[WW] Letters to WW
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 16, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper - LETTERS TO WW RESISTANCE TO A DRAFT [Regarding proposals to restore the draft, draftees] need to know what they're fighting for. They need to accept and agree with it. If they don't, they will refuse to serve, in increasing numbers. And the courts will have only slight influence in curbing them. The resistance may clog the courts and the jails, and undermine military morale. But it won't stop. That's the legacy of the Vietnam War resistance movement. More and more young people will get together chanting Hell no, we won't go, we won't fight for Texaco! Active duty troops will find their own ways to rebel, as they did in Vietnam. Many avoided combat; others got together in soldier unions or resistance support groups, and struck against commanding officers--refusing orders, protesting harsh and unfair treatment, and so on. Some went AWOL or deserted. All these forms of resistance found support in the ever-growing anti-war movement. There were anti-draft counselors and anti-war GI support centers in every major city and near many military bases around the country and across the globe. Anti-war supporters in Canada, Sweden, France and other countries mobilized to assure hospitality and support for resisters who sought asylum in exile. At home, many communities became sanctuaries for resisters. A huge gulf opened between official policies and the efforts of ordinary people to stop the war. This will happen again if Bush insists on war in the Middle East. All the official justifications offered to date pale against the obvious desire of Bush and his cronies to control the Middle East oil resources, and use this control to secure their cherished world domination. It is a shameful, illegitimate and ultimately futile plan that will surely backfire. It will engender ever-increasing resistance. Already networks of support are springing up to encourage and protect reservists and others who are questioning their orders to mobilize. In 1968, as the U.S. war effort against Vietnam was discredited, Richard Nixon rode to power with a secret plan for peace in Vietnam that turned out to be a criminal conspiracy to widen the war and terrorize the anti-war resistance into submission. Both these efforts failed, and Nixon was forced from office in 1974 before completing his second term. It took almost three more years for the Vietnam-era war resisters--who Nixon characterized as criminals--to win amnesty. But amnesty was won, in the wake of widespread recognition that our resistance was justified and the war was wrong. Our closest allies in this recognition were the tens of thousands of anti-war Vietnam vets, who could testify from direct personal experience how wrong the war was. And while many of us carry scars from our traumatic experiences of those years, we also carry a conviction and determination that the present generation of young Americans who are called to fight for an unjust cause will have the information and support they need to make the difficult decision to refuse. Dee Knight New York [Knight was a Vietnam-era war resister, co-editor of AMEX-Canada magazine from 1968 to 1974, and a representative of war resisters in exile to the National Council for Universal Unconditional Amnesty.] STROM THURMOND VS. HENRY WALLACE Thank you for Monica Moorehead's wonderfully informative article regarding Trent Lott's praise of the arch-racist, segregationist 1948 presidential campaign by Strom Thurmond. Not only did you provide a detailed description of the Dixiecrat campaign, you also gave a detailed description of Trent Lott's many displays of his racist posture and policies. In addition to Thurmond, Dewey and Truman, Henry Wallace also ran for president in 1948 under the banner of the Progressive Party. Wallace had been both agriculture secretary and vice president under Roosevelt before Truman was selected as VP in 1944. His campaign was directed against the oncoming Cold War against the Soviet Union and was supported heavily by the Communist Party. Campaign rallies typically included musical and dramatic presentations by Paul Robeson, which drew many thousands of people. The Wallace campaign stood against segregation and for civil rights. The Wallace VP candidate, Sen. Glen Taylor of Idaho, was beaten up and arrested during a Wallace campaign rally in Birmingham, Ala., by the infamous Sheriff Bull Connor. Taylor's crime? The Wallace rally was attended by both African Americans and whites, which was illegal. Of course, Thurmond never complained about this. But neither did Dewey or Truman utter one word against this attack. Wallace was a bourgeois politician. After this campaign, he reversed course. He supported the gruesome U.S. war against Korea. I guess some who capitulated to imperialism
