General’s Report Spurs Debate Over Afghanistan Escalation

General’s report spurs debate over Afghan escalation

By John Catalinotto
Published Oct 4, 2009 11:42 PM

Gen. Stanley McChrystal has submitted his report asking for as many as 40,000 additional troops for the war on Afghanistan, arguing that they are needed for a U.S. “victory.” President Barack Obama has said he wants time for the administration to examine its strategy regarding Afghanistan.

The battle is now on inside U.S. ruling circles over choosing between withdrawal and a possible Vietnam-like quagmire that could drag on for another decade before ending in a debacle for imperialism.

Within the administration, the Congress, the Pentagon and the corporate media, the opposing sides are revealing their serious tactical differences. The key question is whether they will significantly escalate the U.S.-NATO occupation of Afghanistan.

It would be incorrect to think that one side of this argument represents doves and the other hawks, or that one side has consistently opted for peace and the other for war. Some politicians, no doubt, are looking for narrow advantages or are beholden to their local war industry. But as a look at their records will show, there are militarists on both sides within Congress and the administration. Both have campaigned for wars in the past, and what mainly divides them now is a tactical evaluation of what the U.S. faces in Afghanistan.

Any discussion or debate within the ruling class, especially a sharp one over a key question of war and peace, opens the door for honest anti-war forces to reach the U.S. public with the truth. What is the truth about this war? It is that the U.S. has no right to be in Afghanistan in the first place and that the war is a horrible plague on the Afghans, a burden on U.S. youth who are sent there, and a millstone on working and poor people at home as billions of dollars are handed to the military-industrial complex to be exploded in the mountains of Central Asia.

Divergences at the top

Republican Party leaders and the more rightist media hacks, with few exceptions, are pushing for more troops. These are the same forces that attack Obama at every opportunity. There is no doubt that should the president pull back from his original wholehearted backing of the Afghan intervention, they will blame him for the “loss” of Afghanistan—in other words, for “losing” Afghanistan to the Afghans.

Joint Chiefs Chair Adm. Mike Mullen supports McChrystal’s call for more troops. Apparently this has majority backing at the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates—originally a George W. Bush appointee—has yet to speak publicly on the general’s request, but has said he is open to escalation and that withdrawal is no option.

Even among the brass, however, there are dissidents. The Sept. 27 New York Times reported that National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones opposes the escalation. And Bush’s former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a retired four-star general who organized the 1991 war on Iraq and lied repeatly to provide a pretext for the 2003 invasion there, has reportedly expressed skepticism to Obama regarding the troop increase.

According to the same Times article, opinion at the top levels of the administration is divided. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special “Af-Pak” ambassador Richard Holbrooke, a prime mover of the aggression against Yugoslavia in the 1990s, advocate escalation. Vice President Joe Biden—who early in the Iraq war pushed for dividing Iraq into three parts—now opposes a troop buildup in Afghanistan, fearing a “quagmire” and considering Pakistan a more important U.S. intervention.

By earlier presenting Afghanistan as the “necessary war”—in contrast with Iraq—Obama has restricted his room to maneuver. The bellicose Washington Post jumped on this, chiding Obama in an editorial for having “second thoughts” and quoting heavily from his early statements to push a pro-war position. With a good section of the Democratic Party opposed to escalation, including some of his closest advisers and most of his popular base, Obama has postponed a final decision.

Mass dissent from war drive

The workers, poor and oppressed peoples have no interest in the U.S. military continuing to occupy Afghanistan. Outside ruling-class circles, the latest USA-Today/Gallup poll in late September showed half the people, and 60 percent of Democrats, oppose sending more troops.

Ominous news from Afghanistan on Sept. 27 only encourages this opposition. U.S., British and other NATO troops are being killed at higher rates this year than ever. A top Afghan minister was nearly blown up. As for the people of Afghanistan, a United Nations report stated that civilian deaths associated with the war reached a record high of 1,500 already this year—and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many more are dying from hunger and internal displacement, which leads to infant and maternal deaths at childbirth and many other deadly situations. Contradicting NATO’s propaganda, the occupation has only brought more suffering to Afghan women.

