WASHINGTON — The Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act (SAVE) is an enforcement only, anti-immigrant bill that will make life worse for immigrants and their families while doing nothing to solve our country’s undocumented immigration problem.
It was introduced in the House by North Carolina Democrat Heath Schuler and currently has 136 co-sponsors, 46 Democrats and 90 Republicans.
The SAVE Act would do as follows.
• Compel all employers to fire all workers for whom they receive a Social Security “No-Match” letter if the employee cannot clear up the problem within 10 days. “No Match” letters are sent to employers by the Social Security Administration when the information submitted on the W-2 form for an employee does not match the government’s records. The Social Security Administration’s data base is estimated to have as many as 17 million files with errors, so this would also lead to massive firings not only of undocumented immigrants, but of legal residents and citizens also.
• Compel all employers to use the Basic Pilot Verification System to check on their employees’ immigration status. This is a deeply flawed system and its obligatory use is likely to cost the jobs not only of undocumented immigrants, but also of legal residents and U.S. citizens for whom the government has erroneous information.
• Require all workers, immigrant or citizen, who are working at two or more jobs to provide documentation to the government that they have valid Social Security Numbers and are working at multiple jobs. This will put a huge burden on millions of workers and swamp the Social Security Administration with extra work.
• Provide all information on unresolved Social Security No-Match letters and cases of workers having one or more jobs to the Department of Homeland Security, swamping Homeland Security and threatening civil liberties.
• Greatly increase pressure on local police departments to undertake immigration enforcement work, thereby endangering civil liberties, increasing racial profiling and harming police-community relations.
• Crack down on religious workers who are helping immigrant communities, putting clergy and laity in danger of being prosecuted for “immigrant smuggling” while doing their pastoral duty.
• Vastly increase the cost to the taxpayers of border and internal immigration “enforcement” measures that will not solve the problem.
• Seriously damage the economy and the interests of US workers by its massively disruptive effects.
Bill sponsors are trying to get enough co-sponsors to force a vote directly on the House floor very soon, avoiding committees. Immigrant and labor rights activists urge quick action to defeat HR 4088. Please contact your congressperson and Senators right away to ask them to withdraw their names as co-sponsors of the bill, and to vote against it. The only solution to the current problem of undocumented immigration is a comprehensive immigration reform that:
• legalizes the 12 million undocumented immigrants and protects them from exploitation in the workplace and community;
• changes U.S. immigration policies so that people can come in legally with full rights on the job and in the community;
• changes U.S. trade policies so that people in poorer countries can advance economically and are not forced to uproot themselves to find work.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Warning: SAVE Act goes wrong way on immigration
Castro’s retirement sparks worldwide reaction
Cuba has a new president. Voting on Feb. 24, Cuba’s National Assembly elected former First Vice President Raul Castro as President of the Council of State, the official whom Cuba’s constitution designates as President of the Republic.
While remaining president, Castro had relinquished duties of the office to Vice President Raul Castro on July 31, 2006 because of illness.
Prime Minister for 18 years, then president for 31 years, Fidel Castro had taken pains, he wrote, “to avoid raising expectations.” Writing for the Granma newspaper on Feb. 19, he announced, “I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief.”
He had endeavored “to prepare our people both politically and psychologically for my absence after so many years of struggle.” Castro expressed appreciation on being elected to parliament. The news spread worldwide, creating quite a firestorm in the United States.
Analysts pointed out that change on Castro’s own terms represented a defeat for Washington. Former British Minister of Energy Brian Wilson wrote, for example, “By going quietly, Castro has again confounded the U.S. and its 50-year obsession.”
Ireland’s Communist Party joined other observers in noting Castro’s “central role” in the Cubans’ struggle to “secure national independence and begin the long journey of revolutionary transformation.”
The observation was commonplace that youthful and collective leadership was on the way. Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations emphasized Castro’s particular role in pushing younger leaders into positions of power.
Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archives in Washington commended Castro for “creating the political space for an internal debate about how to preserve the legacy of the revolution, strengthen the legitimacy of the Communist Party, and address the bread and butter issues.”
Castro’s pre-eminent historical role was highlighted by many, also his personification of hard, unending work. For Brazilian President Lula da Silva, “Fidel Castro is one of the great legends in the history of humanity.” Havana history professor Natacha Santiago holds that the Cuban Revolution has become “the project of an entire nation and not just one man.”
But “people like Fidel never retire,” asserted Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
That’s because “a Communist has to dedicate one hundred percent of his or her energies, work and life,” declared a Granma writer.
Castro hopes to continue making a contribution to the revolution he helped spark almost 50 years ago. “My only wish,” wrote Castro, “is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas.” He will continue writing his “Reflections by Comrade Fidel,” – 87 of them since March 2007.
Buenos Aires Professor Néstor Kohan sees the battle of ideas as Castro’s signature historical contribution, pointing out that Castro sees Marxism as elevating ethics, values and culture over “the development of productive forces.”
Revolutionaries, attentive to “duty,” apply concrete notions of “justice, anti-capitalist rebellion…, patriotism, internationalism, anti-imperialism, and popular self-esteem” to struggles that in the words of martyred Cuban Communist leader Julio Antonio Mella, “haven’t even begun yet.”
The big news seemed to cause few ripples. Telephoning friends in Havana, Canadian author Arnold August learned that “basically everything is normal – a normal day.” Asked about changing U.S policies toward Cuba, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Washington couldn’t “imagine that happening anytime soon.”
According to the New York Times, reaction in Miami “ranged from scattered jubilation to widespread indifference.” In Cuban sections, reporters outnumbered people willing to talk about Fidel Castro.
Meanwhile, U.S. happenings caused Castro to abandon an earlier resolve to put off writing any “reflections” for ten days following his momentous announcement. Discovering that U.S. presidential aspirants were united in “exacting urgent demands from Cuba to avoid the risk of losing a single vote,” he wrote Feb. 21 that “we need to open ideological fire against them.”
He noted they all sought the release of alleged political prisoners in Cuba and were adamant on progress toward “democracy.” They back economic sanctions and the Bush administration’s stepped-up travel ban.
But Illinois Senator Barack Obama has called for easing restrictions on Cuban Americans seeking to support and visit relatives in Cuba. And alone among his rivals, Obama indicated that as president he would meet with Cuban counterpart Raul Castro “without preconditions.” He called upon Washington to “take steps to normalize relations” in response to favorable signs from Cuba.
World notes: March 1, 2008
Venezuela: Poverty drops
President Hugo Chavez announced Feb. 20 that poverty in Venezuela fell 40 percentage points between 1997 and 2007, a period when unemployment dropped from 15 percent to 7 percent. Analyst Okrim Al Qasal (okrimopina.blogspot.com) documents poverty reduced from 50.4 percent in 1998 to 45 percent in 2001, but rising to 62 percent in 2003 because of right-wing sabotage and slowdown affecting state oil company revenues.
Victory in that struggle and burgeoning of social missions brought rates down to 43.7 percent in 2005, and 33 percent last year. Corresponding rates for extreme poverty were 20.3 percent in 1998, 16.9 percent in 2001, and 29.8 percent in 2003, followed by 17.8 percent in 2005 and 9.4 percent last year.
