Search Results
Vieques activists warn of speculators
September 12, 2003In a “Special Report from the Peace and Justice Camp,” peace activists in Vieques, Puerto Rico, are warning that there are “speculators and foreign economic interests that seek control of our lands.” The Peace and Justice Camp was originally set up just outside the gates to Camp García, the Navy’s former bombing range, by the Committee for Rescue and Development of Vieques (CPRDV). The U.S. Navy stopped using the island...
Read moreSeptember in History
September 05, 2003Sept. 1, 1903 – Over 30,000 women from 26 trades march in the Chicago Labor Day Parade. Sept. 2, 1921 – Battle of Blair Mountain, W.Va.: 10,000 striking union miners fight against coal operators for recognition of UMWA. At governor’s request, federal troops are sent in, killing 16 miners. Sept 1, 1919 – Communist Party USA founded in Chicago. Sept 4, 1949 – Audience of 25,000 hears African American peace...
Read moreLa Raza calls for massive voter turnout
July 25, 2003AUSTIN, Texas – Calling George W. Bush’s campaign promises “a false image, a mirage,” Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), called on Latinos in the United States to register and vote in support of their communities. Yzaguirre’s comments were made during the annual conference of his organization, held here from July 12-15. Yzaguirre noted at the opening plenary, titled “The State of Hispanic America,” that...
Read moreWhere is Smedley when we need him?
July 18, 2003Opinions Official publicity surrounding the Iraq War gives no indication that military people might harbor dissenting views or be reluctant to obey orders. But the voices of soldiers who said “no” crop up in the historical record. In 1898, the U.S. government extended its imperialist reach to foreign venues, and joining the Marines in Cuba in 1898 was an eager 16-year-old volunteer from Philadelphia, Smedley Darlington Butler, the son of...
Read moreLa Raza demands action on Latino issues
July 18, 2003AUSTIN, Texas – Thousands of people streamed into the Austin Convention Center July 12-15 for the National Council of La Raza Annual Conference and Latino Expo fair. A general theme running throughout the conference was, as NCLR President Raul Yzaguirre put it, “We fought hard for democracy. Now democracy has to work for us.” Organizers estimate that about 20,000 participated during the four days of the event. The conference featured...
Read moreNational Clips
July 04, 2003SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.: Celebration for gay rights and peace Over 750,000 people with 180 floats and bands jammed the streets behind banners calling for peace, gay rights, health care, and the impeachment of President George Bush for this city’s 33rd annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade, June 29. Marchers celebrated the Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law barring gay sex and also hailed the decision...
Read moreU.S. wars and the Puerto Rican people
July 01, 2003Opinion The United States took over Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898 and ruled it the same way other European powers ruled their colonies for many years – as a source of raw materials and a market for U.S. products. However, in 1917, the administration of Woodrow Wilson, seeing that the U.S. was likely to enter the First World War, arranged a special “gift” for the people of Puerto Rico:...
Read moreLatin America fights neolibralism
July 01, 2003When the Peruvian trade union movement organized demonstrations this month in support of the public school teachers’ strike and against the government-imposed State of Emergency, the demonstrations turned into protests against President Alejandro Toledo’s neoliberal economic policies as a whole and not just the trade union issues. Meanwhile in Ecuador, 210,000 teachers had also been on strike for a month, staging mass hunger strikes. As in Peru, the teachers were...
Read morePuerto Rico fights federal death penalty
June 19, 2003New Analysis U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has called on federal prosecutors to be more aggressive in seeking the death penalty, provoking angry denunciations from civil libertarians all over the U.S. and, indeed, the world. In Puerto Rico, the decision to push for the death penalty in the impending trial of Hector Acosta and Joel Rivera, accused of murdering a storekeeper is becoming a critical national struggle. The last time...
Read moreNational Clips
May 30, 2003NEW YORK, N.Y.: Workers killed in “mistaken” raids Within 48 hours, New York City policemen killed 2 residents in what the department has termed “mistaken” raids. Alberta Spruill, 57, a city worker, was home in her Harlem apartment when police suddenly raided it on May 16. Cops burst through the door, tossed in a flash grenade and handcuffed Spruill. They had the wrong apartment. She died of cardiac arrest. The...
Read more