The next step for people in the U.S., as in the other NATO countries, is to demand a withdrawal from Afghanistan. Unlike the two sides within Congress and the government, the workers and unemployed of all nationalities and genders here have an interest in stopping the bloody war and the gush of money being poured into it.

Demonstrations will take place on Oct. 5, 7 and 17 opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and demanding that U.S. troops be brought home. While the ruling class and its politicians debate tactics, real opposition to U.S. imperialism will be expressed in the streets.
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UNICEF supports efforts to immunize Rwandan children against measles

The third Mother and Child Health Week, backed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has kicked off in Rwanda with a twist, with the campaign immunizing children against measles for the first time in the African Great Lakes nation.

Fresh Row Over United Nations Scribe’s Appointment

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Fresh row over UN scribe’s appointment

From Laolu Akande, New York
Nigerian Guardian

A radical idea that is fast gaining popularity that the election of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) should be directly conducted by the General Assembly instead of only a few members of the Security Council as is currently done, could form part of the forthcoming reforms of the world body.

The new President of the General Assembly, Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya, made this disclosure over the weekend when addressing the press at the UN. He was speaking over the outcome of the summit of the General Assembly which ended early last week in New York.

The idea came to the fore last when the Foreign Minister of Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki, raised it last week at the UN. However the President of the Assembly, who holds office for a year, said other delegations had also raised the issue.

A UN reporter had raised the question at the press conference concerning the Iranian Foreign Minister’s view that the Secretary-General’s post should be elected directly by the Assembly, rather than the Security Council. In his response, Dr. Treki noted that other delegations had raised the same point.

According to the General Assembly President: “It would be the Assembly’s decision to take up that aspect of reform when it tackles the overall issue of the Organization’s revitalization later.”

As it is now, only the Security Council of the UN elects the Secretary-General, who is the chief executive of the world body. The Security Council is composed of five permanent members : United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, and 10 non-permanent seats rotated every two years by other UN member-states.

But there are now openly expressed dissatisfaction that the permanent members of the Council, especially the U.S., with their veto powers exercise too much control and influence on the choice of the Secretary-General.

Like every other UN Secretary-General, the incumbent Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was elected late 2006 and the office will not be up for another election until late 2011, towards the end of the five year first term of Ban.

On the other hand, the General Assembly of the UN is composed of all the 192 member-states of the UN with equal vote of one each. While the Assembly is seen as the parliamentary arm of the UN, the Security Council is often perceived as its most powerful organ, since only it can impose sanctions and even declare war.

Commenting on other fallouts of the UN summit which ended last week, Treki, in his first press conference since the close of the Assembly’s yearly general debate, said this year’s gathering, had drawn more than 100 world leaders “who had demonstrated their sustained interest in the UN and a wide array of crucial issues — from climate change to the financial crisis to human rights.”

“I was very happy with the debate,” Dr. Treki said today at the UN headquarters before he fielded questions from the press. “It was very constructive, and the statements showed that the world was very interested in the Assembly and the United Nations and reform of the UN.”

On a question of interest for Africa, - the Assembly’s decision on October 25 to block the self-proclaimed President of Madagascar’s High Transitional Authority from addressing the general debate, Treki said he and a UN legal adviser had met beforehand with representatives of the African countries concerned with Andry Nirina Rajoelina’s upcoming speech. The Transitional Government of Mr. Rajoelina came to power in Madagascar following a military-backed coup in March.

The legal adviser had said that Rajoelina had the right to speak under Rule 29 of the General Assembly’s Procedures. It was agreed, Treki continued, that Rajoelina would speak following interventions made by Heads of States, and that the African Group could then explain its views through a point of order.

Yet, during the debate on 25 September, the representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Comoros, had raised a point of order objecting to Mr. Rajoelina’s participation and requesting a vote under Article 71.

Subsequently, he said, Rajoelina’s participation in the debate was denied by a recorded vote of 23 against four in favour (Denmark, Ecuador, Jamaica, Madagascar), with six abstentions (Cameroun, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Mali, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu).

Coming from Libya where he was a minister before he was elected earlier this year as president of the 64th session of the UNGA, reporters pressed Treki to comment on the futile requests by Libyan Leader Muammar Al-Qadhafi to pitch a tent in various locales in and around New York and New Jersey during his stay last week, or his long speech before the Assembly on 23 September, had distracted from the general debate. But Treki declined saying those questions were outside his competence as Assembly President.