Cuba: A globalized economy
New data testify to Cuban success in overcoming U.S.-imposed economic isolation. Canadian, European, Chinese and Brazilian oil companies are exploring for or producing oil and natural gas from reserves in the Gulf of Mexico estimated at two-thirds those in Alaska.
Fidel Castro’s decision no longer to serve as Cuba’s president triggered an 8 percent rise in share prices for Sherritt Corporation of Canada that, according to energyandcapital.com, is extracting 60,000 barrels daily from Cuban deposits.
Last year Cuba imported $437.5 million worth of food products from the United States, now Cuba’s leading foreign food supplier with sales totaling $1.99 billion since 2001.
World Notes are compiled by W.T. Whitney (atwhit@roadrunner.com)
Chavez Receives Freed FARC Prisoners
February 28,2008
Chavez Receives Freed FARC Prisoners
JUAN ANTONIO BORREGO
CARACAS.- Former Colombian legislators released Tuesday by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), were received with
military honors Wednesday night at Miraflores Presidential Palace in
Caracas by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Minutes before, the ex-hostages Gloria Polanco, Orlando Beltran, Luis
Eladio Perez and Jorge Gechem had a moving reunion with their
relatives at the Simon Bolivar International Airport near the
capital.
The release of the Colombian politicians took place Tuesday at a
locale in the jungle zone of San Jose del Guaviare, when a commando
of the insurgent group delivered them to a delegation comprised of
Venezuela's Interior and Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin,
Colombian Senator Piedad Cordova and representatives of the
International Red Cross.
>From the point of delivery, Venezuelan Air Force helicopters
participating in the "Path to Peace" operation, transported the
Colombians to the Santo Domingo base in the state of Tachira in the
Venezuelan Andes, where a plane awaited them for travel to Caracas.
"The release of the former Congress people is an accomplishment of
humanitarian persistence and President Hugo Chavez and Sen. Cordova's
sincere concern for peace in Colombia," stated a FARC communiqu? made
public on Wednesday.
However, in their text the guerrilla organization demands the
Colombian military withdrawal for 45 days "with the FARC and the
international community as guarantors" of the municipalities of
Pradera and Florida "to negotiate with the government the release of
the guerrillas [held by the government] and the prisoners of war in
the hands of the FARC."
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
what apartheid has done with affordable transportation
Mozambique is moderately large country on the East coast of Africa. With a history of Portuguese colonial rule, civil war, effects of apartheid, and a wide-reaching famine, Mozambique has had great difficulty in bringing its people out of desperate poverty. Mozambique gained independence in 1975, but was quickly pulled into war against white rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. The apartheid government of South Africa not only oppressed its own people, it engaged in near full-scale war with Angola and Mozambique as well as raiding and blockading Lesotho, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. "This was a war against ordinary people, in which schools and health posts were primary targets and civilians were massacred on buses and trains. At least two million Mozambicans and Angolans died in the war South Africa waged against them; millions more had to flee their homes." writes Action for Southern Africa and the World Development Movement in an Africa Action Report. A generation of children never received education because schools were destroyed, mothers and children died because health services were devastated, and now the region cannot rebuild because they are asked to pay again for the injustices of the apartheid regime through debts. The war waged by the South African apartheid government made Mozambique one of the poorest countries in the world. Over one million people died between 1977 and 1992, the economy was destroyed along with the countryside, and the country was left with a legacy of landmines. The South African government supported a rebel group called RENAMO. RENAMO or Mozambican National Resistance was formed after independence as an anti-communist conservative political party. It fought against the FRELIMO (Mozambican Liberation Front) and the Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe which was overthrowing the white Rhodesian rule. RENAMO received support from South Africa as well as the Central Intelligence Organization of Rhodesia and the CIA of the United States. RENAMO was known for its widespread brutality and human rights abuses. It was instrumental in destroying the economy of Mozambique and ensuring that a southern African country under black rule could not be stable.
The US and South African backed RENAMO insurgency destroyed the basic infrastructure and industry of Mozambique. With this extreme loss of income Mozambique was forced to turn to the IMF and World Bank in order to create the infrastructure destroyed by apartheid. "Mozambique has been forced to delay universal primary education until 2010 because it has to repay the apartheid-caused debt." notes the Africa Action Report. This debt cause by apartheid South Africa is easily deemed odious. Meaning the debts imposed were against the interests of the local populace, and as such should be written off as unlawful under international law.
On top of the apartheid debt and lack of infrastructure, in 2001 Mozambique experienced terrible flooding that has threatened nearly a quarter of the country with death by famine. Again in 2007 terrible flooding forced almost 60,000 people to be evacuated from the Zambezi River Valley. It was said to have been worse that the flooding in 2001. Roads were destroyed, bridges washed away, hundreds of homes disappeared under water - this on top of apartheid debt and a landmine scarred countryside. There is hope for Mozambique. Tourism is increasing and international investment is at a high, but at what cost? The government of Mozambique needs to ensure that it does not sell out its future in investment schemes that will rob indigenous peoples of their lands and leave the country empty of resources.
Mozambique has suffered and is still suffering from the white empowered South African apartheid government system backed by none other than the United States of America. If you would like to understand the current rioting in the capital of Maputo, you need only look back to apartheid to recognize why the 170th of 175 countries listed on the development index sits right next to the richest country in all of Africa.
From the When not in Africa. . . blog.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Battling the ‘right to work’ scam
This past Labor Day, trade unionists were outraged to wake up and read an editorial in The Detroit News arguing for a “right-to-work” law in Michigan.
Right-to-work bills failed to garner majority support in the Michigan Legislature last year, but the editorial in the state’s leading business newspaper signaled that the anti-labor crowd is not giving up. Now it is putting its energies into collecting what will have to be almost 500,000 signatures to place a right-to-work initiative on the ballot this November. In response, the state AFL-CIO has started a campaign to educate union members and the public to speak out against what, in every sense of the word, is an attack on the state’s working families.
“Right-to-work” is the second far-right ballot initiative that Michigan has had to deal with in the last two years, and there are parallels between them. In 2006, passage of the cleverly named anti-affirmative-action Michigan Civil Rights Initiative was a setback for democracy and equality.
Many years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King aptly pointed out that those “spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth” are, almost always, “a twin-headed creature.”
A look at the National Right to Work Committee shows this to be true. This committee is part of an anti-labor, anti-civil-rights, anti-democratic network involving organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Sarah Scaife Foundation, and Michigan’s own conservative think tank, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
With Michigan hit hard by plant closings, layoffs and budget shortfalls, how much worse can things get for the working class? Plenty worse, if this measure gets through.
“Right-to-work” is like “No money down but pay through the nose later,” or that slick used car salesman trying to unload a lemon on you. It has nothing to do with making sure everyone has a job. It is nothing but a big business spin to weaken unions and to make it harder for workers to unify to fight for decent wages, benefits and working conditions and, yes, the right to a decent job.
