>defeated the Nazis, launched the space age and made great
>strides in solving the problem of national antagonisms.
>
>This social revolution did all of these remarkable things
>without bosses and exploiters. Despite its great flaws that
>helped imperialism to overthrow it, its significance was
>its accomplishments.
>
>The Russian revolution showed that a new, superior form of
>planned human society free of exploitation could exist and
>develop under the most unfavorable conditions imaginable.
>
>The class struggle in the 21st century will have the
>Bolshevik revolution, the Chinese revolution, the Cuban
>revolution and many others to learn and gain inspiration
>from. Given the insoluble contradictions of capitalism and
>the enormous growth in the worldwide working class,
>revolutionaries have every reason to see the 21st century
>as the century in which the socialist revolution will be
>brought to fruition worldwide.
>
>Women will prove to be the best fighters because we will
>have the most to gain from the liberation of humanity from
>class and racist oppression.
>
> - 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: <008b01bf8bc3$342f9380$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Elian not first child wrested from Cuba
>Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 20:35:09 -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
>-------------------------
>
>OPERATION PEDRO PAN:
>ELIAN NOT FIRST CHILD WRESTED FROM CUBA
>
>By Teresa Gutierrez
>New York
>
>The struggle to send six-year-old Elian Gonzalez home to
>his father in Cuba continues. On March 25 a symposium will
>be held at Hunter College to discuss the case in detail.
>Sponsored by the National Committee for the Return of Elian
>and the Hunter student organization, SLAM/ USG, the
>symposium will hear from a number of activists and experts.
>
>Joining the symposium will be the Rev. Lucius Walker from
>IFCO/Pastors for Peace, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
>Clark, El Diario/La Prensa opinion columnist Vicky Pelaez,
>Congress members Jose Serrano and Nydia Velasquez, New York
>City Council Member Jose Serrano, and representatives of
>the National Committee for the Return of Elian to Cuba, as
>well as others.
>
>A highlight of the program will be Concha Mendoza's
>appearance. Mendoza was one of thousands of Cuban children
>who were part of "Operation Pedro Pan."
>
>A U.S.-government-sponsored project, Operation Pedro Pan
>brought 14,000 Cuban children into the United States from
>1960 to 1962, during the early days of the Cuban
>Revolution. They were mainly children of the Cuban
>bourgeoisie. Under the plan, the State Department gave a
>young Miami priest the extraordinary authority to
>facilitate their entry into the U.S. with or without a
>visa.
>
>The U.S. government kept the program so secretive that
>some people are just now finding out that they were Pedro
>Pan kids.
>
>According to experts on the project, it was the largest
>political exodus of children in this hemisphere, yet it is
>hardly known about. One of the participants in the program,
>Yvonne Conde, says that "what was covert about it was how
>the visas were given to the children."
>
>The U.S. government agreed to a plan that would bring the
>children in on student visas. Conde continues: "The visas
>were smuggled into [Cuba], in most cases by diplomats and
>diplomatic pouches."
>
>ANGRY AT BEING SEPARATED FROM THEIR FAMILIES
>
>Once the children arrived in the U.S., they were put in
>boarding camps. Many were sent to orphanages or foster
>homes and even homes for delinquents in 35 states. Many
>remained in the care of the Catholic Church for years. By
>the time they saw their parents again, many were adults.
>Some of the families were never reunited.
>
>The case of Elian Gonzalez has spurred casualties of
>Operation Pedro Pan to come forward like never before. In a
>film about Operation Pedro Pan, renowned Latin American
>film-maker Estela Bravo interviews many of the former
>children of the project.
>
>The interviews reveal the pain and anguish of being
>separated from their families at such an early age. They
>spoke of abuse in the orphanages and foster homes,
>including rape.
>
>Many now feel that both their families and the U.S.
>government duped them. They deeply resent being taken from
>their homeland.
>
>At a recent preview here of Bravo's film, two of the
>casualties of Operation Pedro Pan spoke of their
>experiences. They told of how their new love for Cuba has
>split their families apart. Some of the children have
>become members of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, a group of
>Cubans in Florida friendly to the Cuban Revolution.
>
>The Pedro Pan veterans described what drove parents to
>send their children unescorted to a strange country: their
>hatred and fear of the revolution, sentiments that were
>fanned by U.S. imperialism.
>
>Simply the word that the revolutionary government would
>open previously private beaches to the Cuban masses
>horrified one person's parents. They also believed the
>revolutionary upheaval would come and go, their children
>would soon be brought back to Cuba, and life would go back
>to business as usual.
>
>But the world now knows that did not happen. Not only was
>the revolution triumphant but it has withstood 40 years of
>U.S. blockade and aggression, including the 1961 Bay of
>Pigs invasion.
>
>For many casualties of Operation Pedro Pan, little Elian
>Gonzalez is just the latest tragedy in a decades-long war
>of aggression by the U.S. against Cuba. They have joined
>the many voices calling for his return.
