WW News Service Digest #303
1) Mumia Abu-Jamal on Carlo's way
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) IAC: An assessment of events in Genoa
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) Baltimore residents to protest at White House Sept. 29
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) Report from Venezuela: Masses support Chavez
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) U.S. Navy voted out of Vieques, refuses to leave
by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
T
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: sunnuntai 5. elokuu 2001 22:02
Subject: [WW] Mumia Abu-Jamal on Carlo's way
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 9, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL ON CARLO'S WAY
The recent police shooting of 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani in
the riotous streets of Genoa has sent shock waves around the
globe.
Giuliani, son of a Rome labor leader, was one of tens of
thousands of anti-globalist demonstrators who fell on the
latest place where politicians and corporate representatives
gathered to ensure their continued dominance of the world's
economy. Carlo was part of a growing movement, uniting the
youth of many so-called first world countries with the
aspirations of many in the so-called third world. It was
this movement that shook Seattle, and made the anagram WTO
known throughout the earth.
For opposing the rule of capital, for opposing the Empire of
Wealth, Carlo Giuliani was shot by the hit men of capital,
and, as if this were not enough, a police vehicle rolled
over his prone, wounded body.
With the brutal state slaughter of Carlo Giuliani, the
message goes forth that anti-globalism is a capital crime.
This is but the latest escalation by the armed forces of
capital, which has utilized increasing levels of state
violence to intimidate the swelling hordes of anti-
globalists.
The blood on the asphalt of Genoa did not begin when a cop
pointed his semi-automatic into the face of a masked Roman
anarchist. The blood of Genoa flows from the streets of
Goteborg, in Sweden, when the European Union was holding its
summit meeting. There, police fired live rounds at
protestors, wounding three, one seriously.
Now, an anarchist anti-globalist lies dead.
As soon as the news hit the wire came the words of the Irish
playwright, George Bernard Shaw, who once quipped,
"Anarchism is a game at which the police can beat you."
Shaw, an ardent socialist, would perhaps amend his comments
in light of recent events (if he could).
What is most telling is how the representatives of the state
and their propaganda arm, the media, have reacted to this
vicious tragedy.
While politicians uniformly spoke with forked tongues about
the "tragedy," not a single syllable was uttered in
criticism of the police, was it?
For the media, however, a different game was played. In
virtually every report, the coverage told of violent
protesters--and suggested that they were uninformed, or
simply stupid for daring to care about the poor in Africa,
Asia or Latin America. Examine their biased, corporate-
centered coverage, and ask yourself one simple question:
What would they have written if a Genoan cop had been shot,
and run over with a Land Rover driven by anarchists? Every
corporate outlet would've blared about how "vicious" and
"violent" the anti-globalist "terrorists" were. Of this
there is no question!
Instead, a muted silence.
Silence, when the terrorists are the cops.
Silence, when the killers are the cops.
Silence, when the hit men for the corporations act out.
You hear the fractured lectures of politicians talking about
"assaults on the democratic process," and the like.
Yet, how democratic is the G-8 (Group of 8)?
This group, which is self-selected, is seven of the
wealthiest nations on earth (plus Russia).
If there are about 193 nations in the world, what's
"democratic" about 4 percent of that number making all of
the rules governing the rest of the world's economy?
Look at it another way: The G-8 consists of representatives
for Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United
Kingdom, the United States--and Russia. If you were to count
all of the people in each nation, and add them up, you'd
come up with around 824 million people. That's a lot of
folks.
But there are 6,000,000,000-plus people on earth!
How can 14 percent of the world's population set down the
rules for 86 percent of the rest of the people of the world?
Carlo Giuliani wasn't "assaulting the democratic process."
He was protesting a profoundly anti-democratic process.
He was fighting on behalf of most of the people in the
world.
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: sunnuntai 5. elokuu 2001 22:03
Subject: [WW] IAC: An assessment of events in Genoa
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 9, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER:
AN ASSESSMENT OF RECENT EVENTS IN GENOA
The following is taken from a statement on Genoa by the
International Action Center.
The complete text can be found online at www.iacenter.org.
The International Action Center joins its voice with
millions around the world who have expressed outrage at the
Italian state. We also express our deep sympathy for the
family of 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani, who was shot dead by
an as-yet-unknown cop on July 20 while fighting heroically
to defend himself and other activists from a heavily armed
police vehicle.
