From jdav@mcs.com Wed Oct 16 19:55:11 1996 Date: Wed, 31 Jul 96 23:30 CDT From: James Davis To: pt.dist@noc.org People's Tribune 8-96 (Online Edition) ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 23 No. 9 / August, 1996 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: pt@noc.org ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is now available on the World Wide Web at http://www.mcs.com/~jdav/league.html +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 23 No. 9 / August, 1996 Page One 1. CONGRESS ATTACKS AFDC -- AND AMERICA Editorial 2. UNEMPLOYMENT: THE REAL ISSUE News and Features 3. CONGRESS MOVES AGAINST AFDC: ATTACKS, ATTACKS AND MORE ATTACKS 4. THE SOUTH, THE OLYMPICS AND THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN RICH AND POOR 5. WOMEN'S GROUP CALLS FOR ENDING POVERTY BY YEAR 2000 6. CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S MEETING HEARS FIGHTERS AGAINST POVERTY 7. IMPRISONED ACTIVIST EDDIE CONWAY SPEAKS OUT: PRISONS ARE WAREHOUSES FOR AMERICA'S POOR 8. BARRIOS UNIDOS HOLDS PEACE SUMMIT 9. SUMMER OF '96 FINDS U.S. KIDS IN WORST POVERTY 10. GRASSROOTS FIGHTERS RESPOND TO DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN CONVENTIONS 11. HABITAT II CONFERENCE CALLS HOUSING A RIGHT 12. D.C. RESIDENTS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF RENT CONTROL 13. CHOMSKY ON POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE Focus on Labor Party founding convention 14. LABOR PARTY FOUNDING CONVENTION: PARTICIPANTS SPEAK THEIR MINDS Culture Under Fire 15. REJUVENATING A BLOCK CLUB ON CHICAGO'S WEST SIDE: ORGANIZATION MUST START FROM THE ROOT >From the League 16. THE DAY THAT MADE 20 YEARS 17. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** 1. CONGRESS ATTACKS AFDC -- AND AMERICA As we go to press, some ominous things are happening in the country. The Democrats joined with the Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate to pass slightly different versions of a welfare "reform" bill. It wasn't clear at press time what, if anything, President Clinton will sign into law before the November election. But we can be sure of this: One way or another there will be an economic and political attack that seems to target the very poor, but which is really aimed at nearly everyone who must sell their labor power to live. At the same time, the Democrats and Republicans are making final preparations for their national conventions in Chicago and San Diego. Since these are the parties in power, the people have a right to expect solutions from them to the problems that confront us: the growing gap between rich and poor, our falling standard of living, homelessness, access to quality health care, etc. Instead, of course, we will be treated to the spectacle of the party conventions. There will be a lot of noise and speeches -- some may even pay lip service to the needs of the people. But both parties have already made clear, with their votes and actions, that they only represent the wealthy. And they've made clear the course they intend to chart for America: Attack the poorest of the poor to lay the basis for attacking the rest of the American people; increase the profits of business by driving our standard of living down; and give the government even broader police powers, to contain the rising anger of the people. The attack on AFDC is just the beginning. Medicare and Social Security are next. And the welfare recipient's income is the floor of the wages system; cutting welfare sets the stage for cutting wages even further than they've already been cut. As bad as it is to attack poor women and children, welfare "reform" is not just an assault on the poor, but on the people as a whole. Yet there is plenty of wealth to serve everyone's needs. We have to organize and fight for our own interests. We need to pressure the politicians to do the right thing, but we also have to educate and prepare ourselves to do more. No rhetoric or spectacle should divert us from taking our country back from the tiny class of privileged people who seem hell-bent on destroying it. [See also story 3.] ****************************************************************** 2. EDITORIAL: UNEMPLOYMENT: THE REAL ISSUE By now most of us are familiar with the term "jobless recovery." It means production, profits and executive salaries are up, while wages keep falling and millions are "downsized" out of their jobs. Ironically, it seems, the more the economy grows, the fewer jobs there are. Under the existing system, unemployment -- permanent unemployment -- will only continue to grow as the business class increases its wealth by using high technology to produce more and more with less and less labor. (While real average wages fell 15.5 percent from 1973 to 1991, worker productivity rose 11 percent.) What to do about the unemployed? This issue is the real driving force behind American politics today. Between 1951 and 1974, the average unemployment rate was 4.65 percent; from 1975 to 1993, unemployment averaged almost 7 percent. From 1990 to 1994, just under 8 million jobs were created -- but that is 40 percent below the average rate of employment growth in the comparable periods after the previous two recessions. And the jobs that are being created are mostly low-paying jobs. Meanwhile, corporate downsizing continues, the attack on welfare and other programs for the poor escalates, and wages keep falling. The "American Dream" for the average worker -- a decent home, a good standard of living, a future for our children -- is being stripped away from those who had it and moving beyond the reach of those who didn't have it. It means no college or technical education for the kids; lousy health care, or none at all; and the threat, or the reality, of homelessness. The growing ranks of the homeless and of those on welfare are, in fact, where most of us are headed, if we're not already there. (Indeed, the attack on Americans' standard of living began with the attack on the homeless and those on welfare.) Most people see that technology is replacing labor. And they see that, through the global economy, the capitalists are pitting workers in low-wage areas of the world and American workers against one another by moving -- or threatening to move -- jobs overseas. The fact is, technology is a devil or a savior, depending on who controls it. In the hands of capital, it means massive and growing unemployment. In the hands of the people, it would mean that everyone would have all that they needed. Unemployment is the central political issue of our time. Whoever wants to be regarded as a leader has to put forward a solution to this problem -- a solution in the interest of the majority of the people. From our viewpoint, the solution is simple. If there aren't enough jobs at good wages, if the government can't or won't guarantee a livable income for all, then our society has to be reorganized so as to guarantee a decent, cultured life for every person. This is the only just solution. ****************************************************************** 3. CONGRESS MOVES AGAINST AFDC: ATTACKS, ATTACKS AND MORE ATTACKS By Marian Kramer and Cheri Honkala, Co-Chairs, National Welfare Rights Union With the recent action by Congress on the welfare bill, the Republican and Democratic parties are moving closer to their goal of eliminating a 61-year-old safety net program for poor women and children: Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The National Welfare Rights Union has continually educated the American