to engage in a debate about correcting the system. This >in itself is destabilizing. > >If Gore should win with the majority of the popular vote, >the ruling class could breathe a sigh of relief on the >question of majority rule. But they would probably still >have to go through a process of reassessing the Electoral >College. New York Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton has >already called for its abolition. > >The Electoral College is a reactionary institution designed >by landed aristocrats, slave owners and businessmen in 1789 >to flout the will of the masses should they get out of hand. >Of all the electoral systems employed in the modern >imperialist countries, it is the most unfavorable to >independent electoral action by the working class and >progressives. Certainly the workers and oppressed should >take the opportunity to intervene in any struggle over the >revamping of this system. > >But it must be understood that, even if Gore emerges the >winner, his popular-vote victory does not legitimize the >election results for the masses. If Bush wins with a >minority of the popular vote, it is not this alone that >casts the election's legitimacy into doubt. > >THE PEOPLE DON'T RULE--THE RICH DO > >The entire election process is illegitimate as an exercise >in majority rule. > >Whatever the outcome, the majority of the people will not >rule--they will be ruled by a tiny minority of the rich. > >Two rich white men are running at the head of two parties >controlled by billionaires with world corporate empires that >exploit hundreds of millions of workers every day. This is >the class truth about this election and every presidential >election in this country over the past century. > >Corruption and political dirty tricks, bribery and >unprincipled partisanship are rife in capitalist elections, >particularly when the parties are fighting to get their >hands on the right to dispense close to $2 trillion to their >friends and collaborators and to make thousands of political >appointments. > >But even if every vote winds up being counted correctly-- >that is, the way the voter intended--and even if every >improperly excluded vote were included, the assumption that >this election thereby becomes legitimate is a complete >fraud. > >Ronald Reagan won by a significant majority in 1980 and >proceeded to open up a huge anti-labor offensive, a racist >attack on the poor and a $2-trillion military build-up. >Lyndon Johnson won in 1964 by the biggest landslide in >history against Barry Goldwater, and then proceeded to send >half a million troops to Vietnam. He sent U.S. troops into >Detroit's Black community during a rebellion against racism >and poverty, killing many. > >The majority of the people are workers, including a large >number who bear the burden of national oppression as well as >class oppression. As a class, they are not enfranchised in >any capitalist election. On the contrary. Their oppressors >have the legal and political right, under the capitalist >U.S. Constitution, to continue upholding the system of >exploitation, racism and imperialist expansion. > >The majority of the people make society run. They do all the >work. If they really ruled, there would not be people >sleeping on the streets while the rich lived in luxury. > >If the majority really ruled, 1 percent of the population >would not have as much wealth as 90 percent of the people. >There would be no racist police shooting and beating people. >There would not be hundreds of thousands of families waiting >for childcare. There would not be 43 million people without >health care or a 20-percent child-poverty rate. > >If the majority ruled, they would not permit the epidemic of >occupational deaths and injuries or environmental >destruction. Every worker would have a union. The elections >would not be controlled by the rich. > >None of these evils would exist because the majority--if >they really ruled--would abolish them immediately. After >all, it's the majority that suffers from these evils. But >they are unable to eliminate them as long as the >capitalists, their state, and their parties are in charge. > >There's no such thing as a "fair election" when the workers >are confined to the program and candidates of their class >enemy. > >- 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) > > > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 22:31:28 -0500 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Moorehead-La Riva: Using Election to Build the Struggle >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 23, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >THE MOOREHEAD-LA RIVA FACTOR: USING ELECTION TO >BUILD THE STRUGGLE > >By Marsha Goldberg > >Why do communists run in capitalist elections? It's not >because they think the elections can create real change. > >One reason is to take advantage of all the election hype to >get out a revolutionary message. In the United States, it's >an advance just to let working and oppressed people know >that a revolutionary party exists here. > >When the controversial Palm Beach County ballot was shown >over and over again on national television in early >November, viewers saw something new. Workers World Party's >candidates--Monica Moorehead for president and Gloria La >Riva for vice president--were listed. > >This was a breakthrough for the campaign because the >corporate media make it their business not to cover working- >class candidates. > >Because of the coincidence that the votes for Moorehead and >La Riva in Florida matched the difference first reported >between Al Gore and George W. Bush, some commentators-- >including C-SPAN and a very offensive Jay Leno--asked, "Who >is Monica Moorehead?" > >There were even comments about the "Monica Moorehead factor" >in the election. > >"This Modern World," a progressive comic strip by Tom >Tomorrow that backed Ralph Nader in the election, chuckled >that Workers World voters were enough "to tip the balance >between Gore and Bush five times over." This was after the >first recount showed Bush and Gore within a few hundred >votes of each other. > >THE REAL MONICA MOOREHEAD FACTOR > >There definitely was a "Monica Moorehead factor" in this >election But it's not the one being used as filler by the >media's talking heads. > >Moorehead and La Riva injected revolutionary politics into >this sham election. They made racism and the death penalty-- >including the case of death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu- >Jamal--major issues wherever they traveled. > >At every stop they explained what the capitalist profit >system is and what the elections are really about-- >continuing the rule of the super-rich bankers and bosses. >They showed how socialism is the answer for the workers and >oppressed. > >As two women of color and two workers they were able to >bring that revolutionary message to whole new audiences. > >The WWP candidates worked hard to use the media's obsession >with the elections to their advantage. Wherever Moorehead >and La Riva were able to break through and get exposure, it >generated excitement about their campaign and their message. >That was clear from the response they got when they traveled >around