WW News Service Digest #367
1) Last of Miami 5 sentenced to life
by WW
2) A parable with no name
by WW
3) Japan sinks ship, lets sailors die
by WW
4) No letup in Israeli iron fist on West Bank
by WW
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 10, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
CUBA HONORS ANTI-TERRORIST HEROES:
LAST OF MIAMI 5 SENTENCED TO LIFE
By Gloria La Riva
Miami
Cuba's National Assembly has designated 2002 as the "Year of
the Heroes who are Prisoners of the Empire." This honors
five Cuban patriots recently sentenced in Miami to long
prison terms after being railroaded by the U.S. government.
Since 1959, each year of the Revolution has been given a
special title to recognize an accomplishment or goal of the
country. In recognition of their sacrifice to defend the
Revolution and their people, the five patriots were also
granted the Order of Hero of the Republic of Cuba by the
parliamentary meeting of over 500 national delegates.
The five--Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino,
Fernando Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero--received sentences
ranging from 15 years to life on charges of espionage,
murder conspiracy and other outrageous claims after a seven-
month U.S. federal trial that ended in June.
The five had been working to stop violent acts against Cuba
by right-wing, anti-Cuba terrorists who operate with
impunity in the U.S. The U.S. government, through the CIA,
has funded and backed these reactionary organizations as a
weapon against the Cuban Revolution.
Rather than prosecute the terrorists, the U.S. government--
in a campaign spearheaded by the FBI--targeted the Cuban
patriots.
Cuba, beleaguered by 43 years of blockade, invasion and
sabotage, is resolved not only to honor the sacrifice of
these five patriots, but also to free them.
Cuban President Fidel Castro made a special address to the
Assembly, outlining this unfolding struggle. He assured all
present that Cuba is sworn to the liberation of the five. He
said, "I repeat, reiterate and emphasize, they will return."
Fidel met relatives of the five at the airport on Dec. 30 on
their return from Miami, where they had stayed for three
weeks in order to visit their loved ones in prison.
The mothers of the five were presented the Order of Mariana
Grajales for their courageous stance. Grajales was the
mother of the great Cuban revolutionary Antonio Maceo. While
in Miami the mothers had been constantly attacked
politically by right-wing, Spanish-language media that have
carried out an endless campaign of slander against the Cuban
Revolution and its supporters for more than 40 years.
The wives of the men were presented with the Order of Ana
Betancourt--another Cuban hero.
POSITIVE IN THE FACE OF NEGATIVISM
On Dec. 27, Antonio Guerrero was the last of the five to be
sentenced. In a small courtroom filled with his family and
supporters, Guerrero gave an eloquent speech dedicated to
the defense of his people from the Miami right wing. With
poise and in a calm manner, he declared himself a fighter
for peace and defender of the Cuba he loves.
Guerrero has become a poet while in prison and his writings
have been published. His companion, Maggie Becker, appearing
as a character witness and family member, read one of
Guerrero's poems to the court.
Defense lawyer Jack Blumenfeld spoke of his admiration for
"Tony," calling Guerrero a patriot. "He loves his homeland.
Patria (homeland) isn't a political term; he's talking about
the people of his country. He is the most positive person in
the face of negativism that I've ever seen through the
plastic windows of the 12th floor dungeon of the Federal
Detention Center." Despite these testimonies, Judge Joan
Lenard sentenced Guerrero to life in prison.
Since August, the National Committee to Free the Five Cubans
Unjustly Held in U.S. Prison has worked to raise awareness
of this struggle. The committee has organized protests and
forums as part of a national campaign. Similar committees
operate in dozens of other countries.
To learn how to support the struggle of the Cuban patriots,
contact the National Committee. Phone (415) 821-6545, or e-
mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 10, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
EDITORIAL: A PARABLE WITH NO NAME
The horses and the mules got to talking during the oats
break. They were fed up with being whipped, overloaded and
starved by Warthog, but didn't know what to do about it.
Some wanted to tell the pig where he could go, but others
worried that could cost them their jobs. And jobs were
scarce these days, although goodness knows there was plenty
of need for their services.
"I know," said Storm. "Let's drop a load of bricks on him
next time out." That cheered them up for a while, but then
someone remembered what had happened to Shadow when she
tried something similar.