>
> - 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: <009101bf8bc3$52ff7460$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Bhopal survivors fight for compensation
>Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 20:36:00 -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
>-------------------------
>
>AS UNION CARBIDE CEO DISAPPEARS:
>BHOPAL SURVIVORS FIGHT FOR COMPENSATION
>
>By Anya Mukarji-Connolly
>
>The former chief executive officer of Union Carbide is
>missing, as of March 5. Although he resides in an exclusive
>neighborhood in Vero Beach, Fla., Warren Anderson can't be
>found.
>
>Anderson is officially an "absconder from justice." He is
>wanted in India for a trial connected with the Bhopal
>disaster 15 years ago. Anderson's company was responsible
>for the worst industrial disaster in world history, and so
>far the injured survivors and the families of the thousands
>killed have received just a pittance from the company.
>
>DOW AND UNION CARBIDE MERGE
>
>Union Carbide is presently in the process of merging with
>Dow Chemical to create a giant company with assets of over
>$30 billion and annual revenue of over $24 billion. At the
>press conference announcing the merger, these two firms
>said they share "a common culture." No doubt. Dow was the
>manufacturer of Agent Orange and napalm in the Vietnam War.
>
>The merged company will operate in 168 countries.
>
>The merger will save Union Carbide $500 million a year--
>more than the settlement received by all the Bhopal
>survivors. Since that money came out of UC's insurance, the
>company hasn't had to spend one cent.
>
>That's why the survivors of Bhopal are continuing to sue
>for adequate compensation from UC.
>
>An initial claim by the Indian government against UC for
>$3 billion in compensation was finally settled at $470
>million. That money, paid to the Indian government on
>behalf of the victims, worked out to approximately $600 in
>the case of injury and less than $3,000 in the case of
>death. The settlement cost each UC shareholder less than 50
>cents.
>
>`RECKLESS AND DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE'
>
>This past November the survivors and victims brought suit
>in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
>York against Union Carbide and its former CEO, Warren
>Anderson. The lawsuit charges both UC and Anderson with
>violating international law and fundamental human rights of
>the victims and survivors of the Bhopal disaster.
>
>The suit charges the company with "reckless and depraved
>indifference to human life in the design, operation and
>maintenance of the Union Carbide of India Ltd. facility."
>
>On the night of Dec. 2-3, 1984, the largest and most
>destructive industrial "accident" in history occurred in
>Bhopal, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh in
>India.
>
>Toxic gases leaked from the U.S.-owned Union Carbide
>plant, killing about 15,000 people and injuring up to half
>a million.
>
>Union Carbide's business in India dates back to 1924, when
>it established an assembly plant for batteries in Calcutta.
>By 1983, Union Carbide had 14 plants throughout India.
>
>Union Carbide carried out its business in India through
>its subsidiary, Union Carbide India, Ltd., of which it had
>the controlling interest of 50.9 percent of the stock. The
>other 49.1 percent was owned by Indian investors.
>
>In 1969, Union Carbide set up a plant in Bhopal to produce
>a range of pesticides and herbicides. One of the gases used
>in this process, and the principal gas involved in the
>Bhopal tragedy, is methyl isocyanate (MIC), a form of
>cyanide.
>
>Union Carbide knew of the seriousness of MIC as far back
>as 1963, when it conducted research at the Mellon Institute
>at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. It concluded
>then that MIC "appears to be the most toxic member of the
>isocyanate family" and "is highly toxic by both the peroral
>and skin penetration routes and presents a definite hazard
>to life by inhalation."
>
>A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN
>
>Knowing the seriousness of this chemical gas, Union
>Carbide went ahead with plans to build the MIC facility in
>Bhopal next to an existing neighborhood and railway
>station. Its plan had originally been rejected by the
>Bhopal Development Plan, which said the facility should
>have been built in the northeast of the city, not downwind
>of the heavily populated areas.
>
>On the night of the tragedy, a worker at the Bhopal plant
>sounded a toxic alarm warning that there had been a gas
>leak.
>
>In its original design, the Bhopal plant was to have two
>alarms: one to warn the community of any emergency and
>another to warn those working in the plant. Both alarms
>were designed to work simultaneously.
>
>However, Union Carbide, after a number of "minor" leaks at
>the plant, disconnected the community siren from the
>plant's siren. On the night of Dec. 2-3, the community
>surrounding the Union Carbide plant woke not to the sound
>of the emergency sirens but because they were gasping for
>breath, their eyes and throats stinging.
>
>Thousands began fleeing, unable to see, heading southward.
>No matter where they ran, no one could escape the gas,
>which extended over 40 square kilometers.
>
>The police were not informed of the gas leak for about
>half an hour. When they contacted Union Carbide, they were
>told there had been no leak. Not until an hour and a half
>after it had begun did Union Carbide sound the community
>siren and admit to the police that there indeed had been a
>leak.
>
>Prompt warnings may have saved many lives. But by the time
>the community was warned, it was too late and most of the
>people were running southward, with the gas.
>
>When it could no longer hide the devastating "accident,"
>Union Carbide's response was to minimize its seriousness
>and imply that others were at fault.
