>strawberry workers their right to genuine union
>representation.
>
>In this hostile climate, the boss-supported "Farm Workers
>Committee" won a contested election last year. The Farm
>Workers promptly filed over 200 objections, initiating a
>lengthy hearing process. The union withdrew its objections
>on May 3, a day before the labor board's decision. Union
>leaders said they made this decision so bargaining could
>move forward, and to avoid a long and bitter fight.
>
> "Now our only objective is seeing strawberry pickers work
>to produce genuine improvements in their lives through
>union contracts," said Farm Workers President Arturo
>Rodriguez.
>
>The company union represents more workers. But the Farm
>Workers union now represents pickers in Coastal Berry's
>fastest-growing operation, along with another 40 workers at
>Swanson Berry Farms, California's largest organic
>strawberry farm. This constitutes a hard-won foothold for
>the Farm Workers, given the vicious campaign the bosses
>have waged against the union.
>
>
>
> - 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: <006701bfdd69$3d658070$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] NYPD blues: Springsteen vs. cop racism
>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 19:17:46 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 29, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>NYPD BLUES: SPRINGSTEEN VS. COP RACISM
>
>By John Catalinotto
>New York
>
>The U.S. Commission on Human Rights has charged the New
>York Police Department with using "racial profiling" to
>stop and question people. According to a report issued June
>16 by an advisory panel of the USCHR, this tactic is a
>factor in racial tensions that can lead to "tragic and
>unnecessary" incidents like the February 1998 shooting of
>Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in the Bronx.
>
>President Bill Clinton was forced to appoint the panel
>after mass protests and civil disobedience shook New York
>in the wake of Diallo's death.
>
>While the panel was making it findings public, the NYPD
>was expressing outrage over a new Bruce Springsteen song
>aired at an Atlanta concert for the first time on June 4.
>The song is subtitled "41 shots"--obviously about the
>shooting of Diallo, although it doesn't mention him by
>name.
>
>A jury in Albany, N.Y., earlier this year acquitted the
>four cops who shot Diallo. But few in the South Bronx
>believes the police story that the shooting was justified.
>
>The lyrics of Springsteen's song simply describe an
>overall atmosphere that makes contact with the police
>dangerous for people of color in this country.
>
>Springsteen is a popular rock singer who first rose to
>stardom in the 1970s. Many of his songs are sympathetic
>with blue-collar workers. But the singer is not known as
>anti-cop, and had even recently given a concert to honor a
>police officer killed on the job.
>
>That didn't stop New York police spokespeople from
>reacting in fury to this song.
>
>Bob Lucente, who was then president of the New York state
>chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, on June 9 called
>Springsteen a "f---ing dirtbag." After adding an anti-gay
>epithet, he said, "He goes on the boycott list."
>
>A week later Lucente handed in his badge. His bigoted
>remarks outraged people of color, the lesbian, gay, bi and
>trans communities, and other New Yorkers. Lucente was
>forced to resign.
>
>Patrick Lynch, president of the New York City Patrolmen's
>Benevolent Association, sent a letter to city cops asking
>them to refuse to work security at Springsteen's concerts
>in Madison Square Garden starting June 19. Lynch and other
>cop defenders claim that the Diallo killing had nothing to
>do with racism.
>
>Diallo's mother, Kadiatou Diallo, had a different opinion.
>"I am delighted that people are opening up their eyes and
>hearts about these cases," she said June 12. "It shows that
>people really care about what happened to Amadou."
>
>Siakou Diallo, Amadou's father, also said he appreciated
>"anything that people do to keep his memory alive."
>
>HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT CHARGES `RACIAL PROFILING'
>
>Springsteen's lyrics were far closer to the USCHR report
>on the NYPD than were the cop spokespeople's statements.
>
>The report pointed out that in Staten Island, where the
>population is only 9 percent Black, 51 percent of the
>people stopped and searched by police were African
>American.
>
>According to Chris Phillips, editor-in-chief of a pro-
>Springsteen magazine called Backstreets, the song struck a
>chord in the Atlanta audience. By the song's end, they were
>singing along with the refrain, "41 shots."
>
>"For everyone in the crowd to get it so quickly is really
>incredible," said Phillips. "It was probably the strongest
>reaction by a crowd to an unknown song that I've ever
>seen."
>
>No wonder the cops tried to intimidate Springsteen and the
>management of the Garden. They know how guilty they are of
>racist terror, and they know that millions in this country
>know it too.
>
>The police also know that a song from a rock star that can
>keep filling Madison Square Garden makes a bigger impact
>than a report from a commission. And both the song and the
>report carry a similar message.
>
>
>
>
> - 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: <006d01bfdd69$5d0e5c30$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] COINTELPRO-style break-in at Mumia office
>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 19:18:39 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 29, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>COINTELPRO-STYLE BREAK-IN AT MUMIA OFFICE
>
>By Greg Butterfield
>
>On the night of June 8, International Concerned Family &
>Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal reported, its Philadelphia
>office was subject to a "COINTELPRO-style burglary . when
>an unknown person or persons made off with important
>files." The stolen files contain financial records and the
>names of high-profile contacts.
>
>"I believe this was a government plan to disrupt our
>work," said Pam Africa, the coordinator of Concerned Family
>& Friends.
>
>The theft of financial records is especially significant
>because Concerned Family & Friends is struggling to obtain
>full tax-exempt non-profit status for Abu-Jamal's legal
>defense fund.
>
>Last year a witch hunt by state and local government
>forced the Black United Fund to withdraw as the defense
>fund's sponsor.