What the corporations hate more than anything is having to deal with the working class pulling together through their unions. Remember, without unions, all power is with the boss. When you try to “bargain” as an individual, your wages and benefits are on a one-way train to nowhere.
A “right to work” law essentially means this: while the union fights for benefits you receive, you, the worker, are encouraged by the state not to pay dues for the union’s work in winning the benefits you enjoy, and employers are encouraged by the state to pressure you and your fellow workers into undermining the union. The workforce becomes split and the union’s finances and ability to function are impaired.
One Detroit activist defined it this way: the “right to work for corporate greed.” That’s one reason it’s backed by the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce.
Why do workers join unions? It’s not because they are coerced. They join because union workers, across the board, earn about 30 percent more than nonunion workers and are more likely to have health care and retirement benefits.
Union contracts also help nonunion workers, who see higher wages and better benefits when they are part of a union-dense labor force.
In 2006, eight of the 10 states with the best rankings for health of their residents were free bargaining states, while nine of the 10 worst were “right-to-work.”
Median household income in the 22 states that have “right-to-work” laws is $5,900 less than in those that don’t. Michigan workers’ yearly incomes average $7,601 more than that of workers in “right-to-work” states. It is figures like these which explain why corporate interests in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, Colorado and more have right-to-work legislation pending.
Labor is a target of the right wing because it fights for the whole class, union and nonunion alike. In Washington and in state capitals, unions lobby for workplace safety, consumer protection, progressive taxation, more aid to our schools and much more. Labor is also in the right-wing crosshairs because it sees how working people have suffered at the hands of the Republicans and is working to “sweep” them out of office this November.
Finally, labor’s vision is becoming more international. The AFL-CIO’s initiative, last December, to bring together unions from over 60 countries must have brought sleepless nights to many CEOs. Fighting for workers here at home is bad enough, but joining hands with them around the world? That’s downright subversive. Why not try to break that union power with phony “right to work” laws?
But for working class America, building unions and unity at home and building unity among workers around the world is something to get excited about. Corporate “right to work” scams are nothing but a downer.
John Rummel (jrummel@cpusa.org) is Michigan organizer for the Communist Party USA.
ASMSU receives death threats for hate speech legislation
Members of MSU’s undergraduate student government received death threats before passing a bill asking the university to define hate speech during a Thursday meeting.
Michael Leahy, ASMSU’s student assembly chairperson, said he received a phone call prior to Thursday’s meeting about a comment made on a Web site that suggested throwing “a grenade in the meeting.” He said he called MSU police inspector Kelly Beck about the threat and two police officers were present during the meeting.
“Being called by a person you have never met or talked to before, notifying you that neo-Nazis have made death threats against your organization over a bill about hate speech was a little surprising,” Leahy said.
ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.
The comment was posted on Michigan Messenger’s Web site. The political news outlet ran an article about the free speech bill.
The bill asks university officials to define the difference between free speech and hate speech, said Osman Elfaki, vice chairperson for student programming.
“The purpose of the bill is to work with administrators to find methods that will foster a more conducive learning environment with regards to the issue of free speech and what is sometimes interpreted, by some, as hate speech,” Elfaki said.
MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said although it’s important to discuss the topic, the university does not have the authority to change rights granted by the First Amendment.
“Asking us to define or regulate speech would be asking us to come up with rules and regulations for when to lock the gate to the open marketplace of ideas,” Denbow said. “There shouldn’t be a lock in (the) first place, but if there were, we should all have keys.”
Elfaki said he received several complaints from representatives on ASMSU’s Programming Board about past events on campus that some people found offensive.
“Some have felt that certain situations that occurred on campus in the last couple years have been, in their view, actions of hate speech and are feeling intimidated by this,” Elfaki said.
ASMSU will ask university officials to attend a Student Assembly meeting to discuss the university’s position on free speech and hate speech.
“Free speech is a right and a privilege that every individual has in the United States,” Elfaki said. “However, there are limitations to it.”
Published on Sunday, February 24, 2008
Trackback URL: http://www.statenews.com/index.php/trackback/4998
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Kosovo declaration sets world on edge
UNITED NATIONS—The declaration of independence by Kosovo, a breakaway Serbian province that has been under UN control since 1999, caused an uproar here in a Feb. 18 emergency meeting of the Security Council, and around the world.
The Security Council was sharply divided. The U.S., Britain, France and several others spoke in favor of Kosovo’s declaration, which came the day before, and said that their respective states recognized its independence. All of the socialist and progressive oriented states on the council, including China, Vietnam and South Africa, as well as Russia, condemned the move as a grave violation of international law. The quick recognition given by the U.S. and others was condemned as an attack on Serbia’s sovereignty.
Russia demanded that the head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) declare the act taken by Kosovo’s Albanian leadership “null and void.” The UNMIK was set up in 1999 under Security Council Resolution 1244. Despite its name, it is not entirely a UN body. A large portion of the mission’s work, including issues of democracy and the economy, is done by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union. While the UNMIK was to manage infrastructure, both political and actual, the Provisional Institution for Self-Government was to actually govern.
Vitaly Churkin, who represents Russia, said that the separation was “a blatant break of the norms and principles of international law” and that the situation resulting from “the illegal steps of the province’s leadership poses a threat to peace and security in the Balkans.”
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, which itself is a former province of Yugoslavia is primarily made up of two ethnic groups: Albanians and a minority Serbian grouping. Fears of ethnic cleansing of the oppressed Serbian population have been raised. About 250,000 Serbs were expelled from Kosovo after the 1999 interim government was set up, and in 2004 anti-Serb extremists burned 35 churches and 800 houses in a three-day period.
Referring to the situation of ethnic Serbs in the province, which has been administered not by Serbia but by the UN and a special Kosovar Provisional Institution of Self-Government, Serbian President Boris Tadic told the Council that a “reward is being bestowed on those who have taken part in the segregation of Serbs and to those who deny them freedom of movement, who force them to live in darkness and in constant fear for their lives.”
Tadic said that Serbia will not accept an independent Kosovo and will take measures to prevent it from existing, but will not resort to force. “Only human lives,” he said, “are destroyed by force.”
The UNMIK has drawn fire over the years, especially from Kosovar Serbians who argue that the mission has failed to protect their rights. Aside from the 250,000 displaced persons and the destroyed infrastructure, they point to the fact that UNMIK has blocked Serbian troops from entering the Kosovo province, though Resolution 1244 clearly grants that right.
Those arguing against Kosovo’s move said they strongly opposed any unilateral action, saying that talks between Belgrade and Pristina, if given enough time, would have been able to produce a result acceptable to both. The talks had been monitored by a so-called troika of the U.S., the European Union and the United Nations.
“Instead of doing any good for the settlement of ethnic conflicts, the achievement of a multi-ethnic society and the maintenance of peace, stability and development in the former Yugoslavia,” Wang Guangya, China’s UN ambassador, said, “the unilateral action taken by Kosovo may rekindle conflicts and turbulences in the region.”
The divide between those who favor independence and those who favor a return to negotiations look similar. Like most Eastern European upheavals, the interests of Western European and U.S. imperialism have come into play. Many see these interests at play behind the move to independence as well as the widespread Western acceptance. Many have said that this is part of a process of carving up the former Yugoslavia into smaller client states of western imperialism that culminated in the 1990s bombing of Serbia by NATO forces.
