[WW] Oklahoma Executes Disabled Black Lesbian
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - WANDA JEAN ALLEN: OKLAHOMA EXECUTES DISABLED BLACK LESBIAN By Elijah Crane On Jan. 11, the state of Oklahoma executed Wanda Jean Allen, an African American lesbian who was brain damaged. Allen was the first African American woman executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. She was the first woman put to death by the state of Oklahoma since 1903. These facts, combined with the questions regarding the extent of her brain disability, drew widespread international attention to the case. Oklahoma executed 11 people last year, ranking second highest in the United States. The first is still Texas, where Gov. George W. Bush oversaw the execution of more than 150 people--more than all other states combined. Forty people were put to death in Texas in 2000. In January 2001, Oklahoma broke its own record with seven executions carried out in a single month. The previous record was four in 1933. THE CASE OF WANDA JEAN ALLEN Accused of killing Gloria Leathers, her lover of two years, Allen was sentenced to death in 1988. After an argument that broke out between the two women in a grocery store parking lot, Leathers called the police to accompany her and her mother back to the couple's apartment in order to collect her belongings. The cops left the apartment before Leathers. According to Allen, Leathers beat her with a rake at that time. Pictures of Allen taken after the events supported that claim. However, evidence of the attack was withheld from Allen's trial. The cops claimed they saw the rake in the apartment and foresaw a possibility of it being used in a physical confrontation between the two women. They said they removed it from the apartment before they left. So all evidence and references to the attack were barred. Allen was charged with capital murder. That is out of the ordinary in a domestic abuse case. But she had all the cards stacked against her, living in a racist, bigoted society and being African American, lesbian, poor and disabled. Allen's IQ was officially 69. During the trial prosecutorial misinformation--including claims that Allen graduated from high school--conflicted with reports that she was cognitively impaired. As happens in many death-penalty cases, Allen's lawyer did not provide adequate representation. Her only hope to reverse the sentence was that the Oklahoma State Pardons and Paroles Board would act favorably on a request to recommend that Gov. Frank Keating grant clemency. National lesbian, gay, bi and trans groups and grassroots activists organized a call-in campaign to Keating's office demanding clemency for Allen. When the board met to take up her case on Dec. 13, activists and death-penalty foes packed the room. But the decision was 3-1 against Allen. The board would not recommend that her sentence be reversed. Keating would not take action either. At the time, he was being considered for a position in the cabinet of his colleague, "Gov. Death"-turned-President-Elect-Death George W. Bush. JESSE JACKSON ARRESTED The Rev. Jesse Jackson traveled to Oklahoma twice to call for a stay of execution. On Jan. 10, police arrested Jackson with 27 other death- penalty opponents taking part in a civil-disobedience action in front of McAlester State Prison. After spending the night in jail, Jackson met with Keating on Jan. 11, urging him to grant a 30-day stay based on Allen's brain disability. A federal court in Denver had already denied the appeal by Allen's lawyers. Keating firmly turned down Jackson. The governor inaccurately cited Allen's ability to complete school as proof that she was not cognitively impaired. Allen's lawyers then took their last appeal to the Supreme Court. Once again, they were denied. Wanda Jean Allen was killed at 9 p.m. on Jan. 11. Lesbian, gay, bi, trans and anti-death-penalty activists are outraged at this flagrant injustice. They will come together at the Jan. 20 demonstration at Bush's inauguration in Washington to raise the case of Wanda Jean Allen and to demand an end to the racist, anti-lesbian/gay/bi/trans, anti- poor death penalty once and for all. - 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 by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail 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] Delegates Join Baghdad Protest
