>put him below Ivan the Terrible and Rasputin. And no wonder. >Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, living conditions >for the masses in all its former republics have deteriorated >more sharply than did conditions in the capitalist West >after the stock market crash and Great Depression of the >1930s. > >All this has been done in the name of "American democracy." >Should we be so surprised at how hollow that now turns out >to be? > >Some of the bloodiest conflicts of recent times have come >after U.S. pressure actually prevented a real election from >taking place. > >ELECTION SABOTAGED IN VIETNAM > >Take the U.S. war against Vietnam, for example--that >ruinous, one-sided, high-tech assault on a poor peasant >country trying to break free of colonial bondage. Its roots >go back to 1954, when the Vietnamese liberation forces had >just defeated the French colonialists at Dien Bien Phu. >Under enormous pressure from the U.S. at international peace >talks in Geneva, the Vietnamese reluctantly agreed to a >temporary partition of their country. Within two years, >however, there were supposed to be nationwide elections. > >Not one among all the international experts on Southeast >Asia doubted that, if real elections were held, the next >president of Vietnam would be Ho Chi Minh. He was the hero >of the independence movement, having led the fight against >both the French and Japanese colonialists for decades. > >The nationwide elections were never held. The Eisenhower >administration dug up Ngo Dinh Diem, an expatriate living in >New Jersey, and spent millions to establish him as >"president of South Vietnam." > >In October 1963, after the U.S. military had become directly >involved in Vietnam and massive demonstrations had begun in >the south against the Diem dictatorship, the Kennedy >administration had Diem and his brother assassinated so it >could put in someone less known and hated by the Vietnamese >people. What the CIA giveth, it can taketh away. > >Thus began the hand-picking of a long string of "heads of >state" in South Vietnam by the great democrats in the U.S. >ruling class--until a furious anti-war movement at home and >an unstoppable resistance in both north and south Vietnam >combined to force an end to the war. > >ITALY, LEBANON, CHILE, GUYANA, ETC. > >In the book "Rogue State," published by Common Courage >press, former State Department officer William Blum >summarizes a long history of U.S. efforts, mostly >successful, to throw elections in countries where there were >strong political movements that resisted control by U.S. >corporations and banks. > >Blum shows how U.S. operatives, often but not always working >for the Central Intelligence Agency, carried out a variety >of dirty tactics to affect elections in the Philippines (the >1950s), Lebanon (the 1950s), Indonesia (1955), Vietnam >(1955), British Guiana/Guyana (1953-64), Japan (1958-1970s), >Nepal (1959), Laos (1960), Brazil (1962), Dominican Republic >(1962), Guatemala (1963), Bolivia (1966), Chile (1964-70), >Portugal (1974-5), Jamaica (1976), Spain (1981, 82), Panama >(1984,1989), Nicaragua (1984, 1990), Haiti (1987-89) and >Bosnia (1998). > >ALL THESE INTERVENTIONS ARE WELL DOCUMENTED. > >As long as this list may seem, it does not exhaust the >subject. Much information has come out in recent years, for >example, on how in 1948 the CIA spent millions to produce a >victory of the Christian Democrats in Italy against the >Communist Party. The CP enjoyed immense popularity among the >workers because it had led the Partisan resistance to >Mussolini's fascist regime. > >What does all this show us about the recent U.S. >presidential elections and the "will of the people"? That >when the issue has been settled, regardless of which >candidate and party come out on top, the Pentagon, the CIA, >the State Department and all the other institutions of the >state that have been shaped over many generations to serve >the interests of the class of super-rich capitalists will >continue to do their thing. > >However, the peek that millions of up-to-now unaware people >in this country have had at the sordid workings of the >political system should bring out some healthy skepticism >the next time the rulers of the empire try to enlist their >support behind the export of "democracy" abroad via U.S. >dollars and guns. > >- 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] 1876: Electoral College Crushed Black Freedom >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 23, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >RIGGED ELECTIONS IN 1876: BLACK FREEDOM CRUSHED BY >ELECTORAL COLLEGE > >[The following is excerpted from Chapter 34 of "Market >Elections" by Vince Copeland, entitled "1876: Stuffing >ballots, smothering Black freedom."] > >This story of rigged elections begins with the election of >1876, the one that was really the fountainhead of modern >political corruption--that is, the legal and illegal >corruption of imperialist democracy. > >When the election returns of Nov. 7, 1876, had all come in, >the Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden, had beaten the >Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes, by 4,288,546 popular votes >to 4,034,311, and 184 Democratic votes in the Electoral >College to 165 for the Republicans. > >After several months of maneuvering and of almost unbearable >tensions throughout the country, however, it was announced >on March 2, 1877, that Hayes, not Tilden, was the victor, >with 185 electoral votes to Tilden's 184. ... > >The extra votes for Hayes were supplied by South Carolina, >Florida, and Louisiana--three states whose elections had >been challenged by the Republicans on the morning of >November 8, 1876. > >What compelled these states to reverse their votes and give >the election to the party that had prosecuted a war against >the ruling class of these very states just a decade before? > >A national Electoral Commission controlled by the >Republicans formally effected the change. But as part of the >deal, it promised these states' rulers, and in fact the >whole South's rulers, that Reconstruction would be >definitely ended and the last of the then-revolutionary >Union troops would be withdrawn from their occupation of the >South. > >On the other hand, it really was true that these states--and >nearly all the Southern states--had rigged the elections, >particularly against the Black voters. But if the >Republicans had initiated a drive to reverse this, it would >have meant a continuation of Reconstruction, something they >themselves did not want. > >The story of the 1876 switch of votes is not only one of >corruption at the polls but of a betrayal of colossal >proportions. It was directed first of all against the Black >people, second against the white majority of the North who >had sacrificed so much in the Civil War, and third against >the poor whites of the South, who were now slowly turned >into lynch-mad servants of the very class that oppressed >them most. > >Thus the election of 1876, although not the first or the >last rigged election in U.S. history, was clearly the worst. > >SET STAGE FOR MODERN CAPITALIST POLITICS > >It definitely pronounced the end of Black democracy in the >so-called Reconstruction, and, partly for that reason, set >the stage for the Tweedledum-Tweedledee character of modern >capitalist politics. > >In restoring so much of the power of the Southern ruling >class, it gave these reactionary Bourbons more legislative >power--by population--than they had ever had before. > >The old "five for three" clause in the Constitution had been >eliminated by the war. (Every five nonvoting Black slaves >had been counted as three people in determining population >for congressional representation.) Five Black people were >now counted as five. > >The only catch was that, as in slave days, they still could >not vote. ... > >To further understand the scope of the betrayal of 1876, we >have to remember that the Republican Party was the organizer >of the North in the Civil War, the chief political advocate >of Black liberation. Its smaller radical wing in Congress >identified itself to a great extent with the Black masses, >fighting hard but unsuccessfully for the division of the >plantations into free farms for the oppressed. > >The Democratic Party, on the other hand, had been the party >of reaction, the party of the slaveholders, and even in the >North was generally their ally. Tilden himself had opposed >the "war between the states," as the Democrats called it. > >Then how, it might be asked, did the Democrats of those days >get enough votes in the North to tip the balance? > >For one thing the cities were now growing very fast, and the >big businessmen were now riding so hard and heavy upon the >workers that Democratic Party machines grew fat by >"attacking" big business and the Republicans. (Of course, >the Democratic bosses secretly took bribes from the >Republican capitalists whenever they could get them. The >principal graft of Tammany Hall, for instance, came from its >shakedowns of rich Republicans.) > >Secondly, the corruption of the Republican administration of >Ulysses S. Grant had been so great it disgusted many of the >very people who had supported the war the most. > >This is a very well known fact of U.S. history. What is not >so well known or well understood is that big business had >waged the war in the first place not just for personal and >"political" corruption, but fundamentally for land- >swindling, treasury-plundering, people-robbing capitalist >"development"--only incidentally and grudgingly "freeing" >the slaves. > >So the Democratic Tilden ran as a "reformer," although he >had secretly allied himself with the extremely corrupt Boss >Tweed of New York City's Tammany Hall before being >maneuvered to join the powerful New York Times campaign >against Tweed. ... > >NORTHERN CAPITAL IN THE SADDLE > >The Northern Democrats who before the Civil War were the >subordinate ally of the slaveholders now became the dominant >ally. Tilden, for instance, did not even have to "balance" >his ticket with a Southern vice-presidential candidate to >get the Southern Democratic vote. > >... [A]lthough the Northern Democrats were now the dominant >ally of the Southern