WW News Service Digest #364
1) After police attack on Mumia march: Philly activists say 'Drop charges'
by WW
2) From Mumia Abu-Jamal: A daily terror
by WW
3) For-profit nursing care in crisis
by WW
4) Dregs of U.S. military occupation: Filipinos struggle with toxic wastes
by WW
5) Milosevic rebuts those who bombed Belgrade
by WW
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
AFTER POLICE ATTACK ON MUMIA MARCH:
PHILLY ACTIVISTS SAY "DROP THE CHARGES"
By Betsey Piette
Philadelphia
Community activists have called for an independent
investigation of the police attack on a peaceful march for
imprisoned Black revolutionary journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal
that took place here Dec. 8. They have also demanded that
all charges be dropped against six people arrested and
brutalized by the unprovoked police assault.
Chairing a press conference on Dec. 14, Tiffany Johnson, a
member of the MOVE organization, condemned the police attack
as the latest attempt by the state to prevent evidence from
being heard that could free Abu-Jamal. Kevin Price of
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia told of
the group's efforts to get the courts to hear a taped
confession by an acknowledged mob hitman, Arnold Beverly.
Beverly has admitted that he, not Abu-Jamal, murdered
Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner 20 years ago,
but the court has refused to hear his testimony.
Six activists arrested on Dec. 8 face multiple felony and
misdemeanor charges. Their bails range from $8,000 to
$100,000 each. Two Philadelphians, Teshian Latner and Hai Au
Huynh, spoke at the press conference to dispel the media's
lie that all those arrested were from out of town. Both
described being victims of unprovoked police attack.
Taina Del Valle, who witnessed the police riot, said she saw
police pull the hair of women demonstrators, swing clubs at
anyone in reach, make rude comments at protesters, and drag
those arrested along the street so that they suffered
abrasions.
"What I saw was really disturbing," Del Valle told
reporters. "It was very clearly provoked by the police." Del
Valle stood alongside an enlarged photo of three
Philadelphia police officers pinning a demonstrator to the
ground. One cop had a gun drawn and pointed at the crowd.
Danielle Redden, a legal assistant who worked with several
hundred people arrested during the Republican Convention in
Philadelphia in 2000, charged that the police attack was
part of a nationwide attempt to silence dissent in the
aftermath of Sept. 11. She likened the high bails and
overcharging of defendants to the R2K arrests, noting that
most of those charges were later thrown out. Of those who
went to trial, most were found not guilty.
While eight people had been arrested on Dec. 8, Tristan
Ahtone and the Rev. Kabutzu Malone were released without
charges. Malone, an ordained Buddhist priest with a heart
condition, described his ordeal at the hands of the police.
Malone criticized the press for consistently failing to
report on the extent of support for a new trial for Abu-
Jamal. He blamed attitudes of racism and vengeance on the
part of the police for their attack on peaceful protesters.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
FROM MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: A DAILY TERROR
The power of the media to condition consciousness is vast.
For, with the merest mention of a word--say, for instance,
"terror"--a flood of images roar through the mind, like a
well-placed row of dominoes, each falling one into the
other, tumbling like a hard, dry, crackling wave: terror,
terrorism, the twin towers of midtown Manhattan, planes
circling like metallic vultures, plunging into solid rock
and steel, flames, smoke and humans blown into dry dust.
Osama bin-Laden; Mullah Omar; Saddam Hussein (fill in the
blanks).
Those are the thoughts we have been conditioned to think by
the media. We have virtually no choice in the matter.
There is, though, another terror that ravages the land. It
affects not thousands, but millions. It affects Whites,
Blacks, Anglos, Latinos, Citizens, Immigrants, Male, Female,
Gay, Straight, Jew, Gentile, North erner, Southerner, from
Maine to Mississippi.
It is the terror of financial failure. The terror of not
getting next week's paycheck. The terror of being fired; of
being unable to pay rent (or the mortgage); of seeing one's
children wracked by hunger.