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - TEN YEARS AFTER WAR ON IRAQ: DELEGATES JOIN BAGHDAD PROTEST AGAINST U.S.-LED AGGRESSION Special to Workers World Baghdad, Iraq Fifty anti-sanctions activists led by International Action Center founder and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark joined a demonstration in downtown Baghdad at 2 a.m. on Jan. 17 to mark the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led war of aggression against Iraq. The U.S. delegation joined thousands of protesters chanting "Down, down USA" and "Clinton, Albright, you can't hide, sanctions equal genocide." It was at 2 a.m. 10 years ago that U.S. and British forces unleashed rockets and bombs on sleeping Baghdad. Many protesters held torches to illuminate the streets. They also used them to burn U.S. flags. While life is still difficult for the Iraqi population, the mood of demonstrators was optimistic and combative. In the months leading up to the anniversary, more and more countries had begun individually breaking the ban on flights and other sanctions against Iraq. More than 100 flights have entered Iraq in the last five months. In addition, the heroic uprising of the Palestinians has mobilized the population of many Arab countries against U.S. imperialism and increased the support for Iraq. The U.S. group, called the Iraq Sanctions Challenge, arrived in Baghdad by air the night of Jan. 13, acting in defiance of the U.S./UN imposed no-flight zones. At a press conference at the airport Clark declared, "The U.S. must end the genocidal sanctions against Iraq. The whole world demands that the sanctions be lifted completely and immediately." The delegation spent the next three days visiting sites that demonstrate the consequences of the 10 years of sanctions or those hit by the frequent bombings of the past decade. These sites included a bomb shelter, elementary schools, a university, water and sewage treatment plants, and hospitals. SOLIDARITY IN ACTION The delegation is delivering over $1.5 million in medical and school supplies. Sara Flounders, co-director of the IAC, explained: "This is only a drop in the bucket compared to the need created by the sanctions. The donation of these goods is mainly an act of solidarity, as was our attendance at this demonstration tonight." In a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, Clark denounced U.S. policy toward Iraq. "This is genocide," he said. "The progress that Iraq has made must not be lost at 12 noon on Jan. 20 when George Bush is inaugurated. Inspections teams and the oil-for-food program were both frauds from the beginning. There is no justification for the sanctions. They are a war by other means." Before returning home the delegates will meet the minister of health and visit a pharmaceutical plant, a school for the blind, the Iraqi Women's Federation, a food distribution center and a battleground with known concentrations of depleted uranium in its soil, among other places. On the delegation is New Mexican activist Damacio Lopez, who will be collecting soil samples from the DU sites. A storm of protest in Europe has brought to international attention the threat to soldiers and civilians from pollution by radioactive and toxic DU shells. Years before the Pentagon used DU in Yugoslavia, it used it in even greater quantities in Iraq. While the rest of the delegation will be returning to the United States, Lopez will take the soil samples to Europe for analysis, since the U.S. government has refused to do the study. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein put rumors he was ill to rest by delivering a 20-minute address on Iraqi television Jan. 17. He said the war was a confrontation between good and evil, which was continuing till this day. "Iraq has triumphed over the enemies of the [Arab] nation and over its enemies. ... The missiles and bombs of aggression hit everything material and suitable as target for their weapons. ... But did you know what happened in that continuous encounter then, and in this one which is going on even now? Did you know what the injustice and the embargo did to the people of Iraq?" Hussein identified the criminals as the Western powers in the U.S.-led coalition that inflicted devastation on Iraq. DELEGATION'S MAKEUP The IAC delegation brings together people from 15 U.S. states and seven countries, including Canada, Japan, Lebanon, Greece, Britain, Iceland and Palestine. It includes students, teachers, longtime activists, social workers, lawyers and others committed to peace. The delegates met with the Iraqi host organization, the Organization of Friendship and Solidarity with Iraq. The head of OFSI, Dr. Hashimi, said: "You will see a nation under siege. The siege is from outsiders who say they do it in accordance with law and legality and UN resolutions. "It is a siege to achieve unju
[WW] J20 Lawsuit Challenges Gov't Repression
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER: J20 LAWSUIT CHALLENGES GOV'T REPRESSION [The International Action Center issued the following statement from Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Holmes and Brian Becker at a Washington news conference Jan. 15. Holmes and Becker announced a major lawsuit against government interference with the rights of J20 protesters.] We are grateful to the Partnership for Civil Justice and the National Lawyers Guild for filing a lawsuit on behalf of those who plan to organize protests at the Jan. 20 inauguration of George W. Bush. There is rich symbolism in our announcement, on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., of a major lawsuit in support of the free-speech rights of demonstrators who are fighting