3) Mumia on post-Sept. 11
by WW
4) Haiti moves toward political crisis
by WW
5) New music CD: Pam Parker & 'Working Class'
by WW
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (WW)
Date: keskiviikko 28. marraskuu 2001 05:25
Subject: [WW] Mumia on post-Sept. 11
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 29, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
Mumia on post-Sept. 11
'WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE'
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
What was the most common response heard to the devastation
that struck New York's Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept.
11, 2001?
For tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of people,
especially those in their 50s or older, the carnage and
destruction of the aerial attack of Sept. 11 brought to mind
the flying squadrons of Imperial Japan when waves of them
struck Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Over 2,300 Americans
perished during that attack.
As is often the case, people are often right. While there
were obviously dissimilarities (Japan was a nation, not an
organization), the psychological impact was indeed similar:
shock, fear, outrage, and a massive military and social
response.
After the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. declared war by the
next day--Dec. 8.
It also embarked on an internal war of sorts, against
Americans of Japanese descent. Within days of the bombing of
Pearl Harbor, the media agitated against Japanese-Americans,
as did the Los Angeles Times, which wrote:
"A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched--
so a Japanese American, born of Japanese parents, grows up
to be a Japanese, not an American."
Racist editorials such as this paved the way for U.S.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order
9066, which removed tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans
from the West Coast and placed over 120,000 Japanese men,
women, and children in concentration camps, over 60 percent
of whom were American citizens.
While there are far more Arab-Americans in the U.S. then
there were Japanese-Americans in the U.S. in the 1940s, over
1,000 Arab-Americans are being held in secret, unlimited
detention, with no meaningful access to lawyers. The U.S.
Justice Department recently announced that it will monitor
telephone conversations between detainees and lawyers.
So, that (internment) hasn't
happened--yet.
At the time of World War II, the U.S. government announced
it was fighting totalitarianism, and demanded hemispheric
unity. As a result, some nations, like Peru, waged virtual
war against their Japanese citizens. The Peruvian government
froze and confiscated Japanese assets, shut down Japanese
businesses and schools, and blacklisted the entire Japanese
community.
Under U.S. pressure, the government forced some of its
Japanese citizens to flee back to Japan; 1,771 others were
deported to the U.S., where they were confined to ugly,
dusty concentration camps in Texas. These were Spanish-
speaking Peruvian citizens, whose only offenses were having
Japanese ancestry!
Can what happened in the 1940s
happen now?
No? Why not?
What if another bombing were to occur?
Who can say?
- END -
(Copyright 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
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (WW)
Date: keskiviikko 28. marraskuu 2001 05:26
Subject: [WW] Haiti moves toward political crisis
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 29, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
As dire poverty worsens
HAITI MOVES TOWARD POLITICAL CRISIS
By G. Dunkel
For the past 18 months, Haiti has been in the midst of a
political crisis, and the U.S. plays a central role in it.
Popular anger is boiling. Haitians are demanding jobs,
justice, water, electricity, health care and garbage
collection. They are overloaded with misery, grief and a
skyrocketing cost of living.
A struggle is raging over the current presidency, too.
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas (Lavalas
Family) party won the last election fair and square,
according to the accounts of international observers.
But the losing opposition--the "Democratic Convergence"--
wants to overturn the election results. The U.S. is
supporting the Convergence against Aristide.
The opposition is made up of forces that include followers
of the former Duvalier family dictatorship and the Macoutes--
a fascist group that has employed Klan-like terror to
repress Haitians.
How is the U.S. able to support this opposition to Aristide?
It used the electoral dispute to place a hold on $500
million of social and humanitarian loans to Haiti from the
Inter-American Development Bank. Although the money has not
been released, Haiti still has to pay the interest,
according to the terms of the loan.
The Convergence has also received more than $7 million from
the International Republican Institute, the foreign policy
arm of the U.S. Republican Party, according to reports from
Haitian journalists. The IRI has a long history of meddling
in Haiti's internal affairs.
The Congressional Black Caucus is protesting the U.S. role
in Haiti. Caucus members sent President George W. Bush a
letter on Nov. 8 charging that U.S. policy is "contributing
to the continued attrition of the quality life of Haiti's
people, which, if left unchanged, could lead to horrendous
outcomes." The letter referred to the "humanitarian tragedy"
that is brewing in Haiti. It is the poorest country in the
Western hemisphere; 45 percent of the population is
illiterate and unemployment hovers around 70 percent.