They thought some more. The lap dog wandered by, saw they
were stretching out their break long after their meager fare
had been eaten, and said, "So what are you all plotting now?
Revolution?"
Everyone was quiet until the hoof-kisser had gone. Then old
Sparky spoke up. "Is that what Warthog's afraid of? That
we'll all get together and give him the heave-ho? Not a bad
idea."
"I don't know," said Boots with a slight shiver. "Would we
really be any better than Warthog? Wouldn't we
just be exchanging one master for another?"
"You've been living in the barn and wearing a saddle for too
long," replied Sparky. "Those of us who sleep out in the
field and pull the heavy loads don't think like Warthog.
We're used to working as a team, looking out for one
another. We could really change things if we all organized
and gave Warthog the heave-ho."
Storm said dreamily, "Maybe another world is possible. But
it would take a lot of work. I say we just drop the load of
bricks on him."
It certainly was tempting. Warthog was at that very moment
humiliating a new member of the team, a colt still only half-
broken and chomping at the bit. All around were horses and
mules going about their business, trying not to feel for the
newcomer, just trying to get through another day.
They wanted to do something, but they knew that without a
plan, without the support of the others, it would only end
in reprisals. The gang went back to work.
Their days melted into one another. Their feedbags got
lighter and lighter while their loads got heavier and
heavier. Warthog was never satisfied with how hard they
worked or how little they ate. He always wanted more.
Want to know what happened? The ending is up to you.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 10, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
JAPAN SINKS SHIP, LETS SAILORS DIE:
THE MYSTERY OF THE CHANGING STORY
By Deirdre Griswold
How quickly the story changed.
The early reports gave an entirely different picture than
the version now being repeated in the world capitalist
press.
Check out any recent stories on television or in the print
media about the sinking of a "mystery" ship by the Japanese
Coast Guard on Dec. 22, and you will be told that Japanese
Coast Guard vessels pursuing the ship came under rocket fire
and shot back in self defense. The crew of the ship,
supposed by the Japanese government to be North Korean, then
blew up their own vessel and died when it sank, according to
this version.
Japan now says it had been monitoring the vessel, which
appeared to be a fishing boat and was in Chinese commercial
waters when it sank, because the ship had been sending coded
messages on a frequency used by North Korea, whose proper
name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The whole event is played as a spy story. It dovetails
nicely with the Bush administration's efforts to portray the
DPRK as a "rogue nation" and with recent attacks by the
Japanese government on Koreans in Japan who are sympathetic
to the socialist DPRK.
This is the version that the New York Times published on
Dec. 25. But it's not what the Times printed just one day
earlier, in an article from Tokyo by the same Times
reporter, James Brooke, after he was first briefed by the
Japanese Coast Guard.
In that earlier article, Brooke said that the first shots in
the encounter with the mystery ship came from two Japanese
Coast Guard vessels, the Inasa and the Mizuki.
Wrote Brooke: "The Japanese boats fired a total of 13
warning shots across its bow, officials said. The boat,
which had been zigzagging, bumped the Inasa. When the
Japanese tried to board it, about 10 men on board brandished
metal pipes. Just after sunset, the Mizuki fired several
hundred rounds from its 20-millimeter machine gun into the
fleeing boat. In videotape supplied today by the Coast
Guard, the ship could be seen bursting into flames.
"But the crew managed to douse the fire, and the ship
continued to flee due west, toward the Chinese mainland. By
9 p.m., the Japanese pursuit group had grown to four ships,
and commanders decided to surround the vessel. As one of the
Japanese ships, the Amami, came within 25 yards, two men
emerged from blankets on the deck of the mystery boat and
fired automatic weapons at the Japanese, wounding two
sailors. Crew members in the wheelhouse also fired on the
Japanese.
"In response, the Inasa fired '186 rounds in self-defense,'
Shigehiro Sakamoto, a Coast Guard official, said. During the
gun battle, a large explosion, apparently unrelated to the
firing, was heard aboard the mystery ship, Japanese sailors
reported. Shortly after the explosion, the ship sank and 15
crew members were seen jumping into the water."
This account says nothing about the supposed Koreans firing
rockets. It shows that the Japanese attacked the vessel
first, and that when they then tried to board it, its crew
was armed only with metal pipes. And it leaves open the
possibility that the fire started by the Japanese attack
could have been responsible for the explosion that sank the
ship.
