Articles » peoplesworld

NATO protest reflections: Winning tactics vs. dead ends

John Bachtell — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:00:00 -0400

CHICAGO - One by one, they threw their medals toward the generals and statesmen behind the high barricades surrounding the NATO Summit in Chicago last week. Nearly 50 veterans made history, rejecting the lies of the 1% that justified shipping them to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was one of the most profoundly moving events I have ever witnessed.

Unfortunately, their story of courage and heroism, and the largely peaceful nature of the May 20 protest and week of protests leading up to it, was buried behind headlines of violent clashes between some protesters and police.

There were in fact two protests that day: the organized mass peaceful expression - which ended with the veterans asking people to disperse peacefully - and then the confrontation with police afterward.

No one, certainly not the coalition that organized the main ceremony and march, sanctioned the confrontation and the desire by some to march through police barricades to the site of the NATO Summit.

Police violence at the demonstration and during the week, the 45 arrests and ongoing detentions, the holding at gunpoint of independent journalists who were "live streaming" the events, the alleged entrapment of several young activists on terrorism charges - all these must and are being widely condemned.

However, neither can they excuse or justify in any way the provocations that emanated from some protesters.

These incidents overshadowed the largely nonviolent nature of the protests and drowned out the main message: End the wars and militarization and reallocate desperately needed funds to create jobs and fund education, health care and affordable housing.

They especially overshadowed the veterans' message, which has wide and deep resonance among the American people.

They also overshadowed the struggle waged for the right to protest, for free speech and assembly, and the fight against Mayor Rahm Emanuel's "Sit Down and Shut Up" ordinances.

These experiences provide important tactical lessons for the peace and justice and Occupy movements to reflect on, especially for the many young, deeply committed activists who possess a fervent hatred of capitalism, gross inequality and injustice, and who are gaining valuable experiences in this upsurge.

Among the Occupy (and earlier anti-globalization) movements, a problematic trend has developed. That trend has a political expression, which sees confrontation with police, vandalism and hyper-aggressive tactics as its central tenets.

This trend usually manifests itself in the self-proclaimed "Black Bloc." Its tactics here at the NATO protests, which included bullying peaceful protesters, alienated the overwhelming majority of us who marched.

Why can a small yet disruptive grouping wreak so much havoc on a majority peaceful movement? Because there is a trend among the left that also sees confrontation with the police as a viable revolutionary and anti-capitalist tactic, and therefore accommodates groups like the Black Bloc in the name of "diversity of tactics."

It is said in the name of "inclusiveness" that those who profess confrontational tactics have a right to do so, that tactics of nonviolence and confrontation can co-exist in one movement.

Unfortunately, march organizers decided not to publicly renounce violence on the grounds of preserving unity. Instead they only spoke out against the violence the emanates from NATO and police.

Such tactics and talk may sound militant and even appear to be delivering a blow against capitalism. But, on the contrary, they play into the hands of the 1%.

Let's be real. In order to confront ruling class power, a broad-based unified, diverse and mobilized movement among wide sections of the American people is necessary. Tactics - from the forms of protest to the kinds of demands and slogans - play a major part in mobilizing, unifying and winning over broad sections of the public.

The American people understand the use of nonviolent civil disobedience in pursuit of a great cause and high moral purpose. It is an indelible part of our multi-racial, working-class history of struggle.

But they are equally turned off when violence is perpetrated or advocated by those who profess change.

Such tactics do nothing to expand the coalition or build the movement for immediate or long-term change.

They do damage by feeding into ruling class crackdowns, including anti-democratic laws and statutes.

It was the specter of violence that Chicago Mayor Emanuel used effectively to gain passage of restrictions on First Amendment rights.

Certainly, there should be no illusions about the role of the police as an institution, let alone the history of brutality of the Chicago Police Department.

But neither should one ignore how ruling circles and authorities have exploited a permissive attitude toward violence to infiltrate and entrap, to provoke violent acts that split groups or narrow movements, driving away the broader political allies needed for victory.

Such tactics ultimately spell doom for any movement. The upsurge of the 1960s is replete with examples including the destruction of groups and tragic death of many young activists like Black Panther Fred Hampton.

The most powerful mass movements effecting historic change have been based on nonviolent civil disobedience: the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King; the anti-Vietnam War movement; the U.S. anti-apartheid struggle and the organization of industrial unions, to name a few.

More recently, nonviolent civil disobedience has effectively won public support for workers and immigrant rights and saving the environment. It forced the racist murder of Trayvon Martin into the national spotlight.

The aim of any tactic must be to build a majority movement of the most powerful class and social forces capable of winning. The value of a tactic can be determined in how well it achieves this.

Any tolerance for violence, provocation or confrontation is a political dead end.

X-Men presents comics’ first interracial gay wedding

Blake Deppe — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:45:00 -0400

The pages of Marvel Comics' Astonishing X-Men will feature the first interracial gay superhero wedding, when issue #51 of the beloved comic series hits stores June 20. It will feature the comics' first openly gay hero, Northstar, marrying his longtime boyfriend.

The Canadian mutant hero (a.k.a. Jean-Paul Beaubier) has recently acquired a small fanbase within the LGBT community. He will marry African-American Kyle Jinadu. Northstar was revealed to be a gay character way back in 1992, becoming the first Marvel hero to be recognized as such. That was a big deal for comics everywhere at that time. This new development seems to be the next logical step forward in Marvel's increasingly diverse, pro-equality lineup of stories and characters.

Astonishing X-Men #50, which hit shelves May 23, was the issue in which Northstar proposed to his boyfriend.

Thor Parker, a worker at Midtown Comics in New York's Times Square, said that the issue and the one to come are sure to be hits. "You're seeing people come in and ask for a comic by name and number, which usually only happens when something big is going on." Parker, who is the store's events director and social marketer, added that, in celebration, their store is actively seeking out same-sex couples who want to have an in-store wedding on the day of the upcoming comic's release.

In recent years, comics have taken an immense step forward in terms of promoting racial and gender equality. In 2010, the classic Archie comics added a gay character to its roster. And DC Comics has, for a while, had a lesbian superhero - Batwoman. DC also recently announced that one of its iconic characters would soon come out of the closet as part of a series reboot and a representation of the new direction the comic company is headed with some of its characters.

Meanwhile, the new alter ego of Spider-Man in Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man comics is half-Hispanic, half-African American. And DC's new Batwing series features an African Batman fighting police corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Clearly, comics are moving in a progressive direction, and at a rate which readers have never before seen.

Herndon Graddick, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, commented, "When a major comic publisher like Marvel not only includes, but publicly celebrates the legal wedding of two of its gay characters, it reflects how supporting same-sex couples has become the new normal. Readers expect to see their realities portrayed in these fictional worlds, and today that includes married gay and lesbian couples."

Cartoonist Tom Batiuk, who is introducing a gay couple who attend their high school prom in a comic strip he writes, commented on how comics' acceptance of LGBT characters coincides with today's youth embracing equality in the real world. "As I sit in on the classes in my old high school," he said, "I see how the younger generation's attitude toward gays is more open and accepting than that of their predecessors."

X-Men titles in particular have always been known for being incredibly bold in depicting racial/gender equality. All races have been heavily represented amongst the main X-Men team (take African female superhero, Storm, or Asian-American member Jubilee, for instance). There have also been Jewish X-Men, bisexual X-Men (like character Mystique), and even communist X-Men.

What is especially fitting and poetic about that is that the "anti-mutant propaganda" that occurs in the world of the X-Men (in which some normal humans fear mutants, and conservative politicians try and introduce anti-mutant legislation) has always served as a metaphor for real world prejudice. Thus, there are few better vehicles to express the need for equality than X-Men.

"The Marvel Universe has always reflected the world outside your window," said Marvel editor in-chief Axel Alonso. "We strive to make sure that our characters, relationships, and stories are grounded in reality."

