[WW] Philadelphia's History of Police Racism
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - PHILADELPHIA'S HISTORY OF POLICE RACISM By Betsey Piette Philadelphia No Philadelphia police officer has ever been convicted for an on-duty murder, despite the fact that police have killed more than 300 Black and Puerto Rican people in the last 30 years. >From 1989 to 1995 there were 2,000 documented citizen complaints against the Philadelphia Police Department. During a two-year period in the mid-1990s the city paid $20 million in damages to 225 people who were beaten, shot, harassed or otherwise mistreated by police. That was before the 39th Police District scandal in 1995 led to the dismissal of 1,400 criminal cases where cops ignored suspects' rights and sometimes framed them outright. During Frank Rizzo's tenure as police commissioner in the 1970s, the predominantly white police force was feared and hated in the Black and Latino communities because of its brutality and racism. Police attacks on the Black Panther Party, the MOVE Organization and the public led to many demonstrations. This period is chronicled in the documentary film "Black and Blue." Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal wrote about many of these cases. Abu-Jamal was also targeted by the police. In December 1981 he was shot, kicked and beaten by cops and subsequently sent to death row for the killing of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal and millions of supporters around the world maintain that he was framed by the cops, who were desperate to silence this "voice of the voiceless." Philadelphia police are not only brutal. They are notorious repeat offenders. During a 1978 confrontation with police in Powelton Village, four cops dragged MOVE member Delbert Africa by his hair, then kicked him in the head, kidneys and groin. Like the Jones case, this brutality was also captured on video and later led to the indictment of three officers on assault charges. In February 1981 a judge acquitted the cops. Delbert Africa was subsequently arrested and is now one of the MOVE 9 prisoners serving a 30-100 year term. The three acquitted cops went on to participate in the murderous assault on the MOVE house on Osage Avenue on May 16, 1985. A bomb was dropped on the house, killing 11 children, women and men and burning down the entire block. - 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) -- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[WW] Philly: Clergy, Activists Denounce Cop Terror
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - PHILADELPHIA: CLERGY, ACTIVISTS DENOUNCE COP TERROR By Betsey Piette Philadelphia An indoor interfaith rally against police brutality July 23 drew over 1,000 people in the wake of the racist police beating of Thomas Jones and the killing of Robert Brown by Amtrak cops. A multinational crowd of over 800 filled the Morris Brown A.M.E. Church to capacity while hundreds more gathered outside, a few blocks from the intersection where a news helicopter taped police beating Jones on July 12. Rally organizer the Rev. Vernal Simms Sr., president of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia, promised the movement wouldn't stop there. He called for a march to target Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham, who has filed 41 charges against Jones, yet refused to charge any of the police who beat him. Several speakers left the indoor rally to address those who stood outside for over three hours, frequently chanting "No justice, no peace" and urging organizers to bring the event outside to the streets. Rally speakers included Black, Latino and Asian clergy, political and community representatives from Philadelphia, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, both national leaders in the fight against police brutality. Activist Pam Africa of International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal was welcomed to the stage. Several family members of both Jones and Brown were in attendance. Minister Rodney Mohammad of the Nation of Islam denounced claims that the Jones beating wasn't racist because Black cops were involved. The Rev. Luis Cortez described the police assault and beating of a Puerto Rican minister, the Rev. Frank Buelna, last October. "We were told to be patient," Cortez said. "But the officers who beat Buelna have been on the streets for nine months now." Attorney Charles Bowser recalled the names of many Black men who were killed by the police in Philadelphia. He warned the audience not to fall victim to the press campaign to smear the victims of police brutality, recalling a case from the 1970s when the media found Black school children "at fault" for allegedly inciting the police who beat them. Martin Luther King III urged the crowd to join an August 26 rally against racial profiling in Washington. The Rev. Al Sharpton challenged city officials, the media and other church officials who violence-baited the rally. "They have the arrogance to tell us to calm down. Some one should have told the police to calm down," Sharpton said, noting that Brown was shot and killed less than a week after Jones was beaten. Sharpton also chided those who publicly criticized his participation as "an outsider," noting that they are welcoming Bush and 45,000 Republicans to town at the same time. - 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) -- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[WW] Moorehead/La Riva 2000 Run Activist Campaign