against racism and on other social justice related issues. There is an unfinished fight for civil rights that will be represented by our demonstration on Jan. 20. The First Amendment of the Constitution and the right to free speech by those who oppose government policy and specifically George W. Bush's right-wing, racist and anti- woman policies are faced with a new crisis. This is not the first effort by the government and police forces to abuse their power in an attempt to restrain the free speech rights of critics. Our lawsuit specifically asserts that the government's current security plan for the Jan. 20 inauguration is "constitutionally invalid." While the National Parks Service was forced to grant us permits to rally at Freedom Plaza (14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW), at the Justice Department (Pennsylvania Ave. between 9th and 10th Sts. NW), and at McPherson Square (15th and I Sts. NW), we believe that the Secret Service, Metropolitan Police and other government agencies are using the issue of national security as a pretext to inhibit, violate and subvert our constitutionally-protected guarantees to free speech. The lawsuit focuses on several issues, including these two: 1) Access to the inaugural parade route: The government has set up security check points through which all people entering the parade route will be filtered. We believe that the system is established to discriminate against demonstrators who will be denied the access granted to Bush's financial donors and right-wing ideological supporters. The police agencies have told the media that the checkpoints are being established because of the demonstrators. This clearly demonstrates that the checkpoints are not "neutral" but are "content" based. The checkpoints are not really for security, but to restrain the rights of demonstrators to gain access to the parade route. 2) "Unfettered discretion" by police agencies: The police agencies have been calculatingly vague about their rules and conduct regarding security, check points, what will be permitted and what will not. Boundaries and parameters keep shifting, as do the explanations given to the public and to demonstrators by police authorities. This policy of deliberate vagueness is an undisguised attempt to give police agencies "unfettered discretion" on Jan. 20 in regard to their behavior towards demonstrators. On its face, this "unfettered discretion" is a violation of the demonstrators' right to organize and prepare a peaceful and legal assembly. The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court at 10:30 am on Jan. 16. We are in an emergency situation. With only days before the scheduled inaugural event and our demonstration, it is necessary for the courts to take urgent action against the "constitutionally invalid" procedures of the police agencies. Thousands of people are coming to Washington on Jan. 20 to protest racist disenfranchisement of voters--especially from the African American and Haitian community--in Florida and throughout the U.S. They will demonstrate against the death penalty. Since George W. Bush has overseen more executions as governor of Texas than any other governor in history, he has become the face of the death penalty, an inherently racist tool of repression. Just last week, Wanda Jean Allen, the first African American woman to be executed in half a century, was legally lynched in Oklahoma. While George W. Bush did not preside over this particular execution, it clearly demonstrates that "compassionate conservatism" is merely a facade and the death machine rolls on. Many will be there to support a new trial for famed broadcast journalist and Pennsylvania death-row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal Women and their allies are demonstrating in support of Roe vs. Wade and the right to control their own bodies. Workers are coming to protest against the anti-labor policies of Bush and his big-business supporters. The lesbian, gay, bi and trans movement will be bringing a large contingent to Jan. 20. Jan. 20, 2001, will be remembered
[WW] Rebel Against Racism
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - REBEL AGAINST RACISM! By Monica Moorehead and Larry Holmes Martin Luther King III, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, issued a powerful statement on Jan. 12, 2000, about the case of Black revolutionary, political prisoner and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. The statement was written in honor of King's father, the slain civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who would have turned 72 this Jan. 15. It reads in part: "First of all, at the SCLC we are unequivocally opposed to capital punishment. The conductors of the evil system of injustice made Abu-Jamal a political prisoner and now they have planned his execution. As 'conscience-raising members' of the global society, we cannot afford to sit back and let an innocent man die." "The world must know that the judge purposely withheld 'crucial evidence' from