Letters

The importance of reparations

The importance of building a new Civil Rights Movement in 21st century America should not be overlooked. We should learn from the African American liberation movements of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s and acknowledge their successes, but we should also look at what these movements strived to accomplish but, ultimately, couldn’t.

In my mind, the central issue of the new movement we must build should be the attainment of reparations for the descendants of slaves. The logic of reparations is simple: African Americans were never given a fair opportunity to gain control over their communities’ resources, they have been discriminated against and degraded in every aspect of society, and their basic road to freedom has been halted by the capitalist system in general.

We see this manifested in the disproportionate number of Blacks in U.S. penitentiaries, the number living in poverty, the discrimination they face in getting quality health care and other benefits, and the way they are portrayed in general by the white, ruling class media. In this new age of struggle, hope, and opportunity, all of us who align ourselves with progressive and revolutionary struggle should embrace the idea of fighting for reparations for the African American people.

Marcel CartierVia e-mail

Undermining democracy

It’s no secret that the intelligence gathering activities of the CIA needs at times financial resources, especially when the task has something to do with throwing off balance or undermining other governments. It doesn’t matter if it is a government that is democratically elected.

Such is the case of President Hugo Chavez’s government of Venezuela, which is suffering the direct and indirect attacks from the Bully-Bush-administration. In Venezuela, with the advising of the CIA, an organization was created known as Sumate with resources coming from the “National Endowment for Democracy.”

So far the activities of Sumate could be summarized in few words: conspiracy, sabotage, and dirty manipulation of information. Its main goal is to undermine a government that has pretty close to 78 percent of the population’s support. The only “bad” and “anti-democratic” thing that government is doing is helping the poor people and trying to distribute the wealth of Venezuela in a fair way, one that could benefit all its members and not a privileged few as in the past.

So, the question is: Are the funds of this Endowment truly helping to stimulate and foster Democracy in other Nations?

Joe FloresWest Haven CT

Likes Kucinich coverage

Thanks for the great article on Kucinich! (“Dennis Kucinich: The most under-reported story in 2004,” PWW, 2/28-3/5). Thanks for being a real journalist and telling the truth! This is an awesome man that would change the course of history. If the media told his story, he would be the next president hands down. Thanks for doing your part to get this important message out. Blessings!

Sherry ThompsonJefferson NC

Haiti: Bush’s latest atrocity

The coup against Haiti’s democracy is the latest atrocity. Once again Bush has chosen violence instead of democracy. The world has long recognized Aristide as the legitimate president of Haiti. He was elected fair-and-square (which is more than can be said of Bush). But Bush is complicit in the current coup against Haiti’s democracy, just the Bush regime was fully complicit in the violent 2002 coup that briefly overthrew Venezuela’s democracy. That coup was short-lived because other nations and the Venezuelan people refused to let Bush and Venezuela’s business elite get away with their coup.

If Bush really believed in democracy, he would have issued clear public statements supporting Aristide. Instead, Bush let armed thugs stage a coup. Then he told Aristide to resign. Now after overthrowing Aristide, Bush is invading with Marines to provide “stability” to lock the coup into place.

While paying lip service to democracy in Iraq, behind the scenes he overthrows democracies that elect leaders he doesn’t like. Bush’s arrogance and belligerence have repeatedly angered the rest of the world. He has turned world public opinion – even our usual allies – against us. Bush is jeopardizing our national security. Vote that loose cannon out!

Glen AndersonLacey WA