In a continuing effort to create well-crafted, realistic stories, the upcoming issue will reportedly not turn a blind eye to the controversy surrounding gay marriage, and will examine homophobia by including some characters who do not approve of Northstar's orientation or his choice to get married.

"At least one of Northstar's team members is going to turn down the invitation," said Alonso, "and that's going to make for an interesting dynamic."

Marjorie Liu, the current writer for Astonishing X-Men, commented, "Here are two people trying to live their lives - one mutant and gay, one Black and gay - empowered in their own ways, but also fringe-dwellers. And they're making it happen. They're living life on their own terms. It doesn't matter that it's a superhero comic, the message is: You can do the same thing."

Liu said the wedding would take place in New York's Central Park, where gay marriage is legal. However, she teased, this is still a superhero wedding, and the appearance of some kind of world-threatening trouble is always possible.

"As for the ceremony," she said, "Well, what wedding ever goes off without a hitch?"

Photo: Marvel Official Site

Did Dharun Ravi verdict bring justice for Tyler Clementi?

Norman Markowitz — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:22:00 -0400

In September 2010, Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, where I have taught for 41 years, committed suicide. Soon it was discovered that Clementi, who was gay, had been harassed by his roommate, Dharun Ravi, who used a computer web camera to both film and send to other students Clementi's sexual liaison with an older man.

As a member of the Rutgers Faculty Senate I called for a policy of expelling students who commit such acts against fellow students, faculty, or staff members. The response of the administration was to do nothing and wait for the incident to blow over. Quietly, the administration did enact a few mild dormitory reforms, permitting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) students to opt out of difficult room situations, but it did little to address either the issue of homophobia or the most elemental right to privacy. The New Jersey state legislature responded with strong anti-bullying legislation.

Ravi refused to admit that his actions were motivated by anti-gay bigotry, claiming they were merely a prank. There was much disbelief of that claim in the Rutgers community.

At the same time, Ravi apparently feared taking the plea bargain offered him (a guilty plea and no jail time) because he would be subject to deportation, which some people felt was unfair. Ravi, who is from India, is a member of a U.S. minority group which has faced hate crimes and violence in New Jersey.
Ravi was subsequently tried and convicted. Potentially, he faced up to 10 years in prison. Most observers believed that a prison sentence was necessary under New Jersey law, but some felt that sending him to prison would only enhance the tragedy.

This week the sentence was handed down: 30 days in jail, plus community service and an $11,000 fine. Gay activists and others across the political spectrum expressed anger because of the perceived trivial nature of the sentence.

Rutgers students were not on campus when the sentence was announced. However, the outgoing university administration, busy with its refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement with part-time lecturers (the most vulnerable group of faculty members), said nothing.

How can we make sense of this tragic and complicated case? Conservatives, broadly defined, usually believe in punishment as the solution to bad actions, although they are selective about who is to be punished. Progressives, broadly defined, usually believe that punishment in itself without rehabilitation leads to further bad acts.

In this case, punishment, given the New Jersey hate crime law, was clearly merited. One can say that the mild sentence in itself undermines the purpose and effectiveness of the statute. But treatment and rehabilitation for Ravi, as an individual, and prevention of such acts should be the primary responsibility of government.

His actions led directly to the death of Clementi and he needed to atone for his crime. Ravi should not have had to fear deportation for his plea bargain. But he should, as part of any plea bargain or trial sentencing, have been made to admit and understand why he did what he did.

For example, he could have been ordered to work with both gay rights activists and public officials to help high school and college students understand why the targeting of gay men and lesbians for intimidation and humiliation violates elemental human rights. In effect, he should have been given the choice of becoming a spokesman against homophobia.

If he refused to engage in that course of conduct, then he should have been given a major prison sentence under the law. That would have constituted justice for Tyler Clementi.

As for the outgoing Rutgers University administration, which for years has engaged in self-congratulations about the diversity of its student body, it is too late now to use this tragedy to develop a required course of anti-discrimination education for all incoming students, and too late for it to confront the consequences of its policies.

High tuition costs, threats from financial loan services, poor conditions in dormitories and classrooms - these are the subtext for undergraduate students' lives at Rutgers today.

These policies, which are the national trend in public universities, follow the example of private corporations and contribute to the anti-social acts that a small number commit.

I will recommend such a required course next year in the Rutgers University Faculty Senate. Hopefully, the incoming administration will be open to such ideas and listen seriously to the undergraduate students whose education, both professional and citizenship, is the foundation and future of Rutgers University and all U.S. public universities.

Photo: Dharun Ravi arrives at court for his sentencing hearing in New Brunswick, N.J., May 21. (AP/Mel Evans)

Florida’s Orange County OKs domestic partnerships

Ben Markeson — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:11:00 -0400

ORLANDO, Fla. - Orange County, Fla., home of Walt Disney World, became the second county in Central Florida to pass a domestic partnership ordinance May 22. That day would have been the 82nd birthday of LGBTQ rights pioneer Harvey Milk.

The county commission passed the Health, Education, and Life Protections and Domestic Partnership Registry ordinance by a 6-1 vote. The measure, which goes into effect July 6, will allow unmarried individuals to gain legal recognition and some legal rights for their relationships.

"I'm really excited that two years of work came to fruition today," said Joe Saunders, state field director of Equality Florida, which along with the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee (OADO) spearheaded the campaign for passage.

Provisions that allowed punitive damages and attorney's fees to be awarded to those who won lawsuits brought for ordinance violations came under fire from commissioners. They voted to strike the punitive damages, citing the potential expense to county government if its agencies were sued, and the fact that only plaintiffs' attorneys would have been awarded fees if they prevailed.

"Removing the punitive damages makes it a little bit weaker than it could have been, but it's still a powerful law that's going to help a lot of people," said Saunders.

Commissioners, in response to activists' concerns, also added "Domestic Partnership Registry" to the ordinance title in order to clarify that it, in effect, creates domestic partnerships although it uses the terms "designating person" and "support person" in place of "domestic partner."

Orlando and Orange County will now give those who are registered identical rights: health-care facility and jail visitations, and the ability to make emergency medical, funeral and burial decisions for each other and to designate each other as a pre-need guardian, and to participate in making decisions about the education of minor children in the household. Notification of partners is also required in emergencies.

Around 20 people spoke in favor of the measure with only three speakers expressing opposition. Many audience members wore red to signify their support.

Orlando civil rights attorney Mary Meeks, of OADO, said the measure would benefit more than 100,000 Orange County residents in unmarried partnerships.

Meeks told commissioners about two friends who "literally went through living hell" when one of them became seriously ill and then died.

"Although they had the recommended legal documents [to try to establish their rights as partners], they did not have the rights you are granting here today," said Meeks.

"It was heartbreaking to witness what they went through, and this ordinance will prevent future tragedies," she said.

Vicki Nantz made a documentary about Ryan Skipper, a 25-year-old Florida man who died in 2007 after being stabbed 19 times. His murderers, two unemployed methamphetamine addicts with criminal pasts, targeted him simply because he was gay.

"Our culture was complicit in Ryan's murder because it taught his killers that Ryan's life was less valuable than theirs. That he was less deserving of respect, dignity, equality and life itself," said Nantz.

She said passage of the ordinance would tell the world that the county doesn't condone discrimination or exclusion. (Article continues below video)

The Rev. Brad Rice, a minister at Orlando's Joy Metropolitan Community Church, said his faith tradition calls for compassion and fairness for all families.

Rice, who wore a red T-shirt emblazoned with "Would Jesus Discriminate?," spoke about a man from a neighboring county who was counseled by the church after the death of his longtime partner. The lack of legal rights for unmarried partners allowed the dead man's biological family to bar the surviving partner from assisting with or attending his memorial service.