Abu-Jamal's case," King wrote. "Experts say this evidence alone could have brought an acquittal. We can no longer afford to allow bias in the criminal justice system to continue. "We must stand by Abu-Jamal's side, just as we stood by the sides of Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Ben Chavis and Joann Little." He continued: "I do not believe it is incidental that I find myself protesting for the life of this innocent man one month after my family and I received the verdict from a multicultural jury that said my father's assassination was part of a conspiracy. Martin Luther King Jr. was brutally murdered because he spoke out against social injustices. "Today we must unite together in the name of justice to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a young man who was respected in the community for reporting stories about economic and social injustices. "We must come together as a family in the spirit of my father, who said, 'the arc of the universe is long but is bent towards justice,' and never give up until we save the life of our brother, Mumia Abu-Jamal," King concluded. This moving statement of support for Abu-Jamal should have been printed in every major newspaper across the country. The question is: Why wasn't it? CORPORATE MEDIA WHITEOUT King has stated on more than one occasion that he firmly believes that Abu-Jamal is innocent and should not be executed. And King is certainly not viewed as a radical, a revolutionary or someone who is against the capitalist system. Such a statement could go a long way toward attracting broader support for Abu-Jamal. One would think that a statement from the leader of a well- respected civil-rights group, as well as a son of the most famous civil-rights leader, would warrant some attention from the mainstream media. But with few exceptions there was dead silence. The same can be said for the media whiteout of the barbaric execution of Wanda Jean Allen in Oklahoma Jan. 11. Allen was an African American lesbian who was poor and mentally disabled. She was the first Black woman to be executed in the United States since 1954. Even the New York Times, the mouthpiece of the so-called liberal capitalist establishment, did not see fit to report on this atrocity. Think of how millions of women took a great interest in the sexual-harassment case that Anita Hill brought before the 1992 Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. In the same way, millions of women would have taken a great interest in Allen's case and organized against her execution, had it been reported in the major media. Then there's the issue of how George W. Bush ascended to the presidency. His victory came about mainly due to the political disenfranchisement of thousands of Black voters in Florida. Bush--along with his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Attorney General Katherine Harris and other Republican Party leaders--carried out a racist conspiracy. This has been well documented. But the big-business media have done their best to downplay this fact since the U.S. Supreme Court voted five to four in Bush's favor and halted the Florida recount. RULING CLASS FEARS ANTI-RACIST REBELLION What do Mumia Abu-Jamal's case, Wanda Jean Allen's execution and the Florida vote theft all have in common? They are all manifestations of racist repression. The corporate-dominated media know racism is at the core of these issues and more. So why do they ignore it or actively cover it up? Because it's in the best interests of safeguarding capitalist rule to give little or no attention to racist repression. At the heart of maintaining the U.S. capitalist system--a form of class rule based on production for profit and the exploitation of wage labor--is a racist ideology based on white supremacy. What do the media and the billionaire ruling class fear more than anything? They fear rebellion of all types. What the bourgeois class espe
[WW] The Protest Bush and the Cops Couldn't Stop
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - THE PROTEST BUSH AND THE COPS COULDN'T STOP By Gary Wilson Chicago Mayor Richard Daley famously said of the police riot that disrupted the Democratic Convention in 1968 that the police are there "to preserve disorder." Something similar might be said of police in Washington preserving the disorder known as the unelected presidency of George W. Bush. The Washington police have conspired with the incoming Bush administration to use all their powers to try to stop demonstrators from voicing their opposition along the inaugural parade route Jan. 20. There is no doubt that tens of thousands will show up at the inauguration parade to protest the incoming Bush administration. They will come from Washington itself and they will come from around the country on buses, trains, planes and automobiles. Jan. 20 will see the biggest counter-inaugural demonstration since the second criminal administration of Richard Nixon took office in 1973. The overwhelming tide of demonstrators that is heading for Washington