This is the silent terror; the hidden terror. Indeed, it is
the invisible terror that is all too real. It is one that
the state not only refuses to fight, but refuses to
acknowledge.
After the Sept. 11th disaster, at least 800,000 people have
lost their jobs. Dishwashers, maids, hotel workers, computer
employees, travel agents, booking agents, and the like. But
as stunning as that figure seems to be, it is but a mere
percentage of a larger problem.
Before the 11th of September, indeed, according to economic
indicators since March 2001, at least 8 million people were
out of work due to the economic recession.
8,000,000 PEOPLE!
8,000,000 invisible souls, unemployed, gripped by a terror
that almost defies description.
Why is that not a national emergency?
Why no mass mobilization, nor media-orchestrated outrage? Is
it because they are poor, and the poor are expendable?
The corporate media, the possession and instrument of the
wealthy, has no interest (and sees no profit) in educating
either the poor or working poor in the failures of an
economic theory or system which works for them yet betrays
the poor. It is not in the interest of the established to
show the holes in the "economic miracle." Globalists wish to
ignore this ugly reality.
What does the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or the S&P rate,
or the latest Nasdaq mean to 8 million unemployed?
A year ago, economists were proclaiming the end of the
business cycle, boasting that the only way stocks could go
was up. Their boasts came on the eve of a recession.
In a time when the poor are treated like lepers, when their
dreams are dashed, a daily terror reigns.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
FOR-PROFIT NURSING CARE IN CRISIS
By Bev Hiestand
Buffalo, N.Y.
Those in Western New York who need the care only a nursing
home can provide are facing a profound crisis.
The Dec. 11 Buffalo News published results of a yearlong
investigation of 93 nursing homes in Western New York. The
newspaper based its findings on three years of New York
State inspection reports and hundreds of interviews with
employees, administrators, residents and their families.
The article concluded, "The worst staffing crisis in decades
at nursing homes nationwide--including this region's 93
facilities--threatens the quality of care to elderly
residents just as the aged become the fastest-growing part
of the population."
The investigation revealed that despite good care provided
by many dedicated workers who express deep concern for
residents, "too many of our loved ones are trapped in
understaffed facilities where call bells go unanswered and
they lie for hours in their own urine and feces. Or where
the food is cold and activities are so lacking that many
residents spend long hours every day propped in wheelchairs
in front of a television set."
The News noted that staffing levels for aides at nearly 98
percent of the homes fall below the standard recently set by
a federal study as "optimum." The constant pressure for
workers to rush due to understaffing can lead to mistakes.
Nursing home residents are old and frail, making staffing
shortages more dangerous. Patients are being pushed out of
acute-care hospitals at an ever-faster pace. As a result
they arrive at nursing homes with surgical wounds,
intravenous lines and other conditions that require
continual attention.
In all nursing homes, nurses' aides provide the greatest
share of care. In some homes, each aide must attend to 30 or
more patients on each shift. That means feeding, washing and
assisting patients to the bathroom.
"Some nights, we'd have four aides trying to take care of
more than 300 people," said Russell Reynolds, a former
nursing aide at a for-profit nursing home in suburban East
Aurora. "You might have to spend a half-hour helping
somebody get to the bathroom. In that time, two other
residents might fall down and need help." (Buffalo News, Dec
10)
Most nurses' aides report that the workload is unbelievable
and demoralizing, with no time to spend even five minutes
talking to a lonely resident.
The workforce of aides in this region is made up
predominantly of women--many single with children. They are
largely African American. They are often forced to work
double shifts. And the job is difficult, stressful and
emotional.
The Dec. 11 News noted that "Fewer people are willing to do
this work for the low pay, starting around $8.50 an hour
with little chance of advancement to better-paying, less
stressful jobs."
The crisis of understaffing is dangerous for workers, too.