“The process started long ago; it is in progress,” Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said in a televised interview. “Montenegro broke away, other republics broke away. It was only Kosovo that remained. This is the continuation of that split.”
“We should not have allowed this then – today we would not have the independence issue," he continued. “Isn’t it too late that we have started to be sorry?,” asked Lukashenko in a televised interview. During the 1990s “we should not have allowed the carve-up of the Balkans and it was then when we needed to defend Yugoslavia.”
Belarus, along with Russia, China, South Africa and many other nations have called for a return to negotiations as the only way forward.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Call for Papers - Articulate.
S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A., in conjunction with Michigan State University's African Studies Center and Office of International Development, invites you to submit a manuscript to Articulate: Undergraduate Scholarship Applied to International Development.
Articulate is a new undergraduate scholarly journal that publishes academic papers and writings (research papers, field work, interviews, etc.) on issues in international development, focusing primarily on African studies and healthcare issues. Articulate seeks to educate, motivate, and activate the public about its mission and vision working towards solutions for Africa's healthcare crisis.
Our journal focuses on relationships between development, foreign aid, health care and Africa. Articulate is a forum for students to contribute to, as well as make, the debates in international development. Undergraduate students remain a vital, untapped force that can bring new ideas, perspectives, and concepts into the development dialogue. Our goal is to spark, share, and spread knowledge to create innovative change now.
Articulate is peer-reviewed by an editorial committee consisting of undergraduates and a faculty advisor. Editorial decisions are based on relevance, quality, and originality. We ask for submissions that are roughly 10-15 pages long, preferably in Chicago Manual Style. In addition, we ask that the author's name, major, college, and university appear on a separate cover sheet, with no reference to the author within the manuscript.
Potential topics, include, but are not limited to:
The effectiveness of foreign aid
Intersections of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality in African development
Comparative studies of healthcare systems
Ethics and development in African countries
Land rights reform/redistribution as a development policy
Historical analyses of development programs in Africa
Politics of water in Africa
The role of African youth in development programs and projects
Effects of conflict and forced migration on healthcare and development
Deadline for submission: February 29th @ 5pm. For submissions or more information, please contact the editor in chief, Monica Mukerjee at banana@scoutbanana.org. For more information on S.C.O.U.T.B.A.N.A.N.A., check out www.scoutbanana.org
From blog|S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A..
Monday, February 18, 2008
Fidel Castro announces retirement
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the Council of state and commander in chief," he wrote in the letter.
Mr Castro handed over power temporarily to his brother, Raul, in July 2006 when he underwent intestinal surgery.
The 81-year-old has ruled Cuba since leading a communist revolution in 1959.
In December, Mr Castro indicated that he could possibly step down in favour of a younger generation.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Writers win some after 14-week strike
Against enormous odds and with television and film writers united behind them, leaders of the Writers Guild of America have negotiated a contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that amounts to a significant win for labor.
If you have one of those big screens you can start it up and get ready for better quality entertainment to replace the reruns and “reality” shows you’ve been watching.
America’s writers have won a deal that improves on the terms of the contract won recently by the Directors Guild of America, that guarantees substantial future payouts on digital media and closes the sores left by the 1988 contract, in which writers failed to make significant gains despite a five month walk out.
“It accomplished the main goal we wanted when we set out on strike, which was that as the business shifted from television sets and movies to new media, we wouldn’t be left behind,” said Howard Rodman, a screen writer and member of the Guild’s board of directors.
With no regular work hours, lack of benefits and other problems, writers depend upon residual payments to make a living. A health crisis, a pregnancy, child care expenses and countless other issues could not be dealt with were it not for these payments.
The biggest gain for writers in the new contract comes in the area of residual payments for material broadcast over the Internet and other digital media. As the market for network TV reruns decreases, industry bigwigs are salivating as they expect Web streaming to spit out cash in the years ahead. Writers were really concerned about this because they were cheated out of millions of dollars in DVD revenue after the surge of home videos during the 1980s.
The directors agreed recently to a flat fee for material used on the Web, but the writers, with this new contract, get something nicer. They have won a percentage of the director’s gross receipts.
This is important, first, because it is proportional. If Web streaming explodes into a profit bonanza for the entertainment moguls, writers will reap some benefits rather than collecting a fee that could end up looking like nothing more than a booby prize.
Perhaps, even more significant, writers’ payments will be calculated against the gross that’s actually reflective of retail price – say, for example, the $1.99 iTunes charges for a TV episode.
When it was clear to the Hollywood bosses that the writers meant business with this strike, they offered payments that would have been tied to the far less impressive “producers gross,” a figure writers saw as just so much bunk.
Writers were determined to never again get sucked into any kind of “net profit” deal. They insisted that this time nothing short of a contract with airtight terms would do.
The contract, despite the gains, is not perfect.
Many Guild members are unhappy about a provision that says the studios don’t have to pay any residual on streamed content for up to 24 days after its initial airing. The studios had argued that they should not have to pay every time a DVR user logs onto a show a week or two after its original airdate. Dissenters in the union feel this gives the bosses a loophole to exploit.
The new contract does not give the union jurisdiction over reality and animation writers, which union leaders had promised writers would be in the contract. Such a provision would have substantially strengthened the hand of all writers in the entertainment industry and substantially weakened the grip of entertainment monopolies on the industry.
The union is expected to boost organizing efforts in these sectors, however, particularly if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law under a new Washington administration in 2009.
The writers and all of the nation’s unions have reason to celebrate. It has been many years since an important union in the nation’s entertainment industry went on strike for not just “bread and butter issues” but for issues of principle as well, and then was able to say the strike ended in a victory.
The Screen Actors Guild contract expires in less than four months. Let the Hollywood moguls beware!
John Wojcik is the People’s Weekly World labor editor.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The FBI Deputizes Business
Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are
working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive
secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does?and, at
least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they
provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But
there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed
me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to ?shoot to
kill? in the event of martial law.
InfraGard is ?a child of the FBI,? says Michael Hershman, the
chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members
Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.
InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector
there cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats.
?Then the FBI cloned it,? says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board
of directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the
prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.
InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each
state overseeing the local InfraGard chapters. (There are now eighty-
six of them.) The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private
sector InfraGard members.
?We are the owners, operators, and experts of our critical
infrastructure, from the CEO of a large company in agriculture or
high finance to the guy who turns the valve at the water utility,?
says Schneck, who by day is the vice president of research
integration at Secure Computing.
?At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector,? the
InfraGard website states. ?InfraGard chapters are geographically
linked with FBI Field Office territories.?
In November 2001, InfraGard had around 1,700 members. As of late
January, InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its website,
www.infragard.net, which adds that ?350 of our nation?s Fortune 500
have a representative in InfraGard.?
To join, each person must be sponsored by ?an existing InfraGard
member, chapter, or partner organization.? The FBI then vets the
applicant. On the application form, prospective members are asked
which aspect of the critical infrastructure their organization deals
with. These include: agriculture, banking and finance, the chemical
industry, defense, energy, food, information and telecommunications,
law enforcement, public health, and transportation.
FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on
August 9, 2005. At that time, the group had less than half as many
members as it does today. ?To date, there are more than 11,000
members of InfraGard,? he said. ?From our perspective that amounts to
11,000 contacts . . . and 11,000 partners in our mission to protect
America.? He added a little later, ?Those of you in the private
sector are the first line of defense.?
He urged InfraGard members to contact the FBI if they ?note
suspicious activity or an unusual event.? And he said they could sic
the FBI on ?disgruntled employees who will use knowledge gained on
the job against their employers.?
In an interview with InfraGard after the conference, which is
featured prominently on the InfraGard members? website, Mueller says:
?It?s a great program.?
The ACLU is not so sanguine.
?There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS
program, turning private-sector corporations?some of which may be in
a position to observe the activities of millions of individual
customers?into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI,? the ACLU warned
in its August 2004 report The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How
the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in
the Construction of a Surveillance Society.
The Progressive (http://www.progressive.org)
IV International Conference on "The Work of Karl Marx and the Challenges of the 21st Century" Havana, Cuba, 5-8 May 2008
IV International Conference on "The Work of Karl Marx and the
Challenges of the 21st Century"
Havana, Cuba, 5-8 May 2008
Venue: Palacio de Convenciones
This conference celebrates the 50th anniversary of the triumph of the
Cuban Revolution which occurred on January 1, 1959.
These are times of special importance for the destiny of humanity,
given the increase in imperialist aggression and its confrontation
with the resistance of peoples from all corners of the globe, who are
engaged in important struggles that involve transformative socialist
praxis. The Institute of Philosophy, through its "Permanent Workshop
for the Work of Karl Marx and the Challenges of the 21st Century,"
extends an invitation to its fourth Conference. Its purpose is to
provide a space for debates on the elaboration of proposals among
social and political activists, scientists, and all those interested
in the construction of the new world which is both necessary and possible.
With the passage of 125 years since the death of Karl Marx, the
strength of his work and its permanent capability to be enriched is
demonstrated by the actions of all those who struggle for the
emancipatory ideals announced 160 years ago in The Manifesto of the
Communist Party.
How can we contribute today to "the emancipation of the modern
proletariat," to forge "the consciousness of its own situation and
needs, and the consciousness of the conditions required for its own
emancipation?" This is a challenge which today is more urgent than
ever, given the continual and accelerated destruction of all our
spaces of mutual coexistence, a process which is driven by the
internal logic of capital.
The IV International Conference on "The Work of Karl Marx and the
Challenges of the 21st Century" will hold sessions, grouping the
debates around three axes of analysis and elaboration of proposals:
I. The nature of capitalism, imperialism, and their contemporary
contradictions.
II. The articulation of revolutionary subjects, the construction of a
new militant internationalism, social movements, classes, and
contemporary forms of class struggle in order to face and transcend
the "system of multiple domination" of capital.
III. The socialist alternative: the need to go beyond the reforms of
capitalism, the analysis of socialist experiences up to our times and
practical proposals to construct the communist society which allows
and requires the full development of human capacities in the current
conditions of the revolutionary process.
The participants in the Conference who are interested may also attend
the activities that have been scheduled for the first of May,
International Workers Day, and other events with Cuban and visiting
trade unionists on the 2nd of May. These events are sponsored by the
Confederation of Cuban Workers. There will also be Interactive
Sessions on "Cuba in the 21st Century: Socialism, Politics and
Economy" with the participation of distinguished Cuban specialists
that will be held before the Conference. To attend these additional
activities, please contact the Organizing Committee prior to March 31st.
CONFERENCE Registration fees:
150 CUC for presenters and attendees;
student fee: 50 CUC.
Cubans will pay their fees in Cuban pesos. All travel and
accommodation arrangements, travel to and from the conference site,
etc. are being handled by the conference official tour operator
Alejandro Vasallo (Cubatur; e -mail: eventos2@cbtevent.cbt.tur.cu)
All requests for participation should be submitted via e-mail to the
Organizing Committee as indicated below. Those interested in
presenting papers should submit their abstracts prior to the 20th of
March 2008. The maximum length of all papers should be 10 pages
double spaced (8 x 10 format) with 12 point font (maximum characters
20,000 including spaces). Abstracts should be one page and not
exceed 2,000 characters and should be submitted either on a disk or
via e-mail with Microsoft Word for Windows 95 or later versions. All
papers that are submitted will be published in advance on the web
pages of the conference (Cuba Siglo XXI and the Portal of Cuban
Philosophy), with the exception of those who ask that their work not
be published. Languages for the conference are Spanish, English, and
Portuguese.
Each presenter will have a maximum of 15 minutes for their
presentation in order to provide the maximum time for discussions and
debates. All those whose papers have been selected for presentation
in the panels will be advised by the 31st of March. Those whose
papers are not selected for presentation will have the option of
presenting their written work in Poster (120 x 80 cm) presentations,
coordinated in advance with the conference organizers
All information on the conference will be periodically updated on the
Cuba Century XXI website (www.nodo50org/cubasigloXXI) as well as the
portal of Cuban Philosophy (www.filosofia.cu).
We will continue working for the strengthening of our unity and
revolutionary action, which today is not only possible but imperative
for the continued existence of the human species.
Organizing Committee, Havana, Cuba. (www.nodo50.org/cubasigloXXI/)
Please submit abstracts and papers as well as any general information
requests to:
Jes?s Pastor Garcia Brigos, jpastor@infomed.sld.cu;
Roberto Lima, lima@filosofia.cu;
Nchamah Miller, iac@cubaconfmarx21.com.
Video: Venezuela April 13 - How youth of the barrios fought to restore democracy
the story of the youth of the barrios who fought to restore democracy
and president Hugo Chavez. With Hip Hop group Area 23. Produced by
Avila TV. Directed by David Segarra and Angela Mimiaga.
http://www.dsp.org.au/links/node/277
US Embassy asks Peace Corps, Fulbright Scholar to 'Spy' on Cubans
US Embassy asks Peace Corps, Fulbright Scholar to 'Spy' on Cubans,
Venezuelans
*Official's 'Spy' Request Violated Long-Standing **U.S.** Policy*
*Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Brian Ross, **Feb. 8, 2008***
In an apparent violation of U.S. policy, Peace Corps volunteers and a
Fulbright scholar were asked by a U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia "to
basically spy" on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country, according to Peace
Corps personnel and the Fulbright scholar involved.
"I was told to provide the names, addresses and activities of any Venezuelan
or Cuban doctors or field workers I come across during my time here,"
Fulbright scholar John Alexander van Schaick told ABCNews.com in an
interview in La Paz.
Van Schaick's account matches that of Peace Corps members and staff who
claim that last July their entire group of new volunteers was instructed by
the same U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia to report on Cuban and Venezuelan
nationals.
The State Department says any such request was "in error" and a violation of
long-standing U.S. policy which prohibits the use of Peace Corps personnel
or Fulbright scholars for intelligence purposes.