Treki said the legitimate Honduran Government headed by ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales had received much visibility recently and he hoped an agreement could be reached.

He added that he thought all countries respected the UN decision regarding Honduras. In a unanimously adopted 30 June resolution, the Assembly deplored the coup and stressed that it would not recognize any government other than that of Mr. Zelaya’s.

DPRK Demands Direct Talks With the US Involving Nuclear Weapons

October 6, 2009

Kim Jong Il demands US ties for nuclear talks

Richard Lloyd Parry
Times of London

Kim Jong Il told Wen Jiabao that he was willing to take part in multilateral talks, state media reported

Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, has said that he is willing to return to international negotiations on destroying his country’s nuclear weapons, but only if he is satisfied with the result of prior talks with the United States.

In a rare meeting on Monday with Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr Kim expressed “our readiness to hold multilateral talks, depending on the outcome of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [DPRK]-US talks”, according to a report today by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). He said: “The hostile relations between the DPRK and the United States should be converted into peaceful ties through the bilateral talks without fail.”

Many observers doubt that Mr Kim has any intention of giving up his small nuclear arsenal and his form of words suggests that any final resolution is still a long way off. But it represents a softening of North Korea’s earlier furious statement that it would never return to the Chinese-hosted Six Party Talks, after Beijing joined fellow members of the United Nations Security Council in condemning its launch of a long-range rocket in April.

“Our efforts to attain the goal of de-nuclearising the peninsula remain unchanged,” KCNA quoted him as telling Mr Wen, who spent three days in Pyongyang. “The de-nuclearisation of the peninsula was the behest of [North Korea’s founder and Mr Kim’s father] President Kim Il Sung … the Six Party Talks are also included in the multilateral talks.”

Unlike its predecessor, which resisted for years the notion of honouring Mr Kim with bilateral talks, the Obama administration had said that it is ready to deal directly with the North Koreans. The next step is likely to be a visit to Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth, the US special representative to the country.

“Or goal [is] North Korea will return to the Six Party Talks,” the US State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly, said yesterday. “We, of course, encourage any kind of dialogue that would help us lead to our ultimate goal that’s shared by all the partners in the Six Party Talks, which, of course, is the complete and verifiable de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.”

Yesterday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that American and South Korean intelligence authorities believe that, after partially dismantling its nuclear facilities last year during a period of rare progress in the talks, Pyongyang is close to restoring them.

A South Korean MP revealed that an intelligence report says that Kim Jong Un, the youngest son of Kim Jong Il, has been appointed to a senior post in the ruling Workers’ Party to prepare him to succeed to the leadership.

Murder of Two Members of the Honduran Resistance Condemned

Havana, October 5, 2009

Murder of two members of the Honduran resistance condemned

TEGUCIGALPA, October 4.—The Honduran resistance and human rights organizations have condemned the murder of teacher Mario Contreras, vice principal of the Abelardo Fortín Institute, and Lenca leader Antonio Leiva, two members of the resistance allegedly killed by hired assassins.

According to a preliminary report from the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH), Contreras was shot twice in the face 100m from his home by two unknown men on a motorcycle. He was taken to hospital but died shortly after arriving, Telesur reports.

The Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and their Families (CPTRT) affirmed that “according to witness statements provided by relatives, it is presumed that the attacks were perpetrated by hired killers, given that none of the victim’s belongings were missing, ruling out the possibility of robbery.”

Another member of the resistance front, Lenca leader Antonio Leiva, was also found dead in Santa Bárbara, in the west of the country. According to sources close to the victim, he was kidnapped in the morning and his body was discovered in the afternoon in a village in the area.

COFADEH President Berta Oliva informed the international media that several opposition leaders have received anonymous death threats and her organization fears for their safety.

Among those threatened, she mentioned presidential candidate Carlos Reyes, agricultural leader Rafael Alegría, labor leader Juan Barahona, left-wing Deputy Silvia Ayala and human rights activist Andrés Pavón.

Translated by Granma International

UN mission helps launch search for Liberia’s young singing sensations

Young people across Liberia will get their shot at fame as national auditions get under way for a televised music contest in the West African country, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) announced today as it helped launched the event.