The cold-blooded assassination of young Carlo was not the
isolated act of a "bad cop." Neither was it the act of a
"scared," "desperate" or "inexperienced" cop defending
himself against a "bad protester." Rather it was yet another
outrageous and utterly indefensible episode in a long
history of murderous repression against progressive
activists.
Recently, dozens of workers and youths have been killed by
state forces in Papua New Guinea, Argentina, Bolivia, India,
Nigeria, Mexico and Brazil as part of a campaign to silence
the growing outrage of the people at an unjust World Order.
Thousands of workers in South Korea have been given long
prison sentences for participating in strikes to defend
their jobs.
As the air clears of tear gas and the blood and debris are
swept from the Genoa streets, more and more firsthand
accounts from the frontlines of the battle are becoming
available.
The real story the big-business media refuse to print is
that hundreds of thousands of people representing literally
thousands of grassroots groups and labor organizations came
out into the Genoa streets in direct defiance of the state's
well-publicized plans to try to stop anti-G8 demonstrators.
All progressive people should view this as an enormous
victory.
Given the many facts and details that are coming to light,
the IAC asserts that more than 99 percent--virtually all--of
the Genoa violence was perpetrated and planned by police and
other state forces, including the G-8 leaders themselves.
For what else is the G-8 Summit than a war council where the
imperialist rulers meet to plot the undramatic war, an
economic war that consists of diverting resources
desperately needed by the many in the service of projects
that benefit only a few. The meetings of the G-8 are where
the richest nations coordinate their assault against the
poorest ones, consigning millions to racist economic
strangulation, war, famine, disease and death.
A crisis is currently plaguing the market economy. The G-8
strategy is to ward off total collapse through mass layoffs,
structural adjustment and austerity programs, gutted
environmental protections and other schemes to shoulder this
burden on the workers and poor.
Protesters who took to the streets in Genoa--along with
those who come out everywhere these war councils of the G-8,
WTO, IMF and World Bank hold meetings--are absolutely right
to protest and fight this band of warring rogues in any way
they can.
The IAC, an organization involved in planning fall protests
against the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Bush
administration in Washington, D.C., feels that all of the
organizations and individuals who wish to voice their
protest against the injustice of these institutions have the
right to do so without the threat of being murdered, beaten
or having our groups infiltrated by agents provocateurs. And
we are prepared to fight for that right.
There is ample and mounting proof that the state forces of
the seven imperialist countries--United States, Britain,
Germany, France, Canada, Japan and Italy--which make up the
Group of Eight along with capitalists in Russia conspired to
murder, disrupt and crush demonstrators against the G-8
summit in Genoa, Italy, July 19-22.
[The statement then lists the many times that capitalist
governments have used force and provocateurs to try and
derail this movement.]
Every movement that seeks profound social change and social
justice has been confronted with the forces of organized
violence.
"Bull" Connor and the segregationists in the U.S. Deep South
employed murder against the civil-rights movement. They
always portrayed the victims as "criminal elements" and
"outside agitators."
The FBI launched the Counter-Intelligence Program
(COINTELPRO) to infiltrate, frameup and hunt down
revolutionary leaders of the Black Panther Party, American
Indian Movement and other militants.
But the violence of the powers that be would not stop the
movements whose time had come and whose struggles were
fiercely determined.
This is how every gain, no matter how small, has been won.
This is how affirmative action was won, how workers won
union rights, how young people and others ended the war in
Vietnam, how women won the right to choose, how lesbian,
gay, bi and trans people began a militant fight against
discrimination and brutality--by standing up and refusing to
be intimidated, by refusing to surrender basic rights in the
face of organized violence by the capitalist state.
A better world is possible!
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: sunnuntai 5. elokuu 2001 22:04
Subject: [WW] Baltimore residents to protest at White House Sept. 29
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 9, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
AT SEPT. 29 WHITE HOUSE ACTION:
BALTIMORE RESIDENTS TO PROTEST UTILITY SHUTOFFS
By Sharon Black
Baltimore
Over 150,000 Baltimore Gas and Electric customers are behind
in their bills and will be receiving turn-off notices,
according to a front-page article in the Sun newspapers here
the last week in July.
