> > WW News Service Digest #54 > > 1) Vote for Workers World Party > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) LAPD routinely abused suspects, immigrants > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) How International Women's Day began > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) U.S. base points guns across Kosovo border > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Mar. 16, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >TO THE AFL-CIO WOMEN'S CONFERENCE: >VOTE FOR WORKERS WORLD PARTY! > >Whenever women workers gather, the moment is rich in >possibilities. We can see a little bit of the future, right >here, right now. This is because much of the potential for >working-class struggle, in this country and around the >world, lies with women. > >Women--we are concentrated in low-pay service-sector jobs, >labeled contingent workers and denied benefits, forced into >workfare slavery or bent over in suffocating sweatshops. > >Women--we work a second, or third, shift taking care of >children and home, often without health benefits, without >child care, without a living wage. > >Women--we're joining unions. Demanding equality. Fighting >the bosses. > >We are organizing. We are mobilizing. We are igniting the >labor movement. This is women's role. This is our place--in >the front ranks of the struggle for workers' rights. > >As two workers, two women of color, two union members, two >activists with long experience in the working-class >struggle, we--Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva--are >proud to greet our union sisters attending the AFL-CIO >Working Women 2000 Conference March 10-12 in Chicago. > >Like you, we think it's time for a change. And not just >cosmetic change, like which rich man sits in the White >House. We're talking about real change. Fundamental change. > >The capitalist system doesn't work--except for the >capitalists. They get rich by exploiting the rest of us. >They use racism to divide us. They keep women down, and >oppress lesbian, gay, bi and trans people. They make wars >and foul the environment and bust unions. > >Capitalism is such a racist system that the confederate >flag--the symbol of chattel slavery--is allowed to fly over >state capitols. Capitalism is so degrading to women that TV >broadcasts rich men choosing--buying--wives based on how >they look in swimsuits. > >Capitalism treats immigrants as criminals. It builds prison >for the poor. It provides no future to the young. > >There isn't a single "mainstream" candidate--not Al Gore, >not George Bush, none of them--who opposes this vile >system. In fact, every one of them is himself a rich man, a >member of the capitalist ruling class that profits off >human misery. > >They have nothing to offer workers. > >But there is a way forward. There is an alternative. A >real choice for labor. > >Working people make everything run. Shouldn't working >people run everything? > >We need to replace capitalism with a different kind of >system. Socialism. A system of equality and justice where >the workers own the wealth they create and society is >organized for the common good. > >Socialism would mean every human being would have the >right to a decent job, health care including full >reproductive rights, child care, housing, education. Why >should we settle for anything less? > >We are running as Workers World Party's candidates for >president and vice president of the United States to help >build the struggle for socialism. > >We want your votes because when you break away from the >tired, phony, business-as-usual Democrats and Republicans you >send a strong message that the days of exploitation and >oppression are numbered. But we want you to do much more >than vote. > >Elections don't change things. A working-class movement >fighting in its own name does. Isn't this how we won the >right to strike, collective bargaining, unemployment >benefits? Didn't it take a great mass movement to win >civil-rights laws and affirmative action? > >It's time to take to the streets again. It's time to >revive the class struggle. This is the goal of the >Moorehead/La Riva campaign. > >Join us. Together we, the workers and oppressed, can >change the world. > >WHAT WE STAND FOR > >Union jobs at a living wage for all. >Organize all workers. Defend the right to organize. >Full rights for all immigrant workers and their families. >End racism and national oppression. Stop police brutality. >Restore and expand affirmative action. >Restore and expand social programs; reverse the cutbacks. >End workfare slavery and the scapegoating of poor women. >End the racist death penalty. >Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Puerto Rican >prisoners of war, and all political prisoners. >Union wages for prisoners. Money for schools, not jails. >Equal pay for equal work. Equal pay for comparable work. >Stop sweatshops. Full pay, benefits, union rights, and >reparations from sweatshop profiteers like Disney, Nike, >Levi Strauss. >Tax the rich. Stop corporate welfare. >Free, universal health care. Full rights for the disabled. >Full reproductive rights, including abortion rights and no >forced sterilization. >Free, universal child care. >Ban strike breaking and union busting. >Full rights to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender >people. Legalize same-sex marriage. >Shut down the Pentagon. No more war for big business. Stop >the sanctions against Iraq and Yugoslavia. End the >blockade of Cuba. >Save the environment. Make the corporations pay for clean- >up. > > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > >Message-ID: <008f01bf8a2c$b7319fa0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] LAPD routinely abused suspects, immigrants >Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 20:05:23 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Mar. 16, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >LAPD SCANDAL WIDENING: >COPS ROUTINELY ABUSED SUSPECTS, IMMIGRANTS > >By Preston Wood >Los Angeles > >A widening scandal in the Los Angeles Police Department >has produced charges of perjury, evidence tampering and >attempted murder by cops. > >Now come revelations that the Immigration and >Naturalization Service and the Federal Bureau of >Investigation, along with the LAPD, are implicated in >routinely abusing the civil rights of immigrants. This is >despite a 21-year-old city policy that supposedly has >prohibited police officers from initiating police action to >determine immigrants' residency status. > >In spite of complaints by some INS field agents that the >policy of deporting immigrants detained by LAPD Ramparts >division officers didn't meet federal guidelines, these >agents claim that INS directors and the FBI "rammed it down >our throats." > >Every day, there are new revelations of corruption and >brutality among Ramparts officers, particularly the >infamous CRASH (Community Resources Against Street >Hoodlums) unit. Hundreds of suspects were railroaded off to >prison based on lies by officers and cooperation among >judges and city attorneys, who all conspired against the >rights of defendants. > >Many of these convictions are now being appealed. > >Police often shot suspects and left them to die after >planting evidence on their bleeding bodies. Then, to ensure >that their wounded victims would die, cops turned away >ambulances called by alarmed neighbors. > >THE GANG IN BLUE > >Ramparts officers held regular parties where they >celebrated the death or maiming of immigrants or >neighborhood youth. The guilty cops who perpetrated the >murders would be toasted as heroes, often in the presence >of supervisors. > >CRASH officers adopted a menacing tattoo of a grinning >skull wearing a cowboy hat with a so-called "dead man's >poker" hand behind it. > >It is obvious the LAPD is unwilling and unable to monitor >itself. Yet the ruling political circles of Los Angeles-- >including Mayor Richard Riordan, District Attorney Gil >Garcetti and a majority of the City Council--have turned >their backs on calls for a civilian agency to deal with >public complaints of police abuse. > >On March 2, Riordan had cops forcibly remove three City >Council members who are calling for civilian review from a >press conference he had called. The mayor opposes civilian >review. > >While a few corrupt officers will no doubt be prosecuted >for excesses and violations of the law, the role of the >police will continue to be, as described by the 1991 >Christopher Commission, an "army of occupation." > >A 362-page report by some of LAPD's top brass candidly >admits that the LAPD failed consistently to take steps to >head off what has become the worst corruption scandal in >its scandal-ridden history. The report maintains that >widespread police misconduct exists throughout the LAPD, is >not restricted to the Ramparts division, and could not have >happened without the backing that Mayor Riordan and the >City Council have given the police. > >In order to avoid calling for a civilian review process >for complaints, though, the report claims the LAPD has >implemented reforms called for by the Christopher >Commission report. This is far from true. The LAPD remains >a violent, racist and highly militarized force of >repression against the over 14 million people who live in >Los Angeles. > >A victim of police abuse has nowhere to go with complaints >but to the police department itself. The tactic of random >detentions and shakedowns of Blacks and Latinos is more in >effect today than ever. > >Throughout its violent and racist history, the LAPD has >moved from scandal to scandal. Intermittent attempts at >reform have done little to alter the policy of what police >call "pro-active" crime prevention. What pro-active means >is aggressive and hostile harassment of the communities >that comprise the vast city of Los Angeles. This translates >into violence and brutality against oppressed people, from >shakedowns and detentions to all-too-frequent murders of >Black, Asian and Latino youth and others. > >Fear of possible renewed anger and even uprisings has >prompted talk of reforms. L.A. police chief Bernard Parks' >recent announcement that anti-gang units will be disbanded >is part of the effort to salvage the situation and keep the >police in charge of monitoring themselves. > >In reality, the present units are only being reorganized >rather than scrapped. > >Some in the ruling strata of Los Angeles might call for >cosmetic reforms in police conduct. Still, there appears to >be consensus among them that the policy of police >repression and brutality serves them and their great wealth >well, and that the low-paid workers who produce this >wealth, most of them people of color and immigrants, need >to be ruled with an iron fist. > >Further revelations and truths about the real nature of >the LAPD will help those opposed to police racism and >repression organize a broad and diverse movement against >the terror perpetrated by the police and the capitalist >rulers they protect and serve. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > >Message-ID: <009501bf8a2c$de1fbfc0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] How International Women's Day began >Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 20:06:29 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Mar. 16, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >HOW INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY BEGAN > >By Sue Davis >New York > >International Women's Day, March 8, was born in struggle. >On that day in 1908 hundreds of working and poor women, >mostly East European immigrants, surged out of needle-trade >sweatshops and tenements on New York's Lower East Side and >marched defiantly to Union Square, where they held a >militant rally. > >The women marched under the suffragist banner of "Votes >for Women," but their demands for higher wages and better >working conditions also struck a blow against capitalism. > >Their speeches denouncing the bosses, the landlords, the >bankers, and all who oppressed them showed extraordinary >revolutionary working-class consciousness. > >That hundreds of working women dared to voice demands for >a better life for themselves and their families made >headlines. When news of it was telegraphed to Europe, >German socialist Clara Zetkin saw it as the sign of the >working-class women's movement she had been waiting for >since she first raised the demand for equal rights for >women within the socialist movement in 1889. > >Finally, in 1910, under Zetkin's leadership and with the >support of Rosa Luxemburg and the Russians Alexandra >Kollantai and V.I. Lenin, the Second International >Conference of Socialists in Copenhagen declared March 8 to >be International Women's Day. > >IWD'S LEGACY BECOMES REALITY IN 1917 > >IWD symbolized the struggle for a thorough-going >emancipation of women--from capitalist exploitation, >centuries-old patriarchal domination, and all forms of >oppression and inequality. > >So widespread was the revolutionary spirit of IWD that on >that day in 1917, in the midst of World War I, thousands of >women in the needle-trades industry in St. Petersburg, >Russia, spontaneously walked out on strike. They marched >through the streets demanding "peace, bread, and land." >Their working-class brothers joined them, and the protest >swelled to 90,000. > >That strike--initiated by women workers on International >Women's Day--was the first blow of the Russian Revolution, >which established the first workers' state only eight >months later. For years after that, socialist and other >class-conscious women--from Shanghai to Johannesburg to >Berlin to Mexico City to Milwaukee--commemorated IWD as a >day of militant protest. > >1970: REVIVING IWD IN THE U.S. > >In the United States in the 1950s, vicious Cold War >repression and an anti-communist witchhunt undermined this >struggle tradition. Though groups like Women's >International League for Peace and Freedom tried to keep >the IWD spirit alive, the day was no longer the torch of >freedom for women it once had been. > >But by 1970, following the successes of the civil rights >movement and the groundswell of the anti-war movement, a >new revolutionary era was afoot. Many young veterans of >those struggles had also begun rebelling against their >second-class status as women. > >They were furious about being paid half of what men made, >about being segregated in "women's jobs," about the sexual >double standard, about illegal abortion and the oppression >of lesbians, about the silence protecting incest and >domestic violence, and about being measured against >Caucasian beauty-queen standards. > >And they were inspired by outspoken African American >activists like Fannie Lou Hamer and by courageous >Vietnamese women fighting on the front lines against U.S. >imperialism. > >Though many who initiated the Women's Liberation Movement >labeled men as the enemy, others identified the system of >capitalism--where women are viewed as the private property >of men and treated accordingly--as the source of women's >oppression. > >These young socialists were excited when they discovered >the history and tradition of International Women's Day. > >In 1970, the young women of Youth Against War and Fascism, >the activist arm of Workers World Party, decided to >reactivate the militant tradition of IWD by holding a rally >in Union Square. > >The March 7 rally attracted 1,000 women and some male >supporters to the first organized outpouring of the new >women's liberation movement on IWD. > >`SOLIDARITY WITH OUR MOST OPPRESSED SISTERS' > >At the end of the rally, YAWF national coordinator Maryann >Nagro Weissman appealed to the crowd to march to the >Women's House of Detention, then only blocks away in >Greenwich Village, "in solidarity with our most oppressed >sisters." The crowd roared its approval. Nagro Weissman had >just served time