From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service)
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 05:00:38 -0500
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service)
Subject: wwnews Digest #215
WW News Service Digest #215
1) Ecuador protests hit IMF, Pentagon
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) Workers around the world: 1/18/01
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) Toronto: Adjuncts & teaching assistants make gains
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) Remembering Joe Gilliam, pioneer Black quarterback
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 18, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
ECUADOR PROTESTS HIT IMF, PENTAGON
By Andy McInerney
One year after popular forces toppled the government in
Ecuador, protests against International Monetary Fund
austerity measures continue. At the core of the protests is
the inability of the Ecuadorian ruling class and its backers
in Washington to resolve the social contradictions that
these austerity measures generate.
The most recent round of protests began Jan. 3. Thousands of
students in Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil took to the streets
against public-transportation rate hikes.
Quito, the capital city, ground to a halt. Clashes between
Quito Central University students and riot police left 12
injured and at least 190 arrested, according to the Pulsar
news agency.
The students won a victory when the courts temporarily
blocked first the fare hikes and then the fuel price hikes.
Ecuador is facing a severe economic crisis. While most Latin
American countries are being hit with this crisis, Ecuador's
is among the most pronounced.
The inflation rate last year was 91 percent--meaning that
prices of basic goods effectively doubled in one year.
Poverty and unemployment are rampant, especially among the
Indigenous peasant population.
The monthly minimum wage stands at $130. The monthly cost of
living is $200.
On top of these depression-like conditions, the IMF is
trying to draw the proverbial blood from the stone. These
bankers are demanding increased privatization and austerity
measures as a condition for further loans.
The economy has been "dollarized"--the national currency is
officially the U.S. dollar--putting basic financial control
of the economy in the hands of the U.S. Treasury.
CAN'T STOP RESISTANCE
The duty of Washington's client regimes in the oppressed
countries of the world is to impose these measures while
avoiding resistance from the workers and peasants, who will
bear the brunt of the intensified exploitation. In Ecuador,
successive regimes have failed at that task.
In 1998, President Abdala Bucaram was forced into exile
after mass protests broke out against his attempts to
implement the IMF plan. His successor, Jamil Mahuad, also
tried to carry out the IMF's dictates--and was forced from
power in January 2000 by a coalition of workers, Indigenous
peasants and low-ranking military officers.
The popular uprising last year sent tremors through the
ruling class in Quito and Washington.
For a period of several hours on the night of Jan. 21, state
power passed into the hands of the people. The inability to
hold power was due to both the tremendous pressure of the
Pentagon and Ecuador's top brass, as well as the lack of a
united political apparatus steeled in class combat and
aiming to seize state power for the exploited classes.
CRISIS THROUGHOUT THE REGION
Both sides undoubtedly learned lessons from last January's
uprising. But for the Noboa regime, there remains the
insoluble contradiction between imposing the IMF's will and
the demands of the mobilized workers, peasants and students.
This contradiction is magnified by the fact that Ecuador's
own volatile social situation is matched by social crises
throughout the region.
In Venezuela, the exploited classes have found a voice in
the government of President Hugo Chavez--increasingly a
target of U.S. wrath.
And in neighboring Colombia, a revolutionary movement has
grown to challenge the very existence of the exploiting
classes there.
Although it is in many ways the "weakest link" in the chain
of U.S. clients in the region--sitting on a fragile social
base, and the fifth regime in as many years--the Noboa
government is being pushed by the Pentagon into an
increasingly front-line role in the mobilization against the
Colombian revolution.
In particular, Noboa has had to turn over control of the air
base in Manta for the Pentagon's use. In December Noboa also
threatened to declare a state of emergency in the region
bordering Colombia in an effort to oust local mayors--many
of whom support the revolutionary movement in Colombia.
These actions can only serve to sharpen the anti-imperialist
consciousness of workers and peasants who are already locked
in combat with the Noboa regime over economic exploitation.
Already the Manta base has been the site of several
demonstrations against U.S. intervention in the region.
In September, demonstrators held placards reading, "We don't
want to be a U.S. colony."
