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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2002
READERS' VIEWS
SEARCHING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TO BUSH'S 'PERMANENT
WAR' The threat of nuclear annihilation is more ominous than
it has ever been, with the recent disclosure that the Pentagon is considering
the use of tactical nuclear weapons not only against President Bush's declared
"axis of evil" comprising Iraq, Iran and North Korea, but now extended
to include Libya and Syria, as well as China and Russia. During the Cold War
with Russia, the danger of nuclear war was held in check by the fear of mutually
assured destruction. That standoff no longer exists. It leaves the U.S. as the
only superpower-evidently free to think the previously "unthinkable." Alarmed The War Resisters League has just sent out a letter
enclosing their most popular flyer on "Where Your Income Tax Money Really
Goes." Along with it they really dramatized the situation by describing the
recent picture in The New York Times showing Secretary of War Rumsfeld receiving
a check from a group of middle school students for $10,187.93 to help rebuild
the Pentagon! Can anyone imagine sending money to the Pentagon? The students
clearly wanted to do something to help in our recovery after the September 11
horror. But here is what the WRL asked everyone to think about: What is $10,187.93 to the Pentagon? About two seconds of
the war in Afghanistan; one hour's flying time for a B-52; a small portion of
training, equipping and sending one U.S. "advisor" to teach Filipinos
how to fight terrorism. Their email address is wrl@igc.org
for those who want more information. WRL supporter Carrying signs opposing U.S. military action in the
Middle East, some 200 protesters from the metro Detroit area rallied on March 9
in front of the Army recruiting station in Dearborn, a western suburb, with a
large number of residents from the Middle East. Their signs declared: War is
Terror; Peace for all Children; Bombing Civilians is Terrorism; and War Does Not
End Terrorism, War IS Terrorism. The organizers of the various participating
groups, including Detroit Women in Unity against War/ Women in Black, vowed to
continue their protests on a monthly basis throughout the Detroit area. Observer I'm shocked even though I'm not surprised that a bill
currently being considered by the state Senate would require students from
countries linked by the U.S. to terrorism to check in with local police monthly.
One of the September 11 pilots was here on a student visa and that's their
excuse. What's next? With Timothy McVeigh in mind, will they have all U.S. vets
register with the police, or everyone with an Irish name, or what? Youth Activist I question the space you devoted to attacking a lame
duck like Phil Gramm in the article in March about the students' protest when he
spoke at a college in Memphis. Gramm doesn't have a chance at anything political
ever again in his life, while we have a near-Nazi in actual power in Washington
and soon even newspapers like N&L may be banned. I know you're thinking
"it will never happen here..." But I see them wiping their feet on the
Constitution already. Ana Lucia Gelabert How do we project an alternative that people can believe
in? People recognize the crisis and their precarious position. The real problem
is the sorry Left. It was striking that at the recent anti-WEF demonstration in
San Francisco those who bought N&L and would talk with us about it were
primarily those from other countries, like one Israeli youth, another youth from
Germany, and a Mexican supporting the Argentina revolt. But it was difficult to
talk with American youth there. I felt that the Left has so tarnished the
discussion of what is Marxism that it was hard to engage people even at this
anti-capitalist demonstration. Some claimed to be too busy to discuss any ideas.
How do we get through that the problem isn't lack of action or military might or
the riches of the ruling class, but knocking down the ruling ideology of
capitalism. Activist-thinker The most frightening terrorists in the world today are
not in some foreign country but right here in the Bush administration in
Washington, D.C. I have lived through the Great Depression of the '30s, World
War II, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf and Cold Wars, but I have never felt the fear
I am experiencing today. It is very clear that Bush and his cohorts are
determined to establish a Pax Americana unlike anything attempted before. To do
that they have to make sure the masses of America are under complete control.
That is why they have a double offensive as we have already seen in the
repressive civil rights legislation put into effect behind the smoke screen of
"national security." They have to be stopped. Old Radical JUSTICE AND ABNER LOUIMA I was driving in my car when the news came over NPR
concerning the exoneration of three out of four police officers in the beating
and torture of Abner Louima. I actually pulled into a driveway off the road and
sat there with my mouth open because I could not believe what I was hearing. Not
only was I shocked that this kind of "judgment" was even under
consideration, but then heard it claimed that the police were denied their
rights to a fair trial! In Chicago there was barely any coverage in the media.