Back injuries are common from lifting residents. Aides are
exposed to infections. Federal labor statistics reveal that
nursing home workers rank fourth in the country in frequency
of injuries and illness--a rate higher than firefighters.
Aides stress the lack of adequate education about how to
care for confused and aggressive residents. The News pointed
out "a manicurist studies longer to get a license to do
nails-250 hours-compared to the 100 hours of training it
takes to be an aide."
Is it any wonder that the turnover rate in some of these
homes is 100 percent? (Buffalo News, Dec. 11)
WHO PROFITS? WHO PAYS?
The Dec. 12 Buffalo News emphasized, "If solutions aren't
found, some experts believe the nation is headed for a two-
tier system based entirely on money. Wealthy people would
live in relatively comfortable facilities with good food and
decent medical care. Poor and middle-class people would
essentially be warehoused in hospital-type facilities that
would be even more understaffed than they are today."
Most people can't afford private pay rates that average
$64,000 to $70,000 a year, far more expensive than a Harvard
University education. Medicaid, the state-federal health
program for the poor, doesn't cover the cost of basic
services and only pays after potential residents exhaust
their savings.
Medicare cuts have worsened the situation, especially for
not-for-profit homes.
The workers certainly aren't getting wealthy from the high
cost of care. The for-profit industry has funneled millions
of dollars into anti-union campaigns to keep workers' wages
and benefits low. As a result many nursing-home employees
are not organized into unions. And that makes it harder to
struggle against poor working conditions.
So who is getting rich? The owners of for-profit nursing
homes.
Financial data for 550 nursing homes in New York State
showed profits and surpluses totaling $354 million in 1999.
Much of the profit comes from taxpayers in the form of
Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.
The Dec. 10 News reported that from 1997 to 1999, the three
most profitable nursing homes in the region raked in nearly
$17.6 million in profits. But not unexpectedly, these homes
ranked near the bottom when evaluated for quality of care.
Neil M. Chur Sr. runs nine local nursing homes that are very
lucrative. Three of his facilities are rated among the
region's 15 worst. Many have been cited for incidents of
poor care including understaffing, poor nutrition, patient
care and medication practices, and for filing false
documentation on patient care.
Inspectors found maggots in a facial wound of a cancer
patient at one of his facilities. At another a resident
choked to death on her breakfast while she was left eating
alone.
The News reports that Chur has made a fortune, turning him
into a polo-playing multimillionaire with estates in East
Aurora, N.Y., and Naples, Fla. Chur's 209-acre East Aurora
estate includes a mansion, a guest house, a polo field, a
small golf course and climate-controlled stables for his
Arabian show horses. He travels between his properties on
his company's Learjet.
What will it take to provide quality health care? Servile
and cowardly politicians in both parties revealed their
priorities when they voted for a War Powers Act that gave
Bush and the generals carte blanche spending powers for war
against the Afghan people. That unlimited spending for
warfare is draining the coffers of much-needed funds for
health care, education and other necessities.
Together, unions and communities can turn the priorities of
funding back to where they belong: meeting peoples' needs.
But it will take a grassroots struggle to win these
resources for better care for the sick and elderly, and for
better wages, benefits and working conditions for healthcare
workers.
Hiestand is a nurse and healthcare union activist in Buffalo.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
DREGS OF U.S. MILIARY OCCUPATION:
FILIPINOS STRUGGLE WITH TOXIC WASTES
By Sarah Sloan
Central Luzon, Philippines
Central Luzon has a deep history of struggle. It is the
birthplace of the Filipino Resistance Army, the true
defeaters of the Japanese imperialist invaders during World
World II--not the U.S. Army, as history books claim. Central
Luzon is also the founding place of the New People's Army, a
left-wing guerilla movement that has grown in recent years.
