> WW News Service Digest #196 > > 1) Election problem for big business > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Attempt to kill Cuban leader foiled > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) WWP conference Dec. 2-3 > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) U.S. Army detains 1,700 at School of Americas > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 5) On the picket line: 11/30/2000 > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 6) Appeal denied in MOVE 9 case > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 30, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >Eleciton problem for big business > >LOOK 'FAIR' OR END IT QUICK? > >By Fred Goldstein > >The producers of public opinion are staging a demonstration >of stern impartiality focused on the Supreme Court of >Florida. > >The judges are seen in their majestic robes, sharply >questioning both sides. No impeachment-style mud slinging or >partisan ranting is allowed in court. > >The way the capitalist media spin it, this cutthroat knife >fight between the two camps of unprincipled political >fortune seekers is being arbitrated with dignity. There is >only polite argumentation back and forth as both sides get >their day in court. When it is all over, judicial wisdom >will reconcile the conflicting statutes and decide on >deadlines versus inclusion. > >The federal statutory deadline when electors are supposed to >be chosen is Dec. 12, the date passed in 1876 after the >Tilden-Hayes betrayal marked the end of Reconstruction. > >Should this date have superior legal status over the right >of the canvassing boards to petition for voting recounts? >Should the authority of the Florida secretary of state be >upheld against the state attorney general? Should the >statute allowing manual recounts, which may take more than >one week, override the statutory one-week post-election >deadline for certification of votes? Is it fair to all the >voters in Florida to have recounts in only three counties, >which happen to have Democratic Party majorities? > >Etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam. > >Stripping away all the legalese, here's the real issue: Will >the Bush legal and public-relations team have enough >political muscle and disinformation to overcome Gore's >lawyers and spin doctors, who have turned heaven and earth >in a desperate, massive fishing expedition for votes? > >The struggle keeps heating up, despite all appeals for >restraint. The Bush forces accused the Gore camp of being >"anti-military" because Democratic officials threw out a >slew of absentee ballots lacking the proper postmark that >came from military bases. The Bush team put forward Gen. >Norman Schwarzkopf, that so-called great defender of >democracy who waged a genocidal aerial and ground war >against the Iraqi people. Schwarzkopf declared the exclusion >of soldiers' ballots "a shame." > >This was the Democrats' opportunity to raise the exclusion >of thousands of African American voters who had been turned >away from the polls or whose ballots were thrown out. But >instead of addressing this ever-widening scandal, which >includes the exclusion of 400,000 Floridians, many of them >Black, under the so-called felon laws, the Gore camp >responded with the flag of surrender. Joseph Lieberman >agreed with the Republicans and came out for special >consideration for military absentee voters. > >WILL CAPITALIST PARTIES SHARE THE SPOILS? > >The capitalist class and its advisors are becoming >increasingly concerned over how far the warring parties will >go in the struggle. They are afraid to cut off the recount >because it will look like Bush stole the election. They are >afraid to do the recount because if Bush loses he may then >escalate the confrontation. > >The pundits are all advising caution and moderation, calling >for both sides to rein in their attacks. Each side is being >told it must contemplate giving in. And each side is being >given advice on how to mend the situation once the question >of the presidency is resolved. > >Business Week in its Nov. 20 on-line edition even went so >far as to script reconciliation for whoever wins. "Whatever >happens now," they wrote, "nearly half the country will >believe this presidential election was stolen." > >To overcome the inevitable alienation of the electorate, >Bush and Gore were both advised to appoint ranking members >of the opposite party to the cabinet. Business Week advised >a summit meeting between the rivals and bipartisanship on >Capitol Hill. > >But moderation is much easier for the pundits and advisors >than for the two gangs of pirates at odds over the richest >prize in the world-the White House-and a budget close to $2 >trillion. > >The Electoral College system, by which the winning party in >a given state gets all the state's electors, was designed to >keep the masses from gaining any influence in national >elections. It is the