public that the attack on women and children in this country by the government is the opening shot in the effort to abolish all human service programs. We have examples all around us. The elimination of General Assistance programs in Michigan was the springboard toward the cutting and elimination of other human service programs in the state. Electronics is becoming the basis for production in this country, and is replacing labor. As industry is downsized and jobs are eliminated, those programs -- such as AFDC -- that have been used to keep the unemployed alive between jobs are also being downsized and eliminated. We urge you to call or fax or write President Clinton today to urge him to veto the welfare reform bill. Call 202-456-1111 or fax 202-456-2461. Further, we must join with the National Welfare Rights Union, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and other women's organizations to fight for a women's budget in this country. This budget must reflect the vast resources that we have, and the fact that today we are able to produce enough to satisfy everyone's needs. This will lay the groundwork to eliminate homelessness and hunger, give everyone a quality education, and provide decent jobs and a guaranteed income for all. For more information, call the National Welfare Rights Union at 313-868-3660. ****************************************************************** 4. THE SOUTH, THE OLYMPICS AND THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN RICH AND POOR By John Slaughter ATLANTA -- The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama was the site of the famous Bloody Sunday struggle in 1965, when police attacked civil rights marchers. On July 1, 1996, some of those who had been on opposite sides on Bloody Sunday -- including John Lewis, Andrew Young, and Joe Smitherman -- came together in Selma to carry the Olympic torch across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Young and Lewis are veterans of the civil rights movement. Smitherman was Selma's mayor then and still is now. The most recent Selma crossing symbolizes the unity of old and new. As we approach the end of the 20th century, the Olympic torch is raised to inspire a new selling of the South the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. After the defeat of Reconstruction in 1877 set the stage for the disenfranchisement of the African American population, the rise of a New South that was open to industrialization by Northern business was proclaimed. In this century, we heard a lot of talk about the New South in the late 1960s and '70s, after John Lewis and Andy Young had put their lives on the line in Selma to put an end to the Jim Crow system. But cotton money still ruled, at least in the Black Belt South, the locus of the plantation system. Money still rules in Dixie today, and nowhere is that more evident than the Olympic Games themselves, a $2 billion enterprise in which Billy Payne, CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, receives a $669,112 annual salary. Coca-Cola is putting over $500 million into an advertising blitz, and NBC is paying $456 million for the TV rights. Other corporations are putting up $40 million each for the right to call themselves Olympic sponsors. From the public till comes some $810 million. But what do the people get out of it? A new jail, for one thing. And Woodruff Park was remodeled at a cost of $5 million specifically to make it inhospitable to Atlanta's 20,000 homeless. Gov. Zell Miller, who slashed funds for the poor, sick and disabled, assigned personal bodyguards for Billy Payne at a cost of $300,000. All 1,193 units of public housing at Techwood Homes were torn down to make way for the Games, with a promise to re-build 900 mixed-income units. No one seems to know what happened to the Techwood residents, but Fulton County has provided some $200,000 for one-way bus tickets out of town for homeless people. The divisions between rich and poor grow. While churches burn, the Olympic torch sears the South with its message of unity. But it is a unanimity of the rule of wealth and the wealthy, and how that rule shall be maintained. The money trail stretches from the great wealth amassed from slave labor, from the cotton patch through Tobacco Road, from the sweatshop to Wall Street and back again. While the coffers of the wealthy swell, the people get ... games. When the gospel of the New South was proclaimed a century ago, the era of the Solid South was launched, and the party of the Solid South was the Democratic Party. Today it is a Republican Solid South, and Republican Southerners control the leadership positions in Congress. Historically, the Solid South provided the balance of power in a coalition that ruled the country. In return, the South's segregation and Jim Crow systems were protected. Today, the aim of the new Southern Republicans is no less than to run the country, and to make the Southern political program a national one. Since the end of Reconstruction, that program has been the unbridled (unregulated and un-taxed) rule of capital, of Big Money. Today it means cut welfare, cut education, cut health care, gerrymander away voting rights, give the states full power to implement their own version of rule by the few. As for the Democratic Party in the South, consider the Democratic Leadership Conference (DLC), which produced Bill Clinton and which has effectively taken over the Democratic Party. The DLC's strategy is to keep moving to the right until they have essentially grabbed the issues from the Republicans. The old liberal New Deal wing of the party is little more than a ghost. In the South, the New South Clinton Democrats applauded when the Supreme Court dismantled majority-black districts. This means that white male Democrats now have a better chance of being elected. As African American leaders see the clock being rolled back, many nevertheless see no option but to tie themselves to what they perceive as the lesser of two evils. But a powerful new polarity is emerging -- the opposition of great wealth and growing poverty. The poor have no political representation, no one to speak for them. This is not new in the Solid South. They have never had political power or representation except for one brief moment during Reconstruction, and a glimpse of the possibilities in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday. Yet when Old and New become one, how can they continue to trick us? Their program is exposed. The people grow weary of games. They want justice, freedom, a voice, and there is no one to turn to but themselves. Isn't this the formula for the emergence of a powerful new political force that will sweep the land? Just maybe, it will gather its strength in the South. As the South goes, so goes the nation. [John Slaughter is the author of New Battles Over Dixie.] ****************************************************************** 5. WOMEN'S GROUP CALLS FOR ENDING POVERTY BY YEAR 2000 By the Women's Economic Agenda Project SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Women's Agenda (CAWA), a group of women continuing the work of last year's Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, China, has declared its support for eradicating poverty "by the year 2000 through redistribution of resources." The conference, held June 28-30 in San Francisco, sought to bring the Platform of Action adopted in Beijing to women of varied cultural backgrounds, lifestyles and economic classes, able-bodied and disabled, and empower them to speak with