Then this week three police officers here were found "not guilty" in
the beating death of a prisoner, a "verdict" evidently being rendered
countless times all over the country. Are we being told that this is what the
term "homeland security" means? Erica Rae The exoneration by tabloids here of police
involved in the Abner Louima scandal has greatly increased tensions and
divisions between the Black and white working class. Preying on pro-police
sentiments of working class whites following the September 11 attacks, this kind
of reporting outrages the African-American community and effectively divides a
sizable population along racial lines. Outraged citizen IDEAS AS UNIVERSAL We just celebrated the 131st anniversary of the Paris
Commune, which could be called an opposition that was not "effective"
in the sense that the Communards didn't win. But its meaning keeps re-emerging
in the world and in the way it changed Marx's thinking. The categories Marx made
of the Commune come alive in Dunayevskaya's critique of Leopold Senghor, (March
2002 N&L) for making an amalgam of "effective" opposition. Marxist-Humanist A WORKER'S LIFE IN 2002 Most of the poorer people here in rural North Carolina
have been hit very hard by the cutbacks and freezing of welfare programs that
are essential to their survival. I have seen people near death because of the
freezing of the Medicaid program that provides gasoline vouchers so people can
get to the doctor. That can be a distance of 25 miles and there is no public
transportation. S. Rose I am 10 and a half and was coming home from a movie with
my dad when I noticed the Immokalee workers' protest and was handed two flyers.
I read one and gave the other to my mom. I completely agree with the terms and
conditions they are asking for. I don't know if I am old enough to protest,
although my parents agree as well. I just want people to know I support these
workers and will do whatever I can to help. Youth The Workshop Talks article in the March N&L on the
"Truth of John Q." points out that assaults in Emergency Rooms and
hospitals are on the rise, and gave a bigger picture of what's going on than the
movie itself did. The powers-that-be are concerned only with the need for more
security, not with getting to the source of the problem. We need to look at
"crime in the suites, not the crime in the streets." The real threat
in the workplace is not John Q. It's in the "commodity fetishism."
Everything militates against you having a dignified and productive work life,
but you don't have anyone to take it out on. The violence on the street has an
insidious source. David Mizuno'Oto REMEMBERING CHINESE PHILOSOPHER WANG RUOSHUI Thank you for the "In Memoriam" to Wang
Ruoshui published in your January-February issue. I would like to include it in
the web site set up for him. The address is www.wangruoshui.com. You might like to know that he had an English name,
Walter, given to him by his high school English teacher. He told me it came from
German and meant warrior. Actually, he was a warrior all his life. He was born
in 1926. The Japanese invasion cast a heavy shadow on his childhood and made him
become a patriot. The world of books gave him a pure mentality and a heart
filled with love. He attended a Yale in China program in high school and
developed his early interest in philosophy. Through participating in the student
protest movement of "anti-hunger, anti-persecution, and for freedom and
democracy" in the late 1940s he joined the underground Communist Party.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he became an editor of the
People's Daily and worked there for more than 30 years. He experienced the loss of self identity during the
Personality Cult to Mao, and became a dedicated mouthpiece of the party-state.