33rd Anniversary of the Cubana Plane Sabotage: Cuba Demands Justice

Havana, October 6, 2009

33rd anniversary of the Cubana plane sabotage
Cuba demands justice

ANTI-CUBA terrorism organized and financed in the United States on this date 33 years ago took its worst form when 73 people lost their lives in the sabotage of a Cuban airliner over Barbados.

Since then, every October 6th has been a motive for pain in this country, but also of constantly speaking out against the masterminds of that enormous crime, for them to pay for their deeds, because with the protection of the U.S. government, they are at liberty on the streets of that northern nation.

Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carrilles were the ones responsible for the terrible act, and true justice has yet to be done, given the double standards applied by successive U.S. administrations that claim to be anti-terrorist.

Those in the world who know about this case also express their indignation, and together with the Cuban people, they demand punishment for the terrorists, who have been participants in other blood-soaked crimes.

As an example of the outrageous U.S. attitude, those terrorists remain free while five Cubans have been imprisoned for more than 11 years for defending their country from such criminal acts.

Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino and René González were protecting us from individuals like Posada, several middle-school students told the Prensa Latina news agency.

These young people, together with others of their generation from all over Cuba, will speak out today, Tuesday, at their schools to once again condemn that crime and once again demand justice. (PL)

Translated by Granma International

Havana, October 6, 2009

33 YEARS AFTER THE CRIME OVER BARBADOS

Revealed: Cuban terrorists planned to blow up planes on 14 different occasions

Jean-Guy Allard

A recent investigation has revealed that, between 1959 and 1998, Miami’s Cuban-American terrorists planned to blow up Cuban planes on 14 different occasions, according to Dr. José Luis Méndez, author of several books on anti-Cuba terrorism.

In an interview commemorating the 33rd anniversary of the sabotage of a Cuban passenger airliner over Barbados (which occurred on October 6, 1976 and caused the deaths of 73 people), Méndez emphasized that the perpetrators remain unpunished.

“The U.S. authorities know that international terrorist Orlando Bosch Avila and his organization (of which Luis Posada Carriles is a member) hatched the plot to blow up this plane,” he stated.

“This is not only backed up by investigations undertaken in Cuba: U.S. Associate Attorney General Joe D. Whitley, who analyzed hundreds of public documents and secret CIA and FBI files, concluded that CORU was responsible for the attack and the top leader of this terrorist group is Bosch.”

“That attorney general recommended that asylum be denied to the terrorist on the grounds that it would constitute a threat to the national security of the United States and what happened?” asked Méndez, adding: “George W.H. Bush, who was his chief at the CIA, proceeded to give refuge to Bosch when he was the U.S. president. Just like Posada Carriles, Bosch is at liberty in Miami. These are the double standards of the U.S. authorities when it comes to their terrorists.”

You have spent many years investigating this subject. Was the sabotage of the Cubana Aviation plane on October 6, 1976 the only act planned?

A recent investigation reveals, with no doubt whatsoever, that from 1959 to 1998, anti-Cuban terrorists hatched 14 plots of this kind. Fortunately, the Barbados act was one of the few that they succeeded in carrying out, but there were a lot of threats and they almost succeeded in Panama and Jamaica. I should add that they were responsible for the deaths of 100 people and 89 were injured as a result of these criminal plans. It was not just planes that were affected but airports, tourist and travel agencies, freight companies, airlines, in total there were 118 terror attacks in the period that I mentioned.

Cuba has been the most affected country. And the United States?

Yes, properties, Cuban citizens and firms have been affected, but also citizens and organizations from another 14 countries as well. In second place, the United States has been the victim of attacks by these terrorists, who are tolerated and protected; this internal enemy who inhabits its cities, who champions extreme violence in order to achieve its objectives of overthrowing the Revolution. As you know, terrorism on the part of anti-Cuban organizations is a domestic issue in the United States that remains unresolved: it has the enemy within.

Why, in your opinion, is the U.S. public ignoring this reality?

If current generations of U.S. citizens do not know these facts, it is because they are manipulated and the reality is concealed from them. They have a wall of silence in front of them. They have no idea that, of the 118 terror attacks perpetrated by terrorists of Cuban origin on civil aviation organizations and other firms, 35 were on U.S. properties, some 30% of the total. Some 78 attacks – 66% of the total - occurred on U.S. territory, in different cities. This demonstrates the extent to which these criminals have threatened the national security of the United States.