forced the police to finally grant permits for the mass protests. For months the police had worked in secret with the Bush inauguration committee to defy the law and not grant permits to the demonstrators. When it became clear that tens of thousands were coming to demonstrate whether or not a permit was issued, the police admitted that the legal permits for several sites claimed by the Bush inauguration committee in fact legally belonged to counter-inauguration protesters. However, police attempts to block the protest did not stop after publicly issuing the permits to protesters. Rather, the tactic changed. Police instead announced that for the first time in over 200 years police checkpoints would be set up to approve people and signs entering the mall area of Washington. Protest organizers are challenging this attempt to set up a mini police state to prevent protesters from being seen and heard along the inaugural parade route. Workers World talked with several top organizers of the counter-inaugural protest at the International Action Center. From these interviews it is possible to get an inside picture of the events that led up to the Jan. 20 protests and the biggest government effort in decades to block political protests in Washington. Those who were interviewed include Teresa Gutierrez, co- director of the IAC and a central figure in the progressive coalition organizing the Jan. 20 demonstrations. Gutierrez heads the U.S. Out of Colombia Committee, a nationwide organization that opposes the U.S. military buildup, begun by the Clinton administration, which threatens to open a new Vietnam-type war in Colombia. One aspect of the protests that Gutierrez has been focusing on is defending the rights of undocumented immigrant workers who are being threatened if they join the protests. "The Bush administration thinks it's okay for undocumented workers to come to Washington to cook their food and tend their gardens, but not to protest," she said. WW also interviewed the two IAC representatives who met with the police on Jan. 9 when the permits were finally issued: Larry Holmes and Brian Becker. Holmes and Becker are also co-directors of the IAC, and both are veterans of past political demonstrations in Washington. Both, like Gutierrez, were arrested last April 15 in Washington, when the police rounded up almost 700 anti-death- penalty protesters the day before planned demonstrations against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The illegal arrests were an attempt to intimidate and prevent the anti-IMF actions. The picture that emerges from the interviews, reports in the Washington Post and public statements by the police is that something similar is being attempted this time. Some of the protest organizers call this the post-Seattle strategy. That is, ever since the new protest movement against the oppression and destruction wrought by global capitalism emerged in Seattle in December 1999, the police have adopted a strategy toward demonstrations that is on the borderline of constitutionality. This strategy was seen in Washington in April and over the summer at the protests outside the Republican and Democratic conventions. PROTEST PLANNED NO MATTER WHO WON The struggle for the counter-inaugural protest started three months ago, on Oct. 6. That's when the IAC applied for permits for three protest sites at the Jan. 20 inauguration. The focus of the protest was to show opposition to the death penalty and support for a new trial for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Both George W. Bush and Al Gore support the death penalty, so it did not matter which one won. According to the federal law that covers protest permits for the District of Columbia, unless the permit is denied wit
[WW] Mumia to J20: "Build a Revolutionary Movement"
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - MUMIA TO J20: "BUILD A REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT" As the U.S. presidency changes hands, many, perhaps millions, feel in their guts that American democracy is in peril. Many feel that they are witnessing the inauguration of a great naked thievery, and that their election was stolen from them. I can understand those feelings. I really can. But it may surprise you to know that I don't agree. For the truth is, both major presidential candidates were millionaires and despite what they said, both were auditioning for jobs for the rulers. And the rulers, the mega-rich, have never had much use for democracy. American history is the struggle for democracy, one that is far from finished as Florida taught us. It is struggle between planters and landless, between property and poverty, between rich and poor, between capital and labor. Don't tell me about so called "Founding Fathers." These were, for the most part, men of means, who talked about human liberty and equality while they held thousands of dark bodies in human bondage. They didn't care about no democracy. They cared about property. And as in Florida, American democracy depends on