"We take this very seriously and want to stress this is not in any way our
policy," a senior State Department official told ABCNews.com.
The Fulbright scholar van Schaick, a 2006 Rutgers University graduate, says
the request came at a mandatory orientation and security briefing meeting
with Assistant Regional Security Officer Vincent Cooper at the embassy on
the morning of Nov. 5, 2007.
According to van Schaick, the request for information gathering "surfaced
casually" halfway through Cooper's 30-minute, one-on-one briefing, which
initially dealt with helpful tips about life and security concerns in
Bolivia.
"He said, 'We know the Venezuelans and Cubans are here, and we want to keep
tabs on them,'" said van Schaick who recalls feeling "appalled" at the
comment.
"I was in shock," van Schaick said. "My immediate thought was 'oh my God!
Somebody from the U.S. Embassy just asked me to basically spy for the U.S.
Embassy.'"
A similar pattern emerges in the account of the three Peace Corps volunteers
and their supervisor. On July 29, 2007, just before the new volunteers were
sworn in, they say embassy security officer Vincent Cooper visited the
30-person group to give a talk on safety and made his request about the
Cubans and Venezuelans.
"He said it had to do with the fight against terrorism," said one, of the
briefing from the embassy official. Others remember being told, "It's for
your own safety."
Peace Corps Deputy Director Doreen Salazar remembers the incident vividly
because she says it was the first time she had heard an embassy official
make such a request to a Peace Corps group.
Salazar says she and her fellow staff found the comment so out of line that
they interrupted the briefing to clarify that volunteers did not have to
follow the embassy's instructions, and she later complained directly to the
embassy about the incident.
"Peace Corps is an a-political institution," Salazar says. "We made it clear
to the embassy that this was an inappropriate request, and they agreed."
Indeed, the State Department admits having acknowledged the infraction and
assuring Salazar that it would not happen again. Yet, it was just four
months later that Fulbright scholar van Schaick says he was asked by the
same embassy official, Cooper, to "spy" on the Cubans and Venezuelans.
A U.S. Embassy official in La Paz, Bolivia said Cooper was referring all
calls for comment to the State Department in Washington.
Van Schaick says he never considered complying with the request, fearful he
would violate Bolivian espionage laws and that he would jeopardize the
integrity of the Fulbright program, which yearly sends hundreds of American
college graduates to countries around the world.
"I am supposed to be a cultural ambassador increasing mutual understanding
between us and the Bolivian people," van Schaick explains. "This flies in
face of everything Fulbright stands for."
The Fulbright program receives its funding from the U.S. State Department
and the Peace Corps is a federal agency, but the State Department insists
that neither group has the obligation to act in an intelligence capacity. In
fact, both have strict regulations against members getting involved in
politics in their host country.
The press director at the Peace Corps told ABC News in no uncertain terms
that the corps is not involved in any intelligence gathering.
"Since Peace Corps' inception in 1961, it has been the practice of the Peace
Corps to keep volunteers separate from any official duties pertaining to U.S.
foreign policy, including the reality or the appearance of involvement in
intelligence-related activities," said Amanda Beck, press director of the
Peace Corps. "Any connection between the Peace Corps and the intelligence
community would seriously compromise the ability of the Peace Corps to
develop and maintain the trust and confidence of the people in the host
countries we serve."
Like many of the Peace Corps workers, van Schaick is carrying out his
research in the Santa Cruz countryside, where a number of Cuban doctors are
deployed providing free medical services as part of Cuba's solidarity with
its socialist ally, Bolivia's President Evo Morales.
The accusations are likely to reverberate in Bolivia, especially given the
already shaky relationship between the Bush administration and President
Morales' two-year-old government.
"These are serious incidents that we will investigate thoroughly," says
Bolivia's Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca in an interview.
"Any U.S. government use of their students or volunteers to provide
intelligence represents a grave threat to Bolivia's sovereignty."
Bolivian law provides severe penalties in espionage cases. According to
Article 111 of the country's penal code, "he who procures secretive
documents, objects or information&concerning [Bolivia's] foreign relations
in an espionage effort for other countries during times of peace,
endangering the security of the State, will incur a penalty of 30 years in
prison." In lay man's terms: if any U.S. citizen provides information of use
in a spying effort, they would be subject to Bolivia's maximum prison
sentence.
But the U.S. citizens who reported being approached in this way by the State
Department official said no mention was made of any legal risks arising from
complying with the request to keep tabs on foreign nationals in Bolivia.
There is no indication that any of the volunteers made reports to the U.S.
Embassy.
Van Schaick says he is keenly aware of the Pandora's box now knocked open.
The Hoboken, N.J. native, however, was adamant that the incident be brought
to light -- in the hopes for change. "I came forward because the Bolivian
people have a right to know," former union activist van Schaick says.
"Asking Fulbrighters to spy is just not OK."
Three of the other four Fulbright scholars currently in Bolivia say they
were never asked about Cubans or Venezuelans in their briefings. A fourth
Fulbright scholar declined repeated requests for an interview on the
subject.
*Editor's Note: Jean Friedman-Rudovksy is a freelance journalist based in **La
Paz**, **Bolivia** where she is the correspondent for TIME Magazine and
Women's Enews. She has worked as an associate producer for ABC News in **
Bolivia** and is a founding editor of Ukhampacha **Bolivia**, an online
bilingual Web journal on Latin American social and political issues.*
Republished from ABC News
Monday, February 4, 2008
Cuba holds elections
| http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12420/1/408/ |
Jumps to third in world for number of women elected
Cuba’s election season ended on a rainy Jan. 20 when 8.1 million citizens, age 16 or over — 95 percent of those eligible to vote — chose 614 delegates to the National Assembly and 1,201 delegates to 14 provincial assemblies, all for five-year terms. Voting that day concluded a process that began last September, when people in neighborhoods throughout the island selected 37,300 local nominees for election to municipal assemblies.
Elections in Cuba have lots of input from the ground up, including on nominations. The municipal assemblies, working with municipal candidacy commissions, selected 15,236 candidates from that number to compete in elections held in late October. At that time, between two and eight candidates from each district ran for election to the municipal assemblies. Candidacy commissions at the municipal, provincial and national levels are made up of citizens elected by mass organizations of women, labor, small farmers, students and neighborhood groups.
By Dec. 1, the municipal assemblies had selected from their members half the candidates for election to the national and provincial assemblies. The other half were selected by the national candidacy commission from nominees presented by mass organizations. The assemblies and commissions chose from a total pool of 55,000 nominees.
The candidates had until Jan. 15 to visit people in workplaces and public meetings in districts they would represent. Municipal Assemblies were required to approve the final list of candidates to be presented on Jan. 20.
Voters that day chose from a list of Assembly candidates representing their own municipalities. They could either vote in the entire list, or select only those who met their approval. To be successful, candidates had to gain at least 50 percent of the vote.
Cuba’s present electoral system has been in place since 1976. Campaigning is subdued, marked mainly by public displays of candidates’ pictures and biographies arranged by municipal authorities. Candidates spend no money on electioneering, nor are they paid during their terms of service. Voting, which is secret, is not mandatory; vote counting is public. Delegates are subject to citizen recall.