most restrictive system of elections >among the imperialist countries for the working class and >progressives. > >But it is precisely this winner-take-all Electoral College >system of choosing the president that has conditioned each >of the parties over the last 200 years to regard it as their >sacred right to find a way to win the national election so >they can get all the positions of authority and all of the >loot. Sharing the spoils has been an alien concept in U.S. >capitalist politics and has been practiced only on rare >occasions. > >Bill Clinton, as part of his strategy of moving the >Democrats to the right, appointed Republican William Cohen >as defense secretary. John F. Kennedy, having won by only >the slightest margin over Richard Nixon in 1960, appointed >Republicans Robert McNamara of Ford Motors and Dean Rusk of >the Rockefeller Foundation to his cabinet. But these are >exceptions. > >Now, with such a close vote, the system has come back to >haunt big business. The parties they have created are >undermining Washington's image on the world arena and making >the masses at home increasingly cynical about bourgeois >politics. Furthermore, the struggle is laying the basis for >long-term, intensified political warfare between the parties >at a time when industrial production in the U.S. is slowing >down and the bosses are fearful of an economic downturn. > >So the bosses are looking to the least democratic of all >institutions, the courts, to rescue capitalist democracy >from itself. The warring parties are being pressured to >submit to the Florida Supreme Court. It remains to be seen >if they can be constrained by a court decision at the state >level. There will be intense pressure from the ruling class >for one or the other to submit, depending upon the outcome. > >Thus the media campaign to imbue the Florida Supreme Court >decision with great importance and treat it with such >gravity that the masses feel they have a great democratic >stake in the outcome. > >BEHIND CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY: >THE CLUB OF THE STATE > >No one in the major media contrasted the rhetoric on >democracy with the fact that on Nov. 19, 1,700 people were >detained at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. They had been >demonstrating against the School of the Americas, which >trains death-squad commanders for all of Latin America. >These commanders have been responsible for hundreds of >thousands of deaths in El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina, >Uruguay and other countries. > >On Nov. 16, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the >"Seattle police are prepared to make mass arrests during the >upcoming anniversary of the World Trade Organization >protests." Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has drawn up >a plan that includes "demonstration management platoons," >"prisoner processing teams," "chemical agent response teams" >and uniformed and plainclothes arrest teams, according to >the newspaper. > >While the media are trying to convince the masses that the >great system of democracy works because the voters will >ultimately choose a president, the military in Fort Benning >and the police in Seattle are tearing up the democratic >right to protest against the global crimes committed by the >Pentagon and the transnational corporations. > >In fact, this is a textbook example of how capitalist >democracy works. The big-business parties fight each other >every four years to capture the reins of government, calling >it democracy. Behind them are all the financial and >corporate capitalists gobbling up contracts, writing the >laws and fighting for influence. Meanwhile, the slightest >rebellion against the tyranny of capital is met with >repression. > >In Seattle last year the WTO protesters were met with tear >gas, rubber bullets, clubs and arrests. In the April 2000 >protests in Washington against the International Monetary >Fund and World Bank, police raided the headquarters of the >organizers, carried out preventive arrests of 700 >demonstrators against the prison-industrial complex, and >jailed and beat other demonstrators. All because the >protesters opposed massive economic strangulation of the >oppressed countries by the transnational corporations. > >The same type of repression was visited on demonstrators at >the Republican and Democratic conventions this year. Police >beatings, jailings, high bails, rubber bullets, mace and >clubs were ordered for demonstrators by the two big-business >parties. And now these parties are fighting each other in >the name of defending what they call the sacred democratic >right to have an accurate vote count. > >Two years ago, when African American organizers tried to >hold the Million Youth March in Harlem, the New York >authorities, under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, carried out a >massive campaign of police intimidation, filling the