Meanwhile, the leading popular forces are continuing to
prepare for new challenges to the Noboa regime. The
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador held a
national assembly on Jan. 8 to plan actions. The United
Workers Front, the country's labor federation, is planning a
special assembly on Jan. 13 to discuss possible
mobilizations.
The Coordinating Committee for Social Movements (CMS), an
umbrella organization, announced mass protests against the
government's pro-IMF policies to take place on Jan. 21--the
anniversary of the 2000 uprising.
"We reaffirm struggle as a means to combat the neoliberal
economic model," CMS leader Napoleon Saltos told the daily
Hoy on Jan. 6.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 18, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
WORKERS AROUND THE WORLD
NEPAL: POLICE ATTACK SPARKS GENERAL STRIKE
A general strike shut down Katmandu, the capital of Nepal,
on Jan. 1-2. Businesses, shops and schools were closed
tight. Streets were deserted. The Group of Nine Leftists, a
coalition of nine communist parties, called the action after
police killed six protesters in late December.
Student-led protests had erupted in Katmandu and other
cities after reports of anti-Nepalese remarks by Indian
movie star Hrithik Roshan. Protesters, who called the
remarks racist, targeted theaters screening Roshan's films
and Indian-owned businesses.
Cops shot and killed four protesters in the capital Dec. 27.
On Dec. 31 two more people were killed in the southern town
of Rajbiraj during a demonstration against the police
killings, according to the Associated Press.
Nepal, a small, mountainous country, has long been dominated
by neighboring India. In 1990 a popular uprising forced
Nepal's king to lift the ban on political parties and
establish a parliamentary system. The bourgeois Nepali
Congress Party dominates the government. The king retains
control of the military.
The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), the
main opposition group, has the second-biggest delegation in
parliament. Another group, the Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist), is waging a guerrilla war against the government.
NETHERLANDS: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE VICTORY
Same-sex marriage legislation cleared its final hurdle in
the Netherlands when it passed the Senate Dec. 19. The new
law will take effect in April, according to independent
journalist Rex Wockner.
The new law allows lesbian and gay couples to marry and
adopt children under the same statutes as heterosexual
couples. The Netherlands is the first country to grant same-
sex couples access to regular marriage.
"We're the first country in the world where there is not
distinction made on the basis of gender," said Ono Hoes, a
representative of the Dutch gay-rights group COC.
However, same-sex couples will not be allowed to adopt
children from other countries. Couples from third countries
cannot get married there.
The legislation was supported by the liberal coalition
government and by leftist parties.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 18, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
TORONTO: ADJUNCTS & TEACHING ASSISTANTS MAKE GAINS
By G. Dunkel
Adjunct faculty members and graduate and teaching assistants
at York University in Toronto appear to be on the road to
winning the strike they started Oct. 26. Since that time
faculty and staff have refused to cross picket lines,
canceling all classes at the 35,000-student campus.
Adjunct or "contract" faculty at York are considered
temporary employees no matter how long or how much they have
worked.
The university and Ontario's provincial government forced
the workers to vote on management's latest contract offer
over the winter holidays.
Two of the three striking units turned the proposal down by
wide margins. The adjunct faculty unit accepted the offer,
but noted that its members would continue to honor the
picket lines of their sisters and brothers of Canadian Union
of Public Employees Local 3903.
Lorna Marsden, the high-paid corporate executive who is
president of York, decided classes would resume Jan. 8. She
hired a private non-union bus company to ferry students and
faculty across the picket line.
The union's response was sharp and decisive. "Make no
mistake about it, that university will be closed down on
Monday morning," said Sid Ryan, president of Ontario CUPE.
"We will have steel workers and auto workers and food
workers and other university workers and CUPE members in the
public sector outside this university's gates," he told a
news conference. "We will not be beaten into the ground."
About 24 hours after Marsden declared that the university
was going to try to break the picket line and the strike,
the University Senate said it alone had the power to declare
when instruction would begin and "the disruption had ended."
Classes will not start Jan. 8.