Cuba’s Communist Party takes no direct role in the process. Candidates include both members and non-members.
The election outcome broke new ground. Women will make up 43 percent of Cuba’s National Assembly — up from 36 percent in 2003 — and 41.8 percent of the provincial assemblies. Cuba moves from sixth to third in the world in the proportion of women parliamentarians; the world average is 17 percent. Quotas are not part of the election rules.
Cuba’s Communist Party reportedly has been working to introduce youth into the nation’s political leadership. In that vein, 63 percent of those elected Jan. 20 will take their seats in the Assembly as first-time delegates. Of the delegates to the National Assembly, 60.9 percent were born after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on New Years Day 1959, and 21.8 percent were less than ten years of age then. Over 17 percent lived under the Batista dictatorship as teenagers or adults.
University graduates make up 78.3 percent of those elected and Afro-Cubans, 36 percent.
The new National Assembly will convene Feb. 24, the first order of business being to elect the 31 members of Cuba’s Council of State, as well as its president, first vice president, five vice presidents and secretary. The Assembly will also elect its own president, vice president and heads of the Assembly’s ten permanent commissions.
The council president also serves as president of the republic. Media coverage of the elections centered on speculation about whether President Fidel Castro, disabled since July 2006, will be a candidate for that office. He won election to the Assembly representing a municipality in Santiago de Cuba.
Interviewed a week before the elections, Ricardo Alarcon, current president of Cuba’s National Assembly, characterized “real democracy” as a “utopia.” The Cuban system, he said, “has defects but is an approach toward democracy, [one] more creative, more our own.”
To a Telesur reporter he cited John Kerry’s recent complaints about U.S. elections. The former U.S. presidential candidate described Indiana’s legislative restrictions on poll access and rules in Las Vegas preventing hotel workers from leaving work to vote.
A week earlier Alarcon took U.S. President George Bush to task for covering up U.S. imperfections, especially as “he’s the only guy to whom that crazy idea could occur of saying he’s going to export democracy.”
atwhit @ roadrunner.com
Kucinich drops White House bid
Continues to fight for workers, justice
CLEVELAND — Surrounded by dozens of friends, family members, public officials and labor leaders, Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced Jan. 25 he was withdrawing from the race for president to focus on his re-election to Congress and to be able to continue the fight for social and economic justice in Washington.
“We fought the good fight,” the Ohio Democrat said. Turning to the labor leaders standing behind him, he added, “We stayed strong because your voices needed to be heard. We told the truth, no matter how unpopular and inconvenient.”
Kucinich said voters sent him to Congress to tell the truth and that was why he rejected “a war based on lies.”
“Why did I see through the lies?” he asked. “Because I grew up in the streets of Cleveland and was confronted by people who rolled up their sleeves and tried to sell me a watch. I won’t buy a phony watch and I won’t buy a phony war.”
Kucinich said his decision to withdraw came after being “locked out” of six debates and recognizing he therefore could not get his views out to the American public.
“Workers here know about lockouts,” he said.
In addition, Kucinich said, two weeks earlier he met with local labor leaders who voiced concern that continuing an unwinnable presidential campaign could jeopardize his seat in Congress.
“I heard you,” he said. “I took what you said to heart.
“The seat does not belong to me. It belongs to the working men and women of the 10th District,” he said. “I only hold the office in trust for you.
“Now the same corporate interests that we have always fought think they can buy it. They think it’s like an auction.”
Kucinich has four opponents in the Democratic congressional primary, but one of these, Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman, admits to having already received $230,000 and has the support of the corporate media, especially the Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s largest newspaper.
Kucinich rejected charges by his opponents that he neglected his congressional duties in running for president. He said the war and growing economic crisis were caused by policies from Washington and Wall Street and had to be taken to a national stage to be addressed.
“I have a 95 percent lifetime [pro-worker] voting record,” he said. “I have done my job and just as I worked to save the city’s light plant when I was mayor, our steel mill and the Richmond Heights hospital are still standing because of my efforts. I have been here whenever the people needed me.”
Kucinich added that his presidential campaign had forced the other candidates to address issues he raised and modify their views.
The campaign, he said, “moved the debate on health care so the other candidates had to acknowledge the insurance and drug companies as the source of the problem. It moved the debate on the war and caused the other candidates to commit to ending it as soon as possible. It moved the debate on trade so that even Sen. Clinton was forced to admit that NAFTA is costing us millions of jobs.
“My country is in trouble. Democracy and the Constitution are in trouble. The economy is in deep trouble. I see fascism moving in unless we make a fundamental change.”
Kucinich announced he was launching a new national organization, Integrity Now, to restore “our sense of belonging, our ability to regain control of democratic institutions and win the fight for jobs, health care and education.” A website, IntegrityNow.org, has been secured for the group. Kucinich’s campaign for Congress uses the website kucinich.us.
ricknagin @yahoo.com
‘To fix economy, put working class first’
While stock markets plunge and panic spreads in financial circles, what happens when the economy goes into recession?
What kind of stimulus package is needed that would help working families? One that creates good jobs and ensures workers and their neighbors can pay their house or car note, buy groceries, fill up their gas tanks or make college tuition payments?
On Capital Hill, with unemployment jumping to 5 percent in December, and other indicators of major economic illness, lawmakers are starting to consider stimulus ideas.
President Bush and fellow Republicans want to pump $150 billion into tax cuts and government spending geared to big business interests and the wealthy.
But labor and other progressive groups say the key is putting money into the hands of working people. It’s working people who are the nation’s consumers. They can spur the economy if they have the income to buy what they need.
The AFL-CIO and others are calling for extending jobless benefits beyond the current 26 weeks. The labor federation also calls for:
• increased food stamp benefits;
• tax rebates targeted to middle- and lower-income taxpayers,
• fiscal relief for state and local governments;
• immediate investment in school renovations and bridge repair.
Many of these measures are contained in proposals being advanced by Democrats in Congress.
Communist Party USA head Sam Webb underscored the importance of these steps, but said more is also needed.
In addition to extending jobless benefits, the amounts unemployed workers receive should be raised, and paid until a worker finds a job, he said in a phone interview this week. “Social Security benefits also should be raised.”
Webb also called for an immediate moratorium on foreclosures and a freeze on interest rates, and an end to the Iraq war, “freeing up billions of dollars for people’s needs.”
Beyond these measures, fundamental solutions are required and these must put the working class first, he emphasized
Webb, elected the party’s chair in 2000, has a Masters degree in economics. But he considers his main credentials to be his activism in the labor movement and people’s struggles over the past few decades.
“People are hurting,” he said. “Unemployment is rising, and even those figures cover up the long-term joblessness in different parts of the country and among different communities,” he said. “Wages are stagnant and now you have the mortgage
crisis.”
Tax breaks for big business and the super-rich will only increase the deficit and will not create jobs, Webb said. Interest rate cuts will likely have little impact.