In 1991, Central Luzon was the center of a nationwide
struggle against the two largest U.S. military bases outside
the U.S., located in this province of the Philippines. Under
the heat of a mass people's movement that was sweeping the
country--carrying out every form of resistance possible,
from teach-ins to education to mass rallies--on Sept. 16,
1991, the Philippine Senate abrogated the 1947 Philippine-
U.S. Military Bases Agreement. The U.S. military was forced
to abandon its Clark Air and Subic Naval Bases.
The Philippines has a long history of colonial and imperial
domination by Spain, the U.S. and Japan. Taking advantage of
its struggle for independence from Spain, the U.S. had
invaded in the late 1890s. After a bloody Filipino-American
War that lasted for years, the U.S. ruled the Philippines as
a colonial dominator--except for a few years of Japanese
occupation during World War II--until the granting of formal
independence in 1946.
U.S. domination continued, however, in a slightly different
form. Through the 1947 Military Bases Agreement, the 1947
Military Assistance Pact and the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty,
U.S. imperialism maintained economic and military domination
of the Philippines itself and used it as a strategic
location in Asia.
CONTINUING EFFECTS OF THE BASES
The Clark and Subic bases had the same disastrous effect on
the population of Central Luzon as other U.S. military bases
the world over. Filipino base workers received scant
salaries and benefits compared to their U.S. counterparts.
The streets of Central Luzon were lined with bars catering
to the U.S. military personnel. Filipino women and children
became the victims of prostitution, sexual abuse and
sexually transmitted diseases. Some were forced to work in
the homes of U.S. soldiers and were routinely raped.
The Filipino's people's struggle against the bases has
forced this to change, but there are continuing effects from
military toxic and nuclear wastes left behind by the U.S.
military.
Filipino and indigenous workers at the bases were forced to
handle toxic waste, including burying it and swimming
through sewage to unclog pipes. The deaths of these workers
have called attention to this toxic waste dumping. Children
in the area have also begun to die of diseases caused by
these toxic wastes.
The People's Network for the Environment (KALIKASAN) has
begun an international campaign to expose this situation.
KALIKSAN is a part of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), an
anti-imperialist people's umbrella organization formed in
1985.
BAYAN has also helped to form United Peoples Against U.S.
Military Toxics (UP Against Toxics) and the Junk VFA
Movement, which opposes the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement
(VFA) that has allowed U.S. military personnel to resume use
of parts of Clark and Subic and gain access to more than 20
major ports.
For a long time the use of toxic waste by the U.S. military
was little known because their operations were secret. But
since they have left the Philippines, organizations such as
these have begun testing and have drawn attention to the
high incidence of new diseases in Central Luzon.
KALIKASAN has documented that, near the Subic Base, 800 out
of 4,000 residents are afflicted with asbestosis. Many women
in the area have experienced spontaneous abortion; there are
increasing rates of childhood leukemia and an unusually high
incidence of morbidity and mortality.
In 1992, the U.S. government acknowledged contamination in
the former bases, but continued to deny liability for
environmental damage based on a clause in the Military Bases
Agreement that states the U.S. does not have to return the
bases "in the condition in which they were at the time of
their occupation."
Following the events of Sept. 11, Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo agreed to allow the U.S. to use the
country's land, water and air spaces, including the former
U.S. military bases in Subic and Clark and refueling points
or launching pads, for the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the
Middle East.
The people of Central Luzon are gearing up for another
struggle.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
IMPRISONED BY NATO:
MILOSEVIC REBUTS THOSE WHO BOMBED BELGRADE
By John Catalinotto
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic used his Dec.
11 appearance before the pro-NATO tribunal in The Hague to
turn the tables on his captors with a sharp political
rebuttal of the U.S.-NATO charges against him.
The prosecution read charges of 29 counts of "genocide"
against Milosevic for alleged actions involving Bosnia and
Croatia. As part of a general policy of abusing its
prisoner, the court placed loudspeakers at ear level right
in front of Milosevic as the charges were read. The Yugoslav
leader refused to enter a plea on these charges.