a brave new voice in the future. In its first statewide conference, CAWA noted that California has "the seventh largest economy in the world," but that the state shows the destructive side of the nation's technological revolution, with a quarter of its children hungry and living in poverty, more than 600,000 jobs permanently lost since May 1990, and hundreds of thousands more people permanently downsized. The group adopted a mission statement saying that the same computerized/robotized technology which is "bringing civilization ever closer to a near-workerless world" should be refocused to "end poverty and hunger forever and provide a decent quality of life for all." The CAWA statement recognized that the technology which is pushing more and more workers into jobless poverty is also bringing forth a "new women's movement" led internationally by victims of poverty. It promised to "change economic, societal and political policies that relegate poor women to the bottom of the economic ladder and criminalize poverty." The mission statement was brought to CAWA by the statewide Women's Economic Agenda Project, based in Oakland. WEAP Executive Director Ethel Long-Scott, who attended the China conference, said WEAP's presentation "taught that a new class of poor has been created by this economic revolution. We taught that poverty is violence, and the path to a better life is by liberating the wealth of the rich and shameless and using it to feed, educate, heal and revitalize our communities and our country." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS SHARE THEIR VIEWS Heather Matara (Women's Care Health Center, San Diego) I chose the Poverty Workshop to network with other women to get concrete plans on how to change things. I'm sick of talk. I want action. I believe that being here really put things into perspective for me. We got some good action plans. Barbara Arems (Campaign to Abolish Poverty, San Francisco) We would like to see guaranteed job opportunities: full employment, living-wage jobs. That, in our opinion, is the linchpin to eliminating poverty in the country. I know that we can't organize only on a local level because we're dealing with a global economy. My commitment is to help Californians educate about what's going on throughout this country and to try to increase our numbers. Ethel Carr (WEAP volunteer) It was nice. I enjoyed it because I was there with other women working on a plan for a decent, better quality of life for all of us. Other women my age were there participating and that made me feel good. If you are poor, the conference adequately addressed your needs. Mary Ann Broussard (WEAP volunteer) I was impressed with the information the WEAP women were able to contribute to the Poverty Task Force. Even though I had been reading on women's issues, WEAP provided a deeper, practical understanding of issues concerning poor working women. Having disabled women in our workshop showed that all of us have a contribution to make in coming up with a solution to our problems. Their strength gave us courage to participate. Women in our group transcended all cultures and racial backgrounds. Bridgette Brown (Independent Living Resource Center, San Francisco chapter) My main reason for being here is to represent the disabled and to represent women around the poverty issue. One thing I liked about this workshop is that it touched our concerns, like housing and transportation. Sharon Sachse (a librarian and member of the Federal Women's Program) There are a lot of laws that need to be changed so that [the] disabled and our elderly live a decent, prosperous and more profitable life. I really feel that we got a lot of work done and if we keep going at it, we will meet our goals. Aileen Hernandez (Chair of CAWA) I would always like to see more work done, but I think this has been a great start. I've seen women with incredible energy [who] have been willing to put in a lot of time and came up with some very sound recommendations. I believe that by the end of this assembly, we'll have a good start and a sound coalition of organizations focused on things that should be done for California women and girls. My hopes are that we will be able to organize around some of the legislative issues. Our struggle is about a better quality of life for women and children. Since this is an election year, we expect those running for office to support our agenda. ****************************************************************** 6. CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S MEETING HEARS FIGHTERS AGAINST POVERTY By Rosemary Williams BOSTON -- When I was asked to write this article for the People's Tribune, I was happy to do whatever I could but nervous also because writing articles, I think, is not my forte. But once I joined the company of Dottie Stevens and Diane Dujon and was off to the airport to pick up Marian Kramer, I started to feel at ease. As we entered the Boston Sheraton Hotel and became a part of the hurried atmosphere of the conference and talked with the women gathered there, it all felt right. I was privileged to meet the Rev. Yvonne Delk and spend some time listening to her words of wisdom and knowing that God truly has a plan for some people. "Visions and Voices," a conference held here from June 27 to June 30, was the United Church of Christ's Third National Meeting of Women, a gathering of women from across the United States to discuss women's issues within the faith community, as well as environmental, political, and religious concerns facing the country. Marian Kramer, president of the National Welfare Rights Union, addressed the Saturday afternoon forum at the conference on "Where is Justice? Women and the Economy in 1996." Bernice Powell Jackson, the executive director of the church's Commission for Racial Justice, began that session by talking about the "Siamese twin demons" of racism and economic injustice. She urged the audience to keep abreast of politics, to search out alternative news, and to be informed. "Don't let this continue to be the era of silencing poor women," Jackson said. Introduced by Jackson as a "fierce warrior," Marian Kramer began her oration before about 100 women. Looking out at a sea of faces, all different in nationality, education, and socio-economic background, Marian shared some disturbing statistics: Every day in this country, 2,660 babies are born into poverty; 2,833 children drop out or are forced out of school; 6,042 children are arrested; 8,493 children are reported abused or neglected; and 70,000 people a day join the ranks of those living in poverty in one of the richest nations in the world. "Those who know about economics need to ... be a part of the leadership," Marian stated. "It's important that we bring this nation up and out of poverty." She talked about the creation of the Family Independency Agency in Michigan and how it would be the downfall of the family as we know it. Marian has a way of bringing out "Amen," "That's right" and "Uh- huh" from her audience. How does one end after so eloquent a talk? Ask Marian Kramer for her parting thought to this audience of Christian women. It was simply, powerfully, this: Join the movement, not just the conference! ****************************************************************** 7. IMPRISONED ACTIVIST EDDIE CONWAY SPEAKS OUT: PRISONS ARE WAREHOUSES FOR AMERICA'S POOR By Yusef Ali, Mike Brand and Robert Birt [Editor's note: Twenty-six years ago, Eddie Conway, a Black Panther Party member, was convicted of crimes he did not commit and sentenced to life in prison. Because the governor of Maryland refuses to grant Conway a parole hearing, a rally was held June 8 to demand one. Below we print excerpts from an interview Conway gave the People's Tribune from the Maryland House of Correction.] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Is the growth of economic insecurity related to the denial of justice by the prison system? EDDIE CONWAY: The prison system incarcerates in the first place because there are no jobs for us. They deny us parole to stop the return to the community of rehabilitated people who would be seeking jobs that don't exist. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Does your status as a political prisoner make them less willing to grant you a parole hearing? EDDIE CONWAY: Yes. The fact that I came into the prison system educating and organizing and encouraging prisoners to gain marketable skills and return to the community immediately makes me a target for prison officials and other elements that do not desire positive people returning to the community. They talk a lot about rehabilitation, but what actually happens is warehousing. For example, the Pell grant has been taken away from the prison population. Just recently, Gov. Parris M. Glendening tried to remove the GED program. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: The youth population in prison is growing. What is your advice to urban youth? EDDIE CONWAY: I would encourage young males to find an alternative to illegal activities. We need to organize with the young. We need to call on the government to supply jobs as an alternative to the illegal activities that our youth are forced to engage in. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: What's the importance of the June 8 rally? EDDIE CONWAY: It's important because a number of individuals and organizations throughout the state have been calling for justice in my case. Over the past year, they have staged a number of events in various areas of the state. This will be the first time that these groups and individuals have come together collectively to call on the governor to do something. [For more information, contact the Eddie Conway Defense Committee at 410-276-7221.] ****************************************************************** 8. BARRIOS UNIDOS HOLDS PEACE SUMMIT By Nydia Hernandez [Excerpted from an article in the Increase the Peace Newsletter. Nydia Hernancez belongs to Youth Struggling for Survival.] Washington, D.C.-- How far have we come today as a society? Do we want to continue killing our own people? My answer is "No!" Violence has affected our society as a whole. It has taken control of our communities and our everyday lives. We need to find alternatives to violence -- solutions that work. Barrios Unidos, a not-for-profit organization out to end barrio warfare, called a National Peace Summit which was held in Washington, D.C. from March 31 until April 3. The purpose of this summit was to introduce a peace plan that -- with strong effort and dedication -- would work. The conference had many workshops. Speakers recounted their own experiences in the "hood." There were many mothers who had lost sons and daughters to "the pen" or the grave because of the madness. They felt that discussing their experiences would help save lives. We need to take a stand and make changes, not only for ourselves but for our future. This change can be done. Si se puede! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ A POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE GOES WITH THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE [Editor's Note: Daniel Garcia is an educator in Montgomery County, Maryland. He spoke with the People's Tribune at the National Peace Summit held in Washington, D.C.] The issues that Latino youth face are the same issues that other Latinos around the country face and other people of color as far as the assimilation part of it. A lot of times they don't understand where the self-hatred, self-oppression is coming from. Just like at their age I didn't. Internal oppression is something that occurs to people of color when they come to believe the stereotypes that society has created for them. What they see on television -- the criminals, the drug dealers. It takes people and organizations like Barrios Unidos to show a different side of the Latino culture. A positive side, something that is spiritual and very beautiful. It energizes them. They begin to feel self-pride. Once you have self-esteem, the quest and urge to find those answers, then you see all these injustices and you no longer see them as routine. I see as my responsibility as an educator to take what I've learned here and teach it to my students. So that they begin realizing that what's going on is not supposed to go down that way. No one grows up and wants to be poor. We are coming to an age when technology is capable of producing the material needs that we have -- which is the purpose of an economic system. Yet, what we have today is people with a lot of wealth and then really poor people. Things have to change. We are going to have to unite and the work has to begin now. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WE MUST HEAL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE SUFFERING [Editor's note: Nane Alejandrez is director and youth organizer of Barrios Unidos. He spoke with the People's Tribune at the National Peace Summit held in Washington, D.C. this spring which was sponsored by Barrios Unidos, a not-for-profit organization out to end barrio warfare. His comments on the summit appear below:] I thank the Creator for allowing us to be here and to bring such beautiful people to Washington, D.C. As you have seen, the participants in the summit came here with bleeding hearts and with the minds going in different directions. People have really gotten to know each other. They have found out in talking to each other that a lot of the problems are similar to the problems they face, whether it is a large community like Chicago or Watsonville or East Los Angeles or Kansas City. The peace plan has five points. It is not something that dictates "this is the way you have to be." Take what you need to do, take what works for your community. The thing is to have action, to have a plan. We know that it will take some time to implement. What's important is that we must create jobs within our own community. We must heal our brothers and sisters who are suffering whether it is drugs, alcohol, abuse. When both brothers and sisters get out of the penitentiary, we must be there to welcome them back to the community. We try to teach our young brothers and sisters that there must be respect. It is very important that we as men respect our women. We must hold respect for everyone. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WE ARE NOT GOING TO DECLARE WAR ON GANGS! [Steve Gonzalez is founder of the Chavez County Citizen Review Board. He spoke to the People's Tribune at the National Peace Summit.] My son's name was Steven, better known as "Ham." He was a boxer. We went to Olympia House, then about 30 days later he got shot. He was ambushed and he was shot in the leg and the back. We spent over seven months with him in the hospital and then we brought him out. We worked with him for about three years. Then one day he went to a dance and we think that somebody put something into his drink that killed him. He was 19 when he was shot. When he died he was 22. When asked if gangs were the problem, his answer was the following: "Nobody wants to work with the kids. If you do not work with these kids that they say are in gangs, you will never fix the problem and someone has to step in and say, we are not going to throw these kids out. We are going to work with them." Basically, we do not want to declare war on gangs. Those are our kids. If we declare war on our kids, we declare war on us. What we want to declare war on is the crime and the violence. I am the founder of the Chavez County Citizen Review Board. I started it when my son got shot. I called the governor, I called the mayor. The doors were closed. I decided these doors were not going to stay closed. Nobody else in my community was going to have to go and find them closed. From now on, we are going to keep the doors open. We are going to come in through the windows, we are going to come in through the roof, whatever it takes. These doors will not be closed to our people. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ORDERING INFORMATION FOR INCREASE THE PEACE: * Increase the Peace Newsletter * National Peace Summit Video Contact: Increase the Peace, c/o Youth Struggling for Survival P.O. Box 477446, Chicago, Illinois 60647 Or call 312-409-6696 and leave your name and phone number. Donations will be negotiated when orders are placed. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 9. SUMMER OF '96 FINDS U.S. KIDS IN WORST POVERTY By Jo Ann Capalbo Summer is a time usually associated with kids, fun and vacations. The reality this summer is that the United States finds itself leading the world in child poverty. American children have the highest poverty rate of any children in the world's wealthiest nations. Only four of the world's richest industrial powers have child poverty rates over 10 percent. The rate of American children in poverty is over twice that -- 21 percent. Maybe the United States' "leadership" in another area will make the situation of poor children in America more clear. The United States has more billionaires than any other country. While American children were becoming impoverished and were the targets of cuts and misery, the number of billionaires in America went from 96 to 149 in five short years. Our message is simple: These children represent our future. We are for an America where children prosper. It is time to put the fun back into summer for all American children. ****************************************************************** 10. GRASSROOTS FIGHTERS RESPOND TO DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN CONVENTIONS +----------------------------------------------------------------+ MARCH FOR JUSTICE CROSSES CALIFORNIA By Miguel Arredondo RIVERSIDE, California -- The March for Social and Economic Justice kicked off on June 3 in Sacramento. As we go to press, the march is making its way down California, in time to arrive in San Diego in early August for the Republican National Convention. The purpose of the march is to encourage underrepresented ethnic groups and women in California to assert their rights. The march proposes to do this by educating the communities on those rights. The main issues surrounding the march include the fight against the so-called "California Civil Rights Initiative" (CCRI); a mass voter registration effort; and a mass citizenship and naturalization drive. These issues have been taken up by the Coalition for Social and Economic Justice, the sponsor of the march. The CCRI, if approved by California voters in November, will eliminate all affirmative action programs and policies in employment, education and federal contracts in California. The march comes at a time when California continues its economic slide. Scapegoating and divisive tactics are the only answers being provided to Californians by the ruling class. In the aftermath of the passage of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 by California voters in 1994, a voter registration and citizenship drive among Latinos is one response to these attacks. This response seems to have a limit when you consider that the two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, represent the same interest, that of the ruling class. This response alone will not create progress for the masses. The fight against affirmative action by the divisive political forces in California is another issue. With its CCRI on the November ballot, the ruling class will try to divide the working class along racial and gender lines. The Coalition for Social and Economic Justice is waging an important fight. This fight becomes increasingly difficult and two-sided when we fail to connect the fight for access to jobs and education with the continuing trend of lay-offs, education cuts, and the building of a prison state in California. The March for Social and Economic Justice is a significant event. The energy produced by the mobilization of the masses will surely be overwhelming. The true test for this event will be what follows the Republican Convention. Will it be more marches exclusively, or will we also seriously consider the connections between all the tactics used by the ruling class and how everyone is affected by them? [For more information, call the toll-free March Hotline at 1-888- 609-1907. After the recording, you may leave a message and your call will be returned.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ POOR PEOPLE'S PARTY CALLS FOR PROTEST IN SAN DIEGO SAN DIEGO, California -- The Poor People's Party, a group of progressive activists in the San Diego, California area, called earlier this year for people opposed to the ongoing attacks on Americans in poverty to come and protest during the 1996 Republican National Convention in August. The protest will be in the form of a picnic and rally on August 11. The Poor People's Party isn't really one in the usual sense. "We are not a true political party, but, rather, a welcoming committee for those who wish to raise their voice against a society which has forgotten many of the values upon which this nation was founded," said activist Lone Wolf in a statement e-mailed to the Internet in April. "The Poor People's Party was created in San Diego in response to the unconscionable economic disparity that can only worsen with proposed legislation at the local, regional and national levels," Lone Wolf said. The San Diego protest called by the Poor People's Party "aims not only to embarrass and challenge the Republicans, but to counter the politicians' attempts to set the working poor against the welfare poor by articulating their shared concerns in the era of austerity and attacks on living standards," according to a recent statement. [For more information on the Poor People's Party activities during the Republican Convention, call 619-685-7707; write to Aardvark Books at 3342 Adams Avenue, San Diego, California 92116, or e-mail forrest@tnl-online.com or lonewolf@electriciti.com.