Democrats in national politics, they >stood for restoring as much of the slaveholders' former >power as was compatible with Northern capitalist rule of the >whole country. > >The Republicans supposedly were against this. > >But the majority of the Republican leadership had been >secretly helping the former slaveholders to regain their >former political power in the South--first of all by >allowing them to beat down the Black people. > >The election deal that promised the Southern ruling class a >free hand in the South was thus only the parliamentary side >of the bloody counter-revolution that the Democratic >Southern ruling class had already carried out. Its >consummation set the seal of legality, Republican consent, >and finality to the armed suppression of Black freedom. ... > >Both Republican and Democratic parties were, from then on, >the exclusive parties of U.S. big business with no other >significance (besides the enrichment of professional >bourgeois politicians) than to continue the rule of big >business with one or another reformist or reactionary >method. > >- 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 22:31:29 -0500 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 23, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY > >The Star, Johannesburg, South Africa: "International >observers should be put in place because the United States >must join the established democracies." > >The Mail, South Africa: "It is a shameful reflection on our >continent that, in the United States' hour of need, we were >not there beside our American brothers and sisters to help >and advise where we could." > >Association of Democratic Nigerians Abroad: "May we suggest >that a delegation from the Organization of African Unity be >dispatched forthwith to investigate? And as in Africa, where >political reform has gone hand in hand with structural >adjustment, the OAU can pass on the lessons we have learned >under the tutelage of the World Bank and the IMF, beginning >with an end to agricultural subsidies, cuts in defense >spending and social services, drastic reductions in tariff >barriers, and above all, expatriate monitors in the U.S. >Treasury." > >Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Roque Perez: "I believe that >those in the United States who have always tried to become >judges of elections that take place elsewhere must be >receiving a lesson of modesty and humbleness." He added that >Cuba would gladly send monitors for a new election if asked. > >- 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 22:31:27 -0500 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Gore Won't Say it but: U.S. Elections are Racist >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 23, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >GORE WON'T SAY IT BUT: U.S. ELECTIONS ARE RACIST > >By Monica Moorehead > >The big-business media have strained to put a positive spin >on the weeklong stalemate in the outcome of the 2000 >presidential elections. But the mouthpieces of the ruling >class have not been able to disguise the inherently >undemocratic nature of the capitalist elections. > >In fact, the Bush-Gore stalemate has helped to unearth the >deeply entrenched racist discrimination suffered by Black >communities and others in Florida who were attempting to >exercise their democratic right to vote. Thousands of >undocumented immigrant workers were excluded from this >process as well. > >Reports of African Americans, Haitians and others being >denied their voting rights reveal another blatant form of >racial profiling--resulting in a scandal of monumental >proportions. The mainstream media haven't begun to do >justice to the roots of this inequity, which will have a >lasting social impact no matter which capitalist politician >wins the presidency. > >The Nov. 11 New York Times reported that local African >American and Haitian leaders are demanding a revote in >Florida. This is not an unreasonable demand--if for no other >purpose than to publicly expose the racist practices of the >state and local boards of elections. Consider the reasons. > >Many African Americans stated that their names did not >appear on the lists of registered voters. Polling places >were so understaffed that there were not enough volunteers >to deal with all the problems and discrepancies. > >State Representative Alcee L. Hastings, who is Black, >commented that the voter turnout in a number of African >American communities was as high as 85 percent and that >staffing in a number of polling areas was grossly inadequate >to deal with these large numbers. > >According to the Nov. 12 Palm Beach Post, almost half of the >over 28,000 ballots thrown out in Palm Beach County were >from areas heavily populated by Black and elderly voters. >This amounted to 16 percent of the ballots cast by people of >color and 10 percent of the ballots cast in precincts where >most voters are over 65. > >Roadblocks were set up by police in Volusia and Hillsborough >counties to intimidate and harass Black voters. > >In Miami, four ballot boxes full of votes were "found" after >the elections. These votes came