the country, and by the election results. > >VOTES IN FOUR STATES > >On the four states where Moorehead and La Riva were on the >ballot, a total of 4,525 people voted for WWP candidates, >according to the latest statistics provided by ABC.com and >CBS.com. > >In Florida, recounts are still going on at this writing. But >the latest count shows 1,814 votes for Moorehead-La Riva. > >When the candidates visited Florida in October, they spoke >on college campuses in Miami and West Palm Beach. Moorehead >was interviewed the day before the election by the student >newspaper at Florida A&M, a predominately Black college in >Tallahassee. > >Campaign literature was distributed in English, Spanish and >Creole. > >The repressive atmosphere in Florida was evident when Wil >Van Natta, the state chairperson for the WWP campaign, was >arrested on election eve on trumped up charges stemming from >a demonstration against Iraq sanctions three months earlier. >He was released after being held for 19 hours--more >determined than ever to continue fighting. > >In Washington state, Moorehead and La Riva had received >1,452 votes as of Nov. 14. Mail-in ballots are still being >counted and the WWP total continues to grow. > >Organizers there report that phone calls, e-mails and >letters were still coming in after Election Day asking about >the candidates and WWP. Students in Seattle heard La Riva >speak in September. > >Many people read about the Moorehead-La Riva campaign in the >Voter's Guide distributed to voters throughout the state. >This is an example of how WWP took advantage of the >elections to get its revolutionary message out to a wider >audience. > >The campaign used its space in the Voter's Guide to raise a >socialist perspective on prisons and the environment, defend >women's right to choose and show solidarity with the >lesbian/gay/bi/trans movement, to name a few issues. > >SUPPORT IN MOST R.I. TOWNS > >In Rhode Island--a state which is comparable in size and >population to Palm Beach County--Moorehead and La Riva >received 199 votes. Official returns showed that they >received votes in almost every town in the state. > >A series of meetings held there prompted an article in the >Sept. 29 Providence Journal, a newspaper read throughout >Rhode Island. In it, Moorehead urged a vote for WWP as a >"protest vote against all that is unfair and unjust about >this system." > >In Wisconsin, Moorehead and La Riva received 1,060 votes, >according to the major TV networks. During their campaign >they spoke to students at three University of Wisconsin >campuses, including Nader supporters. They also spoke at the >College of the Menominee Nation and community meetings in >Milwaukee. > >Getting votes was never the main object of the campaign. >That's why the candidates also spoke in many states where >WWP wasn't on the ballot this year, including California, >Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and >Ohio. > >In keeping with the activist message of the campaign-- >against capitalism, for socialism, for a powerful, >independent, united multinational movement--Gloria La Riva >left for Havana the day after the elections. She is >attending the Second World Conference of Friendship and >Solidarity with Cuba. > >- 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) > > > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 22:31:28 -0500 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Intervention in Name of Democracy >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 23, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >VOTERS BEWARE: INTERVENTION IN THE NAME OF >DEMOCRACY > > >By Deirdre Griswold > >How many times in recent days have we heard politicians and >media pundits invoke the "will of the people"? > >Once the messy recounts are over and a president has been >chosen, they say, the government can go about its normal >business of carrying out the "will of the people." That is >the American Way, the great democratic process that begins >at the ballot box in the United States. > >The problem with this view is that, stuffed ballot boxes or >not, U.S. elections certainly do NOT serve "the will of the >people." This political system was designed to uphold the >will of the privileged few. It didn't start with this >election, but has been going on for over 200 years. > >However, the false issue of democracy has been used so often >by administrations in Washington to intervene around the >globe that a short review of how elections are used to >advance imperialist schemes is in order. > >EXCUSE FOR YUGOSLAV INTERVENTION > >The claim by "experts" in Washington that elections in some >other country have been flawed has been used more than once >as an excuse for intervention. First comes political and >economic pressure. Then, if that doesn't work, there may be >outright military invasion. > >The most recent and flagrant example of this is, of course, >the massive intervention of the U.S. and European capitalist >countries in Yugoslavia's presidential election. Little >effort was made to conceal the millions spent on posters, >fax machines, television ads and other means to propel the >candidacy of Vojislav Kostunica. This plus threats of a new >war and promises to rebuild the shattered country evidently >succeeded in winning him the popular vote. > >We say evidently because, now that the media are paying so >much attention to the U.S. election, it is obvious that >there are many, many ways to change the outcome of voting-- >from "losing" ballots to intimidating voters to >disenfranchising large numbers of people. Maybe this didn't >happen in Yugoslavia, but it has certainly happened here, in >the country that appointed itself to decide if Yugoslavia's >elections were fair. > >Why does the U.S. ruling class prefer Kostunica to former >President Slobodan Milosevic? "Democracy" hasn't got a thing >to do with it. Kostunica is committed to accepting economic >and political dictates from the U.S., the International >Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Foreign corporations are >already taking the measure of Yugoslavia's state-owned >industry, which the new "reformers" are preparing to sell to >the highest bidder. > >THE MAKING OF PRESIDENT YELTSIN > >The loudest shouting about democracy can be in reality the >excuse for massive election fraud. With the help of spin >masters in the media, the people chosen by Washington to >carry out its agenda are given "legitimacy" in elections >bought and paid for by the U.S. > >For example, the International Monetary Fund openly gave >Boris Yeltsin a $10-billion loan just before the Russian >election in 1996 to buy him the presidency. It allowed him >to outspend the Communist Party candidate, Gennadi Zhu >ganov, by 10,000 to one at a time of great economic crisis. > >There, too, the clear threat that there would be a dangerous >return to the Cold War if the left won helped tip the vote. > >"Democracy is served," said all the Western commentators >when Yeltsin won. He soon became the most unpopular leader >in Russian history, earning a 5-percent approval rating that > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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