Haiti needs the loans that the U.S. is blocking in order to
build roads and other facilities that would vastly improve
its ability to develop economically.
The money Haitians living in the U.S. had been sending home
was an important boost to the economy--$699 million last
year, according to the central bank in Haiti. September 11
changed all that.
MONEY SLASHED FROM
HAITIANS IN U.S.
Twenty hours after the attack on the World Trade Center, the
value of Haiti's currency in relation to the U.S. dollar
fell by more than 4 percent. It has continued to plummet as
inflation has soared to 17 percent.
The economic recession in the U.S., deepened by the Sept. 11
attacks and the imperialist war, has cut drastically into
the money Haitians send home.
By Sept. 29, the restaurant industry in Florida had laid off
70,000 workers. Hotels and motels cut 38,700 jobs, including
almost 8,500 housekeepers. Haitians had filled many of these
positions.
Throughout October, as the money drought became more severe,
its impact could be felt in reductions in basic municipal
services in Haiti: garbage collection, telephones and
electricity. Municipal governments didn't have the money for
what had already been difficult before the financial crisis.
The national government stepped in and dissolved Port-au-
Prince's elected city government.
Trying to take advantage of the situation, the Democratic
Convergence, with the full backing of the United States,
began calling for local protests. According to the BBC
Monitoring Service (Nov. 14), Radio Signal in Port-au-Prince
reported that two protest movements had developed throughout
the country. One, representing the popular Lavalas movement,
is "asking for reforms within the public administration
because there is too much administrative mess." The other,
connected to the Convergence, is "demanding the departure of
the current government."
Both groups, according to Radio Signal, are militant. In
Petit-Goave, for example, they both burned tires and blocked
the main road. In Cap-Haitien, the second-largest city in
Haiti, both were in the streets, according to the Associated
Press, during a two-day general strike. Some 80 percent of
the people in Cap-Haitien supported this strike.
Ben Dupuy, secretary general of the progressive National
Popular Party of Haiti, told Ha�ti-Progr�s (Nov. 7-13
issue):
"Clearly, the resolution of this crisis cannot be provided
by bargaining between the two rivals, Fanmi Lavalas and the
Convergence, which represent the interests of the local
ruling classes and of imperialism." The Convergence, he
said, is obviously thinking of a coup. Fanmi Lavalas can't
be a truly popular party, since its economic policies are
neoliberal and serve the interests of imperialism.
Dupuy sees the emergence of a truly people's movement in
Haiti as the way to solve its structural problems.
- END -
(Copyright 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:
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (WW)
Date: keskiviikko 28. marraskuu 2001 05:28
Subject: [WW] New music CD: Pam Parker & 'Working Class'
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 29, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
New music CD
PAM PARKER & 'WORKING CLASS'
By Deirdre Griswold
New York
In these days when music seems to be defined in the mass
media as endless renditions of "God Bless America," you can
revive your soul and spirit with the new compact disk
"Working Class." Performed by Pam Parker and the Bones of
Contention, these songs of struggle, love, and celebration
are good for careful listening or just coloring in the
background as you go about life's tasks.
The group, based in Washington, D.C., performed in a Chelsea
loft here on Nov. 17 to debut the new disk. "The band is
definitely tight--the perfect complement for Pam's smooth
and soulful vocal style," commented Elena Peckham after the
evening's program. "Never a dull moment."
The Bones are Joe Uehlein on lead guitar and vocals--Uehlein
is also director of Strategic Campaigns for the AFL-CIO--
Gerry Royston on bass, Mike Wheaton on piano and Dave
Osborne at the drums.
Parker's singing style is versatile and her repertoire
extensive. The CD's titles range from Folsom Prison Blues to
Per la Gloria d'Adorarvi, When July Slips into June,
Seeyahamba
and What's Going On? And her own composition, Parker's
Blues.
The CD is $15 and is now available at laborheritage.org. It
can be ordered soon through Amazon.com or Leftbooks.com.
- END -
(Copyright 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)