"To add insult to injury, the volunteer chaplain sent by rescue personnel told this hurting and grieving widow that his partner was already in hell, and that he would be going there, too," said Rice.

"We need for all families, no matter how they're configured, to be recognized legally, so that in times of crisis pain is not added to pain," he said.

Orlando's registry has become a model for other local governments around the state, according to Equality Florida. Tampa, Gulfport, Volusia County, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota, Pinellas County and Belle Isle now have or may adopt similar measures. Volusia became the first Central Florida county to do so on May 17.

Photo via Equality Florida.

Asia’s mad arms race

Conn Hallinan — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:49:00 -0400

Asia is currently in the middle of an unprecedented arms race that is not only sharpening tensions in the region, but competing with efforts by Asian countries to address poverty and growing economic disparity. The gap between rich and poor-calculated by the Gini coefficient that measures inequality-has increased from 39 percent to 46 percent in China, India, and Indonesia. While affluent households continue to garner larger and larger portions of the economic pie, "Children born to poor families can be 10 times more likely to die in infancy" than those from wealthy families, according to Changyong Rhee, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank.

This inequality trend is particularly acute in India, where life expectancy is low, infant mortality high, education spotty, and illiteracy widespread, in spite of that country's status as the third largest economy in Asia, behind China and Japan. According to an independent charity, the Naandi Foundation, some 42 percent of India's children are malnourished. Bangladesh, a far poorer country, does considerably better in all these areas.

And yet last year India was the world's leading arms purchaser, including a deal that will spend $20 billion dollars on high performance French fighter planes. India is also developing a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, and buying submarines and surface craft. Its military budget is set to rise 17 percent this year to $42 billion.

"It is ridiculous. We are getting into a useless arms race at the expense of fulfilling the needs of poor people," Praful Bidwai of the Coalition of Nuclear Disarmament and Peace told the New York Times.

China, too, is in the middle of an arms boom that includes beefing up its navy, constructing a new generation of stealth aircraft, and developing a ballistic missile that is potentially capable of neutralizing U.S. carriers near its coast. Beijing's arms budget has grown at a rate of some 12 percent a year and, at $106.41 billion, is now the second largest on the planet. The U.S. budget-not counting the various wars Washington is embroiled in-runs a little over $800 billion, although some have estimated that it is over $1 trillion.

While China has made enormous strides in overcoming poverty, there are some 250 million Chinese officially still considered poor, and the country's formerly red-hot economy is cooling. "Data on April spending and output put another nail into hopes that China's economy is bottoming out," Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics told the Financial Times.

The same is true for most of Asia. For instance, India's annual economic growth rate has fallen from 9 percent to 6.1 percent over the past two and a half years.

Tensions between China and other nations in the region have set off a local arms race. Taiwan is buying four U.S.-made Perry-class guided missile frigates, and Japan has shifted much of its military from its northern islands to face southward toward China.

The Philippines are spending almost $1 billion on new aircraft and radar, and recently held joint war games with the U.S. South Korea has just successfully tested a long-range cruise missile. Washington is reviving ties with Indonesia's brutal military because the island nation controls the strategic seaways through which pass most of the region's trade and energy supplies.

Australia is also re-orientating its defense to face China, and Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith has urged "that India play the role it could and should as an emerging great power in the security and stability of the region."

But that "role" is by no means clear, and some have read Smith's statement as an attempt to rope New Delhi into a united front against Beijing. The recent test of India's Agni V nuclear-capable ballistic missile is largely seen as directed at China.

India and China fought a brief but nasty border war in 1962, and India claims China is currently occupying some 15,000 square miles in Indian territory. The Chinese, in turn, claim almost 40,000 square miles of the Indian state of Arunachai Pradesh. While Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says that "overall our relations [with China] are quite good," he also admits "the border problem is a long-standing problem."

India and China also had a short dust up last year when a Chinese warship demanded that the Indian amphibious assault vessel Airavat identify itself shortly after the ship left the port of Hanoi, Vietnam. Nothing came of the incident but Indian President Pratibha Patil has since stressed the need for "maritime security," and "the protection of our coasts, our 'sea lines of communications' and the offshore development areas."

China's forceful stance in the South China Sea has stirred up tensions with Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, and Malaysia as well. A standoff this past April between a Philippine war ship and several Chinese surveillance ships at Scarborough Shoal is still on a low simmer.

China's more assertive posture in the region stems largely from the 1995-96 Taiwan Straits crisis that saw two U.S. carriers humiliate Beijing in its home waters. There was little serious danger of war during the crisis-China does not have the capability to invade Taiwan-but the Clinton Administration took the opportunity to demonstrate U.S. naval power. China's naval build-up dates from that incident.

The recent "pivot" by Obama administration toward Asia, including a military buildup on Wake and Guam and the deployment of 2,500 Marines in Australia, has heightened tensions in the region, and Beijing's heavy-handedness in the South China Sea has given Washington an opening to insert itself into the dispute.

China is prickly about its home waters-one can hardly blame it, given the history of the past 100 years-but there is no evidence that it is expansionist. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in February "No country, including China, has claimed sovereignty over the entire South China Sea." Nor does Beijing seem eager to use military force. Beijing has drawn some lessons from its disastrous 1979 invasion of Vietnam.

On the other hand, Beijing is seriously concerned about who controls the region's seas, in part because some 80 percent of China's energy supplies pass through maritime choke points controlled by the U.S. and its allies.

The tensions in Asia are real, if not as sharp or deep as they have been portrayed in the U.S. media. China and India do, indeed, have border "problems," but China also describes New Delhi as "not competitors but partners," and has even offered an alliance to keep "foreign powers"-read the U.S. and NATO-from meddling in the region.

The real question is, can Asia embark on an arms race without increasing the growing gulf between rich and poor and the resulting political instability that is likely to follow in its wake? "Widening inequality threatens the sustainability of Asian growth," says Asian Development Bank economist Rhee. "A divided and unequal nation cannot prosper."

More than half a century ago former General and President Dwight Eisenhower noted that "Every gun that is made, every warship that is launched, every rocket fired signifies...a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed...this is not a way of life at all...it is humanity hanging from an iron cross."

Americans have ignored Eisenhower's warning. Asian nations would do well to pay attention.

This article originally appeared in Dispatches from the Edge. Photo by Samuelraj - Professional Photographer // CC 2.0

Coalition asks members to lobby for Paycheck Fairness Act

Mark Gruenberg — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:08:00 -0400

WASHINGTON - A wide alliance of women's rights, civil rights, community, and activist groups, including the Coalition of Labor Union Women, opened a campaign on May 23 to get their members nationwide to call their senators and lobby in the next few weeks for an equal pay for equal work law, the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The drive kicked off when Senate Democrats, led by Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. - a feisty former social worker who's also the longest-serving woman ever in Congress - announced that Senate leaders promised them a vote on the legislation the week of June 4, after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.

The catch: The Paycheck Fairness Act needs the usual 60 Senate votes to overcome a prospective GOP filibuster. When it last came up, in the Dec. 2010 lame-duck session of a Senate with more Democrats than this one, it fell five senators short.

Mikulski explained the first equal pay law passed 49 years ago this month, when women earned 59 cents for every dollar a man earned. Now it's 77 cents. "Forty-nine years is enough," she declared.

Hence, the call by Mikulski and her colleagues, to have constituents contact their senators - especially the Republicans. The Senate has 51 Democrats, two Democratic-leaning independents, and 47 Republicans, one of whom is recovering from a stroke and can't vote. No Republican senators of either sex were at the press conference.

Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Al Franken, D-Minn., joined their female colleagues.

The bill is also a political problem for the GOP. "We're saying that this vote will show you're either for equal pay or you're not," Mikulski declared. She said voting for Paycheck Fairness would give Republicans a chance to "walk back" from what another senator, Washington's Patty Murray, called a long list of schemes in a "war on women."