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - MOOREHEAD/LA RIVA 2000: "WE'RE RUNNING AN ACTIVTST CAMPAIGN" By Greg Butterfield New York When it comes to judging this year's presidential candidates, it's all about actions, not words. Republican George W. Bush talks about "compassionate conservatism" while ordering lethal injections by the truckload. Democrat Al Gore preaches "personal responsibility" while pushing trade agreements that free big business from any responsibility for workers' rights or the environment. And what about Monica Moorehead, the Workers World Party candidate? She's helping to build the international movement to save political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. "We're running an activist campaign," Moorehead told Workers World. "My running mate, Gloria La Riva, and I have dedicated this year's campaign to the struggle to avenge Shaka Sankofa and free Mumia Abu-Jamal." Last spring, while other candidates were glad handing voters and spending millions of corporate dollars to win the primaries, Moorehead was busy too. She coordinated the May 7 Day for Mumia at Madison Square Garden that brought out 6,000 people to demand a new trial for the death-row journalist. "The real issues this year are racist repression, the prison-industrial complex and the death penalty," Moorehead said. "That's exactly what the capitalist candidates, from Gore and Bush to Nader and Buchanan, don't want to talk about." Moorehead explained: "Elections don't change things. Mass movements of the people do." "The electoral system is set up to serve the interests of capitalism," agreed La Riva, a Chicana trade unionist from San Francisco. "That's why we use our socialist campaign to reach people with the message of fight back." Here's an abbreviated list of the duo's campaign stops so far: On April 15, Moorehead was among 678 people arrested in Washington at a demonstration for Abu-Jamal and against the prison-industrial complex. It happened during the convergence against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. On May 1, La Riva marched in Havana, Cuba, alongside 300,000 Cuban workers celebrating International Workers' Day. At the rally in Revolution Square, La Riva told the crowd about Abu-Jamal's case and the plight of the 3,600 women and men on death row in the United States. On June 19, Moorehead and La Riva participated in a panel discussion on Cuban national television about the struggle to save Abu-Jamal and Shaka Sankofa, formerly known as Gary Graham. On June 22, La Riva and 17 others were arrested after they locked arms and blocked traffic in San Francisco to protest Sankofa's imminent execution in Texas. On July 10, Moorehead led five other Black activists in disrupting Bush's speech at the NAACP convention in Baltimore. "Remember Gary Graham!" they chanted. "Bush executed an innocent man!" The bold action made headlines worldwide. Now the two communists are focused on building militant protests at the Republican and Democratic conventions. "We're just getting warmed up," Moorehead said. For more information or to get involved in the WWP campaign, visit the Web site www.vote4workers.org or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] - 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) -- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[WW] Mumia Tears Away Bush's "Mantle of Lincoln"
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - FROM DEATH ROW: MUMIA TEARS AWAY BUSH'S "MANTLE OF LINCOLN" By Mumia Abu-Jamal "Slavery is a blight on our history, and racism is still with us. ... The party of Lincoln has not always worn the mantle of Lincoln." Gov. George W. Bush, Texas. (excerpt from NAACP speech, July 10) With the pleas of half a dozen brave protestors shouting about the "legal lynching" of the late Texas death row inmate Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa) ringing in the Baltimore air, the nation's Republican presidential candidate appeared before the NAACP national convention in an attempt to demonstrate the ways of a "compassionate conservative." In his 20-minute speech that invoked the names of NAACP founder W.E.B. DuBois, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and other historical figures, Gov. Bush demonstrated, if not great oratorical ability, that indispensable political skill of talking without saying much of anything. For who but the dimmest among us doesn't know that slavery was a blight on our history," or that "Lincoln's party has not always worn Lincoln's mantle?" Bush, speaking before a predominantly Black group, did not mention "affirmative action," the "confederate flag," "Amadou Diallo," "Gary Graham," nor the "death penalty." He did refer to "school choice," a code for public tax support for vouchers. The national membership gave Bush polite and tepid applause. Despite an invitation issued in opening remarks by NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, Gov. Bush did not define the often- touted term, "compassionate conservative." One wonders, however, what is it? A "reasonable racist?" A "friendly fascist?" A "doting despot?"It appears a "compassionate conservative" is a conservative who smiles while saying "no." With regard to the "mantle of Lincoln" and the "party of Lincoln," it appears that neither the mantle nor the party of Lincoln were what we've come to think of as Lincoln. Consider the insights of historian James McPherson who, in his book The Negro's Civil War (1965/1991), notes