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NEWS & LETTERS, NOVEMBER 2003Readers' ViewsBLACK LATIN AMERICA John Alan's column in the October N&L on race in Latin America raises questions about places like Brazil, where race has come up in a new way. On the one hand, Lula has appointed the first Black supreme court justice and appointed more Blacks than anyone. On the other, they are having difficulty initiating quotas because of Brazil's racial make-up. While the U.S. was developing racist "scientific" theories about the superiority of the white race, Brazil developed a big mulatto population mostly through intermarriage. They had a concept of "whitening" Brazil. I understand that one of the ways Brazil pursued that was to encourage European emigration to the south of Brazil rather than use the Black labor already there. It is a very serious issue and I appreciate the way John Alan is sparking that discussion. --Mitch Weerth, California *** When politicians talk about Latin America they tend to refer to a continent or islands where everybody speaks Spanish and everybody is of European descent. But that is not the historical reality. As John Alan showed, Black and African slaves were already members of Columbus' crews. The struggles carried on by the Blacks in the U.S. are the same struggles carried on by Black Latin America. The ideas they spread influenced the whole continent. Racism has been used as an instrument of exploitation and the divisions between classes is reflected in the color of skin. Racism has been reflected also in the exploitation of the Haitian peoples used by the American corporations to work in the sugar plantations with inhuman conditions. Religions have also been an instrument of exploitation and class division. Many Blacks and indigenous peoples were used to extract gold and silver from the mines, working 12 and 16 hour days, while the Catholic churches forced them to build missions and monasteries and try to make them believe it was their destiny to live like animals. --Dominican-American, California * * * WOMEN'S LIBERATION AS MEASURE OF FREEDOM At the Labor Notes Biannual Conference on "Troublemaking in Troubled Times—Organizing to Win!" Joseph Akinlayja, General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of the Nigerian Labor Congress spoke in the final session of the strategies that helped them oppose Big Oil in Nigeria. The tanker truck drivers had been organized into the same union, and supported their strike. What was to me an especially important part of his report was that when the women spontaneously occupied Chevron, the union supported them and continued to work closely with them without trying to dictate what form of organization they would develop. --Susan Van Gelder, Detroit *** The article on "Women are Human" in the October N&L made me ask why we still have to say that in our times. It is relatively recently that women and children started being considered victims of homicide and acts of violence against them began to be considered a crime. The quote from the Iraqi women's statement that "women's freedom is the measure of freedom and humanity in society" sounded very much like something Marx said in 1844. It is still accurate. --David, Oakland, CA * * * WAR, RESISTANCE, AND the NEED FOR A NEW ALTERNATIVE--A REPRISE In the Perspectives Thesis which was first published in the July N&L and then developed and adopted at the National Gathering over Labor Day, the concern was to confront the impasse the movement against global capital faces when the immediate facts in the cycle of war and terror dominate discussion. It is imperative, first of all, to comprehend the nature of the objective stage we are fighting. To say the latest stage of imperialism is a determinate stage of capitalist development and not a conspiracy hatched by a few neo-conservatives in the White House doesn't mean there aren't a lot of contingencies and conspiratorial plots. After all, we just learned that Bush's pre-September 2001 energy task force focused primarily on how to divvy up oil contracts in a post-war Iraq. It means that the general tendency was there even under Clinton, who started us on this road to permanent war. It also doesn't mean there aren't differences among capitalists over how to carry out this permanent war. Wesley Clark may have a very different view of how to conduct this war than Bush, but it is from the same point of view of better serving the needs of global capital. Once you see that imperialism is organic to capitalist development, your opposition to it focuses on the problem of transcending capitalism. --Ron Brokmeyer, California *** The Perspectives Thesis explicitly rejects "a one-sided opposition to U.S. imperialism" and I absolutely agree with that. But I find a tendency to assume "imperialism" is the root of world problems without adequately considering other factors. For instance, it states "This has not stopped global capital from continuing to strip the continent (Africa) of raw materials and natural resources—often through the mediation of local capitalist, regional states and domestic elites—as most tragically seen in Congo, where over three million have perished since 1998." Despite the title "War, resistance and the need for a new alternative," the deadliest war on the planet is not directly mentioned. The sentence quoted implies more than it says, but gives the impression that three million or more have perished because of exploitation by "global capital," while forces within Congo and within Africa are reduced to "mediation." While there is a damning historical critique of the West's responsibility for underdevelopment, poverty and dictatorship in Congo, much less clear is the role of Western governments and corporations since the fall of Mobutu. Did they light the fire, fan the flames, or just not do enough to put it out? Have they intervened too much or too little? What can Marxist-Humanists and other internationalists do to help the people of Congo get out of this hellish mess? In posing the questions I don't mean to imply that I have any answers. We need to research and debate all these questions. --Richard Bunting, England *** It may seem overwhelming to call for breaking with the production of surplus value. But it must have seemed just as overwhelming in the 1840s to call for the end of slavery. Yet there were not just slaves and free Blacks, but also white Abolitionists who would not compromise with slavery. They together were the ones who brought on the Civil War that ended slavery. --Black writer, California *** Much of the Left is preoccupied with throwing out the present administration in the next elections. It's not that I am not for that, but it is wishful thinking to believe that if we only had more benign leaders we'd solve our problems. N&L's distinctive