"I deserve credit for the peace in Bosnia, not the war,"
Milosevic told the court. "The responsibility for the war
lies with the
powers that have been breaking up Yugoslavia and with their
agents in Yugoslavia--not with Serbia, not with the Serbian
people and not with Serbian policy. This is an attempt ..."
At this point the court cut off the captive's microphone.
Later that day he was able to make a more complete
statement. The prosecution had moved to try Milosevic for
charges involving Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia in one single
case. This was denied and the trial involving Kosovo is now
set to open Feb. 12, 2002.
Milosevic told the court it was entirely clear to him why
the prosecution insisted on "unifying" the charges.
Milosevic said, "It is because of September 11th. They want
to divert attention from the accusations against me
concerning Kosovo, since those accusations inevitably open
the question of the Clinton administration's collaboration
with terrorists in Kosovo, including [Osama] bin Laden's
organization.
"Second, regarding what we have heard today, they are
conscious that, if they focus on Kosovo, they cannot,
regardless of the illegality of this court, avoid having the
main perpetrators of the crimes committed against my country
and my people, starting from [former President Bill]
Clinton, [former Secretary of State Madeleine] Albright and
[Gen. Wesley] Clark and then also the others, appear before
this body."
Since he was kidnapped to The Hague last June, Milosevic has
refused to recognize the authority of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia--the official
name of the tribunal. He has treated the ICTY as a tool of
the Western powers in its campaign to
destroy Yugoslavia and take over the Balkans. These powers
created the ICTY and fund it.
The current U.S. "war against terror" targets many of the
same forces that Washington used against Yugoslavia in the
1990s. An article in the Oct. 7 Los Angeles Times reported
that Al Qaeda operatives were active throughout Bosnia and
Kosovo with the forces that waged civil war against
Yugoslavia.
The Times article asserted that U.S. policy would turn
hostile to Washington's clients in the Bosnian government
and in the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army if they refuse
to hunt down the Al Qaeda agents and turn them over to the
U.S.
The events expose how U.S. policymakers attempt to
manipulate religious or national antagonisms to divide and
conquer.
Defending his country's record of allowing equal rights to
many national minorities, Milosevic said, "The example of
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its very good inter-
ethnic relations during the whole period of conflicts
demonstrates this best. During the conflict in Bosnia no
Muslim was expelled from Serbia. During the conflict in
Croatia no Croat was expelled from Serbia.
"More than that, during the conflict in Bosnia--look at the
records at UNHCR [United Nations Human Rights Commission]--
over 70,000 Muslim refugees found shelter in Serbia. What
nation, what tens of thousands of people, would seek shelter
among those who had committed aggression against them?"
Then, in apparent reference to the U.S. role in Iraq,
Milosevic continued:
"Do you know that more Muslims live in Serbia than in Bosnia
and Herzegovina? The Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina were
pushed into that disaster, into that war, so that those
outside forces, appearing as supporters of Muslims, could
hide their responsibility for the deaths of many times more--
millions of Muslims--in accordance with their interests of
enslaving the world and a new colonialism."
In defending his overall role, the former Yugoslav president
said, "I think that all we heard here today, which is in
total contradiction to the truth, has shown how failed these
'indictments' are. I can only understand them as a statement
of anger and revenge for the fiasco that NATO has suffered
in the attempt to militarily occupy Yugoslavia.
"I can tell you that I am proud that I commanded the armed
forces of Yugoslavia that have stopped NATO, since this has
shown that a country, even a small one, having a strong will
to defend its freedom and defend the idea of freedom and
equality of nations and peoples, can succeed. I am here as a
punishment for our standing up against the danger of the
biggest tyranny that has threatened humankind."
An official transcript of Milosevic's statement can be found
at the Web site of the Socialist Party of Serbia, or at the
site of the International Committee for the
Defense of Slobodan Milosevic at www.icdsm.org.
- END -
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