>
>Africa said the office's one entrance is kept locked, so
>the burglars must have used a lock pick or a key to the
>office. No office equipment or other items of value were
>taken.
>
>Africa cautioned groups working on Abu-Jamal's case to be
>prepared in case they are targeted for similar burglaries.
>
>Pennsylvania death-row activist Abu-Jamal has played a big
>part in galvanizing the movement to abolish the racist
>death penalty and save Texas prisoner Gary Graham/Shaka
>Sankofa.
>
>As a result, proponents of legal lynching are zeroing in
>on his supporters for attack.
>
>The break-in came just weeks after Abu-Jamal's literary
>agent Frances Goldin, Clark Kissinger of Refuse & Resist,
>and six other Free Mumia activists were sentenced to
>supervised probation for their participation in a civil-
>disobedience action at Philadelphia's Liberty Bell last
>July 3.
>
>"Supervised probation" means the activists can't travel
>without permission from their parole officers. They must
>present detailed records of their activities and finances.
>They are not allowed to visit Abu-Jamal or associate with
>anyone who has a criminal record.
>
>At a June 6 news conference at the Brooklyn, N.Y.,
>probation office, Kis singer said he would "draw a line"
>and refuse to hand over required paperwork. Goldin,
>Kissinger and 25 others held an impromptu demonstration
>inside the probation office.
>
>Kissinger invited everyone to come back and protest on
>July 11, when he is required to appear again.
>
>SOYINKA SPEAKS OUT
>
>Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka visited
>Abu-Jamal on death row June 9. The next day he spoke with
>death-penalty foes in Pittsburgh, where he called for a new
>trial for the former Black Panther.
>
>Soyinka said he was "still waiting for a reply" to the
>letter he and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote
>last year to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, asking for a
>review of Abu-Jamal's case.
>
>Abu-Jamal's supporters are gearing up for a summer of
>resistance. After June 22, Federal Judge William Yohn is
>expected to announce a hearing in Philadelphia to consider
>whether he will hear new evidence of Abu-Jamal's innocence.
>
>Death-penalty opponents plan to pack the courtroom and
>demonstrate outside in support of a new trial.
>
>Major demonstrations will take place at the Republican
>convention in Philadelphia July 29-Aug. 5 and at the
>Democratic Convention in Los Angeles Aug. 13-17.
>
>For more information, readers can visit the Web site
>www.mumia2000.org or call Millions for Mumia at (212) 633-
>6646 in New York or (415) 821-6545 in San Francisco.
>
> - 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: <007301bfdd69$80b89bf0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Yugoslavia: Not so isolated after all
>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 19:19:38 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 29, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>EDITORIAL: YUGOSLAVIA: NOT SO ISOLATED AFTER ALL
>
>When NATO moved into the Serbian province of Kosovo and
>Metohija a year ago on June 10, U.S. plans were to continue
>to isolate and dismember what was left of Yugoslavia. The
>"International Tribunal" in The Hague--set up and paid for
>by U.S.-NATO forces--had indicted Yugoslav President
>Slobodan Milosevic for alleged war crimes. It looked like
>Montenegro, the remaining republic joined with Serbia to
>form Yugoslavia, would be the next target.
>
>Now a year has passed, and it turns out Yugoslavia is not
>so isolated after all.
>
>Li Peng, chairperson of the Standing Committee of the
>National People's Congress of the People's Republic of
>China, addressed a joint session of the Federal Assembly of
>Yugoslavia this June.
>
>Li said the U.S. missile attack on the Chinese Embassy in
>Belgrade 13 months ago that killed three Chinese
>journalists and rendered the embassy building unusable is
>"a case of grave international wrongdoing seldom seen in
>the history of diplomacy and a gross violation of China's
>sovereignty.''
>
>He attacked the U.S. and expressed solidarity with
>Yugoslavia.
>
>The head of a Cuban Communist Party delegation visiting
>the hometown of President Milosevic in June said the people
>of Yugoslavia, "just like the Cubans, have shown they are
>not ready to lose their identity no matter what price they
>have to pay for that."
>
>He added that the Cubans "admire Yugoslav resistance" to
>the "policy of hegemony of the West," during and after
>NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia last year. "Both
>Yugoslavia and Cuba have the same enemy, but it is most
>important that we are not afraid of that enemy."
>
>So China and Cuba have reaffirmed their solidarity with
>Yugoslavia. And other forces are chipping away at the U.S.
>position. Even Amnesty International has accused U.S.-NATO
>forces of war crimes.
>
>And then there is the story of Danish soccer star Peter
>Schmeichel. After his team lost a match June 16 in the EURO
>2000 games, Schmeichel made an astonishing announcement to
>the media.
>
>He said, "Tonight I officially applied at the embassy of
>the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for a Yugoslavian
>passport. The Yugoslav football team is excellent, and it
>is the only team I would like to play for. I personally
>asked President Slobodan Milosevic to grant me Yugoslavian
>National Passport, because I highly respect him and his
>achievements in last year's war against NATO aggressors."
>
>It's hard to imagine a superstar athlete making such a
>remark unless this reflects an attitude more widely held in
>the population.
>
>And in Montenegro itself, local elections have put pro-
>Yugoslavia and pro-Milosevic parties in office in some of
>the most important cities, despite all the funds pumped
>into the anti-Yugoslavia parties by the U.S. and its NATO
>allies.
>
>Yugoslavia deserves all the solidarity it can get. And it
>is getting some.
>
> - 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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