contribution is its indictment of the capitalist system in its entirety. --Supporter, New York * * * WHAT MAKES A SAINT? As the world press focuses on the Vatican's efforts to make Mother Theresa a saint I couldn't help thinking that while she did help some people--especially the sick poor nobody else would touch, like the lepers--what she did to women and children is debatable. Her strong, vocal opposition to abortion and birth control--even among the poor who could not afford physically or financially to have any, much less unlimited children--contributed greatly to the existence of that sea of suffering babies and dying mothers she is credited with helping. The real saints are those who do whatever they can to keep that from happening. --Mary Jo Grey, Chicago * * * ISRAEL AND PALESTINE WOMEN'S MARCH Please think seriously about joining our women's International Human Rights March in Israel and Palestine this winter, from Dec. 20 to Jan. 11. During this three-week period we will hold a daily march to advocate peace and human rights, walking through Israel and Palestine, splitting the days evenly between them. There will also be cultural and musical exchanges. To get more information on the itinerary and contact information about the committees organizing groups where you live, visit the international website at http://humanrightsmarch.org. --Gila Svirsky, Jerusalem * * * COUNTERING ETHNIC FRICTION An old radical who worked in the mines in northern West Virginia in the '30s told me this story about countering discrimination in the mines. There is a long-standing tradition in the coal mines that if a miner is killed in the mines, all others walk out in respect. In one mine, most of the miners, including Irish, Russians, Italians, Poles and Slavs walked out, but several did not. The miners who walked out got together and met the men who had stayed in and beat the hell out of them. But to avoid ethnic frictions, the Irish beat the Irish, the Russians beat the Russians, the Italians beat the Italians, and so on. That was the way, he said, that they kept unity in the rank-and-file. --Ex-miner, Detroit * * * CONTRADICTIONS IN LATIN AMERICA The mass movement in Bolivia proves how correct are the ideas of N&L when a people with rocks and determination were able to overthrow a giant supported by a big empire, and a poor nation of peasants, mine workers and farmers took destiny in their hands without the need of a vanguard party or the rhetoric of famous intellectuals. It proves how strong are the voices from below. This is only the beginning of many victories that are going to follow in Latin America and in the world. If Engels said when Marx died that he was a genius, what can we call Raya Dunayevskaya who visualized these passions and dimensions in our world? --Revolutionary, Los Angeles *** In Argentina many people on the Left are taking an undifferentiated position in favor of any form of national or religious fundamentalism. The existence of the Argentine Left is neither real nor virtual. Practically everybody is nationalist and very close to fascist positions. Peronism is again on the ascendancy and there's almost no resistance to it. Where have all the autonomists gone? --Radical, Buenos Aires * * * RHETORIC VS. REALITY You hear more and more people asking how our leaders can talk about needing to rebuild another people's country (after they have destroyed it) when our own country is in such a mess. I keep remembering that Bush's campaign slogan before he became president was "we should not try to be the world's policeman or intervene in every hot spot in the world." Unfortunately, Bush may be left hanging in the wind in Iraq, but it's the American people that are paying the price for his folly. --Observer, California * * * A packed house crammed into the small auditorium at Christian Brothers University here to hear Kathy Kelly, the three time Nobel Peace Prize nominee who helped initiate Voices in the Wilderness. She cut past the rhetoric of war to the reality of the lived experience of war in Iraq. She told a moving story of the director of the musical conservatory in Baghdad who described the destruction of one of the most important cultural assets in the Middle East and directed students in a Sibelius song in Arabic. The song describes the people's affinity with humanity in overcoming the divisions between us and Kelly sang the song to the audience in Arabic. --Anti-war activist, Memphis * * * REPARATIONS RUN-AROUND A first hearing on the Reparations Class Action Lawsuit here was on Feb. 26 before Judge Charles R. Norgle in a courtroom too small to accommodate everyone. The plaintiffs were pitting descendants of Africans who were enslaved in the U.S. against 13 domestic corporations and one foreign corporation (Lloyds of London). The defendants want a dismissal of all counts. After both sides made their introduction, Judge Norgle set May 7 for the next hearing. At that second hearing Judge Norgle listened to a total of eight minutes of testimony from all the attorneys. The attorney for Lloyds said he didn't know if the main office in London had been served with the papers. The plaintiffs' attorneys wanted to get depositions because of the age and health of the direct descendants. By the time of the third hearing on July 21, one of the main plaintiffs had died. The defendants' attorneys came with three motions to dismiss the case. The plaintiffs' attorneys said they had not received any of the judge's recent ruling "in writing." The judge seems to be leaning toward doing what the defendants want—namely, to throw out the case. --George, Chicago * * * SUPPORT STRUGGLES OF IRAQI FEMINISTS Regarding Anne Jaclard's article in the October issue of N&L, "Challenge from Iraqi Feminists," about the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq which I co-founded: I was very pleased to see a North American Leftist trying to reach out to oppressed women under political Islamists and recognizing their cause without giving priority to the Islamists, who were the favorite allies of the Western Left due solely to their being anti-American. You need to know that I was banned from many Leftist anti-war gatherings in Toronto because I did not compromise women's issues and spoke forcefully against the abuse of women's rights in Iraq, which are becoming much more obvious in the post-war Iraq. Many in my group (I'm sure) breathed a sigh of relief that finally, somebody cares about women's issues without blinding themselves voluntarily to the facts. I am very pleased to be acquainted with free thinkers and real Marxists like yourself. --Yanar Mohammed, Baghdad, Iraq Editor's note: For more information about the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, visit their website www.equalityiniraq.com. |
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