The Paycheck Fairness Act has been marooned in the House for more than a decade, too. Its key provisions include outlawing employer bans on workers asking about pay, heavy fines, and triple damages for pay discrimination, and curbs on the excuses employers now legally use to justify unequal pay for equal work by equally qualified male and female workers.

The American Association of University Women, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Partnership for Women and Families and the National Women's Law Center organized the community-labor-civil rights-womens rights alliance for the bill. It includes CLUW, said Executive Director Carol Rosenblatt, who attended.

Photo via CLUW website.

The new health care law and you – Ask a doc!

Rachel DeGolia — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:49:00 -0400

CLEVELAND - A group of physicians here has formed a speakers bureau dubbed, "The New Healthcare Law and You - Ask a Doc!" With the help of staff from the Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN), the doctors began fanning out across the region this spring speaking to audiences of all kinds to inform people about the changes under way and new benefits from national health reform.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), referred to by some as "Obamacare," is being implemented over several years. Although the law was enacted in March 2010 and millions of people are already experiencing some of the benefits, most people are either unaware or misinformed as to its actual provisions.

At a recent meeting of AFSCME retirees, Drs. Rochele and Nathan Beachy, husband-and-wife family practitioners, shared their view of how the ACA is a big step toward transforming "our sick care system to a health care system." They described their personal "health care horror story" about their son who developed a brain tumor in his teens and who is now able to be on their insurance policy until age 26, thanks to the ACA.

The Beachys described the positive changes the ACA is bringing about in "care, costs and quality." They said, "No one should die for lack of insurance, no one should go bankrupt for getting sick, and payments will be tied to actual improvements in health."

Attendees at the AFSCME meeting were especially interested in learning about the 24 preventive services now available with no co-pay for Medicare beneficiaries under the ACA. They were very glad to get a checklist of these services, downloaded from www.healthcare.gov, so they could make sure their insurance companies and doctors abided by these new consumer protections that are also helping keep people healthy.

Photo: Bernard Pollack // CC 2.0

CWA president: We need mass movement to fix this mess

Mark Gruenberg — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:04:00 -0400

WASHINGTON (PAI) - The U.S. will stay mired in an "economy mess" of low growth, low-paying jobs, rising income inequality and worse unless it fixes its political processes, Communications Workers President Larry Cohen says.

"We won't fix the economy mess unless we fix the democracy mess," he stated in opening a May 22 discussion about how to create more jobs, and especially more jobs that pay well.

Cohen's remarks were seconded by Leo Hindery, a consultant heading his own firm, InterMedia Partners. The two spoke at the Center for National Policy in the second in its series of the national security implications of continuing high joblessness. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka opened the series several weeks ago.

Cohen and Hindery both identified ways to create, or save, high-paying jobs. Cohen's key point is that "you have to create demand" and the way to do that is to pay people good wages to make things. That's a constant theme of the entire union movement, he said. Other progressive groups have sometimes joined in, he added.

Ways to do so, they said, include investment in infrastructure, lessening the U.S. trade deficit, restoring the power of workers to organize and bargain collectively and increasing manufacturing's share of the workforce from its present 10% to at least double that.

But none of this will be accomplished without prior political reform, Cohen said, citing a graphic he distributed showing both CWA's goals and the lesser Obama administration goals for creating jobs. Both must clamber over a high political wall, he added.

Repeating points he has made frequently, Cohen said there are four ways to knock down that wall:

One is campaign finance reform to overcome the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, which opened politics to a cascade of corporate cash.

"Each presidential nominee, Obama and Romney, will spend over $1 billion. A Senate race costs north of $20 million, and a House race costs $5 million. Even a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates costs $250,000," Cohen said. Workers can't compete with such sums, while corporations and the rich provide them.

"We need not just an election, but a mass movement to change this," he stated.

The second is internal reform of the U.S. Senate, and particularly of its filibusters. Curbing the filibuster has been a Cohen and CWA cause for several years, with the Steelworkers also helping to lead that crusade.

Cohen told the group filibuster rules must be changed to reserve the talkathon - and the 60-vote threshold to shut it off - only for the most important issues, just as occurred during historic debates in the 1960s over civil rights. Like then, Cohen said, senators who want to try to talk a bill to death must physically and constantly stay in the Senate chamber to do so. USW President Leo Gerard has also made that point, declaring, "haul in the beds" for such marathons.

Right now, instead, "400 pieces of legislation" passed the Democratic-run 111^th Congress in 2009-2010 and disappeared to due to filibusters, Cohen said. Much of that was pro-worker and would have helped the economy, too, Cohen added.

Hindery jumped in to make the point that one of those bills - which he too says must pass - was the Employee Free Choice Act, to help level the playing field between workers and bosses in union organizing and in bargaining first contracts. Hindery called it the best economic revival measure Congress could have enacted. Actually, the GOP filibuster threat prevented EFCA from ever reaching the Senate floor and the House didn't bother approving it in 2009-10. They knew it would be a useless exercise.

The third major change Cohen advocated is comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to legalize undocumented workers. "When my great grandparents entered this country, was there a requirement to become a citizen? No. They came, and they were," he said.

The final change is expansion, not contraction, of voting rights. Forces fighting for contraction, Cohen reiterated, "are all orchestrated" and do so deliberately to deprive specific groups - minorities, college students and the elderly - of the right to vote.

Without those political changes, the two said, legislation to revive the economy, particularly through infrastructure, advanced job training and creating new factory jobs, will not get off the ground. And income inequality will continue to grow, they warned.

Hindery said that the answers to the economic mess from both the GOP and the Obama administration are inadequate. That's because both, he said, view the stuttering recovery as part of a normal business cycle - "and it's not."

Not only is the U.S. economy "broken" and leaving millions of more people behind, Cohen warned, but the U.S. "cannot depend on a deus ex machina - an outside force" to ride to the rescue. "Europe is more broken than we are," and China and Latin America cannot help, either, he warned.

Photo: Larry Cohen. Teresa Albano/PW

Activists abuzz over Bayer’s bee killing

Blake Deppe — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:40:00 -0400

Pharmaceutical corporation Bayer's pesticides has been a huge contributor to the decline of the bee population, and on May 16, some 90+ activists gathered in San Pablo Park in West Berkeley, California, near where one of the Bayer facilities was located, to protest the company's insect-killing. Many of the demonstrators were dressed up as bees.

The goal of what was called the "Bee-in at Bayer" was to draw attention to the fact that Bayer's chemicals are directly linked to Colony Collapse Disorder - the syndrome that leaves once-full bee hives empty and devoid of life.

"All we're saying is, 'give bees a chance'!" declared one protester. "Bees for our nation, not your corporation!" cried another. And yet another demonstrator held a sign that read, "Honk if You Like Bees." Many passersby did, indeed, honk. In fact, the protest reportedly received an enthusiastic and appreciative response. Finally, some of the activists also outlined the oft-ignored fact that Bayer once played a role as a chemical weapons manufacturer for Nazi Germany.

"Ninety percent of our food crops are pollinated by bees," noted a leaflet handed out by the organizers. "Our entire ecological system depends on them."

Many beekeepers attended the demonstration, including Kathryn Gilje, co-director of the Pesticide Action Network, an international grassroots coalition fighting for environmentally sound alternatives to pesticide. She commented that while, in the hive in her backyard, "the bees are doing just great; producing lots of honey," not all are so fortunate:

Another bee host said that her community of backyard bees slowly started to dwindle in numbers, and as she researched the situation, she realized that the culprits were two pesticides (Imidacloprid and Clothianidin), which are currently some of Bayer's best-selling products.

According to the Coalition Against Bayer network, one third of honeybees in the U.S. continue to die off per year.

And although Bayer promised to suspend production of Class 1 chemicals that immediately threaten human health, it has neither said nor done anything about the ones that affect insects, plants, and animals.