having the fewest people possible participate. Hey, we talk a lot about democracy. How about this? How many of you think you voted for president? Well truth is, most of you didn't. Over one hundred million people voted in the election, but unless you're a member of the Electoral College, unless you are one of the 538 people, you didn't vote for president. To paraphrase Tina Turner, "What's democracy gotta do with it? Answer: not a damn thing." What happened on Nov. 7 was a creation of a political dynasty. Today you'll see the coronation of George II. The King of Death, whose White House throne is made of bones. What's democracy gotta do with it? If this system, this government, really cared about democracy, why would they make voting like an obstacle course? If democracy was prized, then voting would be the easiest thing in the world instead of a frustrating headache. Again what's democracy gotta do with it? English playwright, Tom Stopperd once wrote, "It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting." That says it all, doesn't it? It's past time to build a people's movement, a worker's movement, a radical and a revolutionary movement that changes this sad state of affairs. Let us begin. Now. Ona Move! Long Live John Africa! >From death Row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal January 13, 2000 - 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 by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail 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] Not Just a Coup
- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper - EDITORIAL: NOT JUST A COUP As we go to press on Jan. 17, sources in the imperialist governments of Belgium, Britain and the United States are claiming that the president of the Congo, Laurent Kabila, has been shot and killed by one of his bodyguards. The government of the Congo, however, after an emergency cabinet meeting, said that Kabila is wounded but alive and receiving medical treatment in another country. It announced that his son, Gen. Joseph Kabila, would be in charge of the government and armed forces temporarily. Many sources are calling this a coup, one backed in all likelihood by Rwanda and Uganda. These two countries invaded eastern Congo in the summer of 1998 and have been fighting a war there ever since for control of the rich mineral resources in the area. This explanation barely scratches the surface, however. The cause of the world's biggest war, involving at least seven countries, goes far beyond the battlegrounds in central Africa. The 1.7 million estimated deaths and millions of refugees are casualties not just of a regional power struggle but of a vicious subterranean war among the insatiable imperialist powers. In particular, the U.S., France and Britain are hell-bent on carving up Africa again after a period in which the African people, with the support of the socialist countries, fought to achieve some measure of independence from colonial and imperialist domination. The Congo is cursed with great wealth. That attracted Belgium's rulers, who murdered and maimed millions during the colonial period. In the 1950s an independence movement arose. The Congo's first elected president, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered in 1961 by soldiers in cahoots with the CIA. U.S. capital has played a big role in the Congo since early in the 20th century when the Rockefellers began exploiting the minerals there. The news media in the imperialist countries are generally branding Kabila a "failed dictator," as though his problem comes from the Congolese people. However, an Associated Press story from Kinshasa on Jan. 17 admitted what his real problem was: he had been "angering investors" by not agreeing to a power-sharing formula with Rwanda and Uganda. The Western media have been referring to the conflict as a civil war, even though they also admit that opposition groups in eastern Congo are little more than fronts for these two countries. Rwanda and Uganda have both received much attention and military support from Washington in recent years. They are regarded in Africa as being aligned with U.S. ambitions, especially in the Congo. Kabila, on the other hand, has been receiving support from Angola and Zimbabwe--both countries that fought hard for their independence and are trying to keep control over their own rich resources. Bush's new secretary of state, Gen. Colin Powell, has said he wants to pay more attention to Africa. There is no benign "attention" from imperialism. Plunder and domination are built into any relationship forged by this predatory economic and military power. The movement must demand now more than ever: U.S. hands off Africa! The only attention the U.S. should pay to Africa is reparations for the monstrous slave trade and extraction of resources that have enriched the U.S. ruling class. - 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 by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail 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]>