By a conservative estimate from the Committee to Stop High
Gas and Electric Bill of the All Peoples Congress, at least
one out of every seven people in the BG&E area will be
affected.
Renee Washington, volunteer organizer for the Baltimore All
Peoples Congress, a grassroots community group that has been
fighting against utility bill increases, said, "Our seniors
and poor cannot ask the Navy to pay their bills!"
Washington was referring to Vice President Dick Cheney's
request that Congress shift his mansion's annual $186,000
electricity bill to the Navy.
"We are getting calls and visiting with people all over our
state who are suffering while they struggle to cope with sky-
high gas and electric bills," said Washington. "Many have to
choose between eating and heating or paying the rent and
mortgage. We have been flooded with calls from angry workers
who simply can't pay the bills."
Camille Holmes, a young mother of a 4-year-old son with
asthma, called the committee in desperation. Despite her
pleas to BG&E, she received a turn off notice.
Holmes says company representatives callously refused to
accept a reasonable payment arrangement, telling her she
could take her son to the hospital or he could die. She
recently lost her job and needed a little time to pay the
entire amount.
Washington told of another customer she visited with in the
Highland Town section of Baltimore. This customer is 68
years old. Her bill is over $2,000. BG&E has tacked on
charges for plumbing repairs--though the plumbing is still
not functional.
She continues to be without hot running water. None of her
bills indicates that the grants she received were credited.
She too has received a shut-off notice.
"You have to contrast these conditions to Vice President
Dick Cheney, who can so easily request his bill be paid by
the Navy. Of course, President George Bush and Cheney are in
the back pocket of the giant utility and oil companies.
"This is why our group has passed a resolution to mobilize
for the national protest against Bush and globalization on
Sept. 29. We will be boarding buses and forming a 'Heat and
Light Are a Right' contingent to demand 'No Shut-Offs, Roll
Back Utility Rates, People Before Profits,'" said
Washington.
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: sunnuntai 5. elokuu 2001 22:04
Subject: [WW] Report from Venezuela: Masses support Chavez
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 9, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
REPORT FROM VENEZUELA:
MASSES SUPPORT CHAVEZ'S "BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION"
By Gloria La Riva
Caracas, Venezuela
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was thronged by thousands
of people July 24 as he led a mass march through the streets
of this capital city to commemorate the birth 218 years ago
of Latin American liberator Simon Bol�var. The marchers
clamored to see and touch him, to hand him petitions and
requests for help.
Chanting "Chavez, Chavez" the masses awakened by the
"Bolivarian revolution" headed by the former military
officer made the march unforgettable. It was obvious they
desperately want real change in their daily lives.
Venezuela is one of the world's largest oil producers. Yet
80 percent of the population lives in poverty. There is
overwhelming support among the people for a radical
transformation. The word "revolution" is on the lips of
many.
As this reporter weaved through the crowds with a video
camera to record the event, women and men said, "Tell the
truth about Chavez, that we love him ... say what is really
happening here, that the people are with Chavez and he is
with us."
They were expressing their well-founded frustration with the
capitalist media inside and outside the country that is
spreading lies and myths against the Venezuelan leader. The
media attacks are part of a destabilization campaign,
undoubtedly encouraged by the CIA, to sow confusion and to
mobilize reactionary opposition to Chavez's government.
In the march this reporter was part of a contingent of Latin
American trade unionists who had just concluded a two-day
"First Continent-wide Meeting of Workers Against
Globalization and the FTAA" in the capital city. The
conference was held to organize against the U.S.-crafted
economic accord called Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA, or ALCA in Spanish).
Although still in the planning stage, the FTAA has raised
alarm among progressive activists throughout the continent,
who understand it as a serious threat to Latin America's
economic survival and a blow to the working class. Seeing
this danger to millions of workers and poor, thousands of
people were spurred into action against the FTAA Summit in
Quebec in April.
Participating in the Caracas conference were union activists
from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba,
Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Basque country
and the United States, along with many delegates from
Venezuela.
NEW WORKERS' MOVEMENT IN VENEZUELA
The meeting was organized by the Fuerza Bolivariana de
Trabajadores (FBT), the newly formed Venezuelan workers'
movement that is playing a key role in the political
reorganizing of society.