The activists eventually made a "beeline" for the nearby Bayer plant, where they were instructed to "swarm!" When no one working at the plant offered to meet with, talk, or listen to the protesters, a few organizers delivered a speech, culminating in the group symbolically presenting Bayer with the sarcastic 'Poisoned Heart Award.' That award was little more than a giant, lumpy sack dripping with a thick coating of Hershey's chocolate sauce.

In conclusion, the demonstrators dressed in yellow-and-black bee attire really drove the point home by shaking, stumbling, and collapsing onto the ground. "But I don't want to die!" cried a female would-be bee as she went down. "My honey!" cried another. "I haven't finished making my honey!"

Finally, if that hadn't been clear enough, two protesters raised a banner with a simple message: "Mystery Solved! Bayer is Killing Bees."

Photo: The Coalition Against Bayer Network.

Immigrant rights activists say keep families together

John Rummel — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:32:00 -0400

DETROIT - Pressure is growing on immigration authorities to release Gustavo Vargas.

Vargas, the father of four U.S. citizen children, has led a crime free life but now sits in a Monroe County jail. In his 23 years in the U.S., his only brush with law enforcement has been his immigration status.

"The Vargas family shows how desperately we need immigration reform now. Gustavo is a small business owner, he employs people, he's not stealing anyone's job, he's creating jobs" declared Chris Michalakis, President of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO.

Michalakis made his appeal Friday while speaking at an Alliance for Immigration Reform (AIR) rally outside the Detroit offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Immigrant rights activists are demanding the Department of Homeland Security stick to its professed priorities of only deporting dangerous criminals and focus on people who pose a safety risk.

Vargas is an active member of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Southwest Detroit, where his wife Rogelia serves as a deacon. Petitions and letters demanding his release have been signed by congregants and community supporters and were given to ICE officials at the rally.

Mary Turner, who works in the office of State Representative Rashida Tlaib, D - Mich., told the crowd "we need more people like Mr. Vargas. He's paying taxes to the city of Detroit that so desperately needs money."

She worried what will happen to the family left behind as his wife and children will have to fend for themselves, possibly forced to go on welfare. "Does it make any sense?" she asked.

Turner spoke from the experience of her own family who also were once "immigrants without documentation." Many years previously, her father came north from Mexico following the footsteps of his great grandfather.

In contrast to today, her father was welcomed by immigration authorities when they arrived in Detroit and her parents and siblings all made many contributions to the new community that became their home.

"I hate the word illegal, nobody is illegal," she added.

Rogelia Vargas, Gustavo's wife, thanked AIR, the churches, and the labor unions for working to keep families united. "We are learning to get together to tell our stories, to not fear. We will continue to struggle until we win," she said.

Michalakis called on Congress and President Obama's administration to do more to keep families like the Vargas's together saying, "We cannot deport our way to prosperity."

Photo: Senator Coleman Young Jr., father of Leo Reilly of St. Anne's Church, AIR organizer Roxanne Rodriguez, President of the Detroit AFL-CIO Christos Michalakis, and Rogelia Vargas (with son) spouse to Gustavo. Alliance for Immigration Reform

In the “other Chicago,” mental health patients out of options

Blake Deppe — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:11:00 -0400

CHICAGO - This past weekend, millions gathered in the Windy City for the NATO summit. But over in the "other Chicago" - the inner city, Latino and African American-majority neighborhoods, people are suffering. People's World toured the Back of the Yards community, where a mental health clinic was recently shut down, and got a very different picture of reality than the one tourists saw downtown.

N'dana Carter, organizer with South Side Together Organized for Power, underscored the severity of the issue, in which Mayor Rahm Emanuel decided to move forward with the termination of six out of 12 of the city's mental health clinics.

"We've had 18 people from [the Back of the Yards facility] hospitalized since it closed," Carter explained. "They've had anxiety; fear; attempted suicide. The [city's] decision has been to ignore the needs of the people."

To add insult to injury, the shutdown of a half-dozen clinics came while the city raised more than $36 million for the NATO conference. $14 million of that paid for wine and caviar parties for diplomats and heads of state. "It would take ony 2.3 million of that to fund the clinics for one year," said Margaret Sullivan, who overcame suicidal depression under the care of another clinic in Chicago's Beverly/Morgan Park area. "They say there's no money, but look how they found $36.5 million for this summit so quick."

Gesturing at the needy Back of the Yards community, Carter remarked, "This clinic was the heartbeat of this community. And many of the people there were undocumented. The city has chosen to sweep all this under the rug."

So, she said, now patients are forced to see private therapists, while those who worked at the clinics are now out of jobs. "They fired all the Black male therapists, and half of the Hispanic male therapists. Many of them had no other jobs to take, and went on to work at kennels, euthanizing animals." In the meantime, "A lot of private providers are closing. It's important that public health services stay public."

Indeed, Debbie Delgado, a woman whose son was shot to death in street violence in Nov. 2006, had been receiving therapy sessions to deal with her resultant depression. Her two sons had been shot, she said, and her older one (21), died in the arms of his younger brother (19), who survived the attack.

Now, she said, her youngest son is slipping away too, and the news that the clinic was closing had come as a blow to him. "He refuses to take medication now," she stressed. "He doesn't want to be in society. He wants to be with his brother. With the closing of these clinics, people are losing hope.

"When I found out how much money goes to wars and just for this summit, I got so upset. We have nowhere else to go."

Another patient, Marti Luckett, said, "14 years ago, I had a mental breakdown. I was alone, and I felt that I had nowhere to turn." But this clinic, she said, was a place in which she got better. She declared that the city ought to "be practical: It only makes sense to have these facilities available to the people who need them."

One patient, who had been suicidal, actually took a turn for the better in her health after she got involved in the fight to maintain mental health care services. "When I realized that with the cuts the city was trying to kill me," she said, "I decided to stay alive just for spite."

The tour through the neighborhood was headed up by the Grassroots Collaborative coalition, whose member Amisha Patel said, "Long after NATO is done, there will still be struggle. That's the reality of the situation. Community residents have a voice, too, and it should be listened to.

"But there's a disconnect between the priorities of local folks and those at the top."

"There are a lot of patients right now," said Delgado, "who are slowly dying. We only ask for $2.3 million to keep six clinics open, but the city would rather spend it on wining and dining, and planting flower boxes downtown." Meanwhile, she concluded, "Our community is dying."

Photo: Debbie Delgado talks with reporters about the wrongs being done to former patients of the shut down clinics, who need help. Blake Deppe/PW

Wisconsin Walker recall battle close to dead heat

Mark Gruenberg — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:06:00 -0400

MILWAUKEE (PAI) - With fewer than two weeks to go in the nationally watched recall campaign against right-wing Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker, polls show a near dead heat in the bitter battle pitting labor's legions against Walker's millions.

On one side in the June 5 election is the governor, who spearheaded the national right-wing drive against workers by eagerly jamming through legislation killing collective bargaining rights for 200,000 state and local workers. He's backed by at least $25 million in cash for campaign ads, most of it raised from right-wing and big business ideologues from outside the state. The national GOP threw in $6 million more.

On the other side are the state's unions and their allies. They're upset not just at losing their rights, but also at Walker's tax cuts for the rich, his anti-woman laws, such as killing women's right to sue against pay discrimination on the job, scandals surrounding his aides and his deep cuts to state aid to local schools. And they remind voters that Walker bragged he would bring jobs to Wisconsin, but his policies have pushed the Badger State into leading the nation in job losses.

"Whether you're a Wisconsinite or not, the stakes are too high to sit this election out," Wisconsin AFSCME member Clyde Weiss wrote in a recent blog. "Walker is the poster boy for the anti-union attacks we have faced from coast to coast and has already raised millions of dollars from some of the most anti-union people in the country, including billionaire right-wing extremist David Koch."