>
>This transnational giant tried to blame its Indian
>subsidiary. It's a typical capitalist response: protect
>their assets at whatever cost. Billions of dollars in
>punitive damages are at stake in the Bhopal case.
>
>Union Carbide concealed information as to the number of
>deaths, the nature of the gas and the rehabilitation and
>relief efforts. It even claimed in its report of the
>"accident" that the leak had been the result of "sabotage,"
>but never produced any proof.
>
>Union Carbide has a history of "accidents" around the
>world as well as in the U.S. A UC factory in Indonesia had
>a high rate of mercury poisoning among workers. In Puerto
>Rico a community surrounding a factory complained of
>persisting air pollution.
>
>In the U.S., in the early 1930s, 476 Carbide workers died
>and 1,500 were injured from silicosis during the
>construction of a tunnel in West Virginia.
>
>Not one of these corporate executives has faced criminal
>charges. And now Warren Anderson is a fugitive from justice
>in the deadliest industrial accident of all time. CEOs are
>supposedly paid their enormous salaries because they take
>enormous responsibility. But Anderson has dodged
>responsibility from the beginning of this disaster.
>
>When the police want to go after someone, they know how.
>SWAT teams, helicopters, undercover investigators--they can
>be found every day in poor neighborhoods. But not in Vero
>Beach, where it seems the biggest criminals live.
>
>Since the environmental movement won greater regulation of
>polluting industries in the United States, many of these
>firms have moved outside the country. The capitalist
>imperative drives them to look for the cheapest way to do
>business, at any cost--especially if that cost doesn't come
>out of their own pockets.
>
>Thousands of youth, primarily Black and Latino, go to
>prison in the U.S. every day, simply for being poor. But
>the corporate executives responsible for this catastrophe
>have never spent one day in jail. Even the meager
>compensation UC paid was the result of years of struggle by
>the survivors. The company won't even make a public apology
>for the disaster.
>
>Today Bhopal is a city made even poorer by the Union
>Carbide tragedy. Much of the work available is manual
>labor, and survivors of the tragedy suffer many injuries
>that make work difficult. Secondary infections of the lungs
>and respiratory tract, blurry vision, dizziness, difficulty
>in breathing and pain are common. Ten to 15 people die
>every month from exposure-related illnesses.
>
>All the lip service paid by the U.S. government to the
>environment and human rights is worthless as long as Warren
>Anderson and his cronies are allowed to flout the law.
>
> - 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: <009701bf8bc3$66bcdc40$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Editorial: A sucking undertow
>Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 20:36:33 -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
>-------------------------
>
>EDITORIAL: A SUCKING UNDERTOW
>
>Al Gore and George W. Bush have won the crucial "super
>Tuesday" primaries in the Democratic and Republican
>parties, respectively, and are now positioned to be the two
>main big business candidates in the 2000 presidential
>elections.
>
>Gore in particular won with strong support from organized
>labor, which mobilized many foot soldiers to turn out the
>voters on primary day.
>
>As has happened in the United States ever since the days
>of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, the bulk of the
>progressive and working-class movement is being sucked into
>the Democratic Party undertow.
>
>Especially in today's world, since the Soviet Union and
>its allies were pulled down, the U.S. president represents
>an economic and military power that revels in its global
>supremacy. So how does this election look from the vantage
>point of the rest of the world? Do the hundreds of millions
>of super-oppressed workers have anything to cheer about,
>anything to pin their hopes on?
>
>In the choice between Gore and Bush, what must the Iraqi
>people be thinking? Bush's father carried out a massive
>high-tech onslaught against their country with his "Desert
>Storm" war. But the Clinton-Gore administration has killed
>many more Iraqis through sanctions--while continuing to
>bomb in the "no-fly zone" whenever they feel like it.
>
>Can the people of Mozambique feel hopeful that the victory
>of one or other of these candidates will make any
>difference in their epic struggle for survival? The poorest
>of the poor, on a continent whose stolen riches have
>fattened every Western imperialist power, they have gone
>through a murderous post-colonial civil war and now a
>devastating flood.
>
>The U.S. government pats itself on the back because now
>that the waters have receded, it is committing $100 million
>to Mozambique for flood relief.
>
>Number one, some CEO perks and alimony settlements are
>bigger than that.
>
>Number two, the U.S. did virtually nothing to help while
>the floodwaters were inundating the country.
>
>Number three, U.S. imperialism is responsible for the
>lion's share of the greenhouse gas emissions that are
>changing the climate of this planet.
>
>And number four, we can be sure that the U.S. will try to
>charge a political quid pro quo for its meager assistance,
>since Wall Street is hungrily eyeing Africa more than ever
>these days.
>
>None of this will be changed by which candidate wins in
>November.
>
>There are no deep issues dividing the Democrats from the
>Republicans. The Clinton administration has been no
>different in its basic foreign or domestic policies from
>the Republican administrations that preceded it. That is
>clear to Cuba, to Vietnam, to north Korea, to Iraq--to all
>the countries bullied and robbed by this giant imperialist
>power.
>
> - 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)
>
>
>
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