the idea of the Republican Party as anti-slavery and Lincoln as the supporter of equal rights were seen as nonsense at the time: "The Republican party, nominally anti-slavery, was officially opposed only to the extension of slavery into the new territories. No major political party proposed to take action against slavery where it already existed. During the campaign, Democrats charged that if the Republicans won the election, they would abolish slavery and grant civil equality to Negroes. `That is not so,' rejoined Horace Greeley, an influential Republican spokesman. `Never on earth did the Republican Party propose to abolish slavery Its object with respect to slavery is simply, nakedly, avowedly, its restriction to the existing states.' ...Lincoln himself had repeatedly voiced his opposition to equal rights for free Negroes." [pp.3-4] The "party of Lincoln?" "Compassionate conservative?" The brilliant Frederick Douglass, although a Republican "field hand" (his own words), bitterly attacked President Lincoln during the height of the Civil War: "I come now to the policy of President Lincoln in reference to slavery. ... I do not hesitate to say, that whatever may have been his intentions, the action of President Lincoln has been calculated in a marked and decided way to shield and protect it from the very blows which its horrible crimes have loudly and persistently invited... He has steadily refused to proclaim.complete emancipation to all the slaves of rebels who should make their way into the lines of our army. He has repeatedly interfered with and arrested the anti-slavery policy of some of his most earnest and reliable generals." (McPherson, p.47) Frederick Douglass was speaking in 1862, several years before the war ended. While he was a Republican (as were many Blacks of that period) he was not reluctant to strongly criticize a Republican President--in wartime! Can African-Americans today do any less? Both major American political parties exist to serve corporate interests, above all else, not the interests of workers, or the poor, or the oppressed. Instead of the sickening sycophancy that today passes for Black support of political parties that don't support Black interests, we should learn from the bold, outspoken Douglass. Criticize! Viable, radical and revolutionary parties should also be organized and energized to provide real, meaningful alternatives. - 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)
[WW] LA D2K Protesters Win Legal Victory
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - ALL OUT FOR MUMIA AUG 13: LOS ANGELES D2K PROTESTERS WIN LEGAL VICTORY By John Parker Los Angeles Remaining defiant in the face of the Los Angeles Police Department, Mayor Richard Riordan and city officials, activists organizing protests at the Democratic National Convention felt strengthened after a court victory upheld their right to protest near the convention site. A federal district judge ruled July 19 that a "no-protest zone" proposed by the police "covers much more area than necessary." "The LAPD, the mayor and members of the City Council used vicious attacks, slander and violence baiting to stop the planned national marches and protests," said Maggie Vascassenno of the International Action Center. "But," she continued, "we refused to back down. We told the media, City Council and mayor that we would gather at Pershing Square and march to the Staples Center whether we received a permit or not." The police commission had refused permits for Pershing Square. It also denied the protesters' right to come within blocks of the Staples Center, the convention site. Vascassenno's group is part of the Los Angeles Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. The coalition is holding the first protest of the convention--the Aug. 13 National March for Mumia--and was the first organization to apply for a permit to gather at Pershing Square and march to the Staples Center. The IAC and the Los Angeles Coalition were plaintiffs in an injunction filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the LAPD and the city. The lawsuit challenged a plan developed by the LAPD that blocked protesters from using an enormous public area around the Staples Center. Other plaintiffs in the case were Service Employees Local 660, National Lawyers Guild and the D2K Convention Planning Coalition. The IAC is also co-sponsoring a demonstration with the Save the Iraqi Children Coalition on Aug. 15 to protest the bombing and sanctions against Iraq, which are killing 5,000 people--mostly children--every month. With buses coming in from northern and southern California, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest, city officials may have decided that revoking basic First Amendment rights was not only unpopular, but also impractical. DEFEAT FOR LAPD In his July 19 ruling, U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess said: "The area to be cordoned off covers approximately 185 acres of land surrounding the convention site. Its configuration prevents anyone with any message, positive or negative, from getting within several hundred feet of the entrance to Staples Center where delegates will arrive and depart." Although Feess agreed with the cops about their right to enforce a no-protest area for "safety," he said the zone proposed by the cops "covers much more area than necessary to serve this interest." Feess added, "Although it may be more convenient for delegates to have exclusive access to the