But the workers and their allies are have difficulties caused by lack of time to reach every voter. Additionally, Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, is short of campaign cash. He lost to Walker in Nov. 2010 and some unions did not support Barrett in the primary to choose a Walker foe. National Democrats have contributed little in money and nothing in manpower to Barrett's drive, leading to complaints from state Democrats.

Opinion polls vary. Greenberg Quinlan, a Democratic firm, gave Walker a 50%-47% lead, within the margin of error, but said Barrett led among independents, 50%-44%. A GOP-leaning pollster gave Walker a 9-point lead. An independent poll by Marquette University Law School puts Walker up by six. An internal state Democratic tally says Walker and Barrett are in a flat tie. Walker's approval rating is below 50%.

All that has prompted unionists, who are leading the "Reclaim Wisconsin!" recall drive, to campaign even harder, not just for Barrett, but also for his running mate, lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Mahlon Mitchell, president of the state's Fire Fighters Association. He faces Walker's lieutenant governor, whom the petitioners also recalled.

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO had one phone bank running full-time in Milwaukee and opened a second there the week of May 21. AFSCME is distributing a "We Are Wisconsin!" film and videos of rank-and-file workers discussing what the election and Walker's agenda means to them and their neighbors.

IAFF is out campaigning for its leader. Other unions marshaled low-income state janitors and nurses who lost rights.

The state labor federation also came up with an online "Friends and Neighbors" video tool of its own. Besides the positive message it carries about restoring Wisconsin's history of civility and workers' rights, it also has a clip of Walker saying how he was going to use ugly "divide and conquer" tactics to win the recall race.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee custodian Mark Bussian told the city's labor council - while volunteering a second time - that, "I'm out here to recall Walker because he took away our collective bargaining rights. It is clear that Walker is very much out for himself. He does not care about the needs of the people of Wisconsin."

And Chris Czubakowski, a Postal Workers Local 3 member from Wauwatosa, told the state fed the Walker recall is "a fight to protect middle class workers." That's a theme state AFL-CIOs, national unions and the national AFL-CIO are using on the campaign trail this year to stand up and fight back against GOP-Right Wing-big business policies being pushed everywhere from Congress to City Hall.

"I could go on for hours with people I call about why we need to recall Walker," said Czubakowski. "But since everyone has busy lives I usually stick to talking about Walker's attacks on workers, his attacks on the next generation with his cuts to education and how recalling Walker is about preserving a strong middle class for Wisconsin."

"Walker underestimated the historic opposition from you and hundreds of thousands of other Wisconsinites who worked together in unprecedented ways to stand up to his policies that have hurt working families and our communities," the state fed said. "It is going to be those same grassroots efforts of people like you talking to their friends and neighbors until Election Day that will show Walker he cannot divide and conquer us." Besides Walker and his #2, four GOP state senators also face Democratic foes in recall votes. The state senate, which had been GOP-run, is now a 16-16 tie.

Marty Beil, executive director of AFSCME Council 24 - one of several AFSCME councils representing state and local workers whom Walker stripped of their rights - downplayed pre-primary disagreement among unions between Barrett and other Democratic hopefuls. Unions united about backing IAFF's Mitchell for the state's number two post.

"The ultimate goal has always been to defeat Walker. The grassroots campaign we've built to counter Walker's millions from out-of-state billionaires will be working hard to help Barrett," Beil said.

Photo: Heading out to knock on doors. Wisconsin State AFL-CIO facebook page.

Massachusetts: job creation up, unemployment down

Dan Margolis — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:32:00 -0400

Massachusetts must be doing something right.

Perhaps the nation's most Democratic and liberal state, Massachusetts has experienced months of declining unemployment rates. The most recent data released by the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development shows that the Massachusetts unemployment rate declined again in April.

The seasonally adjusted rate was 6.3 percent. Just over a year ago, the figure was 7.5 percent, and the national figure stands at 8.1 percent.

Unemployment in Massachusetts has not been so low since before October 2008, when it was at 6.1 percent.

The administration of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, has focused on job creation, especially in the high tech and life sciences in sector.

"Massachusetts is leading the world in the life sciences thanks to our growth strategy of investing in education, innovation and infrastructure," Patrick said May 16 at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new facility. "I am proud of this investment and I look forward to seeing the Massachusetts Accelerator for Biomanufacturing create jobs and further strengthen our leadership in the life sciences."

The MAB is described as the "only facility in the United States where startups will be able to test their biomanufacturing methods and bioproducts at every stage of development and access full-service support from business and marketing to pure science support - all under one roof. The MAB is designed to serve researchers and entrepreneurs as they develop products and methods that will reshape the fields of biotherapeutics, biomedicine and green chemistry."

The MAB, a new facility at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, is projected to create 120 construction jobs immediately and ten permanent jobs once it is built. Beyond that, the administrations hopes it will "strengthen Massachusetts' standing as a world leader in the life sciences industry." In so doing, it is hoped, the MAB will attract more high-tech jobs to the area.

The state labor office released May 22 employment data for the city, town, and metropolitan levels. This information portrayed an increase in employment in most areas. Unemployment was down in each of the state's statistical employment areas except for one, Amherst.

The figures also showed that the decline in unemployment was not simply due only to people having given up searching for jobs and dropping out of the labor force The state's count of jobs is measured in twelve different areas, and 11 of them saw seasonal increases in jobs. Eight of these twelve regions saw an increase in jobs over the year ending in April.

More than 10,000 jobs were created in the Massachusetts section of the Boston metropolitan area alone. Other areas also saw big increases, including Worcester, Mass., where nearly 4,000 jobs were created.

Patrick supporters argue that the state's success in job creation has been strengthened by an administration that works in partnership with the federal government, especially the Obama administration. For example, money from the Obama stimulus program was used to build a highway off-ramp leading directly to the park.

Governor Patrick's popularity extends beyond Massachusetts. Touring the country in support of his friend President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, Patrick has drawn huge crowds, especially in the South.

Photo: Gov. Deval Patrick, right of red jacket, pitches in at MAB groundbreaking. Office of Governor Patrick // CC 2.0

Latina moms in Chicago: “We’re done crying!”

John Wojcik — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:18:00 -0400

CHICAGO - Except for one grandmother, the rest of the 20 or so women who patrol the streets around Davis Elementary School here every weekday are in their 20s and 30s.

Unlike the police, they earn no salary, carry no weapons and wear no bulletproof vests. But when members of the Latin Kings, the Disciples or Two-Six, the powerful street gangs whose territories converge where the Davis school is located, run into these women, the gang members back off.

They are a voluntary army of mothers who are determined that in a neighborhood where youth fall victim to gang violence almost every day, their children are going to get to and from school safely.

"My child will not be shot, and he is not going to die," said one of the volunteer moms who has a second grader at Davis.

"With most of the young people out of work, with the lack of jobs, the foreclosures - the gang violence around here is really going up," said Mariela Estrada who helped pull together not just the women protecting the area around Davis but a volunteer patrol throughout Brighton Park that now totals 150 women.

Asked why the patrollers were all women Estrada said, "the fathers have to work and they go out for some type of work even if they are officially out of a job.

"A ten-year-old was shot a few days ago, shot twice, and a month and a half ago it was a 15 year old shot right here outside Davis," said Estrada. "And for the last two days now, not a single police patrol has gone by. Our tax dollars are paying to protect NATO. The police have forgotten about us."

Estrada said the decision to join the moms' patrol was not easy for the young mothers or the one grandmother at Davis who are part of it. "It often means that only the father can work, provided he has a job, and economically times are so tough that you need everyone who can to be pulling in an income," she said.

Estrada led the way down the block to where the wall on a corner deli was sprayed with the graffiti signature of the gang Two-Six. The wall was a memorial marking the place and the date that a member of Two-Six had fallen dead in the area's ongoing street battles.