from neighborhoods heavily >populated by people of color. > >BLACK STUDENTS TURNED AWAY, STAGE SIT-IN > >Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M are two important >historically African American colleges in Florida. Both held >significant and successful voter registration drives. But >when students showed up to vote, they were told that their >names were nowhere to be found on the rolls. > >Those students who forced the issue wound up having to >present their driver's license or some other photo >identification. Other students became so frustrated that >they ended up not voting. > >Student Ursula Harvey stated that she was turned away from a >polling place where she had voted two years earlier. Harvey >was told that she had to go 120 miles to another polling >place, which she was unable to do. > >While trying to argue her point, she held up a picture of a >1960s voting-rights demonstration. The photo showed Southern >racists physically assaulting Black demonstrators. > >Five hundred predominantly African American students from >Florida A&M, Tallahassee Community College and Florida State >University held a 22-hour sit-in at the State Capitol in >Tallahassee Nov. 9. Their main demand was to talk with State >Attorney General Katherine Harris, who did not have the >decency to meet with the students to hear their grievances. >Harris actively campaigned for George Bush. > >The Haitian community has joined the chorus of outrage over >how they were treated on Election Day. Many Haitians said >there were no Creole interpreters to assist them in some >Miami polling stations. In others poll watchers were not >allowed to assist them. A number of Haitians were threatened >with deportation while seeking help at the polls. > >Haitian voters, like African Americans, were unceremoniously >dismissed if they did not have their voter registration >cards or if their names were missing from the rolls. > >The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed due to the pressure >that the Black masses put on the federal government at the >height of the civil-rights struggle. This civil-rights >legislation was part of Black people's ongoing battle to >finish the democratic revolution that began after the Civil >War with Reconstruction. > >Over the years, the state and federal courts have eroded the >effectiveness of the 1965 act, especially in the area of >proportional representation. Voting districts with a >majority of people of color have been more likely to elect >nationally oppressed representatives. This right has been >severely restricted by the courts, which have allowed >officials to redraw the districts to guarantee a majority of >white voters. > >Close to one in three African American men in Florida have >lost their right to vote because they've been branded with >the title "convicted felon." In many ways Florida is a >modern-day plantation with Gov. Jeb Bush as head slave >master. > >FEDERAL GOV'T PART OF THE PROBLEM > >The NAACP is holding hearings in Miami to take testimony >from those who were denied the right to vote. So far >hundreds have spoken out. The NAACP and others hope the >federal government will carry out an investigation of this >scandal. That is unlikely to happen unless a groundswell of >protest can be organized and sustained over a period of >time. > >It's important to understand that the federal government is >part of the problem, not part of the solution. The federal >government is the big component of the capitalist state. It >wants to downplay any irregularities within the electoral >process, especially where racism is concerned. > >The federal government--like the Gore and Bush camps--wants >to see this election resolved as quickly as possible because >it is more concerned about the political and economic >stability of the capitalist system. A mass struggle focusing >on racism, separate from the bankrupt program of Democrats >and Republicans, would be a threat to this stability. > >Gore understands that the majority of African American >people in Florida supported him over Bush. The fact that he >has not spoken out against this intense level of >disenfranchisement indicates his gross insensitivity and >dismissal of the rights of oppressed people. > >The bottom line is that voting for Gore or Bush does not >offer any real solution to the needs of working and poor >people. Equally important is the duty of every activist to >defend the right to self-determination of the most oppressed- >-including the right to one person, one vote. Fighting for >this right is key to building class solidarity. > >It remains to be seen where this struggle for the democratic >right to vote will lead. Every anti-racist activist should >look for signs that this struggle for bourgeois-democratic >rights will help spark an independent revolutionary struggle >by the entire multinational working class for real political >and economic rights. > >[Moorehead was Workers World Party's 2000 presidential >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) > > > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. 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