in jail for contempt of court during the >New York Panther 21 trial. > >At the House of D the demonstrators took over the street >and saluted the women inside with raised fists. In the >months to come, they would return many times to the House >of D when Angela Davis and other revolutionary women were >imprisoned there. > >The militant tradition of IWD that YAWF Women revived soon >spawned a bill declaring March Women's History Month. And >over the 30 years since 1970, many big business >politicians, organizations and even corporations have tried >to divert, dilute, sanitize and co-opt the revolutionary >message and promise of March 8. But they have not >succeeded. Nor can they. > >Because the clarion call of IWD--for the complete and >total liberation of all women--rings in revolutionary women >everywhere. > >As Workers World founder Dorothy Ballan wrote in "Feminism >and Marxism" in 1971, "There is a virtual revolution going >on in the minds of women. It is a harbinger of the general >socialist revolution and at the same time is an >indispensable ingredient for its success." > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > >Message-ID: <009b01bf8a2c$ff7d9e80$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] U.S. base points guns across Kosovo border >Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 20:07:24 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Mar. 16, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >PROTESTS SET IN U.S.FOR MARCH 24: >U.S. BASE POINTS GUNS ACROSS KOSOVO BORDER > >By John Catalinotto > >U.S./NATO forces appear to be moving closer toward a new >attack on Yugoslavia as tensions continue to grow in the >occupied province of Kosovo. > >Units of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army--now >operating under a different name--have been crossing the >provincial border in the northeast and attacking Yugoslav >police forces in the town of Dobrosin. After the firefight >on May 5, the residents all fled. > >A May 4 Los Angeles Times article from Dobrosin reports >that "a rebel band of about 150 ethnic Albanians has a >foothold in this nearly deserted village in southeastern >Serbia, about 300 yards from a U.S. Army camp guarding a >muddy track that leads into Kosovo. The guerrillas carry >AK-47 assault rifles and walkie-talkies, and wear >camouflage fatigues or black uniforms and berets." > >In other words, it's the supposedly disbanded KLA all over >again. > >Though no one denies that the KLA forces are carrying out >the terrorist attacks, NATO commanders blame the Yugoslav >government. At the U.S. base on nearby border "at least one >tank and several other armored vehicles are parked facing >the Serbian countryside," reports the Times. The U.S. >military is clearly behind the KLA attacks. > >The situation is equally tense in Mitrovica, in Kosovo's >north. There, U.S./NATO occupation forces are trying to >break up the minority Serbian community by moving Albanians >into the Serb sections of town. By now, some 200,000 Serbs >and other minorities have been driven out of NATO-occupied >Kosovo. > >At a United Nations news conference March 6, Dennis >McNamara--a "humanitarian affairs" official--admitted that >Mitrovica was "only the visible tip of the Kosovo-wide >problem of violence against minorities: intimidation, >harassment, persecution." > >Non-Albanian minorities live under siege in Kosovo >"without basic freedom of movement," he said. > >While McNamara was speaking, the occupation forces' top >Kosovo administrator--Bernard Kouchner--was asking the UN >Security Council for more police forces in Kosovo and was >raising the question of the province's future status. > >According to last June's accords allowing NATO occupation, >Serbia keeps sovereignty over Kosovo. Yugoslavia's >representative to the United Nations charged Kouchner, his >UN administration and the NATO-led peacekeeping force with >being "directly responsible for a deteriorating situation >in Kosovo marked by violence against Serbs and other >minority groups." > >Ambassador Branko Brankovic accused Kouchner of "issuing >illegitimate regulations" undermining Yugoslav sovereignty >in Kosovo and violating the U.N. resolution which defined >Kosovo's relation to Yugoslavia. > >Kouchner's decisions "are serving the realization of >American strategic interests in the Balkans," in an attempt >to justify a permanent NATO presence, he charged. > >MARCH 24 PROTESTS > >March 24 is the first anniversary of the day the U.S./NATO >bombing of Yugoslavia started. > >The International Action Center has called nationwide >protests on that day. IAC coordinator Sara Flounders says >that demonstrations or meetings are planned for New York, >Boston, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles. > >Actions will also take place in Minneapolis, Portland, >Ore., and Chicago, plus teach-ins on various college >campuses. > >Flounders also said there are forums set in Belgrade and >Prague for that day, and other demonstrations or meetings >in Prague, Brussels and Oslo that weekend. > >"All these protests will denounce the U.S./NATO war, the >occupation of Kosovo, and the illegal sanctions against >Yugoslavia," she concluded. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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