Around the corner she pointed to a "tagged," tree, into which a white cloth square had been hammered and onto the trunk of which some gang symbols had been spray-pained. "That 's a shrine to a gang member who died right there on the spot," she said.

"Young people dying all around us," she said, shaking her head, "because there are no jobs, because of poverty, injustice, foreclosures, lack of immigrant rights - but I'm done crying about it. Now I fight and that's why we have the patrol."

As she finished her sentence a member of the Two-Six gang pulled up on his bike, seemingly out of nowhere, demanding to know what was going on. She offered him the chance to be interviewed about one of the shrines painted by his group's members but he refused. "Tell them they better not take any photos and they better get out of my neighborhood," he told Estrada as he pulled away on his bike.

Two-Six is one of the largest street gangs in Chicago. Started some 30 years ago in the Little Village neighborhood, the gang has a long rivalry with another group, the Latin Kings.

Gangs operate in the shadows of their neighborhoods, doing a lucrative drug business, among other things, with the older people in charge of the gangs often taking advantage of the younger members through intimidation and fear.

The violence perpetrated against people in the neighborhoods where they operate is often totally senseless. Even youngsters killed accidentally in crossfire meant for another gang can become the cause of new spiraling violence as gangs play a game of one-upmanship to "make good" for that accidental killing in their territory.

"Young people without jobs often join because of the false expectation that they'll get rich and have power and for a feeling of wanting to belong," said Estrada.

"We took on this job even though it's the city's job," said Nancy Parazza, another of the guards patrolling closer to the school. "But we have a need at least for a little financing. We have the [uniform] vests that we wear only for 100 of us. The vests, at least are brightly colored so people in cars can see us. It would be nice if we could afford vests for all of us. When gang members see those vests they know to stay away, they know we mean to protect our kids."

"Where will the city get the money?'" she was asked.

"They are spending millions to protect NATO and with even a tiny bit of that we could do a heck of a lot to help our children keep safe and, if they were really serious, they'd put money in here to create some jobs for our older kids," Parazza answered.

"But for now, the kids feel safe when they see us," she said. "They come to us. And the gangs - well they see us and they know to stay away from our kids."

Asked how she feels about having to live in such a tough neighborhood, Parazza said, "I will never move. Family friends and neighbors here are gentle, warm and loving people. That's how my community is. We are a people who know how to pull together, how to support one another and how to love one another," she said as she continued on her late morning rounds as a protector of kids on the streets of Chicago.

Photo: Volunteer mom guuards pose for a picture in front of Davis elementary school. Blake Deppe/PW

VIDEO Depicted as gorilla, African American doctor sues UCLA for racism

ShamefulHonestTruth — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:11:00 -0400

A respected African American faculty surgeon filed a racial discrimination suit against the UCLA Medical Center and UC Regents. Dr. Christian Head has been intentionally degraded based on his race and UCLA officials have ignored blatant acts of racial discrimination, including an edited photo depicting Dr. Head as a gorilla being sodomized by his supervisor. That alone is offensive. But the fact that the photo was publicly presented for laughs during an annual medical school sponsored event attended by more than 200 physicians, faculty, residents and guests is both shocking and indefensible.

Hear what Dr. Head has endured and what UCLA officials continue ignore.

(You can sign the petition to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and tell him to end discrimination at UCLA and UCLA Medical Center.)

Cory Booker surrenders

Jarvis Tyner — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:10:00 -0400

Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., in his appearance on last Sunday's "Meet the Press," said he was nauseated by the attacks on private capital. He said Mitt Romney's firm, Bain Capital, "has done a lot of good." He added that he was sick of all the political attacks, "Stop the attacks on Jeremiah Wright and stop attacking Bain Capital," he demanded.

Frankly that comparison made me sick.

Everybody knows that the Republicans used Rev. Wright to stoke the fires of racism and division in order to try to defeat Obama in 2008. They are planning to open up a new attack campaign using the Wright issue for this year's election. I agree this racist manipulation of the voters should be stopped.

On the other hand, Booker knows that Romney is playing the race and class card when he says that because of his experience in the private sector he knows how to create jobs and Obama doesn't. This is Romney's core argument. This is why he thinks he should be president. The fact is that his company destroyed a whole lot of jobs too and what it mainly created was huge profits and great personal wealth for him. Which is what firms like Bain Capital do. If the Democrats can't criticize what Romney did at Bain it will be very difficult to defeat him. They have to take on and defeat Romney's core argument if they are to win.

Booker was so openly critical of Obama on "Meet the Press" that David Gregory, the show's host, had to assure his viewers that Booker was a supporter of the president.

The Republicans immediately took Booker's remarks and turned them into an ad for Romney. There was a huge outcry against Booker who then tried to backtrack on his statement.

Obama refused to retreat from his criticism of Bain, in fact, and made the point that Romney's ability to make maximum profits in the private sector does not qualify him to be president. Obama pointed out that the president has to take into account the general welfare of all the people. Romney's profits-before-people approach is what has brought on the severe crisis we are now experiencing.

You can't blame the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s on Rev. Wright. A lot of people understand that the 1percent got rich from exporting our jobs, from war and from manipulating the financial markets. That's why a majority want to curb the power and increase the taxes of the super-rich.

Mayor Booker may have burned a very big bridge this time. He is in effect waving the flag of surrender in the face of the Republicans, who are using this election to qualitatively set back the democratic rights and economic well being of the working class and racial minorities.

Why is Booker doing this? Why does he continually bow at the feet New Jersey's Republican blowhard Gov. Chris Christie every chance he gets? Many good-thinking people know that Booker has the possibility of running for the U.S. Senate and they believe he wants to assure the Wall Street big bucks folks that he's their guy. Booker is a good showman and he loves to play the one who's above it all, whose politics are neither left or right. For the mayor of Newark - a city going through particularly hard times - to surrender to the party of austerity for the workers and prosperity for the rich is shameful.

This time his fake neutrality may have cooked his goose politically.

This is not a time to make nice with the Republican menace. The unemployed, the dispossessed and evicted, the homeless and the bankrupt, the criminalized immigrants, the African American and Latino families that have lost virtually all of their hard-earned assets and are hungry and impoverished, the millions of vulnerable working families - all demand that politicians who say they are on their side show that they are by their actions.

Sam Webb, in a recent People's World article commenting on the huge $2 billion lost at JPMorgan Chase, made an important basic point that applies to the capitulation and vulnerablity of capitalist politicians. He wrote:

"... the struggle for minor and major financial/regulatory reform - not to mention turning Wall Street into a public democratically run utility - cannot be left to the politicians - even the best of them. It must become the business of an aroused people."

This election year and beyond, let the people continue to be aroused...

We must go forward.

Photo: Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker. Anne White CC 2.0

The Battle of Toledo

Joe Sims — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:05:00 -0400

Today in labor history: On May 23, 1934 workers in Toledo Ohio, overcame police and company strike breaking efforts.

Workers at the Electric Auto-Lite plant were striking for union recognition. National Guard troops machine gunned the strikers resulting in two deaths and several wounded.

A five-day running battle called "The battle of Toledo" between police and the strikers ensued.

The company later recognized the union and agreed to a five percent pay raise. The strike was led by the craft union dominated American Federation of Labor (AFL). It ended on June 3.

Photo: Creative Commons 3.0

VIDEO Iraq & Afghanistan vets: why NATO can have my medals

John Bachtell, Teresa Albano — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:44:00 -0400

CHICAGO -- U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars threw their medals towards the site of the NATO Summit May 20 in what was called the most dramatic antiwar action by ex-GIs since Vietnam. One-by-one, 45 service members from all branches of the military took to the stage to tell their stories while thousands of anti-NATO protesters listened and cheered.

Now you can hear many of them too in the video below, and read the story here.