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CHICAGO HOMELESS WILL PROTEST AT CONVENTION [The following are excerpts from a longer article that appeared in the Chicago Special Edition of the People's Tribune put together by the League of Revolutionaries for a New America's Chicago Chapter.] The homeless in Chicago know what's going on. Anyone can witness it in the South Loop. "They give $2 million to a private developer to do $100,000 condominiums in an abandoned building right across street here, to subsidize his profit. I think it's pretty obscene," says John Donahue of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. With pressure on from developers, Chicago's homeless are making their plans accordingly. To the politicians running the Democratic National Convention, and the city carefully planning to showcase Chicago, Donahue has this to say: "We're raising the specter of the Convention, we're going to be there. And you can either announce at the Convention an agreement to build low-income housing in the South Loop, protect the people who are here, protect small businesses, provide 50 percent of the jobs for low-income and homeless people, or we'll just tell people what's going on." If you do the math, as Donahue has, you can see it's impossible to survive in Chicago on the minimum wage. President Clinton and the Democratic Party have supported cuts to the poor and payoffs to corporations. Look for concerned Chicagoans to demonstrate against these conditions at the Democratic National Convention. "We won't be relegated to the protest pits (designated protest areas). We've gone hat in hand; they say go get a job. OK. We're not asking for anything; we're demanding what we deserve, and we're going to go get it, one way or another. Period." ****************************************************************** 11. HABITAT II CONFERENCE CALLS HOUSING A RIGHT By Nacho Gonzalez ISTANBUL, Turkey -- This historic and scenic city was the site of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Urban Settlements ("Habitat II") recently. The purpose of the conference was to adopt a "Global Plan of Action." The themes of the conference were "sustainable human settlement," "development in an urbanizing world," and "adequate shelter for all." Individual countries developed "National Plans of Action" for making cities of the 21st century just, healthy and secure places for all. The main issues at the conference were reproductive rights, housing as a human right, the cleaning up of land mines and nuclear sites, and integrated settlements in occupied territories. The United States was vehemently against proposed wording which declared that "housing is a human right." The U.S. delegation was quite isolated on this question. It finally gave in and accepted the formulation "housing is the human right." Fidel Castro of Cuba closed the conference with a rousing speech. He called consumer societies an insult to the "four-fifths of the hungry and destitute inhabitants that we are." "The wealth of the rich was built by the exploited poor in an unfair system," he said. Now that the conference is over, we have to hold our government accountable to the Plan of Action. Housing and community organizations should get a copy of the plan when it becomes available and fight for its implementation. [Nacho Gonzalez was a delegate to the Habitat II conference. He was selected by the Great Cities Institute of the University of Illinois at Chicago.] ****************************************************************** 12. D.C. RESIDENTS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF RENT CONTROL By Rick Tingling-Clemmons WASHINGTON -- More than 300 people gathered outside the District Building on April 23 to tell the District Council not to gut rent control. Twenty-eight speakers representing a broad spectrum of activists and organizations addressed the rally, which was in response to pressure put on the District Council by the Financial Control Board to cut back on rent control. Rent control -- which limits landlords' ability to raise rents -- protects the 70 percent of D.C. residents who are renters. The Financial Control Board was created by Congress, with the collaboration of the Clinton administration and non-voting House delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, to assume authority over all aspects of District government and finances. The Republican-controlled Congress has authorized the Financial Control Board to review the Rent Control Act, even though it has little to do with the city's budget. In reviewing the Rent Control Act, the Board is using its power in an anti-democratic way to overturn action enacted by District Council. At least two members of the Financial Control Board, chairman Andrew Brimmer and Steven Harlan, may have conflicts of interest in the matter. Brimmer is a director of Carr Realty, one of the area's largest realtors and Harlan owns H. G. Smithy Co., a leading regional real estate firm. The Rent Control Act needs to be strengthened, not abolished. Without it, rents would be at least $100 higher than they are now. It not only protects against rent increases, but also from evictions, landlord retaliation, conversion and demolition. It gives tenants leverage to negotiate for repairs and/or purchase their buildings. The group Fight for the Life of the City (FfLOC) demands that the District Council reject orders from the right-wing Republican-led Congress -- and too many Democrats -- to gut rent control. Also, we must oppose Vacancy Decontrol, which would let landlords step up the number of evictions, because as apartments become vacant, they will be removed from rent control. All freedom-loving people are urged to join this fight. [For more information, call FfLOC at 202-388-1111 or 301-270- 0134.] ****************************************************************** 13. CHOMSKY ON POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE [Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a prominent figure in the American progressive movement. Before the Labor Party founding convention, the People's Tribune asked him for his views on initiatives to form an independent political party in the United States. His response appears below.] I think it is quite important to introduce into the electoral arena a progressive alternative to the narrow Democrat-Republican consensus. For the near future at least, that alternative should, I think, seek to implement the cross-balloting options that the New Party has called for (allowing the option of a vote for, say, Clinton on a New Party ballot line). An independent party also should be seen as a kind of "umbrella organization" bringing together grassroots groups of various kinds, including those with a local or special-issue focus. So conceived, an independent party could make a big difference, I think, even in the short term, with broader prospects depending on how things develop. -- Noam Chomsky ****************************************************************** 14. LABOR PARTY FOUNDING CONVENTION: PARTICIPANTS SPEAK THEIR MINDS [In early June, more than 1,300 delegates met in Cleveland and founded a new political party -- the Labor Party. On these pages, we print excerpts from interviews conducted at the convention by Laura Garcia and Sandra Reid of the People's Tribune Editorial Board.