CREW ALLOWED TO DROWN
The Dec. 24 article also contains shocking information about
what happened to the sailors--information that has been
completely dropped in more recent accounts.
Brooke wrote, "After the ship sank on Saturday night at
10:13 local time, the three Japanese Coast Guard vessels
involved in the pursuit trained their search lights on the
site, spotting about half a dozen crew members clinging to
flotsam in the water. But the Japanese did not rescue the
men, reportedly on orders from commanders in Tokyo, who
feared that they were armed. Two hours after the sinking, no
more crew members were seen alive."
Looking on for two hours while people drown is a violation
of the Law of the Sea, Article 98, section (1), which says
that: "Every State shall require the master of a ship flying
its flag, in so far as he can do so without serious danger
to the ship, the crew or the passengers: (a) to render
assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being
lost."
Even if the men were armed, they could have been provided
with a lifeboat or other flotation device. Instead, they
were allowed to die. Altogether, the ship's entire crew of
15 was believed to have drowned.
China, in whose commercial waters the sinking took place,
expressed "concern toward Japanese use of military force in
the East China Sea."
The DPRK denied the ship was its own, but added, "Japan's
overt act of war in waters outside its territory speaks of
its extreme ambition of rearmament and foreign expansion."
Japan, like the United States, is an imperialist country
that is undergoing a severe capitalist economic crisis and
thirsts after markets. From 1910 to 1945, Japan ruled all
Korea. Since its defeat in World War II, it has had to play
second fiddle to U.S. imperialism, which militarily occupies
and economically dominates South Korea.
North Korea, on the other hand, maintains a socialist
economy and resists foreign domination--making it a
continual target of slanders and attacks from the predatory
imperialists.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 10, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
ARAFAT BARRED FROM BETHLEHEM:
NO LETUP IN ISRAELI IRON FIST ON WEST BANK
By Richard Becker
"PM's Office: Arafat Stays Put," read the headline in the
Dec. 26, 2001, Jerusalem Post. Translation: Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon was continuing to prevent Palestinian
Authority Chair Yasir Arafat from leaving the West Bank city
of Ramallah, where he had been confined for the previous
week.
For the first time in years, Arafat was prevented from
traveling to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem for the
traditional Christmas Eve ceremony on Dec. 24. A Muslim, the
PA leader has attended the midnight mass every year since
1995. His attendance is seen as an expression of the unity
of the Palestinian people regardless of religion. About 10
percent of Palestinians are Christians.
Israeli armor and infantry units surround Arafat's office in
Ramallah. Many of the offices of the PA have been destroyed
by U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter-bombers and attack helicopters
in recent weeks.
Israeli military forces occupy much of the miniscule 5
percent of historic Palestine--Zone A, as it is called--that
is supposedly under the control of the PA. Today about 60
percent of the tiny and densely populated Gaza Strip is Zone
A, along with most of the eight largest Palestinian cities
in the West Bank.
Israeli tanks and troops move freely in and out of Zone A,
firing at will. At least 75 Palestinians have been killed by
Israeli fire in the month of December alone. During the same
period 37 Israelis were killed, most of them in two attacks
by the Hamas-Islamic Resistance Movement.
The drive from Ramallah to Bethlehem would normally take no
more than 30 minutes. But the situation has not been normal
for a long time. The Israeli army has sealed off all of the
main Palestinian cities. For Palestinians to travel from one
West Bank city to another, they must pass through Israeli
checkpoints, where they are almost always turned back.
Many of the roads have been dug up or blocked by concrete
barriers brought in by Israeli army engineering units. The
same is true of travel between different sections of Gaza.
Nor is there any possibility of Palestinians traveling
between the West Bank and Gaza, an hour-and-a-half drive,
even for leading officials of the PA.
The fracturing of the West Bank and Gaza has greatly
intensified the suffering of the people. Unemployment has
soared along with poverty and hunger, while commercial
activity has plummeted. The average West Bank Palestinian
has one-tenth the per-capita income of an Israeli. For
Gazans, it's far worse.
The Israeli soldiers have frequently used the checkpoints as
a means of punishment and even torture, refusing to allow
emergency medical cases to go through or slowing them down.
Many deaths have resulted; many babies have been born in
vehicles stopped on their way to hospitals.