Photo: Iraq vet and Occupy Oakland activist Scott Olsen takes the stage. Olsen was almost killed last year by Oakland police when they fired a tear gas canister into the crowd and it struck Olsen in the head. (PW/Teresa Albano)

Chicago activists protest Heartland Institute conference

Blake Deppe — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:19:00 -0400

CHICAGO - Over a dozen environmental activists gathered across the street from the Hilton hotel on May 22 to protest the Heartland Institute, which put up ads comparing environmentalists to the Unabomber, and in today's conference, continued their corporate-backed campaign of climate change denial. Activists fought back, telling the pseudo-science outfit to "stop the lies."

Some of the group's corporate backers include AT&T, Microsoft, Pfizer, and Comcast. But, more worryingly, oil companies like Exxon Mobil are really the ones pulling the strings here. Exxon Mobil has reportedly given $531,000 to Heartland, and enjoys a heavy influence on the group's portrayal of environmentalists as wrong and dangerous individuals, as well as their profit-based choice to ignore the global threat of climate change.

But the national outcry against Heartland has led 11 companies to sever their ties with the group - including State Farm and General Motors.

"I studied climate change science at MIT," said Brad Johnson, campaign manager of Forecast the Facts. "And I learned the magnitude of the problem we're facing. But this has been known by real scientists for decades." However, "Heartland is defending corporate denial of these harsh realities, and also taking money from the tobacco industry to do it. Meanwhile, they deny the threat of cigarette smoke" as well.

"We asked companies like General Motors to back out and stop funding Heartland, and we were amazed by the response we got. [Some] major companies are realizing that climate science is incompatible with [outfits] like Heartland."

As Johnson spoke, the police presence and attendance of some right-wing-leaning reporters (with condescending smiles) at the demonstration was noticeable. As such, Johnson concluded, "I'd like to thank all of the corporate-funded people here right now [who are] putting a face to climate change denial."

Caroline Wooten, with the Chicago Youth Climate Coalition (a citywide youth network "devoted to moving beyond fossil fuels") spoke up: "We're doing a lot over on the southeast side [of the city], fighting the coal industry. And we're working to get the state of Illinois to stop funding it. Our group, we talk about public health, clean air, and clean water. And don't get me wrong - those are all very important things! But I'm also pissed that I can't talk about climate change [as much].

"Heartland uses corporate interests to obscure the truth. But they can't obscure our minds and our hearts.

"Climate change is the epitome of corporate greed. Big banks are trying to take peoples' homes," she remarked, "and climate change is going to take our real home!"

"We're supposed to draw conclusions from the hypotheses we make," commented an activist named Zack. But Heartland, he said, "asks itself, 'how can we keep making people believe what we want them to believe?' But events like this one show them that we're not going to take the bullsh*t."

As well-dressed business executives paused in passing for the space of a sarcastic laugh, and right-wing reporters and their cameramen infringed on the activists' personal space, a speaker remarked, "We'd like to welcome all the representitives of the corporate one percent. I don't know if these guys are hired actors or what, but I'd like to thank them for their mockery and utter lack of respect."

The intrusion didn't stop the cheers or the spirit of the small crowd, however. A member of Greenpeace declared, "Ninety-seven percent of scientists know what's really going on. In the end, we're going to win and the public is going to understand the truth."

Photo: Three environmental activists illustrate Microsoft's backing of Heartland, a group that promotes skepticism and denial of climate change. Blake Deppe/PW

U.S. intransigence on Cuban Five prisoners a high stakes game

W. T. Whitney Jr. — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:20:00 -0400

With appeals all but exhausted, the only hope for relief of unremitting judicial abuse of the Cuban Five lies with President Barack Obama. Supporters of the Cuban Five are demanding that he issue a presidential pardon and free them.

Stephen Kimber, Canadian journalist and author of a forthcoming book, "What Lies across the Water: the Real Story of the Cuban Five," says the prospect of improved U.S.-Cuban relations is also grim, and that nothing will be settled until the Cuban Five political prisoners are released.

Solidarity activists worldwide say the U.S. judicial system railroaded the Cuban Five defenders against terrorism to prison. Both the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International have slammed U.S. judicial proceedings. Yet after 13 years four of the men remain in jail and one of them, Gerardo Hernandez, is still the object of special abuse.

Ramon Labaniño and Antonio Guerrero are serving 30 and 22-year terms respectively. Fernando Gonzalez is nearing the end of his 19-year sentence on lesser charges. Rene Gonzalez, sentenced to 15 years, was released on parole. But why is Gerardo Hernandez serving two life sentences plus 15 years?

Life sentences against Labaniño and Guerrero for conspiracy to commit espionage were reduced on appeal. Hernandez has a life sentence on the same charge still intact. His other life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder also remains. It's clear that the U.S. government has taken special pains to inflict harm upon Gerardo Hernandez.

For example, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard in Miami, the judge who presided at the trial of the Five in 2001, on May 15 freed Yuby Ramirez after 12 years in prison. Lenard ruled that Ramirez was the victim of incompetent counsel. Ramirez, like Hernandez, had been serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. Ramirez confessed she had participated in a plot consummated by drug trafficking bosses to kill a government witness. If Ramirez can go free, why not Hernandez?

Hernandez gets special treatment in other ways. The additional burden of a murder conspiracy charge was filed against him came late in the trial of the Five. In demanding the charge go forward, Judge Lenard overruled the prosecutors' reluctance to pursue it on grounds of lack of evidence. In fact, no evidence has ever been presented indicating Hernandez knew about Cuban plans to down two Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996. Four pilots died in the Cuban attack, carried out by military aircraft.

Brothers to the Rescue is a Cuban exile organization that had been illegally entering Cuban air space to drop leaflets. The Cuban government complained repeatedly to the U.S. government about these incursions before the shoot-down incident occurred.

As analyst Saul Landau recently pointed out, the claim that Hernandez caused the deaths by alerting the Cuban government of the upcoming flights is meaningless. The U.S. Air Force notified the Cubans that the planes were on the way. Jose Basulto, the Brothers to the Rescue leader, had proclaimed his flight plans publically.

The U.S. government is refusing the request of Hernandez' attorney in a still-undecided habeas corpus plea that the National Space Agency release satellite maps expected to show that the planes had indeed entered Cuban airspace. If that was the case, then the murder conspiracy case against Hernandez collapses.

There is, of course, one major instance in which all the Cuban Five prisoners gained special treatment. In early 1998, Cuban security officials delivered to FBI personnel visiting in Havana reams of material gathered by the Cuban Five and other Cuban agents working in Southern Florida. The FBI thus gained considerable evidence as to terrorist plotting in Florida, past and present, against Cuba. They learned that a boat docked in the Miami River was laden with explosives.

What happened is that on their return to Florida, the FBI ignored evidence implicating private paramilitary groups in their bailiwick and instead arrested the Cuban agents. That was the work of Hector Pesquera, the newly appointed FBI head in Miami.

The new book by Stephen Kimber provides details on Pesquera's role. The local FBI head embarked upon a crusade to persuade a reluctant U.S. Justice Department to arrest and prosecute the Cuban Five, even interceding personally with FBI director Louis Freed to secure authorization. Pesquera, widely known as a friend of powerful, right wing Cuban-American families in Miami, even boasted on radio "It had been he who changed the focus, and instead of the spies spying, he presented accusations against them."

In mute testimony to his softness on terrorists, Pesquera ended his FBI office's investigation into crimes committed by Cuban exile plotter Luis Posada. Pesquera arranged for disposal of documents in the case of Posada, who had engineered the bombing of a fully loaded Cuban passenger plane and hotels in Havana.

Pesquera has recently been appointed police chief of Puerto Rico.

Photo: A billboard with images of five Cubans imprisoned in the U.S., popularly known as the "Cuban Five," in Havana, Cuba, April 11. Franklin Reyes/AP