Is there any hope that Bosch and Posada Carriles will be tried for all the crimes committed?

We have to fight so that these criminals settle their accounts with the justice of the peoples and prevent, once and for all, anti-Cuban terrorist organizations from relying on the protective shield of the U.S. authorities, so that terrorism is no longer a threat to any country. People need to know the reality so that the truth opens up the way. •

Translated by Granma International

Africa-South America Summit in Venezuela Strengthen Ties Between TwoContinents

Africa-South America Summit in Venezuela Strengthen Ties Between Two Continents

Leaders met in the aftermath of the General Assembly and G20

by Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Commentary

A summit of African and South American leaders convened for the second time on the Venezuelan-Caribbean island of Margarita on September 26-27. The gathering was a follow-up to the first Africa-South America Summit held in Abuju, Nigeria in November 2006.

Heads of state representing 61 countries, 49 of whom were from the African continent and another 12 leaders from South America, participated in the event under the theme of “Closing gaps, opening up opportunities.”

Leaders from the various states pledged to continue their cooperation in the political, economic, sports, technological and cultural spheres. The summit on Margarita Island came in the aftermath of both the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

In a welcoming speech by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, he said that “This is the beginning of the salvation of our people,”. Chavez emphasized that the summit will help in breaking the dependence of countries in the South from the industrialized capitalist states.

“The 21st century won’t be a bipolar world, it won’t be unipolar. It will be multipolar. Africa will an important geographic, economic and social pole. And South America will be too,” Chavez said.(Reuters, September 27)

Libyan leader and Chairman of the African Union, Muammar Gaddafi, also spoke to the need for greater cooperation among developing regions. He also echoed his comments before the U.N. General Assembly when the AU Chairman demanded that Africa, Latin America and other geo-political regions be given permanent seats on the Security Council.

“The world isn’t the five countries on the U.N. Security Council,” Gaddafi said. He continued by pointing out that “The world’s powers want to continue to hold on to their power. When they had a chance to help us, they treated us like animals, destroying our land. Now we have to fight to build our own power.” (Reuters, September 27)

From Political Power to Economic Liberation

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe also addressed the Africa-South America Summit on Margarita Island stressing that political independence without economic power can potentially breed conflict both domestically and internationally. In his speech Mugabe traced the history of British colonialism in Zimbabwe and the significance of the land reform process that began in 2000.

As a result of the seizure of land controlled by British farmers, who are the heirs to the colonial system that took control of Zimbabwe in the late 19th century and ousted Africans from the best land inside the country, the western capitalist states have imposed economic sanctions against the ZANU-PF government. Recently, the ruling ZANU-PF party formed an inclusive government with the opposition MDC factions, yet the imperialists have maintained the sanctions against the Zimbabwe state.

“Political freedom or political power is absolutely hollow without the input of economic power, and economic power derives naturally from your natural resources. And these resources have got to be exploited and it is here that our liberation struggle, perhaps, did not go to fruition,” Mugabe said.

The Zimbabwe leader went on to say that “It did not get to fruition because we left the very (colonizing) countries with their very paraphernalia in control of our countries. So we had the economy still in the hands of Britain, in our country, and this was also the phenomenon in other countries, although the powers might not have been British all the time.

“We continue to look at ways and means of associating with our neighbors in the economic field, trying to get their help. And so when Africa associates with Latin America, and we are part of that association, we do hope that, that association will yield benefits on a reciprocal basis.” (Zimbabwe Herald, September 27)

The participants in the summit signed a document on the final day urging the United Nations and the World Bank to provide for developing countries to have greater decision-making power within these international bodies. President Chavez announced that a number of Latin American countries had pledged to start a regional development bank, Banco del Sur, with $20 billion.

Outcomes of the summit

Some of the agreements made at the Africa-South America Summit includes the founding of a “Radio of the South” that would encompass a network of stations anchored within Venezuelan National Radio. The mission of the proposed network would be “to bring the revolutionary struggles of the people of the South to the forefront, and to promote the union of peoples of the South through information exchange and cross-national collaboration.” (21st Century Socialism, October 5)

The network will initially be heard by 40% of the people in Venezuela in addition to merging 18 radio stations in Argentina, 10 in Colombia, 4 in Bolivia, 4 in Honduras and Uruguay, 3 in Panama, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S., 2 in Cuba, Ecuador, Peru and Haiti, and 1 in Guatamala, Dominican Republic, Chile, El Salvador and Equatorial Guinea.