[WW] Letters to WW
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ANTHRAX MISSING FROM GOV'T LAB Thank you for sending me this wonderful article on the postal workers' struggle vs. the government's anthrax policy [A Tale of Two Classes by G. Dunkel, Dec. 13]. As you know, on Dec. 13 Bush abrogated the ABM Treaty. On that same day, the New York Times published an article, U.S. Recently Produced Anthrax in a Highly Lethal Powder Form. That article points out that the quantity of powdered anthrax is politically sensitive since some experts say producing large quantities could be seen as violating the global treaty banning germ weapons. The Times pointed out that some European countries have stated that the U.S. is violating the germ warfare treaty even before these recent disclosures, which the Bush administration denied. In addition, the Washington Post, in an article on this same day, announced that there is a discrepancy in the quantity of anthrax spores sent from the Utah weapons lab to the Kentucky weapons lab, meaning that some is missing. The additive to the anthrax sent to [Sen. Tom] Daschle, says the Post, was likely made in a U.S. government weapons lab. So, while locking up hundreds of Arab workers and discriminating against postal workers, the government is failing to investigate its own military for these anthrax attacks, because to do so would expose its own bioweapons program to world view. Chris Fry Long Island, N.Y. WORST CASE OF ANTHRAX? You state in your story on a possible use of anthrax by the Rhodesian government [World's worst outbreak of anthrax: Was it germ warfare? by Elijah Crane, Nov. 18] that this is the world's worst outbreak, with 182 confirmed dead. This is incorrect. In the 1970s anthrax being illegally manufactured by the Soviet Union escaped and killed several hundred in central Russia. Jerry Bourbon Internet Editor's reply: No, you are incorrect in saying that the 1979 accident in the USSR killed more people. Meryl Nass, a recognized U.S. authority on anthrax, wrote that 182 Africans were killed in the Rhodesian anthrax epidemic and over 10,000 infected. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal of Nov. 7, 2001: A 1979 accident in a Soviet bioweapons plant at Sverdlovsk sickened at least 96 people and killed at least 66, Soviet authorities said. Former Soviet biological- weapons expert Ken Alibek put the death toll at 105. What is so amazing about all this is that no one in the press here (including the Wall Street Journal) is mentioning the Rhodesian outbreak, which many in Africa believed was related to biowarfare experimentation by the racist Rhodesian authorities, possibly aided by apartheid South Africa. All the victims were Black; all the infected cattle were Black-owned. The epidemic totally spared the white Rhodesians, who at that time ruled what later became Zimbabwe. WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN I read the article on Women's Liberation in Afghanistan by Minnie Bruce Pratt and was very impressed. It was well written and taught me many things I had yet to learn. Anyways, thanks for releasing that article! Tim Herrmann AMERIKAN GULAG I am anarchist prisoner from Russia in Amerikan gulag. Thanx a lot for your paper, even though I disagree with a lot in it, it's important to remain oneself in these hard times without becoming reactionary. In solidarity, fighting for my idea of better world. VolodyA! V. Mozhenkov Federal Correctional Institution Elkton Lisbon, Ohio CIA'S COUNTLESS VICTIMS Every time the puppetmasters at the Corporate Imperial Army (as I call the CIA) leave a puppet or a proxy in charge of a poor, defenseless country, each of those puppets rob, rape, torture and murder their countrymen, women and children by the tens or by even the hundreds of thousands--all so our corporate elite ain't gotta pay a fair price for a tan/brown- skinned people's resources. There's no way I know of to get an exact death toll, because each of these regimes the CIA installed have continued to cause colossal amounts of ultra-violence long after their inaugural coup d'etats. In other words, many more besides the one million Indonesians (and Indonesians are just as human as suburbians) who were the initial victims of our man on the inside, General Suharto, were killed. And as a result, Nike Shoes, for instance, can today economically rape the region with its child labor-exploiting sweatshops. And Indonesia is just one country. The CIA has orchestrated from afar the massive ravaging of Greece in 1947, Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, Congo in 1961, Brazil in 1964, Greece in 1967 (a repeat!), Chile in 1973, Grenada in 1983-- from East Timor to El Salvador, from South Korea to Nicaragua, the unholy octopus's tentacles reach far and wide. In more well-read circles, the CIA is also known