He gradually resumed his independent thinking in the early 1970s. When he lost
his membership in the Party in 1987, he felt as if he was liberated once again
and published his most important works after that. He thought it was his responsibility to write about what
he had witnessed as a journalist and his analysis as a philosopher. He devoted
his later years to this unfinished career. He never felt hopeless or powerless,
continuing to write and publish both in China and abroad. Even in his last days,
he still dictated his thoughts to me on three issues: first, the reasons for the
failure of the Chinese democratic revolution; second, his rethinking on Engels'
classic explanation of the fundamental question of philosophy; and third, on the
tragedy of Premier Zhou Enlai and his relationship with Mao Zedong. After he passed away, his friends at the Fairbanks
Center of East Asian Research at Harvard set up a "Wang Ruoshui Book
Fund" and will host a symposium on May 15 about the role he played in the
post-Mao era. Feng Yuan Editors note: The graphic above comes from the cover of
the Chinese edition of Raya Dunayevskaya's 'Marxism and Freedom,' for which Wang
Ruoshui wrote the Preface. CONDOLEEZZA AND DUBOIS When I read in a Readers' View that the NAACP was
planning to honor Condoleezza Rice, I could feel a distinct rumbling beneath the
earth, which could be nothing less than W.E.B. DuBois turning in his grave. Subscriber ARGENTINA The most interesting outcome of the crisis here were the
people's assemblies taking place mainly in Buenos Aires and big cities like
Rosario or La Plata. It is a spontaneous way of politics, a kind of direct
democracy where people of diverse ideology, age, and class meet periodically at
a public place like a park to discuss public matters and produce papers to be
put forward. Members of the traditional parties see these meetings as a
challenge and blame them for producing "chaos." Real democracy remains
our biggest utopia. Observer There is something profound about what is coming out
from the movement in Argentina, yet there is a hesitation in the leaders about
where the movement is going. The vanguardists' answer is always the need for a
central party. Independent intellectuals, because they don't have a relation to
workers, talk only about the past, and look to Peron with rose-colored glasses.
They have no confidence in where things are going today. We say that what is
needed is not to hand people simple answers to what's wrong but to ask them to
dive into hard questions. Mitch Weerth The article in the January-February issue of
N&L on "Argentina's Crisis" goes straight to the point.
That's exactly how we feel here in Buenos Aires-as if a slow earthquake were
taking place, and we don't know when it will stop and what will be left
afterwards. We have to keep moving, there's no other choice for us now. Mora ON THE BRITISH SCENE The Trades Union Council here has announced its concern
over the treatment of young workers. What is the matter with organized labour?
Has no one noticed that this is the norm? Rogue employers are wide-spread
starting with the government itself. Witness the recent disputes at the
department of transport. Bullying goes on throughout all industries. Deaths in
the construction industry continue to rise. Pension rights are eroded. Older
workers find it increasingly difficult to find work while women will now have
their working life extended to age 65. Those still working have the worst
conditions in Europe. Young people may draw the conclusion that rights are
little more than a myth. The links with the Labour Party have cost workers
dearly. Patrick Duffy WOMEN'S STRUGGLES 2002 When I read the March lead describing atrocities against
women in South Asia and the Middle East, I was reminded of Margaret Atwood's
chilling novel, Handmaiden's Tale, which portrays religious fundamental
patriarchy taken to its logical extreme in the U.S. I now realize that this was
not a "futuristic" story after all, but a contemporary one. R.H. In her lead article in the March issue, Maya Jhansi
pointed out that Bush stopped contraceptive aid to Afghanistan. It shows the
Talibanism right here in Bush's ideology. The continuing discussion among women
worldwide shows that the determinant for the future is not militarism, is not
the war, but humanism. R.B. The "Women Moving Beyond Violence" forum here
was amazing in that women from many different backgrounds spoke on different
topics, from environmental racism to domestic assault to the situation of Afghan
women. It showed the movement of the dialectic in women's fight for freedom.
Marquita Bradshaw, a young Black woman founder of Youth Terminating Pollution,
said that since the squeaky wheel gets the grease she was going to keep on
squeaking while having a "total confrontation of isms." She said she
saw youth rising up again. I say, keep squeaking, Marquita! Brown Douglas Maya Jhansi's article in the March issue on "Women
fight terror, war in South Asia and Middle East" rightly pointed to the
"honor" killings as part of the terror there. It reminded me how
"honor" killings were part of the way slavery was enforced in the U.S.