Big business’ interest is not the well being of U.S. workers, or even the U.S. economy, he said. “Businesses will only invest if they are guaranteed a high rate of return — profit — on their investment. They won’t hire new workers and put money in people’s hands without that guarantee.”
This is the main dynamic of capitalism, which has become more and more apparent to millions as plants close, wages stagnate, and whole regions collapse economically, Webb said.
Even as the country experienced economic upticks like the stock market “exuberance” of the 1990s and the housing “bubble” of the past several years, greater and greater wealth went into fewer and fewer hands.
A growing problem, Webb said, is the role of “finance capital” — banks and financial institutions. Instead of spurring the economy, they invested in nonproductive sectors like currency speculation, “where enormous money was made” along with enormous crises felt around the world.
Corporate America and the super-rich, ever in quest of maximum profits, will not invest their ballooning wealth when and where our society needs it, Webb said.
Therefore, as in the 1930s, the federal government must act to create useful, good paying public sector jobs and get immediate relief into the people’s hands, he said. That is what’s needed to stimulate the economy.
“There are long-term unmet needs in the U.S.,” Webb noted. “Bridges, schools and water systems are collapsing. Many people realize that in both urban and rural settings infrastructure is long overdue for repair.”
He cited an Environmental Protection Agency estimate that 75,000 sanitary systems nationally have overflowed with raw sewage, flooding houses and polluting drinking water and natural habitats.
The labor-backed Economic Policy Institute has proposed a $140 billion stimulus package that calls for federal spending to repair and build schools and bridges, creating more than 1 million jobs.
Webb added that the elections provide an opportunity to create new political terrain to fight against economic crisis in the near and longer term.
“It’s going to take a broad coalition of labor, African Americans, Latinos, all people of color, women, young people — all people — coming together and demanding this kind of economic program,” Webb said.
“Struggle. That’s what it will take to move the country along on a different track and put a working-class imprint on it.”
talbano@pww.org
short situationist-inspired video
"Who wants a world in which the guarantee that we shall not die of starvation entails the risk of dying of boredom?" -Vaneigem
Friday, February 1, 2008
the definition debate: what is a progressive?
Breaking over the horizon atop a mound of inequalities, injustices, and failed ideas rises a new banner, however this banner has no one flag bearer. It is a banner that waves and weaves between many people and multiple beliefs. This banner is a meshed quilt of the banners long since past and new lengths of fabric, innovately designed banners. This banner of sorts also bears a title: Progressive. However this title is unlike the titles from the banners of the past. This banner changes shape as it is held aloft to unite for a common cause.
The defining and constricting of this term, progressive, was a topic of great contention at the 4th Annual National Summit for Progressive Leaders of 2008 run by Young People For(YP4). I had many long discussion about what it means, the implications of the term, and the worries of a dogma growing within the progressive movement. To give a starting point:
From my "Hella Pone" workshop group representing Northern California, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin -
A progressive is: open minded, inclusive, compassionate, proactive and engaged in positive change, innovative, sustainable, optimistic, idealistic, for equality and justice, informed and conscious, evolving, and a leader challenging the status quo
The most important thing to remember is that the term progressive has a long historical and political connotation. Progressivism grew in the 1920s as a response to industrialization and traditional conservativism as well as to the more radical socialist and anarchist movements of the time. The American Progressive Party was born in the 1930s and advanced under Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson (?), and Franklin Roosevelt. Historically "progressives" advocated for worker's rights and social justice. Early progressives were proponents of anti-trust laws and the regulation of large corporations and monopolies, as well as government-funded environmentalism and the creation of National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. The principles of Progressivism and the early Progressive Movement would lay the foundation for future progressive thought and politics. Even wikipedia notes that the precise criteria for what constitutes "progressivism" varies worldwide. Here are some of the common (historical) progressive tenets outlined:
Ballot initiatives where citizens approve proposed laws through a direct vote, initiatives where citizens could proposed laws for legislation, direct primary, direct election of US Senators, referendum where citizens could vote to rescind laws, and women's suffrage. Early progressives also called for a centralization of government to reduce the number of officials and eliminate overlapping authority. At the start of the Progressive Movement government corruption was near an all time high. They sought to promote professional administrators to deal with this issue. Trust-busting, socialism (government working for the public good), laissez-faire market belief, and regulation of large corporations represented the economic tenets. Environmentally progressives called for increases in national parks. On the social justice side, early progressives supported the development of professional social workers, the creation of settlement housing (basically a community center operated by professional social workers to increase the standard of living in inner cities), enacting child labor laws (to end children in the workplace), promoting organized labor and the prohibition (alcohol was a deterrent to achieving success for the cause).
For our purposes I think we are, in a way, giving the term a boost. Where progressive used to represent a political party or economic theory, it now represents a set of basic values that seem very simple for everyone to agree upon. Young People For lists the issues that fall under the progressive title as: civil rights, constitutional liberty, immigrant rights, independent judiciary, LGBT rights, marriage equality, access to higher education, religious freedom, environmental protection, voting rights, civic participation, women's rights, worker's rights, human rights, international issues, environmental justice, equal rights, I think John Halpin, senior advisor on the staff of the Center for American Progress said it best, "Progressivism is an orientation towards politics, It's not a long-standing ideology like liberalism, but an historically-grounded concept... that accepts the world as dynamic." Progressives see it as an attitude towards the politics of today. It is a thought process that is broader than conservatism vs. liberalism, which attempts to break free from what they consider to be a false and divisive dichotomy of ideologies. There is an excellent article (click here) on what progressivism means today in WireTap magazine written by a young person.
For our purposes today I believe the term progressive is a way to develop a focused set of values while encompassing many issue bases. The progressive term allows people to live and work outside the boxes of society. You can be a republican, a democrat, liberal, economically conservative, socialist, black, white, red, blue - you are not forced to conform to a certain norm - you can fall under the progressive terminology if you share the same values and visions for our world. This is a dangerous area in any movement when we begin to confine our thought and set a type of dogma for ourselves to follow. If you are a republican you are no less progressive, if you are a socialist you are not too radically progressive, if you are not a vegetarian you are no less progressive, if you embody the full range of progressive thought that does not mean that you are not and cannot be a progressive. It is often difficult to allow for this openness of a term because we are stuck in an old way of thinking that limits our abilities to accept. We are trapped by our own postmodern love of labeling ourselves and creating the other.
We stream to the progressive banner seeking a doctrine, an ideology, or a mantra to rule the day. But the banner needs to be People. As one of my good philosophy friends explained to me, and I paraphrase, at the end of the day we are all just fictional characters living in a world that we have created for ourselves. Our identities are all constructed from what we choose to think or what history has developed We label and fit ourselves into methods The banner is not Progressivism, but it is People. If we lose sight of that idea, then the rebirth of the progressive movement has already failed. People are our end goal and focus. We are not here to advance our self-interest or force our ideology. Within the progressive movement our focus is People not Progressivism and we cannot forget. The banner needs to remain people or we as the progressive movement will just become another title, another dogma of boxed thought - we need to remain open and innovative and changing, we need ensure that we do not become more than an applied method of thinking. The banner is not Progressive, the banner is People.
From Associated Progress, the essential progressive news network.
Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.