Not much appears to be separating the graduate student units
and the administration other than a cap on tuition. Since a
large part of their pay is tuition remission, the graduate
students don't want the university to recoup their wage hike
by raising tuition.
But York University is firmly on the road to privatization.
Ontario Premier Mike Harris and the business executives he
appointed to run York want to run it like a business. They
want to be able to charge what the market will bear and
dismantle affordable and accessible education.
Local 3903's Web site charges: "Their goal all along has
been to work with the Harris government in order to
establish a 'for profit' university. That is why against all
reason they have prolonged the strike and refused to bargain
with CUPE 3903."
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 18, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
REMEMBERING JOE GILLIAM, PIONEER BLACK QUARTERBACK
By Monica Moorehead
The National Football League's 2000 season will be
remembered by many as the year of the Black quarterback. A
number of young, intelligent and talented African American
quarterbacks have led their teams to the playoffs. They
include Daunte Culpepper, Donovan McNabb, Aaron Brooks,
Steve McNair and Shaun King.
NFL analysts have singled out Culpepper as "revolutionizing"
the position that for decades was the exclusive domain of
whites.
The NFL has been in existence for more than 80 years. But
the very first Black quarterback was not even drafted until
1968, at the height of the Black liberation struggle. His
name is Marvin Briscoe.
James Harris, the first Black quarterback to start a NFL
season, played from 1968 until 1981. On HBO's program
"Inside the NFL," Harris pointed out that NFL scouts wanted
to switch him from quarterback to another position once he
graduated from college. Harris refused to bow to this form
of racial profiling and went on to have a successful career
as the leader of a number of NFL teams.
This was the typical attitude of white scouts who felt that
Black quarterbacks were not "intelligent" enough to learn
the complexities of offensive plays.
BREAKING DOWN RACIST BARRIERS
The third Black quarterback to enter the NFL was Joe Gilliam
Jr., also known as "Jefferson Street Joe." Gilliam died of
an apparent heart attack on Dec. 25, just four days shy of
his 50th birthday.
Gilliam was an All-American quarterback at Tennessee State
University. The predominantly Black college is known for its
track and field athletes--including the great sprinter Wilma
Rudolph.
Gilliam was an 11th-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh
Steelers in 1972. He sat on the bench for two years.
Unfortunately, he was forced to scab during a pre-season
strike by NFL players in order to showcase his abilities.
Steelers Coach Chuck Noll made an offer to Gilliam to
compete for the starting quarterback position. The first-
string quarterback, Terry Bradshaw, who is white, was out on
strike.
Gilliam became the Steelers' starting quarterback in 1974.
For the first six games, he had a winning record.
But Gilliam soon found out that being a Black quarterback
meant more than just having a winning record. It meant that
he had to prove time and time again that he was superhuman
in the eyes of the white Pittsburgh fans and sports critics.
During the only loss while Gilliam was the quarterback, fans
chanted, "We want Bradshaw." During media call-in shows,
racist fans would make disparaging remarks about Gilliam.
Gilliam's reaction to this racism was: "'I was totally
shocked. I thought if you played well, you got to play. I
guess I didn't understand the significance of being a Black
quarterback at the time." (New York Times, Dec. 27, 2000)
Gilliam received numerous death threats. He stated that his
apartment was filled with a pile of hate letters three feet
high and three feet wide. Three Rivers Stadium, the former
home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, received bomb threats while
Gilliam was the quarterback.
In response to all this racist pressure, he turned to drugs
and alcohol. Gilliam subsequently benched himself and turned
over his starting job to Bradshaw.
The Steelers dropped him in 1975. He never played for
another NFL team.
Gilliam was homeless for two years. He checked himself into
a rehabilitation center. Later he started a football camp
for urban youths in Pittsburgh.
One can only speculate how successful Gilliam could have
been as a quarterback if racism had not tragically cut short
his career and his life.
The new wave of Black quarterbacks owes a debt of gratitude
to Joe Gilliam because he, along with Briscoe and Harris,
attempted to break down the tremendous racist barriers in
professional sports that are still alive and well today.