when a Black person could be killed on the spot for offending a white's
"honor." While it was really murder, such killings were part of the
"chivalry" of the South and not prosecuted. The legacy of the
"chivalry" is the fact that the U.S. is the most violent society in
the world to this day. Urszula Wislanka Readers of N&L would want to know that April 13 is a
national day of protest against what are being called Crisis Pregnancy Centers,
which are in reality the abortion fanatics' way of luring women looking for
information about pregnancy into their clinics. What they will get instead of
help is an anti-abortion tirade full of outrageous lies-such as abortion causing
breast cancer! The Women's Action Coalition in Memphis is planning to protest in
front of one of these phony clinics with information leaflets and a skit. There
is a web site for those who want more information: http://hometown.aol.com/dbauer7478/cpcprotest.html. WACer We appreciate your continued efforts in bringing out
issues that affect the marginalized in society, the majority of whom are women
and children. The availability of such information facilitates our efforts for
policy change and prioritization on issues that affect women. N&L is a
welcome addition to our resource center. Juliet Were Oguttu AN APPEAL FOR HELP FROM ISRAEL Israel is my country but I do not recognize it these
days. I just received an email from a Palestinian woman calling for urgent
action to stop the Israeli attack against her people that does not even allow
doctors and ambulances to get injured people to hospitals! All day we hear
reports of inhumane acts carried out by the Israeli army. Israeli peace and
human rights activists have been working at a frenzied pace at every level. We
are trying to get the Israeli public to understand that violence is only the
symptom but the underlying disease is "occupation." The situation is
shocking. We need help desperately to bring this horror to an end. Gila Svirsky WHO HARBORED SAVIMBI? Isn't it strange that Jonas Savimbi was offed just when
the whole world's attention is on terrorists after September 11. Just when we
are about to go after not just the terrorists, but "all who harbor them and
support their evil deeds." Mr. Savimbi is no longer with us to tell us
exactly who harbored him. He would have been a valuable witness in the Hague to
tell us how extensive was the behind-the-scenes network that enabled his
"evil deeds." He could have told us all the money sources, CIA agents'
names, Pentagon connections-the whole network which allowed him to roam and
terrorize for over two decades. Hospital worker CHICAGO's TRUE HISTORY Chicago celebrated 165 years as a city on March 4, 2002.
Never mind that 58 years have been subtracted from the total of the actual
founding year (1779). Maybe that's because Mr. Jean-Baptiste Point DuSable,
under the law of the U.S., is considered Black. Although he was from Haiti and
of African descent, he was never a slave either in Haiti or the U.S., but how
could the powers that be give complete credit to a non-white man for his part in
the history of Chicago? Even today, Mayor Richard M. Daley refuses to give Mr.
DuSable his complete reward. Please don't mention DuSable Museum because a
private citizen started that in her house. Please don't mention DuSable High
School, because the African-American community demanded it. All the City of
Chicago public offices, as well as its grammar and high schools, were closed
March 4 for a holiday to honor General Casimir Pulaski, who commanded patriot
troops in the American Revolution and died in 1779. But there was no mention of
Mr. Du-Sable who made a permanent residence in what is now downtown Chicago the
year Pulaski died. There is no statue to Mr. DuSable and no doubt never will be
so long as the city remains racist and Daley remains its mayor. George Wilfrid Smith, Jr. VOICE FROM THE INSIDE I truly love your paper. Without it I would be in the
dark about the atrocities that are being committed not only abroad but to our
own Constitution and Bill of Rights, all in the name of anti-terrorism. It seems
as if some American Gestapo has run wild and the Department of Corrections has
run with it. I have witnessed prisoners of Arab descent being denied the little
we prisoners have coming, and even saw a couple placed in segregation for
supposed investigation to see if they had Al Qaeda links! Black and white
prisoners who are Sunni Muslims are harassed verbally and receive more than the
routine shakedowns and strip searches. I am not a Muslim or of Arab descent but
I know that Muslims and Arabs are not all terrorists. I am Irish. That means
that with some I too have a strike against me. I'm enclosing four 34-cent stamps
in hopes it will cover some of the cost of sending me your pamphlet Voices from
within the Prison Walls. Prisoner Editor's note: All contributions to our Donor's Fund are
used to send N&L and requested copies of our pamphlets to prisoners who lack
funds. Can you help? |
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