A group of translators in Venezuela will develop programs for Gambia Radio, whose broadcast in turn, will be translated into Spanish. Additional broadcast exchanges will take place with Radio Benin and Algeria’s International Radio.

The proposed Bank of the South will be headed by Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. “It will be our bank, to bring back the reserves that we have up there in the north that they use to give credits to us,” President Chavez said.

In regard to the crisis in Honduras, the summit passed a resolution condemning the coup as well as the siege against the Brazilian embassy. The resolution demanded the immediate reinstallation of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

“The heads of states of South America and Africa meeting on Margarita Island on 26 and 27 September express their deep concern for the current political situation in Honduras,” the declaration read. (21st Century Socialism, October 5)

President Chavez proposed that the Africa-South America Summit create a secretariat that would be based on Margarita Island. The secretariat would ensure the implementation of plans and projects outlined by the summit.

Over the two-day period, memorandums of understanding for the establishment of joint mining ventures were signed between the Venezuelan government and several African states including Sierra Leone, Mali, Namibia, Niger and Mauritania.

With this summit coming on the heels of the General Assembly and the G20 it provided the developing countries in Africa and South America a forum to clearly define their political and economic positions within the global system and to chart a course aimed at genuine independence and development.

Prime Minister of Lesotho Makes Official Visit to Cuba

Havana. October 2, 2009

Prime minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho begins official visit

BETHUEL Pakalitha Mosisili, prime minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, arrived in Cuba on Thursday for an official visit that ends Saturday, on the invitation of President Raúl Castro Ruz.

Mosisili and his accompanying delegation visited the International Sports School (EIEFD) on Thursday afternoon, where they held a pleasant meeting with young people from their country studying there.

Representing their classmates, students Belina Nhasane and Henry Ramone gave the prime minister a warm welcome before moving on to the protocol room, where, in a fraternal exchange, Mosisili expressed his country’s gratitude for the opportunity that these young people have to receive such a valuable education here.

Translated by Granma International

Chicago Conference Calls For Fightback Against Economic Crisis

Chicago Conference Calls for Fightback Against Economic Crisis

Labor, students and community activists speak on need to escalate struggle

by Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Chicago

Chicago Fightback Conference photograph
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53911892@N00/3986457475/

A conference on the deepening economic crisis in the United States took place in Chicago on October 3. The gathering attended by over 200 people was held at the Teamster City building located on South Ashland Avenue on the west side.

Under the theme “They Say Cut Back, We Say Fight Back!,” the event was endorsed by more than 50 individuals and organizations including Armando Robles, President of the UE Local 1110, Richard Berg, President of Teamsters Local 743, Bryan G. Pfeifer, Staff Organizer for the Union of Part Time Faculty, AFT at Wayne State University in Detroit, Gregg Shotwell, rank and file member of UAW Local 2151 in Coopersville, Michigan and the founder of Soldiers of Solidarity, Caucus of Rank and File Educators in Chicago, Christian Hainds, President OPEIU Midwest United Local 2009, Rosemary Williams, anti-foreclosure activist from Minneapolis, Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee, the Bailout the People Movement, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs from Michigan as well as others.

The conference call circulated broadly prior to the gathering states that “We are now in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Millions of homes are in foreclosure. Unemployment is growing. Massive cuts are taking place to the programs that benefit poor and working people, while the government tries to balance budgets on our backs. Inequality is growing, oppressed people–African-Americans, Chicanos, and Latinos are the last hired and the first to lose their jobs.”

This event consisted of three plenary sessions and seven workshops. The topics of the plenaries and workshops included “Building our Fight”, “The battle for healthcare for all”, “The fight for the right to an education”,”Public sector unions and state budget cuts”, “plant closings, layoffs and the economic crisis”, “Economic crisis and the immigrants rights movement”, “Fighting foreclosures and evictions”, etc.