streets >with battalions of cops, flying helicopters menacingly >overhead and finally attacking the rally. > >In 1992, when the Black community of Los Angeles rebelled >against the racist verdict that had freed the cops who were >videotaped beating Rodney King for all the world to see, the >racist Los Angeles Police Department backed by the National >Guard killed close to 40 people and arrested thousands. > >Two million people are incarcerated in prison in a permanent >campaign of intimidation and punishment against a generation >of African American and Latino youths, as well as poor >whites. > >During the bitter Newspaper Guild strike in Detroit in the >mid-1990s, when the Knight-Ridder corporation launched a >campaign to break the union, the courts issued injunctions >severely limiting picketers and opening up the way for scabs >to break the strike. Police used violence to enforce the >court ruling against the workers. > >Similar tactics were employed against the Caterpillar >strike, the Bridgestone/Firestone strike and other strikes >during that period. > >BREAK WITH THE CAPITALIST PARTIES > >Strikebreaking, racist police brutality, suppression of >protest, and endless forms of social, economic and political >oppression exist 365 days a year under capitalism. The vote >every four years for the presidential candidates of big >business is the capitalists' way of seeking from the masses >the validation of their rule over the masses. > >No matter who wins the presidency, Gore or Bush, the bosses >will still control the cops, the courts, the military, the >media and the entire economy. No majority vote for a >bourgeois candidate is a victory for the workers and the >oppressed. > >The fact that Bush may win by a minority or Gore by a >majority is of little consequence. Many presidents in this >century, from Herbert Hoover to Lyndon Johnson to Ronald >Reagan, have won the presidency by a majority. But after >every election they have committed crimes against the people >at home and abroad. > >The first step to putting an end to this situation is to >break with the two capitalist parties and open up a mass >struggle against the reactionary policies of both of them. > >- 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: <021401c05687$38977e80$0a00a8c0@linux> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Attempt to kill Cuban leader foiled >Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 21:27:12 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 30, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >Panama > >ATTEMPT TO KILL CUBAN LEADER FOILED > >By Gloria La Riva >Havana, Cuba > >Luis Posada Carriles, a notorious anti-Cuba fascist >responsible for the bombing deaths of scores of people, was >captured Nov. 17 along with three accomplices after >infiltrating Panama in an attempt to assassinate Cuban >President Fidel Castro. > >The revolutionary government in Havana has called for >Posada's extradition to face trial for his many crimes >against Cuba. But the U.S. government is pressuring Panama >not to do it. > >As the struggle unfolds, the Cuban people will undoubtedly >mobilize until justice is served. > >Posada is a well-known CIA operative. He contracted two >Venezuelan men to place a bomb on a Cubana Airlines plane >departing from Barbados in 1976. The bomb destroyed the >plane in flight, killing 73 people, including the Cuban >national fencing team. > >Posada has also boasted about his role in the bombings of >four Havana hotels in 1997--attacks that were financed by >the Cuban American National Foundation and resulted in the >death of an Italian tourist, Fabio di Celmo. > >CASTRO BLOWS LID OFF ASSASSINATION PLOT > >Castro, who had just arrived in Panama City's airport for >the Tenth Ibero-American Summit on Adolescents and Children, >made an immediate declaration to the press announcing >Posada's presence in Panama. Castro revealed that Posada >sneaked into Panama on Nov. 5 with false papers and an array >of weapons and explosives. > >"I have the duty of informing you ... that terrorist >elements, organized, financed and directed from the U.S. by >the Cuban American National Foundation, which is an >instrument of imperialism and the extreme right wing of that >country, have been sent to Panama City for the purpose of >physically eliminating me," said President Castro. > >He added, "I make this declaration upon arriving here ... to >make it perfectly clear that no danger or threat can >intimidate the presence of Cuba." When a journalist asked >him how Cuban security forces found out about Posada's >presence, he replied, "We have many friends everywhere." > >It is clear that Cuba's state security has not only friends, >but a superb intelligence force that keeps a vigilant eye on >right-wing terrorists intent on wreaking destruction on the >socialist island and its leaders. These terrorists have been >thwarted many times in the past. > >On Nov. 21, in the third