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ UNITE LEADER: BOSSES HAVE TWO PARTIES; LABOR NEEDS ITS OWN Bob Martin is the president of the Midwest Regional Joint Board of the Union of Needle Trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). He is also president of the Eastern District Joint Board of UNITE and president of Local 487T of UNITE in Columbus, Ohio. Below he explains why he attended the Labor Party Convention. I'm here because basically we are tired of the politics as usual. The bosses have two parties working for them. The Republican Party is absolutely anti-labor and anti-worker and pro-business. Clinton, the lesser of two evils, we voted for him, supported him in the past. He has done some good things for labor. But with NAFTA and GATT he has also hurt us. It's a sad situation that the working people are the majority of the people in the United States, yet they don't really have support, a political party to represent them. That's why I'm here, to help support a labor party in the United States. I will take it back into my local and into the streets where I'm from to educate members of my local. Hopefully we can get this thing rolling and get the real people with a voice in the political arena where they belong. We need to open up our hearts to the American people. We got homeless and unemployed people, they deserve the right to health care and a well-paying job. It should be a constitutional right to have a job and health insurance. It should also be a right to be out of the weather, and to have food on the table, clothing on your back. I'm hoping Bill Clinton -- the lesser of two evils -- gets re- elected. Because if the Republicans get control of the White House and retain the Senate and the House, we are facing going into a two-tier society, where you have rich people and you have peasants. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ADOLPH REED: INTELLECTUALS BELONG IN THE FIGHT [Adolph Reed Jr. served on the Program Committee at the Labor Party Convention. He is a writer and professor of political science at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Professor Reed, what do you see as the role of cultural workers and intellectuals today? ADOLPH REED JR.: First, I would say, we're workers. Our role is the same as everybody else. I belong to the National Writers Union, for instance. I also work with Chicago Jobs and Justice and with trade union communicators in building demonstrations and propaganda. Doing good intellectual work is the most important. The more popular writing I do, I'm simultaneously trying to figure out how I think about issues and trying to write to stimulate critical conversation within the left. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: You recently wrote about the importance of progressives connecting with ordinary people and having a politics that rests on careful analysis of social conditions. ADOLPH REED JR.: Yes. At a critical point after the anti-war movement and black power era, we couldn't quite figure out what was happening. There was a tendency to turn away from concrete, close analysis of the society we are living in and turn toward one or another global system. This doesn't help you understand or organize anything. I think we have seen a lot of that today. I am accustomed to being attacked by ultra-leftists who don't bother about intellectual politics. It turns our familiar norms upside down to see the left faction here arguing so passionately, elevating participating in electoral politics to the level of principle when we have always viewed it as tactical and not strategic. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ WE NEED TO UP THE ANTE, SAYS DETROIT NEWSPAPER STRIKER CLEVELAND -- During the Labor Party's founding convention here in June, the People's Tribune interviewed Margaret Trimer-Hartley, one of the Detroit Free Press strikers and a member of the strikers' Unity Victory Caucus. Margaret worked at the newspaper as a reporter for 10 years. She told us that the strike has ended her "nice middle-class life" and the ideas that go along with it. She got her first car at 16, went to college and on to a relatively high-paying job. Now, she and her husband, Daymon J. Hartley, a striking photographer at the Free Press, and her young son live day to day. Today she embodies a passionate belief that people will come together, educate themselves, and make the changes that are so urgently needed in our country. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Margaret, after a year on strike, what is the spirit of the strikers? MARGARET TRIMER-HARTLEY: It's lifting. We had a pretty rough winter. A lot of strikers believe in their leaders still, so they listen when they say, "Let the scabs in. Don't confront folks." There was a sense that we have to be good little boys and girls on the picket line because that's going to win public support and win the strike. But now, I think there is a spirit of confrontation, a spirit of possibility. Now, we are messing things up out on the streets. And I think that people know that's what it's going to take. We want them so fed up with the strike that they are going to call for an end to it no matter what. But we need to continue upping the ante. I look to the practical leaders within the Caucus and some of our supporters who are pushing us to do something as militant as stop production. People are seeing the ineffectiveness of leafletting. I think we've educated people enough to know what it's going to take. There's a heightened optimism now. PT: What are the issues of the strike? MTH: Merit pay was a big thing. They wanted to take away our right to declare overtime. They wanted an open shop, which clearly in our 60-year history of organized unions at the Free Press was never going to happen. They were looking to cut our health care, and more. But the issues were almost a front -- they were really attempting to break the unions, period. By giving everyone a fightable issue, all six unions had a strikeable issue. They really forced us out and forced the confrontation over whether a union is going to be at these newspapers or not. PT: How many people are on strike now? MTH: About 2,000 remain on strike, many of whom have gotten other jobs. About 1,000 really are active strikers. You can't go on forever. You've got to get a job because if you lose everything in the process of the fight, you defeat the purpose. PT: What do you think of the prospects here of the formation of a labor party? MTH: Frankly, the Democrats or Republicans certainly don't represent me as a working stiff who doesn't own shit, except my labor power. I really am encouraged even though they're not going to propose a candidate. I don't have any faith in the Democratic Party. I think this kind of pressure on the Democratic Party may make them more accountable and may lead us to a true third party that can run candidates that can be representative of the majority of people. I will definitely bring the word home that this looks like a viable alternative at least for now. It seems like a start. PT: You are a reader of the People's Tribune. Is it a tool to help you educate people you work with in the strike? MTH: Yes. We have the most militant, progressive, practical leaders drawn together in our caucus. The paper has been a real tool to raise their understanding of what's going on and that the problem isn't just this strike. It's a national problem. It's a real crisis of capitalism. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ IT'S TIME TO TALK ABOUT CORPORATE POWER, NADER SAYS [The People's Tribune interviewed Ralph Nader, the Green Party presidential candidate. Although acknowledging that he has no chance of winning, Nader said his goals in the election are to put the corporate power issue and democracy on the agenda. He is also trying to get more young people involved and get the Green Party on the ballot in future elections.] "We have to open the corporate power agenda which Clinton and Dole won't talk about," said Nader, "especially the impact of global power corrupting our politics, downsizing our economy for maximizing profits, shifting jobs overseas, and shafting consumers. "I'd like to see a Green Party around the country that is on the ballot so that the Democrats are never able to say again that you've got nowhere to go and we're going into the corporate arms of big business. "Clinton has turned his back on organized labor," he said. "The AFL[-CIO] is supporting Clinton without demanding anything in return. Clinton's got to realize that when he caves into the corporations, he is going to lose votes." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 15. REJUVENATING A BLOCK CLUB ON CHICAGO'S WEST SIDE: ORGANIZATION MUST START FROM THE ROOT By H. B. Cool CHICAGO -- Me and some of my peers are trying to rejuvenate the block club. And I must add that I think it's very fortunate that some of the seniors on the block are behind us. So, obviously, I have a good feeling about this. We in the inner city know all too well about the lack of positive activities and the overabundance of negative activities that occur in the hood. So, in re-establishing the block club, we'd like to assist in giving the children on the block some activities to participate in that may help to persuade them to be productive representatives of the community. And I personally feel that extracurricular activities and a show of concern are major contributors to the social development of children. Also, the plan is implemented to create a cohesive playing atmosphere which may translate into a cohesive working atmosphere or even just for the purpose of interacting with other people, period. I guess by now you're probably wondering why I'm writing about this? I'm writing about this because this is something that should be heard, shared and embraced. But on a larger scale, some world peace shit. But peace must start with self, and it's difficult to be at peace with self with all the ill shit that happens in the hood -- and all the ill shit that happens in the world. But to be a service to your brothers, sisters, and children in a selfless manner is great sustenance for self-fulfillment. Although I'm not a big fan of religion, most religions emphasize being a service to other people. And some say we're all brothers and sisters -- which isn't hard to believe because, at the root, we all come from the same source. But the question you gotta ask yourself is: How much weight do all of that carry? We call each other "brother" and "sister" all the time, but really don't feel like brothers and sisters. Strong words with strong meanings, yet we use them so loosely. It just goes to show why society is so fucked-up. Because most people, as far as I see, are on some personal shit. At a time when we all need to come together to try to communicate so, hopefully, one day we can be of the same accord. Looking out for one another, becoming more involved in our children's lives, tacking extra responsibility onto ourselves for the good of our fellow man, woman and child. And work together as a functioning body. Like a block club, maybe. ****************************************************************** 16. THE DAY THAT MADE 20 YEARS "We are the people who build and maintain the nation but rarely enjoy the fruits of our labor. We are the employed and the unemployed. We are the people who make the country run but have little say in running the country." With these words, unions, the unemployed, the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the minorities together took a stand in Cleveland and formed the Labor Party. At last they have a party of their own, a political voice to speak for them, just as the Democrats and Republicans speak for the rich and the privileged who control this nation. The founding convention of the Labor Party on June 6-9 was attended by 36 Labor Party Advocates chapters from around the country. Ten endorsing international unions and scores of district labor councils, central labor councils and local unions were joined by non-trade-union organizations that were designated as worker organizations. These included the Black Workers For Justice, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the National Welfare Rights Union and the National Union of the Homeless. For 100 years, the trade unions officially rejected the idea of a party of labor. They thought they could control the existing political parties with a policy of "punishing your enemies and rewarding your friends" at the ballot box. The trade unions have now clearly run out of so-called "friends" (if they ever had any), and it's time for the people to strike out on their own. The Labor Party is not a trade union party, but the unions that participated in the convention form an indispensable base. Bringing together, on a political basis, all those who suffer from the downsizing of the economy was a big step forward. Now it is possible for these unions with their firm organizations and vast resources to take their rightful place as the defender of all those who face poverty in the land of plenty. With its practical-economic and social demands, the Labor Party's program is a rallying call to all serious progressives and revolutionaries. Here is something real to unite around and fight for. Here is a program that can and must be taken to the people and which can serve as the basis of unity in the struggles that lie ahead. Never before have revolutionaries faced such a favorable moment. In all previous periods of social turmoil, the dreams and desires of the people were far ahead of objective capabilities. Today, the development of marvelous new machinery makes any vision possible. Where there is no vision, the revolution will perish. The masses have no vision save that given them by the ruling class. The formation of the Labor Party opens an opportunity to politically organize and enthuse the masses with a sense of strength and a revolutionary vision. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ LRNA ON CHICAGO TV PROGRAM Look for the League of Revolutionaries for a New America on the Chicago Cable Access TV program "Hotline 21." It airs at 6:30 p.m. on Fridays (through September) on Cable Channel 21. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Dear readers, Our country is moving toward a situation where only the rich can afford college. Instead of denying access to those who can't afford it, our government should be providing higher education for all. We want to hear from the students, faculty, and workers in the colleges and universities for a September "back to school" issue of the Peoples' Tribune. Send us your articles, statements, poems, thoughts, and photographs so we can publish them. Together, we can forge a winning fight for our right: higher education for all! LRNA Committee on Higher Education, 700 East 33rd St., Baltimore, MD 21218 E-mail: mikenoc@aol.com +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 17. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published every two weeks in Chicago, is devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be and will be changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate politically those millions on the basis of their own experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it. Join us! Editor: Laura Garcia Publisher: League of Revolutionaries for a New America, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028 ISSN# 1081-4787 For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist-request@noc.org To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests for bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. 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(312) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist- request@noc.org ******************************************************************