immediate area, convenience can never predominate over the First Amendment." Fees also ruled that it was unconstitutional for the city to demand 40-days advance notice for permit applications. According to IAC organizer Magda Miller, momentum is still building for the Abu-Jamal protest and the Iraq demonstration. "The spirit is really strong here. People are fired up and this is their chance to be heard." Miller added that the LAPD's defeat in court helped build that feeling. "They call this the land of freedom and then they try to take away our freedom to walk in the street with a picket sign. But we won. And we'll keep on fighting because the battle isn't over yet." Miller said that Pam Africa, Ed Asner, Leonard Weinglass and the popular musical group Aztlan Underground will attend the Aug. 13 demonstration. But it's not only celebrities who will be at the event, she emphasized. Los Angeles is ablaze with multi-colored posters announcing the Abu-Jamal demonstration. Awareness of the protest is high and many people plan to attend, Miller said. - 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) -- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[WW] Priority #1: Fight Racist Repression
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - WWP CANDIDATE MOOREHEAD: PRIORITY #1--FIGHT RACIST REPRESSION [Workers World Party 2000 presidential candidate Monica Moorehead issued the following statement to protesters at the Republican Convention.] What should the main focus of the 2000 presidential elections be? Depending on who you ask and what the person's social status is, a variety of issues might be raised. Some people think the economy should be the top issue. The super-rich bankers and CEOs might say the economy is booming and thriving. But many workers have to take on two or even three jobs just to make ends meet, if they can find jobs. There are those who would like to discuss Social Security and whether pensions should be invested into the stock market. And what about the health-care crisis, AIDS in Africa, the environment, homelessness, oppression of the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities, and assaults on women's reproductive rights? The list could go on and on. Of course these issues and many others warrant special attention. They all reflect the kind of society we live in and the system we live under. Capitalism puts making profits for big business before meeting the needs of the people. But there is another important issue that strategically stands out head and shoulders above the others. In fact, this issue impacts in one way or another on every aspect of class society and the class struggle. What is it? Racism. The masses are not engaged in the elections. And for good reason. There's nothing distinguishable between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Both are rich white male capitalist politicians cut from the same cloth. And when it comes to racism, they skirt the issue or talk about it only when forced to. In reality, both Bush and Gore had hoped they wouldn't be confronted with the issue of racism until after Nov. 7. It's not as though they think racism doesn't exist. Rather, they understand that both big-business parties are dependent on racism, just as plants need water and sunlight to survive. Of course, racist white supremacy has existed in the United States for centuries and has taken many economic and political forms. The victims have mainly been the descendants of African slaves, Indigenous nations or colonized peoples who were forced to flee their homelands by the imperialist super-exploitation of their labor and resources. Many of the latter came here hoping to find better lives for themselves and their loved ones. Unfortunately, what they have faced is an intensification and deepening of racist repression. DEAFENING SILENCE ON RACISM Take racial profiling. Cops consider driving while Black or Latino to be a crime. It's the norm, not the exception. People of color are actually being schooled on how to deal with cops when they are stopped for looking like a "suspect" so they will not end up in the hospital or the morgue. Police brutality has reached epidemic proportions. Just a week after the February debate between Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, four white cops were acquitted for the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo, the young West African vendor, in the Bronx, N.Y. There was Tyisha Miller, a 19-year-old Black woman, who was sprayed with bullets by police as she sat in her car in Riverside, Calif. There was also the tragic slaughter of Patrick Dorismond, a young Haitian man. Dorismond was shot by a New York undercover cop who tried to entrap him with drugs. And there were the two recent incidents in Philadelphia. A television videotape captured more than a dozen cops beating a Black man, Thomas Jones, right after he'd been shot five times. Six days later, an Amtrak cop shot and killed another Black man, Robert Brown, in a train station. Where were Gore and Bush during all of this? Did they make a big deal out of these atrocities? They said nothing. In fact, their silence is deafening. What about the growth of the prison-industrial complex? The prisons are overflowing with more than two million poor and oppressed people while Wall Street is raking in profits. SANKOFA COVER-UP The biggest public legal lynching since the Rosenberg execution took place in June. Shaka Sankofa, also known as Gary Graham, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas--under the orders of none other than Gov. George W. Bush. For weeks, the major corporate media carried major expos‚s on how all the suppressed evidence from the original two- day trial pointed to Sankofa's innocence. They exposed his incompetent lawyer. Sankofa instantly became the face of the 3,600 faceless people on death row. Major television networks went to the Huntsville death chamber to carry live coverage leading up to the execution. This was unprecedented. But even with all the publicity showing Sankofa's innocence, Bush told the media to go to hell. He ga