Initiated in September 2000, the FBT, led by progressive
worker activists, has the responsibility to reorganize and
unify all the workers' movements in Venezuela. This includes
bringing together the workers of all four union federations
to enable them to fight effectively for the workers'
interests.
In addition, progressive candidates put forth by the FBT are
challenging notoriously corrupt leaders in the old unions
who frequently collaborated with the bourgeois parties and
corporate bosses.
At the conference, Cuban economist Oswaldo Martinez Martinez
characterized the "economic integration" sought by the U.S.
as resembling the encounter between a shark and a sardine.
The shark is U.S. imperialist power against the national
economies of the lesser-developed countries of the
continent. Without their protective trade barriers, these
countries will be unable to compete.
As an example, Martinez gave a sobering analysis of the
devastation wrought by the North American Free Trade
Agreement on Mexico's economy since it took effect Jan. 1,
1994. He said that in the seven years of NAFTA, Mexico has
been converted from an exporter of corn, beans, rice and
other foodstuffs to an importer.
Plenary speakers included Pedro Ross Leal, general secretary
of the Cuban Workers Confederation (CTC); Nicholas Mad uro,
member of Venezuela's new Constituent National Assembly
and president of the Fuerza Bolivariana de Trabajadores; and
Heinz Dieterich Steffen, economist and political analyst on
Latin American issues.
A spirit of Latin American and Caribbean unity against U.S.
imperialist hegemony prevailed in the sessions and
roundtables that led to a final document and resolutions.
CRISIS IN LATIN AMERICA
The Latin American and Caribbean countries are in the midst
of great turmoil brought on by growing capitalist crisis. A
vanguard of activists throughout the continent is making
alliances to fight back. This was also shown at a conference
against Plan Colombia held a week earlier in El Salvador.
>From Argentinian general strikes to the Colombian guerrilla
struggle, from an Indigenous-led insurrection in Ecuador to
Cuba's socialist revolution, from the heroic resistance in
Vieques, Puerto Rico, to Venezuela's anti-imperialist
"Bolivarian" struggle, the Latin-Caribbean peoples are
saying no to the old Monroe Doctrine and the new Monroe
Doctrine embodied in the FTAA.
First expressed in 1823, this infamous policy of President
James Monroe proclaimed that all of the Americas were within
the U.S. sphere of influence. It was a warning to the
European capitalist countries that the Western Hemisphere
belonged to the United States.
To block their European competitors, today as then, the U.S.
is desperate to see the FTAA signed so U.S. investors can
grab the lion's share in the hemisphere's profits.
The evening of Bolivar's anniversary, Chavez spoke to
economists of the Economic Systems of Latin America
institution (SELA). Also present were the anti-FTAA
delegates and various foreign ambassadors.
CHAVEZ OPPOSES FTAA
Chavez made clear his opposition to FTAA, as well as
attempts against his Bolivarian process. Whereas days before
he had denounced the media for its lies, this time he
distinguished the owners from the workers, welcoming "my
friends--the journalists, videographers and photographers.
"I say that FTAA is an option, nothing more. It is not our
destiny. ...
"This decision is so serious that we cannot come together to
meet again as in Quebec, or in three years, in Caracas or
who knows where, to meet closed off behind a wall, protected
by thousands of police and helicopter gun ships, to make a
decision for hundreds of millions of human beings.
"We are not talking of democracy then. I am very glad that
you are here [referring to the anti-FTAA delegates], workers
of the entire continent, including the United States. And
you chose Caracas as the site to debate FTAA and the
interests of the workers of the continent.
"And the students should do the same, and the Indigenous
people have to do it, and the peasants have to do the same.
They are the true owners, not us. It is the people who are
the true and sovereign owners of the whole dimension of
Latin America and the Caribbean.
"That neo-liberal thesis that arrived in the continent and
dug its claws in the jugular of our peoples produced the
decade of the 90s, worse than the 80s. Poverty, inequality,
injustice, terrible death, malnutrition, millions of human
beings unemployed and underemployed, they're in the
streets."
Each week Venezuelans are seeing profound social changes,
legislation favoring workers' rights and housing
development. One of the biggest challenges to bourgeois rule
and private property is an upcoming land reform, to be
discussed and brought before the Venezuelan people for
referendum.