A favorite Israeli checkpoint tactic last summer was to
force Palestinian drivers to stay in their vehicles for
hours in the broiling sun with the windows tightly shut.
SHARON PROVOKES, DEMANDS NO RESPONSE
As a condition for re-starting negotiations Sharon has
demanded a week of "absolute quiet" from the Palestinian
side. The Palestinians must stop the struggle against the
illegal occupation while nothing at all is required of the
Israeli occupying army, according to this formula. Then, and
only then, will the Israeli government agree to talk to the
Palestinians.
Sharon, moreover, called the PA chair "irrelevant" and
announced that the Israeli government would no longer talk
to Arafat.
The U.S. has completely sided with the criminal Sharon
regime. In astonishingly arrogant language, President Bush
stated, "It is time for Arafat to perform."
Even as Arafat called for a cease-fire, the U.S. and Israel
continued to step up their demands. When Hamas announced
that it would halt armed actions inside the 1948 borders of
Israel, while continuing the struggle in the West Bank and
Gaza, U.S. officials responded by demanding that all
resistance activities everywhere be halted.
Under international law, a people living under military
occupation has the right to resist by whatever means are at
its disposal. The universally hailed French Resistance to
Nazi occupation in World War II used guerrilla tactics:
ambush, sabotage, bombings, assassination of German
officials, etc.
Virtually the entire world recognizes that the West Bank and
Gaza, conquered by Israel in a 1967 war, are occupied
territories. Even the U.S. government--which voted for
United Nations resolutions 242 and 338 calling on Israel to
withdraw--formally recognizes that the West Bank and Gaza
are occupied lands.
SHARON, U.S. SEEK PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR
Sharon's strategy of demanding Palestinian submission while
Israel launches new provocations is designed to win support
from U.S. public opinion. At the same time, Sharon, with the
backing of the U.S., is seeking to split the Palestinian
movement. What both the U.S. and Israel would really like to
see is a civil war between Palestinian groups, one that they
hope would lead to the destruction of the Palestinian
resistance as a whole.
The Bush administration has repeatedly demanded that the PA
suppress nationalist, left and Islamic Palestinian
organizations. Support for these groups has been growing
dramatically as the struggle has intensified over the past
15 months.
Sharon specifically linked the blocking of Arafat's
Christmas visit to Bethlehem to a demand that the PA arrest
the top leadership of the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine (PFLP), the largest Palestinian Marxist
organization, whose influence has risen sharply in the
recent period.
The PFLP carried out the assassination of an Israeli cabinet
minister, Rehavam Ze'evi, in October, in retaliation for the
Israeli assassination-by-missile of PFLP General Secretary
Abu Ali Mustafa in August. Ze'evi was a virulent anti-Arab
racist, who commonly referred to Palestinians as "lice," and
demanded that all Palestinians be expelled from Palestine.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld assailed the
Palestinians for the death of Ze'evi, who Rumsfeld called "a
cabinet member in a democratic government." But no U.S.
officials have criticized the Israeli murder of Abu Ali
Mustafa or any of the more than 70 other Palestinian leaders
assassinated in the past year.
WORLD OPINION AGAINST ISRAEL
The barring of PA Chair Arafat from Bethlehem was presented
in the U.S. corporate media without a hint of criticism.
There were no outraged denunciations about denial of
religious freedom from either administration officials or
their lapdog reporters.
But virtually everywhere else--from the Vatican to the
European Union presidency to the entire Arab and Islamic
world--Arafat's exclusion was greeted with condemnation and
outrage. The anger was only exacerbated by an Israeli
official's statement, reported in the right-wing Jerusalem
Post, that "Arafat is not a Christian and therefore did not
need to attend the celebrations."
The negative public relations generated by this incident
even caused several members of Sharon's government to
denounce the decision. A right-wing member of the Israeli
parliament, Nahoum Langental, said: "It was stupid. We
played into Arafat's hands, and proved that Israel does not
allow freedom of movement."
An unnamed Western diplomat was quoted in the Post as
complaining that "Arafat got more attention during the
Christmas celebrations than Jesus."
Arafat himself responded with a televised statement:
"Palestinians, I speak to you with a heart filled with grief
because the unjust Israeli tanks, cement barriers and guns
prevent me from participating with you in the annual
celebrations. ... No one can humiliate the Palestinians or
make them lose their determination."
- END -
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