Struggle Develops Against Crisis

Speakers at the conference represented numerous ongoing struggles against the economic crisis, national oppression, the persecution of immigrants and the attacks against organized labor.

Armando Robles, President of UE Local 1110, discussed the history of the successful fight to win a severance package from Republic Windows and Doors during December 2008. The plant occupation and its widespread support, drew international attention to the impact of the economic crisis on workers in the manufacturing sector in the United States.

According to Robles “Workers took notes on efforts to close the plant by the bosses. Over 200 workers confronted management with demands related to their legal right to a severance package. Initially 50 workers occupied the plant and were willing to be arrested. The others picketed outside.”

In the workshop on plant closings and layoffs, J. Burger of Teamsters Local 743 discussed the actions of the union in fighting against management plans to eliminate 450 jobs at the University of Chicago Hospital. Burger said that the University of Chicago’s endowment fund lost $1.4 billion through the market meltdown of the recent period.

Representing workers in the clerical, radiology and food service departments, the union built alliances with other labor organizations and held workplace campaigns against the cuts. The campaign resulted in severance packages for the workers. Most of the workers have been able to get their jobs back over the last several months.

In the afternoon plenary session Rosemary Williams of Minneapolis discussed the months-long struggle against her eviction from a family home of over forty years. Eventually a 35-day siege was carried out by the police and the courts against her home. Eventually by force, the police stormed her residence, evicting the occupants and later sealing the premises.

Stan Willis of the National Conference of Black Lawyers in Chicago, discussed his role as a labor activist while working as a bus driver during a 1968 widcat strike. “The alliance between labor and the community is essential for winning strikes,” Willis said.

Larry Holmes of the Bailout the People Movement talked about the significance of the recently-held tent city and National March for Jobs in Pittsburgh that played an important role in the protests surrounding the G20 Summit. “Our efforts were based in the African- American community which has been hit hard by the economic crisis,” Holmes said.

“The African-American community and the immigrant rights struggle must be up front in these efforts because they are the most oppressed within the U.S.”

From Los Angeles, Manuel Criollo of the LA Strategy Center discussed the disproportionate representation of African-Americans and Latinos within the prison industrial complex. He also addressed the contradictions that are arising out of the Obama presidency. “We have continuing militarism on the one hand along with his statements saying that the U.S. can no longer act as if its is the main economic force determining the world situation.”

A student organizer, Gurujiwan Khalsa, from the University of California system, reported on the recent protests against budget cuts in the state’s higher educational institutions. Khalsa said that thousands of students demonstrated recently in response to the impact of the state’s measures to address the huge deficit in the state of California.

In the workshop on fighting foreclosures and evictions facilitator Mick Kelly introduced panelists Sandra Hines of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition of Detroit, David Hungerford of the People’s Organization for Progress, Linden Gawboy of the Welfare Rights Committee of Minnesota and Rosemary Williams of Minneapolis.

Sandra Hines of Moratorium NOW! drew on the lessons of the struggles that developed during the 1930s. Hines said that “we have to organize unemployed councils, tent cities to fight the banks and corporations.”

Hines continued by stating that “The banks are our enemies. The utility companies are also effectively evicting people by shutting off their heating and electrical services. At the Highland Towers apartments near Detroit we were able to force DTE Energy to restore power to the people.

“The most oppressed, those who are effected by the crisis, must take the lead. If this happens many other will join the struggle.”

Rosemary Williams presented a detailed account of the resistance efforts to prevent her eviction. “You must be grounded among the good people in the community. You must not runaway ashamed and embarassed because you are being evicted. We must reach out to churches and community organizations in the fight against foreclosure and eviction.”

Armando Robles discussed his own experience with being evicted illegally from two homes in Chicago. “My family was defrauded by real estate speculators.”

Conference Resolutions

A number of resolutions were passed by the conference. One resolution was in support of the SK Hand Tools workers who went on strike in Chicago on August 25. The workers are represented by the Teamsters Local 743. They went on strike after their healthcare coverage was withdrawn unilaterally without notice, forcing the workers into an unfair labor practice strike.

Two other resolutions were passed in support of the Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee demanding “the protection and expansion of public services and public assistance. Also a resolution in support of a National Day of Protest against the economic crisis and the need for a fightback. The projected date for these demonstrations is November 10.