roundtable devoted to the case on >Cuban television, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque >revealed the identities, addresses, occupations and other >vital data on each of Posada's accomplices, including >several who have so far eluded capture. He listed the cars >they were driving in Panama, the routes they took and the >weapons they possessed. > >Six of the eight are Cuban-born, he said. Four are now U.S. >citizens living in the Miami area. > >About 20 pounds of C-4 explosives belonging to the terrorist >gang were found in the house of Jose Hurtado, Posada's >driver. Unofficial sources said they were supposed to be >used at the University of Panama, where Castro spoke to >thousands of students on the last night of his visit. > >Posada was taken into custody by Panamanian police within >hours of President Castro's announcement. He was using a >Salvadoran passport under the alias of Franco Rodriguez >Mena. Cuba officially requested his extradition Nov. 21 to >face trial for numerous crimes, including the 1976 Cubana >airlines bombing. > >Posada was convicted in Venezuela for his role in the >bombing. But he managed to "escape" from a prison there in >1985. > >Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may also request Posada's >extradition to face outstanding charges for that crime. > >CIA SHELTERED POSADA > >Until his arrest, Posada traveled throughout Central America >almost at will, sowing terror. For example, he supplied arms >to the Nicaraguan contras in their war against the >Sandinista revolution. Posada was sheltered by the CIA as he >did its dirty work. > >In 1997 Posada paid a young Salvadoran, Rene Cruz Leon, to >plant bombs in Cuban hotels to intimidate foreigners from >traveling to Cuba. Fabio di Celma, the Italian tourist, was >killed in a bomb blast in the lobby of the Copacabana Hotel. > >In Cuba, news of Posada's arrest was met with great >enthusiasm, but also mistrust about what the U.S. government >might do to free him. There is a deep sense of anger that >the U.S. government has not only harbored this terrorist but >financed and supported him in its campaign of sabotage >against Cuba. > >On the Cuban TV roundtable, host Rogelio Polanco noted: "It >is unquestionable that the Panamanian government is being >subjected to very strong pressure to free the terrorists. >Our people are confident in the dignity of the people and >government of Panama, who with the support of the peoples of >Latin America and the world will be capable of resisting >such pressure and to act with justice." > >Di Celmo's father pleaded for Panamanian authorities not to >free Posada Carriles. At the end of the first roundtable on >Nov. 18, moving scenes of testimony by family members of >Posada's other victims were shown. One young man, whose >father piloted the Cubana airplane in 1976, said: "I will >never forget my father's last words. The horror will live >with me the rest of my life." > >This latest assassination attempt on Fidel Castro is part of >U.S. imperialism's constant war of aggression against Cuba. >Because support for Cuba is growing around the world, U.S. >imperialism may resort to more covert tactics to try to >destroy the revolution. > >Against these attacks, Cuba's strength lies in its ability >to rally the masses in a united defense. As in the struggle >for Eli·n Gonzalez, the support of workers and oppressed >people in the United States will be key in this battle. > >- 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: <022201c05687$95e59a40$0a00a8c0@linux> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] WWP conference Dec. 2-3 >Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 21:29:49 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Nov. 30, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >Workers World Party to meet Dec. 2-3 > >CONFERENCE CALLED 'STEP TO >BUILDING NEW MOVEMENT' > >By Brian Becker > >After a year of street struggles from Seattle to >Philadelphia, revolutionary activists against capitalist >globalization and the racist death penalty will gather at a >conference in New York on the weekend of Dec. 2-3. There >they will assess this new movement and evaluate the world >political situation using the tools of Marxism. > >"The Workers World Party annual conference comes at an >exciting and challenging time for those who are trying to >organize against capitalism," states Larry Holmes, a WWP >leader. > >"Thousands of young people have heroically battled against >the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade >Organization and the conventions of the Republican and >Democratic parties," he says. "They have filled Madison >Square Garden for Mumia Abu-Jamal and raised his case at > _______________________________________________________ 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. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. 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