[WW] Letters to WW
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 6, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - LETERS TO THE EDITOR COCA-COLA AND GUATEMALA Rebeca Toledo's article Cite Coca-Cola in death-squad killings comes as no surprise. The same criminal acts were committed by Coca-Cola in Guatemala during the dirty war there. Company terrorism and murder of union people at Coke in Guatemala was reported early on by Workers World. Then years later I saw a corroborating article in the Baltimore Sun. They did the same thing on the massacre of half a million leftists in Indonesia in 1965. The Sun waited to report on it until the mid 1990s. Maybe in 10 years or so the Sun's subscribers will be able to read the important information Ms. Toledo has passed on to us in the last issue of Workers World. If one wants to get the news now instead of a decade later, read Workers World. And next time you're in the soda aisle at the grocery remember this--Terrorism goes better with Coke. -- Kermit Leibensperger Sykesville, MD TOXIC DANGERS UNREPORTED Thank you for your recent article about the continuing dangers faced by workers and residents in and around lower Manhattan. This is a subject that has been purposely swept under the rug by officials, requiring the initiative of the private sector to keep things honest. Private individuals and companies obtained more complete data through independent toxicological testing and through FOIA requests of government-sponsored testing results. I am sending you a copy of a press release prepared by myself and others who have been injured/disabled by toxic substances in our homes and workplaces. This was issued early last month since the sequelae of the WTC explosions and collapses were completely predictable. Based upon what is known about the tower construction and normal hazards presented by fires and building debris, such a conclusion was inescapable. Please continue your coverage of this important issue which affects workers all over the world on a daily basis. Injury from chemical exposure and particulate matter pollutants is preventable, but only if the public is kept informed and realizes they are responsible for their own health and safety. In the end, economics will always delay dissemination of such health warnings. Only when injury/illness has befallen large enough numbers of persons to make the concern impossible to hide any longer. -- Barbara Rubin FROM THE PRESS RELEASE: Over the past several weeks official, but largely unsubstantiated, claims of safety for those breathing in the dust and smoke still emanating from the WTC recovery site, became a call to action for a group of people who suffer from a range of serious health problems brought on by overexposure to toxic chemicals. Calling themselves the 911 ASH organization, the acronym refers to issues of air safety hazards. Spokespersons Barbara Rubin (New York) and Cyndi Norman (California) are part of an international internet network of people sharing experiences and scientific data about environmentally induced injuries and autoimmune diseases. As the story unfolded, said Rubin, we began to realize the implications for adverse short and long-term health effects to unprotected rescue workers and residents in the path of the dust and smoke. Officials have minimized the risks faced by New Yorkers and issued claims of safety; claims made even prior to the completion of many tests being run. That was sufficient for Rubin to want to get out a strong message to her fellow New Yorkers. Most of us were injured--and many permanently disabled--by chemical exposures which industry and the government kept assuring us were 'safe.' Rubin suffers from the aftermath of pesticide poisoning. News footage of the WTC rescue efforts confirmed their worst fears. Many rescue workers and others at Ground Zero wore paper or cloth masks, inadequate protection for fine particulate matter or gasses, including asbestos, soot, and volatile chemicals. We think workers and residents should assume the worst about what is in their air, water and the dust and use the right safety equipment from the beginning, said Norman. Doesn't that make more sense than assuming it is safe and finding out 20 years from now that the official statements were wrong? There are no scientific papers detailing the creation, dispersion, and long and short-term effects of a tragedy of this magnitude. Asbestos and fiberglass are clearly present, as is soot; fine particles known to increase the incidence and symptoms of asthma, heart disease, and other medical conditions. What are rarely mentioned are the myriad toxins in the smoke itself. Since no one knows exactly what this particular combination of plastics, PVC, office furniture, carpet, freon, natural gas, jet fuel, metals, asbestos, glass, fiberglass, and other components of the office