[WW] Gov't Tries to Curb Protests
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper - ACTIVISTS CALL FOR RESISITANCE: GOV'T TRIES TO CURB PROTESTS/ ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-CAPITALIST ORGANIZERS FACE TRIAL SEPT 25 By Brian Becker As large demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic conventions draw closer, the question of how much right the people in this country have to disagree with the capitalist establishment grows hotter. Last April 15, nearly 700 people were arrested, detained and handcuffed in school buses, remote ad hoc police stations and underground basements in Washington. They had violated no law. They had been standing on a sidewalk peacefully protesting against the rise of the prison- industrial complex. The mass arrest on April 15 was an act of preventive detention and a clear violation of the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Among the arrested were shoppers, tourists, a visiting Park Ranger from North Carolina, and a Pulitzer Prize- winning photographer from the Washington Post. They were all caught up in a police sweep that must have been authorized by high government officials. The police had sealed the entire area around the demonstration on April 15 and then refused to let anyone leave. On Sept. 25, the first group of these political activists and organizers will go on trial in Washington. They face up to 90 days in jail if convicted of "disorderly conduct." The calculated use of repression in Washington was the first time the government got to display a new country-wide strategy aimed at crushing or marginalizing the new anti- capitalist movement that grabbed world attention in Seattle street protests last November. The same calculated use of police violence, break-ins, intimidation and mass arrests that took place in Washington last April is now evident in the government's tactics countering planned protests at the Republican and Democratic conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE PROTEST The government is anxious to get a conviction at the Sept. 25 trial. There is a good reason for this. The police want a conviction to protect themselves. A class action lawsuit against the government and police will be filed on July 27 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A coalition of progressive attorneys will be acting on behalf of those arrested, others who had their offices broken into by government and police authorities, and the many beaten by the police in Washington on the weekend of April 15-17, when thousands protested outside a meeting of bankers and corporate tycoons at the International Monetary Fund. The lawsuit will charge that the government and police engaged in a massive conspiracy to violate the First Amendment right to free speech and assembly and the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal searches and seizures. It should be obvious to all that the capitalist class in the United States has encouraged a new era of aggressive police tactics to circumvent the burgeoning youth movement that has launched a struggle against the World Trade Organization, the IMF, Wall Street banks and corporations, and the prison-industrial complex. All the preaching to school children about democracy, the cherished status of the Bill of Rights and the right to free speech is being exposed as a fiction masking the brutal rule of the corporate and banking elites. Yes, everyone is entitled to "free speech," but only so long as the smooth functioning of all the capitalist institutions is never disrupted by those who denounce poverty, exploitation, low wages, sweat shops, police terror and the modern-day form of lynch-law justice known as death row. Police are readying the big fist approach now in Philadelphia and in Los Angeles. The Republican and Democratic conventions, these much-vaunted symbols of U.S.- style democracy, will be protected by thousands of riot- clad police. Billy clubs, tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades and armored personal carriers will be at the service of the delegates of "democracy." WHOSE CONVENTIONS? But whose conventions are these? Whom will they represent? Corporate America is contributing $42 million to "help" the two parties pay for their conventions, reports Douglas Turner in the July 17 edition of the Buffalo News. Microsoft is donating $1 million each to both the Republican and the Democratic conventions. United Airlines is giving $500,000 to the Democratic extravaganza while US Airways is donating $500,000 to the Republican Convention. These two airlines want to merge their operations to further corner the market, lay off airline workers and cut wages. A quick glance at the funding reports for the two conventions reveals that both parties are completely in the back pocket of the major capitalist corporations, banks, and oil monopolies.