Chavez has taken courageous anti-imperialist positions,
including standing up to U.S. pressures on the domestic and
international arenas. He holds tremendous authority among
the people. He and the progressive forces allied with him
push for the development of a movement that will have the
power to make a real social transformation.
Within Venuzuela the class struggle is sharpening, with U.S.
imperialism backing the bosses and the rich. The "Bolivarian
Revolution" merits the support of progressive and
revolutionary forces as it defends itself against U.S.
imperialism. It's time to demand that Washington cease the
hostilities against Venezuela.
From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: sunnuntai 5. elokuu 2001 22:05
Subject: [WW] U.S. Navy voted out of Vieques, refuses to leave
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 9, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
VIEQUES REFERENDUM: NAVY VOTED OUT, REFUSES TO LEAVE
By Berta Joubert-Ceci
The cold and rain on July 29 in Vieques, Puerto Rico, could
not dampen the joy of those who voted for "Option #2" in a
referendum about the U.S. Navy presence. This option,
demanding that the U.S. Navy stop the bombing of the island
and leave immediately, won with close to 70 percent of the
votes.
People lined polling places starting at 6 a.m., waiting for
the 8 a.m. opening of the doors. Two-and-a-half hours later,
50 percent of the registered electors had already cast their
votes.
When the polls were closed in the afternoon and the early
results began circulating, people rushed to the public
plaza. There, with songs and dances and anti-Navy slogans,
they celebrated what they feel is a certain future: "From
Punta Arenas to Salinas, only one Vieques with no Navy!"
Even though the Navy tried hard to bribe the residents--
directly with much-needed monetary payments and also through
its pro-statehood allies in Puerto Rico--less than 30
percent voted for "Option #3," which represented the Navy's
interests.
Several days before the election, the Navy orchestrated a
car caravan with its surrogates in the pro-statehood New
Progressive Party (PNP), led by ex-governor Carlos Romero
Barcelo. Anti-Navy placards and slogans drove them out and,
to make sure they would not come back, stones were thrown as
the caravan was leaving.
As expected, the PNP tried to influence voters in favor of
the Navy, although publicly its leadership claimed they
would not take a stand. Two PNP senators, however, Norma
Burgos and Sergio Pena Clos, broke from their party's
"official" position. The two endorsed option #2, reflecting
the sentiment of the majority of Puerto Ricans.
Burgos had been arrested earlier for participating in civil
disobedience in the restricted area. And Pena Clos went to
Vieques, exposing those in PNP's leadership by saying that
those in his party who advocated for the Navy were "more to
the right than the KKK in Alabama" and that asking the
people of Vieques to vote for the Navy was "like asking a
chicken to vote for Kentucky Fried Chicken."
The pro-Navy forces also tried different scare tactics. They
mounted an anticommunist campaign, printing placards with
the faces of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro and the words:
"Get them out of here by voting #3." They also prepared
propaganda "warning" Viequenses that a vote for #2 would
mean a loss of Social Security or food stamp benefits.
The majority of people in Vieques know, however, who the
real enemy is.
With their usual arrogance, President George W. Bush and the
Pentagon responded to the referendum. Through his
spokesperson Ari Fleischer, Bush said that he was "sticking
by the original schedule. The president has always said it's
very important to listen to the people of Puerto Rico, and
he has," Fleischer said. "The president also believes it's
very important to have a seamless transition so that our
military can be the best trained it can be so we are
prepared for any contingencies around the world."
The Pentagon's answer, through its spokesperson Kate
Mueller, was: "We will continue with our operation in
Vieques." They have already announced that the next round of
war practices will start on Aug. 2. According to the Puerto
Rican administration's Vieques Commissioner, Juan Fernandez,
these will be the "most intense, complex and dangerous
exercises since the death of David Sanes."
Vieques activists did not receive this threat lightly. They
are planning massive actions to prevent these military
exercises.
Ismael Guadalupe, leader of the Committee for the Rescue and
Development of Vieques, said, "The result of the referendum
is a powerful weapon, but it must be complemented with
actions of civil disobedience."
These started right after the voting, when people demolished
the fence at Camp Garc�a in several points. The day after
the referendum, 300 activists went to Camp Garc�a's front
gate to serve the Navy with an eviction notice. Masked youth
also placed a U.S. flag on top of the base's fence and set
it on fire.