[WW] Letters to WW
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 1, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MUMIA AND CENSORSHIP Fred Goldstein's article in WW (May 11, 2000) entitled "Why They Censor the `Voice of the Voiceless'" was great. You're correct: Most of the major networks censored Mumia's address at the Antioch graduation, including many of those that had shown (often hostile) interest in it in the four weeks preceding the event. Strange . I know because I did over 50 interviews in three weeks with all the major networks as the chief student coordinator and spokesperson for that event. The coverage, although often reactionary, was nevertheless all over the country. So what happened when the big day came? A whiteout. It's as if there was a collective decision in the capitalist media that this was getting too big, too organized, and that it should be ignored, suppressed, censored. So you hit it on the money. I too take it as one of the signs that the movement is growing again. Teishan Latner Antioch class of 2000 Antioch, Ohio WW FOR PRISONERS I have just finished reading the latest issue of Workers World and as always I will pass it on to other prisoners and engage them in conversation as to the content of your paper, as opposed to that of the corporate owned and controlled media. I would like to thank you all for keeping me on your mailing list, and extend a warm and strong May Day abrazo to each and every one of you. Tom Manning For the December 16th Committee Springfield, Mo. LOS ALAMOS FIRE Our federal officials--Pete Domenici, Heather Wilson, Bill Richardson, Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall--who have for years thrown billions of our tax dollars into the nuclear war labs like Los Alamos, are now desperately trying to scapegoat low-level park service officials and powerless environmentalists for the fire in Los Alamos which has done so much human and political damage. These politicians are desperate to reopen Los Alamos in a weakened condition because the fire which was unleashed by rambunctious climatic changes has exposed the fact that there is no intellectual rationale for the continued existence of the nuclear labs nor the risks associated with them any longer. The world is getting hotter and the weather as a result is unpredictable--new lakes in the Australian desert, long dry hot nights in our desert when it should be cool, winds of extreme strength. We have had global conferences and most agree on this. New Mexico's nuclear club of politicians want us to think more cows and logging in the forests would have prevented this. They even repeated Ronald Reagan's ridiculous claim that trees are the greatest polluters of radiation. They treat the public as if we were ignorant and only they know the facts. In reality, it is political leadership at the top who is to blame for this crisis, not the rangers out in the forests working with reduced budgets and manpower. Like at Chernobyl the federal officials have tried to downplay the seriousness of the radiation releases generated by the fire. The governor and the lab officials rushed to tell us everything was normal even as the fire raged out of control and as tests showed levels of radiation at 10 times the norm. Significantly, they did no real-time isotopic analysis of the cloud plume, even though they do this routinely over China and Russia all the time with sniffer planes. They gave no warnings to pregnant women to evacuate, like at Chernobyl, which should have been a minimum human care action. The billions that will be wasted on rebuilding the lab could have gone a long way to providing quality education and health care to all New Mexicans. What a loss. Our federal officials have sacrificed untold numbers of people to future health risks just so they could avoid a possible evacuation of northern New Mexico's cities and rural areas, which would reveal how serious was the situation. It was Los Alamos which injected plutonium into live humans to see how people would die. None of our Congressional delegation has taken action against the Nazis who ran these experiments, and now they endanger the public at large by keeping the nuclear labs open. Robert Anderson New Mexico ACCURATE INFO ON CUBA Just want to say... Thanks for the great website with updated and accurate information about Cuba. As you already know, one must be very diligent in the search for information regarding Cuba. Even if one has an opposing view about life and politics on the island, it's a rarity to hear intellectually comparative discussion about Cuba or it's history. I find this unfortunate since the information is out there for all to see. However, pockets of the society (although decreasing) are much too comfortable adopting that which is too frequently reported from Little Havana. Keep up the good work!!! Andrea
